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Cruise Day 2

Monday morning we arrived at Castaway Cay in the Bahamas. After breakfast at Cabanas, the buffet restaurant on the 11th deck, we left Lizzy to take a nap in the room while Annie and I disembarked to check out the island. I've never been on a cruise that takes you to actual port cities, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but Castaway Cay was pretty great! There is a nice beach, a few shops, some bars, a place to rent bikes, over 3 miles of trails, and lots of other recreation activities like snorkeling, para sailing and jet skiing. Annie and I played it safe and just went to the splash pad. We then ate a barbecue lunch and for some reason I think the food on the island is much better than the food on the boat. They had a ton of traditional bbq offerings like hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, ribs, salads, corn on the cob, chips and cookies. They also had soft serve machines! I think Annie ate an average of 2 ice cream cones a day on the trip.

After lunch we boarded the ship again and brought the girls to the "It's a Small World Nursery." I was really impressed with the childcare on the cruise and the childcare workers were extremely nice and friendly. I felt really comfortable leaving the girls there, and I think they had a good time, too. The nursery had a play area in the front with a ton of toys and then a separate room in the back with dimmed lights, cribs and rockers. While the girls played at the nursery I went and worked out at the gym and took a shower. I know that is a lame way to use up the babysitting time, but Joe had to work and it was nice to have a little break! Later on in the evening we ended up putting Lizzy back in the nursery while we went to dinner because she didn't get a good afternoon nap that day and there was no way she would have made it through dinner. We had dinner at the Royal Palace again that night and I really wish I would have taken a picture of the menu or written down what we ate for dinner...sorry, Diz!  But again, it was less than spectacular. On the bright side, one of the desserts on the children's menu was a Mickey ice cream bar so that is what Joe and Annie got every night for dessert. Amazing!

Some "friends" were visiting the nursery when I picked Lizzy up after dinner. She was less than thrilled

True or false - Peter Pan is the creepiest Disney character in person

After picking Lizzy up there was a really fun "pirate party" on the pool deck and a very impressive fireworks show. It was neat to think about the fact that we were watching a huge fireworks show out in the middle of the ocean!

There was a special gift waiting for us in our room every night after dinner. I can't tell you what they all were in case they are re-gifted during this year's White Elephant

Cruise Day 3

The next day (Tuesday) we were at sea. After eating at the breakfast buffet (decent), Annie and I went swimming while Lizzy took her morning nap.  It was so fun getting to spend all that time with Annie, she is at such a good age for this kind of stuff! We alternated between swimming in the Mickey shaped pool and Nemo's splash pad, and then Annie dined on a lunch of chicken nuggets while watching Cinderella on the big screen at the pool. Toddler heaven!

Eating Mickey Waffles for breakfast! Not a bad view

Doing a little golfing after breakfast

Speaking of toddler heaven, later in the day we stumbled onto a "character dance party" and I really have to imagine that it was the best 20 minutes of Annie's life thus far. Pictures don't do it justice!

Wow, these posts take way longer than expected to complete. Almost halfway through the cruise - more coming soon!

Bon Voyage! Day 1

On to the good stuff - the cruise itself! First off I want to say that since this cruise was chartered for DVC members it had very low occupancy (70%) and an unusually small number of children. This was all great news! It never really felt crowded to me, and since there were so few kids, it was never a problem to check the girls into childcare and the lines to meet the characters were always short.

When you walk onto the ship, they announce your family over the loudspeaker and there are a bunch of employees lining the entrance applauding you, kind of cheesy but fun. Joe had to go to a work event after boarding, so I took the girls up to get some ice cream where we ran into some "friends!"

We then changed into our swimming suits and headed over to the children's splash area called Nemo's Reef. Unfortunately you have to be potty trained in order to swim in the regular pools so Lizzy had to stick to the splash pad. It's a nice, safe option for babies, and the water was really warm. The girls loved it!

After we were all splashed out we grabbed lunch from one of the Cars themed quick serve windows. These take out places are open almost all day/night long and offer a variety of options. They serve pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, french fries, sandwiches, wraps, salads and fresh fruit. While unlimited food anytime you want it may sound amazing, I hate to say that the food was not great. I might even go as far to say that the pizza was bad. 

Tastes pretty good to me, mom!

By that point the rooms were ready and the luggage had been delivered, so we went to our state room on the 10th deck to check things out and get unpacked. We were super lucky to have been put in a Deluxe Family Room that had some extra space and a balcony. It was HUGE by cruise standards and I never once felt claustrophobic. We had a queen size bed and a couch that converted into a bed, plus a pack n play in the corner for Lizzy. My favorite feature of the room was the curtain that you could pull to separate the bedroom area from the living room area, so we could keep the girls somewhat separate if they didn't sleep at the same time. 

View from the entry way. Bathroom to my left. Separate areas for shower and toilet

After unpacking we had to convene for a mandatory emergency drill in an auditorium. After confirming everyone was present by scanning key cards, they gave a short presentation about emergency protocol, life boats, life vests, etc. We then went back the room for much needed naps. I guess at some point during naptime the boat started to move, but we didn't even realize it! 

Joe had a business dinner that evening at one of the nicer restaurants, Palo, so SUPER MOM took both girls to our 8:15 dinner at The Royal Palace. The people sitting at the table next to us looked at me like I was crazy when I showed up alone and wrestled Annie and Lizzy into high chairs. I was thrilled when Joe finally showed up halfway through the dinner. At the sit down dinners all the food and soft drinks are included, and you order off a regular menu. But again, the food is less than spectacular and I would say we left most of the dinners still hungry. They also have a children's menu offering all the standard kids fare.

After dinner we met some characters (becoming a very regular occurrence, to Annie's delight) and then called it a night. Not bad for our first day!