1/24/08 trip report lots of pictures

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I will have to post in small segments due to all the photos or it wont let me post so be patient, it will take me awhile to get it done tonight.

 

 

Hi everyone,

this was our 17th cruise, the 16th with Disney and we had a blast.

We live in Florida so for us it was a nice weekend getaway, very relaxing.

Just the two of us this time, no kids or grandkids, just 2 old kids.

 

First off we did have a meets thread which for 3 day cruises doesnt always happen. For most of them it was their first cruise so it was extra special for them. We only booked 3 weeks prior to this cruise so getting to post with these great people really got the excitement going.

 

We arrived right at 10:00 a.m. when the port opened up. It was cool and cloudy but no rain.

I wore a shirt with my posting name across the back of it . A few people recognised me in the terminal and we had time to chat before boarding. So the shirt worked great to help spot each other.

 

 

The terminal was practicaly empty until close to boarding which was very unusual. Of course Pluto and Goofy came out to greet everyone for pictures and autographs. I love watching all the kids seeing characters for the first time. Grown ups too!!

 

 

 

where is everyone?

 

I guess they saw this scary old lady and ran the other way, Ha Ha!!

2 little kids did come by me later and offered to share their donuts with me.

 

mickey here we come!!

Around 11:30 a.m. we started boarding, and we had boarding pass #2 so we got right on and headed up to the Beach Blanket Buffet. We love eating there because it really sets the mood for the cruise to see kids playing in the pools and to look out and see the ocean or to sit outside by the pools to just soak in the atmosphere and excitement.

 

One complaint was the food wasnt hot in the buffet, just luke warm. We had that problem every meal we had there. The food was good but not hot enough. If you were on this cruise, did you have that problem too?

 

After lunch we strolled the upper decks and took several pictures before the ship got crowded. The sun was out but still a bit on the cool side.

 

As we were walking around the basketball court we ran into Gus and his family from our meets thread. They were having a great time exploring the ship for the first time. By now the wind was gone and it was nice and sunny. maybe 70 degrees.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

We went to our room right at 1:30 when they opened up the halls. We had room 6137. This was our first time in an inside stateroom. It was very nice but had some things that were very different from our other rooms we had in the past.

 

 

There are no extra shelves in the bathroom, so we had to use the shelves where we would have put other things for toiletry items. For just the 2 of us it wasnt a problem but for families in standard inside staterooms, i would strongly suggest getting an over the door shoe holder to put over the bathroom door to put your toiletry supplies in. You'll appreciate the extra room it will give you.

 

 

 

 

 

It only took 10 minutes to unpack the carry on bag, put up the door signs and to hang the fish extender. There is a new stateroom gift this year. It is a large red and black beach bag with 2 water bottles, a rubber boat, a nice big note pad with pen, and a mesh bag. The bag is very nice. It has 2 outside holders for the water bottles and one outside compartment and a zipper to close the main compartment.

 

here s a photo of the bag

[mom x4,grandma x4]

We then left the room and walked around the ship until 2:45 when we headed to the Promenade Lounge for our 3:00 meet. We had a good turn out and enjoyed meeting each other. We brought the camera, then forgot to take pictues of everyone. But at least we all got to visit for awhle and I saw many of them throughout the cruise. it was so nice to visit a bit and see how their cruise was going.

 

4:00 for the safety drill came quickly. So we zipped to out room to put on the life jackets and head down to Animators Palate. We meet people next door to us while we waited for the drill to finish.

When we went back to the room our suitcase had arrived so I unpacked quickly, then off to the Adventures away party!!

YEAH!!

 

 

 

I went up on deck 10 to watch. It was a full party and everyone was given colorful streamers to wave around. Boy that was colorful from deck 10. It was pretty much like the old party accept for the streamers and the routine the characters did was new. They also used the aerial view screen as part of the them of the party. It was a lot of fun for everyone.

 

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Soon we had the countdown and we were on our way. I stood on deck 10 with my Mickey hand on waving at the people at the terminal and along the channel. There were a lot of people today which was fun.

No dolphins this time, just lots of pelicans and gulls.

 

 

 

 

 

While watching us pull out a man came up to me and said hello, He was a lurker on the boards and recognised my name on my shirt. We had a nice chat for a couple of minutes, he was a nice person. I was a nice surprize that someone knew my name.

 

We stayed on deck until we were out to sea quite aways. We had already decided to not go to the dining rooms this trip. We wanted to set out own pace and relax this time. No worries about when we had to be to dinner.

Tonight we used room service and it was very good and fast. They said 30 to 45 minutes and it was 20 minutes.

 

After eating we went to the Promenade lounge to enjoy the duo called Coco Bello.

They were very talented but their accents just didnt fit with the songs they were singing accept for La Bamba. They must have been new because they missed a few words in some songs and mis -pronounced several more. If they had different songs they would of been very good, They were talented.

 

We left there to get a seat in the theater to see Hercules. It was very enjoyable. they updated many of the punch lines to be relevant to current events. In April, I believe it will be done and a new show featuring Toy Story characters will take its place.

It was a full theater, we got there 15 minutes early and had a hard time finding 2 seats together.

 

Then we decided to deliver gifts for fish extenders for our group. That was fun. Nobody in our group accept me knew about fish extenders before the cruise. So after i explained to them about 8 families decided to try it. They had great extenders!!

We had some awesome things put in our extender and even after we brought it in to pack it on saturday night someone left gifts by our door.

 

We were tired by now so we had a late night snack and turned in for the night.

 

Tomarrow Nassau:

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Soon we had the countdown and we were on our way. I stood on deck 10 with my Mickey hand on waving at the people at the terminal and along the channel. There were a lot of people today which was fun.

No dolphins this time, just lots of pelicans and gulls.

 

 

 

 

 

While watching us pull out a man came up to me and said hello, He was a lurker on the boards and recognised my name on my shirt. We had a nice chat for a couple of minutes, he was a nice person. I was a nice surprize that someone knew my name.

 

We stayed on deck until we were out to sea quite aways. We had already decided to not go to the dining rooms this trip. We wanted to set out own pace and relax this time. No worries about when we had to be to dinner.

Tonight we used room service and it was very good and fast. They said 30 to 45 minutes and it was 20 minutes.

 

After eating we went to the Promenade lounge to enjoy the duo called Coco Bello.

They were very talented but their accents just didnt fit with the songs they were singing accept for La Bamba. They must have been new because they missed a few words in some songs and mis -pronounced several more. If they had different songs they would of been very good, They were talented.

 

We left there to get a seat in the theater to see Hercules. It was very enjoyable. they updated many of the punch lines to be relevant to current events. In April, I believe it will be done and a new show featuring Toy Story characters will take its place.

It was a full theater, we got there 15 minutes early and had a hard time finding 2 seats together.

 

Then we decided to deliver gifts for fish extenders for our group. That was fun. Nobody in our group accept me knew about fish extenders before the cruise. So after i explained to them about 8 families decided to try it. They had great extenders!!

We had some awesome things put in our extender and even after we brought it in to pack it on saturday night someone left gifts by our door.

 

We were tired by now so we had a late night snack and turned in for the night.

 

Tomarrow Nassau:

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Nassau

 

It was a bit cloudy but cleared off nicely for the time we were outside but it was very windy, the worst I have seen it there.

We had breakfast the the buffet again. The food was good but again it was not hot, accept for the omelete which was cooked to order.

We had a Harbour tour this morning at 10:15. It was very enjoyable. Our guide was a bit hard to understand with his accent but he was good.

 

our guide from the back with yellow shirt

We saw many homes owned by stars like Tom cruise, Oprah, Shaquel O' Neil, (forgive the spelling of his name), The later Richard Harris,an oil sheik, Tiger Woods, One Elvis use to own, and a few more. One fact i remember was at Tom Cruises house the palm trees cost $10,000 per tree. Here are some of the houses and their yachets, sorry I dont remember which house belonged to each star. We moved along to quickly to take notes.

A few of the houses

 

 

[Amlee]

OH!OH!OH!

 

I have just rebooked my whole family on another cruise for Jan of next year. I can NOT tell you how excited I am about this. It looks like we are going to be a fairly good size group. Around 20 cabins more or less when it all gets said and done.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I forgot to say all these houses were mulitmillion dollar homes.

 

 

Then we stopped and fed fish for few minutes before heading back along the other side of the harbour where we learned more about businesses along that side.

 

It is hard to tell but the dark lines in the water are fish we were feeding

 

As we approached the port we got a great view of all 4 ships in port that day. it was an awesome sight.

 

 

We did a little shopping around but didnt buy anything this time. We then decided to return to the ship for a late lunch. As we returned we ran into Gus and his family and took pictures of them on the pier. We about blew away!! It was getting a bit cooler now but not cold.

 

You can tell how windy it was by looking at my hair blowing

As we returned to our room we found more goodies in our extender. After taking note of our booty we headed up to deck 9 for ice carving. it was a face this time instead of fish of some kind. Excellant job!!

 

 

 

We then went to see National treasure 2. While waitng for the show my husband was telling me about a lady, a teen and a young boy in the elevator he was teasing a bit, they also were in the movie in the row behind us and about 10 seats down. I looked to see them and thought they matched the description of a family who didnt ,make the meet? I wondered, could it be?? Well after the movie as we started to leave I called out , Sabrina and she turned around so I introduced ourselves. I couldnt believe i had found her and in such a strange way. That was such a fun surprize.

 

We strolled the decks and watched other ships pull out and took more photos.

I still had some more fish extender gifts to deliver, so we decided to do that before getting busy thinking about pirates night.

 

We decided to order pizza for dinner and watched the Jungle book on TV as we ate.

7:00 p.m. was all aboard. We bundled up and went out on deck to watch us pull out. It was really getting cold by now. The sunset was beautiful that night.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Then it was off to the Golden Mickeys, which was awesome as usual.

After the show we saw Pirates all over the ship of all sizes and ages. It was great!

I took my pirate outfit but i was too cold to wear it this time, but I did bundle up and enjoy the party. It was a full house!! This cruise the people were very active, more so than other cruises we have been on, so it was a very lively party!!!

 

 

Fireworks were great!! The buffet looked great but we didnt go there.

We headed off to bed, although there was much more to do that evening.

My camera was on the wrong setting so my photos from the pirate party all came out too blurry to keep, so no photos od it, sorry.

 

We are just use to going to bed early and getting up early and it is hard to change that habit.

 

Tomorrow Castaway Cay

[Magic3forme]

Awesome pictures etc!! Thanks for sharing!! :) I love reading your posts!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Castaway Cay

We arrived early at our favorite port. It was a bit cool and windy but was predicted to hit 80 by afternoon which is great!

 

We got off the ship about 9:15 and leisurely walked onto the island. We saw Chip n Dale at the Post office greeting kids and a little farther down the path was Disney photographers to take you photos with the ship behind you

We didnt stop this time, we have those photos from several other cruises.

A little farther down the sidewalk was Captain Jack Sparrow for photos with the Flying Dutchman behind you. We did this photo before and I do recommend it for those who havnt done it. It is a great photo. If you want to do this DO NOT take the tram to the beach, you must walk in. It isnt far to go.

 

 

Also they have a pirate scavenger hunt that the kids will love to do. grab it on the ship, your Navigator will tell you where and when.

 

We bought a few things in the store there and then proceeded to rent bikes. Most were NOT going into the water yet, it was a bit cool yet. We rode both paths and stopped at the observation tower to enjoy the view of the island the the whimsical storks near the tower.

 

There were lots of walkers and bike riders in the morning untl it warmed up on the beach.

 

base of the tower

 

back side of CC where the teens do their kayaking excursions, plus 2 fishing boats were there

 

Hubby riding his bike

After returning the bikes we walked over to enjoy the Grouper Game room where they have pool tables, shuffle board, ping pong, checkers, chess, hoops, connect four game and more.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Then we enjoyed relaxing at the beach. It was warming up nicely but not too many people out on the beach yet. There were still many empty hammocks and chairs all over the beach that are usually filled up by now.

 

By the time we were ready for lunch the beach was finally getting busy and a few people were in the water. It had turned out to be a beautiful day.

 

Lunch was the usual BBQ foods, but quite tasty. We usually go over to the adult beach but not this time. On the adult beach they often will have a steak that they dont offer at the family area. YUMMY!!

 

Lunch area for families

 

 

hubby with his lunch

We relaxed on the beach and browsed the shops once more before returning to the ship where we went on deck 4 to relax and enjoy the view of CC and take a short snooze.

We watched banana boats go out and the glass bottom boat excursion and jet skis too.

 

Soon it was all aboard and we watched us pull out and saw a beautiful sunset.

 

After dinner we went to see Disney Dreams. For those who have seen this before they have changed a lot of it and made some awesome improvements, so please go and see it again!!

If possible sit down in the front 1/3 of the theater, I wont say why, dont want to spoil the special effects. If you must know send me a PM.

 

When we got back to the room I quickly did the painful job of packing. UGH! I hate thinking about getting off the ship. We walked around the ship and just enjoyed its beauty before retiring for the last night.

 

we were up early, had breakfast and just walked off the ship at 7:15 a.m. They hadnt announced you could get off yet, we just thought we would go down to the atrium and wait, but they were letting people off. so 5 minutes later we were driving away from the port and heading home.

 

It was another Wonderful cruise for us and now we can hardly to re- unite with the 3rd Banana head reunion cruise next November!!!

WOO HOO !!!

 

Kathy

[mom x4,grandma x4]

here are some assorted photos:

 

us in wave bands club

 

wave bands

 

signs directing you to Route 66 club area

 

Fkying Dutchman behind us

 

Both ships

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Mount Gushmore on Castaway Cay

 

 

No he's not proposing, he is begging for mercy!!:D

 

wild flowers on CC

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

 

not my family, just happened to be there when I clicked my picture

 

The Flying Dutchman

 

 

 

 

back side of the Dutchman

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Castaway Cay from deck 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Minnie in Pirate attire

 

this was part of the decor for the pirate buffet

 

night shots of the ship

 

 

 

 

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

 

 

 

 

another stars home

 

 

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

This yacht belongs to one of those big houses

 

Atlantis

 

view of Wonder from our harbor cruise

 

adult hot tub and end of pool

 

other end of adults pool/ bar area

 

waving Good bye from castaway cay

 

thanks for looking at my report, hope you enjoyed it and feel free to ask questions if you want.

 

mom x4,grandma x4 AKA Kathy

[gummyvites]

Thanks for the review and the GREAT pictures! I am getting sooooo excited for our trip. So, where do you get Mickey hands? I suppose it would be easy to make your own. :)

 

K.

[raam]

Great pictures!! Thank you for sharing!:) :) :) I have a question... do they let you in the swimming pools as soon as you board? Before the ship departs?

 

Also, how do the fish extenders work??

Who is involved??

Sounds like fun!

 

 

We sail late March, it's a surprise for my children (6,12) ;) I can't wait to see the looks on their faces. :eek: :eek:

 

Thanks again

[poncho1973]

Nice work! Thanks for sharing, as you always do. I'm glad you got some extra meets as a bonus!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Thanks for the review and the GREAT pictures! I am getting sooooo excited for our trip. So, where do you get Mickey hands? I suppose it would be easy to make your own. :)

 

K.

 

 

I got mine years ago at Disney world, they still sell them for about $18 a pair. at Christmas they come in red. The gift shop at OIA have them too.

 

But I see no reason why you couldnt make some. The people on Castaway Cay and Port Canaveral wave at you with the Mickey hands on and so do people in 2 restaurants along the channel as you leave port Canaveral.

it really is fun to stand there and wave back at them.

 

Kathy

[pgsahm]

Great review! I enjoyed the pictures too. Thanks for sharing!

[Magic3forme]

You are allowed in the swimming pools while you board. ( they can get very crowded.) Just remember to pack your swim suits ahead of time in a carry on bag.