Day 2 Nassau Blue Lagoon Beach Day
Because I stayed up so late (8:45), I slept in until 6:00 a.m. Conor and DH were not even approaching consciousness, so I grabbed my carefully laid out clothes and my Kobo and headed up to Deck 11.
Ha! True confession: I stumbled about in the dark, cursing, trying to find my stuff that I was SURE I had put somewhere clever the night before, having learned my lesson the last time. After 3 false starts, I somehow managed to get out of the room without waking the men.
I love this part of the day. There are only a few people around, and Deck 11 is actually peaceful. The coffee is REVOLTING, but it will do at 6:00 a.m. I plunked myself down on a comfy chair in the adult area (this feels very luxurious) and read, until the lovely Cove Café opened at 7:00.
Once again, there is no missing 7:00 a.m., as that loud music starts up then. I take this as my cue to step away from my mystery, to extricate myself from my chair, and head to latté land.
On the Fantasy, Robert from Transylvania was my coffee connection- he worked every morning. He was great. We compared Transylvanian to Canadian winters. He pointed out, accurately I will mention, that mostly its husbands who bring coffee to their wives this, I feel, means I am particularly awesome.
On the Dream, there were different people most mornings and none of them were Robert-esque. Nice, but not Robert. However, they made the right drinks so all was well.
I procured that morning's GOOD caffeine, plus one for DH, and headed back to the stateroom. This is why Deck 9 is a good thing for us- close to coffee. Less chance of spillage and waste-age of good life-giving liquid.
Breakfast thoughts
The night before, we had pre-ordered room service for breakfast for 7:30. We usually do this on excursion days, just so were not rushed. (See notes above about NOT RUSHING on vacation.)
This works well, because we don't have to make ourselves even slightly presentable before eating (a challenge for some family members in the a.m.), we can be anti-social, and we always order lots so that we have leftovers for snacks during the day (mostly fruit, cheese, yogurt, mini-cereal boxes, milk cartons, etc.).
However, we live with Mr. Breakfast-Is-The-Most-Important-Meal-Of-The-Day, so on this morning, as others, after he had his breakfast snack (just a bowl of cereal, yogurt, and milk), he wanted real breakfast and we had a bit of time to hit up Cabanas due to our spectacular organizing the night before. This requires careful navigating, if one is going to be getting on another vessel shortly, and one does not want to content with (ick) boat bathrooms (if they can be avoided), or 6-year-old-sea-sickness. No, you cannot have 10 Mickey pancakes this morning. Yes, I am a bad parent. No you cannot eat that muffin that is bigger than your head. Yes the world is coming to an end. No, donuts do not constitute real food, regardless of their crispiness or creaminess (this, to DH). Yes, I am the meanest parent/spouse ever.
(Actually- it wasn't that bad. Conor really hates getting motion sickness, so if we explain why we are forbidding the BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD right now, he goes along, but that is not anywhere near as fun to write. And were not that mean most of the time on vacation
but really- puke-boy is to be avoided if at all possible.)
Overall, we got breakfast at Cabanas most mornings- sometimes as take-out as Conor called it, where we would nab stuff to bring back to the room. Love Deck 9.
We have only done the sit-down breakfast once (after the disastrous Fish Exchange Delivery/Laundry/Gauntlet Running Morning) so I don't have strong thoughts about it yet, since I was trying not to pass out in my waffles that morning. Now that an astute reader has noted that we are, in fact, going on our (so embarrassing) third
DCL cruise in about 11 days, I can state here that we plan on trying it out again.
Getting off the ship and onto a boat
We had chosen the Blue Lagoon Beach day for the following reasons:
- We still love us a good beach day. I sit and read my Kobo, DH sits and sometimes swims, and Conor is in his sand heaven, and (now that he is a big boy) swims in the ocean.
- The idea of Atlantis has me breaking out in hives - too many people, too much noise, and, well, it sounds a bit like a Disney park.
- It featured 2 possible departure times from the island. We like control. This felt like an illusion of control.
- And, of course, the reviews were good.
We didn't go all fancy and add any Dolphins or other things. Just a beach. And lunch.
Anyhow - we assembled at the movie theatre (Port Adventure meeting place) to be greeted with a line-up to get in the theatre. This was new, and not particularly welcomed, but, being cool and collected experienced travellers, we, well, waited. Then, we shuffled along the line, waved our documents at the white-shorts people, and then were directed to go and stand in a particular line to get checked again, and to receive our (I can't believe I know this one) Aladdin sticker, then to go into a (OK, it was short) line to sit in our assigned row, to again, wait.
(Note- our other excursions must have been far less popular, as we never had even the hint of a line-up, ever.)
After spending 20 minutes reminding Conor NOT to fold up the theatre chair so he could sit perched on the very top ("but I can see more, Mom"), we were finally asked to follow the "Paddle of Power" (I cannot believe they say that).
Then, we lined up outside for a long time (or so it seemed), with great good cheer (not), until someone from Blue Lagoon arrived to lead us through port at Nassau to get to our ferry.
Finally, we are 'adventurous' (not) at Port
As advertized, the walk was about 15 minutes, or, if you ask a 6-years-and-3-days old boy, who has been waiting in lines a lot already, FOREVER. We boarded the ferry (if one actually boards a ferry) and found a spot on the upper deck in the shade.
See how happy we were? I mean, how can DCL not want to use this for their publicity photos?
Of note, that is a Mystery Game Detective Badge Disney Pin. Despite being the worst parent in the world at times, I do some times get things right... and at some point the previous evening, I think while Conor was playing round 2 of golf, I hit up the shops and found this. It is still the favourite pin. It's like I *did* bronze our original badge.
Astute readers will note the corner of what I believe is the now not distributed Silver castaway gift. I forgot to mention this, as it was, well, not that exciting. It's a bag. I used it because it was there, and I (ahem) forgot to pack a beach bag. (Spreadsheets are only as good as the data you put in!). It did NOT fall apart, which I gather we can be grateful for.
Despite himself, the boy started to enjoy himself. Some nice man with a microphone pointed out all the fancy estates owned by famous people, most of whom we had barely heard of, but I assure you that's because of how unconnected we are, and not the lack of fame of the people they were describing. It was kind of amusing, as DH and I tried to figure out where we had heard the name, and who they were. (I only exaggerate slightly- we are that uncool.)
The ferry ride is about 20 minutes or so. Conor was beyond excited as we arrived at the island and saw this:
After we got off the boat, we dutifully followed instructions and turned left off the pier to the beach part of things. We walked for a bit (or forever, depending on who you asked - I think it was about 5 minutes) and found a great little cove-like place with shade, a hammock, and quiet.
The rest of our day proceeded the way we like it to- sand, swim, books, rest. Peace. Quiet. Enjoy... (It was -30 degrees Celsius here yesterday, so forgive the photo-fest.)
Just to complete the excursion review...
Lunch was not bad, and as advertised. We all got to pick one main hot item (hamburger, etc.), and then there was a small buffet of sides, salads, some local food, and desserts. Not fancy, but decent food, and lots of it.
I am pretty sure there were actually 3 possible times to catch the ferry back instead of 2, and, typically, we aimed to take the middle one back. We packed up our stuff, dumped much of it on DH, aka "Sherpa", and sauntered back to the pier. Our wait there was tempered by being able to watch some dolphins.
(There is no rushing on vacation.)
Once again, we survived the eternal (or 15 minute) walk back to Port. Here are a last few photos for this morning to combat the "minus 16, feels like minus 26" forecast I am facing.
Ultimately, the Blue Lagoon Beach Day got 3 firm thumbs up. We did not partake in anything except beach and lunch -there are lots of other things to do (cool stuff floating in the water to play on, and slides and things), and I can report on none of them. It was relaxing, unrushed, quiet, and lovely. Probably our favourite DCL Port Adventure, ever (in 2 cruises!)
Hmmm- is Uncle Walt sneakily trying to sucker us in for more of the same, with his well-chosen, well-organized Port Adventures? Hmmmmmmmm.
Up next: The rest of day 2, including Pirate Night!
), we are in fact going on our third cruise in less than 2 weeks, but, (hangs head in embarrassment) there is a really good reason for that, and, let it be clear, this was not my idea either. It gets even more embarrassing, but I'll explain that at the end. 
mad
It's kind of cute, actually- a height-restriction pin.
