We spent Labor Day weekend this year with Mickey and crew at sea! While it has been a crazy time for us with our house under renovation, it was a much needed vacation and a good break from the craziness and it was booked far enough in advance and paid for so why not!!! The weekend started out with crazy whipping winds and rain while we were boarding the ship due to Hurricane Hermine that had clipped the northern tip of Florida, but then as we pulled out of port the sun was shining and we headed south away from the storm and had two warm and sunny days in the Bahamas with virtually NO clouds, post card cruise weather and a flat ocean! We spent the first day in Nassau and this time we did a shore excursion by ferry boat to the Blue Lagoon Island. Here they had a beautiful beach and true to its name, a "blue lagoon" that was amazing. They also had an area where they did dolphin rehab and the like. We've never seen this part of Nassau and while it was a bit of an annoyance getting herded by Disney off the ship and on to the ferry boat and seemed to take way too long, once we got to the island it was worth it! The water was so clear and the spot was just beautiful and the boat ride was also nice. We went past an area with large large homes and the guide pointed out homes owned by the likes of Nicholas Cage, Oprah, Michael Jordan, and the list goes on and on. The second day we enjoyed some time on the ship while most people were off the ship enjoying the beaches of Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. We have been there 3 other times so this time we decided to enjoy the pools and do the water slides including the Aqua Duck while there was no line! We really played this right and it was probably the most fun we had the entire trip, just the 4 of us! We nearly had the pool deck to ourselves and road the aqua duck several times back to back...fun because it was Sarabeth's FIRST trip that she was tall enough to ride it and she loved it! We both have to ride with the kids and it is a two person raft and that first time she squeezed herself around me but the second time she was like a pro!! After we had our fill of the pools and slides we headed down to the gangway and went on to the beautiful island to have lunch Disney style, Bahamian BBQ fit for a king (this is a really good lunch they always do on this island) and then headed down to the beach to enjoy the sand and clear blue water! Perfect timing as those that got out there at the crack of dawn headed back to the ship after lunch time so again we got to enjoy a great place with LESS crowds. The day at Castaway Cay is by far a highlight on all Disney cruises and all cruises in the Caribbean and Bahamas on the Disney line include a stop here before heading back to the port the next day. Last night after the day in the pools and beach we headed back to the room to get showered and cleaned up because Sarabeth had her special princess experience at the Bippity Boppity Boutique on board the ship. Yes, we just did this for her birthday but she loved it and saw that they had the Boutique now on board (new this year) and of course we had to do it again...she is only 5 once!! This time we chose Princess Snow White (her favorite part was the red headband accessory and red wand she got and the purple velvet cape that comes attached to the dress).......and instead of just getting a crown hair do she chose the "Disney Diva" pink pony tail crazy hair!!! So funny and she just loved it! She did not want to take the hair out tonight but alas...catholic school dress code does not permit Disney Diva pink hair!!! We were able to save the hair piece and maybe it will make a re-appearance for Halloween!
Jackson loved the cruise as well and was so cute getting packed up. He packed his Disney back pack to carry on and changed his Duffy Disney bear into his pirate outfit just for the cruise! He also packed his favorite character stuffed animal which is Stitch! He is so cute and still loves Disney so much. He has always loved characters and is just so fun to watch at places like this. He is always the one you want the camera on because he gives literally THE BEST reaction EVERY TIME!!! I can see how fast he is growing and maturing and I am savoring these moments and trips with him while he still is a little boy:) He enjoyed every moment and you could really see the Disney sparkle in his eyes on this trip. One thing besides the characters that he really liked this trip was seeing all of the wild life (the boy has a soft heart for animals) and also he loved the improvements to the kids club, an entire room themed Disney Xfinitiy with amazing video games....whenever I went to the kids club to pick him up if he was in this room, so was every other 7-9 year old boy on the ship I think!!!
Things I want to remember about this trip, at ages 5 and 8 I think we were the absolute perfect ages for this trip and it was so easy for us! No stroller, or diapers, just easy travelers in the Disney zone!!! We had a Halloween on the high seas themed cruise for the first time, that was different and was not something I had planned for! In addition, I paid extra to have the room decorated upon arrival with a Finding Dory Theme and the kids LOVED IT! Disney makes you plan most things in advance (crazy crowd control) but the most fun things on the trip were still those not planned, running into Mr. Smee and Hook randomly when they got in the elevator with us, scared poor SB nearly to death...and running into Stitch poolside when we were nearly the only ones still on board while everyone else was on the island...impromptu favorite character sighting and no line!!!!!! We had such a fun time that we decided to take advantage of the special on board deal, save 10% off the total price to book another trip while still on board...next June after school gets out we are doing another 7 day on the Fantasy (sister ship to the Dream which we were on this trip) and like the last time we did the 7 day, I got a huge room reserved at the back of the ship with the huge balcony! You can only get these rooms it seems if you A. know to ask about it (it was not offered until I asked) and B. book on board!!! The room is like 2.5 times the size of the standard family oceanview suite with a balcony! I think it may even be the exact same room we had 2-3 years ago when we did the 7 day on the Fantasy but that time we went to the Western Caribbean. This time we will be leaving June 3rd, day after SB's b-day and day after school gets out and we will do the Eastern Caribbean down to the British Virgin Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands, and then the Bahamas. Here are some pictures from our adventurous weekend trip to the Bahamas!!
Here are a few pictures...and in posting these pictures I realized these are NOT the photos of the now finished stairs...I guess I have not taken those yet...will post those next time, but they are indeed FINALLY FINISHED! Since these photos were taken we've also been able to get the volvo a permanent home in the garage so we only have two cars in the driveway and we will be having a small concrete pad poured up around the side of the house near the basketball hoop area to fence off nicely looking to house and hide the trash and recycling cans!! I'm about over looking at those but for right now there is nothing I can do about them..........and since these photos were taken we swapped out the striped pillows on the couch (wrong delivered item) for solid white pillows which makes the room look more formal.
