Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Disney Cruise: Day 2- Nassau, The Bahamas

This morning we woke up to the most beautiful sunrise:

We got up and grabbed a quick breakfast before heading to the onboard spa for our couple's Swedish Massage.  It was magnificent!  Bryan's masseuse was a bit rough on him, and we were both sore the next day or two from them working on some pretty good sized knots in our backs and shoulders.  But, we still enjoyed it!

During the massage, we felt the ship docking in Nassau, The Bahamas.  We weren't overly interested in this stop, but we did want to see the sights.  We got ready and headed out for our Sea and See Tour.  This tour started with a boat tour of the harbor.  They guide pointed out where many famous people have residences and other landmarks.  Then, out in the middle of the harbor, we switched to a boat with an underwater seating area to see the reefs and fish.  After seeing the fish, we transferred back to our original boat to head back to shore.  There a small bus was waiting to give us the tour of the city.  (Not much to see, in our opinion, because we were on the older side and not over by all the fancy hotels and big homes.)  He took us up to the water tower and an old fort, let us out for about 20-30 minutes, came back and took us back to the docks.

The Atlantis Hotel
  This is as close as we got to it.

Supposedly, Tom Cruise's Home
The yacht in front means he's home.
Switching boats

Ready to see some fish 
The Fort 
The Water Tower

The Docks- Can hold up to 7 cruise ships at at time.
Three were docked when we were there.



After our tour, we decided to head back to our ship for some swimming, looking around, and just having fun.


















We enjoyed our dinner at the Animator's Palate.  This restaurant is very fun with all the drawings and sketches from the movies (mostly Finding Nemo).  We even had a chance to interact with Crush, the sea turtle.  Bryan and I celebrated our anniversary this evening (even though our actual anniversary is in December, but since we were on this trip to celebrate, tonight was the night).  After dinner, the head waiter brought us a delicious chocolate cake before the regular desserts we had ordered.  The food was absolutely amazing!

















Our Broadway style show for this evening was "Villains Tonight."  A humorous show about Hades.  After being defeated by Hercules, he has gotten too soft and the Evil-O-Meter is running dangerously low.  He has to figure out how to refill it or risk losing his title of Lord of the Dead.  He calls on many of the other Disney villains to help out.  It was another very well done show.



After the show was our Pirates in the Caribbean evening.  There was a brief stage show between dinner and Villains Tonight and fireworks after.  (Disney is the only cruise line to have fireworks at sea.)  We have always enjoyed fireworks, so this was lots of fun.  It was interesting to see the other cruise ships in the area come closer to be able to enjoy the fireworks also.



Another cruise ship watching the fireworks
We had found out the AquaDuck would be open late this evening, so we decided to brave the cooler evening temperatures for some fun.  Bryan went 3 times, and I rode 4.  It was very fun to ride around the ship at night like that.  Well worth the chill!















When we got back to our room, this little monkey was waiting for us.  

Another great day of vacation!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Disney Cruise: Day 1- Sailing Away!

Feb. 3, 2011
Bryan and I went on our first cruise to celebrate our 5th anniversary last weekend.  We decided to take a 3 night Disney Bahamian cruise.  The girls stayed at home with my mom, so it was a great get-away for the two of us!

We flew to Orlando on Wednesday and spent the night, before taking a Disney Cruise line bus to the port.




The first good view of the Disney Dream.

Goofy was available for pictures while
everyone was getting checked in.


We were announced as we entered the ship in the Main Lobby.  The Disney Dream is absolutely gorgeous!
The Grand Staircase

The Swarovski Chandelier


Hidden Mickeys!
Intricate Details
We made our way to our room, which we soon discovered was on the very forward, port side of the ship. (That's front, left for those of us who don't speak in nautical terms.)
Our Room

The view from our window

We headed up to deck 11 to look around, eat lunch, and watch the Sail Away party.



The kids slide with someone going through the
AquaDuck in the background.
Mickey and the Gang getting this party started right!

Captain Tom
Next came our first ride on the AquaDuck (the first ever water roller coaster on a cruise ship), followed by some time in the adults only pool and hot tub.







We actually set sail while in the hot tub!


Next came a scrumptious dinner in the first of 3 main restaurants on the ship: The Royal Palace.  This restaurant is elegantly themed after the Disney Princesses.


And to round out our wonderful day, we enjoyed a Broadway style show: The Golden Mickeys.  This show featured many characters from many Disney movies as they were given awards for bravery, friendship, love, etc.


I can definitely say we are going to love this vacation!