Disney by Sea and Land - Days 8 & 9

Day 8 - January 24

I wake up this morning and the Port of Miami is what I see from my veranda. The Wonder still has to turn 180° before she ties up, and we get ready for breakfast. Since our dinner last night was in Triton's, this morning - the only day we have an assigned location for breakfast - we will be back there. Before we all meet and head out to breakfast, we hear that US customs has cleared our part of the ship to disembark. However, we will do so after breakfast, and head to Triton's for our final meal aboard ship.

Breakfast finished, we head off the ship and went to retrieve our luggage and pass through US Customs. The next step is to retrieve the cars and make the drive back to the Orlando area.

Once back at my daughter's apartment, we say goodbye to her mother-in-law who is heading back to her own home, and we settle in. After dinner at a NY style pizzeria (whose pizza actually tasted as if it could have come from home) we headed back to her apartment where I uploaded all the photos from the cruise to my laptop, and then headed to sleep.

Day 9 - January 25

After a bit of a lazy morning, we head out to breakfast before "checking-out" of my daughter's apartment and checking-in to Pop Century which will be our home for the next week here in Disney World. Once we are in our room, the experiences of the past week catch up with us and we (My wife, my daughter and myself) fall asleep for a nice long nap.

Earlier in the week, my cousins arrived in Disney World and tonight we would be meeting them at the Polynesian, where they are staying, to watch Wishes from the beach at the resort. We get there a bit early so we can have dinner at Captain Cook's (no Dole Whip this evening) and then meet my cousins in the Great Ceremonial House.

We head out towards the beach and once again feel the wind and the chill which has been here for a few days now. We find a nice spot and I set up my tripod to photograph the fireworks. While waiting I notice a perfect full moon so naturally I take a picture.

Soon it is time for Wishes to start over in the Magic Kingdom. I have photographed it a number of times, but never from here.

After Wishes, my cousins are heading back to EPCOT (Extra Magic Hours) and ask if we would like to join them. Thanks to the nap we took, my daughter and I decide to go, but my wife heads back to Pop Century where she will get a good night's sleep to be ready for a full day tomorrow.

Tomorrow we begin our Disney World portion of our vacation at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

   

Disney by Sea and Land - Day 7

This morning I wake up in time to watch us maneuver into our berth on Castaway Cay - Disney's private island in the Bahamas. (The ships in the Disney Cruise Line fleet are all registered in the Bahamas.) This will be our last day of the cruise, and early tomorrow morning - after breakfast - we will be leaving the ship. 

From our veranda, I can see some of the earliest guests leaving the ship and heading out to claim their spots on the beach.

Unfortunately, when I come back into my room I get a call that due to the high winds, my daughter and my parasailing session has been cancelled. This was a highlight of our last visit here and we had hoped to do it again this trip. Oh well, at least we have done it in the past.

Yes, that is me during our last visit to Castaway Cay - aboard the Disney Magic.

Unlike the perfect weather we had our last trip here, today is very cool and windy on the island. We all meet and have breakfast aboard the Wonder and then head off the ship and onto Castaway Cay.

We bypass the family beach and head back to Serenity Bay, the adult only beach. Because of the weather, the beach is rather uncrowded and we have no problem finding lounges when we get there. 

After a while, I decide that I want to take a walk down one of the island's paths and take some photos of the plant life on the island. Before Disney took over, this island was a true pirates' island, most recently owned by drug dealers, and the landing strip they used is still there. The path I take branches off from that landing strip. Like home, Castaway Cay was hard hit by Hurricane Sandy and most of the island had gone brown, but Disney horticulture does amazing things and there is much life now growing once again.

Soon it is time for lunch, and we stay on this side of the island and have lunch here as well. When we are finished I notice these two and naturally, they get their pictures taken.

Since we are a bit uncomfortable on the beach, we decide to head back to the ship, stopping along the way to do a bit of shopping.

As you can see - it is mid-afternoon and even the family beach is not crowded. It really is an unusual day here on Castaway Cay.

We head back to the ship where - after naps all around - we start the process of packing and getting ready to leave the ship in the morning. Our luggage is due to be placed outside of our rooms by 10:00 PM so we want to have our packing almost completely done before dinner.

Back in our room, we have one last look at the island as we prepare to head back to sea. This is the Bahamas' post office ... notice the airmail mailbox (on top of the post).

As we leave Castaway Cay, the castmembers send us off with a wave of Mickey Mouse hands.

After our nap my wife and I pack almost everything, waiting until after dinner to pack today's clothes and remember to leave a set out so that we don't have to leave the ship in our pajamas tomorrow morning.

The final production takes place back in the Walt Disney Theater this evening, and we have our final dinner aboard ship back in Triton's where we ate on the first night.

We head back to our room when done, place the last items in our luggage and place them outside of our room to be picked up. Then it is time to relax and turn in for our final sleep aboard ship.

Tomorrow morning we will be back in the Port of Miami.

   

Disney by Sea and Land - Day 6

Day 6 - January 22
Another morning starts with a room service breakfast and a view of the Caribbean from the veranda. Today is a full day at sea, and after breakfast I take my camera and go for a walk while my wife heads to the pool. As I pass the atrium lobby, the diaper derby is getting ready to start, and who should I spot coming to watch the festivities ... still in his pajamas?

When the winner is crowned, I head out on deck to take some pictures. The wind is starting to kick up as I walk around. This is a cold front passing through and will affect us all of today and into tomorrow. However, despite the high winds, I take a nice photo walk around the ship.

This evening we find ourselves back in the Walt Disney Theater for the theatrical production of the evening and then off to dinner at the third of the three main restaurants, Parrot Cay. Once again Sunil and Jane are there to greet us at table 49.

Though windy, tonight presents a spectacular sunset off the stern of the ship, and I am there to photograph it.

As the cold front passes through, the seas get a bit rough, and even the well stabilized Disney Wonder is rocking and rolling. My daughter, her husband and I decide to go up on deck to see what is happening there, and we are in awe of the pool, which has now become quite the wave pool - all the water is running to one side, leaving the other side of the pool empty, and then reversing that procedure! After a stop at the ice cream station, we head back to our rooms and proceed to be rocked to sleep.

Tomorrow we are at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas.

Disney by Sea & Land - Day 5

Day 5 - January 21
I get up early this morning as we are pulling into Cozumel, Mexico. As we approach the pier on which we will tie up, I see, off in the distance, the Disney Fantasy - one of the two newest ships in the DCL fleet - leaving port and heading back out to sea.

As we do on most mornings this cruise, we have a room service breakfast, and watch us pull up to the Punta Langosta pier where the ship will spend the day. Once we are tied up, another - much larger - cruise ship cruise ship pulls up on the other side of the pier. It's interesting watching its passengers watch us on our own veranda.

After breakfast we all meet and head off the ship to walk around the mall and stores near the dock. When we docked here 8 years ago, it was extremely hot and humid and quite uncomfortable. Today the weather is practically perfect. That trip we took an excursion to the Mayan ruins at Tulum - this time we will just stick around the port.

We walk through the mall and then take a short walk along the shore - checking out the stores and the restaurants. We also get a great view of our ship as we walk back. (Though the ship behind the Wonder is larger, only a piece of her stack can be seen behind it.)

For lunch we go to Señor Frogs - where it gets a bit wild ...

Eventually we head back onto the ship where naps are the order of the day ... again. Naps over, we all head to the movie theater where we watch Lincoln. I had seen it previously but no one else had, and it was definitely a movie I would not mind in the least seeing again.

After the movie it was dinner time, and my daughter and son-in-law are heading back to Palo themselves while the rest of us head back to Animator's Palette for our Pirate's Night meal.

After dinner, we meet up with the kids and go up on deck for the Pirates of the Caribbean party.

It's getting quite windy this evening, yet the captain (Fabian, not Hook) steers the ship so that despite the wind, the firework show that ends the evening can go ahead as planned.

After a visit to the ice cream station, it's time to head back to our rooms and get ready for tomorrow - our second full day at sea.