I wanna be in the Bahamas!

I better finish up this vacation before I forget what we did!

Our first "cruise" day was Nassau, Bahamas! Eventhough we technically didn't need them we had our passports and were ready to roll. On a closed-loop cruise(starts and ends at the same point) you don't have to have a passport - but we used this as an excuse to get them. "Just in case" of an emergency - and now we have a reason to leave the country - need to get our $$$$$s worth!

So every morning I had great intentions of getting up and seeing a sunrise - yea - that never happened. This was our view from the balcony when we *finally* woke up!




We almost missed breakfast we were so late that morning - but we made it with a few mintues to spare! We had a little bit of excitement while waiting in line for the buffet - a lady in front of us passed out! I'm not sure if she enjoyed the sail away party a little too much yesterday or if she was a bit sea-sick. Either way the poor lady lost ALL color and her eyes rolled back in her head! I felt really bad for her little girls because it looked like she was alone with them and of course they freaked out! Disney jumped into action and quickly got her to some medical help - but it was an exciting start to our morning!

After breakfast we headed off the ship. We didn't have an excursion planned, so we were just going to wonder around on our own for awhile.



I stopped to take a few pictures of the boat from the dock.




I guess I didn't take any pictures when we were walking around! It was HOT so I'm sure that was one of the reasons. We walked up and down several of their "main" streets and really were unimpressed. I understand that these people make their living from tourists - but their incistence that we buy some crappy souvenier was annoying after the 10th or so person! There are also taxi drivers EVERYWHERE wanting to take you somewhere. We eventually did get a cab and went over to the Atlantis. Most of all we enjoyed the air conditioning there :) and I took a few pictures of the HUGE acquarium that they have.




Keith felt like our whole trip was worth it when he found Cuban cigars in the Atlantis! I am neither confirming nor denying that they illegally made it back to the US :)


Before heading back to the boat we HAD to find someplace to have our passports stamped! They do everything electronically now - but I wanted a stamp! We found a military guard shack and were directed through a gate to an interesting building. Inside we found a nice lady who happily stamped out passports!

And then we headed back to the boat.


And another towel animal was waiting on us!


All in all I wasn't too impressed with Nassau and probably won't ever return. It is certainly something to see once - but I don't think more than once is neceesary :) If I ever did go back I would definitely schedule an excursion of some kind!

We spent the rest of the day wondering around the ship, watching a 3D movie, and napping!

Tomorrow - Disney's private island - Castaway Cay. This alone is worth the cruise!

I'm on a boat!

The day finally came for our first cruise! We had had a great time at Disney World and visiting my brother - but I was VERY excited about the cruise. Originally I had priced other cruise lines as Disney Cruise Lines is notorious for being VERY pricey(like double Carnial/Royal Carribean). In the end I found that for September (hurricane season) the price was pretty comparable no matter who you went with - so of course - we went with the mouse. With Keith being in school September was really our only option - so we had to take the chance on a hurricane. We lucked out - the weather was AMAZING. In fact it didn't rain *a drop* until we were getting off the boat. We didn't even get any of the afternoon showers that Florida is known for while we were at WDW!

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge the night before our cruise - so we had an early wakeup. My brother was going to drop us off and then head back to Orlando. The cruise terminal is about an hour away from Disney World and I wanted to get there early! I had read that updgrades could be done at the terminal for much cheaper than ahead of time - but it was first come first served. The terminal opened around 10 - so I planned to arrive at about 9:45.

There's our boat!!!


We pulled up to the drop-off zone and unloaded our luggage. Luckily they have porters - so I didn't see our luggage again until it was delivered to our room later in the afternoon! I brought a lot of stuff - I was happy not to have to deal with it! We got in line to go through security and soon we were on our way to check in. I was surprised - security was as tight on the boat as the airport! We quickly got checked in and then headed to the supervisors desk to check about an upgrade! We were already in a Category 4 room, with a balcony - so our only upgrade would be to a suite. They had plenty available - but I wasn't willing to pay the $$$ they wanted - so we happily stayed with the room we had. I guess getting up so early wasn't really necessary.....

Once we got checked in we had PLENTY (several hours) to look around the terminal before we could board the ship. It isn't a very big space, so they have character visits and Disney movies playing to keep the kids (and adults) from getting TOO restless.

One advantage of our early arrival was that we had an early boarding number! We were in Group 2 which is right after the concierge guests. I think we boarded about noon - but I hadn't paid attention to a clock in days - so I can't be sure! Once we were on the ship we were off to lunch. Our room wouldn't be ready until about 1:30 so we had some time to kill. Again - Disney is a master of getting the maximum amount of $$$ - those ships do not sit at ALL. A cruise had just ended that morning - so they were cleaning rooms and getting everything back in order.

Lunch was pretty standard buffet fair - with a lot of seafood mixed in. After lunch I wanted to tour the spa - so we headed there. Honestly - I wasn't impressed - the spa itself was nice, but they spent the whole tour pressuring us into booking with them! After escaping that it was about 1:30 so time to see our room (or cabin - I guess that is what it is on a ship).

We were a little apprehensive as we had heard all kinds of stories about how cramped and tiny cruise ship cabins are. We were pleasantly surprised - LOTS of room! Now if we had filled it to capacity (5 people) I doubt I would have felt the same way - but for 2 us it was plenty!






I got right to work decorating our door. We had signed up for a gift exchange with people from a boards online - so that is what the red "Cruising with Mickey" is - pockets to put gifts in! It was a very cool exchange. The point wasn't to spend a lot of money - but to get to know other people and where they came from! Not only were the decorations cool to look at - but we also never walked past our door! I also loved hearing the kids walk past and yell "MICKEY"

Soon after we had made it to our room was time for the mandatory life-boat drill. They take this very seriously and they will HUNT you down if you don't show up! I had read online that this was the case so we grabbed our life jackets and headed to our station - we didn't want them looking for us!



There certainly was ALWAYS something going on - and right after the life boat drill came the sail away party. At this point we were still docked - but would be leaving very soon! We did watch 2 other ships leave a few mintues before we did - which was pretty neat. They were headed in the same general direction so we could see their lights for most of the night!




As we were pulling away the Disney employees at the terminal donned some Mickey gloves and waved us off!




I didn't take anymore pictures that first day - but after the party we headed for the evening show and then dinner. We had "late" dinner so we ate around 8:15 each evening.

Up next - waking up in the Bahamas!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

New Hotel!

Our vacation orginally included 4 nights at 1 hotel and then a 4 night cruise. Halfway through our stay at Disney (pre-cruise) we decided that we wanted to try something different. Although we liked Bay Lake Towers - the room was TINY!! Disney's Vacation Club properties have studios, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom options. We were in a studio and decided we wanted to try a 1 bedroom. After a call to reservations we found that a 1 bedroom was available at Animal Kingdom Lodge - we took it! My brother's discount made this possible - these rooms go for a lot of $$$!!

My husband and I spent our honeymoon at Animal Kingdom Lodge (although in a "normal" room) - so it has always been a favorite of ours! Disney went above and beyond with this hotel. They actually have savannas outside of the rooms - so from your balcony you can see a variety of animals! For safety you are not *too* close - but there is nothing like being able to wake up walk out on your balcony and see a giraffe munching on a tree! On our honeymoon we have one of these savannah view rooms and it was amazing! This time we went with a standard view room (to save a little $$$)- but we were still very happy with our room. They have viewing areas all over the lodge - so even if you can't see animals from you room - you don't have to go far! The inside of the room was so nice that you really didn't want to leave - I could live here!!

Outside of the hotel



Inside the lobby




Animals and animal-viewing areas around the hotel




Our SWEET room









We had only planned 3 full days at Disney World - so we were busy! We have been to Disney many times before so it was kinda nice to just do the "highlights." We picked our favorites and made it a point to do those! Normally we have 5 or 6 days - and we spend the whole time running around. I was also VERY excited about the 2nd part of our trip - a Disney CRUISE!