Before we start tonight’s entry, just a quick word about the awful events in Oklahoma. We saw the newscasts yesterday and today and can’t believe the devastation. Of course, our thoughts are with those affected and hopefully, you and your loved ones are safe.
Yesterday was our second full day at sea and DCL does a great job of making a lot of activities available so you don’t get bored. And when aboard, it’s easy to get into a pattern. Get up and shower. Go have breakfast. Do some stuff. Have lunch. Do more stuff. Get cleaned up again and go to the show at 6:00 and then dinner at 8:15. While we don’t always adhere to this kind of schedule, a lot of people do. We tend to look over the coming day’s activities the night before and make our plans.
Yesterday was no different and as a result, we had a number of things lined up: wine tasting at 12:00; watching Lincoln at 1:00; and beer tasting at 4:00. We accomplished exactly none of those things. Once we got up about 10:30, we ordered room service breakfast and then made our way to deck four where we staked out a couple of deck chairs and read and napped. For about six hours. We begrudgingly made our way back to the stateroom in time to get cleaned up and go to dinner. It’s important to stick to a schedule.
As we were getting ready for dinner, we noticed the ship came to a complete stop off the coast of Grand Bahama, along with a number of other sea faring vessels. Included amongst these ships, off in the distance in dry dock, was the Carnival Triumph, or perhaps as many of you know it, the poop ship. I imagine it’s getting a good scrub down in the Bahamas.
Refueling Barge
Turns out, we were anchored for a refueling stop before making our way to Disney’s island paradise, Castaway Cay. The process of a cruise ship refueling while in the ocean is quite fascinating. After some time, we were approached by a fuel barge, which is essentially a football field size platform that sits upon a giant tank of fuel. It pulls up alongside the ship, connects the hoses and pumps fuel from it’s tanks into the tanks of the ship. It was an interesting, yet disconcerting process to watch, as it didn’t seem like the crews of both vessels were having the easiest time making a connection. We watched for hours as the crews searched for different ways they could make this love connection work. After about four hours and the clock eclipsing 1:00am, we decided to call it a night and wished them luck.
The next morning, we awoke to the ship once again being docked, but now, no longer next to a fuel barge, but at Castaway Cay. This Bahamanian paradise offers a nice break from the kids on the ship, as we can escape to the adults only beach of Serenity Bay. Last year, even though it’s a Disney island, some of the women on the beach decided for more of a European approach to sun bathing and I was wondering if that would be the case this year.
However, before we even left the cabin, the wife encountered a bathing suit emergency that luckily happened in the room vs. on the beach, or she would have treated our fellow beach goers with her own version of a European sun bathing experience. So after a slight delay due to wardrobe malfunction and some sewing on the wife’s part, we were good to go and made our way to the island.
This was one of those picture perfect days that we dream about. The temperature maybe, maybe got into the low 80s as dark skies and thunderstorms swirled around in the distance, providing a nice break from the sun, along with a cool breeze. Low tide was also happening and as a result, sand bars that we normally don’t see, appeared and provided for a nice retreat well off into the bay.
All-in-all, time on the island is always too brief and once 3:00 rolled around, it was time to gather our belongings and begin the trek back to the ship. Despite having liberally applied sunscreen on earlier in the afternoon, once I emerged from the water, I knew I was in trouble. Once we got back to the ship, my suspicions were confirmed and my torso is now the color of a lobster. It will make for a few uncomfortable and very warm days ahead. Luckily, I don’t have a lot to do.
Storm Clouds at Castaway Cay
After being distracted by a couple of the crew, dressed as Chip and Dale, playing air guitar to Smells Like Teen Spirit, and having a “Do I feel old” moment, we were invited to attend a sail away get together by some of our friends also sailing on this cruise.
If you’ve ever cruised before, or perhaps even watched Titanic, you probably know there are different categories of staterooms that you can book. Luckily, steerage class is a thing of the past. We always try to book an outside stateroom with a verandah. It provides you with your own little patio from which you can watch the world pass by. But just like Titanic (it makes my wife nervous when we’re sailing and I mention Titanic so often), there are high end accommodations for the well-to-do. Aboard the Disney Magic, the creme de la creme are the Walt and Roy Disney suites. By way of comparison, our stateroom is roughly 325 square feet; our friends are staying in the Roy suite, which is approximately 1200 square feet, give or take. They have a bathroom that is roughly the size of our stateroom and it provided for a Ferris Bueller moment: if you have the means, I highly recommend it.
It’s now 11:00pm and we have seen the last land we are going to see for six days. Also, travelling eastbound in this manner means we will lose an hour every night. What kind of sadistic person books a vacation where you actually lose time??
As I’m certain you can guess, we don’t have a lot planned for tomorrow. There is an Around the World wine tasting happening at 12:30. Is that too early for catching a buzz on some vino? Or is it ok, because it’s 5:00 somewhere? I also plan to finish the current book I’m reading, Stephen King’s 11/22/63, so I can start my next one, the new Dan Brown book, Inferno. Wish me luck!
Our Chairs at Castaway Cay
Never go on trips with anyone you do not love. - Ernest Hemingway
How Many Days Are You Looking At? 