In need of a little rest and relaxation, the hubs and I booked a Disney cruise to the Caribbean, just us. Luckily, we found a good last-minute deal on the room, and left the kids in the capable hands of Memaw and PawPaw, which for the kids is better than going on a cruise! We left out of Port Canaveral on Sunday afternoon, along with two Carnival ships and a Royal Caribbean ship, so the port was quite busy that day. Check out the traffic jam...
The first night we had dinner at Palo, the Italian restaurant on the ship. We had been there before, and loved it so much that we went ahead and booked an additional dinner and brunch! On Monday morning, we awoke to the ship pulling into Nassau.
And the friendly lighthouse that always greet us on the way into port. I wouldn't mind getting off the ship and sneaking over there to stay forever.
The hubs and I don't typically get off the ship in Nassau, since we aren't in the market for jewelry. So we took advantage of a near-empty ship, and headed to breakfast. Mickey waffles are a must!
Then we went down to one of coffee shops, got some cafe lattes, and pulled up a seat to check out the other ships docked on either side of us. This is the Royal Caribbean ship, the "Voyager of the Seas," one of the largest cruise ships in the Caribbean. It is huge!
After coffee, I headed over to the spa. Now, I'm pretty bad about getting regular massages, pedicures, facials, you name it. Those types of things just don't ever make it to the top of my "to do" list. But a cruise isn't real life, so when I saw that the spa was offering a massage, scalp massage, foot and ankle massage, and a facial at a ridiculous price, I went for it. 90 minutes of bliss.
After lunch, we headed to the top deck to check out Nassau. I have tons of pictures of the touristy section of Nassau, but none of the bay area outside the tourist shopping district.
Then we went to the art gallery. They had these beautiful figurines, and we bought the Snow White figurine for Britton. It was supposed to be for her birthday, but she spied it in my luggage and we ended up giving it to her today.
There were a ton of Thomas Kinkade paintings for sale.
Then I discovered this painting by Lisa Keene, titled "At Odds with the Sea" and I just fell in love with it. I went back to visit it many times over the next day, and tried to talk myself out of buying it. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. I admit, I don't know much about art, don't know which artists are "good buys" and I'd never heard of Lisa Keene, but I knew I wanted this painting bad. The colors are beautiful, the mermaid's face was so achingly sad. So I pulled the trigger and bought it, and now the hubs is off the hook for buying me a birthday present and a Christmas present!
The hubs and I also did something we've not ever done - a champagne tasting! We got six glasses each (there was a surprise glass at the end of the tasting), and while it was something that I didn't know if I would enjoy, we ended up having a great time. The hubs and I aren't big drinkers these days, and we know next to nothing about champagne, so this was a real treat.
My favorite was the fifth glass - Rosa Regale. It tasted like, for lack of a better comparison, Arbor Mist! Very fruity and sweet and right up my alley.
Empty glasses and a little tipsy feeling. And it was only 5:00 pm!
The next day we docked at Castaway Cay. Honestly, Castaway Cay is what makes this cruise incredible. An entire island was just sitting there, waiting for us to get up already (we slept in until 9:00 am!) and get our sunscreen on. We grabbed some breakfast and bottled water and headed out to Serenity Bay, the adult beach. And I don't mean "adult beach" to equate to Hedonism - it just means that no one under 18 is allowed. If you're not traveling with kids, you really don't want to spend the day at the beach having sand thrown on you.
We got to the beach and immediately dragged our chairs down to the water's edge. I think we spent a good ten minutes in absolute silence, just taking in the colors of the sky and the water. I told the hubs that in my quest for the perfect paint color over the years, this was the color I was seeking, and that none of the 10 or so paint samples sitting on our workshop shelves even came close. If I ever find a paint color that matches where the water meets the sky, I will paint every room in my house that color.
The water was so clear, we could see schools of minnows, needle-nose fish, and a sting ray!
I noticed that the ladies further down the beach we grabbing cameras and running towards someone. Captain Jack Sparrow! I don't know how this guy didn't pass out in the heat. That wig must have weighed a ton and sweat was pouring down his face. But I give the man credit - he never broke character. Even made some rum joke as we were taking this photo!
After lunch, we stopped at the beach bar for some frozen concoction, and filled our eyes with the beach. By then there was a sandbar cutting through the middle of the bay and people were flocking to it. I didn't want to burn, even with my 50 SPF, so the hubs and I headed back to the ship.
Wednesday was our last full day at sea, and we spent it being completely lazy. A couple at our dining table, Russell and Audrey, had won a gift certificate for a facial at the spa and neither were going to use it, so they offered it to me. After our brunch at Palo, I headed back to the spa for my second facial! Then the hubs and I took a three hour nap, which is the only nap we've ever taken together (or, for that matter, for three hours) since Britton was born. A completely lazy and much-needed day!
The hubs and I had a fantastic time, and there's nothing we would've changed. Plus, we had time to just hang out and people watch, and shared laughs over the guy who was so engrossed in his cell phone that he jumped into the pool fully- clothed while still playing on his phone, and the lady wrapped in confetti who loudly proclaimed not 10 minutes after the sail away party that she was drunk and then we couldn't be near a bar without seeing her there with a drink in her hand for the entire trip, and the wedding we watched from the balcony of a couple we'll never see again, and the transsexual man who we kept seeing in horrible 1980s women's fashions, and the other couple we were supposed to sit with at dinner who wouldn't speak to us because they were mad they had to share a table.
We got back home this afternoon, and while I could've spent another week at the beach, I also really missed my kids! But they think they got the better end of the deal because they got spoiled by Memaw all week, so I'm sticking with that story. And tackling this mountain of laundry!
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