jenseib

Thanks. Some of those nice pictures are Geoffs too. I can't take all the credit. I have been slacking though with updates. We went to Williamsburg for a week and I came home to getting Claire ready for first Communion next Sunday, which means a party at our house and way too much cleaning for my liking. I am glad you enjoy my reports. I am going to finish up this day and hopefully get the next one started in the next day or 2. It's so unreal how fast my little girl is growing up! I keep telling her she is my baby and needs to stop growing, but she won't listen.

A side note..... See Abby's cute pirate outfit? It matches her parents ...but was not bought with theirs. They actually bought theirs several years ago for a halloween party. Abby's dress is from Claire. I had bought this about 5 years ago anticipating my 40th b-day. I wanted to sail on the Wonder that year and bought the dress for pirate night for Claire. Well Skip chickened out and we never did sail the wonder and ended up going to WDW that year. And it was still a fabulous trip. Claire wore the dress for Halloween though and made an excellent pirate. I am glad the dress finally has made it to a Disney ship for a pirate party!

A few pictures of our pirates. I guess Luke was getting fussy, so Thad left with him. Let’s just say their idea of fussy isn’t bad at all. LOL! He was so quiet, I never even heard him, but Katie said for him this was very fussy. We also had a photographer come around and take a few pictures. Rob makes a good pirate. The second round of appetizers arrived. This time I got the Caribbean-style Conch Chowder with sherry, sweet peppers, onions, tomatoes, thyme, and garnished with diced potatoes and crispy bacon bits. I had enjoyed both my appetizers. Dad got the Mr Smee’s Bib Lettuce Salad With Bibb Lettuce, Baby Greens, Chicory, Tomatoes, Toasted Pine Nuts, and Raspberry Vinaigrette. Claire’s main course arrived then as well. You guessed it. Chicken strips. Our main dishes arrived next. I am not a big fan of the pirate menu for the most part. I did enjoy everything I had, but I felt that the options that I would like were limited, which makes me get the same thing every time now that I have found things I like. That being said, one of my favorite dishes now on the whole cruise is the Treasure-of-the-Seas Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops served on strings of pasta and fresh creamy tomato sauce. I discovered this on the Magic, which was my first pirate night menu I have had on DCL. (The 3 night cruises, which I took last on the Dream does not offer a pirate menu). This dish is just really good and I could go for a helping of it right now. I am pretty sure Gail got this dish. Jack Sparrow’s Barbecue Marinated Beef Short Ribs Rubbed beef short ribs with tamarind-barbecue sauce served with onion red bliss mashed potatoes and plantain chip. The meal was delicious. We also enjoyed the changing pirate scenes. I think Rob is the one who discovered that the pictures kept changing. I thought that was a nice touch here. The desserts offered on this menu just don’t do much for me. I was so stuffed from eating so much (and I had vowed tonight I would try to eat lighter…..yeah right) that I thought I would skip dessert. Abby was getting tired of being there and I offered to take her for a walk so Gail and Rob could enjoy the dinner. Rob quickly said he would take her. I told him it would be no problem as I was skipping dessert, but I knew he didn’t want to burden anyone. But I seriously didn’t mind. He did leave with Abby though and I ended up ordering a Mickey Bar. After all it’s just ice cream and it will slide right into all the holes left in my stomach ….right? Benjamin also came over and did a trick for the kids. Alexis was always trying to figure out how he did what he did and she would try it over and over and see if she could get it. I did get this one figured out and I shared the secret with Claire. Claire also made the same choice as I and went with the Mickey bar. We enjoyed the meal and waited for the drink bills to come once again ……and once again they just didn’t appear. We basically gave up because we had a pirate party to attend to. While we were having dessert, Rob took Abby for a few pictures. Aren’t they so cute?

I will admit we weren’t rushing back to the ship. The island was so beautiful and we soaked up the views. But all good things must come to an end so we headed back to the ship. We got showered and ready for the night. It was Pirate night, so more fun to come. We did take a look out on the verandah to get a few last pictures and watch us sail away. Here are a few of Geoff’s pictures. There are still people on the island in them, so it was close to the end of the day. It was finally time to set sail. We watched as we pulled out. Last time the Captain played all the different horns as we left, this time he only played the one. I did get it on video, but it’s so bad that when I watched it I felt REALLY sick and the wind was loud and you can barely hear it anyways. I did take this video as we left and it’s not so bad. It was now time for Pirate night!!!! I was running a bit late. Turning myself into a pirate took a bit longer than I had planned. Well actually I didn’t get myself started early enough and played around. And my hair was not drying fast from the shower, so I gave up. It was going in a ponytail anyways and then a hat…Oh you know how good that looked by the end of the night! I was excited to see who dressed up tonight or how much they did. I knew Gail’s family would be dressing up and that Katie had brought along a few things like eye patches and bandanas. Some were resisting though. Aunt Mary and Geoff said there was no way they would dress up. We kind of started giving Geoff a hard time about it in the months prior to the cruise. Just joking of course, but Katie would tell him he had no worries as she had stuff for him, etc. All in good fun. So Claire and I rushed down to Animators Palate for dinner. We weren’t the last to arrive, so all was good. It was nice to see that most of us did have at least a little touch of the pirate look to us. Dad went wild with the bandana around his neck. Geoff and Mary still had not arrived, but it wasn’t unusual for someone in our family to be late. We dug into the bread while we looked the menus over. Rob giving me his pirate look. Aunt Mary finally arrived and let us know the Geoff had had too much sun on the island today and just was not feeling well. Oh man. I felt bad, because he seemed to have such a good time today too and I really didn’t want him to feel sick. She did say that he may try to make it by dessert after a little rest. Ok, well nothing we can do about it, but I was hoping this would be cured with a little rest and wouldn’t spoil the rest of the trip for him. We made our orders and chatted with each other. All of a sudden we noticed some commotion at the end of our table. I noticed Aunt Mary had her iPad out and was taking pictures with it. That was unusual, because she doesn’t take many pictures, and usually Geoff does with his camera. I guess since he was ill, she was taking some. But what really stunned me was that she was taking pictures of a pirate at the end of our table. I glanced at him and I wasn’t sure if he was a Cast Member or just some guy dressed up really well and talking to people. It still seemed odd that Aunt Mary would take his picture. And then I heard the whispers …..I think that’s Geoff. What? Geoff is sick! Nope, Geoff was dressing up as a pirate and made a Grand Entrance! See, even in this picture, Claire hasn’t realized its Geoff. We were in total shock. I couldn’t believe he dressed up and not only dressed up, but went all out! Abby wanted to know who the heck that creepy pirate was. It took her a while to realize it was Geoff and warm up to him. I just have to add that Aunt Mary and Geoff (I never call him Uncle Geoff, but all of our kids do, because they didn’t even get married till 1987, and I was out of high school at that point and had known him for 10 years already), are the best Aunt and Uncle EVER! They do so much for our kids, over and above what needs to be done by any Aunt and Uncle. They don’t have kids, nor did they want any of their own, but they treat our kids as if they are their own. And Geoff is just like a playmate. He does so many fun things with the kids that I think they forget sometimes that he is an adult. LOL We then heard the story about how Alexis kept going in Aunt Mary and Geoff’s room before dinner. They had the divider curtain up and Geoff was getting ready on the other side. Alexis wanted to see him, but Aunt Mary told her he was sick. Well that didn’t matter, she still wanted to see him, so Aunt Mary told her he was in his undies. You know that will make a kid run away fast. Nope, it wasn’t working. She still wanted to check on him. So Geoff popped his head out and told her he felt awful. Gail said Alexis came back to the room telling her that Geoff was really sick and even had dark circles under his eyes. LOL Well he had started putting his pirate makeup on and that’s what she saw. Geoff had gotten a late start at dressing, so that was why he was late for dinner. So after the shock, appetizers were being served and we all dug in. I had the Pirates Golden "Pot Stickers" ~Oriental Pork "Dumplings" deep fried and served with a Tamarind-Ginger soy sauce and Pickled Vegetables. And I believe this was Claire’s soup, but not sure what it was. I don’t know who had this, but I took a picture. They had specialty cups this evening and we got one for each of the girls. Dad had The Buccaneer’s Sun Ripened Pineapple~ Fresh Island Pineapple with a Coconut covered Banana and Orange Glaze. This was pretty “wild” for him, but I think he enjoyed the pineapple.

It was time to end my walk. I had actually thought about checking out Serenity Bay, but I figured I had been gone long enough and should get back to my Daughter. The family had been having fun without me. When I arrived back, my parents had gone back to the ship, and I think Gail had taken Abby back as well. Claire had been having a ball and did not miss me one bit. Most of the gang wanted to go to Pelican Plunge, so we packed up our area and sent the girls off to get rinsed. I chose not to go on the slides because that’s not my thing. They all got ready and the little ones got on life jackets. It’s always exciting when you are going to do something fun with Uncle Geoff. I stayed at the shoreline with the bags and tried to watch their progress, but it was really hard to see as the sun was shining right behind the slides and I was practically blinded. I resorted to taking pictures around the area. Every so often I would zoom in and see if I could tell if they were at the top yet. I decided to get creative and take pictures of my footprints. I walked in the sand, then I made a big hop over to the side and came back and took the picture. After a while it appeared that Claire was coming down. I think this is her splash. One by one they all came down. Katie tried to stay near the slide to catch Jude but the life guard yelled at her and wouldn’t let her. Jude came flying down and got quite a bit of water up his nose. I don’t think he cared for it so much then. I think some of them made the decision to go a 2nd time around. We then decided it as getting time to head back to the ship. We still had time, but we all needed to get showered for early dinner. We rinsed off, returned the tubes and then of course we couldn’t leave without a bit of shopping. I don’t think anything was bought. Well Alexis might have, but I am pretty sure we didn’t buy anything. We then made our way back to the ship. Geoff and I took several pictures along the way and I’ll post some from both of us. I am thinking that Geoff walked and we took the tram. I wish I could take credit for the next couple, but Geoff took them.

While I was out walking and drinking my cool beverage, the family was just chillaxing as well. I continued my walk around as well. I was trying to get a glimpse of areas I had not seen before. But when you drink a tropical drink, nature calls. I didn’t do it this time, but it was tempting. I had never made it down this far last year. Or if I did, I don’t remember! This picture makes me think of the Poly. Spring a Leak! We made it here on our last visit and Claire had a great time. It’s a splash type area and I took lots of pictures ….. BUT ….. they were all on the card that I lost that trip. It still irks me that I never found that lost memory card. From the back side of Spring a Leak you can see the Teen area. I made it back over by Cookies BBQ Too and they had now closed up. I took a seat and had a little rest. I took this video for some reason. I am thinking it was because of the music. It kind of had a circus sound to Be Our Guest. After my rest, I continued on taking more pictures. I absolutely LOVE this picture. I walked over and checked out the Pelican Plunge too. I just love the view of the ship from the beach!

After our Stingray Adventure we headed out to find the family. Now we had no meeting place what so ever and were just winging it. We found a spot and sat down and within seconds Geoff found us and took us over to where the rest were sitting. We set our things down and then Rob, Alexis, Claire and I had a mission. At breakfast I had asked Rob if he was interested in doing the jet skis and Gail answered for him “Yes he is!” So the 4 of us were off to sign us up to do that later in the day. Rob is also a fast walker and wow! Walking in the sand fast will give you a great workout! We found the spot to sign up and they had PLENTY of openings for the day and they told us that the CM’s on the ship always tell people they only have so many double rider jet skis, but the fact is, ALL of them seat 2. She told us that in the future, just book it right on the island and you won’t have any issues. I think we signed up for the 12 PM session, which was about an hour away. We had to sign some waivers and give our room numbers, etc. And then I pocketed my receipt and then the lady said something about all being 8 and older. OOPS! Wait! Um no, Claire is one month shy of 8. And I am honest and told her that. Rob quickly chimed in that she was a big 7 and actually almost taller than his daughter who was almost 9. The lady said, well if anyone asks, she is 8 today! WHEW!!! That could’ve been a bit of a heartbreaker for Claire. At this point she was getting excited about doing this. We headed back to the family once again and played for a bit. And shells were also collected. For some reason, Claire just kept bringing me more and more shells and when she wasn’t looking I would throw them the other way. LOL Time flew by and soon Rob mentioned it was time to go check in for our excursion. I turned around and looked back and they were already on their way. Holy cow! I found out later why Rob was moving so fast. Alexis was doing a bit of whining about this excursion. She has jet skied before and sometimes she likes it and sometimes she gets scared. Today she was feeling scared. He was getting annoyed as he knew she would have fun, but she wasn’t letting up on it either. Of the 4 of us, Claire was the only newbie to the jet skis. I actually used to own one many years ago, but it was a smaller tamer version, so I was a bit nervous at how fast we would go. I did know that Claire would have a good time though. We arrived and got signed in and got our life jackets on. We waited for the group before us to come in and we got a few instructions. I had to laugh how some came right in and a few were WAY back coming in very slowly. Then I reminded myself that I might be one of those persons in our group. Soon it was time to pick a jet ski and take off. I will tell you now, it’s really hard to take pictures while on a jet ski, so I didn’t get a lot and the ones I did get are not very good. I easily got the feel for the ski and things came right back to me. No worries at all. In fact I was wishing we were going faster. We had to go in single file and keep a distance between each ski as well. We would ride to certain areas and then stop. After the first sop, we kind of rearranged ourselves so that the slower people fell to the back. Each time we stopped, we had to turn off our jet ski to we could hear the guys talk. Even then, with the waves crashing around and our skis bobbing it was really hard to hear them. The waves were moving us all over too and it was easy to bump into each other just sitting still. I must say this was really fun. I wanted to go faster, but we weren’t allowed to. Also no wild tricks were allowed, but I did try to hit the wake off of Rob’s wave runner and get a little height in some jumps. Claire was squealing in delight behind me. The downside to this was lots of saltwater in my mouth and eyes. One of our stops was on a sand bar. I knew before the guy told us. I said to Claire, “Look, you can see the bottom”. Of course the water spot on this picture is right over Rob and Alexis. We made a stop near the island and were told about the Mangroves. My jet ski REALLY liked the mangroves. It kept floating over to them. I wasn’t sure what to do. We weren’t supposed to start our jet ski’s while they talked, but I knew I was too close. Finally they did tell me to move and I did. And sure enough, I started floating right back. We then headed back. It was so funny how long our line was. Several of us were up towards the front. Some maintained a good mid speed and then a few were WAY behind and they looked terrified! On this long about way back I really tried to do as much legal play as I could, and I noticed Rob was doing the same. We would try to run into the wake of the ski in front of us to get a bit of air with a jump. It was so much fun and Claire just giggled and laughed and held on for dear life! This really made me miss the days of going out every week or two and riding wave runners on a nearby lake. That was back in the days when my older 2 were young and they loved it too. All too soon this came to an end. It was so much fun and I am so happy we ended up doing this on the spur of the moment. Now price wise, this is kind of high and I believe you are out there just under an hour. But to hear Claire squeal like she did, it was worth every penny. She talked non-stop about it too. She couldn’t wait to go back to school and tell her friends all about her Castaway Cay day. They were NEVER going to believe it! Oh, and Alexis had a good time too. Rob did say she was complaining a bit when he was doing some small jumps, but she still had a good time. While we were getting wild out on the ocean, the rest of the family was having some beach fun. Mom and Dad had brought Abby out. They had spent some time in the pool earlier, but she was ready for the beach. Gail had to slather her with some sun screen. Who would’ve known that one of the highlights of the beach is a brown palm hanging low enough to grab? Foolishly, Gail is taking her away from it too. We caught up the family then. I believe they had all gone to eat while we were away, so we decided we better go get some lunch too. I did not take a single picture of my food. I set my camera down and my mind was set on food and never picked it back up to come along. We had the basics though. Hamburgs, Hotdogs, chicken, ribs, potato salad and a few other items and about 15 of my favorite chocolate chip cookies. We chatted about the fun we had and soon the girls were ready for ice-cream. I asked if they needed help, but no, Alexis assured me she knew how to do it and she would help Claire too. So they walked the short distance to each get a cone and after a few minutes they came back. I REALLY wish I had my camera now. The cones that came back were HILARIOUS!!!!! Obviously neither one of them knows how to make a cone. But Alexis’ was REALLY bad. It looked like she was making it sideways. This thing was defying gravity in all possible ways. It was the UGLIEST ice cream cone I have ever seen. We were just laughing so hard. Claire’s wasn’t very pretty either, but it was a little better. And they both put so much ice cream on the cone that both could only eat about half before they got sick of it. We then headed back to the beach and we had a couple of floats, so the girls went out with Geoff to play in the water. At some point in time, Gail and I went to one of the shops. That actually might have been before we went off to jet ski. She wanted to get something, but I don’t remember what, but I found a cute shirt and it was on clearance. SCORE! I didn’t have my Key with me, so Gail bought it and I paid her later. I think I also bought a magnet from the island as well. Gail purchased a few things as well. Mom and Dad kept telling me to go get them a beer. I kept joking with every family member who walked by that they should go get Mom and Dad a beer and someone actually went and did it. I can’t remember who though. After a bit I got jumpy and went for a walk and made a stop for a drink for myself. I was going to get a beer, but I got a strawberry daiquiri instead. It was just OK and again, I didn’t take a pictue of it, but I did take pictures of the bar. They were on island time too, because even though it wasn’t busy, it took quite a while for them to make it. Taking pictures with a drink in hand is not easy, so I just randomly shot. I took a walk over by Cookies BBQ Too and got a few shots. Those are some pretty bad shots of the buffet and they were getting close to shutting it down, but at least I got a few.

We now are heading to our excursion. This was something Claire had REALLY been looking for. Over a year ago I got a Castaway Cay Poster that showed snorkeling. Claire asked about it and I told her that they had a few options of snorkeling on the island. She was sold and said she must try it. After doing some research, we decided that it needed to be something easy for Claire since this was her first time. We also thought the stingray feeding looked neat and that offered snorkeling after it. We went with this. I had read mixed reviews on it. Most said it was neat, but not something they would do more than once. I will tell you now, I agree with that review. When it came time to make our excursions online, I picked ours out right away. Gail was undecided, but I let her know the things we were planning on doing. She ended up going with the same things. She figured that Alexis would enjoy this as well. So we were heading to do the Castaway Ray Stingray Adventure. Now you know me. I took pictures along the way, of course. Let’s just say there wasn’t much time for slacking. Gail got my mother’s genes. If you need to be somewhere at a certain time, you are not going to waste time getting there. Gail was doing a major power walk and it took all I had to keep up with her and take pictures at the same time. Notice Gail’s bag? She got that gene from my Mom too. She can pack a bag! I swear you can say, “I need a razor blade, an onion and some rope” and Gail would have all of those things in her bag. If she didn’t, my Mother would. LOL! A look back at the ship and the jet skis. We arrived! We were given our gear and told to take a seat on a bench. Alexis modeled the look for us. I think we made a quick dash to the bathrooms before it started as well. We settled in then and waited for the class to start. The class was informative and since I knew next to nothing about stingrays, I found it interesting. Soon it was time to head out to feed the rays. We picked a table to feed them and watched them swim around. I believe we had the 2nd feeding of the day, so they were still pretty hungry and they were swarming the area. We were instructed how to hold the food and were to place our hand. The girls were a little iffy about this. We also were told they might slightly bite, but they don’t have teeth, so it wouldn’t hurt. We got comfortable by petting them first. They felt so weird. Very soft and velvety. I think Rob and I took the plunge first and fed them. What a weird feeling that was. It was like a suction or vacuum. Very strange. And then I was the first ….yep to get bitten! I had my knuckle slightly bent and when the ray came to take the food he got my knuckle as well. I screeched out of surprise and yelled “I got bitten!” Not a smart thing to do around kid’s who all had a look of horror on their faces. I quickly said, “It didn’t hurt, just surprised me and felt weird.” Luckily it didn’t scare anyone off. Over the course of the feed, Rob also got bitten. He said he had his knuckle bent as well and agreed it was more shocking than anything. After we filled the bellies of the rays, we then were allowed to go and snorkel with them. We instructed the girls on what to do and how to breathe. Both were instant pros. I was really impressed, amazed and proud at how fast they caught on to this. Now for the down side …pretty much all you will see here are stingrays and a few random fish. It’s not an exciting snorkeling spot at all. The girls enjoyed it as they knew no difference, but we all have snorkeled before and got bored with it fast. My little fish. A few adjustments. And then we have to have a picture of us looking our best. There’s Rob! Rob had found a few fish, so we headed over his way. Swamp Monster Claire. A shell! Claire once again. We were instructed that when you walk around you had to shuffle your feet so you didn’t directly step on a ray as they like to bury themselves in the sand. This fence is around the area to keep the rays inside from what I was told. I heard it broke during the hurricane, which is why the cruise before us didn’t offer this excursion. They had to round up the rays again and get the fence repaired. Gail’s’ family. Alexis found a shell. I had applied rainex to my camera lens before the Sept. cruise, and it worked really well, but I notice it must’ve been wearing off now as I had more spots on my camera today. I need to remember to reapply some more for a future trip. We started to get cold and had seen all we wanted to see, so we did get out a little earlier than we had too, but not too much earlier. We enjoyed this excursion, but it won’t be something I’ll be doing again. The feeding was fun, but the snorkeling was not. Claire did learn how to do it and that was a plus. But what we actually saw was pretty much nothing and for the price of this, there should be more. We will however be snorkeling again in the future and I now know Claire can handle it and we can do one that is more exciting.

I really like this shot. After taking that shot, I headed down to the Port Adventures desk. I kept thinking about how my Dis friend Rinky had talked about the Jet Ski excursion. I knew I would enjoy it, I was pretty sure Claire would too, and I knew it would be right up Rob’s alley as well. I inquired about it and I was told there wasn’t anything available for double riders, only singles and not for the same times. She then told me to check on the island itself, as they often have more openings there. I will tell you this now. Don’t even bother with the desk. They don’t have the correct info. All the jet skis hold 2 people for one and they had plenty of openings as well. I headed back to the room then and got dressed for the day of activities and packed our bag. I switched over to the waterproof camera for the day as well. Claire was ready to go, but we had to eat some breakfast first. We met up with the family at Cabanas and got a little bit of breakfast. For some reason the kids were not in the eating mood this morning. But we did make them take a few bites. Notice Claire’s Mickey waffle across the table is missing his ears? LOL Abby was refusing to eat as well. I made Claire take a few sips of her milk. Geoff and Pete had already gotten off the ship and were on their way to parasailing. They were really excited about this, but it sounds a bit too scary for me. My mom actually wanted to go as well, but her bone Dr. suggested she not do it, so she passed on it. After breakfast we decided to put the girl’s hair in ponytails and went back to Gail’s room to get the rubber bands. Abby went off with Mom and Dad. I have no clue where I took these pictures. I do know I took the first one because the parasailing boat was just going around the front of the ship, but I just barely missed it. It almost looks like I am hanging in midair taking them. While we were getting ready to get off the ship, Geoff and Pete already had started their adventure. They we weren’t the first to go in their session, so they got to see a few before taking their turn. Pete went up first of the 2 of them though. They were given an option to have a toe dip when they came back down and they both chose to do it. And then it was Geoff’s turn. Coming in for the toe dip. Touch Down! It appears they went up fairly high and they said each turn was a good amount of time. They both enjoyed this quite a bit and were very happy they did this. I still think it looks scary, but there is a part of me that wants to try it. That crazy part that I keep locked up and the key hidden! It was time for us to get off the ship and head to our Port Adventure. I think Rob had to run back to the room for something, so Gail, Claire, Alexis and I got off and walked slowly. We grabbed some towels to take along and spotted some characters, but the girls did not want to stop. Um I swore we got pony tails holders for the girls, but obviously we didn’t put them in their hair at this point. It was sad to see the brown up close, but I knew the island would bounce back soon. And then we spotted him! My boyfriend, my future husband, the man I am leaving Skip for …..Captain Jack Sparrow. I was informed I was not allowed to stop and see him at this point. The line was too long. What kill joys! Hi Honey! I did however stop at the little hut to inquire about the jet ski excursion. I didn’t have many people in front of me, but they were so slow, asking so many useless questions. Well they were useless because they didn’t pertain to what I needed! LOL Finally I got up there and was told that the jet ski sign up was actually right up next to the jet skis. UGH. Wasted time! I did however have the girls stand for a picture. I think Rob did catch up with us at this point and we were off. We now were getting a little too close to our own port adventure time and needed to make some tracks.

After admiring the views from the decks outside of the Meridian, I headed back inside. Of course I shot a couple of pictures. A quick walk through Cabanas. The guy posed for me! I walked around snapping away some more. These stairs lead up to the AquaDuck. I need this guy to come clean at my house. He actually pulls things out and cleans behind them. Back to looking out at Castaway Cay. A look down to where I had just been. I just want to be there right now! Looking down, one level is part of Cabanas outside seating and the other is Aft room balconies. The infamous Palm tree. Earlier when I had been on my balcony watching us dock, My Dad was next door watching as well. I pointed out that this was a fake palm tree that was really a tower for cell phones, etc. I really don’t think he believed me at first. I had to explain how it was so much bigger than the others and they just made it to look like a palm tree. And as you can see, up close, it doesn’t look real at all. While we were talking about this, I had looked down and there was our fellow Dis member JohnPA a deck below us. What a small world. It never dawned on me when looking at the fish extender list that his room was practically right below us. We waved at each other and my Dad was all curious as to why I was waving at strangers. LOL More pictures of my beloved island. I am sure someone in the family would be going down these slides later. Here comes the parasail boat. Geoff and Pete had the first appointment of the day for this excursion. A few more ship pictures. And back to Castaway Cay. Look at all those towels waiting for us.

Day 6, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012 I think today I actually might have slept in till almost 7. Amazing, isn’t it. I got dressed and headed out to see how close we were to Castaway Cay. I soon saw signs of land. It was another beautiful morning! I took pictures around the ship as we got closer. I could see even from afar that the island was brown from the hurricane, but I was still excited to be here. After enjoying the view for a bit, I headed back towards the room. Claire was still dead to the world, but I think I kind of nudged her to get ready. I walked out on the balcony to see our view. The Cast Members from the area were arriving as well. Down the hallway, our family members were rising and enjoying the view as well. I headed out once again. I think Claire had gotten up and was hanging with Mom and Dad if I remember right. I wanted to go up top and watch us dock. I thought I would check the deck outside of the Meridian, which is the bar between Palo and Remy. SIGH!!!!! I wish I was there right now. The outside deck is really a nice area. It is a smoking area, however, for those who have issues with smoke, you won’t want to go here, especially in the evening, where I believe they have cigar smoking as well. Tie us up tight! We don’t want our ship to float off to sea without us. I believe the other side of the outdoor bar seating was no smoking though and these are the chairs over on that side.

I just love how beautiful the Dream is all lit up everywhere. This is one area it trumps the Magic. A few pictures with Admiral Donald. I believe we saw Minnie Mouse out, but she was getting ready to leave. Abby threw herself to the floor and cried out “I want to see Minnie MOWWWWSE!” I heard someone say my name at the same time and looked to see JohnPA from my fish extender group. We exchanged hellos and he totally understood why Abby would want to see Minnie Mowwwwse. After a bit of roaming, we decided to go to the D Lounge and watch a bit of the Karaoke to see what it was like. And guess who was sitting at a table as we walked in ….Aunt Mary and Claire! We sat down with them and watched a bit. I was trying to get a picture of Abby and she kept telling me no. Claire was loving this. Abby was jumpy. Soon Gail left with Abby. She just wasn’t going to sit still and it was not a highlight for her. I am guessing Gail found Geoff and Alexis shortly after, as they had this picture taken before heading back to their room. Claire, Aunt Mary and I stuck around the karaoke for a bit. Claire kept saying she wanted to sing. Claire is shy, so I thought this would never happen ….EVER. They looked through books and discussed song options. I took pictures. They had a few issues with deciding on songs. Many that Claire picked out, Aunt Mary really wasn’t sure how they went. Claire insisted that she did, but I knew she only knew the chorus to many. Claire decided on Hakuna Matada. Aunt Mary let her know that she really didn’t know the song well. Claire said that was ok and they submitted their request. Before you know it, the “Mary and Claire” team were called up. Claire looked like she was a pro at this. Well at home in the basement she is, but not in front of people. Well you would think this would be an easy song to sing, but it wasn’t. It had all the dialog they do in the movie and so there was lots of parts that were just talking. Claire is a slow reader and Aunt Mary just didn’t know the song well enough. That’s OK though. They were having fun. So much fun that when they sat down Claire was ready to do another. I was in complete shock. I just couldn’t believe how brave she was. This is not like her at all. Claire was now obsessed and wanted to sing again. Who would’ve thought that? They decided to sing another song, but the wait was longer this time. We had to sit through quite a few bad singers out just having fun and a few good ones and a few who thought they were good, but were not. There was one young girl, probably preteen age and she got up there. I didn’t expect much, just thinking it was another kid up there for fun, and WOW! could she sing. Soon the Team of Claire and Mary were up again. This time they sang Zippah Dee Doodah. They were much better this time as the words were a bit easier and Aunt Mary was a bit more familiar with the song. Karaoke was running over in time so they were one of the last to sing for the night. Claire was all smiles. Aunt Mary ended up buying Claire a karaoke machine for her birthday too and it’s been a bit hit. Well a hit with her, a little noisy for me. Family Fusion was up next in the D Lounge and Claire wanted to watch it. I needed to hit the restroom, so I left them there. On the way back look who I ran into ….. Daisy was dressed so cute. Some cute Duck tale. She even posed for me. After my run in with Daisy, I headed back into the D Lounge and found Claire and Aunt Mary up near the dance floor in seats waiting for the Family Fusion game to start. Now it was very obvious that some people here were VERY familiar with the game. They knew where to sit and how to attract themselves to be picked and then knew a lot of the questions that were going to be asked. There was some people there doing this to WIN! It was fun and funny and we had a good time. Close to the end of the game Alexis and Geoff showed up. Geoff said he was in bed in his PJ’s and Alexis came over (Her family had all fallen asleep) and said she needed to go find Claire and Aunt Mary. Basically she was jealous that they were still out and she was stuck in the room. Geoff said he tried to talk her out of it, but gave in and took her. I was amazed that She knew exactly where to go, but Geoff said she knew they had talked about karaoke earlier and figured they would be there and she was right. I told Mary and Geoff they could leave and I would take her back to her room, but I think they ended up staying, even though it was clear how tired they were. I think both girls wanted them to stay and they never tell them no. After the game show was over, there was a little bit of dancing. Claire and Alexis went out for a bit, but it didn’t last long and we then headed our separate ways. I guess Claire and I still had energy, because we went for a walk on deck 4. I think this area is so cute. But the downside for many is that it is a smoking area for the evening hours. I don’t know if it has always been or if it is new as I only saw it once on our last cruise. And then we headed over to Shutters to take a look at our pictures. The atrium was EMPTY! This CM looks very bored. Looks like Guest Services now has a rush! LOL I think this royal chair is so pretty. A walk down by the shops, which were closed tonight being that we still were in port. I have eyed this sweatshirt on this cruise so much as well as my last cruise in Sept. on the Magic. I never bought it and I should’ve. It’s so cute, but I was having a hard time getting around the price tag. I was shopping last weekend and saw a lady wearing it at the store and my heart had a little pang of regret and jealousy. We headed back towards the elevators to go up and grab a drink before heading back to our room. I think we might’ve gotten a little snack of an ice-cream cone as well. We made it back to our room and got ready for bed. I think Claire was looking through a Fish Extender Gift. I swear between the Fish Extenders, my Mom and Aunt Mary, she constantly had something new. She was pretty happy about that. We flicked on the TV and found they were showing the evenings performance of Villains Tonight. It was about half way through and we lay down and watched it. I soon drifted off and a little bit later awoke to Claire tapping me to let me know the show was over and I could turn off the TV. I did so ….and I really wish they had a sleep timer on the TV’s. I use ours at home every single day and love it. Soon we both drifted off to dreamland and ready to start another exciting and fun filled day. I had laid my head 2 consecutive nights in the same bed now. A record for this trip at this point, but I had been to another Country today. I also met JohnPA from the disboards today as well. Oh the Places We Go, the People We see!

Food was ordered and soon the appetizers arrived. This was Claire’s. Honeydew Melon Boat - with strawberries. We got it more because it said strawberries, as she is not a fan of honeydew, but it was lacking in the strawberry department. I got the Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp~ White and green asparagus, micro greens, and lemon-dill dressing with horseradish cream. Rob got some sort of fruity drink. This was actually the night where he got like 3 or 4 different drinks and when Gail went over her bill a day or 2 later she swore it was wrong and I told her yes indeed, he really did get that many drinks with dinner that night. LOL! I next had the Escargots Gratines ~ Herb-marinated snails with finely chopped mushrooms, topped with garlic butter and breadstick. And then the Belle's French Onion Soup with gruyere cheese crouton. I was happy with all of them. Very tasty. I think this is Rob’s salad. At this point, Abby was just not feeling in the mood for a dining room dinner and Gail left with her. We talked to Benjamin about having her food sent up to the room and he really didn’t want to do this. He acted like it was impossible, but I knew it wasn’t as we had done this a few times just a few weeks ago on the Magic with some table mates who had not been feeling well a couple of nights. Rob basically told him to bring it out and he would deliver it to the room, so as things came out, Rob would take them up to the room. Claire’s meal came quickly. Beef Tenderloin Medallion - topped with large shrimp. And Alexis’ meal, Mickey's Mac n Cheese. The beautiful light fixture. Our entrées arrived. I had some sort of steak, but I am not seeing it on the online menu. The girls got Mickey bars once again. Again, because the food came out early, they were done fast and getting jumpy. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t want to sit. I think Rob took them out to the atrium a bit and then came back for dessert. It soon was dessert time and I believe I got two. One was the Peanut Butter Mousse Dark chocolate infused with peanut butter, chiffon cake, and whipped cream. (I think) And the other is one of my favorites. I find this one better than the one served at Palo. Grand Marnier Souffle, Infused with fresh orange zest and served with creme Anglaise. Dinner was very good and I felt bad that Gail couldn’t enjoy it with us. I did suggest Gail taking Abby to the kids clubs during dinner and just feeding her before, but she never did. I think she felt bad about doing that, but if she could eat in peace, it might’ve been a better option for her, for both really. We did get a few pictures while at dinner from the ships photographer as well. Tonight’s show was Villain’s Tonight. I didn’t want to see it. It’s my least favorite show and I have seen it twice now. I’ll wait and see it again at another time when perhaps Skip is along. Claire however did want to see it, so I was going to send her with whoever went to it. That plan changed at dinner though, as Aunt Mary suggested a few fun things like mini golf and Karaoke. Claire informed me that she would NOT be hanging with me tonight and I was also NOT allowed to be with her while she was playing with Aunt Mary. Ok, I am not going to cry about a little free time. After dinner, she and Alexis headed off with Aunt Mary and I went on my own way. I guess they stopped in our room as when I next saw Claire she was changed out of her Mad Hatter dress. After dinner I went on a nice walk around the ship all by myself. I love Deck 4. I found where you go to get to the Vibe ……Don’t ask me, because I’ll never remember in a million years. A look at Nassau at night. I headed back to the room for a bit. I don’t remember if I changed my clothes or got a sweatshirt …or both. We had this guy waiting for us tonight. I wandered around a bit more and look who I ran into. They were playing a mean game of putt putt and I was told immediately that I was not allowed to join them or stay. I am so loved. I ignored Claire and talked with them for a bit. I think Alexis was off with Geoff somewhere? I love this picture. It looks like Abby has some magical powers holding up that golf club. As I talked with them, I took a few more pictures of Nassau at night. Doesn’t the Aqua Duck look so pretty all lit up? Gail and I decided to go off on our own for a bit with Abby. Aunt Mary and Claire were going to continue golfing.

While I had been shopping in Nassau and talking with Mr. Creepy, the rest of the family made their way back to the ship. Rob later told me that the girls took off with Aunt Mary and they were on a mission to get back to the rooms and change and go swimming. I guess at one point, Claire panicked because she didn’t have her swimsuit, but Alexis, the wise, pointed out she was wearing her lanyard and it had her room key in it, so she would be able to get her suit. Yay, crisis averted! Rob, Gail, Geoff and Abby had taken it slower to get back on the ship and when they got to the atrium there was a mass meet and greet going on and they stopped off to get many pictures. Abby is all about the princesses, so they stopped and waited in line. Evidently they didn’t have the ships photographers out, because there were no pictures of this meet on our CD. I do have Geoff’s pictures though. Abby seems a little unsure with her meet with Cinderella. Getting a bit friendlier with Tiana. She was more comfortable with Belle, now getting into meet and greet mode. I didn’t ask Gail how this worked, but it almost looked like they had to wait in a separate line for each princess. I know in the past, they had one line for all of them and that worked really well for us. Princess Minnie was upstairs. Oops, I was wrong; there was a photographer with Minnie. And Jude even found them and got in a few. And they found Daisy as well. Abby was very happy and now on a Princess high. Geoff headed back to his room then and this was his view. I think Geoff then joined everyone at the pool for a while. Once I got back on the ship, I also headed back to my room. I am not sure when I found Claire, but I am thinking she returned after they had a swim and a few rides on the Aqua duck. I know at some point Claire did ride it again with Geoff. I took a few pictures from our verandah when I got back. Oh look! They are building my new house! I think our original set sail time was for about 4:30 PM, but we found out we were going to have an extended stay in Nassau till midnight (I think). When we had been getting ready to go on our port adventure that afternoon, the crew was doing some sort of safety drill. We saw them all over the ship in life jackets and announcements were made to them off and on. I guess because of this, they earned extra time in port. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. We got ourselves dressed and headed to the dining room. Alexis is ready as well. Gail and Abby did not arrive with the rest of the family. If I remember right, Abby had fallen asleep and she was waking her up for dinner, plus she didn’t want her awake all night, and let’s just say she wasn’t pleasant. So Gail hung back to get her ready. I took a quick picture of the girls dressed in their Alice in Wonderland outfits. Abby would be dressed as Alice, but sadly I never got a picture of her in it as she was not too sweet at the time and this was the only picture I got of Claire and Alexis and they both changed immediately after dinner. We all sat down and bread was waiting for us. I got my favorite drink, the Princess Delight, Passion Fruit Juice, Mango Puree. It does not have alcohol and it’s so yummy. Gail had arrived with Abby now and she was not in a good mood at all. You can kind of see a little bit of the blue of her dress in this picture. No one was going to make her happy at this point.

As we drove along, our bus driver did point out things and tell us what certain places were or represented. Some of us look a little tired. Or perhaps bored? We then approached Fort Fincastle. As we drove around it, our driver asked if we would like to stop and take a look …and yes I did …but everyone else shouted no! UGH! I didn’t say anything, but I really did want to check this place out, more so than Ft. Charlotte. Oh Well, maybe next time. Not far from there is the Queens Stairs. This was made for the Fort so they could escape in an invasion. I actually think I read or heard that it never was actually used in that matter though. We did stop here and some of us took a look around. I wasn’t about to head down the steps …..because then you had to climb back up! There was a man sitting there telling tidbits about the stairs, but he was there to make money. He wanted a tip. We didn’t stick around too long and then headed back to the bus and off back towards the port. When we got dropped off, that is when we learned that our driver was brand new. He did such a great job and I never would’ve known it if we hadn’t been told. We all gave him a tip and headed on our way. After we got done with our tour, we all made our way back to the ship via the customs House. I was on the hunt for a magnet. They have a few shops there, but nothing was grabbing my attention. I decided I wanted to stay in port a bit and look around at some shops. I had not had an opportunity to do so on our last cruise here, so today I wanted to take a look around. No one else wanted, to, including Claire, so she headed off with the family and I went off on my own. I browsed a few shops and found a magnet and also found a sun dress for Claire that was really cute. She has not worn it yet, so I sure hope it still fits for this upcoming summer. I kind of just hung back and took pictures. I liked this horse and carriage. See the guy walking behind the carriage? Well he liked me! UGH. I kind of got nervous as he came right over as he saw me take the picture and started talking. Let’s just say, he was CREEPY! He was missing the majority of his teeth yet he thought he was some sort of prize. He came over and told me how beautiful I was and how he would never let me walk around by myself if he was my husband. ICK>>>> Get away from me! Finally he did leave. Thank goodness. I made sure to stay in plain view of other people and right near an entrance to a shop. After he went on his way, I took a few more pictures. And I made my way back to the customs house, being sure to walk the long way around where that guy was standing. I had to take a few pictures of the Dream in port. It’s one of those things you can never have enough pictures of. A look back at the customs house. A look up at the Aqua Duck. Isn’t she just “dreamy”? And back on the ship I went.

After the show we did a little more looking around. With our tickets, we could get a free drink or snack, so we headed over to the snack bar and each got a pop. Well the rest of the family pretty much got bottle waters, but Claire and I got pops. When we got on the bus, the family noticed that the label said Bahamian water and they refused to drink it. They said after seeing the disgusting green water there, there was no way they would take a chance of drinking it. I am sure it was fine, but I wasn’t going to be the guinea pig on that one either. We next headed towards Fort Charlotte. We had the option of staying on the bus or getting off and taking a quick look around. I believe this is when Aunt Mary said she was getting off to stretch and Abby comes darting down the bus aisle and says “I’m going with Murry”. We all laughed and said, “Um Murry, you have someone joining you”. I think about half the bus got off, and Claire and I did as well. I took a few pictures. It was really neat to see, but sad to see the graffiti on the buildings. You can see the ship from here too. My beloved lighthouse I love this picture. I took a lot of pictures with the ship in the distance. Dad, Rob and Alexis had walked up towards the Fort, but came right back down. Claire and I went up there next. Now to actually go in the Fort it cost money. I think it was only like a dollar or 2, but since we had limited time there, I didn’t want to hold everyone else up by going in. I would probably get carried away with pictures inside and not pay attention to time. I believe Skip and I toured this Fort many years ago too. I continued taking pictures of the Fort area. I kept switching cameras, so I am not sure if these are in exact order. It was really neat and I was so tempted to go inside. But I knew everyone else would be waiting on me. I just love the views! Another fantastic view. We all got back on the bus then and soon we were headed into town. I tried to take pictures as we drove, but they aren’t the greatest from a bus with tinted windows. At times we would see beautiful houses and other times we basically saw holes in the ground. My family did NOT like Nassau at all. They thought it was dirty and falling apart. I have to agree with both, but also recently seeing some other ports just about 6 weeks prior, I didn’t really think it was all that much worse than the other ports civilian areas. And we have to remember that a hurricane had come through just a week or 2 prior.

While they were marching around, there was a lady on a microphone announcing things and facts about the flamingoes. I believe these guys were fed special to get that extra pink color, and I have to admit, they were beautiful. They then call out for volunteers from each section to come out and let the flamingoes run around them. Claire and Alexis went out, though I think Alexis was a bit reluctant. Abby was not about to be left sitting in the stands and charged right out. Jude also made his way out too. This was going to be fun! Abby and Alexis look like they now are not sure what they got themselves into. “Aunt Bop Bop (that’s what my nieces call me), Don’t take pictures!” “Aunt Bop Bop, I said NO pictures!” Um, too bad Abby, it’s what I do! Claire notices one coming their way. The kids from the other section were freaking out over them getting so close. It was so funny. The lady kept announcing that they were only like 30 lbs and not mean and heck, they are pink for God sakes! And then one got too close! Abby was NOT having any of that! And soon we heard an announcement …”Do not touch the flamingoes!” Look at the look she is giving them now. And Jude is starting to get slightly freaked as well. OK, buddy, I told you NOT to come by me! And then Abby grabbed that guy by his neck and gave him a HUGE shove! Oh my Word. I felt bad for the flamingo, but it was so hilarious! We were dying with laughter and we talk about it ALL the time. That flamingo probably told his buddies that he has been marching for 30 years and NO ONE has ever grabbed him by the neck before. She’s really giving them the glare too. That was enough. She had it and came back to sit with us. Alexis isn’t all that keen on the flamingoes either. Claire was safely in between her 2 cousins, so no worries for her. The kids then were allowed to sit back down and the flamingos ran around a few more times. One of the rebels. See the 2 fighting on the right side? I was laughing and we were putting words in their mouths. “Did you see that girl grab my neck? I have been marching for over 30 years and NO ONE has ever grabbed my neck! I can’t believe she did such a thing”. “I am filing a claim with workman’s comp!” “I have never had my feathers in such a ruffle”. “Let’s get out of here”. That really was a fun thing to see. Not something I would want to do every trip, but I good thing to try at least once. The flamingoes are beautiful too.

We decided Claire needed a picture with the flamingoes. We enjoyed just watching them run around freely. We then walked over and took a look at the leopard. I think he thought we looked like a tasty snack. We followed the peacocks around a bit. I wanted a full plumage picture …. I never was lucky enough to get one. Geoff however, was very lucky. I was able to capture a few flowers here and there. We found some bobcat looking cats. Here kitty kitty! Claire’s goal was to go see King Julian again, so we were heading that way. Hail King Julian! We made our way back just in time for the Marching Flamingo show. Mom was worried that we were going to miss it, but Claire and I got back just as they were bringing them in. No worries! Now these are trained flamingoes. They are trained to march around and some have been marching for like 35 years. Now I am really not sure I would classify this as trained marching in my book. Now they were smart enough to know it was show time and all gathered in the ring, but as for synchronized marching, it really wasn’t that. It was more of the flamingoes running one way and then on cue running the other way. And some were defiant and refused to go along with the pack. It was still really fun and neat to watch and kind of funny too. Well hello there. This guy was a bit curious with us.

Here are a few of Geoff’s pictures. They were having a budgie feeding, so we all decided to check that out. We had to wait for the OK to walk in and then we got apples to feed the birds with. The birds would come right to you and eat, but you weren’t supposed to let them eat the skin. We had to throw those in a bucket and then we could get new apples. We had a lot of fun here. Pete was the bird man. They loved him! This was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it, though Abby didn’t want the birds to touch her. She was more into watching them eat. Even Alexis was squeamish at times about them touching her too. I thought this was a cool shot. Claire and I ended up being some of the last ones in there. As people left, they kept handing off apples to Claire and she decided she was done, so she handed them off to me. I finally just took them to the lady as I wanted out too. It was fun to do, but I didn’t want to spend my whole day in here with the birds when there were other things to look at as well. And the Flamingo show was going to start after a bit, so I wanted to scope out the rest of the area before that. We spotted Flamingos running freely and we had to check those out. Warning, between Geoff and I, we took about 40 zillion Flamingo pictures. Some of these Flamingoes had a bit of an issue with each other. It was funny to see them yell at each other. It just made me think of 2 women having a fight, with lots of nasty words and head bobbing going on.

Some of us lagged behind a bit before heading to the bus and took a few more pictures. We passed by the certified Hair braiders. Now really, how do we know they are certified? LOL. We got on our bus, which was like a big van. 2 seats on one side and 1 on the other. Since we had such a big group, we took up the majority of our bus. We also got the Disney CM in our bus as well. I can’t for the life of me remember her name nor our bus drivers name, but both were very nice. We learned that our bus driver had a secret and it would be shared with us at the end of the tour. Now I know I am going to forget to mention it later, so I will spill the beans now. This was our drivers first day on the job. He had recently retired from another occupation completely different than this one and we were his first bus load. I will tell you when we found that out, I was STUNNED! He did an amazing job and was very knowledgeable too. He did a FANTASTIC job! Off we went. We drove around the city a bit on our way to Ardastra Gardens. He pointed out a few places, and honestly, I don’t remember any of the details anymore. The famous sign I see in so many other Trip Reports. I just had to get my own version. This is a Government Building. I can’t think of the official name right now, but I have seen it a few times. There was damage throughout the city too. Some from the hurricane and some from storms of the past. We then arrived at Ardastra Gardens. Our bus driver did tell us that they were not in the best shape right now because of the hurricane. Most of the flowers had blown off during the storm, and though it would still be nice, it wasn’t at its full glory right now. Right as we walked in we saw the Lemurs, or as Claire calls them , the “King Julians”. They were a huge hit for her and we ended up going back to look at them after a bit. And this was one of the main reasons I picked this excursion. Parrots! Ok, they might be technically called Macaws, but they will always be parrots to me. The water was so nasty looking. I am not sure if this is normal or a leftover from the hurricane. Claire and I had separated from the family while we looked around, but the place isn’t too big and we easily found them after a bit. HELLO! Yes, this guy said that to us and it scared the crud out of me at first. Then we both laughed. Aren’t these guys just too cute?

I toured the District a bit more and looked in on what I think is the prettiest of the places, Pink. I headed back up top. I do believe I found Gail and Rob then and we chatted a bit. Helloooooooo up there! Another lighthouse shot. At some point in time, I think Rob left us. I don’t remember why or where he went, but after a bit Gail and I decided to go pick up the girls and get them some lunch before we headed off to meet for our port Adventure. We arrived at the kids club and asked for our girls and Rob showed up with them. He said he was able to sign out his 2, but they wouldn’t let him sign out Claire. I had never thought about giving Rob permission. I had Mom and Gail listed, but not Rob. Abby had a princess dress on and the cast member told her she had to go take it off and he went to help her and she pushed him. Ok, it’s not funny at all, but it was hysterical. She was NOT about to leave if she couldn’t take the dress with her. Rob wasn’t too happy and tried and she pushed him away too. She got a lecture and with some effort, the dress was taken off. In the meantime I had lifted my camera to take a picture, as it was so cute and funny and I got a lecture as well ….from one of the cast members. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of kids in the clubs. I was standing outside and our kids were still inside, even though right at the gate. I said it was my child and nieces and was still told no, it wasn’t allowed. Now I had done so earlier without a blink of an eye by any cast member and I had taken pictures inside the actual club on my last Dream cruise, so I don’t know if the rules have changed, or some CM’s are stricter with policies over others, but needless to say, I didn’t get a shot of Abby pouting. And the CM did get a big giant eye roll! We got the girls a light lunch and really they weren’t too hungry, but we made them each take at least a bite of a few things. And cookies do count as part of lunch! I got adventurous and tried sushi. Let’s just say …yuck, gross, and never again! It was just nasty. I don’t know if you are supposed to eat the black thing around the edge, but I did, and blahhhhh! The rice was no better either. Dry and sticky and not tasty at all. Maybe this is not the best spot to try it, but it will be a long time before I decide to give it a try again. This is the overhang at Cabanas. I thought it was cute. A shot of the dessert choices. When we finished up, we headed down towards the District Lounge and Claire and I made a pit stop in the fancy round bathrooms. The family was all waiting and we went and checked in. The girl in blue was some person who did arrangements for the excursions, or something like that. Today she was going to be joining us on ours. We got a few instructions and then were led off the ship. Our excursion today was to the Ardastra Gardens and City Tour. We had to walk down several flights of stairs to exit the ship and we all joked with Dad about it. He had been anti stairs this whole trip and of course we had to get a couple of digs about whether he was going to make it or not. Once we exited the ship, we had to wait a few minutes before we proceeded on. You know me ….I started taking pictures. On my last trip to Nassau, I had lost my memory card sometime during the trip and the pictures on that card were mostly from this day. So I needed to make up for lost time now. You could clearly see the damage that Sandy had done the week before. Many of the plants were brown and had a burned out look. Taking care of the garbage problem. Amazing how much is dumped off after less than 24 hours of ship time. As we were standing there, a girl walks by and says “Hello Jennifer” all excitedly. I looked and had absolutely no clue who she was and I looked puzzled and asked who she was. “It’s me, Rasheeta, one of your servers”! I said hello and really thought it was nice she recognized me, but I instantly felt bad too, as Gail and I had just recently been discussing her poor service. Like I said, she was REALLY nice, but just not a good server. I did notice if I asked for something, it got done, but if Gail asked, it seemed to get ignored. LOL We were on the move now. Walking towards the area to find our busdrivers. It was so sad to see the plant life so burned out. Some of the family was a little slower. We were directed to the buses. They had a couple of them waiting for us.

After we all got settled in at our table and made some drink orders, we headed up to get some plates of food. A light fixture on the wall. We had a nice breakfast and discussed the day’s plans. After breakfast, I was going to take Alexis and Claire to play the Detective Agency game. And then drop them off at the kids clubs for a while. I think Gail’s plan to was to take Abby there as well for a bit. We headed to go get our card set up and ran into the Princess meet and greet and it was a bit crazy. The girls got their instructions and learned how to play the game (though Claire has played this before). While they were learning how to play, I peeked into the Podcast groups head quarters to see if anyone famous was in there. ……Ok, I really was looking for Richard Sherman, who was on our cruise, but I never did see him. On to the fun! The girls took turns at each picture to make it fair. While playing, I spotted this Mickey and had some fun with him. I can’t remember if we finished off the mission or not, but I know the plan was to take them to the kids club by a certain time, so I did. I am thinking we got close to done, and maybe someone else finished the mission with them at a later time. Time to get washed up. I said good bye and went off on my way. After leaving the girls, I headed up to the top of the ship and relaxed and took in the view. The lighthouse is one of those things that I tend to take a lot of pictures of. I saw Gail and Rob come up …alone. It seemed so weird to see the 2 of them without a child. They were married for several years before Alexis arrived and it was the norm to see just the 2 of them back then. Now it seemed strange. I let them walk around together and have their romantic moment. (if that’s what it was ! LOL). Originally I had planned to go to Atlantis to the aquarium on this day. But I changed my mind and decided that it could wait for another time. If Skip ever does sail with us, I would like to do it with him. Years ago (actually about 10), we sailed NCL and this was one of the things we did while in Nassau. He really enjoyed it and we have talked of doing it again in the future. I decided to go scope out the area where we would be meeting for the excursion later on. I believe we were meeting in the District Lounge. I think I might’ve stopped and gotten an ice-cream cone on my way down too. It was time for a morning snack! This is 687. Here is the District Lounge.

I next headed up to the sports deck. The putt putt course is just too cute! A quick look at the ping pong table. I learned about the sports simulators while touring the Dream in Aug. of 2011. I think they are pretty popular. Back to more putt putt. A look off the back of the ship. I Love this clock! Foosball! An artsy look at the Aquaduck! I then headed back to the room to get ready for the day. Some of the family had started to stir. Dad was really enjoying the balcony as well. I think he really loved this trip. I know he did as he had friends ask if he would ever do it again and he said in a heartbeat! I just love watching us pull into port. There were birds all over the place, but they seemed to be attracted to one area of the ship. I am not sure if someone was eating over there or if someone had thrown food, but the birds were going crazy! CRAZY BIRDS!!!!! I must’ve popped into the room a minute as I have this picture next. I guess I wanted to be sure to get a picture of our room picture. And while I was going picture crazy with us pulling into port, Geoff was as well down in their rooms. We all got ourselves dressed and ready and were going to have breakfast at Enchanted Garden. No one had to be anywhere early. Pete, Vicki, and Jude originally had a port adventure for this morning, but after the hurricane came through, it had been canceled, so they changed their plans and booked the same one we were all going on, which wasn’t till this afternoon. I’m sure in the midst of getting dressed and ready, we probably ventured down the hall to the others rooms to see if all was ready. Eventually we all did make it down to Enchanted Garden. I took a couple of quick shots of the buffet as I walked by. This was my first time eating here for a meal other than dinner. I think other family members ate here a couple more times throughout the trip. We got a table off to the side in an area all to ourselves. I guess they know we can be kind of loud. This next picture cracks me up. Dad is putting his napkin on his head ….always the life of the party! And there isn’t even a grandchild near him to show it off to. Abby has such a cute little look on her face, Alexis is about to fall asleep, and Claire is grabbing the spoon, which for some reason she is mesmerized by. Jude looks scared at my picture taking …and see, Claire has that spoon. I am not sure if she is looking at herself or what? LOL The ceiling above us was so pretty.

Continuing on with my tour of the Spa area. I love to check out the salon as I am licensed to do hair as well. I thought this was really pretty. It’s amazing all the services they have onboard. They even had teeth whitening. I was done there and headed out to explore a bit more. These are the pool bar stools at the adult pool. I love the artwork all over the ship. And a peek into the Quiet Cove Café. I love this décor. You could grab a quick snack here if you wanted to. I just love this blue color here in the Cove Café. When we toured suites on the ship in 2011, this was the color scheme in the room and I loved it there as well. Onward now. This is where you get the ice-cream ….when it’s open. The girls loved this spot. I LOVE this shot. Well, and this one too! This is one of those items that I just can’t stop taking pictures of. I have about 7 hundred and 50 zillion pictures of the Aquaduck sign. This is where the Auqaduck spits you out at. Obviously when it’s running there is water and that gate isn’t covering the opening. This area was smoking last time I sailed. I am betting they changed it because it had kind of a wind tunnel effect through here at times. ….just a guess.

Nov. 5, 2012, Monday, Day 5 The nice thing about the short cruises is that you arrive at your first port pretty darn fast. I woke around 6ish this morning and took a look outside. What a beautiful morning. And this is one reason I love the verandah. It’s so nice to just sit out there and take in the early morning. But you know me, I can’t sit still too long and I got dressed, cracked the connecting door from my parents room for Claire and I went off to explore. Wow, Look at that sunrise! A few others were out and about too, but really, not many people are out early in the mornings. This is an adult area, and as you can tell by the ashtrays on the tables, one of the few smoking areas on the ship. I don’t believe this was smoking last time when we sailed, but I could be wrong. I do know another area that used to be smoking is no longer one though. I noticed a few things that had changed since last sailing this time around. Who could ever get tired of views like this. I continued to walk around and got a quick shot of this shower stall. That’s the teen club. I still think Disney goofed with this one. This should be the adult area. I see land ahead. The adult pool. This area was poorly planned. So many people use this area as a walk through. It’s almost impossible not to at times. And as for the sun worshippers, well there isn’t much of an option to get a good tan here as most of it is in shadows. I decided to head into the spa area and explore while it was quiet. A few were up and working out already. Continuing through the spa and gym. This is the shower area. I have heard from others that some prefer to come here and shower rather than their rooms, as it is a bit roomier here. Also if you have several people in your room, this is a good spot to come too. They had these plastic sandals to wear around. I have huge feet and I tried a pair on….um these are super narrow and tiny. I couldn’t even squeeze my foot in if I tried hard.