The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip - Day 18, Castaway Cay

[Lisa29]

The Land Sea and Wedding Trip Oct 2015 - Day 18, Castaway Cay

The previous day is HERE.

Wednesday 28th October 2015

I woke with the alarm at 6.55am this morning. I got ready then sat out on the verandah for a bit and had another look through the Navigator

Sorry, I don’t seem to have taken photos of everything with today's Navigator.

I did take a photo of the map of Castaway Cay that came with the Navigator

Soon enough, Phil and the girls were awake and we all sat out watching our arrival into Castaway Cay. Phil had been insistent that we had a stateroom on this side of the ship and I am so glad that we did, it was incredible seeing all of Castaway Cay whilst we backed in

There was a knock on our door at 7.34am; it was our room service breakfast. I had ordered cereal, toast, juices, coffee, croissants, muffins and doughnuts

We ate out on the verandah. This was lovely and I was so glad we had ordered room service as an alternative to going up to Cabana's

A few more photos

It really did look incredible and we couldn't wait to get off the ship and start exploring. (A stark contrast to me not being at all bothered about getting off the previous day! )

Once we were finished with breakfast, we slathered the girls in sunscreen then they got dressed. We had everything ready that we needed/wanted, so made our way down to deck 1 and were there just after 8.20am. Ryan, Bethany and Piper were already there and Dan and Dave arrived a couple of minutes later. We were off the ship just after 8.30am and saw that Mum and Dad had got off at the other end so we walked to meet them.

Already doing some work of some sort

We picked up some towels and started to walk around. We made our way to the Boat Beach for the guys' jet ski at 9am but they were told that it had been postponed until 1pm because it was too windy and the sea was too choppy. We carried on around to the first Family Beach and got a bunch of sun loungers and set up camp near to the water.

We had all decided that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go on a bike ride (even though Madison, Kaley and Phil are the only ones who EVER go on a bike! ) and explore a bit of the island so we decided to do that now before it got even hotter than it already was.

It was quite a trek from our spot on the beach round to the bike rental area. We had already booked bikes for Phil and Madison so we just had to do one for me ($10.75 including tax). Kaley was too young to have her own so Phil had a bike with a seat on the back for her.

They stopped for a photo with the Olaf statue

We all picked our bikes, got the kids helmets and strapped Kaley and Piper into the child seats, and set off on the bike trail route.

Dan, Bethany and I were a bit unsure to start with, the bikes were quite wobbly and we all had something slightly wrong with our bikes, i.e. my front wheel wasn't straight when the handlebars were straight so that was fun! Madison was brilliant on hers and just got going straight away. Kaley and Piper both loved being on the back of the bikes and the guys of course had to race and go as fast as they could!

The 5k was going on at the same time so we had to keep an eye out for runners. We didn't envy them running in the heat, at least we had a breeze while we were on the bikes.

At regular points, there were water fountains with little paper cone cups that we stopped at as it really was hot. The airstrip part was great, a really wide and long stretch that you could go as fast as you liked on. Again, the men took it upon themselves to go as fast as they could on this, with Kaley and Piper on the back of their bikes, but they absolutely loved it and kept asking them to go faster!

We veered off from here and came across the observation tower that you can go up and have a look over the island

Our bikes parked up

We took a couple of photos

Then another family came down from the observation tower and offered to take some pictures of all of us

Obviously, this pose was instigated by the family taking our photo!

We returned the favour and took their photo then we went up to the top.

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[Lisa29]

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It was higher than it looked and was actually very rickety! The stairs wobbled as you walked up and it felt like you could really rock it from side to side when you were at the top! Typically, there were a couple of members of our group who thought it was funny to do precisely this!

Anyway, onto the views

The Dream looked incredible from here, I still can't get over what a stunning ship it is.

We made our way back down to unwobbly ground

And carried on round on our bike ride. We called at Serenity Beach, where my Mum and Dad had gone, and they came to say hello. We then carried on along the nature trail along the adult beach, by some of the cabanas. We went as far as we were able to, then made our way back, again going very fast on the airstrip.

Over an hour after we had set off, we were back at the bike rental place. We had all loved doing this, Madison had done so well, she had been on her bike the whole time and had loved it. With how far we had ridden, she had done so well. It had been hard work at times, with us not being even occasional bike riders, but it had been so much fun and we have all said that we would do it again.

The map shows the bike trail and the Observation Tower is Z on the map

Phil had the go-pro on the whole time we were on our bikes. I had hoped to try and edit the footage to speed it up and add some island-type music to it but I don't know what I am doing with that! If I have time and figure out how to do it, I will add it later.

All the bikes lined up

Outside the She Sells Sea Shells and Everything Else and Buy the Seashore shops

Summertime Freeze

Phil had taken these photos whilst I went in to have a look and see if there was anything I wanted to buy. Obviously there was! I couldn't go on Castaway Cay and not buy anything! I got a postcard ($2.95), a magnet ($5.99) and a scrapbooking kit ($9.99), all of which were specific to Castaway Cay. This all cost $20.35 including tax.

We went over to Flippers and Floats next

We had pre-booked, during online check in and booking our shore excursions, the snorkel rental and floats so collected these. This wasn't the best of ideas as those floats are MASSIVE! They were so bulky and cumbersome and made for a very long, hot, tiring walk back to where we had set up on the beach.

Phil took some photos on the way back

As we were nearly back at the beach, we spotted Olaf so stopped and joined the very short line to see him

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[Lisa29]

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Finally back on the beach, the camera was put away for a couple of hours and Phil had the video camera and go-pro out instead. We went straight into the sea, which the girls loved. I am a real wimp when it comes to the sea, I found it a bit cold and I HATE fish so as soon as I saw some, I was out so quickly!

I sat on the sun loungers and caught up on my notes while the others splashed and played in the sea.

At some point, we went over to Cookies to get some lunch. We still didn't have the camera out so no pictures at all I am afraid. We had hot dogs, cheeseburgers, ribs, etc. There were no fries on the buffet but as we sat down, we saw some people with them so asked but no one seemed to know where you could get them. One member of staff told us where to get them but we couldn't find it so we just left it. I still now do not know where you were able to get them from.

We had cookies and a delicious pineapple crumble cake for pudding. There wasn't much Kaley wanted, hence the quest for fries, so she only had some fruit and a packet of crisps.

We went back to the beach, Phil, Madison and Kaley went back in the water for a short while before my Dad came and him, Phil, Dave and Ryan went off to do their rescheduled 1pm jet ski. It was a little after 12.30pm when they left.

Phil had taken the go-pro with him to film being on the jet ski so I had the main camera and video camera so got these out.

The beach

Kaley taking her water shoes off

There was no way I was convincing the girls that they didn't want to be in the water so I had to be brave and go in with them! I did only paddle, I didn't go in very far

(I had moved one of the chairs down to near the edge of the water and was sat watching them playing at this point)

Some very ominous looking clouds

Heads Up Bar at Pelican Point

The girls were having fun making sandcastles and going in and out of the water to bring buckets of water back

I had helped the girls make a 'river' around their sandcastle, that then went down to the sea so they kept rushing back and forth to try and fill it with water

Black clouds again

The clouds kept coming and going, as shown in the next pictures where they are going and it is beautiful out again. Madison and Kaley were done with sandcastle building and wanted to go back in the water

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[Lisa29]

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They then decided that they wanted to run and then throw themselves in the water so they did that for a while

By this point, Ryan had come back but Phil had not. Ryan said that him and Dave had gone round to where the parasailing was to check that it was still running as they hadn't seen any (they had this booked at 3.30pm). Now to say I was annoyed was a ginormous understatement! As much as I had wanted to do this cruise and spend time on Castaway Cay, I am really not a beach person so was not enjoying having to go in the water and had not planned on spending that much time in the water either. I had been waiting for ages for Phil to come back and take over so I could sit in the shade for a while but I obviously had a bit longer to wait.

I put the camera away and filmed the girls for a while playing in the sea and helping them with their floats. Quite a bit of time had passed and Phil still wasn't back.

I got the camera back out and took more photos while we were still waiting for him to get back

I was so cross at this point. Scratch that, I am not one for swearing but I was absolutely f****** p***** off! :angry: :angry: I had had enough. I was hot, sunburnt, my feet hurt from the sand and I was fed up of having to be in the water when I really didn't like it. I know I sound so spoilt and ungrateful, I had loved being with the girls but I just hadn't expected to be on my own for so much of the afternoon (Bethany and Piper, and then Ryan, had been there too but Piper hadn't been overly keen on the sand so they had spent quite a bit of time on the sun loungers) and I was so mad. (In all honesty, I think they could see how mad I was and were happy that Piper wanted a break! ) I decided to get the girls out of the water and get them dressed.

At 3.20pm, almost 3 hours after leaving, Phil came back. Boy, did he walk into the firing line! It turned out that, as I'm sure many other women (or men) have experienced, Phil thought that he was doing the right thing in going to check that the parasailing was still running and then making the decision to do it when they said they could, rather than just coming back and doing it at 3.30pm as planned. I was unbelievably mad with him and let him know in no uncertain terms how p***** I was with him, how he had ruined the afternoon for me, and how I couldn't believe that he thought that the decision he had made was the right one. Again, I'm sure there are many other women (or men if they are the planners) who plan these things and know exactly what they have planned and how to make things work for the best and this was how it had been for me and I was so annoyed. :angry:

It didn't help that first thing that morning, my Mum had mentioned that they were going to head back to the ship as on a previous cruise, they had watched the parasailers from their verandah, so I had planned to do the same. Unfortunately, I stupidly hadn't relayed this information to Phil so he had no idea that I had planned on us walking back with him and watching them from somewhere on the ship. This obviously made my exceptionally bad mood even worse!

Anyway, I was done with Castaway Cay, I didn't want to speak to Phil, I just wanted to go. I finished gathering all of our stuff together, in as few words as possible (as I didn't want to speak to him), I told him he had to take all the rental stuff back on his own (which he did, to be fair), and then took the girls and stomped off on the walk back to the ship!

Even now, over a year after this happened, we still have disagreements (read arguments!) about it, it still winds me up and Phil still thinks he was doing the right thing at the time!

There were loads of photos I had wanted Phil to take of the girls on the way back to the ship but I was in such a strop, I just walked past everything I had wanted photos of. Phil still took loads of photos, and got one with the girls in.

(Sorry, lots of them are similar)

The only photo with the girls

Both sides of the sign

I'm glad Phil took all these photos as I really was not appreciating how good the Dream looked

I'm sure Kaley is trying to film with her go pro here

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[Lisa29]

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More photos

I was so mad I didn't even stop in the post office (yes, I do cut my nose off to spite my face )

In my strop, storming off ahead!

It was just after 4pm when we were back on the ship. We had showers, got dressed, etc. then Dan came and took Madison and Kaley to go with her for a walk.

I sat and watched the Manchester United v Middlesbrough league cup game that was on ESPN and Phil sat outside to get more photos

The view I had planned on having of this activity!

Lots more photos of Castaway Cay

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[Lisa29]

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Some photos from my Mum and Dad's verandah

It was pirate night and we had been left bandanas

At 5pm, we started to leave Castaway Cay so I went out onto the verandah and happened to look down to deck 4 right as Dan, Madison and Kaley were walking past so I shouted to them and they stopped and we talked for a few minutes before they carried on their walk.

Madison and Kaley were back now so we just sat together for a bit then left at 5.35pm to go to dinner in Enchanted Garden. We had wanted to get some pictures in the lobby before dinner but it was too busy. I took the girls into the toilets outside the restaurant and got them changed into their pirate outfits

We went inside and found our table, everyone else was already there

We sat down and looked at the menu

Kids menu

I think this was the other side of the kids menu

The bread was already on the table

This was delicious, I ate quite a bit.

Madison and Kaley both had chicken soup (no photo) to start, then had the grilled chicken skewer with fries

For appetizers, Phil and I both had the Pirates Golden Pot Stickers - Oriental pork dumplings deep fried and served with a tamarind-ginger soy sauce and pickled vegetables

These were really good, they tasted very much like the pot stickers at 'Ohana.

For the salad course, we both had the same again, Jerk Chicken Salad - I can't read the menu to see what this actually entailed!

This was a tiny bit spicy for me, I'm not good with spicy food but nothing else on the menu appealed to me.

For Phil's main, he had Jack Sparrow's BBQ Marinated Beef Short Ribs - rubbed beef short ribs with tamarind-barbecue sauce served with onion red bliss mashed potatoes and plantain chip

He enjoyed this.

I had The Dutchman's Dijon Crusted Sirloin of Beef - thick cut of beef with oven roasted sweet potatoes and a black spot tomato, with a deep red wine glaze

I also really enjoyed this, the beef was really good.

A picture of the dessert menu

Phil didn't fancy any of the puddings so had some chocolate and vanilla ice cream instead, and I had the Bounty Fruit Cobbler - with vanilla ice cream. I don't have photos of either or any notes so presume these were both ok.

The photographers were round again taking pictures

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[Lisa29]

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We were done with dinner by 7.10pm. Phil took a couple of photos of the restaurant as we left

Madison just outside

We had 7.15pm reservations at the Pirates League at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for Madison and Kaley so we went up to deck 5. BBB had been transformed

Kaley decided when we got there that she didn't want to do it anymore and they were more than ok with her changing her mind, and we also weren't charged for her which was really good. Phil was also booked in for this, but at 8pm, but they were happy for him to go at the same time as Madison

Before they started, they did something (after all this time, I don't recall exactly what!) to determine their pirate names. Madison's was Charlotte Bluefish and Phil's was Tobias Redburn. I don't know what the Fairy Godmothers in Training are called when it's the Pirates League, but the lady with Madison was Casey and Phil's was Monica. They were both excellent, especially Monica, and they really got into character and were so entertaining.

Making a start on Madison's nails

Phil being made to do a silly pose!

And starting on his make up

Starting on Madison's make up

An improvement?!

Kaley chatting with Grandad

Madison was enjoying it

A few pics of the transformed BBB

Watching

Bandana time

Finished

Dave was also doing this so the girls went to see him

They then posed for more photos

They all had a great time doing this. The ladies were so much fun and it was a great experience that we all enjoyed. For the First Mate Core package and Empress Core Package, the cost was $39.95 each, making a total of $79.90, which was charged to our stateroom.

We tried to tip the ladies but were again told that they are unable to accept tips so we thanked them and left. We went up to deck 11 to catch the end of the Pirates show.

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[Lisa29]

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As you can see from this photo

It was expectedly RAMMED so we went up to deck 12 for a better view

We were stood near to where Captain Hook and Mr Smee were waiting to join in with the show so Phil was able to get some photos of them before they joined in

The girls were enjoying watching it, but were finding it a bit loud

Last bit of the show

Once it had finished, we stood talking for a bit then we went down to the atrium to get some photos

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[Lisa29]

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There was a very short wait and then we had some photos with one of the photographers (who made us do some silly poses! )

The photographer was a lot of fun.

Madison and Kaley wanted to go to the Oceaneer's Lab so we took them there, then went back to our stateroom to dump all of the bags we had managed to accumulate. We went back up to deck 11 so that I could get a drink. We saw the others sat out on deck 12, just under Currents, so went to sit with them. We sat for a while talking and got a text at 9.25pm to say that Madison wanted to be collected. I went to pick them both up, they said that it was too busy and they couldn't get into the Infinity room to play, and we went back to everyone else. We stayed for a bit longer then Kaley said she was tired so we went back to our stateroom.

Our Navigator and some gold chocolate coins had been left by Budi

And we also had a new towel animal

He had also (obviously) noticed that we had daughters so had changed the bedding on the girls beds

They were very excited to see these. Madison said she wasn't tired and wanted to go back out with Phil and try to see the fireworks so she got changed out of her pirate dress, and her and Phil went back to stake a spot to see the fireworks.

I got Kaley settled and she fell asleep really quickly. I had a look through the Navigator then heard the fireworks starting. I had a look out of our window and could see that they were right above our verandah so I went and stood outside to watch. There were LOADS of fireworks, they were really bright and they were also really loud. I was expecting them to wake Kaley, I kept checking on her but she stayed sound asleep. I was really impressed with these, Disney really do a great job with them.

Phil took a few more photos while they were out (none of the fireworks though)

Phil and Madison came back not long after the fireworks ended and we all went to bed.

Up next, day 19 - Day at sea.

[spencem]

Just caught up on your last few days and you sound like you were having an amazing time. I quite fancy trying a cruise, but my wife doesn't like boats at all so it is a bit of an uphill struggle.

I thought I was the only one that included 'discussions' with their spouse in their trip reports. You're either both good actors or had made up by the time you had those pictures taken that night.