Day 1 – 10th August 2013
We decided to travel from our wedding venue to Gatwick Via taxi, which we booked through M4 Services. The taxi picked us up to 5am, which hurt having gone to bed at 2am, after Mike had to carry the best man to his room! The service from the taxi was brilliant, on time, quick and even provided pillows and water.
The flight left at 1pm on time with Virgin Atlantic. This was our first long haul flight and it didn’t disappoint. I slept most of the 8 hour flight, while mike worked through the in-flight movie collection. We arrived as MCA at 5.05pm local time. It took over an hour to clear customs and immigration as two flights had arrived at the same time from the UK. Then we got on the Magical express following instructions from a Disney Cast Member ‘Follow the Mickey’s!’
Check in was easy for our one-night stay at our All-Star Resort, before being collected for our Disney cruise the following morning. We were given luggage tags ready for a cast member to pick our cases up in the morning form our room. We were also given celebration pins which was a nice touch.
By this time we were struggling as we had such a busy wedding day and then straight onto honeymoon, we decided to grab a bite to eat and hit the sack ready for the adventure to begin.
The Highs
Our wedding day was everything I wanted it to be, full of family and friends. We were still high on life during the travel day. It was lovely to now just be the two of us.
The Lows
When we collected our baggage at MCO we were told we needed to put our bags onto another carousel to be collected after the short tram ride to the terminal. That seemed simple. Not so much! Once we were in the terminal we could not find where to get our bags from. After spending far to long looking for them, we finally found them and then had to walk to the other side of the airport again. Lesson learned. Take your bags on the tram with you.
Day 2 – 11th August 2013
Excitement overload, today we go aboard the Disney Dream for the Bahamas Cruise. Bell service came to pick our bags up and told us that the next time we will see them would be on the cruise. We had a few hours to kill in the morning so headed to the food court in All Stars Movies Resort. We explored the resort and wondered where you could get a huge sorcerers hat from. These hotels are so themed and perfect for a Disney stay.
At 12pm the bus picked us up from the resort. I was so excited as the bus windows were circles like port holes. It was around an hour drive to Port Canaveral. The drive was scenic towards the port with really long bridges over the sea. Once at the port it was exactly like being at the airport with security and check in. Check in was simple where we were able to add a credit card to the account, making it easier to pay as we could charge our room key. Once check in was complete they gave us a boarding number. Once our number was called it was time to walk through the Mickey archway and onto the ship.
We walked up the gangway and onto the ship. Once aboard the crew shout your family name which we found a little uncomfortable being just the two of us, ‘everybody welcome the Drakeford family’. The lobby was amazing with a huge chandelier and staircase. It looked so shiny and new. We first made our way to the room to drop our day bags off. We were staying in an inside cabin which I was a little nervous about as there would be no window. However once in the room I realised I had no reason to worry. It was really cosy and pretty. Instead of a window there was a magic port hole which was like a TV as it played the view from the bridge. Every now and then a Disney character would fly across the screen. We were able to turn this off while sleeping.
We went for lunch at Cabanas and walked around the ship until the sail away party. This was a show with the entertainment team, Captain Mickey and Pals. It was an upbeat show full of dancing and songs. It wasn’t long before the horn sounded and we were sailing away from Florida. The horn was something I was really looking forward to as it wasn’t a normal ship’s horn but instead played be our guest, a pirates life for me and much more.
The show tonight was the Golden Mickeys which showcases the best Disney songs and characters. It was like an awards night for Disney. The show was amazing with great costumes and set.
We then went for food in Animator’s Palate. We had chosen to eat at the second sitting around 8pm. We were sat with two other couples. This was a little awkward at first, but once we were introduced and got chatting it was actually good fun. The restaurant started off with Disney drawings in the wall which were in black and white. By the time we had finished eating the drawings were in full colour.
We then decided to change into our swimming costumes to ride the Aquaduck which is a water slide that took you over the side of the boat and then back into a small pool. It was so much fun. While walking back to the room we discovered the adult only pool and decided to use the hot tubs which had a clear bottom so you could see the sea.
Tonight’s towel animal was a pig wearing my sunglasses.
The Food
Breakfast: The food court in All Star Movies. I had an omelette with breakfast potatoes (new favourite thing).
Lunch: Cabanas, Disney Dream. This is a buffet restaurant with plenty of choice from pasta, salad, meat and fish. All food was fresh and tasty. We made the huge mistake of eating outside but soon moved back inside for the air conditioning.
Dinner: Animator’s Palate, Disney Dream. We started with bread service with garlic dip.
- My starter: Black Truffle Pasta
- Mike’s Starter: Wild Mushroom Tart
- My Main: Grilled Pacific Black Cod with Sweet Potato Mash
- Mike’s Starter: Marinated Angus Beef Tenderloin with Wasabi Mash and Pak Choi.
- My Desert: Sweet Temptations which was Walnut Cake, Pineapple Financier and Lemon Mousse.
- Mike’s Desert: Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake.
Highs
Not having to carry our suitcases from the Disney Resort to the Cruise. Our suitcases just arrived at our room like magic. Everything about the cruise so far was amazing, exceeding all our expectations!
Low
The muster drill took so long. We were stood in the sun for what felt like days waiting for the other passengers to turn up. To make it worse the bell was going off and was so loud. I understand that they have to be done for safety and that wasn’t the problem. It just took so long.
Day 3 – 12th August 2013 – Nassau
We had such a good sleep, the bed was amazing. We arrived at Nassau, Bahamas at 9.20am. It was blue sky and sea to match. We met in one of the bars on the ship for our tour. We had booked the Sea and See tour through the Cruise Line. The tour started at 9.45am and finished at 12.45pm. We were given Peter Pan stickers for the staff to know which tour we were on and were then led off the boat.
The first part of the tour was the sea tour, where we got onto a boat that doubled up as a submarine, where we could go downstairs and be under the sea! On the way out of the harbour we passed Paradise Island with the Atlantis resort and the houses of the rich and famous such as Oprah and Tom Cruise. It was a little sad to hear that the bridge divides the rich and poor on the island. Once we were out of the harbour we were allowed to go under the sea where we saw turtles, sharks, star fish, barracudas and fish called a sergeant major, our personal favourite! I could not believe how blue and clear the water was, you could see right to the bottom of the sea.
The next part of our tour was the “see” part, where we would take a bus around the island. We went past the parliment building which was brightly coloured and looked very new. We then went to a fortress which had brilliant views of the harbour and surrounding area, including our cruise ship! We were then dropped back at the port.
We didn’t want to go back to the ship yet as it was not leaving until 6pm so decided to walk around the harbour. There were many gift shops along the harbour which we looked around and bought magnets and postcards, this is what we collect when on holiday. We then came across a brightly coloured bar called Senior Frogs which looked interesting and had never been to before so we decided to go for a drink. The bar had loud music and a lot of people having fun. We played a game where you had to guess the movie tune and if you were first to guess you were rewarded with a free shot.
We then headed back to the ship and looked around the spa and booked a package for our sea day to chill out and relax a little. We looked at out navigator magazine which tells you everything that is going on for the day and decided to play the 90s quiz which we were rather good at. We also played chess in bar 678 (I won!).
Tonight’s show was called ‘Villains Tonight’ which of course was all about the Disney Villains. Again it was an amazing show full of music, singing and dancing. It was lovely to see all people of all ages having fun. We were at Enchanted Garden tonight for dinner. It was very pretty inside and actually felt like we were sat in a garden.
We then went to see the Lone Ranger in the cinema on the cruise ship. We were obviously tired as we both fell asleep within the first 10 minutes and decided to call it a night and go to bed.
The towel animals were swans and rose petals for our honeymoon.
Food
Lunch: Senior Frogs, Nassau. We ordered chips and guacamole and frozen daiquiris. The chips came out in a bowl and then the waiter rolled a guacamole bar over to make it fresh in front of us. We were asked how spicy we wanted it and what ingredient to use. This is by far the best guacamole I have ever had. The frozen drinks came in yard glasses.
Dinner: Enchanted Garden, Disney Dream. We started with bread service with chickpea and garlic puree dip.
- My Starter: Thyme and Garlic Pasta Filled Mushrooms
- Mike’s Starter: Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower with Crispy Noodles and Wasabi.
- My Main: Chicken with Sweet Potato Mash and Sauteed Spinach.
- Mike’s Main: Roasted Park Tenderloin, Oven Roasted Carrots, Parsnips and Caramelized Apples.
- My Desert: Sweet Temptations (Esterhazy Cake, Strawberry Cheesecake and Chocolate Mousse.
- Mike’s Desert: Banana Foster Sundae
- At the end of our meal the restaurant brought out a celebration cake and sang for our honeymoon.
Highs
Senior Frogs bar was our highlight as it was such a different bar with lots of food, music and great atmosphere.
Lows
The feeling you get when driving through the Bahamas, with such a gap in wealth on the island it did make us feel uncomfortable. You can drive from million dollar mansions to a hospital where people are queuing in the boiling sun for medical treatment in a matter of minutes.
Day 4 – 13th August 2013 – Castaway Cay
We woke up to the sounds of the ship docking at port. Today we were in Castaway Cay which is an Island owned by the Disney company. Before getting off the ship we had breakfast in the Enchanted Garden which consisted of a buffet. We were sat in one of the booth seats which were really comfy and cool.
Today we had booked the extreme getaway package which was worth every penny. With the package we has a stingray encounter, rented bikes, snorkeled and rented tubes for the sea. We left the ship around 8.30am as our stingray encounter was at 9am. We walked across the first beach and followed the stingray signs. The island was extremely well signposted and we found our way around easily.
The stingrays were massive and after a safety talk and placing our life vests on we were ready to feed them. The cast members gave us food that was like a jelly cube. The stingrays had been trained to associate the Mickey head as food. A Mickey head was placed on a ramp, we had to place the jelly cube between two fingers and lay our hand on the Mickey head. The stingray would swim up the ramp suck the food out of our hands and swim back down, such a weird sensation. It was frightening at first as they were so big and swam so fast up and down the ramp but after a few goes it was fun. Once they were fed we were allowed to snorkel with them for a while. We were taught the stingray shuffle, where we had to shuffle along the sand instead of stepping making sure the stingrays were safe and not stepped on. It took me a while to get used to the snorkel as I had never done it before.
Our next adventure was hiring bikes to explore the island. We had heard that there was an observation tower on the island and really wanted to see the island from a height. We rode our bikes out to the observation tower, it was a flat and easy ride. We climbed to the top of the tower which was a task in the heat but the views were worth it. We could see for miles. We could even see the ship from where we were.
We loved riding down the old runway as it was such a long and wide stretch of concrete. The island was full of small details that made exploring fun and interesting. Our bike ride was about 5km in length.
Once the bikes were given back we caught the land train to the adult only beach which was total bliss. I have never seen the sea so blue. We rented tubes to lay in the sea as there wasn’t much of a current so we didn’t move very far. We laughed at the sign ‘these nets are for your safety and try to keep larger fish out’. As we were reading this a huge stingray went right under us. Which gave us less confidence in the netting.
By this point we were hungry and decided to eat in the adult only barbecue. We also headed to the bar for a much sought after Konk Kooler. This was refreshing yet very strong. We had another hour on the beach and then headed back to the family section.
At the family section we picked up our snorkeling equipment and life vests. We swam out as far as we could and saw such brightly coloured fish. Disney had also added a shipwreck to explore with Mickey at the wheel. We snorkeled all afternoon and got extremely tired that at one point we didn’t know if we could swim back to shore! This was a bad move from us swimming out so far. Once back we chilled in the hammocks under the palm trees to catch our breath. it was then time to leave this beautiful island and head back to the ship.
Once back on the ship we headed to the top deck to see the island and have a cocktail. While drinking our cocktails the horn sounded again with ‘a pirates life for me’. We decided to do the Midships Detective Agency which is an interactive game around the ship. We had to work out who had stolen a piece of art by looking for clues. We had a magic card to hold up to certain paintings around the ship to retrieve the clue. This was lots of fun.
Tonight was pirate night on the ship, bandannas were delivered to everyone’s room for them to wear to dinner. It was a special pirates menu tonight which was lovely as always. The only problem was we started to shiver during food as were a lot of people around the room. We were sun burnt after snorkeling and were not feeling that well.
After food we went to the top deck to see the Pirates of the Caribbean show. This was great it was full of adventure and very fast paced. It even have Captain Jack Sparrow jump down from the top of the ship. It was all finished off by fireworks. By this point we were barley able to keep our eyes open and decided to go to bed after lots of after sun lotion.
The towel animal was a monkey with gold coins for the eyes.
Food
Breakfast: Enchanted Garden where we had pastries and omelettes.
Lunch: Castaway Cay the food was amazing and so fresh it particular the mahi mahi. The barbecue was help yourself and had a section of salad, meats, fish, bread, fruits, cakes and ice creams. We really enjoyed our lunch here and talked about it for the rest of our holiday. Drinks at the Heads Up Bar. We tried the famous Konk Kooler which is light and dark rum mixed with coconut cream, passion fruit, orange and pineapple juices. This drink was very tasty but also very strong.
Dinner: Pirate menu. To start we had bread service.
My Starter: Pearls of the Caribbean Crab-meat, Shrimp and Salmon with Giant Couscous.
Mike’s Starter: Pirates Golden Pot Sticker Pork Dumplings
My Main: Captain Hook’s Macadamia Nut Dusted Mahi Mahi with Jasmine Rice and Sauted Pineapple on a Mild Curry Sauce.
Mike’s Main: The Dutchman’s Dijon Crusted Sirloin Beef with Sweet Potato and Red Wine Glaze
My Desert: Sweet temptations (Fruit Cobbler, Floating Island, Chocolate Cake)
His Desert: Crunch Time Sundae
Highs
Castaway Cay is paradise and so relaxing and pretty with a lot of adventure. We cannot wait to revisit and explore the island even more. We liked that there was a lively family area and over the other side a quieter adult only area.
Lows
The sun burn which appeared through the night making us grumpy and very cold. We placed a lot of suncream on throughout the day as we are fair and burn easy. However we have learned a lesson that while snorkelling we will wear t-shirts next time.
Day 5 – 14th August 2013 – Sea Day
Today was our day at Sea. We woke up still a bright shade of red from yesterday’s sunburn. We had a later start as we were tired from the previous couple of days. When we booked the cruise we wanted to do something special to makr our honeymoon and really wanted to try one of the speciality restaurants. However as we were on such a short cruise we also wanted to try all the dining options which didn’t leave any spare evenings. Then we saw the brunch as Palo and thought this was perfect.
We walked up to the Palo front desk and checked in, Mike had shorts on and was told he would have to change into trousers to enter the restraunt, so after a quick change we were walking into Palo. It was a unique restaurant with ceiling to floor windows with the most breath-taking views of the sea. As it was out honeymoon we were treated to sit at a table with a view of the sea.
We still couldn’t stomach the thought of going out in the sun so decided to go and watch planes in the cinema. This film was amazing and so funny, we loved every minute of it. It was then time to go to the Senses Spa, which we were dreading with the state of our sun burn! When we went into the spa we were given different salts to rub onto the skin which smelt great, shame we were unable to use them. We took the salts home with us to use in the shower. The spa had different rainforest showers with cold and hot water, a sauna with ceiling to floor windows, steam rooms and hot tube facing the sea. I remember my mum telling me that the best way to get the sting out of sunburn was to have a hot shower, so we went into the hot tubs. At first it was so uncomfortable as out backs were so hot, but it did really help with the sting. Thank you Mam! The spa awas relaxing and fun and the time went really fast.
We went back to the room to change for the evening and pack our suitacses. We needed to place our cases outside the room before we went for dinner so the cast members could move them ready for port tomorrow. We ate in Royal Palace for dinner tonight where the bread came in a carriage just like Cinderella’s.
After food we went to see the Farwell Show which was with Captain Mickey and his pals. It was a fun show but so sad as it highlighted the fact that it was the last night. Once the show was over we decided to go and have some cocktails in the Skyline. The bar was very cool as the background of the bar was different cities around the world at night. While we were drinking our cocktails it felt as if we were cruising past Paris and Rio. The drinks were very well made, a generous serving of alcohol and mine came with a light up ice cube! We then went to check out Pink which is themed around Dumbo, when he gets trapped in a bubble. This was a champagne bar and yet again we decided on cocktails.
It was time to say goodbye to the ship and go to bed.
Food
Brunch: Palo where we started off with mimosas. We were then invited to go up to the buffet table which had salads, meats, cheeses, fruits and different kinds of breads. All fresh and tasty. While eating these we were given menus to look at and told to order a few things. We ordered chilled strawberry and mint soup which I still dream about, chicken pasta with cheese, pesto pasta and a Pizza. We shared all of them and all were delicious. We were stuffed after all the food but the desert table looked so good, in particular the chocolate dipped strawberries. I cannot wait to eat here again in the future.
Dinner: Royal Palace where we started with bread and olive spread.
My Starter: Pomegranate Glazed Duck Breast.
His Starter: Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp.
My Main: Royal Palace Angus Beef and Lobster Medallions.
His Main: Roasted Wild Boar and Sweet Carrot and Onion Potato Cake and Red Currant Reduction.
My Desert: Sweet Temtations (Peanut Mousse, Mango Cheesecake, Vanilla Creme Brulee)
His Desert: Vanilla Creme Brulee with Macaroons
Highs
Palo was one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. It was such a relaxing atmosphere with amazing food.
Lows
Throughout the cruise they take photos of your party before formal nights, pirate night and character meets. This was great as we don’t have many photos of the two of us and they were very high quality. When we went to the photo shop to buy some of them we noticed that they print all your photos out just in case you want to buy them. This seemed like such a waste. We bought two photos which meant the other 10 went to the bin.
Day 6 – 15th August 2013
It was time to disembark the ship. we were sad as we didn’t want it to end. Checking out was really easy the baggage handlers had left us tags to tell us that our bags were in the Tinkerbell section of the terminal. We packed our hand luggage cases and headed to the terminal. When we got to the Tinkerbell section the amount of suitcases there was insane. We thought it would take ages to find our cases, then a cast member told us that they are in cabin order. This made it really easy and within 15 minutes we were heading onto the Disney World Bus to the resort. Read our next post to hear about our first time in the happiest place on earth.