Day at Sea: Trip Report pt. 3

Wednesday was our day at sea, which was a day I was dreading a little bit, mainly because of the sea sickness from earlier in the cruise.  As luck would have it, Castaway Cay is not that far from Port Canaveral, so the ship was moving very, very slowly, which meant little to no motion.  Yeah!

We slept in a little bit that morning, and when we finally did get up, we headed down to Enchanted Garden again for breakfast.  It was a bit more crowded this morning than it was the day before, mainly because we opted for a later breakfast, and everyone was on-board.  After breakfast, the guys headed up to decks 11 & 12 to see what was going on while I started the packing process.  Each guest is asked to have their luggage (minus what they will need for that night & the next morning) packed and outside their stateroom door between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. so that it can be prepared for debarkation.  So the mad sorting began...what was dirty, what was clean, what was going to be needed at Disney World, and so on.

After I finished as much as I could, I headed up to the top deck and met up with the guys while they were playing mini-golf.  While there, they had made friends with a little boy named Rodrigo from Puerto Rico.  As they finished the course, Max (Goofy's son) made his way onto the course and stopped for pictures.  Up next, another round of Mid-ship Detective Agency.  As we were waiting to get our casebook and badge, the Jack Jack Diaper Dash was taking place in the atrium.  It was so funny to watch from up above!  Once we had our Detective gear in hand, we headed out to solve the mystery of the missing puppies. 

Another highlight of the day was at the Captain's signing.  At Payton's insistence, we purchased a model of the Disney Dream and waited in line for Captain Tom's autograph.  It's a pretty cool souvenir, I have to say.

That night was our official dinner in the Royal Palace.  Now we did eat there for pirate night, but the atmosphere and food were very different.  By now, our service team really interacted with us well.  The overall experience was much better, and the desserts were the best we had tasted all cruise!

Following dinner, I began to notice that the ship was starting to pick up speed again, and that did not bode well for my stomach.  I was so scared I would be sick again, especially since tonight's show was the performance of Believe, which had received rave reviews from previous Dream cruisers as well as the cruise staff.  We sat in the balcony, with me on the aisle, just in case I needed to get out quickly.  The atmosphere in the theater was just magical, and after one last visit from Rachel, our cruise director, the show began.  Although my tummy wasn't happy, this show was able to take my mind off of it and I was truly caught up in the story.  Believe is just amazing.  Now I did say in an earlier post that Villains Tonight was my favorite, and that's still true, but they most definitely created a heart-warming, magical production with Believe.  I'm so glad that I didn't have to miss it!

Once we returned to our room, we found debarkation instructions waiting for us, which included a breakfast time of 6:45 a.m. the next morning.  We pretty well decided at that moment that it just wasn't going to happen, but we knew we needed to be up early so we could head out for Disney World.  We finished up the packing and against our better judgment, headed up to deck 11 for one last swim and Funnel Vision movie.  This probably had to be one of the most relaxing family moments we had had all cruise.  We sat in deck chairs, wrapped up in towels, eating ice cream and watching Up.  It was after 11:30 p.m. before we made it back to the room and to bed.

The final morning was a tough one, mainly because we were so tired!  Kendall and I both got up and around, finished packing up what we had in the room to carry off the ship, and then came the painful process of waking up Payton.  Once he was around and ready, we made a final stop at Shutters to pick up the last of our cruise pictures, then got in line to exit the ship.  This process went very quickly and I have to give a shout out to the porters on land.  These folks work quickly to match you with your bags and get you through the customs lines.  Before we knew it, we were outside the terminal waiting for our shuttle to take us back to the hotel and to the van.  Once we arrived back at the Country Inn & Suites, we loaded up in the van and headed to our next destination...Animal Kingdom Lodge!

Stay tuned, the land portion of this vacation will be coming soon.  I will be sharing some thoughts and tips on cruising, as well as some details of the Disney Dream in my next post.

Ports of Call: Trip Report part 2

So in my last post, I shared about the first couple of days of our running away/sailing away vacation.  Time to move on to our ports of call!  Monday found us pulling in to Nassau, Bahamas.  We were originally planning to do an excursion, but later decided to just stay on board.  That turned out to be a great decision as it seemed like the majority of people on board got off the ship.  After breakfast, Payton opted to spend time in Oceaneer Lab, so Kendall & I toured the ship, primarily the upper decks, taking pictures of Nassau.  We also spent quality time in the Quiet Cove, adults only area.  Neither of us can figure out how they managed to make it so quiet in that area, considering Funnel Vision is just on the other side!  The hot tub was very relaxing, and it was neat to look down below through the glass panel. 

We picked Payton up for lunch and had a quick bite at Cabanas, then headed to the Buena Vista Theater to watch Pirates of the Caribbean:  On Stranger Tides.  The theater was so nice, and we were able to see the film in Disney Digital 3D.  The only thing we were disappointed about at the theater was not having freshly popped movie popcorn.  We had been so looking forward to that, along with a nice big Coke, but sadly, the popcorn is bagged and the sodas are canned.  And if you do get treats at the theater, just be aware that you have to purchase them, they are not included.

After the movie, we spent more time in the swimming pools before getting ready for dinner.  That night we dined at the Enchanted Garden restaurant.  The restaurant is absolutely beautiful.  Our food was very good and our service team seemed much more relaxed.  Dinner came more quickly and was overall a much better experience than the previous night.  Our head server and assistant server even spent time sharing riddles and puzzles with us, which was so much fun.  The only thing that I was disappointed about was that our table was on the outskirts of the room, so we really missed out on the "show" of Enchanted Garden, which is when the garden transforms from "day" to "evening."

Following dinner we headed to the Walt Disney Theater for the performance of "Villains Tonight."  I have to say, this show was my favorite of the cruise.  It was so funny!  It's rare that you get to see the villains really starring in a production, especially one that kind of pokes fun at them and at times, makes you like them almost more than the heroes.  We felt a special attachment to Hades, as the gentleman who played that role was the main staff member we spoke to during the muster drill on the first night.  He was outstanding!

 

We weren't quite ready to turn in for the night, so on Payton's suggestion, we headed to the D  Lounge.  Payton sang "Rockin Robin" during family karaoke, then we enjoyed watching the family game show and dancing with the cruise staff during the New Years Eve party.  Sea sickness was not a problem for me this day, as we were docked from early in the morning until 2 a.m., so the motion was almost non-existent.  Yeah!!

Tuesday morning we docked at Castaway Cay.  On the advise of our server, we headed down to Enchanted Garden for breakfast, rather than trying to fight our way through the crowds in Cabanas.  It was much less crowded in the restaurant with a really wonderful buffet.  Although we were all set to disembark, we had left our photo id's in the room, so we headed back up to get them.  Unfortunately, this made us a little late getting off the ship and I missed the 5K run.  I found out later that I could have gone ahead on my own, but oh well, it is vacation after all!  So I got changed and we headed to the family beach.  Payton and Kendall were in the water right away.  We hadn't warned Payton that the ocean is salt-water, so he came up spitting a few times!  That didn't stop him though.  He took advantage of his time in the ocean.  We moved on to another part of the family beach closer to Pelican's Plunge, the water slide area.  The guys were headed out there when they found out that it drops down to 10 feet deep in places.  That made them both nervous, so they headed back to the beach. 

A bit later we began exploring the island, visiting Spring A Leak and taking the tram out to Serenity Bay.  When we got back, Captain Jack Sparrow was greeting guests, and Payton had his picture made with him.  Then he decided he wanted to check out Scuttles Cove, the equivalent of Oceaneer Club & Lab on the island.  So we left him there and then did some shopping and grabbed a bite at Cookies Too.  When we later went back to pick him up, he was ready to get back on the Dream and ride the AquaDuck. 

We spent a large portion of the afternoon in the pools, on the AquaDuck, and snacking while watching Funnel Vision movies.  It was so relaxing and fun!  I even tried the AquaDuck and I have to say, I love it!  It was a great time to play on board, as nearly everyone is on Castaway Cay.  We rode the AquaDuck many times in a row, and had no problems getting into the pool or getting a deck chair.  After a few hours of this, we cleaned up and decided to try out the Mid-Ship Detective Agency.

  

 

If you haven't read about the artwork on board the Dream, or seen it in person, be prepared to be amazed.  Some of the art is interactive, meaning that when you stand in front of it, the art "senses" that you are there and then will share some surprise animation with you.  The Mid-Ship Detective Agency uses the animated art to interact with guests as they go throughout the Dream attempting to solve a mystery.  We solved the case of the missing paintings and had a blast!

That night was Pirates In the Caribbean night and it kicked off with character meet & greets in the atrium.  It was so fun to see everyone dressed in their best pirate gear.  We opted for t-shirts and the pirate bandannas we found in our stateroom.  Then it was on to our pirate themed dinner at Royal Palace.  Even our servers were in their best pirate dress!  The menu was really fun and we enjoyed it a lot.

Following dinner, we headed to Decks 11 & 12 for Mickey's Pirates in the Caribbean party.  We had a fun time listening to pirate music and Payton even played some pirate games.  Then Captain Mickey and his pirate crew came out and put on a really fun show.  After their show, we headed down to the Walt Disney Theater to see Mike Super perform his magic.  What a neat show!  Mike was witty, charming and engaging all the while amazing us with some very interesting illusions.  It was well worth seeing.  Then it was back up to deck 12 to wait for the fireworks at sea.

Now apparently Walt Disney World has ruined us on all fireworks shows.  We groan about our local fireworks because they aren't timed with music on the 4th of July.  And naturally, fireworks at sea, even if they are Disney and timed with music, just aren't going to be the same as Wishes or Illuminations.  But, they were pretty cool.  I would say the best part though was immediately following the fireworks when Captain Jack Sparrow appeared and he and his fellow pirates put on a brief show.  We stayed for a little bit of Club Pirate, enjoying the dance music.  However, we did stay up on deck 12, looking down at the very very crowded deck 11!  Then it was off to bed to rest up for our day at sea.