TimandLesley's When the Boat's a Rockin' Don't .... Trip of a Lifetime TR 2/4/1 pg.33

[timandlesley]

Day 4 on the Disney Dream
So I TOTALLY forgot to mention a VERY important thing that happened on the night of DAY 3. That night after the show the kids wanted to go to kids club, we enjoyed a drink and some free time with Diane and Bryan. When we picked up the kids Luke and Lauren were on cloud nine because THEY FOUND THE WAND!!!!!!!!!!! They were so excited and Lauren LOVED her new wand, WOO HOO!
So….the morning of Day 4 was Nassau day, we were still undecided about if we were getting off the ship or not, I was leaning towards not, because I’ve been to Nassau before and am not a fan – Tim had never been there before. Our first order of business was to go to the Princess meet and greet in the lobby at 9 a.m. so Lauren and I headed up there at 8:45 to be one of the first in line. The princesses arrived and we were so excited to see how many were there:

Snow White was up first As you can see Lauren brought her wand to show the princesses, she told each of them her brother had made it for her and there was cute interaction with all of them about the wand, they loved it:

Then Belle:

Princess Aurora was next:

Then Tiana, who REALLY liked the wand:

The beautiful Ariel:

And last but certainly not least, Cinderella:

We saw all of them quickly in less than 10 minutes, LOVE Disney Cruise line and the character meet n’ greets. Tim and Luke met us in the lobby and we went in for breakfast at the Royal Palace. It was a nice change from the buffet breakfasts we had, in here you ordered off the menu and they had a nice selection. We really enjoyed our breakfast.
Lauren with her fruit boat appetizer:

We still were deciding on if we were getting off the boat or not. Lauren REALLY wanted her hair braided and we saw ladies pool side doing the braiding and it was VERY affordable, only $2.00 a brad. So I had told Lauren I wanted her to do this before we got off of the ship (I didn’t want her harassed by the locals to get her hair braided). We went over and they said we could make an appointment which was an hour later. In the meantime we took the kids up to Goofy’s sports deck to play a round of mini golf:

It was a beautiful day and Nassau sure looked amazing from the ship:

Tim with Atlantis in the background:

At this point Tim said “I know you were here as a kid Lesley, but things may have changed, it really looks pretty”. So we decided we’d get off and see if my childhood memories of Nassau were true or not. By this time it was time for Lauren’s hair appointment and Luke was DYING to meet Jimminy Cricket in the lobby so Tim and Luke headed down there and Lauren and I got her hair braided (I didn’t take pics of the process but you’ll see how lovely her hair turned out later, got the whole thing braided PLUS tip for only $18.00!!!)
Luke with his pal:

My handsome boy in the lobby:

The kids decided they wanted to go to kids club and do some of the fun activities they had planned in there for the day. Tim and I decided this was perfect because we could leave them in there safe and sound and we could head into Nassau for a few hours to shop, so that’s what we did. We shopped around for less than an hour and let me tell you, Nassau was JUST as I remembered it. A lot of overly aggressive cabbies and vendors begging to braid your hair, rent a scooter and take a cab. The prices we found weren’t that great and we headed back to the ship thankful we hadn’t taken the kids off. We decided to head back on board and enjoy the beautiful DREAM. We checked in on the kids and they didn’t want to get out, O.K! Tim and I enjoyed some time alone together, which was sooooooooooo nice : ) : )
Then we headed up pool side and enjoyed the adults only pool. Diane and Bryan met us up there and then we ran into Jennifer (a Diser “Happydog”) and her husband. I enjoyed a wonderful drink of the day on the beautiful deck, that adult area is so nice! Then the ladies decided we wanted to tackle the aqua duck as there was barely a line. As I got up thank GOD Jennifer was being observant because I had left my wavephone on my chair, YIKES! She saved the day on that one. The three of us headed over to the aquaduck and got on quickly. It was nice talking to and getting to know Jennifer, very nice lady (hi Jennifer!) Diane and I rode together, it was a great ride as always, fun experiencing it with my friend. Tim was able to pick the kids up from the kids club and we met back up at the room. The kids had an amazing time doing science experiments (mentos and coke= big explosion, cooking class, etc.) such fun!
Here was our view from our virtual porthole that day:

It was the Carnival Sensation parked next door. That ship looked SO nasty, it was old, outdated, teenie and DIRTY! It was the joke all day among the people on the Dream. Not to sound snobby, but it really was, the entire tail fin was BLACK and disgusting. It just looked so sad next to the amazing DREAM.
It was pirate night and we were ALL so excited. The kids got all dressed and they were instantly in pirate mode : )

Luke wanted to meet Jack Sparrow who was in the D lounge, so on our way up there we saw Mickey and Minnie in their pirate gear with NO line so we couldn’t pass that up:

We made our way up to the D lounge. There was a small line for Jack, and he suddenly appeared at the back of the line, stood there in line and kept saying “what are we waiting for?” it was cute and the kids thought it was so funny. When we got up there Jack was funny with Luke, asking if he was an imposter ! : ) Jack with the kids (doesn’t he look like Will Farrel to you!)

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!

 

[timandlesley]

Then he politely kicked Lauren out of the picture and said he needed to have one just him “and the boy”

Luke got so many compliments on that outfit. We lucked out, it was a pirate outfit we bought 2 years ago on clearance at a Disney store for Halloween, he wore it to his pirate birthday party a few years ago and thank God Luke is so darn skinny he fits into it STILL. Lauren had bought that dress at Halloween time a year ago and when we heard about pirate night on the cruise we were excited the dress would work perfectly! Just so you know, they do leave pirate bandannas and eye patches for you to use in case you don’t bring your own pirate gear : )
We headed back to meet up with Tim for dinner and ran into pirate Goofy on the steps, so cool!

We decided a drink was in order to get in a “piratey” mood so I brought In a glass of wine with me and Bryan and Tim brought in some beers (they totally allowed this which was so cool!). Here we were entering the Enchanted Garden with the amazing staff getting everyone in the mood:

The pirate menu:

My pirates at dinner:

I don’t remember off the top of my head what I ordered but I remember it was seafood and it was DELICOUS and picture worthy : )
Lauren ordered the same thing and didn't like it, Ana was so cute, she came up and said, "you don't like it sweetie?" When Lauren said "no, can I get something else please?" Ana said "oh yes, let me take away this BAD BAD FISHY!!!" it was halarious, she was so sweet and it sure made Lauren laugh : )

After dinner there was a pirate show on deck with Mickey and friends that Lauren and I wanted to go to. It was lots of fun:

Lauren excited for the show to begin, we had a great spot:

All the characters were there in their pirate gear, it was a great show:

Pirates even repelled off of the top of the ship:

After that show we met up with the guys who were saving us seats for the CARS 2 premire in the Disney Theatre. We were all so excited about this premire at sea, I remember seeing CARS with Luke when he was little and he was obsessed with the CARS characters and die cast cars for years after and we had been counting the days until CARS 2 would be released, and being able to see it at Sea together on the Disney Dream was truly a Dream come true! It didn’t disappoint, they even had it in 3-D on the ship, it was a great movie and we all loved it!
Immediately after the movie we headed up to get a spot for the fireworks and nighttime pirate show.

Now, don’t let this next picture scare you, it looks scary but honestly we had a great spot up top and didn’t feel crowded at ALL, everyone was outside looking up waiting for the fireworks:

And they began and did not disappoint, the fireworks at Sea are AMAZING!

Before we knew it pirates were rappeling and appearing from no where for the show, such fun!

On pirate night they have a pirate buffet at Cabanas so we went over there to check that out. They had turkey legs on the buffet and the kids had always wanted to try them. So try them THEY DID!!!

The buffet was just o.k., there were a lot of people there and we decided the room service menu had more to offer so we went back to the room to order our “usual”. I enjoyed my night cap of cheese and wine and went to sleep after another AMAZING day on the Disney Dream!!!

NEXT INSTALLMENT IS UP!!! CLICK HERE TO SEE IT:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=42231802#post42231802

 

[Aburns8]

Wow! What a great day! Reading this is making me more excited about our cruise! I can't wait to experience all of this.

 

[DWGal210]

Sounds like another perfect day!!

We didn't get off the boat in Nassau, either. We stayed on, had some beverages & relaxed.

The kids look so cute on Pirate Night!! What great outfits!!

 

[ronnmel]

I'm following another TR from a couple who honeymooned at Disney World and on the Dream and I'm pretty sure they were on the boat at the same time as you. Talk about coincidence!

Pirates night looks like a lot of fun.

 

[sharonW]

AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!!!
Disney Magic=THE DREAM!!
I truly hope I can experience this one day!
I think you have many people "sold" on
the disney cruise, Lesley!!!

 

[Leigha]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!!!

 

[twob4him]

Ohhhhh what a perfect perfect day! Love the braids and pirate costumes! How awesome that you could see the Cars 2 premiere on board...wow! I can't believe all of the characters you met in one day too! Awesome! So now you headed out of Nassau for CC again right?

 

[ArielSRL]

Great updates (had to catch up b/c we went back to work this week)! Loving Luke's pirate outfit! So awesome!

 

[disneylovin24]

I love all of the character meet and greets that they have! That must had a nice touch of Disney. I always wondered if the cruises felt like they were Disney or if they did not have a lot of Disney apart of them. It seems to me that they are very Disney.

The pirate outfits look great! How did you find out in advance that there was going to be a pirate night? Do they send you this stuff in a itinarary type thing

Im sure the fireworks at sea were amazing! I didn't know that they did that! I didnt know that they could do that

Besides all of the pushy people how was Nassau? Is it a beautiful place? Is it clean? Are the pushy people the only problem?

I never realized that Atlantis was near Nassau. I always thought that Atlantis was on it's own island, boy was I wrong


Im reading that other TR too for the couple that took the same cruise as you. That's funny that you both are doing TRs for the same cruise and that there are a few people reading both! Its a small Disworld.

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi!

I have just caught up with all of your TR - Ronmel sent me the link, as we were on the same cruise!
It is fun to see your photos and remember that wonderful ship



Looking forward to more,


Emma x

 

[cherokeemamma]

Great Update Lesley!

I am so glad Lauren found her wand!

The kids look great in their pirate outfits! Did you and Tim dress up? Do most people dress up? I really want to ( I love all of that stuff...I think it's so fun) but honestly have no idea what I would wear. Thankfully Halloween is before our cruise so I will be keeping a look out for something.
TTFN
Darlene

 

[cindianne320]

Wow- what a wonderful adventure! I can't wait to read more! What is the youngest age you would suggest for kiddos on the cruise?

 

[Disfan3]

Hi Lesley! Enjoying another timandlesley trip report! Have you started back to school (work?) yet!? I go back TUESDAY. We had a short summer, our calendar changed this year so it made our summer super short but we get out May 15 so we are headed to Kidani at the end of May 2012! Excited about that! A lot of pressure because we are bringing my bro's family (newbies) with us!!

I also joined an agency and am now a Disney Travel Specialist!! I really have to tell you that you, among some of my other "Disney friends" (we call each other CIF's=creepy internet friends, haha!! and have yearly, this year two!! Disney meets together!!!) really inspired me to go for it! I just kept sitting around thinking about what I "should" do instead of just DOING it!! (So I did it and just earned my ears this weekend!!) I really thought of you and all your teaching and kids and husband and blog and being a TA and thought, "WHY NOT!?!?!" Ya know!?!

I love your TR because it has helped me gain knowledge if I ever need it to help people book cruises. I have yet to experience one myself but maybe one of these days! Not only that, it looks SUPER fun!!! The kids and their pirate garb=adorable!!! Your descriptions are captivating and seemingly so effortless (although I know it takes a lot of work to write TR's!) and so very informative!

I noticed that Atlantis was right behind you guys. Is it true that you can go to Atlantis for the day if you are there?? I think I read that somewhere but not sure!!

My husband has also been to Nassau and said the same thing you did...that I am not really missing much except what you described!!

Anyway...I know you are probably very busy with everything going on so thanks for doing the report and updating it so regularly!! I really do look forward to your updates! I always learn so many new things when reading about your adventures!

 

[MissDisney121]

Hey Lesley,
I'm subbing. So glad to see you doing another tr, I always love reading about your trips. The Disney Dream looks amazing. can't wait to hear more about it and the rest of your disney vacation.

 

[Trentmom]

Pirates night looked like such fun

Lauren's hair came out great

Luke looked awesome

Can't wait for more

 

[Native NYer]

Pirate's night looks like a lot of fun! Your kids are so cute in their pirate gear.
Fireworks at sea must be so amazing.
I love Lauren's hair! So cute!

 

[CreightonsMomma]

Wow!! Pirates Night looks like a LOT of fun!!! Every time I read your TR I go and look at prices for next year. LOL. The kids costumes were FANTASTIC! Seriously, your TR just makes me speechless. Your pictures are the best pictures of the ship that i have ever seen and your words just make me feel as thought I was there with you.

 

[cherbear]

wow, Jack Sparrow really did look like Will Ferrell!! (but perhaps a younger, more attractive Will Ferrell) And Luke looked great as Jack Sparrow!

Lauren too, what a cute dress & hair bow! The braids turned out really cute. It was also very age appropriate the way they did them.

Loved all the pirate night fun!!! That looked amazing!




So I have to ask.... (adult question only)....being on a cruise ship and all, did you see any of the same faces during the character meet n greets, if you know what I mean?

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Love the updates! Oh my goodness, I had that same fish dish on pirate night and it was my favorite meal the whole cruise (they were all delicious though). It was the macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi, drool...... We've been there, done that with Nassau in the past and opted to stay on the ship. We just loved pirate night too, such a unique Disney experience. Looking forward to more.