Month: June 2023

Excursions off the ship.

On Tuesday the ship docked at Nassau, Bahamas. You could disembark and just wander around Nassau looking at things and shopping. If I went on this cruise again, that’s what I would do. But as it was, we had signed up ahead of time on the Disney Cruise app to take a ferry to Blue Lagoon Island, which Tony and I weren’t impressed by but Baby Girl loved. The ferry takes about 30 minutes to get you to the island and you are warned multiple times when to get back on it for it to head back to the ship.

When we got there, it started pouring on us. The water in the lagoon was warmer than the rain so Baby Girl and I went ahead in while Tony took cover under a large umbrella. I had to take my glasses off so I couldn’t see anything at all. It rained for about twenty minutes and that was it. Thank goodness! This is the island where you could also do the dolphin or sea lion encounter but these things cost a lot so we didn’t do them. You pay for all the excursions – the Blue Lagoon Island itself was, I think, $89 per person for me and Tony and $70 for Baby Girl. Or something close to that. All child tickets end at age 10. After that they are considered the adult price. Plenty of people were at the island, and I think they weren’t all from the boat. I bought a beach towel that said The Bahamas on it and we chilled out and watched Baby Girl play. She made a couple of friends that had sand toys so they really enjoyed themselves with that. Of course, once we were on the ship again it was impossible to find these kids again! Lunch was provided and we were given lunch tickets and drink tickets. I used the tickets to get three Dr. Pepper’s which we stowed away in our bag to take back to the ship since there was no Dr. Pepper on the ship, a sin for us Texans! Baby Girl discovered that she likes hot dogs, which cracked me up as I’ve been trying to get her to eat them for years and she always refused. Don’t worry – they were all beef hot dogs.

There were two sides to the Blue Lagoon – the lagoon side and the sea side. The sea side had lots of rocks and waves, and very clear water. We found lots of interesting things on the rocks including some sort of slugs which disgusted Baby Girl and I laughed at her for chunking one of them in the water when she figured out what it was. I didn’t like the sea side because of all the rocks so we took ourselves back to the lagoon side where there are no waves and no rocks. There was also a sort of floating playground that looked interesting but you had to have a life jacket to play on it and I couldn’t see where to get one so we didn’t get to do that.

At any rate it was a pretty good day and my ankle tan started to fade. Nobody got burned but I did notice the sun was a lot stronger in the Bahamas than it is here in Texas. We made it back to the ship in time and had a lovely dinner then watched a movie on the deck while Skylar swam. We went back to the stateroom but later learned that there were fireworks that night which we missed! We hadn’t heard about it.

Wednesday was the “day at sea.” Baby Girl complained about not feeling well and just wanted to stay in the room and watch movies. Tony and I left her there for a little while and went shopping and exploring the ship. She agreed to swim at lunchtime and she and I went on the tube ride that went around the entire top of the ship. We had to wait in line for awhile and the ride was short, but fun! We only did it once though. It’s actually a bit cold at the tip top of the ship with the wind blowing gales when you are wet. So we went back down to where we had left Tony eating lunch. I got free ice cream for Baby Girl and myself and then we headed back to the stateroom. The pools and deck were incredibly crowded since everyone on the ship was out there and if you know me, know that I was pretty overwhelmed by that. I ended up doing some laundry – they had a really nice laundry room on board. The washer and dryer cost $3 each and the detergent was $1 each. But I didn’t mind – it gave me something to do and it was nice to have clean clothes to bring home instead of a mountain of laundry. The whole day was pretty quiet and we finally convinced her to check out the kids’ club that evening before dinner for thirty minutes.

On Thursday we had the excursion to Castaway Cay, which is Disney’s private island. The entire island is just one big extension of the ship. Tony and I were much more impressed by this island than by the Blue Lagoon. There were shops and bars and the lunch was interesting and pretty tasty. Baby Girl got another hot dog! We had rented three tubes to float in, but unless you are all planning to be out there at the same time, that is a waste of money. One or two tubes is plenty. Baby Girl wanted to go snorkeling, and since it was her birthday that day, we went over to the snorkeling area and asked if she could do it. At first they said they didn’t have enough equipment (we hadn’t signed up ahead of time) but I guess the look on Baby Girl’s face was priceless because the guy said wellll maybe I can find the gear for her, but not for the adult. We said that was fine. Tony would just go out in the water with her to make sure she was safe. I told the guy it was her birthday and he had just made her day. He didn’t even charge us! I think she enjoyed the snorkeling, but there really wasn’t much to see in the water. It’s not like we were on a reef or anything. And there were tons of people doing it, so I’m sure all the fish were scared away.

There was a playground in the water with slides but Baby Girl wasn’t interested as you would have to land in the ocean water and swim back and it was quite deep. She was happy eating her watermelon flavored snow cone and looking at the boat through the telescope. After lunch, which included more free ice cream, we made our way over to the area where you could do the paddleboats, kayaks and water trike’s. We had rented a water trike on the app ahead of time, so Tony and Baby Girl went out on the water – Tony said it was a lot of work! I got some good pictures of them with the Disney Wish behind them.

After that we headed back to the boat in time for Baby Girl’s birthday dinner and then she went to the kids’ club for an hour afterwards. We had to pack all our bags and leave them outside our stateroom door to be picked up and delivered to the port the next morning. You didn’t have to do this – if you wanted to save time you could just take your suitcases to breakfast with you. We went to breakfast at 6:45 am and had to be off the boat by 9 at the latest. We were done by 8 so followed the crowd heading off the ship. The ship had to be cleaned and ready to go for another sailing that same day! Once we were in the port building (I don’t know what it’s called) we were able to find our suitcases fairly easily and headed to the line for the airport bus (again, paid for upfront).

Once at the airport we hauled our luggage to the right terminal then waited in line for the help desk. Apparently it was going my way that day because even though our original flight wasn’t until 5 something pm we were able to get on an earlier flight at 1:55 at no extra charge. Must’ve been my lucky socks!

So we made it home safe and sound and if I could leave on another cruise tomorrow I would totally do it. I hope all this was interesting and helpful to anyone planning a cruise or wondering if they should do one!

After lunch it was almost 2:00 so we headed to our stateroom. The ship has elevators and stairs on both sides of the ship – we were on the forward part, in fact our stateroom faced the front and we were able to see straight ahead, looking down we could see the bow of the ship. Our stateroom was really large, I was so surprised! Very comfortable bed too. Because we faced the front, part of the roof was slanted, as was the large window. Our luggage had not arrived yet, but I was told it would be there by 6 pm at the latest (it was).

The ship was slated to leave about 4:45 pm. Each family is assigned a dinner time and we had the early time at 5:45 for which I was extremely grateful. Each night we were in a different restaurant but we sat with the same five person family each night – they were very nice – and also had the same waitstaff each night which was really special. I was impressed by the detail in all the restaurants. The first one was the Avengers themed restaurant, the second one was the Frozen themed one (Arendelle) which we were at twice, and the third one was the 1923 themed restaurant called Roy Disney. One night was dress up night but we didn’t bring the clothes for that, one night was pirate night and then when you go to the 1923 one you are supposed to dress for the time period. Of course, we didn’t know any of this before we boarded so we weren’t prepared, but it was fine anyway. We enjoyed every second of our meals, I will tell you. Fine dining in fine restaurants with great service. Great food and excellent desserts. Everything we tried we liked, and Baby Girl discovered that she actually likes macaroni and cheese and LAMB. I tried the lamb as well but didn’t appreciate it. Tony ate beef or seafood every night and I had salmon or chicken. You can get whatever you want, even if it’s not on the menu! Baby Girl ordered pizza with no sauce one night and it was delivered. She was also given a house salad with extra cucumbers and ranch; the servers really strived to know what you wanted and give it to you! They were truly excellent.

Now, about tips. You can pay your tips ahead of time if you like. I did not know that so I didn’t do it. BUT, you don’t have to tip anyone on the boat at any time. It will be added automatically to your bill at the end of the trip. They give you vouchers to give your waitstaff and housekeeper that has the amount of the tip you are giving. You have no control over how much it is, but it is reasonable and easy to do. I appreciated not having to think about tips or to have cash on hand. The only person I tipped with cash was the bus driver who handled our luggage to and from the resort/ship. Also, anything you buy goes directly to the card you have connected to your “Key to the world” card that you have to keep with you at all times. If you have a Disney Visa or Mastercard you get 10% off in all the shops. The “key to the world” card also opens your stateroom door so it’s important to keep it with you – you can buy really cool lanyards in Mickey’s Mainsail – the shop that has the most stuff for sale (Deck 5). Let’s just say I really enjoyed my time in that shop, as well as Dory’s Forgetmenots on the 11th deck.

We quickly figured out the layout of the ship, although I had trouble remembering what was forward and what was aft! Which was where, and what was what. All the free food and ice cream you could want was on Deck 11, with the small swimming pools and the large movie screen. There are about five pools but they are all small and crowded, not what I was expecting. The deck was nice, though, with chairs for you to sit in to watch the movies on the big screen while you were letting your kid swim. Once I figured out how small the pools were I had no desire to swim at all. But after dinner each night Tony and I would chill and let Baby Girl swim. There’s a bar on almost every deck. Drinks are not free. Tony had a couple of double Bailey’s and I think I had two glasses of wine the entire trip. Wasn’t really into paying the prices of the drinks! I could get all the Diet Coke I wanted if I trekked up to the 11th deck and filled my cup that I bought at Luna’s Libation on the fourth level. It’s a really nice cup and souvenir and wasn’t that expensive. But I also got canned Diet Cokes delivered to my room for the fridge, which I had to pay for. Luna’s Libations also had the popcorn. Pay for a bucket of popcorn the first day then you can refill it for only $1.50 each time. That was great, because on the day at sea we watched a lot of Disney Plus in our room. More on that later.

The housekeeping was terrific. They put down Baby Girl’s bed each evening and put it away in the mornings, they made our bed and did towel animals, to include what I thought was a rotisserie chicken but Tony thought was a monkey! Chocolate on the pillows and all that.

Kid’s Club. Baby Girl refused. We went down on the first day and got her bracelet checked in but after that she would. not. do. it. Finally on Wednesday night she went in for about thirty minutes but that was it. On Thursday she stayed long enough for Tony and I to grab a drink at the Bayou Bar which was really nice to have some time just for the two of us. We talked about going on another cruise – would really like to do an Alaskan one – just for us. I mentioned that Disney goes to Alaska and Tony looked at me like WHY? Why would he want to go on a Disney cruise without the kid? Ha ha. I said because this ship is super nice! At any rate, Baby Girl finally acknowledged that she had fun in the kid’s club and that if we ever went on another cruise she would definitely do it more. Tony and I rolled our eyes! If she had had a friend with her then I think she would have been more inclined but she absolutely didn’t want to go in by herself the first time. I actually think she was really brave to do it because I know she was very unsure about it. I’m glad she discovered that it was fun and she could do things alone. Speaking of alone, I did feel safe with her on the ship. I let her run down the stairs while I took the elevator, I never felt like anything would happen to her on the ship. Other parents may not agree but I felt like she was safe and I like her to experience some independence from me!

There were, of course, all the characters on the ship. All the Disney Princesses including Rapunzel, Cinderella, Belle, Moana, and more. Baby Girl had no interest in anyone but Moana whom we got a picture with. We also got pictures with Minnie, Spiderman, and Pirate Donald. I got pictures of all the Frozen cast when they did their show at dinner on the second night. You could sign up to get pictures and autographs with all princesses ahead of time by using the Disney Cruise app if you wanted to, but we didn’t bother to do that since she wasn’t really interested. You could also visit the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique to get made up and dressed up like a princess. It was fun to see all the little girls running around looking like princesses. Again, Baby Girl had no interest. She’s really a tomboy at heart and just into wearing shorts and tee shirts with no dresses and no fancy hair-do’s for sure. I couldn’t even get her to get her hair braided when we were at the beach! Something that would’ve looked sooo cute on her. They also had Chip and Dale, Daisy, Mickey of course, Goofy and Pluto. On the Disney Cruise ship app you could see the times that each character would be available for pictures and autographs. Of course you have to wait in line for these, but it didn’t take long.

The Disney Cruise app was amazing. It told you about all the excursions you could take, your plans and dinner times, menus, and the activities available on the ship, including movie times. There are three movie theaters on the ship showing the latest Avengers movie and the newest The Little Mermaid. We never did go to see one of the movies – Baby Girl would rather stay in the room and watch the movies she wanted to see on the TV in there. Tony and I would have liked to go check it out but of course since she wouldn’t do the kids’ club, we never had the chance.

While we were on the ship we could not use our data – I did not know that I could call AT&T ahead of time and get a cruise package in which I would be able to text and use data. As it was we had our phones on airplane mode the whole time and somehow I still used enough international data to be charged over $100 and have AT&T turn my data use off entirely. I had to call them when we were at the port in Florida to have it turned back on and thankfully they also reversed some of the charges. So I wasn’t able to use Facebook or check emails while I was gone. Next time I will definitely call them ahead of time to get things figured out so I can use my phone! It was surreal to be on a boat in the ocean, and to be in the Bahamas, and not be able to really do anything on my phone for three days. Felt like I was on another planet!

Stay tuned for excursions and getting off the ship … next installment.

I haven’t been on a real vacation in a very long time. I have never in my life been to Orlando (besides the airport), Walt Disney World or any of its theme parks. I have never been on a cruise. This blog is all about the experience of Animal Kingdom and the Disney Cruise ship, the Wish, which is the newest of the cruise ships in the Disney line. It’s just an informational post, so not funny or sad or any of the big emotions. Just for the curious or those seeking more information about Disney World and Disney cruises.

I was nervous. I have anxiety anyway, so this was a whole new level of the unknown. I had no idea what to expect, and I had no idea if things would go smoothly or if I was headed for a nightmare. I researched Animal Kingdom ahead of time so I could be prepared. I bought a waterproof pouch for my phone, I bought a wristband Baby Girl could wear in case she got lost (with my phone number on it). I studied the map and figured out which rides were roller coasters so that we could stay away from that – none of us are interested in roller coasters.

I get terrible motion sickness so I bought a relief band. This sends an electrical signal to your brain to stop and prevent nausea. You put some gel on your wrist then tightly secure the band around your wrist. At level 1 I could barely feel the electrical current. At level 2 I felt like I was holding on to the electric fence on my property – my whole hand was vibrating with electrical current. I can’t imagine turning it up to level 3, 4, or 5! I stuck with level 1 on the plane, only turning it up to level 2 on the landing, and it worked like a charm. I didn’t get nauseous at all! I’m going to jump ahead here and tell you that while on the cruise ship I did not have to wear the band at all, as I could not feel the boat moving and never once got nauseous. So if you get motion sickness and that’s the reason you’ve never been on a cruise you can rule that reason right out. Buy a relief band just in case if you must. I even took dramamine and zofran with us on the trip and never used either.

At any rate, motion sickness aside, the flight to Orlando was uneventful. We used a travel agent for the entire trip except the flights, which I booked myself. She took care of the details like transportation and hotel which was a tremendous help. When we arrived at the airport we took the Mears Connect bus to the resort. This was prepaid but the Orlando airport is a nightmare and we had trouble finding where to make that connection. Ground transportation was in a different terminal than we landed in so we had to figure that out. We eventually got there though, with our luggage which I was sure would be lost (a theme for the entire trip – I was absolutely sure that our luggage would disappear somewhere along the way).

We chose to stay at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. A sprawling resort that covers a lot of ground we ended up in the Little Mermaid section which was at the very end of the property. Now, I’ll tell you we had been told to download the app “My Disney Experience” so that we could unlock the door to the room with our phones. I was dubious. We arrive at the resort and I don’t need to check in at the front desk because the room is prepaid and I can open the door with my phone – the app sent us a message saying our room was ready and we could get in at any time. So we trek about a mile with our luggage all the way to the Little Mermaid section. Surprise, surprise, the phone app actually works and we unlock the door. Simple! The room is, however, TINY. I assume they make the rooms small because how much time are you really spending in the room anyway? And they need to fit in as many rooms as possible. However, it is not an uncomfortable space and we throw our things in and quickly go back out in search of food. It’s 9 pm at this time and I think that the restaurant will not be open.

Thankfully, I am wrong and it stays open until 11 pm so we trek back through the resort, passing two large pools and other sections including The Lion King, Finding Nemo and another one I can’t remember. The Cars section is at the very front and it is the coolest section and the one I recommend staying in, not least because it is the closest to the front of the hotel. The “restaurant” in this resort is cafeteria style and extremely crowded. Shouldn’t all these kids be asleep?! I wonder. But no, they are everywhere and they are wet from the pool, cranky from being tired, and excited to be at Disney. In short, it is a madhouse. We find food then schlep back to our room to pass out. Baby Girl is enthralled by the huge resort pool and ready to skip Animal Kingdom altogether just to be able to swim in that pool. Unfortunately for her the tickets to Animal Kingdom are already paid for. And she IS excited, but pools are possibly her favorite thing in the whole world.

I did not buy Magic Bands. I researched them and couldn’t figure out what makes them so special. I had the “My Disney Experience” app which apparently can do all the same stuff. For example, the next morning I woke up early to buy the Fast Passes on my phone which allows you to skip the lines and get to attractions quickly. You can’t buy Fast passes ahead of time. Only on the morning of your park visit. And you have to do it early. The prices change each day so you never know how much it will be, except to tell you ours was $25 per person that day. So for $75 we got to skip the lines of TWO attractions and waltz right up to the front. Maybe doesn’t seem worth it? If we had stayed later we could have fast passed on another one or two attractions but Baby Girl wanted to leave early so we could swim. But I would tell you …. DO IT. I think it was worth it not to have to stand in line with an impatient 8 year old. We fast passed on the Na’vi River Journey in Pandora which was very cool and relaxing, and also on the Safari ride which was super cool. Baby Girl was very excited to see the White Rhinos up close as well as giraffes and other animals.

We waited in line for the DINOSAUR ride, which Tony and I found hilarious – we almost hyperventilated from laughing – but Baby Girl found terrifying. It’s in the dark and at a high speed and she did. not. like. it. Because of this we next went on the tame (lame) tricera top spin which is for like 4 year olds but she enjoyed it so Momma plays along. We avoided the Kali River Rapids because we didn’t want to get wet, and the only real roller coaster here is Expedition Everest which we also did not do. I wish we had done the Avatar Flight of Passage but we didn’t. Baby Girl was more interested in the animal stuff so we did the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail, Rafiki’s planet watch, and the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

We had a reservation for breakfast at the Tusker House Restaurant. This is where you can eat buffet style and meet Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Minnie. Imma tell you right now, it’s EXPENSIVE. $45 per person for me and Tony and I think $25 for Baby Girl. I’m sorry but we can’t possibly eat that much food to make it worth it. I barely eat as it is. I did not know ahead of time how expensive it was so that’s why I’m telling you. Meeting Donald Duck isn’t worth an over $115 breakfast for me. Especially as there are other places in the park where you can meet them for free! And there’s TONS of food available so unless you just want that ridiculously expensive experience I would definitely skip the Tusker House.

All that being said, we did enjoy our time at Animal Kingdom. We had arrived about 8:30 in the morning and left about 2:30. The resort has busses that take you for free to each theme park. Needless to say, we went swimming as soon as Baby Girl had her suit on and could get us out to the pool. Unfortunately, all her hair color (she had it done purple on the ends before we left) came out immediately in the chlorinated water which was a big disappointment for us. She swam until about 6:30 pm while Tony and I enjoyed drinks from the bar and relaxed. We had dinner at the cafeteria again – we had to pay for our food while at the resort in case you were wondering – none of that was included with the resort fees. And then we went to bed early in anticipation of boarding the cruise ship the next day!

The next morning we were up early and were told to leave our luggage right by our door (on the inside of the room) and it would be transported to the ship for us. We had been sent luggage tags ahead of time so I affixed those to our bags, we left them at the door and went to breakfast and then to catch the shuttle to the ship – again this was paid for ahead of time. I was nervous about our luggage so I just had to trust that it would work out and our stuff would be on the ship like they said it would. We had our swim suits and sunscreen and important stuff in our backpacks because our stateroom wouldn’t be ready until about 2:00 in the afternoon even though we would already be on the ship by then.

The ride to the ship on the bus took about an hour, we had spent about an hour in the hotel waiting for everyone to gather. There were nice representatives from the ship in the lobby answering questions and checking people in. So they knew if you showed up or not. This was about 9:00-9:15 in the morning. We got on the bus about 10, so a bit of waiting around. We had eaten breakfast at the cafeteria again so we were ready to go.

We could see the ship as we approached and it was HUGE. Mind boggling to me! And it was gorgeous. A brand new ship, less than a year old. I couldn’t believe we were lucky enough to get to sail on it. I had been worried also about being out on the open water but I want to reassure all of you that worry, that it really is nothing to fret about. It never scared me, I felt safe the entire time. Anyway, once we were in the terminal we had to go through security and show our passports and ID’s. We had to wait a long time. We were in boarding group 4. You can’t take open bottles of water or anything into the terminal. So make sure whatever you have is sealed, not open. All of us were pretty thirsty as we didn’t realize how long the wait would be. Again, every single moment was new to us. We had no idea what to expect. Finally we started boarding the ship. As we boarded they gave us Cinderella wands (cute) and called out WELCOME to the TULLOS FAMILY. Also cute.

But. Then. We had no idea what to do. We stood around for a few minutes. Found a cruise ship person to ask and she suggested we go to lunch or explore the ship. We opted for lunch. Went to the restaurant called Arendelle and relaxed and enjoyed ourselves for the first time that day. It was a lovely restaurant and I was very impressed by the service. In fact, I didn’t stop being impressed by the ship and it’s service the entire time I was aboard. After lunch we figured out where “guest services” was and we stood in line to sign Tony up for a Whisky Tasting. I also asked when we could go to our stateroom, because I had no idea when it would be ready or how to get our key cards. I was told by 2:00 the key cards would be ready and hanging outside the door to our room.

More tomorrow…. stay tuned…..