Casey's mom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2000
Cast:
Me: 34, big Disney and DCL fan
DH: 44, along for the ride and pretty happy about it
DD1: 4-1/2, Disney princess
DD2: 3, Disney princess #2
DAY 2: NASSAU (Friday, June 1 our 10th Anniversary!)
I woke up around 7:00am or so and got everyone showered/bathed and dressed for our big day of doing nothing (dont worry, this is a GOOD thing!). We were still on our way to Nassau at this point and we could see the island in the distance. We spent much of the first two days of the cruise within sight of the Carnival Fantasy and a Royal Caribbean ship. Maybe I am a little biased, but those ships just cant compare to the beautiful Wonder. A little before 8, we headed down to Tritons for breakfast. They served us breads/muffins and juices and we ordered pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. Everything was good and the servers were very attentive and friendly. We walked around the ship on deck 10 after breakfast to watch us pull into the harbor in Nassau. Around 9:45, I took my DDs to the Princess Party held in the Atrium on deck 3. This was a character photo op with Snow White, Wendy, Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella. They also had a photographer taking childrens portraits. My DDs are always up for a meeting with some princesses .
Next it was time for the pools. We spent the rest of the morning back and forth between Mickeys Pool and Goofys Pool. The Goofy pool in particular gets a little scary when it gets crowded because you have the extra hazard of 12 year old boys jumping into the pool (despite the No Jumping signs) without any regard for who they might land on. My DD(3) liked the slide shes the daredevil in the family. My DD(4) said NO WAY to the slide too scary! I wished that I could have tried it. It looked fun! We got dressed for lunch but ate right at a shady table near the pool more chicken fingers and fries along with fresh fruit and salad from the buffet.
At 12:45, we checked the girls into the Oceaneer Club and we made our way to the Walt Disney Theater for one of the 2 showings on our cruise of Pearl Harbor. Before the movie started, I scrambled back to our cabin to pick up a sweatshirt and stuck my head in the club (secretly) to see if all was well. The kids were sitting in a circle with Snow White in the middle. She was telling them a story or something and they were all completely entranced. The movie was OK a very interesting historical event, but the romance storyline was a little predictable/lame. It was still a nice, relaxing afternoon for us. We walked back to the club after the movie and the kids were in the middle of the Finding Tinkerbell game, which involving hopping, skipping, crawling etc. around the club to find clues to Tinkerbells secret location in the club. Our DD(4) spotted me when we walked near the group of kids, but while walking right on by her beloved mother whispered SHHHH, this game is tricky!!!!!!! and neither of them paid any attention to us until the game was over and Tinks hiding place was finally revealed. I had not realized how wired the club is as the game was interspersed with special Tink sound effects and cool ceiling lighting. Needless to say, they were hooked on the club from that moment on. I have been hearing about the Tinkerbell game more than you can imagine. During the middle hour, the group had gone to the theater to see the Island Magic Show, which they said was a live stage show featuring lots of characters. They loved this as well.
Then it was back to the room where we changed back into swimsuits for another dip in the Mickey Pool. This was about the time for my 4:30 spa taster, and as I wanted to have some fun with the girls, DH went instead. I brought Bridget Jones Diary to the pool with me, but it is hard to watch 2 little girls in a crowded pool while getting any reading done, so I didnt get too far in the book until DH showed up an hour later. We fed the girls dinner via room service around 6:30 then brought them up to deck 10 as the 3-4 group was spending some time tiring themselves out on the sports deck. They had basketballs and hula hoops for all. DD(4) got involved right away, but as we walked away I turned back to see DD(3) just standing at the edge of the netting that keeps the balls and the kids contained. I walked back over to see what was up, and the sweet little thing was standing there with the most perplexed look on her face and just said, Mom, this is not the kids club (ie why are you leaving me here as I am supposed to be somewhere else that is much better than this strange spot). I told her they would be going down there soon and to have fun, so she picked up a hula hoop and joined the fun and we made our way to the other end of Deck 10 for our 7pm Palo dinner.
Our server was Amir from the United Kingdom and once again, we were surprised with how friendly, polite and helpful the servers on the ship were. I just dont know how they are able to provide such good service for the extended periods of time that they are on the ship without getting burnt out. Maybe some do, but I saw no evidence of it. What do they do if they get sick? I assume that must happen from time to time. The view from this restaurant was great. We ordered a bottle of wine and salads for appetizers. Amir also brought us a plate of various antipasti, which were for the most part, a little adventurous for me, but we tried most of it anyway and enjoyed it. For a main course, we both had filet mignon that had cheese melted on it and was served with potatoes. It was phenomenal and we completely ignored the damage to our cholesterol counts. As DH was also tempted by some kind of fancy ravioli on the menu, Amir also brought another plate with a smaller portion of ravioli for him. For dessert, we both got the chocolate soufflé (which was AWESOME) and Amir also brought us some kind of crème dessert surrounded by berries. I didnt try it the soufflé was plenty for me, but DH said it was great as well. As this was our 10th anniversary dinner, Amir also brought us a decorated plate with 2 Italian macaroons, which we were supposed to feed to each other. All in all, it was the best dinner we have had in years (!!!!) and I wrote that in their guest comment book on our way out.
Neither of us had any particular interest in seeing the Voyage of the Ghost Ship, so we thought we would instead pick up the kids and take them to see the Emperors New Groove (playing in the Buena Vista Theater). A counselor was reading them a Lion King story in preparation for the Lion King games that were on the schedule for that evening, and neither DD showed any interest in leaving with us when we arrived. I tapped on their shoulders as they sat in a group in front of the counselor and they each turned around (they were not sitting near each other), said hi then said they were in the middle of a story and I was once again looking at their backs. So we headed for the door and one by one they came over to leave with us (but reluctantly). I assume that whether kids have fun in the club depends on so many things the counselors, the number of kids there at a particular time, the schedule for the day and the particular child. I think we really lucked out this trip, as the counselors always seemed to have a manageable number of kids to deal with (at least when our kids were there) and enough staff and experience to deal with kids who start to cause trouble. I saw only one such incident and it was nipped in the bud by the counselor. My DDs also loved the activities that were going on when it was time for the Club. On our March 2000 cruise, my younger DD was in Flounders most evenings, which was a big success, but DD(4), who was then 3-1/2, did not want to spend any time in the Club and didnt seem to enjoy what little time she did spend there. Needless to say, I was a little worried about how she would feel about the Club this time around. Lucky for us (and for her), she is a changed girl now and is dying to go back to the Club on our next trip. So, we made it to the theater only a few minutes late for the movie, which I enjoyed. The kids were exhausted, however, and were both asleep by the time the movie ended. So we carried our two sleeping bundles back to 7574 for another night of dreams about our upcoming day at Castaway Cay. Cant wait til tomorrow!
Me: 34, big Disney and DCL fan
DH: 44, along for the ride and pretty happy about it
DD1: 4-1/2, Disney princess
DD2: 3, Disney princess #2
DAY 2: NASSAU (Friday, June 1 our 10th Anniversary!)
I woke up around 7:00am or so and got everyone showered/bathed and dressed for our big day of doing nothing (dont worry, this is a GOOD thing!). We were still on our way to Nassau at this point and we could see the island in the distance. We spent much of the first two days of the cruise within sight of the Carnival Fantasy and a Royal Caribbean ship. Maybe I am a little biased, but those ships just cant compare to the beautiful Wonder. A little before 8, we headed down to Tritons for breakfast. They served us breads/muffins and juices and we ordered pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. Everything was good and the servers were very attentive and friendly. We walked around the ship on deck 10 after breakfast to watch us pull into the harbor in Nassau. Around 9:45, I took my DDs to the Princess Party held in the Atrium on deck 3. This was a character photo op with Snow White, Wendy, Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella. They also had a photographer taking childrens portraits. My DDs are always up for a meeting with some princesses .
Next it was time for the pools. We spent the rest of the morning back and forth between Mickeys Pool and Goofys Pool. The Goofy pool in particular gets a little scary when it gets crowded because you have the extra hazard of 12 year old boys jumping into the pool (despite the No Jumping signs) without any regard for who they might land on. My DD(3) liked the slide shes the daredevil in the family. My DD(4) said NO WAY to the slide too scary! I wished that I could have tried it. It looked fun! We got dressed for lunch but ate right at a shady table near the pool more chicken fingers and fries along with fresh fruit and salad from the buffet.
At 12:45, we checked the girls into the Oceaneer Club and we made our way to the Walt Disney Theater for one of the 2 showings on our cruise of Pearl Harbor. Before the movie started, I scrambled back to our cabin to pick up a sweatshirt and stuck my head in the club (secretly) to see if all was well. The kids were sitting in a circle with Snow White in the middle. She was telling them a story or something and they were all completely entranced. The movie was OK a very interesting historical event, but the romance storyline was a little predictable/lame. It was still a nice, relaxing afternoon for us. We walked back to the club after the movie and the kids were in the middle of the Finding Tinkerbell game, which involving hopping, skipping, crawling etc. around the club to find clues to Tinkerbells secret location in the club. Our DD(4) spotted me when we walked near the group of kids, but while walking right on by her beloved mother whispered SHHHH, this game is tricky!!!!!!! and neither of them paid any attention to us until the game was over and Tinks hiding place was finally revealed. I had not realized how wired the club is as the game was interspersed with special Tink sound effects and cool ceiling lighting. Needless to say, they were hooked on the club from that moment on. I have been hearing about the Tinkerbell game more than you can imagine. During the middle hour, the group had gone to the theater to see the Island Magic Show, which they said was a live stage show featuring lots of characters. They loved this as well.
Then it was back to the room where we changed back into swimsuits for another dip in the Mickey Pool. This was about the time for my 4:30 spa taster, and as I wanted to have some fun with the girls, DH went instead. I brought Bridget Jones Diary to the pool with me, but it is hard to watch 2 little girls in a crowded pool while getting any reading done, so I didnt get too far in the book until DH showed up an hour later. We fed the girls dinner via room service around 6:30 then brought them up to deck 10 as the 3-4 group was spending some time tiring themselves out on the sports deck. They had basketballs and hula hoops for all. DD(4) got involved right away, but as we walked away I turned back to see DD(3) just standing at the edge of the netting that keeps the balls and the kids contained. I walked back over to see what was up, and the sweet little thing was standing there with the most perplexed look on her face and just said, Mom, this is not the kids club (ie why are you leaving me here as I am supposed to be somewhere else that is much better than this strange spot). I told her they would be going down there soon and to have fun, so she picked up a hula hoop and joined the fun and we made our way to the other end of Deck 10 for our 7pm Palo dinner.
Our server was Amir from the United Kingdom and once again, we were surprised with how friendly, polite and helpful the servers on the ship were. I just dont know how they are able to provide such good service for the extended periods of time that they are on the ship without getting burnt out. Maybe some do, but I saw no evidence of it. What do they do if they get sick? I assume that must happen from time to time. The view from this restaurant was great. We ordered a bottle of wine and salads for appetizers. Amir also brought us a plate of various antipasti, which were for the most part, a little adventurous for me, but we tried most of it anyway and enjoyed it. For a main course, we both had filet mignon that had cheese melted on it and was served with potatoes. It was phenomenal and we completely ignored the damage to our cholesterol counts. As DH was also tempted by some kind of fancy ravioli on the menu, Amir also brought another plate with a smaller portion of ravioli for him. For dessert, we both got the chocolate soufflé (which was AWESOME) and Amir also brought us some kind of crème dessert surrounded by berries. I didnt try it the soufflé was plenty for me, but DH said it was great as well. As this was our 10th anniversary dinner, Amir also brought us a decorated plate with 2 Italian macaroons, which we were supposed to feed to each other. All in all, it was the best dinner we have had in years (!!!!) and I wrote that in their guest comment book on our way out.
Neither of us had any particular interest in seeing the Voyage of the Ghost Ship, so we thought we would instead pick up the kids and take them to see the Emperors New Groove (playing in the Buena Vista Theater). A counselor was reading them a Lion King story in preparation for the Lion King games that were on the schedule for that evening, and neither DD showed any interest in leaving with us when we arrived. I tapped on their shoulders as they sat in a group in front of the counselor and they each turned around (they were not sitting near each other), said hi then said they were in the middle of a story and I was once again looking at their backs. So we headed for the door and one by one they came over to leave with us (but reluctantly). I assume that whether kids have fun in the club depends on so many things the counselors, the number of kids there at a particular time, the schedule for the day and the particular child. I think we really lucked out this trip, as the counselors always seemed to have a manageable number of kids to deal with (at least when our kids were there) and enough staff and experience to deal with kids who start to cause trouble. I saw only one such incident and it was nipped in the bud by the counselor. My DDs also loved the activities that were going on when it was time for the Club. On our March 2000 cruise, my younger DD was in Flounders most evenings, which was a big success, but DD(4), who was then 3-1/2, did not want to spend any time in the Club and didnt seem to enjoy what little time she did spend there. Needless to say, I was a little worried about how she would feel about the Club this time around. Lucky for us (and for her), she is a changed girl now and is dying to go back to the Club on our next trip. So, we made it to the theater only a few minutes late for the movie, which I enjoyed. The kids were exhausted, however, and were both asleep by the time the movie ended. So we carried our two sleeping bundles back to 7574 for another night of dreams about our upcoming day at Castaway Cay. Cant wait til tomorrow!
