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 Princess Half Trip Recap–Disney Dream Day 2

When I left off with my Disney Princess recap, we were on board the Disney Dream and day 1 was complete! Today, I bring you Day 2 and our visit to Nassau!

Speaking of Disney Cruise Line, 2016’s itineraries were released yesterday! I’m excited to see that the Magic is returning to NYC! If you’re at all interested in the NY to Canada cruise, book it! We had a ton of fun! If you’re on the fence and interested in reading a recap, check out mine here (scroll down the page a little and you’ll see the NY/Canada section).

Back to our Disney Dream cruise and Day 2…..

Our ship arrived in Nassau bright and early. It was fun to watch them dock!

Ready for a snorkeling adventure!

 

Our Nassau ship mate happened to be the Norwegian Pearl! We were on the Pearl when we visited Alaska several years ago.

Last time we were in Nassau, we did the same snorkeling excursion and really enjoyed it. I’m just being honest – we did not enjoy the rest of Nassau, so we decided to go snorkeling this time, then head back to the ship to try out the AquaDuck (since we were already wet from the excursion).

I’m getting ahead of myself, though….

One difference I felt with this snorkeling excursion was the amount of people on the catamaran. We also had another ship full of people on board with us and boy was it crowded!

It didn’t stop us from having fun, though!

This is what our catamaran looked like…

The water was gorgeous! We snorkeled for about an hour before heading back to the ship. I did enjoy this excursion but I don’t know if I would book it again for a third time.

We were all given punch and chips on the way back.

Hello and goodbye Nassau! Back to the ship we go!

The first stop once back on board the Dream was our room – I wanted to drop off my bag before going up top to the AquaDuck.

Lucky for us, the line was only about 15-20 minutes long (yay)!We had so much fun the first time, we decided to enjoy a second round! :)

After getting cleaned up and eating lunch, we made our way to the Buena Vista Theater for the runDisney Castaway Challenge panel. If you’re interested in reading about my Castaway Challenge adventures, check here and here.

Before dinner, we said goodbye to Nassau as the ship pulled out of port. For a minute there, I almost forgot we were docked in a port at all!

Dinner that evening was dress-up night and our rotation had us at the Royal Palace (I thought that was very fitting)!

Belle!

Dinner was delicious as always.

Despite having a REALLY early morning the next day for the Castaway Cay 5K, we still watched “Match Your Mate” in the adult club. It was hilarious as always. We were shocked to feel the ship docking at Castaway Cay while we were still in the adult area – it was only 11:30 p.m.!

Before long, we said goodnight because we had a super early day the next morning!

Stay tuned for our day at Castaway Cay!

Have you been to Nassau? What do you like to do there? Ever taken a fun excursion I should know about?

Disney Cruise Line Adventures Part Two

Hey, Karen! When did you go on another cruise?

Oh, you know….this is the same cruise….yeah….from February….

Time apparently slipped away from me and I completely forgot to finish out my Cruise recap from our Princess Half Marathon trip in February. No time like the present, right? Besides, it’s fun to relive memories! :D

See here for the Part One recap incase you missed it…back in April…I know I know….

My last recap left off after formal night. Day Two of our Itinerary included Nassau and Pirate Night!

We woke up bright and early for breakfast. I absolutely LOVE the Muesli onboard the cruise line! It’s definitely a favorite – I’ve tried making it at home but haven’t perfected it quite yet.

Our plans for the day included a snorkeling excursion and a walk around the city of Nassau.

We met up with our group in one of the lounges on board, then headed off to our Catamaran for snorkeling.

Like my flippers? :)

The water was gorgeous!

Just to give you an idea, this is what our excursion looked like (this isn’t our boat, it was the boat we docked next to). We were given our snorkel equipment while the boat drove us out out to a reef. The boat docked and we were told the parameters to snorkel in (marked off by rope). We had about an hour in the water which was plenty of time.

My underwater camera died, so I have no pictures of the fish, but man…this was an awesome excursion! We saw SO many different types of fish of all different colors. Jason and I both agreed that we would do this excursion again in a heartbeat!

On our way back to the dock, our sail was opened and boy did the boat fly! It was a fun trip back!

We were also given a snack and refreshments on our trip back to the dock. (Chips and punch.)

After showering and changing clothes, we ate lunch on board the ship, then headed out to explore the city a bit. Jason and I visited Nassau a few years ago (on a cruise) but my parent’s hadn’t been since the 70’s.

We didn’t stay long. We browed the shops, saw a guy get arrested by a cop on a bicycle, was harassed by a woman trying to get me to purchase her homemade bracelets, and we said goodbye. :)

Dinner for the evening was pirate attire.

I was so excited that our dining rotation included Animator’s Palate twice. Somehow we were lucky and landed Animator’s Palate for Pirate night as well! Part of the new-design of the Disney Magic includes a special animated Pirate segment especially for this night!

The screens all depicted various Disney Pirate themes. From Pirates of the Caribbean to Peter Pan, Treasure Planet, and even concept art from the original Disneyland Pirates attraction!

The food was delicious!

Arrrrghhhh! Aren’t you scared? :)

After dinner, we watched the Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party…my parent’s first time to see it…and we were looking forward to fireworks at sea!

Mickey saved the day, as always!

After the party, we had a few bites of dessert at the Pirates buffet, then headed to bed.

Stay tuned for Part 3…I promise it won’t take as long for publication! :D

What’s your favorite type of vacation to take…land, sea, air?