On the second day of our trip, Simon woke us up shortly before we pulled into port in Nassau. Our speed was reduced, and all of a sudden I could see land out the window. As we got our showers on and started to get ready for breakfast, I sat down to enjoy the warm tropical air from the verandah. It was the first of several instances where we the Disney Dream did the coolest thing ever: Rotate in place using its thrusters. It was neat to look down the length of the ship and see the world turn around it.
The breakfast buffet offered in Cabanas is, quite frankly awesome. They have all of the usual stuff, ranging from scrambled eggs to breakfast potatoes, but it's all better than you're used to. They also do custom eggs with virtually all kinds of stuff, including seafood, Mickey waffles, pastries and fresh Krispy Kreme-style doughnuts. I had no restraint at all, and it was delicious.
Our morning was spent in part going up to the pool deck for a bit, while much of the ship emptied out into Nassau. I had zero interest in going ashore, in part because of the general consensus of others that Nassau is a dirty tourist trap. While Diana tried again to see if Simon would be interested in playing in the toddler water area (he wasn't), I went up to ride the AquaDuck, the ship's water coaster.
There was almost no line, but something caused a shutdown just as I got to the top of the stairs. They presumably had boats valley in one of the two drops, and they did a walk-through of the entire tube before starting up again. They have a nice elevator enclosed in the funnel for the rafts, and really the whole ride looks visually interesting. Unfortunately, riding it isn't interesting at all. The tube immediately swings out over the side of the ship, 150 feet above the water, but you can't really tell. The two drops come right after the other, then a long turn in the aft funnel, a long straightaway, and another long turn in the forward funnel. Perhaps I'm biased because I've been on Holiday World's completely awesome, LIM-powered water coaster, but this was so completely dull. Joe made the point that perhaps it was tame on purpose, given the intended audience, but I was not a fan.
Not wanting to see Simon burn out, I got Simon down for a nap after lunch. I took one too, while Diana went ashore with Helen Ann. What a difference that made, for both of us! When dinner time came around, Simon was good to meet characters in the lobby, and wait a bit at dinner, as the rest of the family was running late.
The Royal Palace restaurant matched the decor of the lobby a lot more closely. Upon arrival, the many servers and bussers lined up at the entrance cheered for Simon as he came in, and so he went back and forth three more times. It was another very special moment. The food was primarily French, and they made a party foul when they failed mention on the menu that the chicken dish was wrapped in pork. I don't do red meat, so that was gross. The straight chicken breast they replaced it with was a little bland, and this was the only food I had an issue with. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.
The show in the Disney Theatre on the first night was something called The Golden Mickeys, and I didn't care much for it. It felt like an ad for all things Disney and musical, and I just wouldn't call it art or even interesting. The second night was a show called Villains Tonight! It was a musical comedy with the Hades character from Hercules. It was generally entertaining at first, but it started to drag toward the end quite a bit. The show on our last night was called Believe, and it was definitely the best of the three. It used a bunch of familiar Disney songs of course, but it was well composed and put together with a nice story.
I should mention that Simon loved the theatrical shows. He is obviously the son of a professional stage manager. By the third night, he was asking to, "Go to the show now?" It was super cute.
Helen Ann listened for Simon from the adjoining room in the evening, and Diana and I joined her dad and Joe down in one of the grownup clubs. The club had many photos from the construction of the ship, as well as small pieces of scrap steel cut from the process. The clubs did not seem particularly busy.
Next time... Castaway Cay and debarkation...
No comments yet.