Irisbud's PJ & Wedding TR: 1/22/09: NOW COMPLETE! 3/26/2009

[irisbud]

Day 7 Part 1

We woke up fairly early the next day. We were still heading for Nassau when we got up, but we were getting close, as I could see Atlantis in the distance. Once we were presentable, we headed up to the Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast. We got our handiwipe and waited in line to receive a tray with a napkin and our utensils on it.

This buffet had a little bit of everything on it, including my very favorite: Mickey waffles! Strawberry topping and whipped cream was available as well, so I was all set. We grabbed a seat outside and finished breakfast as we were heading to the dock, so we jumped up to watch.

The water was so blue here:

Nassau:

It was really interesting to me to watch the ship get tied off. The lines they use to do this are huge, and the pressure put against them must be enormous! Once we tired of this, we began comparing the Wonder to the Carnival Valor and another Carnival ship, which we were docked between. At about that time, the Wonder’s horn blew again. DH and I wondered if there would be a horn blowing contest between the ships, but the others stayed quiet. I’m sure the Wonder’s horn is the coolest!

Tying the ship off:

Wonder and Carnival Valor:

The all aboard time had been changed from 7 PM to 2 AM. I was fairly ambivalent about this, as I had no plans to be out late that evening either. The whole point of the cruise was for us to relax, and I was trying to take full advantage. We wandered around for a little bit before returning to our room to put more sunscreen on before our shore excursion.

We had booked the Discover Atlantis excursion at 11:00. This excursion was supposed to take us on a brief driving tour around Nassau before heading to Atlantis to tour the resort and the aquariums. Atlantis had come highly recommended by some friends of our, so I was excited to see it.

Atlantis:

We met in Wavebands at our designated time, and everyone was given a Beast sticker to indicate they were part of the tour group. This was one of the first times that I noticed just how hard some of the cast members on the ship must work. There was a woman named Malita (I’m sure I butchered that as well) in charge of grouping us together. We saw her so many times that week doing so many things that I lost track. It made me tired just thinking about it.

Once everything was in order we headed down to the gangway and disembarked. We went through the welcome area where several women were offering hair braiding and stepped into some large vans.

Dock Area:

Welcome to Nassau:

As DH said, this was the craziest ride we went on the whole time! The cab driver pulled out in front of people, no one ever stopped for anything, there were hairpin turns…I thought we might die. I know we went past several things, but I don’t really remember any of them as I was trying my best not to look out the windows, it was just too frightening.

We got to Atlantis and the told us we would need to meet transportation back at our leisure in the same place, and that they would be departing every half hour. Once we stepped inside, our tour was taken over by a young man who reveled in telling us how expensive everything in the resort was, and how each Chihouley (sp?) piece they had cost “A million Dollars” as we headed through the shopping area and into the casinos.

Outside of Atlantis:

Inside the shopping area:

Worth a Million Dollars:

Another Million Dollars:

This Cost a Million Dollars too:

So did this:

Once we made it through the casinos we were in some sort of lobby/atrium type of area. We headed down a flight of stairs and over to the aquariums. The resort itself was impressive, but I was really interested in this, as I had heard it was phenomenal.

In lobby/atrium area:

 

[figmentfan814]

DH really had me cracking up with his post; definitely sounds like something my husband would want to do to make sure he set the record straight to the board!

Amy~ I love seeing all your shots from the cruise so far. It was cute to read your note about being excited to leave the country. Until I went to Jamaica with my friend who is from there when I was in my 20s; I had never been anywhere except Canada. Since I'm from Michigan we don't consider that a big deal because I think almost every person that lives here makes it over at least once, so its always interesting to think that most people don't live next store to Canada or Mexico. Isn't it exciting to see a new place and culture completely different from our own?

Anyway, I did this cruise with my family almost 6 years ago (wow it doesn't seem that long ago) when I graduated from college and we did the exact excursion in Nassau Looking forward to reading more about your trip and to reliving some of my cruise memories.

 

[goofygal531]

Amy, we were told the ropes were just for added security. There are magnets on the sides of the ship and sides of the ports (under water) that secure the ship in place.

We missed the sail away party. DH and I fell asleep on the verandah and woke up at 6pm surprised to be in the middle of the ocean. I can't believe we slept thru that loud horn!

They stay in Nassau until 2am because of the casino at the Atlantis. Since there's no casino on aboard many people run to the casino there. As did my DH! He also won Jackpot Bingo on the ship! $1,000! Paid off our room bill!

Another thing that's nice about the ship staying in port until 2am, you can get a room at the Atlantis for the day and be a full day resort guest, which is required to use the pools. I wish we would have done that. We just wandered around the resort, gambled a little then went back to the ship for lunch. Even though I won $150 on a slot machine, I wasn't going to pay $19 for hamburger, cheese and fries extra!

The only bad thing about going on DCL for your first cruise, is that nothing else compares! DH actually yelled at me for this. We've been on NCL, Carnival, and RCCL and nothing compares to DCL. I actually had tears in my eyes being docked next to the Wonder in Nassau and I was on the NCL Dawn. The Wonder was just amazing!

Did you do the couples massage in the cabana on Castaway Cay? That was our favorite part of the cruise!

Oh, I wish I could go on a cruise. The prices are just insane on DCL for a family of four! Cat 6 stateroom for a 7 night cruise runs about $7,000!!

Loving your TR!

Mare

 

[irisbud]

DH really had me cracking up with his post; definitely sounds like something my husband would want to do to make sure he set the record straight to the board!

Amy~ I love seeing all your shots from the cruise so far. It was cute to read your note about being excited to leave the country. Until I went to Jamaica with my friend who is from there when I was in my 20s; I had never been anywhere except Canada. Since I'm from Michigan we don't consider that a big deal because I think almost every person that lives here makes it over at least once, so its always interesting to think that most people don't live next store to Canada or Mexico. Isn't it exciting to see a new place and culture completely different from our own?

Anyway, I did this cruise with my family almost 6 years ago (wow it doesn't seem that long ago) when I graduated from college and we did the exact excursion in Nassau Looking forward to reading more about your trip and to reliving some of my cruise memories.

My DH the comedian . That is the only picture of the pillow I had, but he had to be sure there was no ambiguity

I really loved the cruise. And I totally agree with you about seeing different places. It might sound counter-intuitive on the surface, but that was actually part of why we joined DVC: you can trade points into another company if you want and go to destinations all over the world! The minimum buy in is enough for one week at almost 300 places all over the world, which we will definitely be using sometimes!

Amy, we were told the ropes were just for added security. There are magnets on the sides of the ship and sides of the ports (under water) that secure the ship in place.

We missed the sail away party. DH and I fell asleep on the verandah and woke up at 6pm surprised to be in the middle of the ocean. I can't believe we slept thru that loud horn!

They stay in Nassau until 2am because of the casino at the Atlantis. Since there's no casino on aboard many people run to the casino there. As did my DH! He also won Jackpot Bingo on the ship! $1,000! Paid off our room bill!

Another thing that's nice about the ship staying in port until 2am, you can get a room at the Atlantis for the day and be a full day resort guest, which is required to use the pools. I wish we would have done that. We just wandered around the resort, gambled a little then went back to the ship for lunch. Even though I won $150 on a slot machine, I wasn't going to pay $19 for hamburger, cheese and fries extra!

The only bad thing about going on DCL for your first cruise, is that nothing else compares! DH actually yelled at me for this. We've been on NCL, Carnival, and RCCL and nothing compares to DCL. I actually had tears in my eyes being docked next to the Wonder in Nassau and I was on the NCL Dawn. The Wonder was just amazing!

Did you do the couples massage in the cabana on Castaway Cay? That was our favorite part of the cruise!

Oh, I wish I could go on a cruise. The prices are just insane on DCL for a family of four! Cat 6 stateroom for a 7 night cruise runs about $7,000!!

Loving your TR!

Mare

That's really cool about the magnets! We wanted to do the Atlantis waterpark day thing, but it was $150 per person . That was such a beautiful place!

How neat that your husband won the bingo; all we did was spend like $100 TRYING to win bingo. I didn't go, but DH said he was super close (standing up) on the big jackpot. Oh well. We didn't do the massage as we had never been to the island before and didn't know how much there was to do, etc. I'd like to do it on a future trip though!

DCL is expensive. We have friends that are dedicated RC cruisers, but they were really impressed when they saw our pictures, which told me something about the difference in quality right there! It's not to bad for us now with just two people, but once we have kids Unfortunatly, using DVC points for DCL is one of the worst DVC point values there is

 

[goofygal531]

We wanted to do the Atlantis waterpark day thing, but it was $150 per person . That was such a beautiful place!

Wow! That is expensive! Years ago they offered a room only discount for cruisers. I think it was about $135 for the day. But back then they didn't have the waterpark, just the pool slides. So I guess they upped the price with all they have to offer.

How neat that your husband won the bingo; all we did was spend like $100 TRYING to win bingo.

I had to do laundry as after our cruise we were spending a few days at Universal Studios, so I sent DH to play bingo while I did the laundry on the ship. He spent $10 and had no idea what he was doing. He was playing all the cards at once, rather than each color per game. He won on the last game (fill the whole card) and this lady next to him was furious that he won not knowing how to play! She had about $200 worth of cards and he only had one! Thankfully, that's about when I arrived!

DCL is expensive. We have friends that are dedicated RC cruisers, but they were really impressed when they saw our pictures, which told me something about the difference in quality right there!

RC has beautiful ships but no one offers the service that Disney does. My son really wants to go on "Mickey's boat" but RC is a fraction of the price! Plus they have waterparks on their ships!

 

[irisbud]

Day 7 Continued

The guided tour was really concentrated on the aquariums at Atlantis. The tour was nice, but the guide was difficult to hear most of the time. I enjoyed this, but I thought there were times we moved a little too quickly, but it might have gotten boring fast if we had gone any slower. We started with the aquariums inside.

Random Pictures from The Dig Site Aquarium:

There was a petting tank with some various sea creatures, including a conch. We got the chance to pet the conch, which was really slimy and disgusting!

After we left the Dig Sit Aquarium we walked through the grounds towards the outdoor portions of the lagoon. On the way we stopped so that the guide could point out the bridge suite. He told us that this suite has a $25K per night price tag and must be booked for a minimum of four nights. It also has a waiting list for availability.

Bridge Suite:

Grounds of Atlantis:

More to come tomorrow!

 

[Mrsdisneyb2b]

YAY! More more!

 

[irisbud]

YAY! More more!

Here you go!

 

[irisbud]

Day 7 Part 1 continued again...

Our guide told us a little bit about the outdoor aquarium. Apparently, it is the second largest in the world, surpassed only by the one in Atlanta, GA. We walked across a bridge over a lagoon filled with stingrays.

Over the bridge:

Stingray lagoon:

We then headed towards the predator lagoon. There were several sharks swimming around out there.

Predator lagoon:

We went through a really neat food stand/gazebo, and headed down into another tank. This was the predator tank, and featured a walk through aquarium tunnel.

Gazebo roof:

Walk through predator tank:

We were at the back of our group and we were almost completely separated from them. We managed to catch up at the end of the tour, where we were sort of left to find our own way back to the bus.

 

[irisbud]

Day 7 Part 1 continued...

DH and I decided that we would like to walk around the ground of Atlantis a little more and maybe take a couple more pictures. We had seen a glimpse of the beach while on the tour and were intrigued by how blue the water was and wanted to get closer.

We headed back towards the beach, trying to retrace our steps. One the way, we saw this sign:

We walked back by the predator lagoon, and DH decided we should try out the rope bridge that spanned the lagoon. I wasn’t too keen on this idea, but went along. The bridge was wobbly, but it was alright. A few sharks were swimming around underneath us, and it was interesting to look down on them between the slats of the bridge.

On the rope bridge:

Hammerheads near rope bridge:

Finally we found the entrance to the beach. We walked out a little ways just to see the water closer.

Beach at Atlantis:

After catching a few pictures, we decided to head back and think about lunch. The food prices at Atlantis were pretty high, so we made the decision to head back to the ship where lunch was “free”.

Pretty flowers on Atlantis grounds:

We passed a starfish lagoon on the way back:

We got there about twenty minutes before the next bus would be leaving. After waiting around for a while, we headed back. The ride was crazy again, but I think this driver was slightly less insane than our first one had been. We made it through customs easily and back on the ship where we had to walk through the metal detector which DH set off with his just married pin, LOL.

 

[irisbud]

Day 7 Part 2

We rushed up to Beach Blanket Buffet to grab some lunch as it was nearly time for it to close. They still had plenty of food out when we got there, so I guess we needn’t have worried. There were even large crab claws on the buffet, which had already been partially cracked to make them easy to open! DH got his cheese cubes and I got my desserts and we headed outside.

One thing that interested me on the ship was that the seagulls weren’t nearly as aggressive as they are at Disney World. They are still there, circling and waiting for food, but they don’t actually swoop down until you leave the table. DH heard the ship playing a bird sound, and we decided it must be used to deter them.

After we had eaten more than our fill, we went back to the room to check out our navigators. It seemed that the air had been fixed in our absence, which made DH happy. We decided to attend the art auction and martini tasting and made our way to the atrium.

We didn’t buy anything, but DH won a print from knowing some Disney trivia, and we then received another print for attending. There were some very nice Disney pieces and some other interesting pieces but nothing we loved for the price.

View from our stateroom:

Some more views of Nassau port:

After the auction concluded, we decided to go back to Nassau for a while and try some shopping. I have to say that I wasn’t overly impressed. I was a little worried about walking around in Nassau as I had read that it can be dangerous if you stray too far from the main path. We went in several jewelry stores, but couldn’t find anything we liked. Some of the salespeople were so aggressive it made me really uncomfortable. We also walked over to look at the capital buildings. Unfortunately, my camera was back in the room being charged.

We decided to head back to the ship after a while to get ready for dinner as it was dress up night and I was feeling in need of a nap. When we headed through customs, we were waved around a group of four drunken women who were howling and cackling with laughter and stumbling over one another. The man working the gate kept saying “Yes, yes, I know Senor Frogs…”

We were strolling back to the ship when the group caught up with us. One grabbed DH around the waist and said “You look just like my husband, let me get a picture.” DH obliged and let them take a picture with him. Another one of the women then grabbed me and said “You look just like me wife”?!?!? They then proceeded to tell us about Senor Frogs saying “Senor Frogs Bad” and telling us that the servers poured alcohol down their throats They then stumbled off towards their ship. DH and I hoped they wouldn’t fall into the water, as there was no fence along the dock! DH said he should have told the lady who thought he was her husband “I thought I told you to stay on the ship”

Part of the other ship in port:

Platform on the Wonder where the captain can stand to dock the ship:

We took a quick nap then got ready for dinner, skipping the Toy Story Musical. We were scheduled to eat in Triton’s that evening and I was really looking forward to it. Our meal was wonderful, and we had a nice time chatting with our tablemates about our experiences that day. The third couple at our table still hadn’t shown up for dinner.

Once dinner was over we went to Studio Sea to watch “Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer”. I just wanted to watch, but DH had a strong desire for me to participate as he wanted the pin that you get for playing. Three or four kids were chosen with two of them winning. Finally, they said that they would play one last game, and my number, four, was chosen!

Thanks to some nice audience members, I was able to win. I got a magnetic Mickey head sculpture and of course DH’s coveted pin, which he took from me immediately, LOL. I’m sure it was just because I had no pockets to store it in…

We then went up to deck nine to get some soda and headed back to the room to get some sleep. My plans were thwarted by an envelope in our little fish mail holder, though. The envelope held a card informing us that the afternoon catamaran snorkeling trip we had scheduled for Castaway Cay the next day had been cancelled, and that we had been rescheduled to an early morning excursion. According to the card, if this was unacceptable, we had to let the Shore Excursions department know by 10:00 pm. We had barely finished dinner at 10, and had headed to the game show right afterwards, so it was now well past the time. The card had not been delivered when we had headed to dinner at 8.

I went down to guest services as the Shore Excursions desk was closed. There was some momentary confusion, but they finally agreed to refund the money as DH and I were not interested in an early morning excursion. We were trying to be all about relaxing, and getting up early just didn’t seem worth it to us. We figured we could always rent snorkel equipment at the family beach if we had an irresistible urge to snorkel!

Finally I made it back to the room and into bed, excited to get to Castaway Cay in the morning!

 

[4th_little_pig]

as you know from my 1 other post i am amys dh. at this time in our journey is when things get very interesting, since i knew that we were going to an adults only beach at castaway cay i decided to be very european and get a speedo , i figured if simon from housewifes of new york could do it so could i. so we awoke at castaway cay and idecided to wait to put on my speedo at the restroom at the adult beach and to surprise amy who did not know about said speedo . amy had went on down the beach to find a good spot while i changed , there is something very liberating about one of these,so i leave the restroom and i run into a group of people and i cracked a couple of jokes and the people are just cracking up , i fancy my self a very witty person as you will find out later, so i thought i must really be on fire today. as iwalked down the beach throwing out one liners i continued to kill. while i was heading down amy had decided to go into the water so when i got there istarted to wad in the water was a little cold ,asi got about half way in a blast of cold shot up my spine and out the top of my head,but i managed to get all the way in me and amy swam and swam and amy still did not know about the speedo, finally amy decided to lay in the sun so i was about to sping my surprise , as we exited the water i yelled surprise. the look on amys face was sheer terror,i had accidentaly put the speedo on backwards and now i know why all the people i had talked to found me so
funny!!!






oh did i happen to mention that in not doing things half way my speedo was a thong!!!







amy just told me i forgot to tell you this is the dream i had the night before we got to castaway cay!!!

 

[HockeyMomR]

4th_little_pig - too funny! I have to say I was very proud of Simon for putting on a trunk style swimsuit over his speedo while in the Hamptons during this weeks episode!

 

[PrincessShea]

What was the trivia question he got at the art auction?

 

[irisbud]

amy just told me i forgot to tell you this is the dream i had the night before we got to castaway cay!!!

I'm trying to decide if I should even dignify your post with a response.

4th_little_pig - too funny! I have to say I was very proud of Simon for putting on a trunk style swimsuit over his speedo while in the Hamptons during this weeks episode!

All I can say is thank goodness it was only a dream.

Sorry honey

What was the trivia question he got at the art auction?

I don't remember offhand, I'm sure he will come back and answer

 

[Mrsdisneyb2b]

Wow look at the clear water with those starfish! Just beautiful!!

 

[irisbud]

Wow look at the clear water with those starfish! Just beautiful!!

Wait until you see the pictures from Castaway Cay, which do it no justice at all (I am working on that segment now; should have it up today or tomorrow)

 

[figmentfan814]

I totally agree about Nassau, I wasn't really that impressed. The storekeepers were really agressive when we were there too. What was your overall impression of Atlantis? I have had family that have gone there for a week for a vacation, and I just couldn't understand the appeal

We rented the snorkeling equipment at the family beach and had a blast, so I'm looking forward to reading what you ended up deciding.

 

[irisbud]

I totally agree about Nassau, I wasn't really that impressed. The storekeepers were really agressive when we were there too. What was your overall impression of Atlantis? I have had family that have gone there for a week for a vacation, and I just couldn't understand the appeal

We rented the snorkeling equipment at the family beach and had a blast, so I'm looking forward to reading what you ended up deciding.

I thought Atlantis was really nice, but I don't think I could spend more than a night or two there. The waterpark and aquarium would be nice for a couple of days, but after that it just seems like there wouldn't be much to do. DH and I aren't really into "do nothing" vacations where we end up just lounging around watching TV so I don't think it would be for us.

Stay tuned for the REAL Castaway Cay story

And Happy Anniversary tomorrow, BTW! It seems like just yesterday we were all wishing you Happy Wedding Day !

 

[irisbud]

Day 8, Part 1

We woke up fairly early the next morning to find that we were already docked at Castaway Cay. It turns out that we could have made the early morning snorkeling excursion if we had hustled, but I was feeling good about our decision to skip it. We headed up to breakfast at Beach Blanket again. I don’t know if it is because we chose the right hand line or if the offerings were just different, but the strawberries from my Mickey waffles looked sort of sick and grayish, like they had been in the freezer too long or something. There was also no whipped cream. There were still plenty of other things to eat, though, so we enjoyed our breakfast, changed into swim clothes and cover-ups and then headed to the gangway.

Castaway Cay from the Wonder:

The water was really blue here too:

The evening before, our server had told us that we would only need out KTTW card. When we got to the gangway, we found out we actually still needed our DLs too, so I ran back to the room to get them. Finally we made our way off the ship, caught a tram to the family beach, then grabbed a tram to the adult beach.

To be honest, I wasn’t perfectly sure what exactly we were going to do here. I had heard nothing but wonderful things about Castaway, but DH and I just aren’t big beach people. We like to be doing things, and the thought of laying in the sun baking is not at all appealing to my pasty skin (I got burned in Clearwater on vacation with friends 3 years ago. I still have tan lines from it. Seriously.)

Bad pic of us

We placed our things on a chair and then walked along the water taking in the scenery for a while. The water was so beautiful, but it was also incredibly cold. I stood in it at the edge for a little bit, trying to acclimate, and bravely stepped in. DH walked in with me, also complaining about the cold. Once we were up to mid-calf, we stopped, trying to decide if it was worth going in further when we spotted this:

It was a huge stingray! I got my camera and took a couple of pictures before he swam away.

After we saw the stingray, we started noticing other things, like all of the schools of fish swimming around us and the bunches of shells and other assorted sea life covering the sand beneath our feet. The water here was so clear you could easily see right to the bottom, especially when the wind was still.

At that point, it became a fun thing for us to walk around and scope things out and see what we could find. We found several huge shells, some sand dollar type things, some spiky sea creatures, and lots of fish.

After a while, we made our way back towards the shore and sat in the water for a while, staring our past the buoys and into the ocean. I was starting to get a little chilled, so we made our way back to our chairs and dried off, resting in the sun for a few minutes while we decided on our next course of action.

After Swimming (yikes!)