Ship Wrecked

During our time at the Disney parks, there was a ride that my niece kept telling us she hated and was stupid. I would normally consider her opinion, except she had never been and wouldn’t go on this ride. 

“It’s ok to not go on it if you’re scared, but you can’t say you hate it until you’ve tried it,” I said to her. 

“You won’t go on the teacups!” she retorted.

“I’ve been on it before and know that my stomach gets mad at me when I go on rides like that.”

“Well . . . that other ride is stupid!”

Kids!!

The most amazing and influential teachers I’ve ever had in my yoga journey have all worked to teach me the same thing – you can’t have an opinion on an experience until you’ve tried it yourself, and even then your experience is yours and will be different than anyone else who goes through the same experience. I try to embody this in yoga, but I also try to follow this in life. Going on this Disney cruise was me following this advice! I was pretty sure I wasn’t a cruise ship person, but I haven’t actually been on one since I was a kid (which wasn’t a Disney cruise), so off for the experience I went.

We were on a 4 day cruise with 2 port adventures. In some ways, it was a sharp contrast from the environment we had just come from. We now had regular eating times, actually taking time to eat, not walking 20km/day, not anticipating (or fearing) what ride to go on next, etc. The ship was massive, so it was fun to wander around and check out the different areas.

However, the place B-Rod and I spent the most time at was the Rainforest Room at the Spa. I had heard about this before we left and had purchased a day pass, but as we toured the boat on boarding day, we were introduced to a sale that was good for everyone in the cabin for the entire time we were on the boat. Of course we hummed and hawed about doing it (we’re good at that), but we eventually caved and it was THE best money spent on our whole trip! Picture an adults only area (that even many other adults on the boat weren’t frequenting) complete with three showers with various features (including temperature, force, frequency, aromatherapy, lighting, etc.), three saunas (one of which had a view out to the ocean and one of which was usually hot and steamy as hell), two hot tubs on a private deck overlooking the sea and a row of tile heated loungers for reading or sleeping behind the tubs. Now picture this area with B-Rod and I being the only ones there (which happened often, and we were there 2-3 times every day!) You’ll have to simply picture it because an interesting thing about our time on the boat . . . . . we took almost no pictures while we were on it! So, if you are really really curious, click the links to find pictures of the Disney Dream boat and the Rainforest room.

Our first port day was in Nassau, Bahamas. Knowing that a few hours in a place won’t give us much of a feel for the place, we had prearranged to go on a scuba dive excursion. Unfortunately the morning before the dive, my throat was scratchy and my sinuses were filling up, so we made the call while we still could to cancel that excursion. So, with no set plans we left the boat to wander around. There were a few places further off the tourist track I had heard of, so off in that direction we wandered.

The number one place I was interested in going to for lunch was a place referred to as Potters Cay fish shacks. It was described as a local place with local eats. When I read a review that said to not let the appearance put you off, I knew this would be our kind of place. We ended up walking further than I expected to (getting hot and sweaty in the process) until we finally came across two rows of shacks along a road with no other tourists anywhere to be seen. Jackpot! The shack we ended up in didn’t have the conch salad or the balcony to sit at that we were hoping for (if we would have just went two shacks down, we could have had both of those), but it was busy with locals, the waitress was super friendly, we still had conch and the view was definitely nothing to complain about. THIS is the travel experience that I love and hope to continue doing for as long as I possibly can!

The second port day was at Castaway Cay, Bahamas. This is a private island owned by Disney, so we went into it as a beach day. We had really good weather, the water was so clear with an amazing, beautiful colour and the barbecue on island was delicious!

The last day was a sea day which was spent mostly in quiet places outside reading and taking in the beauty of the ocean and the weather or at the Rainforest room to further chill.

The day of disembarkment, we were asked to leave early for them to set up for the next horde of people scheduled to arrive later that same morning! As our flight didn’t leave until the evening, we went on one final family excursion to the Kennedy Space Center. B-Rod and I were both looking forward to this. It IS a really cool place that we wish we had more time for. We also all found it a bit hard to adjust to a non-Disney related place that wasn’t quite as organized with massive lineups (we ended up there on a Friday with a bunch of school groups AND no FastPasses! hahahaha)

It ended up being a good family trip! We are super appreciative of the thought and planning and effort that went in to make it happen, we had some fun, I think we all had a good time spending quality time together and the kids are at the perfect age to enjoy the Disney experience through them. But, I won’t lie when I say I’m Disney-d out and I’m still pretty sure I’m not a cruise ship person!

On the boat after dinner, our waiter would often do magic tricks for the kids and tell us jokes or riddles. So . . . here’s one for you. Who has four thumbs, had a good family trip, but doesn’t want to go on a boat full of kids again anytime soon?

You got it . . . . . these guys!