Day 17 – Castaway Cay, Part 1
Monday 30th May
Up at 7.15am to see Castaway Cay approaching! Kids are quickly wide awake and excited to see the scenery change minute by minute. The big porthole gives a great view of the world. Shower and dress and head for Cabanas for breakfast…along with everyone else. Hard to find a free table at first, but nab one eventually and then get some food from the buffets. Typical American fare, bacon, sausage, eggs, plus cereals, pastries, etc. Nicely done, and all of the items are of a high quality as you’d expect.
At 8.30am they announce we can now leave the ship, so we finish breakfast and head back to the room to pick up our swimming things. Drop off our pillow cases and pens at guest services on the way down to deck 1, and we are checked off the ship with our key cards. Grab towels and just miss a tram, so instead we walk along to the family beach spying Mickey and Minnie along the way. This takes 10 mins or so…in hindsight, waiting for the next tram would have been a better idea as it’s a fair way and the weather is hot, hot, hot already! Skip some of the photo opportunities as we want to get some decent beach position, and find a set of beds part shaded, part in the sunshine – perfect.
Pretty perfect, don’t you think?
Lay out the various towels, bags, children and then it’s in the water! A little chilly to start with compared to the pools over the past 2 weeks, but not too cold, and we’re soon acclimatized. The sand is lovely and soft, and you can see dozens of tiny fish in the water as you look down. A little disconcerting for the kids at first, but they eventually get used to it (well mostly
)
We bob around in the sea for a while, then lay in the sunshine to dry off. Repeat this pattern two or three times till around 11.30am…lunchtime! Head to Cookies for burgers, hot dogs, etc…followed by multiple ice creams and lots of iced drinks to cool off. Emma finds some hammocks just along the beaches and decide this is the life for her.
http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/i..._Web_3/0_0_ab0f7206fd04f1c1f1fc1cc25f8cf3d7_1
Decide it’s time to use our bike rental so walk further along the beach towards the rental shack and sign their waiver – basically, you’re on your own in case of accidents! Get everyone set up with a bike, helmet, etc and we’re off. Bikes have reverse-pedal brakes which take some getting used to, but soon we’re all in control.
Head off to the observation tower and get some photos of the ship in the distance. Then carry on for the rest of the route, which is probably a good couple of miles in the end. All a little sun-drenched and becoming a bit tomato-like at this point, so stop for more drinks and ice cream at Cookies Too. More choices here, including soft-serve banana flavour– yum!
Hot work on the bikes…
…so time for an ice cream and drink
Grab some inner tubes to take back into the sea, and play around with these for a while, followed by a final set of sunbathing before heading back to the ship around 3pm, stopping for some photos with Chip and Dale at the dock.
Find some more presents in the room – a set of magical memories badges and certificates for us all, and a complementary plate of cookies! I love being a magical family!
Cookies!
Showers / baths all round to wash the sand away and freshen up, and Helen then takes the kids to the club while I start to catch up on the trip report. Ryan returns with her – only Emma wanted to stay, whereas he wants to see the ship sail away. We head up to deck 12 to hear the horn sound as we depart, and wave goodbye to Castaway Cay for 3 days…until Thursday, au revoir.
Go to check out the photos taken so far – some really nice ones. Going to be tough to resist at this rate…then we head to dinner, stopping off for a brilliant photo with Pinocchio on the way.
We are in Enchanted Garden tonight, and the restaurant looks lovely – even nicer than photos suggested before we arrived. Iputu and Devon get us comfy and then the Wave phone goes – Emma wants to leave the club. Helen goes to pick her up…only reason she wanted out it turns out is she’d amassed too much crafting and colouring to carry around with her. She sits with us for 20 mins, and then I take her back…she runs into the club, not even turning round to say goodbye!
Wonderful dinner – best food of the holiday by far – and we decide to drop by the D lounge to play bingo for 45 mins before the show. One number away on the last game for a prize of over $150…shame, that would have been nice…Lucky number 7 – not!
Grab Emma from the club, and then to the show – Villians Tonight! Some good songs and costumes entertain the capacity audience – maybe not quite Broadway quality, but very very close, that’s for sure.
We are all feeling a little sleepy by now, so quick visit to Deck 10 for pizza for Emma and drinks all round. Helen heads off to the cabin to get ready for bed, while I shepherd the kids round mini golf one more time. We head back after this, and it’s time for bed for all. Nassau tomorrow…
Present from our cabin attendant
Love this message!
Day 18 – Nassau
Setting the Scene and Index
Monday 30th May
Up at 7.15am to see Castaway Cay approaching! Kids are quickly wide awake and excited to see the scenery change minute by minute. The big porthole gives a great view of the world. Shower and dress and head for Cabanas for breakfast…along with everyone else. Hard to find a free table at first, but nab one eventually and then get some food from the buffets. Typical American fare, bacon, sausage, eggs, plus cereals, pastries, etc. Nicely done, and all of the items are of a high quality as you’d expect.
At 8.30am they announce we can now leave the ship, so we finish breakfast and head back to the room to pick up our swimming things. Drop off our pillow cases and pens at guest services on the way down to deck 1, and we are checked off the ship with our key cards. Grab towels and just miss a tram, so instead we walk along to the family beach spying Mickey and Minnie along the way. This takes 10 mins or so…in hindsight, waiting for the next tram would have been a better idea as it’s a fair way and the weather is hot, hot, hot already! Skip some of the photo opportunities as we want to get some decent beach position, and find a set of beds part shaded, part in the sunshine – perfect.
Pretty perfect, don’t you think?
Lay out the various towels, bags, children and then it’s in the water! A little chilly to start with compared to the pools over the past 2 weeks, but not too cold, and we’re soon acclimatized. The sand is lovely and soft, and you can see dozens of tiny fish in the water as you look down. A little disconcerting for the kids at first, but they eventually get used to it (well mostly
)We bob around in the sea for a while, then lay in the sunshine to dry off. Repeat this pattern two or three times till around 11.30am…lunchtime! Head to Cookies for burgers, hot dogs, etc…followed by multiple ice creams and lots of iced drinks to cool off. Emma finds some hammocks just along the beaches and decide this is the life for her.
http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/i..._Web_3/0_0_ab0f7206fd04f1c1f1fc1cc25f8cf3d7_1
Decide it’s time to use our bike rental so walk further along the beach towards the rental shack and sign their waiver – basically, you’re on your own in case of accidents! Get everyone set up with a bike, helmet, etc and we’re off. Bikes have reverse-pedal brakes which take some getting used to, but soon we’re all in control.
Head off to the observation tower and get some photos of the ship in the distance. Then carry on for the rest of the route, which is probably a good couple of miles in the end. All a little sun-drenched and becoming a bit tomato-like at this point, so stop for more drinks and ice cream at Cookies Too. More choices here, including soft-serve banana flavour– yum!
Hot work on the bikes…
…so time for an ice cream and drink
Grab some inner tubes to take back into the sea, and play around with these for a while, followed by a final set of sunbathing before heading back to the ship around 3pm, stopping for some photos with Chip and Dale at the dock.
Find some more presents in the room – a set of magical memories badges and certificates for us all, and a complementary plate of cookies! I love being a magical family!
Cookies!
Showers / baths all round to wash the sand away and freshen up, and Helen then takes the kids to the club while I start to catch up on the trip report. Ryan returns with her – only Emma wanted to stay, whereas he wants to see the ship sail away. We head up to deck 12 to hear the horn sound as we depart, and wave goodbye to Castaway Cay for 3 days…until Thursday, au revoir.
Go to check out the photos taken so far – some really nice ones. Going to be tough to resist at this rate…then we head to dinner, stopping off for a brilliant photo with Pinocchio on the way.
We are in Enchanted Garden tonight, and the restaurant looks lovely – even nicer than photos suggested before we arrived. Iputu and Devon get us comfy and then the Wave phone goes – Emma wants to leave the club. Helen goes to pick her up…only reason she wanted out it turns out is she’d amassed too much crafting and colouring to carry around with her. She sits with us for 20 mins, and then I take her back…she runs into the club, not even turning round to say goodbye!
Wonderful dinner – best food of the holiday by far – and we decide to drop by the D lounge to play bingo for 45 mins before the show. One number away on the last game for a prize of over $150…shame, that would have been nice…Lucky number 7 – not!
Grab Emma from the club, and then to the show – Villians Tonight! Some good songs and costumes entertain the capacity audience – maybe not quite Broadway quality, but very very close, that’s for sure.
We are all feeling a little sleepy by now, so quick visit to Deck 10 for pizza for Emma and drinks all round. Helen heads off to the cabin to get ready for bed, while I shepherd the kids round mini golf one more time. We head back after this, and it’s time for bed for all. Nassau tomorrow…
Present from our cabin attendant
Love this message!
Day 18 – Nassau
Setting the Scene and Index
