We were afraid we'd never make it to this cruise, between snow days having to be made up and war breaking out in Iraq, but it was smooth sailing after all. Here we are about to board the Disney Wonder, tired, but happy to be there. We were tired because we'd had to get up very early to make our 7:00 a.m. flight out of Lexington that morning. We had to get up even earlier than normal, because that happened to be the day that we changed from standard time to daylight saving time!
We came aboard Sunday on deck 3, in an opulent lobby, with this beautiful chandelier. Triton's restaurant was in this area, with the statue of the Little Mermaid outside it. We found our staterooms on deck 2 and dropped our carry-on luggage (our checked luggage was delivered for us), then headed up to Beach Blanket Buffet to eat. Our stateroom was compact, but very well laid out. It was decorated with neat art deco touches, like this drawing of the ship and a photo of Walt himself and the missus. We had a huge porthole in our room. Here's a view of Nassau through the porthole.
The housekeeping staff did a great job cleaning up our chaos every day. Kim made great use of Joey's stuffed animals. He would put them on Joey's bed when he made it up every evening, and he also perched them in the porthole. We could actually identify our room from the dock because we could see the animals in the window! Kim left "towel sculptures" on our bed every night, and took his cues from Joey's animals. We had a bunny, a duck, and a manta ray on the second night and the last night. Mother and Daddy had this elephant in their room one night.
We ate dinner that first night in Triton's. Our waiter was Gane, and he was from Macedonia. The waiter's assistant, who took care of our drinks, was Putu, and he was from Indonesia. He was especially nice to Joey, showing him some tricks with crayons. We were seated with another very nice family of five. Here are Megan, her mom, and her grandfather.
Our first port of call on Monday was Nassau. Since Mother, Daddy, Richard, and I had all been there before, we didn't schedule any shore excursions there. We just wandered around town for awhile. Richard, Joey, and I watched the ship dock from the promenade deck. Here's the crew "parking" the ship. We docked next to the Marco Polo, which was getting cleaned at the time. Richard and I recognized many of the landmarks as we pulled in. We saw the British Hilton and the Atlantis. Mother and Daddy had been there on their honeymoon in 1955, and remembered shopping in Solomon's Mines. Now there's a Solomon's Mines on every corner! We wandered through downtown and saw this guy on stilts, and eventually found the straw market, where Mother and I bought hats, and Joey bought a carved turtle. Joey and Richard headed back to the ship so Joey could swim, and Mother, Daddy, and I set off in search of the remains of the Royal Victoria Hotel, where they had honeymooned. Most of it is gone now, but the gardens and a few buildings remain. As we headed back to the ship, we found the statue of Columbus, and I took this picture of Mother and Daddy in front of some bushes, and also this picture of the Disney Wonder next to the Marco Polo, to show how BIG the Wonder was!
There were three pools onboard, one for adults only, one for kids only, and one for everyone. The Mickey Mouse pool had this great slide, which Joey went down several times. The first day there was a long line, but after that there were many other things to do, like play ping pong. Both of us played with Joey, but I think Richard gave him a better game! Here's Richard being the dutiful father and videotaping Joey coming down the slide.
Dining on the Disney Cruise Line is different than on other cruise ships (not that I have a frame of reference, but Mother and Daddy do). There are three different restaurants on board, and you eat in a different one each night. The second night we ate in Animator's Palate, whose decor was based on Disney animation. When you first came in, everything was in black and white, but as the meal went on, everything slowly changed to color. It was probably the most fun restaurant.
Tuesday morning we pulled into Freeport, on Grand Bahama Island. None of us had ever been there before. It's not nearly as commercialized as Nassau. Richard, Joey, and I went on a kayak nature tour. A bus took us to Port Lucaya, and then we got in vans to drive to the Lucaya National Park. Our guide's name was Cosmo, a white Bahamian. He said his family is descended from pirates from the 1500's! The first part of our tour was kayaking through a mangrove swamp. Joey and I were in one kayak, and Richard partnered up with a fellow whose son and grandson were in another kayak. For future reference, it is probably not a good idea to put the parent with the least upper body strength in the kayak with the 10-year-old. Joey tried, but he wasn't supplying much propulsion! We crashed into quite a few mangrove roots before I finally figured out how to steer! After kayaking, we went to Gold Beach and had lunch and played in the ocean. Joey really enjoys letting the waves roll over him, and also playing in the sand. Joey and Richard went farther out and tried to body surf. After our time at the beach, we took a nature walk and learned about the plants and animals of the Bahamas.
The nature tour was supposed to be over by 2:30, but it was after 4:00 when we got back to the ship, and Mother and I had massages scheduled for 4:30! It was a rush, but I made it there on time, and it was fabulous. I wasn't sore at all after the kayaking, and I'm sure it was because of the massage. We went from the spa to dinner at Parrot Cay, the Caribbean-themed restaurant. The decor was really neat, but unfortunately the food wasn't Caribbean. I could have gone for some key lime pie and conch fritters!
Wednesday, our last full day, we pulled into Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. Disney had really only developed the beach area, and left the rest of the island wild. I really liked the palm tree-lined entrance, and all the bougainvillea and frangipani. Believe it or not, the first thing that any of us did on the island was sign Richard and Joey up for parasailing! I still can't believe they actually did it. I had this picture taken of Joey and me in case I never saw him again! They had a lot of fun, although Richard did get motion sickness from being on the little boat racing across the waves. They were the second ones to go up on their boat, and Joey really enjoyed it.
After parasailing Richard just wanted to find a shady spot that wasn't moving, but Joey and I went snorkling. The water was a little murky, but there were still lots of fish to see. After snorkling, we took a bike ride out to the end of the island. Joey has only recently learned how to ride a bicycle, so he was a little unsteady at first, but really had the hang of it by the end of the ride. There was lots more lush foliage along the way, and also remnants from Castaway Airlines. Here's Joey and me with the plane, and Richard and Joey. Joey was proud of himself for making it all the way on the bike ride! Sometimes the trail wasn't so smooth!
All the Disney characters were on the island -- here's Pluto. They had other neat decorative touches, like this direction sign, and Mount Rustmore. But all too soon it was time to leave the island, and begin heading back to Port Canaveral.
