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Lisa's land portion of her trip.
Day Four (part two): The Ship
On the bus ride to the ship they played great old cartoons and a video about the ship. This was the first time Greg has seen anything about the ship. He wanted to be surprised. When we were cresting the hill
going into Port Canaveral the look on his face was priceless! Once we got to the ship they take your picture then announce you. Instead of saying the Leisher Party, I told them we were the Schnneider’s. That
kind of excited me! We then went to the Spa first and booked our Massages. We toured the ship and met Dopey and a few others before heading to check out our room. We had received a call while at the resort
informing us we had been upgraded from a Category 11 inside stateroom, without a window to a Category 8 outside stateroom with a huge porthole! It was in a Great location. We were near the elevator in the
front of the ship so our primary elevator opened up to the show area and then the club area. Greg was so impressed with the ship. Who wouldn’t be? In the room was a bottle of Champaign from our travel
agent. We were so surprised. We also received a Beach Towel and two pins since I was a return cruiser. Then we went up to Beach Blanket Buffet and had a little to eat. We had our lifesaving drill. I
was so hot during this. It is kind of dumb also because if the ship is sinking we will all be acting like nuts not all calm and single file. We toured the ship some more after that. The deck party was great. Lots of singing and cheering. We waved to the people on shore. Our show was Hercules and it started at 6:30pm. It was wonderful. After that Dinner was at 8:30pm and we met two of our four tablemates. Kim and Matt from Arizona. They were so nice. We had dinner in Parrot Cay the first night and boy was the Crème brulee Cheesecake to die for! I could use a piece right now. We stayed at dinner until we were one of the last tables in the place. This turned out to be the trend of the trip. We got a few character shots while exploring the ship then instead of going to the clubs, we went to bed. All in all it was a great day!
Day Five: Nassau
I slept so well last night. Today was our day in the Bahamas. It was a warm 80-85 degrees out and after we got up and showered and got some breakfast on the ship we were ready to go exploring. We got off the ship and went into the visitor center. We were met by a wall of taxi drivers. We hired one who for $4 drove us over to Atlantis. Atlantis is such a huge hotel. Too bad you have to be Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson to stay there. We started out playing a few slot machines in the casino. Neither one of us did well. Greg then found the roulette table. I have never played so I just hung back like his little casino good luck charm and watched. After a while I couldn’t take the excitement and I got some chips and dug right in. It was so much fun. The table had a $10 minimum that I was leery about, but after two rounds I had doubled my money. I did really well and at one point we were both up about $100. I then lost a bit and so did Greg. After two hours we did walk away with $65 and $53. I had more! I then lost about $25 more on slots! Still a great time!
We got another cab back to the mainland and hit a duty free liquor store. I got some rum for a few people and Greg got two bottles also. We also got a few sodas. We tried to take a glass bottom boat ride, but changed out mind. We went back to the ship and got some lunch. We also got in the pool. It was great. We skipped the show tonight. It was a magic show and we would rather nap. HaHa. Dinner was at Triton’s. It was the formal night and our formal picture turned out great! Tonight we met Joe and Julie out other two tablemates. They were great. We all tried escargot (not Greg). For desert I had Crème Brulee again. MMM So good! After dinner we hung out and met a few more characters. I was so tired I fell alseep before Greg even got into bed!
Day Six: Castaway Cay
I have been looking forward to this day since I started my vacation. Greg got up at 6:30 and went to the top deck. He got to see the sunrise and see the captain back our huge ship up into Castaway Cay. Once we were fully docked and Greg had taken like 20 pictures he came and woke me up. We got suited up and went to the buffet Breakfast. They have good Hash Browns at Beach Blanket Buffet. The omelet lady did forget about me, but by that time I was so full it didn’t matter.
We disembarked on the Island and we went over to the Castaway Cay Post office to mail off our Post cards. They have ship stamps and a Bahamas post mark. After the Post Office (and by the way even Bahamian Postal Workers are miserable) we took some pictures of the ship. We rode the tram to the family beach area. The Bar here is called the “Conked Out Bar”. After getting a fill up on our mug we took another trap to Serenity Bay, the adults only beach. We missed out on getting a
hammock and settled for some chairs in the shade. Matt and Kim joined us. The water was so clear and Greg loved the schools of fish that swam all around. We took the whole roll of under water film. When we got out of the water we ordered drinks. A Conk Cooler for Greg and a lime daiquiri for me. Both were tasty. At about 2pm or so we were hungry and hit the adults only lunch BBQ. I have a Steak sandwich and Greg got the salmon. We had enough sun so we started out travel back to the ship. We hung out by the pool a bit when we got onboard and then went to shower for the show and Castaway Club Reception.
We met Joe and Julie at the reception. Joe had cruised before. They offered free Bahama Mama’s and lots of good snack foods. I had a few drinks to take advantage of the free alcohol. We also got to meet the Captain who let us all know that they are planning a 3rd ship in the near future. I can’t wait. I wonder where it will travel?
The show tonight was one of the best. “The Golden Mickey’s” It was set up like the Golden Globes. They gave out awards to all of the Disney Favorites. They even had fashion critic “Rhona Rivers” there to interview guest. Also they had swarms of photographers taking your picture as you walked down the red carpet. We went to the show with Joe and Julie.
Before dinner Greg and I went back to the room and got the Champaign to share with the table at dinner. It was a very good Champaign. Dinner tonight was at Animators Palate. This is my favorite place on board to dine. The room starts out in Black and White and by the time dinner is over the room is in full color. Even the waiters and waitress change into colored vest! The dining staff all came over and gave us a congratulation cake and sang to us. We were excited. I love being engaged! On the way out I saw Cecelia from my cruise two years ago. She remembered me and I got a quick photo. Then we hit the Walt Disney Theature. The Haunted Mansion movie was playing at 11:00pm and we hadn't seen it yet! It was very good.
We had such a busy day! We wet to see some characters. We also too a walk up top. It was getting windy. Greg was getting sad that tomorrow is our last cruising day. I on the other hand can’t wait for the massages.
Day Seven: Day at Sea
We finally slept in! We didn’t wake up until after 10:00am and boy was it wonderful! The ship was really rocking and we turned on the TV and seen 8-13 swells listed along with rough conditions. We showered and went to breakfast. We just made it. It seemed as if everyone slept in today. After breakfast we walked around and enjoyed watching the huge waves.
At noon was our appointment for the Couples Massage and for the Rain Forest. We got to the spa and filled out all the paperwork. The ladies giving the Massages took us into a room and spoke to us about what areas we wanted them to concentrate on and then they left the room. We had to strip down to our undies and lay on the tables in between two sheets of
Saris. I started giggling around this time. They came in and started. It was the most wonderful thing we had ever done. SO relaxing. After about 25 minutes they left the room for us to turn over. When they came back they worked on the fronts of our legs and arms and shoulders. 25 minutes later it was all over! They left and we got dressed. They came back with water and the bill. Then the lady showed us to the changing rooms and gave us robes so we could enjoy the rain forest. Saunas and steam rooms and aromatherapy showers. It was all great! We only had about 45 minutes here since we really wanted to go watch Brother Bear. We got to the theater just in time. We scored great seats and for two hours watched a great movie. It made us both cry! We loved it.
After all that I wanted a nap. We went back to our room and ordered lots of room service. After we ate I took my nap! I was up in time to shower and be ready for the show, Disney Dreams. I don’t know how Disney does it. They really have the best entertainment. Our dinner was in Parrot Cay again and we had a ball. We were all sad our trip was coming to an end. Our waiter was so wonderful. His name was Nick and he was from Croatia. He brought each couple 5 deserts since we couldn’t decide! Another couple Nick and Sonnel, from England joined us for desert. We had been hanging out with then a lot of the trip. After we closed the restaurant we headed to put our bags out to be collected and then all met in Wavebands for some group pictures and some dancing! After a quick trip to the Espn Bar we finally went to sleep!
Today is the Day! We woke up early and got dressed. After double checking the room we left it for the last time. We went to breakfast and had to say goodbye to all of our new friends. We exchanged Email addresses and walked together off of the ship. After finding our luggage we settled on the bus for an hour trip back to the airport.
At the airport we had a 2.5 hour wait until our plane left so we hung out and I called my sister. I also had my picture taken with my last Disney site. We had to fly to Atlanta and then back to Baltimore. It was an easy flight and once in Atlanta we changed planes and got to sit in first class. I slept most of the way. We left temperatures in the 80's and were greeted with temperature down in the 20's! Talk about a shock. Maybe we shouldn't have worn shorts and Flip-Flops! Back home I called my Dad who picked us up and we were dragging bags into my house by 6:30! Home Sweet Home!
Lisa's land portion of her trip.
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