Cruising Goddess

Below are the travel notes that I took with me to my Eastern Carribbean Disney Cruise. It includes a lot of the info I collected about Tortola, St. Thomas, and St. John on what shops to see and where to eat. It also includes some DCL tips as well.

Day	Date	Port	Dinner Attire
Day 1	Saturday, April 25, 2009	Port Canaveral
Day 2	Sunday, April 26, 2009	At Sea	Formal
Day 3	Monday, April 27, 2009	At Sea
Day 4	Tuesday, April 28, 2009	Tortola	Pirate Night
Day 5	Wednesday, April 29, 2009	St. Thomas/St. John
Day 6	Thursday, April 30, 2009	At Sea	Semi-formal
Day 7	Friday, May 1, 2009	Castaway Cay
Day 8	Saturday, May 2, 2009	Port Canaveral

Day 1 – Port Canaveral – Saturday, April 25, 2009

12 -3:30 pm – Make Palo reservations @ Rockin’ Bar D. You will enter of Deck 3 and there will be elevators on your right. Go around and behind those and straight back, it will be on your right hand side. If the walkway on Deck 3 from the atrium forward to the nightclubs is blocked off because the reservation desk hasn’t opened yet. Go to another deck and take the forward lifts down to Deck 3.

Guest Services:

• Pick up Gallery tour & beer tasting tickets (2:30 pm on Monday or 4 pm on Thursday)
• Drop off autograph item & fill out form
• Apply Disney Reward dollars to onboard account
• Let them know it’s our anniversary

 12-2:15 pm – Lunch @ Parrot Cay (Deck 3 aft) or Topsiders (Deck 9 aft until 3:30 pm). Both are buffets but servers bring drinks to your table at Parrot Cay. It’s also less rushed and crowded than Topsiders.

 1-1:30 pm – Stateroom ready 

3 pm – DIS meetup @ Promenade Lounge 

3:30 – 4:15 pm – Mandatory Safety Drill 

4:30-5:15 pm – Sail Away Party

As soon as the lifeboat drill ends, go up to deck 10 starboard side and grab a table overlooking the dance floor on Deck 9 for the Sail Away party. Get Bon Voyage cocktails. It will get crowded so being at the balcony will give you an unobstructed view. Before it’s over, we run down to the front of the Basketball Courts on Deck 10 and get a spot up front to watch us sail out of Port Canaveral! Watch for dolphins swimming in front of the ship as she pulls away from the dock. Bring bubbles!

Day 2 – At Sea – Sunday, April 26, 2009

2:30- 4:40 pm – Couples Choice @ Vista Spa

Formal night

Day 3 – At Sea – Monday, April 27, 2009

None

Day 4 – Tortola – Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Road Town Shopping

Crafts Alive Marketplace: A collection of gaily colored tents, on the Waterfront; while it sells some of the same batiks and tourist trinkets of marketplaces on other Caribbean islands, there are a handful of genuinely interesting stalls. Don’t miss Sophia Dawles, a talented West Indian artist who displays her oils, watercolors and acrylics on a card table. Altruists may want to check out the BVI Community Craft Shop, whose handmade items — ranging from Christmas ornaments to rag rugs and fish-scale ornaments — are locally made.

Colombian Emeralds: The one conventional cruise port merchandise outlet can be found on Waterfront Drive midway between the cruise pier and the ferry docks.

Pusser’s: Take a left off of the ship, heading directly to the main road (Blackburn Highway/Waterfront drive). You’ll see Pusser’s across from the parking area. Take home a bottle of Pusser’s Rum or a piece of Pusser’s signature logo merchandise. Their duffels and outdoor-wear are high quality.

Sunny Caribbee: From Pusser’s, continue thru and out the back, you’ll be on Main St. Turn right, the street make a sharp left turn, Sunny Caribbee is just beyond that turn on the right. It’s chock-a-block with great, gift-packaged spices, hot sauces, soaps, lotions, herbs, teas, coffees, etc. Two (relatively cheap) world-famous specialties Arawak Love Potion and Hangover Cure. The shop also has some more-elegant-than-elsewhere Caribbean-oriented crafts. Next door, Sunny Caribbee has a high-end art gallery that’s worth a browse.

Dorothy’s Superette (on Main Street past The Plaza, 494-3757) has cold drinks, beers, bottled water and local Callwood rum as well as basic groceries. Try a “ting,” a Jamacian citrus soda.

Serendipity (on Main Street near its Top, 494-5865), has wonderful island sundresses, glass, shirts and other local handicrafts.

Latitude 18 (on Main Street at The Corner 494-4807) has island and sportswear, gifts and accessories.

Little Denmark (on Main Street near its Top, 494-2455) has a wide variety of gift items such as darts, baskets, souvenir key chains, BVI flags, earrings, hats, mugs and jewelry. Famous for Cuban cigars & room-sized humidor.

Ooh La La (on Main Street past The Plaza, 494-2433) is cramped but popular and always has the unexpected from games to potholders.

Samarkand Jewelers (on Main Street past The Plaza, 495-6415) specializes in Caribbean gemstones. Real local shells are  burnt out and the piece filled with gold and silver.

Jewelry Box (on Main Street past The Plaza, 494-7278) carries gold and silver jewelry and crafts items out of local materials such as the sandbox plant.

Road Town Dining

Pusser’s Road Town: (open from 11 a.m. daily) is a classic experience. Burgers, fish & chips, etc. Pizza is popular. Don’t miss the national drink of the BVI, the Painkiller.

Capriccio di Mare (lunch from 11 a.m. Monday – Saturday): Near Pusser’s on Waterfront Street, is an authentic Italian outdoor cafe, good for a cappuccino break from shopping.

Road Town Bakery: Tasty baked goods

Roti Palace: Before the corner on Main Street above Samarkand Jewelers. Curried filled flatbread

Crandalls: Meat patties in flaky cruse 284-494-5156

Midtown Restaurant (on Main Street at the head of Chalwell Street), open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, has “local local” food, including “souse” pig feet stew, sandwiches, fish soup, burgers, Johnny cake, boiled fish, conch fritters, salt fish, coconut ice cream, oxtail and items cooked to order. Local drinks include peanut punch and mauby. Try the pea soup (beans with pigtail).

Virgin Queen: Upstairs over TICO on Fleming Street near the roundabout near the Top of Main Street, has the excellent Queen’s Pizza, West Indian and English fare. Considered by many as having the best local food, the Virgin Queen has five daily specials, including spare ribs, stewed mutton, “doved” pork, salt fish, shepard’s pie, and stewed (fried and cooked in a gravy) chicken.

12:30-4:30 pm – Tour to Virgin Gorda Shore Excursion

Tip: Bring snorkel gear and swim/snorkel around boulders on The Baths beach.

Lunching near The Baths

The Bath & Turtle: Casual dining in small courtyard. Burgers, pizzas, seafood, wraps, rotis, salads and totally top-notch fish & chips. Entrees run from about $7.00 through $15.00. Don’t miss the national drink of the BVI, the Painkiller. Open from 11:30 a.m. daily.

Top of the Baths: Casual lunch fare. Scenic setting, excellent Painkillers and free use of their swimming pool. Open from 11 a.m. daily.

Little Dix Bay: The Pavilion Restaurant at this famous resort, reachable in ten minutes by Taxi from the Yacht Harbour (Less than $10 per person round trip) serves a nice buffet spread at $25.00 per person between 12:30 – 2:30 p.m.

5:30 pm – Onboard

Pirate Night

Day 5 – St. Thomas/St. John – Wednesday, April 29, 2009

7:15 am – 1:10 pm – St. John Island Tour Excursion

St. Thomas 

Havensight Pier

Right at the dock at Havensight, there are more than 50 shops: Gourmet Gallery (grocer w/Caribbean beer), post office, Chase ATM’s, and Havensight Pharmacy.

Yacht Haven Grande Marina: When you exit your ship, turn left and follow the dock around the harbor. First upscale shopping and dining area in St. Thomas and has a couple of restaurants and shops like Coach. Not duty-free. W!kked (open daily from 11 a.m.) is one of St. Thomas’ few outdoor eateries. Try the elegantly presented French fries. The Fat Turtle also has waterfront seating and has more casual fare.

Pueblo Supermarket: (Walk up Long Bay Blvd.) In the parking lot, look for a green canvas umbrella where Martha Jolly sells gorgeous wicker stuff. Highlights include a coconut-shell-shaped handbag ($15) and laundry hampers ($50 to $100 depending on size). She also sells gorgeous tropical flowers, from birds of paradise to ginger lily. You can also buy cases of water at Pueblo Supermarket.

Paradise Point Tramway

10-15 minute walk from pier. $21/person for tram or $30/person for tram & Bailey’s Bushwacker (save $1.50). For a great island view and excellent photo opportunity, take the Paradise Point Tramway, across from Havensight. It climbs 700 ft. to Paradise Point. There’s a little shopping area with the obvious tourist trinkets at the top.

Beaches

Maagens Bay

St. Thomas’ (and possibly world’s) most gorgeous beach. The open air safari style taxis pick you up right in front of the ship and drop you off in the parking lot of Maagens Bay. Taxi ride is 20-minutes and about $6-10/person for the ride. Admission is $3 per person. The lounge chairs rent for about $10 each at the gift shop. (Deposit required.) The facility includes a bar, a cafeteria-style eatery, and one of the island’s best shops for casualwear and bathing suits.

Best Cocktail: Alcoholic milkshakes at St. Thomas Dairies (Near Magens Bay at Route 35 & Magens Bay Road). Try Rumrunner with rum raisin ice cream and creme de menthe, Jacoco with chocolate and coconut ice cream and Kahlua, or Udder Delite with almond crunch and amaretto.

Sapphire Beach

Sapphire Beach, a resort on the island’s East End, has the most stunning view as it faces St. John and the British Virgin Islands. Water sports equipment is available for rent from kayaks to Sunfish sail boats. Less crowded than Maagens Bay. There’s a place to get a snack/drink! Iguanas running around! No admission fee. Take a taxi to the beach for about $10/person. Arrange for the taxi to pick you up to go back to the ship or go to the taxi stand right at the entrance to Sapphire Resort and they will get a cab for you.

Charlotte Amalie Shopping

Taxi to Charlotte Amalie will be $3-5/per person. Charlotte Amalie is easily walkable and a duty-free shopping mecca. Stores are primarily located on Waterfront Highway and, running parallel behind it, Main Street. Highlights include A.H. Riese (Main Street between Hibiscus & Tolbod), a variety of boutiques selling high-end perfumes, jewelry, antique maps and liquor. Down Island Traders (Waterfront Highway) specializes in Caribbean-made and/or produced foodstuffs, such as spices, out-of-this-world rum cakes, hot sauces and jams; it also sells regional crafts and Del Sol (Waterfront Highway) for T-shirts, hair clips, sunglasses and cosmetics. For a cold beer and brand paraphernalia, stop at the Virgin Islands Brewing Co. company store, makers of the refreshing Blackbeard’s Ale. Fashion finds include Local Color (Waterfront Highway) for great, casual cotton dresses, and the Bambini Arts Gallery (Royal Dane Mall) for hand-painted silk scarves. Look for silver starfish necklace.

So-called “bargain” shops like Royal Caribbean (electronics and jewelry), Diamonds International (jewelry) and Little Switzerland (imported china, crystal and jewelry). At Vendors’ Plaza, locals hawk straw hats, tropical-print sundresses and T-shirts.

International Plaza: Largest shopping mall in Charlotte Amalie. Ice cream shop near Harley Davidson has Johnny cakes

Walking Tour of Charlotte Amalie

Beyond shopping, a walking tour of Charlotte Amalie should include a visit to Fort Christian (on the waterfront, across from Vendor’s Plaza), a national historic landmark that dates back to the 17th century; you can climb the tower for great harbor views. Climb the 99 Steps (Kongens Gade/Government Hill, next to Hotel 1829) to experience historic downtown’s finest neighborhood with lovely 19th-century plantation homes. Adjacent to the steps is a worthy pit stop: Haagensen House, an 1820′s townhouse that’s a museum and garden with a great gift shop selling antiques. The St. Thomas Synagogue (Raadets Gade and Crystal Gade), which is the Western Hemisphere’s second oldest (the oldest is located in Curacao). It was built in 1833 by Sephardic Jews and is open for tours. The floor is covered with sand symbolizing the flight of the Jews out of Egypt and across the desert.

Food in Charlotte Amalie

Casual:

• Cuzzin’s Caribbean Restaurant (7 Back Street, Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.) for regional fare
• Gladys’ (Royal Dane Mall, every day from 11 a.m.) offers West Indian cuisine such as conch and fungi and mutton stew along with more traditional items
• Greenhouse Bar & Restaurant (Veterans Drive, every day from 11 a.m.) for American fare, Jamaican-inspired dishes, and frozen drinks.

Gourmet:

• Virgilio’s (Dronnigen’s Gade, Monday – Saturday from 11:30 a.m.) is a fabulous Italian restaurant with eccentric decor (a large collection of paintings of women, some quite abstract), stone and Pepto Bismol-pink painted walls. If the paprika ravioli on the menu, order it.
• On Government Hill, Herve Restaurant & Wine Bar (Monday through Saturday, from 11:30 a.m.) has excellent views, food and a wine list.

Ferry at Red Hook

Duffy’s Love Shack (parking lot in Red Hook Plaza from 11:30 a.m. daily) is famous for its huge tropical drinks; food is served as well.

4:30 pm – Onboard

St. John

There are two places on St. Thomas to catch the ferry to St. John: Red Hook (a 15-minute ride across the sound from the east end of St. Thomas to Cruz Bay, St. John) and Charlotte Amalie (a longer and usually rougher ferry ride that departs from downtown Charlotte Amalie harbor).

Hercules Pate Delight Cruz Bay – across from Lumberyard (340) 776-6532

The best homemade pates (similar to an empanada) filled with either beef, chicken or salt cod are the specialty of the house of this small local stand across from the bustling Lumberyard Mall. Other local delicacies are served with flair, like johnny cakes, salt cod patties, and bull foot soup. Try them all, but whatever you do, don’t miss the pates.

Best Cocktail: Bushwacker, a potent tropical drink consisting of rum (light and dark), creme de cacao, cream of coconut, Kahlua and Bailey’s Irish Cream, is served everywhere. However, Woody’s Saloon (across from First Bank, from 11 a.m.) is the classic place.

Shopping: Cruz Bay is full of very upscale boutiques, most of which are one of a kind. At the atmospheric, stone-walled Mongoose Junction (to the left of the dock), don’t miss Bougainvillea Boutique for chic bathing suits, linen fashions and straw hats. Bamboula, which sells everything from bed linens to keepsakes from all over the world, is St. John’s most eclectic shop. The Clothing Studio has hand-painted T-shirts, shorts, tank dresses and bathing suits. Check out Donald Schnell Pottery for hand-blown glass, kaleidoscopes and windchimes, and Ocean Leather for belts and accessories made out of fish-skin.

Adjacent to Margaritas (across from the dock) is St. John Editions, which has fabulous fashions including Lilly Pulitzer, Koko and Flax. At Wharfside, Dreams and Dragonflies features percussion instruments, funky jewelry and hand-painted clothing. Verace is an exquisite jewelry boutique with distinctive, hand-made pieces by artists from around the world. Out of the way, but worth the half-block stroll, is Pink Papaya (Lemon Tree Mall, behind Chase Manhattan Bank), an artsy shop specializing in boldly colored Caribbean handicrafts.

Trunk Bay Beach

Trunk Bay is perfect for a few hours of snorkeling (for beginners) and beach-bumming; equipment can be rented there, and there is an underwater trail and on-site snack shop. Admission is $4. Take a taxi to Trunk Bay from Cruz Bay.

Lunching

Casual, in-town joints: In Wharfside Village where you get the best views, there’s Panini Beach Trattoria (great individual pizzas and salads, 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.) and the Balcony on Cruz Bay (excellent seafood, Monday – Saturday 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.). Other good lunch spots include Chilly Billy’s (13 Enighed in the Old Lumberyard, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.), a local’s hangout and a good spot for basic fare. The Lime Inn, behind Pink Papaya in the Lemon Tree Mall, (11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.) has no sea views but wonderful burgers and fresh fish and is another local favorite. Woody’s Seafood Saloon (across from Chase Manhattan Bank) is good for conch fritters and beer. Duffy’s Love Shack, which originated in the alleyways of Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas, has an outpost in town (from 11:30 a.m.).

Gourmet Lunching: Some of the newest and finest restaurants in town — such as French-fusion Tage and Italian ZoZo’s Ristorante — are not open for lunch (but we highly recommend them if you are in town late). The closest thing St. John has to a gourmet lunch is the buffet at the tony Caneel Bay Resort’s Caneel Beach Terrance (11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.), a 15-minute taxi ride from the ferry and tender docks.

Lunch with a view: Dine at the rustic outdoor deck of Chateau Bordeaux. A fine dining restaurant in the evening at the east end of Centerline Road, their outdoor deck serves up burgers, grilled chicken sandwiches and a variety of daiquiris for lunch (the restaurant itself isn’t open at lunch). Pull up a chair at the wooden bar that runs along the outside of the deck and enjoy the spectacular vistas of the British Virgin Islands. Tip: Taxi drivers are happy to stop here on an island tour.

Day 6 – At Sea – Thursday, April 30, 2009

Captain’s Gala – Semi-formal

Day 7 – Castaway Cay – Friday, May 1, 2009

10 – 11 am Castaway Ray’s Stingray Adventure Shore Excursion 

Anytime – Bicycle Rentals

5 pm – Onboard

Day 8 – Port Canaveral – Saturday, May 2, 2009

7:35 am – Ashore

+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 8 – Saturday, May 2, 2009

Well, the day finally came. It was the day to go home. =( Wahhhhh!! We luckily had the last seating for breakfast so we technically got to sleep in the latest. Our breakfast was in Lumiere’s at 8:15 am. We had a nice sit-down breakfast with our tablemates and our usual servers before having to disembark the Disney Magic. The whole morning felt rushed even though we personally weren’t in a rush but a lot of people were running around with their luggage and the pace just seemed like everyone was in a hurry.

After disembarking the ship, we went through customs and walked through the area where everyone else (non-Onboard Airline Check-in people) claimed their luggage. We quickly boarded the DCL Motorcoach and it whisked us away to Orlando Airport. I fell asleep on the ride there, of course. =)

Disembarking the ship

DCL Motorcoach

We arrived at the Orlando Airport around 10:30 am. Our flight wasn’t until 4:25 pm! We had a lot of time to kill. The first thing we did was head back to the Hyatt Orlando Airport Hotel, where we stayed the night before our cruise. We left a nightlight in our room and checked with the front desk if it was found. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. While there, we talked to the Bell Desk and were able to convince them to hold our luggage for us until our flight.

Then we headed back down to the main terminal of the airport to do some shopping. The Main Terminal is like a mini-mall with over 35 shops and 15 restaurants! We shopped until lunch time and then returned to the Hyatt to have lunch at McCoy’s Bar & Grill, where I had a delicious burger! After lunch, we went back down to the Main Terminal and continued shopping until about 3 pm. We returned to the Hyatt to pick up our luggage and then headed to our gate.

Orlando Airport Disney Store

Mickey earrings & necklace set

Moon rock at Kennedy Space Center store

On the plane, I was seated in first class and Chris in coach again. When everyone boarded the plane, the pilot announced that all incoming flights to Dallas had been grounded because there was a major lightning storm and lightning had hit a runway. They would have to wait for word on the damage and until it was safe to fly into Dallas. We had no clue how long we’d be delayed in Orlando but it seemed like they expected it to be awhile because they said they would start the movie! =\ While we were grounded, the person sitting next to me tapped the panel below the row in front of us and it fell off! Upon a closer look, it was help up by duct tape! The flight attendant called for maintence and a maintence worked went in and fixed it. Since I had to get out of my row anyway, Chris and I chatted a little next to the bathroom. When we returned to our seats, we texted each other until our flight was given the all clear to leave. I think we were probably delayed 30 minutes. It wasn’t too bad. It could have been MUCH worse.

The flight home was uneventful. My meal wasn’t as good as when I had flown to Orlando but sitting in first class is sweet!!

+ See all photos from Disembarkation Day
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 7 – Friday, May 1, 2009

When we woke up, we had already docked at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island. Having been here before during our honeymoon cruise, I can tell you that Castaway Cay is a wonderful, wonderful place. It has all the tropical atmosphere that a person wants from a Caribbean vacation but with Disney-level service! The beaches are clean. It’s safe. The staff is wonderful. The food is great. But Castaway Cay is also bittersweet because it marks the last day of the cruise but at least we’re going out with a bang!

We had breakfast at Topsiders again. From Topsiders, we had a better view of Castaway Cay and spotted the Flying Dutchman, Davey Jones’ ghost ship from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”! The Flying Dutchman wasn’t at Castaway Cay during our last cruise so seeing it in person was a real treat!

View of Castaway Cay from our verandah

View of Castaway Cay from our verandah

View of Castaway Cay from Deck 9

Flying Dutchman

We were off the ship by 9:30 am and in line to see Chip and Dale in front of the Castaway Cay Post Office. After getting a photo with Chip and Dale, I mailed out postcards to our families from the Post Office. Even thought we visited 3 different places, I thought it would be particularily special to have the postcards mailed from Castaway Cay since it is a private island. Castaway Cay is part of the Bahamas so we had to buy Bahamian stamps, which were 50 cents for each postcard. (TIP: Unlike everywhere else on the island where you can use your room key to pay for stuff, the Castaway Cay Post Office takes cash only so bring cash if you plan to mail postcards from here!)

Castaway Cay, Bahamas

Chip and Dale at Castaway Cay Post Office

We took the tram to the beaches and rushed over to the Stingray Hut near the Teen Beach for our “Castaway Ray’s Stingray Adventure” excursion at 10 am. We were a few minutes late but we got our safety vests and just made it to the beginning of the orientation, which included educational facts about stingrays. We were divided into smaller groups and were assigned a feeding ramp in Stingray Lagoon. The water in Stingray Lagoon was cold, by the way! Our guide taught us how to feed the stingrays by placing a block of food between our fingers and laying our hands flat on a Mickey head. The stingrays have been trained to eat from the Mickey head! Chris and I both fed the stingrays a couple of times since our group was small. When they eat from your hand, you feel a sucking feeling like a low-powered vaccuum as the stingray sucks the food into his mouth. I was naughty and didn’t put my fingers flat when feeding and the stingray bit me on accident! The teeth of a stingray aren’t sharp but are flat like plates. The bite wasn’t painful at all. I just felt a lot of pressure. When I examined my finger, it was indented with a bunch of little rectangles! It was a funny experience to be bitten by a stingray! (Unfortunately, an older lady pulled her hand while she was being bitten and actually bled!) We also pet the stingrays as they swam up and down the feeding ramp.

Stingray Hut

Stingray presentation

Stingray Bay

Stingray on the feeding ramp

Stingray food and the Mickey head

Me feeding a stingray

Chris feeding a stingray

After the feeding, we had 30 minutes of free time to snorkel and swim with the stingrays in Stingray Lagoon. Swimming and snorkeling among them was amazing! Unfortunately, the water was pretty cloudy from all the sand being stirred up but I could still spot stingrays as they swam by me or hiding in the sand.

Overall, I thought this excursion was an amazing experience! I’ve heard other ports of call have stingray excursion but Disney trims the barbs on their stingrays so, even though being stung by a stingray is unlikely, it gives me greater piece of mind. Also, because it’s run by Disney and the stingrays live in Disney’s island, I have more confidence that these stingrays are treated well and what Disney does is environmentally sound. You should see how fat and happy these stingrays are! They seriously won the stingray lottery!

Chris in Stingray Lagoon

Me in Stingray Lagoon with the Disney Magic in the background

Snorkeling underwater photo of a stingray

The only other reservations we had at Castaway Cay was for one-hour bicycle rentals so, after the excursion, we picked up our bicycles. The backpack Chris was carrying was pretty heavy and big because of our snorkel gear and water shoes. The Cast Member recommended that he take an adult bike with a baby seat in the back and put our gear in the baby seat! It seemed like a great idea but Chris found controlling the bike to be more difficult with the extra unbalanced weight. We did one round with the baby bike and then the second round, we just left our belongings in a bin at the rental area and put our valuables into a case on a lanyard.

Riding bikes was really Chris’ idea. While I didn’t mind going, it wasn’t really something I was excited about. In my mind, bicycles = exercise and exercise does not = fun. But it turned out to be great experience! The Castaway Cay’s Bike Trails are a wonderful way to explore the island! Cruising down the path with the tropical wind blowing in my face was thrilling! The island was so beautiful! The trails also took us to part of the islands we’d never seen, especially a lot of undeveloped areas of Castaway Cay. It was pretty cool to see what Castaway Cay used to look like before Disney turned it into a tropical paradise!

Castaway Cay Bike Rentals

Castaway Cay Bike Trail

Castaway Cay Observation Tower

Castaway Cay Observation Tower

View of Disney Magic from Observation Tower

View of undeveloped area from Observation Tower

DCL Anchor along the Bike Trail

Undeveloped beach along the Bike Trail

Undeveloped beach along the Bike Trail

After returning our bikes, we decided it was time for lunch. We took the tram to Serenity Bay, the adults only beach. The BBQ lunch was yummy! I had BBQ ribs, all sorts of sides, and split a cheeseburger with Chris. I also finally had the highly recommended cookie dough ice cream and chocolate chip cookie! Yummmmm! We shared a table with another couple, Amy and Ray, and were chatting about various things, including sports that we watched. Ray mentioned that he liked baseball and he used to be a Yankees fan but converted to Red Sox. Well, a Yankee fan behind our table overheard our conversation and started going off on Ray! I mean, this guy was so angry that I was worried he was about to start a full-on fight! The guy backed off after saying some choice words and we ignored him. OMG. I can’t believe people are so rabidly crazy. This guy almost started a bar fight on Castaway Cay!! O_o We later saw the same couple again on the ship and had a good laugh about the crazy Yankee fan.

Serenity Bay BBQ Menu

Serenity Bay BBQ Lunch

After lunch, we found a nice spot on the beach at Serenity Bay, which is my favorite part of Castaway Cay. Since it’s an adults only area and most guests on Disney cruises are families, there aren’t a lot of people on the beach. During our last cruise, we spent some time at the family beach when I snorkeled in the Snorkel Lagoon and it was SO crowded. It was hard to find a empty chair for one thing and the chairs were all so close together. It was packed with people. Anyway, at Serenity Bay, there are PLENTY of empty chairs and most groups are sitting with a good amount of space from each other. It is also so peaceful since there are no kids running around horseplaying in the water or in the sand. Anyway, it’s truly paradise!

Chris and I swam and snorkeled in the water together for 30 minutes. I snorkeled and would find things on the ocean floor and would pick them up for Chris to see. It was very relaxing.

Serenity Bay

In the water at Serenity Bay

Chris in the water at Serenity Bay

Chris holding a sand dollar we found

We ran into Danny who was snorkeling. He told me about all the fish and sea life he was seeing further out. Chris went back to the chair on the beach to relax and I went snorkeling with Danny. I felt a little bad because Danny often had to wait for me to catch up. I was having issues with my mask leaking and I wasn’t wearing fins so I saw slower. But snorkeling in Serenity Bay was amazing! We saw conch, HUGE starfish, and lots of different kinds of fish! I took lots of underwater photos! I wasn’t really good at diving for stuff so Danny dove and picked up a lot of things to show me. I got to feel a starfish sucking on my hand! We swam really far out to a pink buoy. I really wish I had those fins because I was pretty exhauted by the time we got out to the buoy and I felt like I was going to DIE on the swim back. Next time, I’m going to rent the fins!! But it was truly an amazing experience!!

Conch

Fish

Fish

Starfish

Starfish

Me holding a starfish

When I got back to the beach, Chris had ordered me a Bahama Mama cocktail and so I relaxed in a lounge chair and sipped it. *sigh* Paradise!! It was already past 3 pm when I got out of the water and all aboard time was 5 pm. How time flies!! We weren’t there nearly long enough. I picked up some pieces of coral and seashells I found on the beach as mementos.

Enjoying my Bahama Mama

Me & Chris on Serenity Bay

Coral & shells from Castaway Cay

We wanted enough time to leisurely walk back to the ship and do some shopping so we packed up around 3:30 pm and took the tram back to the family beach. We first stopped at the Bahamian Retail shop, where I picked up a magnet and a nice sand photo frame. Next, we dropped a ton of money at She Sells Seashells shop. Chris and I both bought “Finding Nemo” seagulls shirts. I also bought a magnet, Christmas ornament, Castaway Cay pin, Castaway Club pin, and Castaway Cay shirt.

Gorgeous palm trees

Bahamian Retail Shop

Bahamas photo frame

She Sells Seashells and everything else

Finding Nemo seagulls shirt

Castaway Cay shirt

We continued our walk back to the ship. Instead of taking the tram, we walked the route so we could take photos along the way. We took photos of Mount Rushmore, which are four giant metal tanks painted with the faces of Mickey, Pluto, Donald, and Goofy. We also took some great photos of the ship and the Flying Dutchman.

Arriving at Castaway Cay was bittersweet because it was the last day of the cruise but Castaway Cay is awesome. Leaving Castaway Cay was just bitter…well, sad really. I didn’t want it to end!!

Mount Rushmore

Disney Magic & Flying Dutchman

Disney Magic & Flying Dutchman

Flying Dutchman

Flying Dutchman detail

Castaway Cay flags

Castaway Cay Post Office

Disney Magic

When we returned to the room, our Onboard Airline Check-in documents were there. If Disney was handling your transportation from the port back to Orlando airport and you are flying with a participating airline, you can do Onboard Airline Check-in where they deliver your airline tickets to your room, pick up your check-in luggage from your stateroom, check in the luggage for you, and all you have to do is get on your flight and pick up your luggage at the baggage claim in your home airport! It’s pretty neat to not have to worry about hauling our luggage to the airport and checking it in ourselves. The only flaw I found with the program is that we can only have our airline check-in luggage taken by the Cast Members. During our first cruise, there wasn’t Onboard Airline Check-in and we could have Disney take any luggage that we didn’t need overnight or the next morning down to the port for us and we could pick them up when we got off the ship. That way, we didn’t have to haul around additional luggage in the morning to breakfast and exiting the ship. With the program, we had to keep both of our rolling carry-on suitcases and would have to take them to breakfast with us. I made a note of this in the feedback form so hopefully, this changes in the future.

Anyway, it was time to get down to the business of packing. We had gotten quite a few magnets as FE gifts so I took one last photo of our stateroom door before sadly taking down all the magnets. I also packed up all the pins I traded/bought and buttons we acquired from the trip! Right as we finished packing the last of the check-in bags, Air delivered our autographed photo mat to our room! We totally forgot about it. I dropped off a blank photo mat to be signed by the Disney characters at Guest Services on the first night. It was signed by everyone! Yay! But unfortunately, we had to unpack one of the bags and repack it with the photo mat. LOL! Even though we didn’t have to have the bags outside until 11 pm, we decided to put them out before leaving for dinner so we wouldn’t have to rush back.

Onboard Airline Check-in Documents

Our final door decorations

Sample of my pins & buttons

Autographed photo mat

We went to Shutters again to get the last of our photos and it was a MAD HOUSE! It was a good thing that we went through most of our photos the night before and purchased our packages. We just had to pick up a couple of photos and downgrade our photo packages since we didn’t use all of them. That’s one of the great things about the photo packages at Shutters. As I mentioned before, we purchased the 20 8×10 and 10 6×8 photo packages but only winded up liking 16 8×10′s and 6 6×8′s so Shutters refunded us the prices for the original packages and charged us for a 15 8×10 photo package and we bought the remaining 8×10 and 6 6×8′s individually. It was really quick and we got outta there.

Next, we did some last minute shopping at Mickey’s Mates and Treasure Ketch. I winded up finding a beautiful Ariel wooden statue. It was behind the counter so I asked a Cast Member (CM) to see it.

Me: How much is it?
CM: $35
Me: Did you say $35?!
CM: Yes.

OMG. I thought it would be more along the lines for $300!! I snatched it up right away. While heading to dinner, we ran into Minnie Mouse and I got a quick photo with her! Chris and I also took a picture in front of the Helmsman Mickey statue in the Lobby Atrium.

Wooden Ariel statue

Minnie Mouse

Helmsman Mickey Statue

Our last dinner on the cruise was back in the restaurant we began in, Lumiere’s. The theme of the night was “Till We Meet Again” and the international diversity of the food and our servers was the focus. During dessert, the server did an international flag parade. Then the chefs presented the Flaming Baked Alaska! The food was back to the glory that I knew and love! Yum! At the end of dinner, we took photos with our table and servers. Last dinner! *sniffle*

Tuna Sashimi Appetizer

Flag of Nations Parade

Flaming Baked Alaska Presentation

Baked Alaska Cake

Our Table #52 and our servers: Me, Miki (Assistant Server), Chris, Paula (Server), Kip, Casey, and Paula

After dinner, we went up to Deck 4 to the area that overlooked the lobby for a spot to watch the “Till We Meet Again” show, which was a gathering of the casts from the stage shows, staff members, and Disney characters! After an introduction of everyone, the characters broke off into area around the Lobby Atrium to take photos. I got photos with Chip & Dale, Belle, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Anne Marie from “Disney Dreams”! After taking the photos, the characters gathered on the staircases for one final wave goodbye to us!

Chip and Dale

Belle

Cinderella

Till We Meet Again show

Till We Meet Again show

One of the tips I read was to savor the last night by having a Mickey ice cream bar on the balcony. We ordered a Mickey ice cream bar every night anyway so we ordered another one and sat outside on the balcony to eat it this time. It was so lovely to hear the crashing of the waves around us and look out into the distance with the moon lighting the water. How I will miss this.

+ See all photos from Castaway Cay
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 6 – Thursday, April 30, 2009

Day 6 was our final full day at sea. After such a long day in St. Thomas, we decided to sleep in on Thursday and woke up just before 11 am. It was a beautiful day and the view from our verandah was gorgeous. The water was so blue! We started off the morning by taking a stroll around Deck 4 and viewing the anchor room. Each chain link that held up the anchor was so thick but then again, the anchor does weigh 14 tons!

View from our verandah

Shuffleboard on Deck 4

Anchor Room

We then headed to Treasure Ketch to get in line for the Captain’s Signing. There was also a sidewalk sale going on so I browsed some of the merchandise while Chris held my place in line. At noon, Captain Tom arrived to sign our stuff. I had him sign 2 postcards.

Captain Tom signing

Postcards signed by Captain Tom

It was already the last day at sea and I had not tried lunch at all the restaurants as I had hoped. Since we went to Palo twice, we only ate lunch at Parrot Cay the first day we boarded! I really had my heart set on eating lunch at Lumiere’s but I also wanted to see the spread at Parrot Cay. So we went to Parrot Cay and got a small snack of fruit and sushi to take back to the room. (TIP: We asked for kids plates to take back to the room because they are a lot lighter than the heavy glass plates.) It was cool having real sushi with real fish in it but the rice was a little hard.

Then we had our real lunch at Lumiere’s! The lunch was really good! Much better than I expect eating at a buffet would be. It was also nice having table service and eating at a slow pace.

Food for Parrot Cay buffet

Jalapeno spinach dip from Lumiere’s

Apple filled crepes from Lumiere’s

After lunch, we had a little time to kill before our next scheduled event so I changed into my bathing suit and hit the Quiet Cove Pool, which is the adults only pool. Instead of swimming, what I really wanted to do was sunbathe and I found it very annoying that all the pool chairs had people’s towels drapped on them. If you know you’re going to be in the pool the whole time, why take up a chair?! Grrr…so instead, I went up to Deck 10 and found a nice chair up there to sunbathe for a little bit.

We met at Lumiere’s for the Galley Tour. The galley is what they call the kitchen on a ship. We got to see the huge kitchen they have behind Lumiere’s and Chef Sandip described to us the process of how they cook and get our meals out to us. It’s pretty amazing! We got a chocolate chip cookie from the pastry chef, Chef Brenton! Yum!

Chef Sandip during Galley Tour

Lumiere’s Galley

Chef Brenton

Dishwasher

Photos of all the dishes served at Lumiere’s

Following the Galley Tour, Chris and I attended beer tasting at Diversions. We tasted four beers: Peroni Nastro Azzurro (a pale lager), Yuengling (a pilsner), Bass Ale (a pale ale), and Guinness (a dry stout). We also combined the Base Ale and Guinness to make a Black & Tan. The guide told us a little bit about how beer is made, what’s important when drinking beer, and the differences between the different types. Frankly, I was a bit tired and got a little bored with the informational part but Chris loved it. My favorite beer from the tasting was the Yuengling and least was the Guinness.

Beer Tasting

Beer Tasting

After beer tasting, we went back to the room. When we got back to the room, our tip documents were waiting for us. We pre-paid tips for our head server, server, assistant server, and stateroom hostess so we got little tickets to pass out to them, instead of having to hand out cash. We also got little envelopes to give to each person on the last day.

Tip envelopes

Pre-paid gratuity tickets

We had some time before the stage show so we decided to do laundry. Since it was the last “at sea” day, the laundry room was quite busy but we were able to get a washer on our floor (Deck 6) without waiting. We brought plenty of $1 bills with us to the cruise for tips and stuff so we had no problem using the change machine in the laundry room to get quarters. When it was time to dry our clothes, all the dryers were full but one had already stopped for awhile. Chris took their clothes out and left it on the folding table to use the dryer. We used to do this in the apartment and people would get mad and purposely open our dryer door so the time would run out! So Chris checked on the dryer a few times while it ran to make sure no one sabatoged it. After drying through one cycle, most of the clothes weren’t dry but we didn’t have time to run it another cycle so we hung up everything throughout the room to dry. (By the way, when our dryer was done, that person still hadn’t gotten their clothes from the table!) I felt bad for Air to see all our socks and underwear hanging all over the place! LOL! So if you plan to wash your clothes, it’ll definitely take 2 cycles in the dryer so plan accordingly!

We headed down for the final Broadway-style stage show, “Disney Dreams”, in the Walt Disney Theatre. It centers around Anne Marie, a little girl, who is led by Peter Pan through a night of filled with famous Disney songs and characters, including
Aladdin, Cinderella, Ariel, Sebastian, Belle, Simba and more! This was definitely the best show out of all of them and it was very easy to see why it won an award for “Best Show” in the cruise line industry.

I finally got to see Ariel too! She had a scene in “Disney Dreams”. For some reason, Ariel doesn’t make an character appearances for photos during the entire cruise. The Disney Princesses that appear are Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora. You’d think cruise = water = Ariel but no! No Ariel! I understand there are difficulties moving Ariel but if she is in her fin, they could wheel her into place or she could just wear one of her human costumes (blue village dress or pink ballgown). Anyway, I was disappointed that I didn’t get to take photos with my favorite character.

Ariel in “Disney Dreams” show

Peter Pan, Sebastian, and Anne Marie in “Disney Dreams” show

It was semi-formal night! After the show, Chris and I went to the Lobby Atrium to take some photos. We then dropped into the “High School Musical Dance Party” in Studio Sea. Cheerleaders from East High taught the kids the dance to “We’re All in This Together”. After listening to a couple of songs, we left and headed over to Shutters. We went through all the professional photos we had taken and weeded out the ones we didn’t want to buy. We purchased the 20 8×10 and 10 6×8 photo packages. They gave us a punch card for the remaining photos we had left for the packages and we got to take the rest of photos with us. We also purchased a nice photo portfolio that had the Disney Magic on one side and a photo of our choosing on the other.

Semi-Formal Night Portrait

Semi-Formal Night

High School Musical Dance Party

Disney Cruise Line photo portfolio

That evening was the Captain’s Gala and our dinner was in Parrot Cay. Captain’s Gala = lobster night!! Yay! As I mentioned before, I was starting to feel like the food was repetitive from night to night but the Captain’s Gala menu finally broke that cycle for me. I thought there was great variety for all the courses and I loved the baked lobster tail!

Baked Lobster Tail

Cherries Jubilee

After dinner, we had a huge dilemma on our hands. There was going to be a dessert buffet from 11 pm until midnight in Lumiere’s and I’ve heard so much hype about the dessert buffet: chocolate fountains and the works. I was already disappointed we missed the Pirate Night buffet too. But the “Hannah Montanta” movie was playing at 10:30 pm at Buena Vista Theatre and went until past midnight. I delayed seeing the movie in the theatre because I knew it was showing on the ship. Plus, watching it was free and it would cost us almost $20 to see it back home. We eventually decided to see the movie. We headed back to our room to change into more comfortable clothes. We had a cute lobster towel animal waiting for us when we got back to the room.

Lobster Towel Animal

As a huge fan of the TV show “Hannah Montana”, I was very excited to see the “Hannah Montana – The Movie”. (I missed the dessert buffet for it, didn’t I?!) Overall, I thought the movie was good but not as good as the TV show. There were defintiely parts of the movie, including the ending, that seemed far-fetched to me. Also, it was disappointing to not see more of Oliver. The physical comedy seemed geared toward an audience younger than Hannah Montana’s tween following as well. The love story was cute but it was a little bittersweet since you know you’ll probably never see that guy on the TV show anyway! In general, I’d recommend “Hannah Montana” fans to see it but otherwise, if you’re not a fan, skip it.

So I can’t remember what day I acquired this bruise but I know I had it by now so I’ll just share about it. One night, Chris and I were walking around the Quiet Cove Pool on Deck 9. It was pretty dark and there wasn’t a lot of people around. I slammed right into a lounge chair and bruised my left leg. Poo! The bruise didn’t look too bad right away but a few days later, it looked nasty and when I got home, it looked even worse. But it’s all healed up now!

Bruise on my left leg

+ See all photos from Day 6
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 5 – Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The ship had already docked in Havensight, St. Thomas when we woke up on Wednesday. It was the earliest morning we had to wake up. Our excursion met at 7:15 am so we were having breakfast as Topsiders by 6:45. Ugh. Waking up so early was horrible.

After breakfast, we met at the Buena Vista Theatre for the “St. John Island Tour” excursion. We had to wait longer for everyone in the group to gather as I’m sure people overslept. When everyone arrived (or the tour guides just gave up on them), we all disembarked the ship together and walked over to the ferry that had pulled up next to the ship. Having learned our lesson, we sat inside the ship which protected us from the sprinkling rain and splash from the waves. I took a few photos of St. Thomas as we pulled away from it. I fell asleep during the 40-minute ferry ride and when I awoke, we had pulled into Cruz Bay, St. John.

View of St. Thomas for our verandah

Breakfast at Topsiders

Ferry from St. Thomas to St. John

St. Thomas

St. Thomas

Cruz Bay, St. John

We got off the ferry and boarded open-air safari buses, just like our other excursion. This tour took us up into the mountains and all over St. John Island. The roads were pretty treacherous, steep and narrow. It was amazing these drivers got the buses up these hilly roads! The first overlook was Cruz Bay followed by views of St. John’s famous gorgeous beaches, including Caneel Bay, Hawksnest Bay, and Trunk Bay.

Inside the safari bus

Cruz Bay

Caneel Bay

Hawksnest Bay

Trunk Bay

Trunk Bay

Next, our tour actually stopped at the Cinnamon Bay Campground and we had 20 minutes to stretch our legs and check out the beach from up close. While walking down to Cinnamon Bay beach, we passed a few donkeys that were just walking around by themselves! When we got down to the beach, it took my breath away. It was absolutely stunning and almost completely deserted!! It was so gorgeous that it looked like a postcard. Cinnamon Bay was the most beautiful sight we saw during the whole cruise. We took some photos and enjoyed the view. Then we walked back up to the campground area to have a snack before we got back on the bus to continue the tour.

Our safari bus

Free range donkey at Cinnamon Bay Campground

Cinnamon Bay

Cinnamon Bay

Cinnamon Bay Campground

Our tour continued with a view of Maho Bay and then we stopped at the Annaberg Sugar Mill Plantation Ruins. The Annaberg Sugar Mill was a working sugar mill during the 18th-19th century. The ruins included a windmill, main factory with placeholders for large kettles, kitchen oven, and slaves quarters. It was very neat to explore but walking around was getting hot. The ruins also had a beautiful view of Leinster Bay. Our tour gathered down the road from the ruins on the rocky Leinster Bay so we got to take a few photos there as well.

Maho Bay

Annaberg Sugar Mill Plantation Ruins

Annaberg Sugar Mill Plantation Ruins

Annaberg Sugar Mill Plantation Ruins

Annaberg Sugar Mill Plantation Ruins

Annaberg Sugar Mill Plantation Ruins

Leinster Bay

Leinster Bay

Upon boarding the bus again, our guide briefly stopped in front of a poisonous Manchineel Tree. Just touching the tree or leaves can cause skin to blister. If you touch the tree and then your eyes, it can cause blindness and eating the fruit can be fatal! Our next stop was Bordeaux Mountain View Point, where there was a stunning view of Bordeaux Mountain. There were also a couple of shops, where I picked up a handpainted sand dollar magnet.

Manchineel Tree

Bordeaux Mountain View Point

Bordeaux Mountain View Point

Bordeaux Mountain View Point

The tour drove us back to Cruz Bay and we had about 15 minutes to walk around before the ferry left so I picked up a few postcards, a photo album, and a shot glass for my dad. The ferry took us back to the ship in Havensight, St. Thomas. Overall, I thought the “St. John Island Tour” excursion was great! It was a wonderful way to see a lot of the island and see the world famous beaches without getting your feet wet! I also thought the duration of the tour was good. It left plenty of time to do our own thing in St. Thomas or St. John after the excursion.

Right when the ferry docked, the skies opened it up and it was pouring rain. We walked as fast as we could from the pier through Havensight Mall to the taxi stand and took a taxi to Charlotte Amalie, which is St. Thomas’ downtown area. On the taxi there, we were seated next to another couple on the same cruise and they were also headed to Cuzzin’s Caribbean Restaurant, which I had read about. We walked to the restaurant together and also happened to get tables next to each other so we had some nice company to chat with during lunch. Chris ordered the curried mutton and I had curried chicken. It was great but what I loved the most were the sides: fungi (a peppery blend of cornmeal and okra) and local stuffing (a zesty mix of sweet potato, tomato, sugar, cinnamon, and raisins)! Yummo!

Cuzzin’s in Charlotte Amalie

Curried mutton at Cuzzin’s

After eating, it was time to shop!! St. Thomas is famous for being the shopping capital of the Caribbean and is specifically famous for great deals on jewelry! You can buy diamonds in St. Thomas for up to 70% less than in the U.S. and the shopping is duty-free up to $1,600! We used the Port & Shopping Map and our Port Shopping Club book as our guide through Charlotte Amalie. We stopped by all the stores to pick up the freebies from the Port Shopping Club book, including 2 pairs of pearl earrings, 1 pair of tanzanite earrings, a loost 2-carat midnight sapphire, 2 colored gemstone pendents, charm bracelet, and a silver seastar pendent. Del Sol is famous for their products that change color in the sun. I picked up a free Del Sol tote bag and lanyard and also purchased some color changing nail polish.

Main Street in Charlotte Amalie

Free jewelry from St. Thomas

Del Sol tote bag, lanyard, and nail polish

Then came the big ticket purchases. At the Port & Shopping Show, Kat demonstrated Diversa earrings. They are diamond earrings that go from studs to drop earrings. When I saw that, I knew I had to have them so we purchased them at Effy Jewelers. A VIP pass and coupon from Kat saved us $100 and I got a lovely leather jewelry case for free using a coupon from the Port Shopping Club book.

Diversa diamond earrings (collapsed)

Diversa diamond earrings (extended)

Next, it was time to buy the diamond that Chris promised me at the Port & Shopping Show. At the show and then the Diamond & Gemstone seminar, I started getting interested in colored diamonds, especially blue ones. As I started to look around different jewelers, I definitely gravitated towards blue diamonds.

While walking around, we went into a jeweler that wasn’t on the Shopping Map. They showed us some loose blue diamonds and quickly knocked down the price for one of them from $1,200 down to $600 without us having to negotiate. Chris said the diamond had some serious flaws when he looked at it under the jeweler’s loop and we had just started to look so we really weren’t ready to buy. Plus, I just wasn’t comfortable buying from a store that wasn’t guaranteed by the cruise line.

Basically, if you buy something at a store guaranteed by the cruise line, you have it appraised at home and it’s worth less than what you paid or it falls apart, you can get your money back within 60 days. With the Port Shopping Club book, the guarantee is extended if you just change your mind! I know that the guaranteed stores have deals with the cruise lines to become guaranteed and that might mean they are more expensive than the not guaranteed stores because of the advertising costs but the guarantee really gave me piece of mind, especially since I am not a jewelry expert. I want to know that I won’t be ripped off and because the stores obviously want to maintain a good t relationship with the cruise line, it makes me less like to get ripped off.

We looked at a several more (guaranteed) stores, including Venetian Jewelers and Diamonds International, and found the prices out of our budget. Then we walked into Royal Caribbean (not affiliated with the cruise line). I heard Royal Caribbean was famous for a variety of merchandise, including electronics, watches, and jewelry. I honestly didn’t think I’d find a piece of jewelry there I would like. It was mostly to see what kind of merchandise they had. But after browsing their jewelry cases, I found a nice collection of blue diamond rings and one ring especially jumped out at me. It was a three-stone ring with a blue diamond in the center and two white diamonds on the sides. The blue diamond was the perfect size and color. (I really wanted a deep sea blue and we were seeing a lot of pale blues and greens.) I also thought the ring was perfect because there were three diamonds, one to represent each year of our anniversary! It also fit my right ring finger perfectly and didn’t need to be resized. After talking to the salesperson and then the owner and flashing a few coupons, we were able to get them to knock the price down by almost $300. We also got a free sports watch, free duffel bag, and a black pearl necklace, earrings, and bracelet set for half off. After buying the ring, I just couldn’t stop looking at it. It was so beautiful!! I just had the ring appraised at a local jeweler and it appraised for 42% more than we paid for it!

Blue diamond & white diamonds ring

Overall, if you plan to go shopping, I highly recommend attending to the Port & Shopping Show and if you plan to buy jewelry, go to the Diamond & Gemstone Seminar. I would also recommend buying the $25 Port Shopping Club book also! With the combination of the seminars and the book, I saved hundreds of dollars on the items I purchased! I absolutely think the Port Shopping Club book pays for itself and collecting all the freebies was fun! The guarantee from the Port Shopping Club book also provides piece of mind in case you do change your mind on any items you purchased!

After shopping, we decided it was time to catch a taxi back to Havensight Mall to make sure we got back onboard in time. Carnival in St. Thomas just happened to be the week were there! We walked through Emancipation Garden where there were tents set up with locals selling wares and food. There were also rides and steel drum music! I wish I was hungry to eat some of the food and had time to explore the Carnival more but we needed to find a taxi. We went out on to the Waterfornt Highway and hailed a taxi, which took us on a nice scenic route along the water back to Havensight.

Carnival in Charlotte Amalie

Steel drum bus for Carnival

Carnival tents

Steel barrel drums

Rides for Carnival

View of Disney Magic from Charlotte Amalie

When we arrived back in Havensight Mall, the ship was only a stone throw away so we knew we had a little more time to walk around. We explored a few shops in Havensight Mall. We walked into a shop called Shopper’s Haven and I looked at some of the jewelry there when Chris spotted a blue diamond necklace and earring set marked for $25.95. For a second, he freaked out that a blue diamond set would cost $29.95 when we just spent almost 50 times that for my ring until I pointed out that it said “blue diamond-colored”. “It’s not real, honey.” I told him. Still, we both agreed that it looked nice and it matched my ring in color so I bought it. I also bought a beautiful Australian opal pendant as well as some postcards there. (I winded up finding a matching Australian opal ring on the ship in Treasure Ketch!)

Havensight Mall

Havensight Mall

Blue-colored jewelry set

Australian opal pendant from Havensight Mall and ring from Treasure Ketch

Chris was pretty beat and he was already whining while I was doing my shopping at Havensight Mall so we headed back to the ship. Whenever we boarded the ship from a port of call, there was a big banner that said “Welcome Home”. It was so great to call Disney Magic “home” for this week!!

When we got back to our room, Chris and I admired the view of St. Thomas from our verandah. There were a lot of seagulls flying around too because someone from the upper decks was feeding them.

Welcome Home to the Disney Magic

View of St. Thomas from our verandah

Video from our verandah of St. Thomas & seagulls

We both took showers and Chris already wanted to start doing some packing. He took photos of all my fish extender gifts up to that point. Here is a sample of some of the gifts we got or see all the fish extender gifts we received.

FE gifts: Canadian souvenirs, water bottle lanyard, Magic towels, journal, photo album made out of Personal Navigators, and more!

FE gifts: Magnets

We got dressed for dinner and headed down to take are usual pre-dinner portraits. We just happen to run into Belle finishing up her appearance! After taking photos, we hung around the pin trading station to trade pins and then relaxed in the lobby until it was time for dinner.

Belle

Lifestyle Portrait

Our dinner was at Animator’s Palate. This time we finally got the full show/light display, where the restaurant turns from black & white to full color. The servers also time their uniforms to match the change as well. At the end of the show, Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey Mouse made an appearance!

Filet Mignon with Seared Scallops

Strawberry Shortcake

Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey Mouse at Animator’s Palate

Chip and Dale was making a photo appearance in the lobby at 10 pm. I had already missed several opportunities take a picture with them so I really wanted to get to that appearance. We rushed through dessert and quickly left dinner at 9:45 pm. We were the first people in line! Yay! I finally got a photo with Chip and Dale! Then, we also got photos with Donald and Daisy Duck and then Alice from “Alice in Wonderland”! So fun!! It was a long but very memorable day!

Chip and Dale

Donald & Daisy Duck

Alice

+ See all photos from St. Thomas & St. John
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 4 – Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Tuesday was an exciting day for us because it was the first day we would stop at a port of call! This port of call was particularily special because it was the first time EVER that the Disney Cruise Line has stopped at Tortola in the British Virgin Islands (and all the DISers back home were eager to hear our reports as DCL pioneers on this inaugural cruise)!

We got up bright and early because ashore time (when we could get off the ship) was 7:45 am and we wanted to get off as soon as we could to explore the island. When we woke up, we were already docked in Road Town, Tortola and starring at us from our window were passengers of Royal Caribbean’s “Grandeur of the Seas” ship! We made sure those curtains were closed when we changed! LOL!

Our view of the Royal Caribbean ship from our balcony

We had the breakfast buffet at Topsiders for the first time and it was disappointing. I know making good-tasting breakfast food in mass quanitities is difficult but you’d think Disney would have it down by now? The bacon was limp, oatmeal was runny, the eggs were mushy, and the pancakes (though better than character breakfast) were still thick and dry. But what can you do when you need a big breakfast to get you through the morning and you need it quickly? I took a few photos of Tortola from the outside seating of Topsiders on Deck 9 and then we were probably off the ship by 8 am.

View of Tortola from Deck 9

View of Tortola from Deck 9

Disney Magic & Grandeur of the Seas in Tortola Dock

Right when we existed the cruise dock, there were a big line of white tents with vendors selling all sorts of souvenirs and jewelry. We passed those tents up in order to save time. We had an excursion booked that met at 12:30 pm back on the ship so we wanted to see as much of Road Town as we could.

Welcome to British Virgin Islands

Donkey near the cruise dock

Our first stop was Crafts Alive Marketplace, a collection of colored houses that served as shops selling souvenirs and clothing. After visiting a couple of the shops, it was clear that most of them sold the same stuff. What I loved about Crafts Alive Marketplace were the chickens! Chris has a special place in his heart for the feathered animal. (He has a collection of chickens on our kitchen refridgerator and I have to drag him away from buying more chickens when we go to home decor shops!) I’m not sure why it seemed to strange to me but when I think of the Caribbean, I certainly don’t think of chickens or any farm animal but the chickens at Crafts Alive were all over the place and roaming freely. I’m not sure if they even belong to someone.

Crafts Alive Village

Chickens of Crafts Alive Village

Hen & chicks in Crafts Alive Village

Chicken & the ocean

View of the ocean from Crafts Alive Village

British Virgin Islands stingray plush from Crafts Alive Village

From Crafts Alive Village, we walked up Main Street where there are a lot of different shops. One of the first stores we went to was Latitude 18, where Chris found a new Kipling backpack to replace the broken Epcot backpack. I also bought a sea glass necklace there. We also visited two of Road Town’s most famous shops, Pusser’s Company Store and Sunny Caribbee. Pusser’s rum was the official rum of the British Navy for 300 years. I picked up a Pusser’s Rum Painkiller set. Sunny Caribbee is famous for their Caribbean spices, spices, hot sauces, soaps, lotions, herbs, teas, coffees, etc. Since I love tea, I picked up a sack of hibiscus tea and calypso-scented soap. At Samarkand Jewelers, we purchased a green stone-carved turtle.

Shops in Road Town

Chris throwing away the Epcot backpack

Pusser’s

Pusser’s Rum Painkiller set

Hibiscus tea from Sunny Caribbee

Stone necklace & sea glass necklace

Sailor Venus house!!

Above Samarkand Jewelers is a small kitchen called Roti Palace. Roti is curry & meat filled flatbread and I heard they were awesome. We already had plans to eat lunch at another restaurant so we bought a conch curry roti to go. The lady cooked it to order and it looked delicious. You know how they say that you’re getting real food if only locals eat there? Well, it was definitely all locals. Not a tourist in sight, other than us! OMG! The roti was SOOOO good! I wish I could eat another one right now. The conch meat was chewy and reminded me of large chunks of squid. The curry flavor was AWESOME. We didn’t eat our roti for a few hours after we bought it so I can’t imagine how much more delicious it would have been if we ate it fresh!

Roti Palace

Conch Roti from Roti Palace

After picking up our roti, we headed to our actual lunch destination, Midtown Restaurant. Again, this restaurant had no tourists, only locals. They don’t have a standard menu. You order off a chalkboard menu and there are only a few options each day. We got the conch soup and a Johnny cake. Chris also ordered ginger beer for his drink. I was really worried that we didn’t get enough food but when we got the conch soup, it was huge!! OMG…it was so delicious too. We had conch chowder in Nassau, Bahamas during our last cruise and it was more like a cream soup. This conch soup was more like a vegatable soup and I LOVED it! We ordered the Johnny cake because of Alton Brown’s show “Feast on Waves” and he raved about them. Chris liked eating it with the soup but I don’t like dipping bread/crackers into soup so I ate it by itself and it was very bland that way. Chris also liked his ginger beer. But OMG conch soup rocks!

Midtown Restaurant

Conch soup at Midtown Restaurant

After lunch, we still had some more time to kill before heading back to the ship for our excursion. We did a little more shopping, stopping at Little Denmark, which is famous for it’s room-sized cigar humidor, where we picked up some jewelry gifts for friends & family back home. We also stopped by Colombian Emeralds to pick up a Caribbean Mint collectible coin, which was one of the freebies from my port shopping book. Finally, on the way back to the ship, we browsed the white tents that we had passed earlier and I picked up up a blue stone necklace.

We dropped off our purchases back in our stateroom and headed over to Rockin Bar D for our excursion, “Tour to Virgin Gorda”. We met up with Michelle and Danny and our tour led us back downstairs to board the ferry to Virgin Gorda. We actually boarded the ferry directly from the ship, instead of having to walk off the ship to the ferry and then board the ferry! The ferry ride was 40 minutes long and it took us through the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Spanish Town in Virgin Gorda. At first, the four of us sat outside at the back of the ferry but it was soon clear that the splash from the waves was going to be horrible. The weather was overcast and pretty soon, we were soaked and freezing so one-by-one we left our seats and huddled under some shelter near the middle of the ferry!

Our ferry from Tortola to Virgin Gorda

Onboard the ferry before getting soaked

Leaving the Disney Magic

View of Tortola from the ferry

View of Virgin Gorda from the ferry

Once we disembarked the ferry in Virgin Gorda, we boarded an open-air safari bus, which took us through Spanish Town and up a hill to an overlook of Savannah Bay. As we continued the drive to The Baths, we passed by through the town and I noticed the houses were colorful like the shops in Tortola but much further apart.

Virgin Gorda in British Virgin Islands

Our safari bus taxi and driver

Savannah Bay, Virgin Gorda

Colorful houses in Virgin Gorda

Finally, we arrived at the highlight of the tour, The Baths National Park! We were dropped off at the Top of the Baths and we had to hike down to the Baths beach. It was easy and interesting hike down. There were lots of boulders jutting into the path and we saw hermit crabs and lizards along the way too. It was about a 15-minute walk down. At the bottom were restrooms, thank goodness! Unfortunately, in the women’s restrooms, the toliets weren’t flushing, some stalls didn’t have toliet paper, and, in case you wanted to shower after going to the beach, all the showers were out of order. Still, I got to relieve myself so I was happy. We, along with Danny and Michelle, decided to put our belongings into a locker. BIG MISTAKE and you’ll find out why in a little bit. After locking our stuff up, I grabbed a hot dog at Poor Man’s Bar as a snack.

Then we headed out into The Caves. The Caves is probably the most unique part of The Baths. It’s a maze of natural giant boulders that you walk, crawl, climb, and even wade through. It was totally a unique experience! The best part was definitely finding the large tide pool that we could wade through and there were all sorts of fish and even a sea urchin! Chris was so excited to see fish in their natural habitat without having to swim!

I also got to try out our new waterproof camera case, the DicaPac, while snorkeling in the tide pool!

The Baths National Park

Trail down to The Baths beach

Entrance to The Caves

Inside The Caves

Large tide pool inside The Caves

Fish in the The Caves tide pool

Going through The Caves took about 15-20 minutes and the reward was coming out to Devil’s Bay. It’s a gorgeous beach surrounded by those giant boulders! It was magnificient. Unfortunately, the weather was still overcast so it was a bit cold going into the water and all my photos are a little dark. It would have been nice if the sun was out but it was still beautiful. By the time we got to Devil’s Bay, we barely had 15 minutes to enjoy the beach before we had to hike back up to meet our tour. We snorkeled and swam for the 15 minutes. It was so disappointing to have so little time there because it was sooo nice!

Devil’s Bay

Devil’s Bay

Swimming in Devil’s Bay

The hike back up the Devil’s Bay path to the Top of the Baths was much worse than the way down. It was longer, steeper, and we were surrounded by cactus and it felt like a desert jungle. It was pretty horrible. We made the mistake of wearing our water shoes during the hike up too. We should have dried our feet off and changed back into our walking shoes. My feet hurt so much. Michelle got 2 bloody blisters as well. I also didn’t wear insect repellent and I got 2 huge, itchy bug bites on the back of my left leg. I’m pretty sure the bugs bit me during that trek back from Devil’s Bay too since it was like a jungle. We realized while making the trek back up that our belongings were in lockers that were at the BOTTOM of The Baths path. Ugh. Bad idea. When we finally got to the Top of the Baths, Danny and Chris went back down The Baths trail to get our stuff out of the lockers and would have to bring it all back up again!! Poor guys. So yeah, if you don’t plan to stay at The Baths beach, don’t use the lockers!!

While waiting for Chris and Danny to come back, I walked around the Top of the Baths area, which included a restaurant, outdoor pool, and a couple of shops. The shops weren’t anything spectacular, even for a souvenir collector like me. The view for the Top of the Baths was lovely though! When Chris and Danny finally got back, we used our free drink coupons from the tour to get rum punch. That was very refreshing! When we boarded the open-air safari bus, I noticed several children with cuts on their legs because they fell on cactus during the walks up and down from The Baths or on the rocks in The Caves. The bus took us back to the ferry. This time on the ferry, we were smart enough to sit inside the air-conditioned cabin with 2 flat-screen TV’s! When we first boarded, they were showing a bootlegged version of the live action “Dragonball” movie and then it suddenly cut to “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”. o_O Either way, it didn’t matter to me. I slept the entire ferry ride back to Tortola! I was so exhausted!!

The “Tour to Virgin Gorda” excursion was a lot more walking/hiking than we thought. The Caves also took longer to go through than I thought it would but Devil’s Bay is absolutely gorgeous. Overall, the time at The Baths seemed too short. The tour description said we would have 2 hours of free time and that wasn’t true. It was so disappointing to only have 15 minutes at the beach but going to the The Baths was truly unique and beautiful experience! When we got back to the ship, the Royal Caribbean ship had left so we had a much better view for Tortola from our balcony!

Top of the Baths pool

View from Top of the Baths

View from Top of the Baths

View of Tortola from our verandah

We both took showers, did some prep for the next day, and then got ready for dinner. That night was PIRATE NIGHT!! Arrrrgh! Even though I heard on the DISboards that very few adults dress up in full costume for Pirate Night (some wear a bandana or pirate shirt, if anything pirate at all), I felt that I had an obligation to go all out for Pirate Night since I was a cosplayer. I wear costumes in my spare time! Why would I be embarrassed to dress up now?! Plus, the idea of a photo with Jack Sparrow in our pirate gear was just too hard to pass up!! I also managed to convince Chris to dress up as well!

After getting into costume, we went downstairs to get photos of course. We took pictures with Jack Sparrow, Pirate Stitch, Christian the Cruise Director, and by ourselves. We got a lot of compliments from guests and Cast Members on our costumes while walking around!

With Jack Sparrow

With Pirate Stitch

Pirate Night

With some other pirate guests!

Dinner that night was at Lumiere’s. Knowing that Chris and I were going to dress up, Kip and Paula agreed to dress up too! Kip’s wig was so cool! LOL! The servers also wore pirate themed costumes and our dinner was pirate-themed as well. The servers also did a parade around the restaurant waving pirate flags and forming a congo line with all the guests! During the dessert course, Paula, Miki, and other servers surprised Chris and I with a cake for our anniversary and sang “Happy Anniversary to You!” It was great!! Even though there were always several celebrations going on every night, we felt so special!!

Kip, Casey, and Paula on Pirate Night

Jerk Chicken

Pirate Parade

Happy Anniversary Celebration

Happy Anniversary Cake

After dinner, we stopped by the room to drop off our cake and then headed up to the Pirates IN the Caribbean deck party! The party/show was already underway when we got a viewing spot on the starboard side of Deck 10. We have a decent view of the stage where the Disney characters were fighting off pirates and regaining control of the ship. After the Mickey and the good guys won, the part that I was waiting for started…the fireworks at sea!! We had an awesome view of the fireworks show over the ocean. It was gorgeous!!

Pirates IN the Caribbean Party

Fireworks at sea

There was a buffet after the fireworks show but we went back to the room to shower and get ready for bed. We were stuffed already. Plus, our excursion the next morning was meeting at 7:15 am!! Insane!!

+ See all photos from Tortola
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 3 – Monday, April 27, 2009

Day 3 was another day at sea. We had character breakfast at Parrot Cay that morning! We took pictures with Chip, Dale, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto! Paula also made me Princess Leia buns and Miki made a Peter Pan hat out of cloth napkins! The breakfast was also be best breakfast we had during the whole cruise, except the pancakes were very dry and thick. It’s not that breakfast onboard sucks but I think we missed the sit-down breakfasts every day and only had breakfast at Topsiders during port days. Anyway, character breakfast was fun, even though we had to get up early for it!

Chip at Character Breakfast at Parrot Cay

Pluto at Character Breakfast at Parrot Cay

Princess Leia napkin buns

Peter Pan napkin hat

After breakfast, we attended the Castaway Clubhouse reception for return DCL cruisers in Rockin Bar D. They served chocolate-covered Mickey Rice Krispies treats, cookies, and drinks. At the reception, we sat with our tablemates Paula and Kip and fellow DISers Janie and Tom. We watched a few videos about the history of DCL and played a human scavenger hunt game. During the game, I met a couple who was on their 35th Disney cruise!! They were retired, of course, but oh I want to be there when I’m retired!!

The last part of the reception was a raffle. The raffle was particularily funny because Rockin Bar D was filled to capacity so they had an overflow crowd in Diversions. Even though a lot of prizes were given out, not one person from Diversions won a raffle prize! The crew member MCing in Diversions said that Christian the Cruise Director and MC of our room must have dumped all of their raffle tickets in the ocean. LOL!

Mickey Rice Krispies treats

Captain Tom at Castaway Clubhouse reception

Me, Kip, Paula, Tom, Janie, & Chris at Castaway Clubhouse reception

It was noon when we left the Castaway Clubhouse but we didn’t want to eat a real lunch since we had reservations from high tea at Palo in a few hours. We went up to Deck 9 and Chris grabbed a hot dog & fries at Pluto’s Dog House. It was nice to take a short breather on Deck 9 out in the open. Unfortunately for the swimmers and sunbathers, the weather was pretty cloudy and it was probably cold to wear a swimsuit but the pools were still filled with families!

Next, we split up for the only time during the cruise. Chris attended the Disney Innovations workshop in Rockin Bar D and I went to the Plate Decorating class at Studio Sea. About 15 minutes into the Plate Decorating class, I was pretty bored so I left and went to the Diamond & Gemstone Seminar in the Promenade Lounge instead. I learned a lot about different kinds of gemstones and about diamonds in general. I thought it was very informative and I got a coupon for a free sea star pendent for attending! I also picked up a few more coupons and VIP passes from Kat too.

While at the seminar, I was re-reading the Personal Navigator (the daily cruise schedule of activities) and saw that Tortuga rum tasting had just started. I went back to the room and got Chris. Then we headed to Up Beat together. We tasted a few rums and rum cakes. The Tortuga rum cakes were delicious! Even though we saw them in Tortola and St. Thomas later, they winded up being cheaper on the ship and we winded up buying 6 of them as gifts and for ourselves!

Hot dog & fries from Pluto’s Dog House

Studio Sea chair

Plate Decorating Class

Tortuga rum cake

At 3 pm, we had reservation for high tea at Palo. We were the second couple seated for high tea so we got a nice window seat this time. Palo is located at the back of the ship on Deck 10 so there was a beautiful view of the ocean from the restaurant. High tea included our choice of tea, sandwiches, scones, and desserts. As a high tea snob, I wasn’t too impressed with Palo’s high tea. There wasn’t enough variety of sandwiches nor were they very high end. The scones were very good but the dessert also fell flat for me. All of the desserts, except for the fruit tart, were WAY too rich and sweet.

Dessert tier at Palo High Tea

Palo High Tea

After tea, we went back to the room and I plotted our course for the next two days in Tortola and St. Thomas. I poured over the shopping maps, the info I brought with us from home, and the shopping book to plan our days. We also made the second FE delivery and this time I plotted our course. Then we got ready for dressed for dinner.

That night, we saw “Twice Charmed”, which is a musical stage show where Cinderella’s evil stepmother has her own Evil Fairy Godfather and goes back into time to prevent Cinderella from fitting the glass slipper. The show was very well done with elaborate sets.

After the show, I participated in the first of several nights of Officer Pin Trading. The ship’s officers and other crew members met in the Lobby and traded pins with guests. It’s fun looking at everyone’s pins and being on a mission to find pins that I want! It’s also hard to figure out if I wanted to trade for a new pin that I saw but I had to give up an existing pin!

Dinner that night was at Parrot Cay, the tropical/Caribbean themed restaurant. It was this night that I started to feel like the dinner menu selections were very similar from one night to the next and I started getting bored with them. The food was still excellent but I think the variety was bothering me. I don’t like eating steak or chicken. I already had my fill of shrimp and scallops as well. I actually ordered the vegatarian option! It would have been nice to have more ethnic options, like Asian and Indian foods.

Professional Portrait

Smores dessert at Parrot Cay

+ See all photos from Day 3
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 2 – Sunday, April 26, 2009

There’s nothing more amazing than waking up and seeing this outside your balcony.

View from our verandah

It was gorgeous! We started off our day be attending “Disney’s Art of Entertaining: The Appetizer” cooking class at Studio Sea. The chef made Baked Crab Martinique, which is a crab dip. It was very yummy!!

Appetizer cooking class

Chris making the forks dance to “Be Our Guest”

After the cooking class, we headed over to Palo, the adults only restaurant, for brunch. Palo brunch is only served on at-sea days. OMG! Brunch was so amazing!! There are so many options. They had a table for breads, a table for appetizers, a table of baked goods, a table of desserts, and 2 tables of hot entrees. AND my favorite part…caviar!! Yummo!!

Palo Brunch

Palo Brunch

After brunch, we attended the Port & Shopping Show at the Buena Vista Theatre. During the show, Kat the port shopping expert, highlighted guaranteed shops in St. Thomas and Tortola and told us about different discounts and deals we could get. She is such a good seller. We snatched up the $25 Port Shopping Club book right away after she told us about all the coupons and freebies we could get. The great thing about using guaranteed shops is that we can return items we buy if we find out they are worth less than what we paid. It’s a little insurance to make sure you don’t get ripped off. Chris turned me during the show and said, “Do you want a diamond?” I was like, “Wah???” Of course I want a diamond! Kat managed to brainwash Chris into buying me a diamond! YAY! LOL!

Port & Shopping Show

Next, we headed to the Vista Spa for our Couple’s Choice treatment in the Spa Villa! The Spa Villas are these spa treatment rooms with private baloncies and on the balcony is a lounge bed and jacuzzi. I just fell in love with the idea of being in a jacuzzi on a baloncy overlooking the ocean!! Chris and I had a hot stone massage. Our therapists gave us a foot scrub and then we soaked in the jacuzzi. The sun was hitting the jacuzzi so it got hot pretty quickly for me. But it was still lovely sitting in it and looking at the waves. After the jacuzzi soak, our therapists served us fresh fruit, chocolate dipped strawberries, and hot tea in the lounge bed. It was nice just to cuddle, relax, and look out into the ocean. It was so heavenly!

Massage tables inside the Spa Villa

Spa Villa lounge bed

Spa Villa jacuzzi

Spa Villa Baloncy with bed, jacuzzi, and tea cart

When we got back to our room from the spa, we got our first fish extender gifts! Yay! It was formal night so we changed for dinner and headed down to see the first stage show. Disney’s live stage shows are Broadway-style musicals that feature Disney characters. That night, we watched “The Golden Mickeys”, which was an Academy Award-style awards show featuring scenes and songs from Disney movies.

After the show, we headed to the Lobby Atrium for photos again. I know a lot of people don’t like dressing up, especially during your vacation, but I thought formal night was fun! It was nice seeing everyone dressed up and it was awesome to take nice pictures of us all dressed up. It was like dormal (dorm formal) all over again! We also got to take a photo with the Captain and enjoy a free cocktail.

First Fish Extender Gifts

Golden Mickeys

Formal night portrait

Formal night portrait

Chris in the Lobby

The sea during our whole cruise was pretty rough. There were storms coming and in out of the caribbean the whole week we were on the cruise and the ship rocked a lot from the strong waves. Even the Cast Members said it was pretty bad and it was “never like this”. Chris and I took meclizine every day of the cruise, even if we didn’t feel sea sick, and it worked really well. There were a few times Chris felt a little sea sick and he put the seabands on and felt better. Oddly enough, the rocking didn’t bother me until I tried to sleep. Laying in bed made me dizzy so I wore the seabands to sleep. Overall, we quickly learned to walk and endure the rocking. I almost died though. I can’t remember what night it was but one of the first nights, I was taking a shower with my back facing the shower curtain. Then the ship hit a rough wave and I fell backward. I quickly grabbed the safety bar and was able to balance myself but it could have been bad. If I fell backward, I would have fallen through the shower curtain and hit my head on the back of the wall since the bathrooms are really small! Sheesh! Also, I learned not to try squatting while peeing over a toliet on a rocking ship. It’s very hard to keep your balance while squatting. >.<

Rough seas

Inclement weather warning

Our dinner that evening was at Animator’s Palate. Since it was formal night, they didn’t do the Animator’s Palate show where the restaurant changes colors so that was a little weird. It stayed black and white the whole time. The food again was excellent though. Our servers also celebrated Paula’s birthday that evening (even though her birthday was actually Monday, the next day)! We sang to her and they gave her a big birthday cake!

Animator’s Palate

Formal Night at Animator’s Palate

Oven-roasted Duckling

Paula & her birthday cake

When we got back to the room after dinner, we had a lovely surprise! Our spa therapists left us a Magical Moments certificate for our anniversary and decorated it with a ton of glitter! We also received our invitation to the Castaway Clubhouse the next day, which is a reception for Castaway Club members (or repeat Disney cruisers).

DCL stateroom attendents are famous for the animals they fold out of towels each night at turndown service! We got a nice towel from Air every evening.

Magical Moments certificate

Castaway Clubhouse Invitation

Towel Animal

+ See all photos from Day 2
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 1 – Saturday, April 25, 2009

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early so our luggage would be ready for pick up and we could meet get to the ship as early as possible. After getting room service for breakfast, we left our luggage in our room, as instructed, for Disney to pick up and take to the ship. We only took with us a backpack and my backpack purse. In the lobby, the Disney Cruise Line sign from last night was replaced by one pointing to the DCL waiting area.

DCL sign

Check-in started at 9 am and we got there at 9:07 am but we didn’t make it on to the first bus. We were assigned to the second motorcoach. Our group was escorted downstairs and we boarded the DCL motorcoach.

Chris wearing the “Pirates of Tortola” shirt I made

I made “Pirates of Tortola” shirts for us to wear on boarding day! “Pirates of Tortola” is the name our DISboards group gave our cruise because it is Disney’s first time stopping at Tortola!

Cast member escorting our group “Pluto” to the motorcoach

Boarding the motorcoach

The bus left the Hyatt at 9:45 am and we arrived at the DCL terminal in Port Canaveral at 10:35 am. There are separate lines for first time guests and Castaway Club (returning) members. We got in the Castaway Club line and checked in pretty quickly. We were given Boarding Group #8. After check-in, we went to the Photo line. DCL takes a photo of you and this photo shows up on the computer screen whenever they scan your key card when exiting and boarding the ship. We briefly checked out the store they have in the terminal, which only sells a few things. Then waited. Boarding started at 12 pm but we had to wait until our boarding number was called. Finally, they called Group #8 and we made our way to the ship! Before boarding the ship, we had our Welcome Aboard photo taken!

Disney Magic at Port Canaveral

Guest & Castaway Club Check-in

Photo Entrance

Captain Mickey greeting guests at the DCL Terminal

Welcome Aboard Photo

On the gangway

Disney Magic Lobby Atrium

Mickey Lobby Statue

The first thing we did when we got onboard was make a beeline to Rockin Bar D to make reservations for Palo. There was already quite a line and we ran into Michelle (ametaldiva) and Danny there! This would be our first meeting but we saw them EVERYWHERE during the cruise and they turned out to be wonderful people! We finally got up to the front of the line and were able to make both brunch and high tea reservation at Palo! Our reservations were booked by 12:30 pm! Yay!

On our way out of Rockin Bar D, we stopped by a cart that was selling the wine and bottled water packages and purchased the bottled water package. (Tip for future cruisers: It’s cheaper to buy it from these carts than to order it from your room!) The case of bottled water was delivered to our room a few hours later. Next, we headed over to Guest Services and made reservations for the Galley Tour and beer tasting. I also applied my $680 in Disney Reward Dollars to my account. While we were at Guest Services, we mentioned it was our anniversary and they gave us “I’m Celebrating!” buttons! Chris wore his on his lanyard all the time and people would always ask us what we were celebrating! =)

With all that out of the way, we headed over to Parrot Cay for lunch. Outside of Parrot Cay, we met Dave Marx, who is the author of the “Passporter’s” Guides. His DCL guide was SUPER and I learned so much from it! It was a thrill to meet him! He also gave Chris and me lanyards for their Passporter’s Decade of Dreams Tour! My first meal on the Disney Magic was interesting. The spread was great but I had a craving for comfort foods so I filled my plate at the kids buffet with spaghetti and mac & cheese!

Sebastian lamp

Kids plate at Parrot Cay

After lunch, it was past 1 pm so our stateroom was ready. We headed to our stateroom 6094 on Deck 6. We booked a Category 6 stateroom, which is a room with a private verandah (or balcony). We booked a Cat. 6 on our first DCL cruise for our honeymoon because we thought it would be nice to go outside whenever we want to get fresh air, especially if we felt claustraphobic or sea sick on the ship, and to have nice view. Now we can’t imagine not having balcony on a cruise. Our Castaway Club gift, shore excursion tickets, and dining tickets were waiting for us.

Our stateroom attendent, Air, introduced herself to us and was already helping us with our requests for more clothes hangers and a bucket of ice. The staterooms come with a beverage cooler that looks like a mini-fridge but isn’t. If a drink is already cold, it will keep it cool but it won’t make a drink that is room temperature into cold. So we used our bucket of ice to keep 4 bottles of water cold all the time.

Stateroom door before decorating it

Our Category 6 stateroom

Category 6 stateroom verandah

Category 6 stateroom verandah

Castaway Club Gift

Dining Rotation Tickets

We only had a little time to get settled before we were off again to the Cruise Meet in the Promenade Lounge at 3 pm. The Cruise Meet was a gathering for everyone who was on the DISboards. We’ve had such a great time all these months planning the cruise together and now we were here and finally could meet each other! We had a great turnout for the meet! Sandy ordered “Pirates of Tortola” bracelets for us to wear throughout the cruise so other DIS-ers could identify us. Dot & Harry passed out “Pirates of Tortola” magnets using a design I created for our cruise and I saw several people wearing “Pirates of Tortola” shirts using the same design too! We also met Paula and Kip for the first time, who are our tablemates for dinner. Paula asked if we wanted to be tablemates before our cruise and we hooked our reservations together so we could sit together for dinner! After some announcements of cabin changes for the FE list (more about FE’s later), I did a roll call of everyone from our cruise thread. It was nice putting a face to the screen names we’ve seen for months! We then took one big group photo!

Pirates in Tortola wristband

DISboard Cruise Meet Group Photo

Shortly after the cruise meet, the mandatory safety drill started. We donned our life vests and headed to Assembly Station P for roll call. After the safety drill, we quickly put away our life vests into the room and headed to Deck 10 to get a spot for the Sailaway Party. We ran into Michelle and Danny and they were kind enough to share their table with us! We had a great view overlooking the dance floor and stage on Deck 9! We sipped on some yummy Sailaway Drinks and watched the show. Christian, the Cruise Director, introduced the cruise activities staff and then the Disney characters came out: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Chip, and Dale! They led the crowd in a few dances and then we did the countdown for sailing. The ship blew it’s horn which sings “When You Wish Upon a Star” and it was awesome!

Safety Drill

Sailaway Party

Sipping my Sailaway Drink

Pluto, Chip, Dale, and Donald getting down

After the party ended, we rushed to the front of the ship to watch it sail out of Port Canaveral and into the Atlantic Ocean! We were hoping to see some dolphins but no luck this time.

When we got back to the room, it was around 6 pm and our luggage had arrived! I also sent a box to the ship’s warehouse via UPS a few weeks before the trip and it was in our stateroom too. We unpacked our luggage. I decorated our stateroom door with the magnets I had made and put up our fish extender. A fish extender is a fabric pocket organizer that is hung from the metal fish outside of a Disney Cruise Line stateroom door. (See the photo below.) The metal fish is used by Cast Members to deliver letters to your stateroom. The pocket organizer hangs on the fish so it’s called a “fish extender” or FE for short. We participated in an FE gift exchange with other cruisers that we met on DISboards.com. This was our first time participating in an FE gift exchange and it was wonderful finding little presents in the FE throughout our cruise!

It was only the first day of our cruise and the Mission: Space backpack that we bought at Epcot many years ago decided to die on us. The zippers wouldn’t unzip past a certain point, making it very difficult to take items in and out of the backpack. We headed down to the shops to see if we could find a new backpack to replace it. We didn’t find a backpack unfortunately but I found a DCL Dale plush to match the Chip plush I got during our honeymoon! I also wore my pin lanyard so I could trade with the Cast Members. I have a lot of pins from my days working at Disney but I never traded before. I brought one lanyard of pins that I wanted to trade for other pins and traded throughout the cruise. It was a lot of fun and I got some great Chip ‘n’ Dale and Ariel pins!

Sailing away from Port Canaveral

Our decorated stateroom door

Our fish extender

Inside Mickey’s Mates

After hitting the shops, we went back to the room to change for dinner and then went to the Lobby Atrium to take “lifestyle portraits”. We took photos with the professional photographer and backdrops every evening before dinner. The lines were usually pretty short and the photos turned out really nice. We haven’t had professional photos taken since our wedding! We also stopped by the DCL Limited Edition Pin Station that sells pins you can only buy on the ship. I picked up a couple of pins there and then we were off to dinner.

Our first dinner was Lumiere’s, which is a French restaurant with a “Beauty & the Beast” theme. Our food was sooo good! It reminded me how much I loved the food on our last cruise! One of the best parts of cruising is that you can order as much food as you want and not worry about wasting money if you don’t like it. It’s a great time to try new foods! We usually had 4-course meal during dinners: appetizer, soup or salad, entree, and then dessert! Nom nom!

We also had dinner with our tablemates and met our servers for the first time. Our head server was Jeevan from India, our main server was Paula from Jamacia, and our assistant server was Miki from Serbia. Our tablemates were Paula (dvc2themax), Kip, and their daughter Casey. They were great to talk to and I’m really glad we decided to be tablemates with them!

Pre-dinner Portrait

Dinner at Lumiere’s

“Beauty & the Beast” mural at Lumiere’s

Rose-accented lighting at Lumiere’s

Ratatouille appetizer at Lumiere’s

There are 2 dinner seatings on Disney Cruises: main seating at 5:45 pm and late seating at 8:15 pm. We were late seating and our dinner usually didn’t end until 9:30 to 10 pm.

After dinner, we delivered our first batch of FE gifts. There were 23 staterooms and it took us almost an hour trekking up and down each floor and every floor. It took a lot longer than I had imagined. I also planned to do two deliveries and regretted that decision but it was too late to only make one delivery at that point. Next time, I will definitely only do one delivery AND make sure I plot the most efficient course to each room.

We always take our pills (medications and vitamins) before bed with orange juice so every night we ordered orange juice from room service. Almost every night, we also ordered a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar with it too as a good night treat! It was a wonderful way to spoil ourselves during the cruise!

Bedtime Mickey ice cream bar

+ See all photos from Day 1
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Day 0 – Friday, April 24, 2009

Our flight to Orlando was on Friday afternoon so Chris took the day off to finish packing and I worked in the morning. After lunch, our taxi picked us up and took us to DFW airport for our flight. Chris and I were not seated together on the plane. We only had enough miles to get one free First Class ticket and since I’ve never flown First Class before, I got First Class and Chris bought a ticket in coach.

Flying First Class was sweet. First of all, I got to get onboard first and didn’t have to stress out about a long line of people behind me while I tried to shove my luggage into the overhead compartment. The extra legroom was probably the best part. I don’t stretch my legs out that much (un-ladylike) but I do have a personal carry-on and it was nice having the carry-on under the seat in front of me and still having plenty of legroom! Next, we got nuts and drinks right after our flight was in the air. Even though I don’t drink often, alcohol is free so I felt like I should order something alcoholic. I winded up getting a glass of champagne because I always imagined drinking champagne in First Class like in Fergie’s song “Glamorous”! LOL! I also got a glass of ginger ale. We were also served dinner. I got stuffed shell pasta and it was pretty yummy. It came with a salad and a piece of cake too!

My dinner in First Class

After eating, I tried to nap a little. The plush leather chairs are so much more comfy than the seats in coach! So I loved flying in First Class for the first time! But if I had it to do it over again, I would have waited until Chris and I could both fly together. It was weird having him so far away from me. =(

We landed in Orlando airport around 9:30 pm. Chris grabbed a snack at the food court before we checked into our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport. The cool thing about the hotel is that it’s INSIDE the airport so you don’t need to take a shuttle or cab there. Inside the hotel lobby, there is a sign tells Disney Cruise Lines guests to identify themselves to the front desk.

Disney Cruise Line sign inside the Hyatt

We did this at check-in and were given instructions on what to do with our luggage and when to meet the DCL reps in the morning. We stayed at the hotel previously after our last cruise so we knew what to expect. The room was fantastic. We had a baloncy that overlooked the Orlando airport so it was a great spot for people watching!

Our room at the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport Hotel

View from our baloncy at the Hyatt

+ See all photos from Orlando, Florida
+ Read more about my Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise