Parker Brothers on the High Seas - 3 Day Wonder 11/5/09 (LOTS of pics!) UPDATED 12/6

[HiddenMickeys]

Ok, so time to go exploring.

Dora (Tom) and I hit the trail lol.

Here's the little Bridge that the captain uses to dock the ship. It sticks out more than the rest of the ship, and the plexi in the bottom lets him see the dock below. We saw it on the travel channel before on the DCL special, but it was still cool to see it in person. (Tom and I are both technology geeks, can you tell? lol)

So, when we got up there on deck 9 to take the pics above, you cant go forward any more from there, but right to our right was a neat looking door:

So we walked in that door, and there was a little entry way and another door. Well THAT door was locked with a sign that said crew only, so we walked back out lol. We took the steps back up to deck 10 and walked toward the bow.

If you look real close about an inch to the left of center, you can see Nassau off in the distance:

We continued walking around the bow and to the other side of the ship. We stopped and got this shot down the side, which I thought was pretty neat.

But I have to tell you, with the wind, and the boat rocking, leaning over to take this pic, tom and I refer to this as the "Pucker shot", and NO we arent talking about your lips being what puckers when you're leaning out there like that, and we'll leave it at that.

More shots of the outlook cafe:

And one of the seating area inside one of the "wings". It was open when we came back by (it wasn't when I first hit deck 10) and tom hadn't seen it as he didn't go in with us to get drinks the first night during the sailaway, so he wanted to check it out.

After our little exploration it was time to head back down to the rooms and round up the wives and kiddies and head to breakfast...

 

[Disneyelf10]

Hi, I came across this the other night and started reading your TR. Love it!!! Very funny...I couldn't believe the start of your vacation w/those people in the taxi!!! Some people! and it is so true- the karma- I like that you were helped before her.

Looking for move or your take on the vacation.!
Donna

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Hi, I came across this the other night and started reading your TR. Love it!!! Very funny...I couldn't believe the start of your vacation w/those people in the taxi!!! Some people! and it is so true- the karma- I like that you were helped before her.

Looking for move or your take on the vacation.!
Donna

Thanks! Having fun doing it. It all went by way too fast, but going back, we actually DID do a lot of things. Just at the time it seemed far too short.

 

[HiddenMickeys]

So, we got back to the rooms and everyone was just about ready, so we headed out for breakfast at Triton's, and then a day in Nassau.

As I said, for breakfast we decided to go to:

Tommy and Mikey were ready to "get their grub on"

...as were Momma and Becca

This guy? Yeah, he can pack away some food...

And it goes without saying, as he is showing Justin, Tom was ready for a little food...

Debbie, for some reason managed to keep dodging the camera but don't worry, we get her later on. lol

So, who cares about us, here's what you want. FOOD!

I had a cheese omelette, with bacon, sausage, hash brown and toast (ooh, ha ha lol)

I have to admit, I was a little spoiled after the FANTASTIC home fries at Zachary's back near the Radisson, so I was not AS impressed with the McDonalds style hash brown, but it was still really good. Like I said, I had just been spoiled before we got on board lol.

Becca had the dulce de leche waffles and bacon. Looking at the pic (to me) it doesnt look all that great but to quote Becca "Oh my God, Dad, it was like Soooo good!"

Mikey, taking a page from Becca and I decided to get a cheese omelette AND the waffles.

As for Mamacita, well she inhaled her food so quickly no one got a picture.
j/k she was seated too far from me, and didn;t manage to get any pics for me (and you)

After breakfast we waddled on down to the gangway and made our way towards Nassau....

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Ok, so it is thanksgiving morning, I am smelling turkey in the oven, posting pics of wonderful breakfasts, and here I sit eating a strawberry pop-tart. Something is just wrong there.

Anyhow, Remember that wind I had mentioned earlier?

We got off of the ship and were blasted trying (yes trying) to walk up toward the dock.

It was like something out of a movie, the wind was gusting right in our face, and you literally had to put your head down and forcibly walk the wind was that bad. To give you an idea how bad, when I finally turned around to take a pic of the back of the ship (which I'll post in a minute) the wind moved me (yes big old me) as I was trying to snap the pic. I had to "strike a new pose" to be able to take the pics without being blown down the dock.

I had read that some people say Nassau blows, but this was a little much.

Anyway, heres a pic of the festival place area where everyone is herded through after getting off the ship:

Here's the shots of the ship I mentioned when I turned around to get the wind out of my face for a minute lol.

We made our way to the little touristy photo opportunity thingie they have at the end of the dock. What you don't see in this pic is that I am actually blocking the wind a bit for the 3 of them (and wondering if my hat is going to fly off) lol

We made our way up toward festival place:

And then we snapped a few more pics from the dock area (if you look at the trees near the rear of the boat, that gives you a perspective on the wind lol):

The Atlantis looms large :

A few more dock pics:

 

[TifffanyD]

Oh we stayed on the boat Nassau day and watched everyone leaving the boat getting blown away. You're right - it was REALLY strong!! It was funny to watch tho

 

[HiddenMickeys]

We took our passports with us into Nassau as we wanted to get them stamped, and we had read that it was easy.

It IS.


Ok, this isn't my picture, its from the web, but I didnt have one that would illustrate it well for you all so....

If you want to get passports stamped then all you need to do is stop at the little guardhouse in the pic (where the RED arrow is). We had read that theres a guard standing there, but due to the wind they were inside. So just stop at the guard house. A guard in fatigues (and yes, armed lol) came out and we told him we'd like to get our passports stamped. He said "sure mon, follow me" lol. And we were taken inside the customs building (where the blue arrow is in the pic)

We were taken inside and just had to walk down the hall to the office to get our passports stamped. There were two very nice guys in there. As they were government officials, my wife asked if she could take a pic of them stamping (rather than just snap one without asking). The guy with the stamps stammered for a second (we thought he'd say no) and the other guy says "Sure ya can. Let them take your picture now. What you tink you got dat uniform on for? If you didn't have the uniform you'd be up playing cards with the other bums in town. And the uniform isnt to impress me, I have my own on and it's just the two of us here, so let da lady take da picture."

We didn't mean to get the guy chewed out, but the other guy was funny. Tom and I liked him, he looked like he was probably a good 350lbs or so, a big boy like us lol. One of "our people". Anyway, here's the pic my wife got of her passport getting stamped:

The kids were thrilled since this was their first passport, and now they had a stamp.

I have to say, the entire process, from talking to the guard to being back out with our stamps probably took a total of 5-7 minutes. It was a very neat, very easy, fun free thing to do.

After getting them done we headed inside festival place, which had emptied out a bit (also a plus of stopping to get stamped).

Here is a few pics from inside. There were some cute shops in there, one that made seashell jewelry and christmas ornaments, among others.

Here's some shots from in there:

And after heading through festival place, it was time to exit festival place...well we need a new post for that...lol

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Leaving festival place....hmmm..... Well it seems all the tour operators and "hawkers" arent inside (maybe not allowed?) but are all lined up as you leave the one and only exit to town.

Running the "gauntlet" in Nassau. yes I read about it, Yes I was ready for it, but it was worse than I expected. The nagging really only occurred from the exit of festival place to the main roadway outside of the gate. I got tired of saying "no thank you" only to be asked again. So, I had fun lol. When a woman asked us if we wanted hair braiding (dw and dd have really long hair as you can see) I just whipped off my baseball cap, exposing my short hair and said "Ok, how much?" and the woman replied "Oh, for you mon it 'tis free mon" and just laughed and walked away. When asked if we wanted a tour I replied "Sure, it's free right? I always heard Bahamians were quite hospitable" to which the guy replied "No mon, the free trips were yesterday" lol and I replied "well, you should have asked me yesterday then, have a good day" and he walked away. lol

The best one I heard was the guy who asked me if I wanted to rent an air-conditioned scooter.

Another lady, dressed in an evening gown and heels (on a public street at 10am lol) asked if we were doing lunch today, and said she knew a good restaurant. I replied "We do lunch every day, thank you. But the ship is all you can eat for free, if you'd like to match your competitors rates, we'd love to see the restaurant." and yes, she walked away. lol

Finally on the way back to the ship, we were hassled about a cab ride. So I kindly replied "Can you drive us all back to Philadelphia? If not, we better get back on the ship." and off he went. lol

Ok, so based on the above it may sound like I was being a sarcastic "donkey" , but understand we were walking slow with the group and bad knees and all, so we were getting bombarded for a good 5 minutes, so after the first 1-2 minutes, I had fun with it.

So we make our way out to the main street and see a little shop selling tee shirts so we decide to check it out. I am a fan of tie-dye (guess I was jerry Garcia's fat cousin in a past life lol) and they had this really nice tie-dye shirt that was nicely embroidered with Nassau Bahamas on it. Ok, so the lady says the regular tees were $10 but the embroidered ones were $20. Not really too bad, especially for a triple humongous (3x). But I had read about Haggling, so I went for it and asked if she'd take $15. She said "For you, just today I will", umm yeah. ok. lol.

So, I'm like the Rex in Toy Story, I don't like confrontations. I don't haggle, never did, even for cars. I either buy it or I don't. Ok so I'm feeling goog about myself, I did it. Score one for the kid. I reach in my wallet and yep, you guessed it, nothing but $20's lol. So then she says "I have to send someone for change". Ok I wait. Luckily tom was looking around still and even though it took 5 minutes, the boy she sent out did come back with my change. I wonder if Tom wasnt there how long he would have take to come back? So, now I'm still confident over my massive $5 victory and the woman is telling tom the prices she quoted me earlier and a I lean in and say "oh well you're going to give him the same great price I got right, sine we're together?" So Tom got a deal on his shirts too.

So, even if you're like me and would rather just pay or leave, give it a shot, you can save a couple bucks.

 

[engle]

Love, love, love your TR!!! I am going in 16 days!!! Can't wait!!

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Love, love, love your TR!!! I am going in 16 days!!! Can't wait!!

Well thanks, glad some people are actually reading it, let alone enjoying it.

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Oh we stayed on the boat Nassau day and watched everyone leaving the boat getting blown away. You're right - it was REALLY strong!! It was funny to watch tho

Lucky you lol. Looking back it is funny, but I (and my doctor) believe that not only the change in temps from NJ to Fla (and the Bahamas) but also being in all that Wind contributed to my coming down with the flu the day we got off the ship. Luckily my flu, and its symptoms (fever, dizziness, runny nose etc) is now long gone, and I'm just left with a nice case of bronchitis, but he put me on better antibiotics and something for the cough (which I am still having coughing fits). So 3 weeks after the fact, hopefully I wont be sick much longer lol.

But yes, coming off the ship in Nassau I was expecting to see a cow fly by, maybe an old lady in a rocking chair, a nasty woman on a bicycle who hated my little dog, you get the idea.

 

[schimj]

But yes, coming off the ship in Nassau I was expecting to see a cow fly by, maybe an old lady in a rocking chair, a nasty woman on a bicycle who hated my little dog, you get the idea.

We feel for you...even though we're locals now, we still get sick from time to time after being on the ship or in WDW for a few days or so...we contribute it to not being used to the germs people from around the country/world are bringing to Disney. Harmful to them, but not so much for the people not immune. Glad to year that you're doing better now, and hope you're able to kick the cough quickly. I too have a lingering cough, but it's getting better, I think.

As for the wind, wow. Like DW said, we stayed on the ship in Nassau, but we had a port hole looking out on to the side of the ship where people would walk by getting on & off the ship. It was quite funny at times. I thought there might have been a family or two of undercover mimes the way some of them were walking!

Keep up the great work w/ the TR and I hope you and your family have a WONDER-ful & safe holiday season

 

[HiddenMickeys]

...and one more hawker story...

On the way back to the ship, this guy was relentless. "Hey mon, yeah you. You look like you need a tour. I can show you all a great tour. The gentleman in the phillies cap, come on man you know you need a tour. I can show you all the REAL Nassau..."

Ok, that was enough.

Soon as he said REAL Nassau I saw my opening.

I stopped and turned to him and said "Thank GOD! I've been waiting for an offer like that all day. The REAL Nassau, that's what I want. The heck with all of this Atlantis and queens staircase crap. I want to see how the REAL bahamians live. Let's go to YOUR house. You got anything good in the fridge? Maybe a cool DVD we can hang out and watch. Hey, the kids would love it if you have a playstation or x-box..."

Well, all of the other people around him were cracking up and slapping him on the back. He just said "dats ok mon, have a good trip" and turned away.

I try to be an easy going guy, but come on now. How many times can you say no, and when is enough enough?

I have my moments.

 

[HiddenMickeys]

We feel for you...even though we're locals now, we still get sick from time to time after being on the ship or in WDW for a few days or so...we contribute it to not being used to the germs people from around the country/world are bringing to Disney. Harmful to them, but not so much for the people not immune. Glad to year that you're doing better now, and hope you're able to kick the cough quickly. I too have a lingering cough, but it's getting better, I think.

As for the wind, wow. Like DW said, we stayed on the ship in Nassau, but we had a port hole looking out on to the side of the ship where people would walk by getting on & off the ship. It was quite funny at times. I thought there might have been a family or two of undercover mimes the way some of them were walking!

Keep up the great work w/ the TR and I hope you and your family have a WONDER-ful & safe holiday season

Yeah, as soon as I told my doc we just came back from a cruise they said "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" lol. Yeah, my dw, being a teacher, has built up quite the immune system but me? not so much. lol Being around all of those people from so many different places, and dealing with the wind and temps, my immune system was prob a little lower anyway, and then it was just a matter of time.

I agree it was funny watching the people, especially once we were back on board (ie, it wasnt US being blown about lol).

 

[HiddenMickeys]

ok, i have just been informed that thanksgiving dinner is ready and my turkey carving skills are needed. So I will post more in a little while once I am stuffed like the turkey i am about to massacre.

 

[Allesma]

Love your TR!

More please...............

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Ok, i'm back and bloated.

After the tshirt shop we wanted to make our way over to Bay St, and the shopping area of the town. Theres a lot of cool little alleys/walkways with shops like this:

So we cut down one of those and did some shopping. It's nice. If you've ever been to NJ I would say it's laid out similar to the shops in Cape May, but not quite as nice, the shops themselves are more along the lines of the shops in Wildwood. But still very neat to walk around and see.

So, we're walking along and shopping and I see tommy and mikey pointing and giggling. Ok, something's up. So Tom and I walk over to them to see what's up and we notice the store they are in front of. Seems it's a lingerie store. And tommy points at the window and laughs and says "Kind of like batman". Well tom and I start cracking up because here is what can only be described as, well, a utility belt. Now, I wouldnt go into this much detail unless I had a pic for you. lol

Tom looks at me and says "Hey, I didn't see THAT on the shore excursion list."

True enough, it would give batmans utility belt a run for its money, but I digress.

After (unsuccessfully) trying to convince the wives to go and check it out, we moved on. I believe the exact quote from the wives at that point was "Let's move it you two little boys. Oh and tommy and mikey too."

After that dw took a few pics for a while. Oh look, a horsey!

Oh yes, that brings back much more vivid memories than say, I dunno, a utility belt.

Just kidding.

Mikey found a hat he liked, but since we're from NJ I told him unless he wanted to spend the rest of his life figuring out where to dump the body with the rest of his buddies, he may want to reconsider. j/k he liked it but thought the price was a bit much. Kids and their money, funny when they have their own set aside to control.

Anybody need a rolex?

I am perfectly happy with my Mickey watch. Hey, It cost a few hundred a couple years ago in DTD. It's no Rolex, but it works for me.

Sorry about the pics, it appears SOMEONE got a smudge on the camera lens.

Hey look, a starbucks, don't see many of those.

The rum cake shop, we dont much care for rum cake, but the pirate was neat.

More starbucks:

In their defense, DW and the kids (I don't do the whole coffee thing) said that they had a few drinks that they only offer in the caribbean shops, so I guess that is kind of cool. They said they were good.

Ok this next picture is another from the live and learn category. Mary, Debbie, and Becca had gone to the onboard shopping meeting when they had announced that everyone that attended got a "free diamond bracelet". Ok, we figured it would be some trinket but hey they went to hear the talk as well since none of us had been to Nassau before. Well they return all laughing. The free bracelet was a coupon to turn in in Nassau, at a shop, and it was a charm bracelet where they want you (of course) to buy charms for it.

So, fast forward to Nassau again and we just happen to pass the shop. Debbie says "dammit, I want my bracelet" and goes in to get it. So, theres a D.I. on it (for diamonds international) and theres a speck in the dot of the I. Maybe a diamond, but who knows and who cares lol. The metal (I think it was metal) was surely nothing higher grade than aluminum, but hey it was free. Quite honestly it looked like something Sid would win from the claw machine. lol But she comes out with it on and is still in the doorway of the store and we all (including her) make a big (sarcastic) deal over it. "Oh deb, that is GORGEOUS! And it was FREE? WOW! You better put that RIGHT in the safe when we get back to the ship!

We all had a good laugh, and here is said free bracelet.

They said next cruise, no shopping talk on the ship. Live and learn.

Ok, so now we're all in a silly mood anyway and we see this. Baskin Robbins' laid back island cousin?

Ok so we continue shopping on bay st., the girls wanted to hit Del Sol and they bought some color changing nail polish, some key chains, and some other little things.

We hit a few more touristy shops and grabbed a few things. This one shop had these incredible carved pipes. YES I know what they are for. But they were really cool with dragons and all, and a larger one was really detailed with a crystal ball in his hand and all. Well no, I dont have any use for these particular items, and I can only imagine the fun I would have had in customs and with the TSA, so I didnt buy any. But just as a neat little collectible and the craftsmanship I would have liked to get one just to have in the curio cabinet at home with some of our other trip souvenirs. Maybe next time.

We initially had planned on hitting senor frogs and grabbing some lunch, but we took a vote and the free food won. lol So we started to head back to the ship around 12:30ish and took our time getting back.

There was a little combo playing inside festival place with a couple guitarists and a steel drummer. Tom being a drummer and myself being a drummer and bassist as well, we thought they were cool and we watched them for a bit.

We all finally got back to the ship around 1:15 or so.

Becca sitting and pondering a day of shopping in another country for her first time ever, and watching people get blown down the dock.

The canival sensation had docked about an hour or two after we did (and we did see a noticeable increase in people in town once they did). Which is weird because they pulled out of port canaveral the day before about an hour BEFORE we did. Wonder if they had a problem that slowed them down? or is it just a slow ship? took the scenic route? who knows?

So we were back on the Wonder, what to do next?

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Back on the wonder, the kids and the girls wanted to hit the pools and grab some lunch up on deck.

It's 1:30 now, I look at Tom and say "Hey, wasn't that beer tasting in the navigator for 2:00 today?"

Toms eyes get round as saucers and he smiles.

So, we're standing at guest services asking about it and there were still spots available, so we grabbed two tickets. $15/pp and it was well worth it. So we bid adieu to the ladies and kiddies and they were off to get changed and hit deck 9 for a bit.

Tom and I headed to the route 66 area and Diversions for the beer tasting. Well, on the way we decided it may be good to have a little pit stop on the way. I am easily impressed (can you tell? lol) And I have to say, I was surprised by the mens room in the route 66 area. It was quite nice. So I took a few pics of the cool ceiling:

I have to add, disney does go out of their way to make some nice potties. lol If you've never been in Cinderella's castle in MK for Cinderella's royal table, I highly recommend those potties as well.

After our little pit stop, it was into Diversions for the beer tasting. The bartender came around and gave everyone 5 generous samples ranging from the lighter in color lagers to the very dark ales.

The bartender was very well informed and we learned some cool info. We laughed, as everything the bartender said about Americans applied to me. So yep, guess I am the stereotypical American. Apparently (as a group, theres always exceptions) we prefer lighter lagers (bud,coors,miller, etc) to heavier darker ales (guinness, sam adams, black and tan, etc) and well, in my case he was right lol. I preferred the Stella Artois, which was the lightest of the 5. Never had it before, so was glad I found a new favorite. My brother? he liked them all, but still managed to have a favorite, which I think was the Newcastle (4th of the 5), and he also was kind enough to finish his 5 samples, and my samples of the two darkest that I didn't care for. So, if you don't think you'll like all the samples, bring a friend or relative! btw, neither of us liked the boddington's (3rd of the 5) as it just tasted very flat, and fruity. Which is how it is supposed to taste, we just didn't care for it.

Tom is Loving Life:

After you finish all 5, generous samples, the bartender pours you a full 16oz of your favorite as well. Well, our bartender poured everyone 2 16oz mugs of their favorite, so as I said. well worth the price. Tom was the one responsible for the second free round for everyone, but I'll let him jump in and tell that part. So jump in any time man.

So it was a fun time, the bartender played beer trivia, and just sitting back and shooting the breeze with the guys AND gals that came was a fun time. It was nice to see some wives there as well, it wasnt just a guys only thing.

So, after the beer tasting it was time for, well.................

But THEN it was time to head back to deck 9 and find the girls and the kiddies. We took a few pics along the way.

The two brewhounds return:

I have to add, after the beer tasting, the ship was moving around a LOT more than it had been.....

(we were still docked in Nassau)

So Tom and I grabbed a quick burger......ok two burgers each... and we watched the kids on the mickey slide. Mikey and tommy were both 14, and thus allowed still, which was good because justin (9) was still a little hesitant about going, but the 3 of them had a great time. Becca was hanging out up at the teen club for a few to see what was happening that night and to see when the free smoothie hour they were talking about was going to be.

So, once the herd had all circled the wagons, so to speak, it was time to head back to the rooms and get ready for the show (Toy Story), dinner (Parrot Cay) and Pirate Night...

Will post more later, right now it's time for pie......mmmmm.....pie..... agghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Love your TR!

More please...............

Thanks, glad you're enjoying.

 

[PrincessYessenia]

Your TR is absolutely fantastic! I can't wait for more! MORE! haha