Winter Break 2025. Part 5. I Don't Understand What's Happening Here.
Monday morning there was a knock at the door at 7:07am. What is with 7:07?
There was a man standing there with a room service tray. I was like, “I didn’t order room service,” and he said, “yes you did.” Then he checked his notes and said, “oh, the other side.” Come on. Hallie was woken up and I was like hell no. It is way too early. Thankfully she fell back asleep, as did I, as the next think I knew it was 8:45.
We slowly got up and made our way to the buffet shortly before it closed at 10:00am. Normal breakfast fare, including Mickey Waffles. There was an Asian station, but Madeleine wasn’t fond of the Miso soup because it wasn’t like “back home.”
We got the kids changed and Tzvi took them to the pool, while I went to the gym. Unfortunately the clouds came out, but they still had a good time. There was a fantastic Nemo themed splash area that the kids had a great time in. Then they started showing Up on the huge screen over the pool and Tzvi and Madeleine bobbed in the pool watching the first forty-five minutes of the movie.
We had lunch at the buffet. We were able to get impossible burgers, which were good. Then we hit the kids club where they had an “open house activity,” meaning you stay with your kids to make “Stich’s Space Goo,” which is gross blue slime. The kids had fun though.
After that, Tzvi headed off to relax on his own and the rest of us decided to get off the ship and walk around. Did I mention the ship was docked in Nassau, Bahamas today? No? I guess it wasn’t that important. To anyone. The ship was so packed it felt like a sea day. No one got off the ship. We walked the few blocks around the port, but it was pretty gross. The kids stopped at a candy store where they bought a laffy taffy that had melted. We also bought a wood carved elephant and they carved Tzvi’s name into it. We probably spent 1.5 hours off the ship and we definitely didn’t need to spend any longer.
Back on board Tzvi and I went to the adults only section a little while Hadar hung with the kids. We’ve written about all of the Disney characters we met, but I haven’t written about some of the non-Disney characters. We first noticed them walking around last night, and then again today in the hot tub. It must be like 8 families, all southern. All of the women dress alike and their hair is teased up with massive extensions and always in full makeup and gaudy matching outfits and (what I can only imagine is) costume jewelry. The spouses are rarely together, and the kids are also made up with big hair! It’s like dance moms and toddlers in tiaras. We can’t figure out if this is what they normally look like or if it’s like a let’s dress fun on vacation thing. I wish we could ask.
We got ready for dinner and Tzvi took the girls down to look for characters to sign the new autograph book. Sometimes you find characters “on a stroll,” which means they‘re just walking around the ship and not with a photographer. The girls found Snow White on a stroll and she decided to take the kids along with them. It was the cutest thing.
Dinner tonight was in the Royal Court, which is themed like a royal table and there are paintings of princesses all around the room. The food was delicious and the desserts were great tonight.
After dinner we got online for the theater. We had to line up by 745 for an 830 show that they let us in by 8pm for. The Walt Disney Theater is beautiful and they sell buckets of popcorn outside, which is delicious Disney popcorn. Aladdin was the show tonight. It was about an hour and very cute. The kids loved it. The genie was fantastic. We met some more characters and it was time for bed! For some reason the kids are always up until 11.
Tzvi and I walked around again and got a Kahlua and Cream, where we once again saw the southerners. They were all seated around a bar, but the 8 women were on one side and the 8 men were on the other. Tzvi said the men reminded him of Bullit from season 4 of the OC. Bang.
Good day.
Tuesday morning we were docked at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island.
Twenty-five years ago when I took my first Disney cruise (the Disney Magic), the Captain wasn’t able to dock here because it was too windy. So, here we are, ready to go ashore! We did a quick (ha) buffet breakfast and headed off the ship.
As usual, it felt like we were the last people to get off. We found Chip and Dale taking pictures on the dock, then took a little tram to the beach area. There are a few family beaches and one adult only beach. Maybe one day. There were barely any chairs left, but we managed to find 7 together, so that was a win.
The beach is beautiful, but the water was cold. It was so nice to get off on an island that isn’t gross, where you aren’t herded like cattle place to place, and people aren’t coming up to sell you things. I mean, obviously they want to sell you things, it is Disney after all, but it’s not in your face. It’s just pleasant. It felt a lot more like being at the beach at a nice resort than like a shore excursion. We got a delicious mango mojito, obviously in a Disney Cruise cup, and then a smoothie for the kids in an Olaf cup. Can’t wait for that to collect dust in our cup cabinet.
Lunch today was a BBQ, but they had nice vegetarian options and salmon, and of course free ice cream and fountain sodas. We happened to find our waiters Christopher and Raphael at the BBQ. We spoke to Christopher, who we realized reminded us a bit of Goofy, but really he just reminds me of Luigi from cars, but that could be because of his Italian accent. He told us that he was on his second contract of 5 months each. Before Disney he was in Ibiza where he helped his friend open a pizza place. He told us we need to visit Ibiza and that everyone claps when the sun sets there. I told him it’s probably too fun of a place for us.
We got back on the ship around 3ish and the girls hung with Hadar while Tzvi and I went to the adult area to hot tub. We got a Dole Whip with dark rum, which when mixed together tasted like pineapple rum soft serve. Also, they were doing free five minute shoulder massages at the pool, so that was nice.
Dinner tonight was at Animators Palate, which is themed like an animation studio. There are paintbrushes and palates and all of the chairs look like Mickey Mouse. The whole thing is Nemo themed, so Crush the turtle is the main star and comes to the screen next to your table and interacts with you. At one point the whole thing turned into a dance party – they were playing music and all of the waiters were dancing – and my father just looked confused. When we asked him what was wrong he said, “I don’t understand what’s happening here.”
The menu tonight was also really great. There was a cookies and cream sundae that was delicious. So far I’ve been really impressed with all of the dinners.
After dinner there was a big party in the atrium with the characters so Tzvi took the girls. I walked to the shops area near the theater. Tonight’s show is Frozen and I knew people would be lining up early. At 7:40 people were already lined up so I got on it. They opened the theaters doors at 8 and we made sure everyone was with us to get in. They are REALLY strict about saving seats, and funny enough, most people listen! What a concept! Frozen was great. The girls loved it. It wasn’t as funny as Aladdin, but it was well done. As we were walking out of the show, Hallie asked Ashley the cruise director if Elsa and Anna ever come out for meet and greets. She said no, I’m sure because the lines would be nuts.
We took some more pictures after the show, there were some fun Star Wars setups. I held a light saber.
Then we got ice cream, because why not. As we were standing there, Tzvi noticed a woman getting ice cream and pointed her out to me. She was tall, blonde and had tons of makeup on. No, she wasn’t one of the southerners, but she was definitely in the show. Well, what do you know, it was the woman who played Elsa! (I’m not sure if she was supposed to tell us she played Elsa.) We said hello and started talking to her. Hallie was so funny she told her that Ashley said we wouldn’t meet Elsa or Anna, but here we were, meeting Elsa. Elsa told us that it was a LONG audition process, but it’s great getting to play Elsa.
Then it was bedtime. Good day.
