Resorts, Relatives & Restaurants - and a 3 day cruise!

[Northern Disney Girl]

Hi friends! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's been so busy lately. I really hope to do an update this weekend and finish the TR in the next week or so. Heck, there's not much left of the trip! It was only a three day cruise!
Then I will hope to do a PTR for our July trip. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

No Worries Sheree! You just take your time - we'll wait!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Well I had an update almost ready, just putting some pictures in and my stupid bleeping laptop FROZE! I couldn't do a dang thing! IT wouldn't even control alt delete or shut off or anything. JUST STUCK! So I came to the mac and the internet works just fine there. Now I'm too mad to redo the update, so it will have to wait until tomorrow. When I will do the whole thing from the MAC.

I am not happy.

I have to go wrap DD8's b-day presents. We're celebrating tomorrow with my family. Her actual bday is Tuesday, but she has gymnastics that night. So we will go out to dinner and have dessert and presents after.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Oh, I am so sorry about the update! That is frustrating!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Makes you just want to throw it out of the window doesn't it?

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Oh, I am so sorry about the update! That is frustrating!

Makes you just want to throw it out of the window doesn't it?

Why yes, it is frustrating and it does make me want to throw this thing out the window. It's not even a three year old computer and while I don't know that much about computers, I figured I'd do some checks on it. So I ran the anti-virus check, deleted my cookies and shut it down and restarted. So hopefully it was a fluke. It has been running a lot slower lately, but I don't know what causes that. Maybe I'll ask my IT neighbor to check it out.
Plus I have this PC laptop and I'm trying to coordinate it on our wireless network with the Mac desktop. It's not as simple as it needs to be for me. I have used PCs for so long, I haven't had a Mac since about 1990, so now it's not as easy. Oh well.

I will try to work on it tomorrow after work. Probably on the mac!

Good night!

 

[Pluto_fan]

I feel for you, Sheree!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Let me expose my Computer Ignorance.....what is so different about a Mac? My kids have friends with a Mac and now (of course!) they think I need one....I think not. As soon as I can get my little light bulb thing fixed..mine will be great....I just don't use it for long periods of time or the light goes out. So....explain!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Well, computer-knowledgeable people could explain it better, but basically Macs and PCs use different operating systems and it is difficult to send things between the two. I am just so used to the way the PC is that it is hard for me to switch back and forth. But I'm learning. Slowly! Like the programs for word processing are different and you have to convert documents into different formats so if you send it from a mac without converting it, a PC user won't be able to open it. The mac is great for pictures, graphics, making videos etc. That's why DH likes it. He's been doing a lot with our Disney pictures.

I've got an update just about ready - going to try to add the pictures in and post soon!

 

[Dancegrl624]

We have 2 PC's (desktop and laptop) but my little sis and dad have a Mac. When I go to their house and I use their laptops, I get so confused! Everything is different! Plus, I use Internet Explorer and they use Firefox. Even the minimize and close buttons are in the opposite corner! I think I'll be sticking with PC's.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Meghan - you're right! It seems like everything is backwards on the Mac. It's really odd because in law school I used a Mac, and then I had to switch to PC for work Now I'm trying to mix them together and I feel like I'm schizophrenic or something!


So after my many delays, I’m back to tell you about our Pirate Night! We were scheduled to have dinner in Parrot Cay. This is a more casual restaurant than Triton’s and Animator’s Palate. On Pirate Night last year, the servers dressed in pirate costumes and there was a special Pirate Night menu printed on a treasure map! It was rolled up like a scroll and tied with “rope”. I snatched a few of those for our scrapbook. This year, nothing. No pirate costumes, no pirate menu. Lots of people do dress up in pirate gear. We made t-shirts last year and wore them again. Plus this year we had bandanas and eye patches and beads.
You’ll remember that I had purchased that ring in Nassau and was supposed to get it that evening. DH went over to the shopping desk while we were at dinner and brought it to me. That’s when I thought -- jeez, this stone looks bigger than I remember when I picked it out! I showed it off to the family at dinner.

So, from our regular non-pirate menu, I ordered the Crab Martinique appetizer which was yummy and mango papaya cold soup. That was super good! Like a fruit smoothie! DH had Jerk Chicken and liked that. For entree I tried Grouper with rice. It was pretty good - I’m not a big fish eater, but I figured, hey why not try it? DH had the mixed grill and said it was good. Dessert I had creme brulee’ cheesecake! Oh boy! Two of my favorite desserts combined. DH had the french toast banana cake with coconut ice cream. I had to taste that! It was good too! I should mention that the girls ordered chicken strips or hamburgers or hot dogs at every dinner. So there won't be much in the way of pictures of that.
I'm not sure why, but I don't seem to have taken pictures of the entrees. I may stumble across them later. Oh well, you've seen one grouper or mixed grill, you've seen them all, right?
Food pictures:

crab martinique (and my mojito!)

Jerk Chicken

creme brulee cheesecake

French toast banana cake

Paige got strawberry ice cream

I don't remember what SIL Donna got, but here's a picture of it!

When we made the reservation, they had asked us if we were celebrating anything. So we said it was a family reunion. That night at dinner we were presented with this:

As if we needed more dessert!!!

After dinner we had some options. The show that night was Toy Story the Musical. We had seen it on our first cruise, and it was pretty good, but we figured we didn’t really need to see that one again. I thought it was too long anyway. They were showing Disney’s A Christmas Carol in 3D in the other theater, so we took the girls and the nephews and went to see that. We all pretty much gave it a thumbs down and wished we’d have left in the middle of it. It was so dreary and dark - rather depressing. A bit scary too - especially for little ones.

Then at 9:45 it was time for the Pirates in the Caribbean party. Yes, I said IN the Caribbean! Up on Deck 9 and 10 they play dance music, have a bunch of dancers in pirate garb dancing and some of the characters participate. Captain Hook, Smee, Stitch were all there. Then of course, it’s Pirate Mickey to the rescue! Now, he was supposed to zip line across the ship, (which he did last year), but it was too windy! So he just was up at the top waving to everyone and saying something like here’s a real hero and a party in the sky! Then they had a great fireworks show at sea! It was a lot of fun despite the wind. At 10:45 they had a buffet, but we skipped it and headed to bed around 11:30. We were so tired! But I wasn't too tired to take a picture of this guy that was hanging around when we got back to our cabin.

Tomorrow is our big day of fun at Castaway Cay!! Would we have good weather? Would we get to swim? Would I enjoy a tropical beverage on the beach? Would we eat more? (Duh.) Would I take a bazillion pictures??

Definitely, maybe!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Saturday 12/12 - Castaway Cay

I don’t have any notes from this day! I have no idea why. I took lots of pictures, so I guess we’ll go from that and my and DH’s collective memories!
I don't even remember where we ate breakfast this day!

We did not book any excursions this trip. Last time we had booked the stingray adventure for DD8 and I, but it was canceled due to wind. This time she didn’t care if we did it, so although I wanted to do it, I decided to forget it and save our money. I just wanted to relax and enjoy the beach. The kids didn’t even want to go to the kids’ club this time. Last time they did and they did crafts, colored, and had a treasure hunt in their secure area. They also took the kids to lunch.

We disembarked around 9:00 right at the dock and saw a lovely display.

You can see a crane in the background. They had started some construction to do improvements to Castaway Cay and to work on the dock for the new ships.

We started walking toward the tram stop and beaches and stopped at the post office to visit Chip and Dale!

There were Christmas decorations all around the island. It was such a special touch.
These were on the posts along the path to the beach.

Even the tram was decorated for the holidays!

You can see how windy it was by looking at the palm trees.

As we arrived near the family beach, we encountered this handsome pirate and stopped for a few pictures.

The pirate ship in the background is actually the Flying Dutchman that was used in the Pirates of The Caribbean movie. They had it brought here after the filming. You can't go on it, but if you go snorkeling or on the jetskis you can get fairly close to it.
We bumped into these two as well.

There are lots of activities at Castaway Cay, crab races, biking, excursions,snorkeling, parasailing, shopping etc. They bring a DJ out too. We parked on the family beach rather close to one end since the in-laws didn’t want to walk too far. Of course, they’d have to walk farther down to get to the buffet and bathrooms and shopping later.
Servers come around the beach and take drink orders. That is so nice!! They have a special drink called a Konk (maybe it’s Conch?) Kooler. I could not remember what was in it. I believe it is a lot of rum! I think I had a pina colada though. I know my DH and SIL and them got some too, but non-alcoholic. I’m the only drinker in this bunch. We got cute little plastic coconut souvenir cups. For a ridiculous price of course. I think they were $10 each. I know at some point during the day they have 2 for 1 Konk Koolers.

So we were hanging out on the beach for a while, the kids and I actually did go in the water. It was a little cool/cloudy, but nice enough for us! They played in the sand and we kicked back in our lounge chairs.


At some point, we wandered around the beach a bit, walked down the path and found a couple shops. My bill says I bought something at the one store, but I have no idea what! It might have been a scrapbook set.

We had lunch at Cookies BBQ on the island. They served BBQ ribs, chicken, hamburgers, fruit, chips, potato salad, and giant cookies. They also had soft serve ice cream and sodas. It’s all buffet and they have about 6 buffet lines so it’s not like you’re standing in line a long time.

After lunch we wandered some more. SIL Donna and family went and rented bikes and went for a ride. We found the hair braiding and got the girls’ hair braided. They did not do their whole head or anything, just a few braids each. It was not very expensive, just like a dollar a braid. They did not like the pulling, but it didn’t last long. They looked so cute!

Hair braiding pictures

The braids did help keep the hair out of their eyes!

continued...

 

[Mndisneygirl]

There are so many great spots for photo ops!

As you leave, this wishes you farewell.

A couple more shots of the ship on the way back.

In case you didn't know, my DH is a mail carrier. Here's him staring longingly at the Castaway Cay Post Office, wishing he could work there.

It's the little things...

Sarah admiring the fake seagulls perched on the posts

I think I posted this one before - but now there's not a bunch of people in the picture!

I thought about using this picture on our Christmas card.

One more night on the ship! Our dinner was to be at Triton's that night. Triton's is the more formal of the three dining rooms. I will tell you all about dinner, dessert and the show that night in the next update! I'm tired and tomorrow is Sarah's 9th birthday! I will also try to upload the pictures from our little family gathering last night and post a few of the fabulous cupcakes!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Castaway Cay looks wonderful! I actually just watched something about the Disney Cruise Line the other day on the the Travel Channel! The inside of those ships are just gorgeous. The show was very informative and made me want to book a cruise right now. LOVE that they brought the Flying Dutchman to Castaway Cay. It's just so creepy and cool at the same time.

 

[jenseib]

What a wonderful day. I sure Hope someday to see it all myself!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Wonderful!! I would like to go just so the boys could see the Flying Dutchman--its ds14s ultimate-favorite movie. Love the pictures!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I am kind of sad there isn't a special pirates menu for Pirates' Night now. The reunion cake looks delicious though!!!

The original story of A Christmas Carol is pretty dark -- in fact, Charles Dickens' advertised it as a "ghost story," so I am not really surprised to hear that the new version is dark as well. Your experience made me glad we had skipped it.

Fireworks at sea would be so cool!!!

Castaway Cay is so neat! I loved looking at all the pictures you took! You are right -- those Christmas decorations are great! I can't get over how expensive your drink was though -- $10 seems so high to me!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I am kind of sad there isn't a special pirates menu for Pirates' Night now. The reunion cake looks delicious though!!!

The original story of A Christmas Carol is pretty dark -- in fact, Charles Dickens' advertised it as a "ghost story," so I am not really surprised to hear that the new version is dark as well. Your experience made me glad we had skipped it.

Fireworks at sea would be so cool!!!

Castaway Cay is so neat! I loved looking at all the pictures you took! You are right -- those Christmas decorations are great! I can't get over how expensive your drink was though -- $10 seems so high to me!

Yeah, the menu was a cool souvenir! The fireworks were amazing - very Disney! No other cruise line does that. I am not 100% on the drinks I just saw our final bill said $20 and I know we got at least two. DH may have paid for his SIL's too. We did get to keep the coconut cups (Paige loves to drink out of it!)

Wonderful!! I would like to go just so the boys could see the Flying Dutchman--its ds14s ultimate-favorite movie. Love the pictures!!!

You need to book a cruise girl!!

What a wonderful day. I sure Hope someday to see it all myself!

I hope you can too! It's so worth it!

Castaway Cay looks wonderful! I actually just watched something about the Disney Cruise Line the other day on the the Travel Channel! The inside of those ships are just gorgeous. The show was very informative and made me want to book a cruise right now. LOVE that they brought the Flying Dutchman to Castaway Cay. It's just so creepy and cool at the same time.

I think the Travel Channel shows should just be labeled informercials since they do the same to us! I think that's how DH got so hooked in! The ships are very classic and elegant - which is almost ironic since it is full of kids! Very different from Carnival, which reminds me more of what I imagine Vegas to be like (never been). Bright neon signs, showgirl type evening shows, less family oriented entertainment, casinos.
I hope someday you will get to book a cruise! Sadly, like all other things Disney, it is not inexpensive.



Just have to say - 9 years ago today at 3:18 pm central time - I became a mommy!!!

Happy Birthday Sarah!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Just have to say - 9 years ago today at 3:18 pm central time - I became a mommy!!!

Happy Birthday Sarah!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Sarah! Love from your friends in Canada!!!


Congratulations on your 9th Anniversary of being a Mommy!!

(Let the hormones begin!!!) heehee

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Wow, I do not know how I missed this incredible report. I'm reading thru it now and can't wait to get to the cruise parts.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Happy Birthday Sweet Sarah! Love from your friends in Canada!!!


Congratulations on your 9th Anniversary of being a Mommy!!

(Let the hormones begin!!!) heehee

Thank you my friend!!

Wow, I do not know how I missed this incredible report. I'm reading thru it now and can't wait to get to the cruise parts.

and Thank You! I hope you enjoy it!