castaways

Our first full day of the cruise was a day at disney's private island, castaway cay.  we didn't have anything scheduled or planned, other than our already 'reserved' snorkeling gear and floats (unfortunately, we paid some stupid tax on those...we never used the 4 floats we had reserved and paid for...who had time just to float around?!)  we had a leisurely morning, so jason headed out to find a 'good' coffee spot on the ship before we decided to go back to the royal palace for breakfast, for the royal treatment (the other two breakfast spots were buffet)   

the view from our verandah

breakfast was great - i had eggs benedict and maya ordered a great 'waffle sandwich' which had whipped dulce de leche in the middle. several members of our party ordered grits...only to be served cream of wheat (the only time we got the wrong thing...) the waiter was MOST apologetic and later joked he clearly hadn't had his morning coffee!

we were able to have the verandahs between our staterooms opened up, and it quickly became the best way for the group to move between cabins.  it was a bit rainy in the morning, so we watched others leave the ship for the activities before we ventured out.

 

 

 it was a bit of a walk down a little boardwalk from the dock to all the goings on...we passed the kids club play area (a spray park!) and a few little extraneous sights (like mount rustmore, below) and made our way to rent our snorkel gear.  only the big girls really seemed interested in that, so jason took the littles swimming, while i taught the girls to snorkel.  because castaway cay is not on a reef, disney has done a great job to create one to help attract fish so that there's something to look at!  it was a far cry to what i've seen in other areas of the bahamas and hawaii, but a great beginning trip for the girls in the 'controlled' disney environment.

 

 

we ate lunch at the cay, and it was probably my least favorite meal...being a very generic BBQ...then we explored more of the beach, including 'pelican point' a small water park with slide on the other side of the beach.  once we wrapped up there and headed back to the 'snorkel' side, it started to lightning, thunder and rain and we had to take cover before heading back to the ship.

given our slight disappointment in lunch, we returned to our and took advantage of the 24 hour free room service! (mind you, there are also 24 beverage stations on the ship, as well as soft serve ice cream stations and pizza and sandwich shops!)

i'm guessing it was only mid-afternoon here  - but i have no other pictures between room service and dinner (though that IS very telling - we ate A LOT!)  i also know that we were very tired and took a nap or two...so perhaps this was one of those times as well!

 

dinner this night was in the restaurant Animator's Palate.  early in the meal you 'descend' into the ocean to meet up with crush, who chats with some diners, similar to the 'talk with crush' attraction at epcot...it was very cute and entertaining.  we love the decor of this restaurant as well...i need some of these dining chairs!

 

 

 

  

 the kids did do 'dine and play' this night, so we had a very leisurely dinner, and they all got to experience the kids club, which they LOVED...crafts and games and so many rooms with themes, etc, i can't imagine that kids wouldn't have a good time (though, again, i've heard complaints about it...our kids always wanted to go back!)

jason and i had appetizers to share this night...my mushroom risotto was great, and jason's 'shrimp cheesecake' was interesting (tasty, but sometimes hard to get over the savory cheesecake idea) and a salmon tartar that was excellent...

 not sure what we had for dinner, but the desserts were fun...mostly because jason had arranged for me to get a birthday cake, and our waiters sang happy birthday to me...

 sadly, this delicous looking cake never even got cut in to....it was delivered after we'd ordered dessert...and they kindly packaged it up for us to take to our stateroom...where we put it in our fridge...where it stayed until we disembarked.  there was never a time we were even remotely hungry enough to cut into it :(

turndown service time!  to go with our bat...we have a 'seal'??  jason's sunglasses fit him perfectly!