LIVE TR Mar13-26: 1wk DW, 4nt Cruise & Clearwater DH, me, DD5, DS3: DAY 8-11 updated

[NatMomto2]

DAY 10 Nassau Day

Woke up nice & early and headed to breakfast at Beach Blanket. Nice breakfast selection and a fresh omelette/egg selection. I was dreading the coffee based on what everyone says but it wasn’t terrible. Percolated coffee is percolated coffee imho.

Right after breakfast there was the Princess gathering in the lobby: 1 line and we met Snow White, Belle, Tiana and Cinderella. DS refused to be in the picures saying that boys don't like princesses. Ugh. Next, DD got cornrows (I think us Moms like this more than the kids because it keeps their hair out of their faces!) Then the kids wanted to swim in the Mickey pool so badly so they did right after. The captain was docking the ship in Nassau and it was grey and overcast. A cool breeze was in the air but it wasn’t raining. After swimming, we got changed and prepared to head out when we saw RAIN. Crap crap crap. Big rain too not just a drizzle. Change of plans then: the kids wanted to go play in the kids club so DH and I headed up to Cove Café. The rain was teeming down at this point, even the covered areas were getting wet with the wind. It was cold and miserable. No fault of Disney’s but at this point we weren’t exactly having fun. There was very little for adults to do but as I told DH at least we hadn’t paid $500 to go to Atlantis in the rain. Everything is relative. We had lunch at Beach Blanket followed by naptime for both of them. DH went off to his massage which he thoroughly enjoyed. The rain had stopped by about 3pm so we went off the ship and walked around Nassau. Nothing extraordinary but at least we went off!

Dinner tonight was at Parrot Cay. Nice tropical feel, the food was ok. Lots of people were very dressed up (suit & tie) as tonight was formal night. The kids finished their meal before us so I brought them up to the kids club and DH and I finished our dessert slowly afterwards (this was great!). Kids were feeling good so off we went to the show at 8:30 – Toy Story the musical. Another really great show. They should have this in the parks! DS lost interest about 40 minutes into it so we ended up watching the end of it in our room. The music is a “bit slow” in the show so I can see how it might be harder to keep the attention of the little ones but it was wonderful seeing them bring Woody, Buzz and Rexxie and Hamm all to life!

We went to bed hoping for good weather and being able to dock at Castaway Cay...so did we get it? Read on for more

 

[NatMomto2]

Day 11 Castaway Cay
Spolier Alert : WE MADE IT!!!

Ok, so the one bad thing about being in an inside stateroom is that you don’t know what the weather is like when you wake up. You have to wait for everyone to be up showered, teeth brushed and dressed before you get your first glimpse. So once that was all done we walked up to deck 9 and AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! We are HERE! Docked at Castaway Cay already, the sun is peeking out behind the clouds and wow this is beautiful! We had breakfast outside looking out onto the Flying Dutchman.

Back to our rooms, we heard the “you can now disembark” message and we were out by 9am. We took a photo in front of the Wonder and then walked out to the beach. At this point we did have our sweatshirts on as the wind was definitely on the cool side and the sun wasn’t fully out of the clouds. We made our way, stopping for many photos, to the family beach and picked out our spots – we were just past Cookie’s. The kids loved playing in the sand and gathering the shells (which I’m assuming due to the fact that they were all perfect and pretty much the same, were imported ). The water was cold but the sun was out in full force by mid morning so that was great.

Kids ended up making friends with other little girls sitting near us and had tons of fun. Adults enjoyed themselves too. Kids went to Scuttle’s Cove right before lunch time but didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as on the boat. I think the big area and the fact that they separated boys & girls into different activities during their time there, didn't help. During that time we went for a walk over by the teen beach. Pelican Plunge was open and DH went for a slide. The thing pretty much shot him out! We picked up the kids and had lunch at Cookie’s …or rather the kids did. We were still full from breakfast and we had Palo’s to look forward to at night.

The afternoon was spent at the beach playing with new friends and then we went for a quick bike ride to the observation tower. DD took a bike with training wheels , DH had DS in one of the baby seats and I rode on my own.

We were back on board by 4:30pm. All aboard was 5pm. I wonder why we can’t hang out longer at Castaway Cay? We were at Nassau till 2am the day prior. Would be nice to have spent the later afternoon on the beach as well. Ah well.

When we got back to the room, we ordered room service for the kids who were going to the club while we dined at Palo’s. Mac & Cheese & Mickey Ice cream bars! Kids had a shower, were decked out in their Pirate’s best and were off to Pirate night at the kids club. Up we went to Palo on deck 10. Upon entering it’s like you are entering an oasis of calm. No children. It’s a very different vibe up there. Dinner was excellent – Tuna tartare followed by Beef Tenderloin followed by Chocolate soufflé. Delicious. Service was impeccable. You really feel like the center of the universe up there. After dinner we went to get the kids who had some pirate face painting and who clearly had a great time!

People were totally decked out in pirate gear, it was great. We saw Captain Jack Sparrow after dinner and I took a picture with him! Kids don’t know who he is yet and I think he’s fantastic so yup Mom took a picture with Captain Jack! It was about 8:30 now and DS was winding down. He asked to go bed so off he went w/DH. Remembering that he hadn’t had a nap, he did great! DD wanted to stay up for the pirate party We had an hour to kill so off to the Buena Vista theatre we went to watch Princess & the Frog. They were showing Alice in Wonderland that night as well but we'd already missed the beginning so we went with what we knew . I just love the music from that movie! Movie ended at 9:45 on the dot so up we went to deck 9 for the pirate party.

The party seemed to be in full swing at this point. Dancing and the characters were out. At 10pm I could see DD's eyes literally closing as she was standing there. I put her to bed and went back to see the rest of the party. By 10:30pm, the CM's and the characters were still dancing. 45 minutes worth and dancing and still no fireworks. Definitely a bit much. I was quickly loosing interest and went down to bed. This is probably my only "complaint" to Disney on this cruise. I understand why the pirate party is at 9:45 because of the late dinner seating, but why can't they do an "earlier shorter' version for the little ones? And even if they can't, why is it necessary to do 45 minutes of dancing before Mickey makes his big pirate entrance and they get to the fireworks? Ok I'll get off my little soapbox now...

So overall this day was wonderful. Castaway Cay is just fabulous, fantastic. I imagine when the weather is warmer and the water is actually swimmable it becomes even more of a paradise. And Disney's organization on this day is a sight to behold. They think of everything and the transition from ship to beach is seamless. Definitely a success and Castaway Cay alone would have me booking another Disney cruise in the future! Pirate Night too (asides from the aforementioned party timing thing) was great, the whole ship really gets into it and it is lots of fun!

So that's as far as I've gotten so far. Today is Thursday and I'm updated to Tuesday. Next to come is Sea Day and Disembarkation day (which is/was today). I probably won't be able to update those until the weekend as we fly home tomorrow so happy reading and I'll be back on Saturday!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Wow, missed some updates. You've been busy.

Sounds like lots of ups and downs. Glad to hear you made the best of the weather and lil' one. Love hearing about all the details on the cruise! Look forward to this weekend for another update.

 

[daly7o9]

Hope all is well.