And Then There Were Three - the big (double) surprise

[Dixiechic]

And Then There Were Three - the big (double) surprise)

Wednesday 4th May 2022 - May the fourth be with you - Nassau Bahamas

Kept waking up tonight - thought I was going to sleep like a baby but there is no movement - I think we may just be dawdling along as we’re close to our next destination.

4.30 Jas clambers down and gets in with me again.

5.30 Thunder - oh no. It is Crete again! I decide I had better grab the clothes/towel from the balcony in case it starts chucking it down. The sky is lighting up like a disco and it looks great. There’s far more lightning than thunder but I get the items in with no dramas.

At 6.30 I get ready to go for a run. The sign on deck 4 says that 2.5 laps is one mile so I decide to do 8 laps to get to just over 5k. I switch off wifi and airplane mode to see if strava will work and set off. It’s still thundering and lightning and it’s really humid but by lap 2 I can see the Atlantis hotel in the distance. Half way through I check to see if strava is working - it is but I had forgotten to take in to account that I’m on a moving ship! By the time I’ve finished it thinks I’ve done 10k in 31 minutes. I’ll have to delete it later otherwise I’ll never get any pbs!

Once showered we headed to the Royal palace for breakfast. Jas has the same as yesterday. Fried eggs with bacon and a doughnut. Phoe has her pre ordered gluten free Mickey waffles. I have eggs Benedict and before I know it my mouth has added an order of Mickey waffles too.

By now there is torrential rain as well as thunder and lightning and it looks like the day is going to be a washout. We can go ashore from 9.30 but we go back to the room and potter. Our crew are doing lifeboat drills and so are the crew of the ship opposite. It’s good to see that they practice putting a lifeboat in the water.

The cloud turns from dark grey to light grey so we decide it’s time to get off - we need to go to starbucks to get some wifi - the automatic gratuities have been added to our account but we have prepaid them but none of our virgin holidays paper work says this. I get my dad on the case and he finds the original invoice which shows it but I need access to emails and WhatsApp.

We walk off the ship around 11.15 and there’s a big sign saying we need our vaccination paperwork/screen shots in case it’s asked for. Jas and I both has ours in our wallet on our phone but for some reason phoebe doesn’t. We just about to head back in when she remembers that she emailed it ready for uploading to flyready so manages to find it and take a screen shot. It’s then hard sell territory for island tours and nick knacks. We easily find Starbucks but it’s just a take out store and the staff have to keep telling people to leave as they’re at capacity and that we can still get wifi outside. The girls catch up with the outside world. I was hoping to upload the blog to the Dibb but I need to sit down and do it properly rather than on the fly.

We start to head back to the ship when phoebe decides that we ought to do the water taxi across to paradise island in case we never come back. We pay for tickets and are directed towards a car park. We get there and there doesn’t even seem to be a dock let alone a boat. We head back to the ticket seller and they assure us a boat is coming. We trudge back again and as we get there some more people have signed up and someone actually takes us to the right spot - it’s just a ledge at the waters edge!

No sign or anything. By now the cloud has gone and sun is shining. We head over to paradise island and have a little mooch around the Atlantis which is very much to my taste and will be added to the bucket list. There are a lot of very nice yachts docked in the harbour.

We’re all getting a bit hungry now so head back to the little boat and then to the ship. Jas is in a panic as the buffet lunch closes at 2 and it’s now 1.45. There is another place to eat but because she doesn’t know what food it has she’s worried she won’t like anything. We get to the buffet in the nick of time and enjoy a good lunch each. Phoebe has had 3 days of no gluten at all which has done her good but her eyes get the better of her and she gets pizza and pasta and hopes our evening servers won’t spot her.

We head back to room and Phoe and I get changed for the pool. Jas is done - she’s not used to so much activity. We cream up taking extra care after yesterdays burnt bits. I order the drink of the day which is a vodka/pineapple based drink.

I’ve drunk almost half when Phoe knocks her water bottle and sends my drink flying totally emptying it. We let the cream have a good sink in and then take a dip in the adult pool. We then ride the Aquaduck. I was hoping to film it with my phone in the wet pouch but the lady says all phones to be left behind. The sign says a 30 minute wait but it’s around 12 minutes. Great ride. Phoe decides to ride again and tells me to try and film it. While I’m waiting I order another drink of the day - now 2 things can happen here, it will arrive and I have to sign for it at the point where I need to be filming or in my excitement at spotting phoebe and following the ride, I turn and kick over the drink. Fortunately the drink survives and I capture phoebe on the ride.

We then head back to the room to get ready for pirate night. I’m really looking forward to this as I love a bit of fancy dress. Jas has agreed to a t-shirt and cap and keeps rolling her eyes at mine and Phoebe’s get up. We have a toilet situation at this point - it has no water in it. I flush it and it refills but then after jasmine uses it, the water doesn’t empty and just fills to the top. I see victor our room
Host in the corridor and report it to him. He comes to take a look, luckily there nothing sinister to see! He says he’ll make a report.

We head to dinner and get lots of comments. Our servers don’t recognise us. On the table we each get a Mickey pirates in the Caribbean bandanna and we get the non alcoholic refillable punch in the speciality cup. The food as usual is excellent.

After dinner the girls have their first spat - they’ve done well to get this far- there is a pirate deck party at 7.45. I get back from collecting the laundry at 7.43. Jas is saying it’s too late we won’t be there for the start. Phoebe is exhausted and isn’t fussed about going. I’m trying to persuade them both. Jas says she’s done and starts to get into bed. Phoebe gets frustrated that Jas seemingly gets away with things. Now phoebe would defend Jas to the hilt if anyone was against her, especially if it was to do with her additional needs but there are times like tonight when phoebe just doesn’t see that sometimes Jas is different and had to be handled differently. Good news is that the toilet is fixed.

Phoe and I leave and watch the start of the deck party. We then go to guest relations to try and sort the gratuity mix up. They have to raise a case to look into it as they have no record of pre payment.

We go back to the room for a bit - Jas is fast asleep - and sit on the balcony typing up our notes. It’s a really warm evening. We’re struggling to stay awake but know we need to be up on deck 11 for 10.15 as it’s the pirate party and the fireworks. This is another Disney cruise traditional event that has only recently come back. At 9.30 we go to the speciality coffee cafe to see if they do hot chocolate as phoebe is cold. They do, and they’re huge - that also come with a dusted character on top, I may have been a hit gushy when I saw them!

We then did a character meet with Captain Hook and Mr Smee - they loved our beards.

It was 10pm now so we went to go upstairs but every lift was rammed so we decided to walk. - it nearly killed me! I know I’m too heavy at the moment but I’m not unfit but we were both dying by deck 11. How can 7 floors be that bad?! We then decided to go up to 12 once we were outside. The show started with some classic pirate songs and just after 10.30 it was the fireworks. Not quite magic kingdom standard but considering we’re on ship in the middle of the sea, it was pretty good. Disney had to get special permission to launch fireworks at sea and were only granted it as they turn into fish food once they have exploded. We stayed out for a few of the party songs afterwards but called it a day at 11.

We’re totally shattered. 23,000+ steps today. There’s so much we still haven’t done on the ship - none of the trivia, bingo, the shows, cinema, the midnight feast. This is how Disney suck you in - offer far too many things that there just isn’t time for so you have to come back!

Phoebe’s point of view:

Day 3 -

I woke up for the first time at 4 and hoped I’d hear some good news back from the UK but couldn’t get my WhatsApp to work like it had been the last two days! Caught up with Connor as it was 9am at home and he was at work.

Fell back asleep and heard mum go for a run and was awake when she got back. We were docking into Nassau but the weather was shoddy again. Black clouds and sky and rain! I did put cream on first thing though after yesterday, asked both mum and Jas to do my back where I couldn’t reach and Jas sprayed a bit and gave up so I am burnt and sore today! Wasn’t making that same mistake again!

Headed down to breakfast where we were eating in one of the sit down restaurants as a pose to the buffet. I was holding out hope Ariel would make an appearance today but sadly she didn’t board the ship, every other princess did though! I had another round of GF Mickey waffles which were delish. Mum had eggs Benedict and Jas has fried eggs, bacon and breakfast potatoes. I was popping out to see the princesses in between.

After this we went back to the room to sort some bits out before getting off the ship. It was still cloudy and raining as we got off and headed to the island to try and find a Starbucks to get some wifi and explore. Starbucks located and I got a hot chocolate as I was so cold! Once we’d caught up on wifi we headed back towards the ship abs made the decision that we’d get the boat across to Paradise Island. This was $10 per person for a return journey. They advised to head all the way to the bottom and pointed towards the island and said a boat would be there. We did this and there was no boat. Someone told us a boat had just left and that we’d need to head all the way back to the other side. We went back to where we’d brought the tickets from and they made some calls and said there was a boat now coming so back we went. Said boat was not coming!

The three of us were losing patience with the situation and each other and started to walk back again when one of the men came with four other people and led us to the random bit of ledge we’d been standing at and said a boat would be here shortly. This random boat then turned up and the 6 of us got on. We started chatting to one couple who’d also gotten on about their cruise and our cruise. We then arrived at Paradise Island and went exploring in the Atlantis Hotel and then made our way back to the boat to board the ship for lunch.

Back to Cabanas and fed and they onto the pool to chill and sunbath! I sat on the sunbeds whilst mum took Jas for an icecream and back upstairs and got the swimming stuff. She returned and I went to get changed and then re applied the suncream ready to tan. We then walked over to the adults only pool for a quick dip and then went decided we’d brave the Aqua Duck! Oh my days, we were not expecting that! I think I drank more water than there is in the ocean. We got off and moved out sunbeds to another deck and I decided I’d go on the Aqua Duck again and waved to mum.

After this we dried off for a bit and went back upstairs and sat on the balcony. Had some more Fish Extender and Pixie Dusting gifts! Then showered and started to her ready for pirate night 🏴≈☠️🗡I can’t look at mum it’s too funny. Wait until you see a pic of her. We headed down to Enchanted Garden again where our servers didn’t recognise us and loved our outfits. The photographer came in and looked around as if to say “where shall I started tonight” looked at us and walked straight over. We’re going to get a few pictures printed out tomorrow.

Dinner was lovely again, I did think I’d have a GF Yorkshire pudding as it’s the same recipe as the Mickey waffles but I didn’t which was kind of sad. Sacha had the chefs make me a dessert again which was delicious. Pre ordered breakfast and dinner again for tomorrow. I’ll miss this when we get off the ship! After this we headed to the lobby to have some more photos with the pirate backgrounds.

Then back up to the room where the spats started! (Tori my Team Leader has been looking forward to hearing about the spats so this one is for you Tor! 😉&#129315 I was tired, cold and full. When I’m full I just wanna sit and chill and my back is in agony from where it got burnt yesterday as Jasmine didn’t do my suncream properly. Before anyone says you should have done it yourself, the only bit that’s burnt is the bit couldn’t physically reach! I just wanted to get into bed and in the blankets. Mum wanted to stay up til 10:15 for the deck fireworks. Both mum and Jas were ready to get up and go downstairs for a pirate show and mum quickly popped to the laundry room to sort out the washing and the drying. Once she was back Jas announced we had two minutes until the show started, even if we left at this point we wouldn’t have made it! I then went for a wee and mum found my jeans to put on as I was so cold. I came back out saying I really didn’t want to go to at which this point Jas said she wasn’t going and was done for the night as the show started 20 seconds ago. I then moaned at how when I wanted to call it a night I had to her up to go see the stupid show and had to make the most of it but when she doesn’t want to her up and go it’s fine. This led to both so us shouting at each other from either end of the room and me walking out to go to said stupid show and mum following. After 5 mins of the show we were back in the lobby waiting for another load of laundry to finish. Half of it was still wet so mum ironed it to dry it.

We took this back upstairs and sat on the balcony, Jas was a sleep but woke up when we sat down outside and I pulled a face at her and she pulled face at me, this means we’re now friends again and the spat is over lol. Typing up some notes and I actually fall asleep! Anyone that knows me knows that I am always tired and no matter how much sleep I get I am always tired but this last month or so, I’ve really struggled. I am exhausted 24/7 and we think it’s all related to many health situations i currently have and seem to be going back to the doctors for every week 🤣 I’m waiting for a few tests results on things so we shall see (hopefully) what’s wrong with me once we’re back! I asked the doctors not to contact me whilst were on holiday because whatever it is, A. I’m on holiday so can’t go to a doctors, hospital or start taking medication as easily as I would back at home and B. I’m on holiday man leave me be 🤣

Will I stay awake until 10:15? Who knows! We go to the cafe on deck 4 to see if we can get a hot chocolate to warm me up and see Pirate Chip & Dale and Donald on the way. I almost fall asleep again whilst mum orders them. We then join the queue to have a picture with Captain Hook and Smee who have arrived. This wakes me up slightly and I’m then ready to go to deck 11 for the party snd fireworks. Practically asleep sat on the floor for the party and wake up to see the fireworks which were true Disney style! Stood up for a few songs and headed back to the room for bed.

My beard has unstuck its self from the tape so I’m left with tape and a moustache - how it started vs how it ended! Shattered and praying I sleep through til at least 7 which would be 7 and a bit hours!

See you in the AM kids x

[Loopylooloo]

Just brilliant! 🤣🤣🤣 This made me laugh so much! Phoebs, I can’t look at your mum either! Hilarious, well done 👍🏻

I am properly catching up now, as am home and have normal wifi, not ship wifi x