Day 4: Debarkation from 3-night cruise / Embarkation Day for 5-night cruise
We had a unique opportunity sailing back-to-back where we got to see the entire debarkation process on the ship. It always amazes me how efficiently they turn these cruise ships around and how quick the whole process is. All the guests on the ship except for the 40 or so of us that were sailing back-to-back were off the ship by 9:30am, and starting at 11:00am they start embarking the next set of guests. It's crazy!
On our other cruises we are always off the ship by 8am or earlier so it was surprising to me how many people stick around until the very end. The final call to debark the ship was at 9:15am and we watched everyone leave from the balcony. We were so thankful to get 5 more nights on board. The 3-night cruise was definitely way too short for us and not one I would do on its own. It wasn't nearly enough time to get to know any of our service team and we noticed that they all warmed up way more and were much more attentive and personal on our 5-night cruise. (Don't get me wrong- they were still awesome on the 3-night cruise, just not with the personal touches we've come to expect from a Disney cruise service team.)
The back-to-back cruisers all met in a lounge where we waited to be escorted off the ship. Even if you're cruising back-to-back you have to disembark and go through customs again before getting back on the ship. We were the very last guests off the ship and the very first guests back on. It was cool to see some behind the scenes things like a crew meeting in one of the lounges and the security staff arriving at the terminal for their work day. The whole process took about an hour and a half. We learned that the concierge guests get to arrive at the cruise port really early. It looked like they were getting to board the ship before us but they were just going upstairs to their special lounge at the cruise terminal. At 11am our group was called to be the first ones to get back on board the ship. It was so early that they weren't even announcing guests yet, they were still setting up for it. It was so fun to have an empty ship for a little while! Mickey was already out on the balcony and Hannah walked right up and got some pictures without having to wait in a line :)
We got access to our stateroom 2 and a half hours before everyone else and got to enter the hallway even though it was closed off to the other guests. Our stateroom attendant, Ravi (who was so kind) told Hannah that for this cruise he would be giving her Princess sheets. She got Frozen sheets on her pull down bed and later in the week he changed them to Moana sheets. We did laundry and went to a sit down lunch at Animators Palate again. We had an awesome server named Anna Sophia who we ran into several more times over the week at Cabana's and she always talked to us and was just so sweet.
Unfortunately it got really stormy so the sail away party was moved inside to the atrium. It was not the same experience as the outside one and we felt bad for the 5-night cruisers for missing out on the fun.
We played general Disney trivia and then had a delicious dinner at Animator's. On the 5-night cruise you get a "Let the Magic Begin" menu for dinner that's not available on the 3-night cruise. Here's what we ate:
Prosciotto, Mozzarella, and Tomato Bruschetta ~ with Fire-roasted Bell Peppers and Balsamic Vingar
Chicken Bastilla ~ Moroccan Spiced shredded Chicken wrapped in Phyllo-dough and sprinkled with Powdered Sugar and Cinnamon with a Vegetable Almond Slaw
Couscous Salad ~ with dried Cranberries, Toasted Almonds, Chickpeas, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumber, Cilantro, and a Lime Dressing
Mequite Grilled Chicken ~ on Spinach and Crushed Sweet Potatoes with Cream of Corn and Bacon Sauce
Grilled Strip Loin ~ with Cheddar Cheese and Onion smashed Baked Potato, Roasted asparagus, tomato, and Red Wine Jus
Magical Express Sundae ~ Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Chocolate Fudge Bites, and Whipped Cream
Hannah made up a funny game with the animation drawings and tried to figure out random wrong Disney characters for the concept drawings like saying Malificent looked like Black Panther and Pinocchio looked like baby Aladdin and one of the dwarfs looked like Donald. It was so funny and she was just cracking herself (and us) up. The show that night was a magician, which Hannah loved. If I never see another magician or ventriloquist show again I would be ok ;) For our turn down service, Ravi made us an elephant towel pal and put the stuffed animal one we bought beside it, so cute!
Day 5: Nassau
We slept in and had a sit down breakfast
at Royal Palace. I had yummy French toast and chocolate chip pancakes. Then
we went to a Learn How to Draw Donald Duck class taught by an entertainment crew member named Kezia. Hannah
did some character meet and greets and met Daisy duck and Minnie Mouse, and we met the actor who played Lafoe from the Beauty and
the Beast show that we saw on the first cruise. We went to a game show called "Who’s Behind the Curtain" that we played on the Magic cruise but this time
Hannah actually got called up to the stage and she got to ask the
questions to guess who was behind the curtain! She's no stranger to being on stage especially after getting called up in front of a thousand people at the ventriloquist show on our Magic cruise. The character that was
behind the curtain was Pluto. He gave her a big hug when she guessed him correctly.
After that we went to make a 3-D flounder craft and we talked to Kezia for a really long time during that crafting session and she told us some things about what it was like to work on a Disney cruise ship and it was really cool. She told us that their contracts are usually 3 to 4 months and that she had worked on several different ships. Her favorite ship is the Magic (so is mine) and we talked about how different the three night cruises were compared to the five night cruises. She told us that the three night cruise folks like to stay up much later and are a little more rowdy- (they really were!)
We did another sit down lunch at Royal Palace and had burgers and the lava cake and another Salted Stitch. Then Hannah and I went to a craft session to make door hangers, and then she went to ride the Aqua Duck with Stephen. We played Disney Tunes Trivia and got 23/40 and chatted with Sam, Hannah's buddy from the first Sail-a-Wave party. Our dinner that night was at Enchanted Garden and at this point in the cruise I got a little lazy with documenting our food. I know it was delicious though.
We loved our wait staff and they were wonderful with Hannah. Jeyson was our server and he did a different magic trick for Hannah every night. Some of them had me stumped too! He did nice things like bring her extra rolls because she liked them so much. Hector was our assistant server and he was so nice too. I'm glad we kept them for both cruises.
Day 6: Castaway Cay
We got out to Castaway Cay nice and early. It's so much easier to get to compared to Lookout Cay! Stephen ran the 5K while Hannah and I built a drip tower and played
in the ocean before it got too crowded. After being at Lookout Cay a few days ago, Castaway felt very small and crowded. There were a lot of water sports cancelled that day because it was windy and the weather was a little volatile, so maybe that's why the beach was so crowded. Stephen and Hannah rode the water slide there, but had to wait over an hour in line.
Lunch on the island at Cookies Too was really good! (same type of food at at Lookout Cay) We shopped and then walked back to the ship. We let Hannah stay in the stateroom by herself for about 30 minutes while we went to deck 4 and watched the ship leave. She just thought that was the coolest thing. It’s so fun to watch the ship leave the dock at Castaway Cay because some of the crew members from the island line up and wave good bye with the big Mickey hands. I also finally got to hear the horns! The real one, not the Dream one. We heard “When you Wish Upon a Star” then “A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes”, and then “Do you Want to Build a Snowman”.
That night was Pirate Night- and we got the special pirate menu this time. We got jerk chicken and the delicious Chocolate Rum Cake for dessert. It's so good. Hannah got a skeleton cup the lights up and our waiter Jeyson did more magic tricks for her. We shopped more at Mickey's Main Sail and then we did a chill movie night in our stateroom and watched the animated Lilo & Stitch. Since we had already done pirate night on the last cruise, we went to bed early so we could get up early and maximize the day at Lookout Cay!
On the 5-night cruise the ship docked several hours earlier at Lookout Cay and boy did it make a difference for that walk across the bridge. It wasn't nearly as hot at 8:30am and made the walk much more manageable. We went all the way down to the right again and had so much space on the beach. Hannah and I built what can only be described as a drip tower kingdom. We even had professional pictures taken with our castle by the Disney photographer and several people on the beach admired our work. We played lots in the water even after we saw a baby shark! Eek!
A perk of cruising back to back- you get 2 Churro waffle days! Hannah had an appointment to get her hair braided that morning and looks super cute with her new hairstyle. We had a very busy morning with lots of on board activities. We have had our eyes set on winning the Frozen trivia medal ever since our Alaska Wonder cruise I think. In February, on the Magic, we suffered a devastating loss in the tie-breaker, so this was our chance to finally win it. Before we did the Frozen trivia, we did Disney Cruise Line trivia just for fun and to our surprise we actually tied with another team getting 14 out of 21 questions right. The tie breaker question was "How much weight in gross tons does the Disney Wish weigh?" Stephen remembered it from watching the Making The Wish documentary and guessed 144,000 and the correct answer was 143,000 something. We won!! It was very unexpected since we were so focused on coming to win the Frozen trivia. It was so exciting to get medals!
Our service team was so wonderful on this cruise. Ravi, our stateroom attendant went out of his way this week to make new towel pals for us that he doesn’t usually make because we were on the cruise so long. He made us a frog and a gorilla that he doesn’t usually do. I just thought that was so thoughtful. He would see us in the hallway and say "I tried something new tonight, let me know what you think." The crew is always what makes these cruises.
Instead of going to the Beauty and the Beast show that night, we watched some of it on our stateroom TV and Hannah and Stephen enjoyed a quiet pool deck and rode the Aqua Duck over and over to close out the cruise. Next up for us is another Alaska cruise on the Wonder next June!! We're also very excited that our Disney Cruise status is now Gold after 5 sailings!! I am so grateful that we are able to do so many fun cruises. I think I say it every time, but the best part is being together with Hannah and Stephen for a whole week and just having so much fun together :)
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