Small talk, big photos. Disney Wonder Cruise. 2nd - 5th Oct 08

[disneydreamer]

Didn't have Toy Story last year when we cruised but I'm sure it was excellent as everything with the Disney name on it usually is. Great Pirate photos. Did you manage to have any of the midnight pirate buffet? The fireworks from the ship are amazing.
Can't wait to read Day 3
Jackie

[Bats]

Are all the photos showing now?
I'd done my old habit of moving them and not renewing the links.

[TrueBlue]

What a great trippie. "your" ship looks beautiful. I'm loving your pictures, can't wait to read more

[Donalds]

Looks fantastic, great photos

[Bats]

Trip: 25 Sept – 9 Oct 08.
Cast:
Me. Bats or Joa as I’m known by most. Middle name ‘Planner’.
My lovely DBF Mick. He’s a star and allows me to indulge in my Disney dreams.
Also appearing will be my family at some point or another, mainly on the cruise.
Cameo appearances by Clare (with no i) and her DBF Mick .. friends who shared villa.
Other cameo star is Lou, an old friend who lives in Miami and is obviously good friends with a surgeon

4th October 2008 – The Disney Cruise Day 3 Castaway Cay

I was already awake when the bow thrusters started this morning. We had almost arrived in Castaway Cay! If you’ve never seen a cruise ship turn on a sixpence, it’s worth the money alone … amazing. Here are a few shots as we reversed, yes, reversed into Castaway Cay. You can see us getting closer.





We had been told by our travel agent (Tracy at Dreams Unlimited) that our cabin would have a spectacular view of The Flying Dutchman and C/Cay. Although it was close, it wasn’t that close …

But, it got better. I jumped in the shower and when I got out, we’d reversed a bit more and look at our view!


The view looking the other way .. away from C/Cay towards the rainbow (just for Scotsmomma) ..


Breakfast again in Parrot Cay, then we head for the gangplank .. is it called that?
Another DCL moneymaking venture is to be found just off the ship … a man selling 6 bottles of water in a Disney Cruise Line cooler bag. It’s not a bargain at all but we were on holiday so guess what? We bought a pack .. it was about $25 I think.
We met a friend outside the C/Cay post office (takes cash only) ..

And his girlfriend just turning up (their interaction was great) ..


Contd …

[Bats]

The obligatory C/Cay shots were taken .. these are all on the way to the beaches.








Met a few friends on the way …





Contd …

[Bats]

We decided to make our way to the adult only beach called Serenity Bay. It’s not that we don’t like children, it’s just that we’re not lovers of sand. We imagined on the family beach, we would get sand being kicked up by children running around … uuurrrgghhhh, hate that sand!
We walked to Serenity Bay .. with hindsight, we should have got the little bus thing as it’s a long walk in that heat. Remember we were carrying 6 bottles of water in the cool bag? They had filled it with a ton of ice too to keep the bottles chilled … all equalled a very heavy bag!
Here are a few shots on the way ..

Nearly there ..

And here we are ..



The water was so clear, you could see little fish in the shallows. They don’t come near you though, so if you don’t like fish, don’t worry! I kept my flip flops on just in case!



After an hour or so, we decided to head off to the BBQ area. I wasn’t holding out much hope for many veggie options, but it was ok. Loads of salad stuff, breads, a few pastas. For meaties, you’ll love it. Mick had some BBQ chicken which smelt lovely. There were burgers, sausages and steaks also. For pudding, there was ice cream (yum .. cookie dough) and a few cakes. Soft drinks are unlimited (coke, sprite and their diet versions, orange crush, tea and coffee. There is always water too.




Contd ..

[Bats]

So, we’ve done our time on the adult beach, we’ve eaten some lunch .. it must be time to find the family. We head off (on the bus this time) back to the family beach where we know they are. Here’s 4 yo niece Isabelle with her mum and my sister Mandi. She’s having some Electrolyte as she was poorly the day before .. sick at dinner, no food since. She was right as rain after these drinks though from the medical centre onboard the ship.


On the grapevine, we hear that cocktails are 2 for 1 so we drop everything, including small children and rush to the bar! Hoorah .. 2 for 1. Here’s Mick ordering our first lot ..


Please note that the photos now stop … we were far too busy drinking cocktails and we drank them way too fast! Yum, they were lovely though.
After a few of those, Mick and I felt it was time to retire back to our little boat. With storm clouds gathering, we started the trek back. You can see the dark clouds …


And here is the ever growing queue to get back on the ship ..

Everyone was soaked but thankfully it was still warm. The CMs handed out towels on the gangplank, which was a nice touch. The poor staff still on the island had to clear away, pack up and still get back to the ship … they were drenched as we watched them come back on. Hopefully they were allowed time to shower and spruce up before carrying on their work (same staff on ship and C/Cay).

After a wash and brush up, we were ready for dinner. It’s our last night and we decided to dress up slightly, even though it was only Animators Palette.

Some photos from inside A/P …


Robert, 8 yo nephew, had been attending the Oceaneers Lab (childrens club) and he had graduated that evening. You can’t se the Mickey ears in this photo but each hat has ears too.

Must say I was slightly disappointed with the food in here. It wasn’t horrible, it was just not as good as the other restaurants. We all thought the same, and I’ve read other reports with the same thought, so maybe they need to change the chefs here.
We had heard that the ‘show’ in AP’s was super but we were all left slightly disappointed by it to be honest. Yes, the walls change colour but it wasn’t that magical. I had hyped it up to my family, but I shouldn’t have done in hindsight.
The parade of the servers was good fun, if a little cheesey. They take the children (and drunken adults) round the restaurant in a kind of conga stylee. They then all do limbo while the PA man tells you how fabulous your servers are. As I said, a little cheesey but good fun for the children. Service tonight was the slowest of all 3 nights, we waited 30 mins for our meals .. same time as in the local Beefeater, but not what we expected on DCL.

Need to do some ironing now so I’ll put tonights show (Enchanted Dreams) and the rest on another thread. Thanks for looking so far and don’t forget, if you fancy a Disney cruise, the 7 night Western in Sept 2011 could be a good Dibb meet!

[TinkTatoo]

Another great day, I love Castaway Cay

[disneydreamer]

Castaway Cay is fab. I don't think I would feel like i'd been on a Disney Cruise unless I had a stop here. Didn't manage to get a look at adults beach when we were there but hopefully next time I will. (I will have to live in my dream world for a wee while longer! )
Can't wait to read the rest of your trippie
Jackie