Disney Cruise 2015 ~ Castaway Cay

(Tuesday, Feb 24, 2015)

Our ship stopped at Castaway Cay last year but between the cooler weather and rain I can’t say we were overly impressed with Castaway Cay (*gasp!*) so this year I was neither here nor there if we stopped there again this year.  We were told that the 2 cruises on the Wonder prior to us had not been able to dock at the island so had had an extra sea day and that was just fine with me.

Well, let me be the first to admit that if this had happened this year we would have missed out on a lot!!  I now understand the love people have for Castaway Cay!!

The day dawned bright, sunny and warm and we disembarked shortly after breakfast.  I was thankful to finally get a picture of all 7 of us together!!  Not the most perfect picture but one I’m still so thankful to have!

I love this little pic that we snapped on the way off the ship.  Heh…check out Hannah’s face!

We took a tram to the second beach stop and found our spot on the beach.

Hannah spent ages digging in the sand and was a happy, happy little girl!

Many of us also went snorkelling and that was a real treat too!  There weren’t many fish but it was still a fun little adventure.

Hannah came out for a little bit and then chose to go back to the sand with the grandparents and mommy ventured off alone.  (I keep my camera in a waterproof case while near the water which is why you sometimes see round black shadows in the corners of some of my pictures.)

I ventured out quite a long ways and had to search for a while but eventually located some of the treasures sunk at Castaway Cay. 

It was fun to find these but I’ll tell you, the swim back in was a long one and I was pooped!  It was nice to stop and tread water at a couple of the lifeguard towers and get to know these folks a little bit.  It was here that I found out there are about 100 people who call CC home that live there!  I can’t imagine!!!  There is nothing…n-o-t-h-i-n-g there!  Once a month they go to FL for immigration purposes and then after working for 4 1/2 months go home for about 6 weeks.   I’m thankful they’re there but that would not be my idea for a choice of employment.

By the time I got back mom and dad had enjoyed their lunch and the rest of us went once they returned.  Cookies Too is one of the delicious BBQ restaurants featuring a number of delicious BBQ treats to eat and fresh salads too.

We got ice cream that quickly turned into ice cream soup in the beautiful sun and heat!  (We were so NOT missing the snow and cold at home!!)

By this point in the day Nana had worked her magic and talked Rebecca into going into the water.  She hadn’t brought her bathing suit and went back to the ship to get it but found out that unfortunately as she wasn’t 18 if she went back on the ship she wouldn’t be allowed to get back off.  A quick improvisation and she swam in my bathing suit cover up and some of her own clothing.  She’s not a fan of heights so we were even more impressed when she climbed up Pelican’s Plunge and rode the water slide down!  Way to go Bec!!!

Late in the day we bumped in to Hannah’s pool buddy Miranda and the girls had fun swimming together.  They could have splashed in these inner tubes for hours.

All too soon the day was drawing to a close and it was time for us to make our way back to the ship.  It was nice to be greeted with cold flavoured water to refresh us after a day of fun in the sun!

There was still much more fun and excitement before us this final day on our ship but I’ll save that for the next post.

Disney Cruise 2015 ~ Second Sea Day–The Day of Clothing Changes!

(Monday, Feb 23, 2015)

LOL – It wasn’t until I was creating this post that I realized how many different outfits Hannah wore this day!

We started our morning sleeping in a tiny bit and then visiting the princesses.  Unlike last year, to visit the princesses (and some other characters) it is done by pre-booking a time.  It took some of the pressure off as I knew from the first day of our cruise when we would meet them.   Princess  Hannah chose her Mulan dress to meet fellow royalty!

While we waited to meet the princesses we ran in to Ava who was on her way to hang out in the Oceaneer’s Lab.   Royalty everywhere we looked!

After a quick change into bathing suits Hannah and I headed up to the 9th deck to chase our breakfast…literally!   This was the only time that we ate there when it was super windy and it made our breakfast quite comical!  I wish I’d thought to take a video of our bacon running across the deck or croissant sliding across the table.  It’s all about what you make of it though and we did nothing but laugh, chase our food and enjoy the breathtaking scenery!!  Oh yes, we could get used to this!!!  Take us back!

After enjoying a few hours in the pool we headed back to our stateroom for a little bit of down time. 

Similar to the morning we had a date with Anna and Elsa in the afternoon.  This was set up so well!  We went in to the meet ‘n greet area where Hannah and I were directed towards our own private table and she was provided with colouring sheets.  There was no rush and we enjoyed some sweet time together chatting as she coloured. 

When it was Hannah’s turn she went up to visit the sisters, enjoyed time visiting with them, getting their autographs and Hannah was kind enough to pose with them for their cruise memories! 

After gracing Anna and Elsa with her presence we popped back to the room to prepare for the optional formal night. 

One of the treats of sailing on a Disney cruise is that our servers cut up the children’s meals….young and not so young!   Rebecca thought the world of Beata and Beata taught her a lot about food options while we were on the ship.

Hannah ordered macaroni and cheese again this night

but after just a few bites she was once again down for the count and was recharging for the fun still to come.

She did wake up long enough to say thank you to Beata for her cozy tablecloth blanket!

The night was still young for my well rested travelling buddy so she posed with Mickey,

went the the live show in the theatre with the family and then after a quick change into her pj’s Hannah was off to Pluto’s Pyjama Party.  It started at 9:30 and when I went to pick her up at 10:45 she begged for more time as she was having so much fun!  Yes, we sure do keep different hours on vacation!  If left her there until 11:45 and then convinced her it was time to head back to our room.  She’d had a blast in the clubs and this time allowed me to make a huge dent in our packing so it was a win-win for both of us!

Up tomorrow ~  Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.

Disney Cruise 2015 ~ Ship Time

(Sunday, Feb 22, 2015)

When we returned to the ship from Grand Cayman we enjoyed time doing a variety of things.

Hannah and I took some time and delivered some of our Fish Extender gifts.  (A Fish Extender (FE) is something you hang outside your stateroom door and it has pockets on it.  We signed up for a FE group on FB and there were 14 other cabins involved.  We left a couple of gifts in each of the other cabins FEs and they left gifts in ours.)

I knit dishcloths for each cabin with Mickey on them.

The teen to 8yo’s received a Canadian candy called Smarties.

Children 7 and under received crayon roll-ups that I’d made.

It took some time to prepare our gifts but it was such fun and I worked away on them for about 5 months.  My friend Norma also came over one afternoon to help out which was a lot of fun.

After we returned to the ship from Grand Cayman, Hannah and I delivered some of our gifts.

From there it was off to the pool for a swim before supper.

We took time for some character photos before supper.

Soon after we sat down for supper and even before eating, Hannah was asleep in my arms so Rolly pulled up a 2nd chair for her and voila, a bed was formed.  So cute!

She slept for well over an hour, woke up to watch the show and then was raring to go!  We went to the live show called, ‘The Golden Mickey’s’ in the Walt Disney Theatre.  It was excellent!  After that Hannah was still full of energy so I signed her in to the kids club for an hour so and then at 11pm we ordered room service as my sweet girl was hungry!

She polished off this macaroni and cheese and then we headed to bed.  Tomorrow was another sea day with lots to do on the ship!