Spring Break Disney-venture: Day 3

Hello! I'm still here! I just haven't done a good job of blogging lately. Hopefully I'll get caught back up before school gets out next week. Wish me luck.

Our first full day on the cruise was spent at sea, but the second day, we were officially in the Bahamas. There were lots of excursions available for this day, or people could choose to just explore Nassau on their own, or just stay on the boat. (If we do a similar cruise in the future, I might opt to sleep in, then enjoy the boat with smaller crowds for a couple of hours, then just walk around Nassau in the afternoon.)

We decided to go on an excursion to Blue Lagoon Island, which was really beautiful. We got off the ship early, queued up in a staging area, then waited in line to board small boats that took us to the island. The boat ride was really nice but the process took quite a while. We thought it was worth it when we arrived at the island because we were the first ones there and it looked so idyllic. But soon, other cruise ships dropped people off, and the lines to get lunch and to get back on the boats back to our ship were very long. Ahh, well.

On our way to the island! (The famous Atlantis hotel is visible behind Luke)

I think the late nights were starting to take a toll on Jack.

Other cruisers booked dolphin encounters and it was fun to just watch them.

Back on the ship in the evening, it was Pirate Night! This is a tradition on Caribbean Disney Cruises and it was really fun. We dressed up as Pirates for dinner, enjoyed a Caribbean-themed meal, then enjoyed TWO pirate deck parties - an earlier one geared toward younger children featuring Mickey and the gang, then a later one with a live band, fireworks, and an impressive surprise entrance by Captain Jack Sparrow.

When I asked Ben if he'd want to dress up as a pirate a week or two before the cruise,
he emphatically declined. I either asked at the wrong time or didn't explain very well, because
he definitely wanted to dress up when the time came. He donned an extra scarf I brought
and Liza hooked him up with some eyeliner.

While everyone else was enjoying other activities between the pirate parties, I hung out with Sydney. We just walked around the ship and found some kids to play with, then we saw a line forming and found out that people were waiting to see Mickey. She was so excited about seeing Mickey! But when it was finally her turn, she got super shy. I think the pictures are still pretty cute though.

Spring Break Disney-venture: Days 1 & 2

Our departure from SLC was delayed Sunday night so it was after midnight local time when we arrived in Orlando. Thankfully, we were staying in the hotel inside the airport, so we didn't have to worry about transportation or anything. We all slept as late as we could Monday morning, then enjoyed a big yummy brunch at my kids' favorite Southeastern dining establishment: Waffle House. No complaints from me.

We arrived at Port Canaveral a little before 2 and we were so excited! Also, this picture does not do the size of The Wish justice - it was so big!

Post-security screening, pre-boarding

We thought this model right before we boarded was pretty cool.

Hello, my name is Brett, and I fell for the photo package.

During the main part of the voyage, adults are not allowed in the kids' club areas. But during the loading times, the kids' clubs have open house hours, so it was fun to see where the kids would be hanging out. All of the below pictures were in the Oceaneer's Club, which was for 11-year-olds and younger. It was definitely the most fun of the three clubs and Luke and Sawyer understandably spent more time in their kids' club than the teens in the group.

Star Wars Room

Star Wars Room again

Avengers Room

Nursery Room

Rapunzel's Painting Room
(Liza was re-creating Rapunzel's "There is a man in my closet!" freakout moment.)

We got some fun drinks at the Hyperspace Lounge

These guys checked out the bow.

That night our dinner seating was at 1923, the dressy restaurant on the ship. Disney photographer pics with cheesy borders:

Day 2 we were at sea (circling in the Caribbean I believe). We took it easy in the morning then regretted it when we saw how crowded the pool deck was. We finally found some deck chairs, though, and enjoyed the sun. We had a fun dinner at the Avengers restaurant that night, and stayed up way too late...

Sydney wrote a message on the white board on our door.

It said: Dear Liza, I love you.

I jogged on the treadmill in the fitness center in the morning.
Since there was on internet and I couldn't watch a show, I set the screen to
show me scenes of walking through Rome, just like Cat. It was fun to spot
Captain Minnie making the rounds outside of the window.

This pictures gives you a bit of an idea of how crowded the pool deck was.
This was one of about 6 small pools on the deck.

After dinner, we enjoyed some of the activities on the ship, then decided to order room service at 11:00. It was a late night but really fun!