Disney Dream Day 3: Nassau & Pirate Night

Picking up where I left off on our most recent Disney Dream cruise is our day at Nassau which also included Pirate Night. We were not used to a "backwards" itinerary of Castaway Cay as the first stop, so this day felt a little off to us. Nonetheless, we still had a great one!

If you missed any posts from our recent cruise on the Disney Dream, check out these links below:

Disney Travel Day: Wine and Dine Expo & Animal Kingdom
Disney Day 2: Wine and Dine 10K & Kids Races & Hollywood Studios/Epcot
Disney Day 3: Wine and Dine Half Marathon & Magic Kingdom
Disney Day 4: Boarding the Disney Dream
Disney Day 5: Castaway Cay
Disney Day 6: Nassau
Disney Day 7: At Sea Day
Disney Day 8: Disney Springs and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Initially, we didn't plan any excursions for Nassau and we weren't even sure we would get off of the ship. A couple of our travel buddies told us they had never been to Nassau, so instead of staying on the ship all day, we decided to disembark and walk around the port area to explore the town a little bit.

For starters, we began the day with breakfast...which included Mickey waffles, of course!

We literally had zero plans for Nassau, so we disembarked the ship and began to wander. The straw market that I remember encountering directly off the ship was under construction, so I'm interested to see what that looks like once we return next time!

We shopped around a bit and I found a some "authentic" cadbury chocolate to take back home with me. (It's so much better than the stuff made in the states.) I also purchased an Alex and Ani bracelet with the Bahamas logo on it.

We really didn't spend much time in Nassau (maybe a couple of hours), and our final stop was at a Starubucks!

We couldn't pass a Starbucks and not stop!

I've never had a chance to "wander" around Nassau and although we didn't go very far, we still enjoyed seeing a little more of the island!

Right outside of the parliament area was a few park benches where we sat and enjoyed the gorgeous day!

Of course, we had to take a few pictures on our way back to the ship.

A HUGE plus for us with cruising Disney is the hospitality when returning to the ship. We were met with ice cold towels as well as fruit infused water and juice!

This was so refreshing on such a warm day!

That afternoon, we enjoyed lunch, took a couple of rides on the aqua duck, swam in the pool, and had a nap! It really was a productive vacation day in my books!

For Pirate Night that evening, we all dressed in (somewhat) matching shirts and Brayden was our little pirate!

I love how our shirts turned out!

The Pirate Night meal on Disney Cruise Line is one of my favorite menus and offers so many delicious choices. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm sad for the loss of the pot-stickers (dumplings) off this menu, but there are so many other delicious choices to choose from!

After dinner, we walked up to deck 12 to catch the fireworks. There was a huge crowd and we were quite late, but we still managed to snag a decent spot to see the show!

My sunglasses were the star of the show for the towel animal display that evening!

See those gold coins? I have a funny story to tell about them in the next cruise blog post - we still laugh about it when we talk about it today!

I love the Disney cruise ships all the time, but especially at night! It all just feels so magical!

Oh yes, and one other funny story that happened that day - so as I was walking around passing out fish extender gifts, I happened across this cabin where he was asking for funny jokes. Jason helped me think of one, so I sent it and this was my response....

Isn't that too funny? I wonder if he received any other jokes the rest of the cruise? :)

Stay tuned for our final day on board the Disney Dream - our at sea day with brunch at Palo!! :)

Disney Dream: Day 1 - Boarding the Ship

On the morning we were set to board the Disney Dream, we woke up with a mission - to ride the Skyliner one final time. Disney's Skyliner quickly became my toddler's favorite "ride" at Disney, soaring even above Dumbo, the Tea Cups, and the Carousel.

Well, we had plenty of time to spare, so we took a quick ride from Pop Century over to Caribbean Beach Resort where we snagged breakfast at the Joffrey's kiosk.

Full disclaimer: I really do think the Skyliner is pretty darn neat, too!

While ordering our toffee flight coffee, Brayden happened to see the giant blue donut and well...vacation.

I ordered the Toffee Flight warm and Jason ordered it cold. We both agreed that the hot version had better flavor.

Before long, it was time to leave for the port. With our large group size, we realized that it would be more cost effective to take a Happy Limo over to the port and (bonus) with our own mode of transportation, we got to choose our port arrival time!

They even had an option to include a child safety seat (for a small extra fee).

We enjoyed having the opportunity to chat on the way to the port and while checking facebook, we soon discovered that official boarding time had been pushed back by an hour due to a coast guard inspection that morning. Whomp whomp. Although it was a little sad, we didn't let it ruin our great day!

By the way, Happy Limo comes highly recommended! They were prompt, had plenty of place to store our luggage, and super friendly!

Look at this madhouse!

One little disruption in our boarding process happened when we officially checked in. Since Jason and I were Castaway Club members, we went to a separate check-in line from our friends who were first time cruisers. Well, our two groups of friends were all given boarding group 7 and Jason & I were given boarding group 15. After asking around, we realized there was nothing anyone could do to help us or change our boarding group to align with our friends. We didn't want to board separate and it may seem like small potatoes, but when you're ready to be on the ship and your boarding time has already been delayed once, it kinda stinks to wait around and watch as everyone else boards. Our friends were nice enough to sit back and wait with us so we could all board together!

In all, that was really the only "issue" we ran into with our cruise. First world problems, right? :)

Our first stop after boarding the ship was Cabanas for a little lunch!

After lunch, we all took a little time to explore the kids club. Since this was Brayden's first cruise and he had all of this extra room, we were a little worried about how it would go for him. He loved Andy's room, though and didn't want to stop playing!

Before long, our rooms were ready and we were ready to drop off our bags.
 

This was our first cruise since becoming DVC Members and we were so excited to see the "Welcome Home" signage on our door!

We booked a verandah towards the front of the ship and didn't have any issues with our room.

It was so neat to see how they literally just flipped the couch over to form a bed for Brayden!

So simple and easy!

Around 2:30 p.m., we said goodbye to our friends for a few minutes to attend a DVC Member Celebration. Since we became DVC Members mid-way through our last cruise, we didn't get to attend all of the fun events, so we wanted to take advantage of as many as possible here.

It was also here that we discovered our adult cruise staff was Tisa! She has seriously been on at least four of our nine Disney Cruises (not intentionally on our part) and I was so excited to see her!!

After our DVC event, we reunited with our friends for the boat drill and Sail Away Party!

We were so excited to begin our cruise and 4 magical nights at sea!

I love waving to the port cast members as the ship sails away!

Dinner on our first evening was in Animator's Palate.

Brayden was zonked, so our head water got him a table cloth to use as a blanket. So sweet!

Mickey bars for dessert, anyone? :)

We deemed dinner on our first night as "romper night" so of course we had to take a picture!

On the way back to our room, we made a little pit stop at our friend Kim's room to decorate it for her birthday.

Last but not least, a lovely sand crab was waiting to greet us good evening!

Want to check out more from our Disney Vacation? Click on the links below!

Disney Travel Day: Wine and Dine Expo & Animal Kingdom
Disney Day 2: Wine and Dine 10K & Kids Races & Hollywood Studios/Epcot
Disney Day 3: Wine and Dine Half Marathon & Magic Kingdom
Disney Day 4: Boarding the Disney Dream
Disney Day 5: Castaway Cay
Disney Day 6: Nassau
Disney Day 7: At Sea Day
Disney Day 8: Disney Springs and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Up next: Castaway Cay!!

Disney Cruise Day 5: Tortola!

The first official port stop on our Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean cruise was Tortola.

If you remember, Tortola was slammed by Hurricane Irma last year and was actually supposed to be one of the stops on our canceled cruise. Ironically enough, our itinerary for this cruise included a stop at Tortola and we were the first ship back to that port since last year's hurricane!

When we woke up that morning, we were greeted with sights of the beautiful port of Tortola!

Our excursion for the day included a stop at Tortola's famous "Baths" and Devil's Bay!

There was a slight hiccup that morning with the excursion, so we had to wait an extra hour in Enchanted Garden before being let off of the Fantasy. Apparently the boat that was supposed to take us out to Virgin Gorda was having engine trouble and they had to find a replacement.

Anyway, once we stepped off the ship, we were met with pure excitement. The steel drummers were there, a group was handing out fruit/rum punch at the gate, and you could literally feel the gratitude in the air. These islands rely so heavily on tourism and to go without that for an entire year was rough, I know. Although the island isn't back to 100% yet, it was neat to be there and literally be on the first ship back after such a devastating storm.

After walking in the gate, we were directed to a smaller boat that took us over to the island of Virgin Gorda. It was about a 45 minute ride which included a neat "tour" from one of the workers. He told us all about the storm and life since the hurricane.

Off we go!

After arriving in Virgin Gorda, we then hopped on an open air bus for a quick ride to The Baths and Devil's Bay.

Sadly, you could still see the aftermath of the hurricane all throughout the island.

It was a fairly quick ride and before we knew it, we were there!

When we initially booked this excursion, we read that proper foot attire was required as the "path" to the Baths was not smooth terrain. Boy were they right. If you plan on taking this excursion, please know that the trail you take to get there includes lots of rocks, steps, dirt, caves, areas where you have to duck to walk through, and slippery patches. It's definitely not meant for everyone and was a pretty decent hike.

Our first stop was at one of the beaches where we had a chance to swim and explore a few caves! It was simply breathtaking!

After leaving the beach, we then headed over to the area known as "The Baths" which was filled with caves and areas to swim. It really was beautiful and I really enjoyed exploring it all!

Our time at The Baths seemed very very short (I think it was maybe 45 minutes to an hour) and just like that, we were asked to pack up our bags and move on to the next location.

The excursion we booked included lunch at the Top of the Baths.  I was looking forward to having a meal that included traditional island fare!

It really was delicious!

We had slaw, jerk chicken, mac and cheese, ribs, fish, and rice with beans!

The area at the Top of the Baths was completely redone and included a swimming pool as well as a few shopping locations.

I do feel as if we spent too much time up here and not enough time at the actual Baths themselves. In all though, it was a good excursion.

Before heading back to the boat, we were taken to a lookout where you could see the ocean on both sides of Tortola! It was a breathtaking view to say the least!

The port was an area I wasn't incredibly thrilled about, although we didn't really have that much shopping to do and was still being built back up. There weren't many stores in the area, although you could tell that this section had a complete overhaul, too (it did look really nice).

We will be back! :)

That evening was pirate night and I wasn't a fan of the changes with this on Disney's side. Apparently our sailing was a "testing" phase for Disney with several areas. Pirate night was one of those areas - instead of fireworks and the pirate show after dinner, they moved it BETWEEN dinner settings. They also completely nixed the after fireworks buffet. The pirate show was new from what we remembered as well and we didn't like it.

The fireworks were very cool as always, but honestly we weren't thrilled with the changes.

One cool perk for us was that our dinner that evening was in Animator's Palate! All of the screens changed to include glimpses of anything Disney has done that included pirates from movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan to preliminary art from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride! It was so neat to see!

Arrrgh!

 Also, we did a thing that night! We officially signed on the dotted lines to purchase into Disney Vacation Club!! It was so exciting and I loved being able to add the "Welcome Home" magnet to our door! (Insert happy dance!)

It was a fun day and we enjoyed seeing Tortola and exploring the area! Up next: St. Thomas, my new favorite island, ever!! Stay tuned for more! :)