Mandymouse's Fantastic Fantasy Cruise .. and then another one (Complete)

Great day Mandy. How lovely it is that you've cruised so often now that you don't feel the need to rush around, getting to all the shows and dinner and what not. I think Gary and I will probaby skip some of the shows this time round. We have main dining, which we haven't done before so not sure how we're going to get on with that - I am worried we might be a bit rushed.

Can you tell me a bit more about the 'early' pirate party, is that just ont eh new ships?
 
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Love this pic

What a great picture - tell Paul he outdid himself on that one! :thumbsup2 I will have to show Scott, he'll be quite jealous. :)

Your beach day at Playa Mia looked lovely. We went there for the cooking class in 2010 but it was pouring rain and blowing a gale - LOL

Also, maybe just a hunch....did the BBC's and other yummy drinks have anything to do with your dancing? Or were you just feeling festive??? :stir:
 
lovely day again, such a shame that tourists get a lot of hassle in ports, I can see why some people just stay on the ship.
 


Another great day. The lightning photos are fab:goodvibes
 
Phew...mammoth catch up why it's pouring down with rain and baby is snoozing! :thumbsup2

Mandy I've loved it, don't want it to end! The photos have been amazing as always, makes me really want to cruise one day, maybe when Samantha is older :goodvibes

Loved the pirate party photos, looks like plenty fun!
 


:hug: Thanks again for taking the time to read my trippy and leaving your comments

Great day Mandy. How lovely it is that you've cruised so often now that you don't feel the need to rush around, getting to all the shows and dinner and what not. I think Gary and I will probaby skip some of the shows this time round. We have main dining, which we haven't done before so not sure how we're going to get on with that - I am worried we might be a bit rushed.

Can you tell me a bit more about the 'early' pirate party, is that just ont eh new ships?

There are pros and cons for both the dining times Joh, sometimes I prefer to eat earlier and have the evening to do whatever you want, plus eating later, I can feel too stuffed to sleep :rotfl2: I think that's why Paul and I ate quite often at Flo's Cafe

The early pirate party is very much like the party on the classic ships and I think is more geared to the kids. I've only seen the later pirate party once on the newer ships and I wasn't impressed, it was mainly pirates running around, I prefer the original party. The disco after the fireworks was fun though. The fireworks are on after the later party pirate:

What a great picture - tell Paul he outdid himself on that one! :thumbsup2 I will have to show Scott, he'll be quite jealous. :)

Your beach day at Playa Mia looked lovely. We went there for the cooking class in 2010 but it was pouring rain and blowing a gale - LOL

Also, maybe just a hunch....did the BBC's and other yummy drinks have anything to do with your dancing? Or were you just feeling festive??? :stir:

I love that photo too Jenny, he did well to capture it ::yes::

LOL, it doesn't take too many drinks to get me up boogie-ing, I can't sit still when there's music on :rotfl::rotfl:
 
Thursday 2nd May

I woke at 6.20am, but it was really 7.20 as we'd forgotten to put the clocks forward an hour. I lay there knowing I needed to get some laundry done, and after reading some scary stories on the DIS of how busy the final day at sea can get, and how some people will remove your stuff from dryers and put theirs in instead, I thought I'd go nice and early and get it sorted

My fears had been unfounded as the launderette on Deck 6 was empty (as normal people were either enjoying a lie in or breakfast ;)). Anywho, I put my washing on, and had 26 minutes to get showered, wash my hair and put some slap on. I returned and put the washing in the dryer and went back to the room to finish off getting ready. All clothes were dry in 45 minutes and it was time for a coffee

I grabbed my skinny latte from Anja in the Cove Cafe, and as we got to Deck 13 to find some loungers, Billie (who had worked in the Cove Cafe the previous week) came over for a chat. It was really windy on the upper decks, but Billie said to make the most of the sunshine today as it wasn't looking good for Castaway Cay the following day (boo!!)

We sun/wind bathed for a couple of hours, then it was time for a bit of lunch. Paul chose something from Cabanas and I got some wraps and fruit and joined him in Cabanas

After lunch we watched the kiddies disco in the Atrium, which was lots of fun, especially watching Joshie (the most energetic and fun Castmember I have ever met) who was bopping around on the Atrium staircase and encouraging the kids to dance (though it looked like most of the parents were enjoying the disco too). We then walked around Deck 4 a few times (it was getting even windier by now), then we did a bit of shopping

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At 3pm we had a Martini Tasting in the Meridian Lounge. Christina from Canada was hosting it, and it was lots of fun. We tried 5 different 'Martinis'. A lemony one to start (nice), a classic salty one (yuck!), a classic Cosmopolitan (delish), a chocolatey topped with nutmeg one (nicer than I thought it would be) and finally a tequilla/chocolate one (Mmm, even with evil tequilla in it :rotfl2:). Once again we enjoyed this tasting, and although I had tried to remember to make notes about the various 'Martinis', I failed miserably, lol, but hey, it was lots of fun

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After our tasting we went to see Davide at the Cove Bar. It was VERY windy by now, and some of the doors on the starboard side of the ship were temporarily closed. We had a couple of Bahama Mamas, then as the wind picked up Paul had another one and I popped into the Cove Cafe for a coffee with Bailey's in it. There was a few of us up there, and we sat around chatting, enjoying the drinks and watching the rain and lightning

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Whilst checking out Facebook, I noticed that my friend Jenny (ukintheus) who was sailing on the Disney Magic and at Key West today had posted this photo ...... things really weren't looking good for Castaway Cay tomorrow :(

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After a while we popped back to the room, where Paul promptly fell asleep (and I typed this up). Paul was out for the count for a good hour and a half, and when he finally woke up we grabbed some burgers from the top deck, I'm really going to miss these burgers, but come Monday I'll be back on my diet (Note to self as of 27th May, when is this diet actually going to start ? ;))

Dinner tonight was in Animator's Palate, but it was Lobster Night (yuck!!!), so once again we decided to give it a miss and have some fast food from Flo's Cafe

After our very unhealthy dinner we decided on a drink inside as it was so windy and wet, so we went down to O'Gills where we watched a re-run of the Chelsea/Basille game and Paul had a couple of Stella's and I had first a classic Cosmo then a lemony one before heading to bed

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Tomorrow ~ Castaway Cay

Cont'd ...


 
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During the night, Paul had a wander around a quiet Disney Fantasy

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Unfortunately with the weather being so bad he wasn't able to take many photos on the top deck like he'd planned
 
WOW .... just read through from start to finish, as ever a bit late to the party, but what a fantastic trip report !! Sorry to hear you were poorly in week 1, but pleased you made a good recovery. Surprised with the photos of Costa Maya as I always imagined it to be a bit unspoiled and more historical / cultural with ruins and ancient sites etc, certainly didn't expect to see a Senor Frogs there :scared1:

The ship looks beautiful and really quiet most of the time ... unless you take all your photos in the dead of night. Love the format of the mixology class, seems a better way to do it than the two different formats we have done on the Magic.

And finally just have to say that the photo of the lightning is incredible. I would have been terrified but that is one phenomenal shot. :worship:
 

At 3pm we had a Martini Tasting in the Meridian Lounge. Christina from Canada was hosting it, and it was lots of fun. We tried 5 different 'Martinis'. A lemony one to start (nice), a classic salty one (yuck!), a classic Cosmopolitan (delish), a chocolatey topped with nutmeg one (nicer than I thought it would be) and finally a tequilla/chocolate one (Mmm, even with evil tequilla in it :rotfl2:). Once again we enjoyed this tasting, and although I had tried to remember to make notes about the various 'Martinis', I failed miserably, lol, but hey, it was lots of fun

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Christina was doing the martini tasting? She is awesome, love her and Billie. They were in the Tube when I cruised, got to know both well:goodvibes
 
Loving the photos that Paul took during the night, its amazing how empty it all is. I always thought there would still be a couple of people walking about.
 
Wow an empty ship bet it was bit spooky as well being the only sole person wondering around. Lets hope you get good weather for tomorrow :goodvibes
 
What a shame that you didn't have good sunbathing weather for very long, but it sounds like you made the most out of your day. :thumbsup2 The pics of you and Paul tasting the dirty martini's are hilarious. :rotfl:
 
Oh my, that ship looks amazing and beautiful! :goodvibes

Love the photos of the martini tasting :lmao:
 
Have spent a very pleasant hour or so reading all your reports Mandy, thanks for taking the time to do such detailed reports, I love reading all about your cruises and dreaming about doing one when the kids are a bit older :-)
 
Friday 3rd May

I'd had a bad nights sleep. Around 3am Paul got up to take a wander around a quiet ship and to take some photos, then at 4am I woke up again

Around 7 I checked out the 'BridgeView' on the TV, but I couldn't see land, then around 7.30 the ship started making a noise and our cabin began to shudder. To be honest I really didn't think we'd make it onto Castaway Cay today after the awful weather the night before, but Paul went off to investigate the noise while I showered and when he came back he said that Captain Tom was inching us very slowly onto the island (hurrah!)

We went up to Cabanas for breakfast, then I grabbed a latte just as Brent announced that the ship was cleared and we could get off. As we walked down to the beaches we felt spots of rain, but thankfully nothing came of it and we took the shuttle to Serenity Bay. The adult beach was a lot quieter this week. We had noticed that last week there was a lot less children, and this week (I guess with the GTY rooms available) there was a lot more kids about, which was great for us on Serenity Bay

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We found some loungers and took a few photos, and after a short while a bar tender came round and told us the specials, so we ordered a couple of Stingrays and some water too

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We chilled on our loungers till lunchtime, then went to get something to eat at the Serenity Beach BBQ

We couldn't believe what a lovely day it was after the downpours of the day before, we were so lucky

After lunch we had a couple of drinks at the Castaway Air Bar then returned to our loungers

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Unfortunately we now had a few people sat next to us who liked sharing their conversation with the whole beach, and who were smoking too. I'd had enough by now anyway, so we took the tram back to the family beach and had a cocktail at the Conched Out Bar and sat in the sun one last time on the island. We then walked back to ship, taking photos along the way

Cont'd ...

 

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