The Tale of the Grow Walk .Hunh?

[Steppesister]

All caught up once again! So many, many wonderful pictures of the ship and what looks like another fabulous meal!

I wish I could be done with school NOW so I can get myself on one of these cruises! After reading your report, I really want to go on one now.

 

[jenseib]

More pretty pictures of the ship.

Sorry you were tired and not feeling well and couldn't go out after dinner, but glad that Skip and Claire had a good time at karoke and that Skip obviously had a good time after he brought Claire back.

Yes by the bar bill we had, I think he had a good time most every day.

All caught up once again! So many, many wonderful pictures of the ship and what looks like another fabulous meal!

I wish I could be done with school NOW so I can get myself on one of these cruises! After reading your report, I really want to go on one now.

I totally understand. I have been looking at other ships on other lines too and I want to try so many!

 

[jenseib]

March 29, 2015, Saturday, Day 9

I was up before anyone else…..because they are deadbeats on vacation!!! Ok, I also went to bed much earlier than them too.

I went for a walk. I love the carpets.





Still dark outside.

















This time of morning is very peaceful to be up on deck. You really see only a few people at most.





The sun is trying to peek out.







The crew hard at work cleaning the ship.













A ship off in the distance.





This one didn’t turn out like I wanted it to. I was trying to focus on the Mickey logo but I guess I wasn’t paying attention and it got the background instead.

 

[JKSWonder]

I'm glad that Skip seems to be having a good time...that means future DCL cruises for you are possible, right?

 

[dizneeat]

I can't believe that you AGAIN are up at the crack of dawn. Girl, you amaze me.

We like to roam the ship late at night as it is so nice and quiet than too. Love, love, love all your pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jenseib]

Continuing my morning walk.















I had to check out the new splash area.























The stairs up to the new slide.





Pools are still closed at this time.



I was getting a little hungry so I think I grabbed a banana.



And walked around a little more and took a peek in the arcade.

 

[dizneeat]

And there she goes ....... posting even more great pics.

You are doing something I never expected would happen. You are pushing me towards getting excited about the Magic again.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I had to play catch-up. I was allllll the way back on the posts where Claire was checking out the kids' club. Every single time that I see your pictures and read your cruise reports, I think about how much we missed out on when we cruised on the Dream. If we ever do cruise again, I'm going to make sure that we take more time to explore the ship and peek into every single place that we can.

 

[jenseib]

I'm glad that Skip seems to be having a good time...that means future DCL cruises for you are possible, right?

I hope so too!

I can't believe that you AGAIN are up at the crack of dawn. Girl, you amaze me.

We like to roam the ship late at night as it is so nice and quiet than too. Love, love, love all your pics. Thanks for sharing.

I have issues sleeping when I know I could be doing something.
I love roaming a quiet ship too.

And there she goes ....... posting even more great pics.

You are doing something I never expected would happen. You are pushing me towards getting excited about the Magic again.

I actually had this ready to post earlier and then Gracie arrived and I forgot to hit the submit button.

I had to play catch-up. I was allllll the way back on the posts where Claire was checking out the kids' club. Every single time that I see your pictures and read your cruise reports, I think about how much we missed out on when we cruised on the Dream. If we ever do cruise again, I'm going to make sure that we take more time to explore the ship and peek into every single place that we can.

I totally understand. I was caught up with everyone Sunday morning and by yesterday I was very behind again.
I do like to explore the ships and once you have been on the ships a couple of times the time on them slows down a bit and I don't feel so rushed to do it all.

 

[KatMark]

I'm so glad that you were an early bird on vacation and got all of those awesome pictures of the ship while everyone else was still tucked away in bed or just getting ready.

I LOVE that kids area...that is just too cute. Duck Boy Paint.

 

[wiscbugs]

Man...you always get up so early on all of your trips. I am envious!

 

[MEK]

I love that you always get up nice and early and take pics before everyone else is around. I don't think I did that once when we were on the Dream. I'm such a slacker. Or maybe its because it was the end of my vacation where I tend to actually be able to sleep later than what I'm used to!

Your pictures have me so excited to sail on the Magic next December! I know I keep saying that.

 

[jenseib]

I'm so glad that you were an early bird on vacation and got all of those awesome pictures of the ship while everyone else was still tucked away in bed or just getting ready.

I LOVE that kids area...that is just too cute. Duck Boy Paint.

I do love the mornings.
They did a good job with the splash area.

Man...you always get up so early on all of your trips. I am envious!

I do. I have issues sleeping in. Even at home i can't sleep in too late....however I can take a nap easily.

 

[jenseib]

I love that you always get up nice and early and take pics before everyone else is around. I don't think I did that once when we were on the Dream. I'm such a slacker. Or maybe its because it was the end of my vacation where I tend to actually be able to sleep later than what I'm used to!

Your pictures have me so excited to sail on the Magic next December! I know I keep saying that.

I will admit I was starting to drag a little slower by this time. But I have issues sleeping in whereever I am. I also have a lot of adrenline going on vacation...I wish some of that would carry over to every day life.

 

[jenseib]

I headed back to the room and got the family going. Sadly, Claire was pretty tired and it took a lot of coaxing to get her moving today. Once we were ready for the day we went and got some breakfast.

All the important essentials.





I believe we were eating out back so we could watch us pull into Nassau.















I thought that this ship looked like a lego.





A carnival ship already docked.



It was warm out but still extremely windy and the seas had still been rocky out there, but calm as we pulled into the harbor.









Another Carnival ship coming in.



I think this is the one that was already docked.




We had plans today! When we sailed the Dream in 2012, Claire tried snorkeling for the first time with the sting ray feeding adventure at Castaway Cay. She took to it easily and she has asked since then to do a real snorkeling excursion. So I looked at options and we booked one for this day. It was a morning excursion and the plan was to do it, come back to the ship for lunch and then take a taxi over to Atlantis to check out the Aquarium.

At the designated time we met up with the group.



Most of Disney’s excursions meet on the ship and then you head out together. I really like that. Most other lines don’t do it that way.

 

[jenseib]

After everyone was there and accounted for and we all showed our room keys and ID’s we were escorted off the ship.









We were led just outside a gate and told that our boat would soon be there for us.





They let us in the gated area and our boat arrived.



And we boarded her.



I like to people watch and check out the people on excursions with us. There was one family that was all blonde and beautiful…the perfect family. LOL. It was like a family out of a magazine.
Then there was the family with a mom (I don’t remember if a dad was with them or not, but I think so), and she was the loud talker that explained things to her preteen to young teen kids. It was obvious she wanted everyone to hear what a perfect parent she was explaining it all to her kids and you could see her look around to see if anyone else was listening. I swear I attract those kinds everywhere I go and it’s fine to explain to the kids what is going on etc, but I don’t need to hear it. In fact I did do some explaining to Claire….and Skip, but I said it in low tones…..of course Skip said Hunh?

Once we all were settled in we took off towards the snorkeling location.



I thought that boat looked kind of neat.



The buildings look so pretty and colorful.



We went right around the Mail Boat.



Some of the boats docked there made me wonder how they were still staying afloat.



And out to the open seas.



It was still pretty wavy and for a little boat like this we did do quite a bit of bouncing around. We also received directions as we headed out. Finally we made it to our destination and we came to a stop.

There were other people snorkeling in the area as well. I think we had a flag or something to identify which boat was ours and also were told to stay in a certain distance.



Claire is ready and excited!



We all used the stairs to jump in. …..remember that family where the Mom explained it all to basically all of us….her kids were blocking the steps because they didn’t want to get in and I think they ended up going back up and waiting till the rest of us went.

The water was cold, but we got used to it fast…but it was wavy. It took us a bit to adjust our things so we weren’t swallowing water or getting it in our masks. I will admit, it was kind of hard to snorkel with it being so wavy. Claire was having the most trouble.
I took some underwater pictures and tried to play with them in photoshop, but unless you have a really good camera with a flash, I just don’t think underwater pictures come out all that fabulous.





My favorite fish…The Claire.



And here comes a shark….oh wait, that’s Skip.

 

[jenseib]

I am not sure who this guy was…probably one of the instructors.



Skip kept telling us he saw a bracelet or necklace on the bottom….I never could see it, but he insisted it was there. I think he thought he found treasure because he would tell everyone about it. LOL.



Claire was struggling and I tried to help her a bit, but I think the waves were just a bit too bumpy for her as a beginner to go with the flow so much.









Here is a look at the waves. Now I know they don’t look huge but for a snorkeling day for us who are not super experienced it moved us around more than we would like.



















Claire really was struggling. Every time we pointed something out she said she couldn’t see. I really should’ve taken more time to see if her mask was right, because I think she was taking in water more than I thought, which made it hard on her. She also told me later she just had a really hard time looking down and keeping her air thing (that’s the technical term. LOL) out of the water as waves kept going over her.



But she wasn’t having as hard of a time as those 2 kids with the loud mom. The mom would take each one out separately and the other would cling to the steps at the boat. They did a lot of complaining and I think one was crying. They clearly did not like this at all. At least Claire was giving it a shot….but this was something she wanted to do. I will say Claire was not overly impressed with it when we were done but I think it was the conditions more than anything and she is willing to try it again in the future and hopefully we’ll have calmer seas.

 

[dizneeat]

Great photos of getting into Nassau - and had a deja vue when I saw that photos of the lighthouse - I think we get the same one every time we visit.

Now, that catamaran looks scary to me - add some rocky seas to it and I would not set foot on it.
LOL on the loud talking mom and stair blocking kiddos.

You are all brave to snorkel in the choppy waters. And even though the water must not have been too clear you got good underwater shots.

 

[jenseib]

I noticed more fish seemed to be in the area all of a sudden.



And then I realized why. This guy was feeding the fish bread.





At least I assumed it was bread.







I took a little video of the fishies too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r81QBsVWCc





By this time Claire had had it. She was taking in too much water and was feeling cold. I too was getting pretty tired as it was harder swimming with it being wavy and I too was getting a bit cold so I told her I would take her back on the boat. Skip wanted to stay out a bit more, which was fine with us.

We headed to the ladder and had to tell the child clinging for life that we wanted up. I think in the end that family just gave up and went back on the boat too. Claire went up and then me. Let’s say I am not graceful using these stairs. I think the ladder is actually easier. I took off my flippers and then threw them on the steps and tried to hoist my body out of the water….It took a few tries…If someone was videoing it, it probably would make America’s Funniest home Videos.

We dried off and got situated in our place on the boat.



I believe that is Skip out there in the red trunks….probably still looking at that bracelet!



They started to call everyone in and Skip made a slight more graceful transfer to the steps than I did.



But not but much!



Time to head back.



I just love how blue the water is.







This boat appeared to be sinking, but no one seemed to care…I am not sure if it had been there a few days or what. I just found it creepy.





They did hand out snacks and drinks for us as we went back. Just basic small stuff and I think it was koolaid and very watered down.

 

[dizneeat]

Yeah, you did it again - snuck in another update!