Vacation Potpourri - Disney Dream, Kidani Village, and more! - Vacation Wrap-Up 4/24

[Harters2WDW]

Great TR!! Now I want to go on a Disney Cruise!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Bridora]

I can't wait for this week again!! I just love football!!

Does it help at least knowing which way is aft, starboard, portside, and forward? Are those even the right words? Did you learn them?

So lucky you guys got to sit by yourself! It's always such a gamble when you are with other people. As social as I am, I'm not good in forced social situations like that. I feel obligated to entertain and then I just feel awkward! So I'm glad you guys were able to snag a table for just you guys!

Oh man, I love stalking the cruise food porn! I can't wait for the food! The servers always seem so great too! How fun that they did the brain teasers for you!

I am hoping you guys made it to the Edge open house! I love seeing pics of those places, they look SO FUN! Was there no invitation for Luke for the other one? Are the open houses for all the kids places at the same time?

Oh Nassau...you seem so unappealing! I don't blame you for not doing anything. Isn't the only good thing there Atlantis?

I'd say it's very important to know Forward, Mid, and Aft because that's how places are referenced on board. There are signs, though, like at the elevators that tell you which part you're in - maps, too! We learned those terms, but Mid is easy, and Forward is the front, so that just leaves Aft to be the back! As far as Starboard and Portside - I think Davis knows the difference, but just because he's cool like that. You might get turned around a few times, but you'll have 7 nights to learn your way around!

I never follow through with the food pics. I start out with good intentions, but something happens and I don't get 'em.

There wasn't an invitation for Luke to the Oceaneer Club or Lab. I don't know why for sure, but maybe because starting with the Edge, kids don't need to be checked in/out by parents - they can come and go as they please.

I have heard that Atlantis is on the "good side" of Nassau. I'll save our deliberations for my next update, though!

Great updates. I am very interested in how Nassau day works out!

Thanks! We were looking forward to it - kids' first time out of the country!

I'm in! I adore your Trip Reports!

Thanks to you, I ALWAYS check my Starbucks Vanilla drinks before I buy them!

I can't wait to follow along!

Shut the front door! I love that you remember that! Glad I could save you from expired Starbucks - I still check them too!

Glad you're here!

Great TR!! Now I want to go on a Disney Cruise!

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks! The cruise was lots of fun. It's not our "usual" Disney vacation, but it was nice to try something new!

 

[chica622]

Subscribing, can't wait to read about your adventures!

 

[Bridora]

Subscribing, can't wait to read about your adventures!

Yay!

More adventures coming up!

 

[Bridora]

Bermuda, Bahama…….​

You just knew this Beach Boys song was coming, didn’t you?


I was the first one awake that morning. I couldn’t wait to get out on that verandah and take in the view. What would be out there this morning? We had spent some time out there the night before. We spied some mysterious lights in the distance that we decided must be another cruise ship. Maybe they had docked somewhere for the night? It was fun watching the ocean at night. It’s so dark out there!


- Story break -

I’m putting this in here, out of sequence. It makes the most sense to me to just add it in here, as I’ve just now remembered that I left it out of my previous chapter. Oops!

While the rest of us had gotten over our seasickness feelings, poor Allison had not. After returning to the stateroom from dinner the night before, Allison and I headed down to Deck 1 to pay a visit to the Health Center. We found our way down there to that creepy, plain hallway that leads to the Health Center. I didn’t know what to expect down there, but the Health Center was already closed. Fortunately, there on the wall in a plastic bin were the little magic guys we were looking for, along with an information/instruction page. I took one page and 4 or 5 packets of tablets and we headed back to our stateroom. I’m happy to report that while Allison had to take about one tablet a day, those tablets really did work for her!



Continuing on with Friday morning, here’s what it looked like outside:

Pardon the condensation on the lens, I couldn’t wait to start snapping pictures!

You can see Atlantis off in the distance.

I soon had some company:

And then there was more company on the water:

What’s that?! A little boat, heading toward us…


What’s he doing?

He went toward the back of the ship and then turned and came right up alongside us while Luke and I discussed the likelihood of his being a pirate ship.

Getting closer!

I loved this lighthouse, as you will see when viewing these next pictures.


…Continued in next post…

 

[Bridora]

…Continued…

This is not even all of them!

Should I keep going?

Just one more lighthouse picture, I promise this is all!

Coming in to the dock.

Allison was not interested in going to the DVC Members’ event.

But I was! And here’s a good real-life shot of our stateroom.

Luke was all smiles, but not very interested in the DVC Members’ event either.


While I was getting ready, Davis went out on the verandah and took some more pictures:

Since Allison was still asleep, I offered to just run down to the DVC thing and see what it was all about while the rest of the family stayed in the stateroom. I double-checked the location: Evolution, Deck 4 Aft, and set out to find my way there. I knew how to get down to Deck 4, but wasn’t sure just where Evolution was. After walking past the shuffleboard place, I saw a set of doors and figured those were as good a place as any to start looking. I walked in and right in front of me was a Castmember standing right outside Evolution. Hooray! After chatting just a bit and mentioning how I’d left the others in the stateroom, he handed me this nifty little dude:

and 4 baseball caps, one for each family member. How nice! The folder wasn't stuffed with all that paper in the left pocket, though. I added that later.


Evolution is one of the night clubs onboard, by the way. It was a fairly big space with a bar, several tables, and a small dance floor. The tables near the dance floor were low and the seating was on booth-like couches. Hard to describe, but pretty neat - I didn’t take any pictures! I took a seat at one of those low tables. A Castmember was already doing his thing, talking about the cruise and getting the event started, and soon another came by with a few mimosas on his tray. He offered me one, but I declined. “Are you sure? They’re complimentary”, he said.


Complimentary?


Well.


I was on vacation. I took one and sipped on it while I listened to the speaker talk up Aulani and explain to us all the point specials they had going on. I didn’t win any door prizes, but I was happy with my little folder and the ball caps. All in all, I spent about an hour in there and had just one more mimosa. Ah, the life of luxury!


When I got back to the stateroom, everyone was starving and ready for breakfast. We went down to Cabanas and filled our plates.

We returned to the stateroom after breakfast and got our things ready to go ashore and see a little bit of Nassau. I had read in the Navigator that we didn’t need to take our Passports with us when we left the ship. So I left those in the stateroom. It was a dreary, cloudy day outside, so I also left the big camera in the stateroom and took my small Olympus Tough. But did I accidentally leave something else of importance in the stateroom?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Great pictures of the approach to Nassau! It really is so pretty from far away. If we ever cruise again (which is a big IF), I may have to splurge on a verandah room.

Oh no! You're worrying me with your talk of leaving something of importance in the room! You know how my hubby did something that sounds quite similar to what you are hinting at.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Great update! I can not wait to hear how your time in Nassua is spent. I hope all is well with whatever you left behind

 

[MEK]

All caught up on your TR and enjoying it very much.

Do they have a DVC member thing for every cruise? If so, I am totally in for that.

I love your pictures on your approach to Nassau and I am very curious to see how you spent the day. I'm thinking you might need those passports after all.

 

[sherylcin]

Followed your link from Mickeystoontown report. Your pictures are all really good but I especially enjoyed the ones coming into Nassau. Some of those lighthouse pics could be frameable! Sounds like you're having a great time so far on the cruise. Glad the motion sickness didn't get anybody really down. I suffer from that little problem too and that has always made me very leery (among other things) of cruising. That balcony in your room is awesome! I think I would have spent lots of time there!! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

[Bridora]

Great pictures of the approach to Nassau! It really is so pretty from far away. If we ever cruise again (which is a big IF), I may have to splurge on a verandah room.

Oh no! You're worrying me with your talk of leaving something of importance in the room! You know how my hubby did something that sounds quite similar to what you are hinting at.

Thanks! It was exciting watching Nassau get closer and closer! I think it would have been a much different experience without the verandah - we were out there a lot!

Yes, when I read the part about what your hubby did - I could relate!

Great update! I can not wait to hear how your time in Nassua is spent. I hope all is well with whatever you left behind

Thanks!

Well, at least I'm not still in Nassau, so it all turned out all right!

All caught up on your TR and enjoying it very much.

Do they have a DVC member thing for every cruise? If so, I am totally in for that.

I love your pictures on your approach to Nassau and I am very curious to see how you spent the day. I'm thinking you might need those passports after all.

Yay!

I would say they probably have a DVC member thing on every cruise. We didn't know anything about it until we received that invitation the night before, but since they had one on ours and it was "just a 3 night" I would bet they have them on all!

Followed your link from Mickeystoontown report. Your pictures are all really good but I especially enjoyed the ones coming into Nassau. Some of those lighthouse pics could be frameable! Sounds like you're having a great time so far on the cruise. Glad the motion sickness didn't get anybody really down. I suffer from that little problem too and that has always made me very leery (among other things) of cruising. That balcony in your room is awesome! I think I would have spent lots of time there!! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Hi!

Thanks! I want to frame something from the trip, but I haven't decided what to do just yet. Going through the pictures for this TR really helps, though! I think I will have to get that lighthouse in a frame, for sure!

There were definitely a couple of occasions when I could feel the ship moving. It didn't make me as sick as it just made me weird feeling in my head- if that makes sense.

 

[Bridora]

Nassau​

​

Nassau from our stateroom.

Last time, on Vacation Potpourri:​

I had just grabbed (all?) the things we needed/wanted to take into Nassau from our stateroom. We followed the signs to the gangplank, waited in a small line to have our Keys to the World scanned, and walked off the ship.

As we were disembarking, who else was pulling into port but our fellow cruise ship, the Carnival Sensation!

Davis and I decided it must have been that ship we passed in the night. Did they anchor somewhere for the night? They left Port Canaveral before we did, yet we made it into Nassau before they did; we must have passed them somewhere along the way.

The Dream!


There were some other boats in the port:

We followed the few other people that were wandering into Nassau. There was a brightly colored building which I believe was called Festival Place. It was the entry/exit point into Nassau for us cruisers. Once you’re “in” you’re in a mall-type place with different vendor booths set up selling this and that - souvenirs.


We found our way out of there and were immediately bombarded by men offering cab rides and horse and buggy rides. They called out to Davis, “Dad! Don’t you want to take your family on a horse and carriage ride?”.

‘Dad’ didn’t want to go, but Luke sure did! We walked quickly away from that area and found ourselves on a sidewalk along a busy street lined with stores and restaurants.

We chose a shop and went in. They had some pretty cool t-shirts for sale that changed from white to color in the sunlight. They had different designs on them, and mostly all also had Bahamas somewhere on the shirt. The kids each bought one and they still work! So that was a good buy! I couldn’t find anything in there I wanted, so we left there and continued on down the block.


I was mostly concerned with keeping an eye on the kids, but I did need to get one picture of Nassau:

Ta-da!


We made it down to the Straw Market where just outside, a woman offered to take us to her beauty salon to have Allison’s hair braided. I think she said $3 a braid. We declined and went inside the market. We looked at all the booths and while they sold some pretty neat stuff in there, we left without purchasing anything.


Outside the Straw Market:

Looking back at the port from the Straw Market:

(zoomed)

We hit a few more shops after that, but didn’t find anything else to buy. One store had a pretty cool map on display, but the man told us he was all out of them.


I’d say we were off the ship no more than two hours.



We headed back to the ship with plans to get some lunch once we got
there.


We walked back toward the Welcome Center/Festival Place/Customs House, passing the carriage ride-cab-guys on the way back. The kids had the hang of it this time and didn’t beg Davis for horse and buggy rides. Back inside the building, we headed toward the front door.



On the way out, they check your driver’s license.






What!?









I had left my driver’s license in the room. It was in my wallet in the safe. I hadn’t planned on needing any of that stuff for the whole cruise and hadn’t even thought of taking it with me. I know I read that we didn’t have to take our passports, but why didn’t think I’d need some kind of identification?!?


Here’s a close up of the navigator to prove I had read that:

Here’s a close up of the back of the navigator that I didn’t read:

Important Information, indeed!


How could I have gotten off the ship without taking any ID with me? Yikes! I did have my Key to the World Card. Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who has been gifted with people-charming skills (or used Jedi mind tricks), who just explained to the man that my ID was on the ship. We showed my Key to the World card and they let us leave! Woo hoo!


You can bet I won’t be going anywhere without my driver’s license from now on!


We were almost back to the ship when it started raining. There were still people disembarking from both the Dream and the Carnival ship, but we weren’t the only ones who were re-boarding.


We were back on the ship in no time. We had our Keys to the World scanned, placed our bags on the bag scanner and headed back to our stateroom to drop a few things off before going to lunch.

 

[MEK]

So glad you didn't have to stay in Nassau. That would really stink. Yikes.

Enjoyed your update because I am trying to figure out what to do on our Nassau day. Perhaps I will go out and about for awhile, then head back for lunch.

Did you stay on the boat for the rest of the day?

Great pictures in this update.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Oh Man! You think they might remind you that you need your license or have a sign as you disembark :scared1 Glad everything worked out!

 

[Bridora]

So glad you didn't have to stay in Nassau. That would really stink. Yikes.

Enjoyed your update because I am trying to figure out what to do on our Nassau day. Perhaps I will go out and about for awhile, then head back for lunch.

Did you stay on the boat for the rest of the day?

Great pictures in this update.

Me too! It was worse in my head than it really would have been, I'm sure. Worst case scenario: Davis would have gone back to the ship and retrieved my license.
But I was not thinking that clearly at the moment!

I think if we were to do it again, we might arrange for some transportation to Atlantis, just to have a look around. After we got home from the trip, Atlantis commercials were everywhere on TV and Luke told us he wanted to go. We laughed and laughed and told him we'd just been there! Of course, he didn't know how cool it was then! Even if you don't do much, it might be fun to have a look around if you've never been there before.

We did stay on the ship the rest of the day. It ended up being a good day for it with the rain that was to come.

Oh Man! You think they might remind you that you need your license or have a sign as you disembark :scared1 Glad everything worked out!

That's exactly what I thought! Or at least put that blurb about taking your picture ID with you right after the one about not taking your passport!

I'm sure I looked super nervous, too - which probably made me look suspicious. But then again I probably looked even more like some silly American tourist - they're probably trained to recognize that! Surely I'm not the only one who's done that!

 

[princess_momma]

The view from the ship is so nice. I am fairly certain that every day I will turn to Garret and say "I could get used to a view like this. Yep, I'm used to it." Except he hasn't seen Tangled so who knows if he'll get it?

Ahhh I want to be DVC so bad! That folder is GORGEOUS and looks so high quality. One day, one day.

Glad to know you can get in and out of Nassau quickly! And I will be sure everyone in my party brings their license!

 

[Bridora]

The view from the ship is so nice. I am fairly certain that every day I will turn to Garret and say "I could get used to a view like this. Yep, I'm used to it." Except he hasn't seen Tangled so who knows if he'll get it?

Ahhh I want to be DVC so bad! That folder is GORGEOUS and looks so high quality. One day, one day.

Glad to know you can get in and out of Nassau quickly! And I will be sure everyone in my party brings their license!

Yep, not too bad! You should look into the excursions, though!
Still can't believe I did that!

 

[Bridora]

Wow! It's been a long time! I can't even say for certain where the time has gone. I've been busy at home and busy at work. Our internet was also down at work, or too spotty to post there for a while - so that was fun!

I'm hoping you all haven't given up on me! I'm off to put together another chapter now!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Wow! It's been a long time! I can't even say for certain where the time has gone. I've been busy at home and busy at work. Our internet was also down at work, or too spotty to post there for a while - so that was fun!

I'm hoping you all haven't given up on me! I'm off to put together another chapter now!

Believe me, I know how life can get in the way of posting! I thought about you when those storms rolled over Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Did you get any bad weather?

 

[Bridora]

Chapter 12
I Wanna Know, Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

​

It began to rain on our return to the ship. We were glad we had seen some of Nassau, but were equally as glad to be back on the ship and not out in the rain.


We made a stop by our stateroom to…I don’t know exactly, but probably drop off a few things and pick pick up some others. While there, we noticed we had a pretty good view of the Carnival Sensation from our verandah.

Life boats!

rainy sky

It was ready for its close-up!

Here's our position on the map on the tv!

We hit Cabana’s for lunch and then split up for a bit.

the rainy view from our table

I still think it's a nice view!

How Allison really feels about her brother!

And this is them for pictures!





Allison usually gets a hair wrap at Disney World sometime while we’re there. We had noticed a hair braiding station set up beside the pool and decided it would be a great time to go get that done.

There is a photo album there behind her head with pictures of all the different styles of braiding you could choose from. There were lots of choices!

She also got to choose her beads.

Looking out the window behind the braiding station.

getting started!


I took these next few photos from behind the braiding station, too.

I wouldn't mind living right there!

lots of laundry!

While we were doing that, Luke and Davis went to check out the Oceaneer’s Club/Lab.



And while Allison was in the chair (I made sure it was okay with the sweet girl braiding her hair) I ran around (carefully - it was raining after all!) and took pictures.

Continued here (next post)