We needed some magic updated 09-17

[KGmomoftwins]

8-23 Nassau day

Today I booked the following excursion. Exclusive vintage replica with private driver. N100 cost for 4 people 379.00. It was run by snappa tours. Here is the description from DCL

Based on the groups interests, your tour will be customized to visit several top locations around Nassau.

On this adventure you will…

• Meet your driver guided and be escorted to your classic vehicle.
• You and your fellow vehicle buddies will discuss what highlights you want to see with your expert driver guide.
• Pirate Ship-Climb aboard a 500-ton Spanish galleon located in Nassau Harbor, the pirate capital of the Caribbean! Great for kids with many photo opportunities.
• Fort Montagu-The oldest fort still standing on the island, a small four cannon fort constructed in 1741 to defend the British possession from Spanish invaders.
• Fort Charlotte-The largest (100 acres) fort on the island, overlooking the far west end of the harbor, complete with a moat, dungeons, underground passageways and 42 cannons.
• John Watling's Rum Distillery-A 2-acre, 18th-century estate overlooking the harbor, providing a production and museum-like tour where Bahamians hand craft small-batch rums.
• Graycliff Wine, Chocolate and Cigar Factory-Located in a historic 18th century museum, Graycliff offers guests a tour of their cigar or chocolate factory. This is also the site of The Heritage Museum of The Bahamas.
• Paradise Island-Location of the world-famous Atlantis Hotel, the Cloisters, a 12th century monastery for Augustinian monks, and Versailles Gardens.
• Nassau Fish Fry-Located in Heritage Village, this venue features plenty of down-home island cooking and local entertainment.
• Cabbage Beach-A 2-mile stretch of white sand and warm turquoise waters, arguably one of the world’s most beautiful beaches.

We had to meet in OGills at 10:15. Plan for this morning me the mommy needed a pedicure at 8:45 it was my treat to myself. Girls had big plans to meet rapunzel at 9 then a breakfast date with daddy.

I first headed up to the cove and Flavio was there my order everyday would be the salted coconut Caramel latte, a black americano, and pastries.


View from the veranda



I headed to the spa at 8:35 and was taken right in. Justina was who did it. The pedicure was wonderful I loved the hot stones. I thought it was odd the made me sign a paper before agreeing to the price. She was so kind and I had my nails painted but my thumb ripped off when I was lifting a suitcase the day before. Well she’s like I can’t have you leave here like that and she fixed it.

Girls and daddy had a nice breakfast in Lumieres. Dh got me a strawberry yogurt parfait it was delicious. It was a great way to start the day. They also met rapunzel. We headed down to OGills and checked in. We left the ship at 10:30 and took us 20 mins to walk through the port area to meet the car. Nick was our driver and was awesome and a wonderful ambassador for the Bahamas.
First he took us to some historical sites

Also to a soccer pitch. The weather I forgot to mention was very rainy and windy .

We headed over the bridge and checked out Atlantis. Nick said it was a very quiet day only 2 ships in port.

 

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Nick would stop and pick flowers and tell us the names.

National flower of the Bahamas. Next stop was cabbage beach. Pictures do not do it justice. It was gorgeous and no one was there. Nick and the guy shucking coconuts at the public entrance though warned us against swimming to far said it was not safe today. Nick told us that about 3 times. Probably why no one was there. The sand was so soft.



I wish we had just hung out here longer than we did.

Other direction
Next up a French monastery brought over piece by piece

Next up nick gave us the choice of the pirate museum which was included in our tour or fort montagu. I wish we had done the museum but they picked the fort and we had to pay a total of 8 dollars us for all of us. I will say it was super cool we learned a lot and the girls have never been to something like that. The cannons were original and if you do the fort by queen’s staircase those are replicas.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

Alright let’s go finish this day! It’s been a busy week back to school. I left off we had gone to the fort. This was also at a park and they had restrooms but no one needed to go. This fort played very important roles at different points in history and unfortunately the roof was lost during a hurricane.

Funny there was a dead rat down there very historically accurate. Nick took us through a well to do neighborhood and it was really neat to see the houses. He explained you will not see any of the 2 the same.

More flowers

We the headed to the queens staircase DH did not want to do the walk so nick dropped us off at the top and us girls walked down and they met us at the bottom.



I loved this and so did the girls. Also another great history lesson. Super cool not only was this built for aristocracy but under Nassau there are tons of tunnels connecting everything!


Dh also asked to see the real Nassau so he took us to a local neighborhood not far from port we went over our time by 15 minutes but it was worth it and I never felt unsafe everyone waved at us we were in a cool car after all. It was really good for our girls to see this. It was also neat to listen to nick talk about his home. He dropped us off at 1:10 I tipped him. He also took several pictures throughout the tour of the 4 of us. We stopped in a souvenir shop got a magnet and girls got key chains.

I’m really glad we did this it was perfect time wise and got us to see Nassau. Was super accessible and we could really have done anything we wanted. I’ve always heard about paradise island because my parents went there on their honeymoon almost 42 years ago and I just turned 41 . Was nice to actually see it and send pictures to my parents. I doubt we will ever find ourselves on a cruise that goes here again but you never know if we did I would 100% take a cab to cabbage beach for an hour or 2. The girls had fun but I had told them we would be back by 1 and there was a trivia they really wanted to do at 1 oops.

 

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Back on board the 4 of us headed right up to deck 9 for food. I want to take a minute and say how much I really enjoyed the new castaway bag! I put 3 towels 4 waters and some snacks in here.

Dh got the special Philly cheesesteak he said it was pretty decent. He said the baguette it was on was good. Dd1 chicken strips and fries and dd2 burger and fries. Yodi was working and funny his calling card was every night dd1 dinner would include a chicken strip on the side . I got a bowl was yummy. Girls and I had our suits on so we decided to tackle the drop slide! We did not have to wait long we would have had to wait less but several kids were not tall enough and parents were arguing over it. Then another kid was having a meltdown and he was up there alone. Just make sure you can not have a magic band or any necklace on they are very strict. Dd1 went first, I went it was fun but I whacked my elbow pretty bad somehow so I was 1 and done, and then dd2. The girls went several
More times.

We then went to go down the yellow slide but it was broken. Girls decided to go to the edge and did some activities. Drawing one of them. Also we are so lucky they invaded the lab and made stich goo aka slime. Yay I’m so happy to bring that home.

Dh and I hung out on the veranda.

I got semi dressed up so did the girls and I got in line at 4:30 for the rapunzel later. Shot I was 5th in line. The girls met me here at 4:45 and i absolutely love these pictures well worth it! They were off back to the edge and said they would meet us at dinner. Then Dd1 remembered she wanted to wear her special best day ever shirt and rapunzel ears so she went running back to the room to change. Next up our lantern dinner was extremely magical.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

Tonight’s dinner was the reason why I booked the magic. We are huge rapunzel fans! We were 5 minutes late for dinner because dh had to changed his cgm and he could not find his Manuel supplies. Our table was off to the far left and dh and I sat with our back to the stage so the girls can see. The show had started and atilia helped us find our table it was hysterical and a little embarrassing.

None of us got appetizers but boy we housed two bowels of pretzel bread. So good I think the same as le celier.

Having trouble adding pictures stay tuned sorry

 

[KGmomoftwins]

I did not take any pictures of food except desserts! Sorry we were just enjoying the show so much! 3 of us got the prime rib which was good the twice baked potato were horrible but the veggies were great! Even dd2 who typically is picky about veggies ate them. Dd1 got Mac and cheese with a chicken strip Yodi TM.

Rapunzel was amazing and remembered the girls from this morning.




Ralph even had Flynn come over and chatted with the girls. They felt pretty bad because they came over with a dairy free cupcake for dd2 thinking it was just her birthday not realizing they were twins. It was not that big of a deal but they felt bad and could tell they were worried and we got the excellent speech from Yodi.

Dessert! Sooo good. Dh and I got apple strudel with pecan ice cream. I also got fry bread with dd1 and dd2 birthday cupcake.



Dh headed back to the room and the girls and I went to trivia at O Gills. It was supposed to be best friends but the technology was not working so it was general trivia. Lots of Mary poppins questions and she’s practically perfect in every way! We did not win but we were not the losers. We shopped in the stores there was a lot I wanted lol but was waiting to see what damage we would do at lookout. The stores were never busy. Then we did the show dh watched in the room which was sweet so he could chat with the girls about it.

 

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2 things I forgot to mention about the night before. Ralph did a magic trick for us before we left I think trying to make up for the birthday debacle or the fact that Isani was so new to dcl. Secondly our neighbors across the hall decided it was a good idea to bring their screaming baby out into the hallway around midnight. I’m the only one that woke up.

I got up at 7:30 which was really nice to sleep in a bit. Everyone was starting to get a bit tired. I headed up to cove and I will say it was never busy. There was a woman who was being waited in before me and man she was grumpy. Interesting they told her sorry the machine to make the images was not working. I have my order and flavio got it working yay!

The woman who came in behind me was complaining very loudly about the prices and it should be free blah blah very rude and then stormed out. For my latte and Americano with extra tip was 11.23. For my free one the next morning it was 4.23. Very reasonable and they are good sized. I wish they still put the pastries in a plate but now they are doing them in to go bags which are easier to bring back to the room but more of a mess. Back in the room at 8:05 enjoying this

The clear winner though this cruise mini cinnamon buns. Note the sky in the background.

I also loved this feature on the app when you clicked on something it gave a picture and more info

View from our starboard side at 8:15 we could not see the island at all.

Dh said instead of rope dropping the island let’s go have a family breakfast at lumieres. I’m so glad we did I got my really yummy strawberry yogurt parfait and Mickey waffles, dd1 Mickey waffles, dd2 pancakes and a fresh scrambled egg, and dh fresh scrambled eggs and meats.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

If you remember yesterday dh could not find his testing strips he has a little bag they are in that he always carries. Gone! He had put in a new cgm and really needed to do a Manuel test to calibrate it. I told him go to the health center and he did. Well they were super happy to test his sugar lol. In and out 3 minutes no charge cgm calibrated. In case you were wondering

Here is what I came back to after breakfast 9:30.

It was pouring and then a thunderstorm. We couldn’t sit on the balcony everything was soaked. The girls and I headed to soul cat lounge for crafts.
This gave me the first view of the pier.

Dh decided to watch a movie in the stateroom he really does not get to do this at home so he was happy. I also believe he had WiFi and he did some work lol.
I lived this space and surprisingly it was lit busy.


We didn’t get anything. Cruise director Ann was there and I chatted with her a bit about Lookout and the weather. You know it’s bad when they take ourt the primo crafts. Super cute wooden anchors and magnets to turn into door decorations. At around 11:15 they opened the pier back up. Dh said the weather was clearing so we went for it. When we got off they took dh in a gold cart and said someone could go with him so dd1 went. Dd2 and I were off. Hopefully this gets cleaned up in time.



It’s a beautiful walk. We made it to the end and had to wait for dh as they were waiting for the cart to fill up. We the. Got on the team together and so funny dh found a screw then found where it was supposed to go in the door bolt. He told the cm and he just was like leave it there. I loved how the ride was narrated about what you might see on the island adorable.
When I redo my driveway I’m doing this

This picture doesn’t do it justice when the. Sun came out it was so shiney! Girls didn’t wear their magic bands and I gave a feeling they would have interacted with this.

Wagons were readily available as well as strollers. they were all randomly distributed. I wish I had a wheel chair for dh in this part it’s so spread out and a lot of walking.

 

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We watched the first Junkaroo show from the bridge kid of behind it and pro tip they come out here and do a little dance party in between the 2 shops. Less crowded this way



Then it was off to the beach. We walked right on the boardwalk in front of stage and right out on beach. I was lucky to get 1 chair on the beach the family gave me a hard time but they were not using it. It was very crowded just my opinion but I would not want to come here on a larger ship. I brought sand toys and the girls got to work. at one point he was sitting in the chair and a kid stole our shovel dh said he says to him kid laughed ran away no parents in site.

My walk down the beach while sand toys were being stolen. Gorgeous and the sand is just as pink as they say. If you pay attention on the tram you know why.




I felt like to get the full experience we needed to do lunch. Coming up next biggest mistake we made on the island.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

I left off we were heading to lunch. Now I had to suggest lunch for everyone no one wanted to go willingly. It was a little after 1. Our dining told us if we wanted dd2 allergy accommodation we would need to go to true true too. No here is the problem we weren’t sure where it was and didn’t want to walk all over. It was really hard to find the way around. We walked to true true past the water slides which looked super fun but girls had no interest. The seating area is nice to be separated and aesthetically appealing but we had to walk through 2 of them in order to find a seat see where I’m going with this. Then poor dh had to walk so far with his tray and cane from where the food was served.

We are not picky but the food was terrible ice cold and not edible. In disneys defense most people did not get on the island till 11:30 and they probably prepped it all for the 11:30-12:30 rush. The chicken sandwich could hardly bite through it and bbq chicken just was not good. I was so sad the plantain fries were not good. I had high hopes. We were very appreciative of the vitamin water acai pomegranate. Dd1 enjoyed ice cream. We immediately headed back to the beach. I loved this detail

We stopped at sandsational I had promised the girls after seeing a YouTube video.

I got the pineapple pleaser it was good but I should have gotten the tropical teaser. Girls the peach cream ice tea.

No also fyi no straws not even paper ones. They have these yummy things instead.

They were really good. Only thing that was weird it came in 2 pieces versus 1 big one. We went back to the beach till about 2:45. Dh was done plus he thought it would be mobbed leaving in another hour. Then we did some shopping.


I loved this tree. We like the shop with the native things but it was extremely expensive and I question if some of the jewelry is really 100% Bahamas made. Both girls got dcl tye dye shirts I’m kicking myself for not getting one. I got the pin

They had lots of merchandise and all sizes were available. No one was in the store so maybe not selling much. My 2 biggest disappointments (besides lunch) we could not find one shutters person I was pretty upset about this and I wanted to walk the nature trail. I loved that the narration on the tram was different going back. Now here’s the terrible part we get off the tram I go to walk with dh to make sure he was secured in a golf cart and a very able bodied young woman knocked him out if the dropped his car to sit her butt down. The driver saw this and said nothing. Dh said I can walk by now the sun was beating down and he had not had lunch. He started to walk the girls and I ran ahead fast with the intention of flagging down a golf cart. There was no one on the pier and no station of CMs at the half way point. To the cm that went and picked him up, dropped him off at the ship, and came back to tell me where he was and that he was ok im so sorry I did not get his name.

Dh went to the stateroom to have a snack and shower. Girls and I went to the pool deck for snacks. My treats from cove

Both were so good raspberry Carmel tart and orange cupcakes still my favorite. We watched some of the movie there was no one in the pool or slide we enjoyed both for a bit. Then got ready for pirate night

 

[KGmomoftwins]

Life has been so busy let’s wrap up pirate night. The plan was to see a bunch of characters before dinner. We got ready which for us is shirts, the provided buffs, and the girls have hats. Now in my other cruises I have not seen lines for the characters like on this. It was kind of ridiculous people lining up 30 minutes before and some not so nice behavior from adults. My husband and I couldn’t figure out if it was because it was a 4n cruise or the Miami crowd.

First up was Captain Jack at 4:45 we got there at 4:30 we were fifth in line and dd2 realized she forgot her pirate hat. I was worried about leaving them in line alone the very nice woman in front of me said oh mama you gotta go get that hat to match her sister I will make sure no one messes with them. So nice and she gave the girls tips on things to ask Jack which made our interaction hysterical. May the wind be forever in your favor!

Next up chip and dale no wait and their outfits were so cute! Then Captain Hook and Smee. I’m not making this next part up I wish I was a very drunk person burped in my face in line laughed and said excuse me sweetheart in front of the girls. I guess at least he said excuse me.

It was time for dinner we were in rapunzel again with pirate night. I had originally booked palo but canceled about 3 weeks out because the girls were excited for pirate night.

I had the samosa. It has really good flavor but this was the first thing I got that was only lukewarm. It was also really big I remember it being smaller.


Dh got the crab cake and said it was crunchy and good.


Girls enjoyed corn bread and both got the kids chicken skewers which were really good and the best kids option for dinner any night. I liked how they gave them a larger portion and of course dd1 got Yodi TM chicken strip.

My dinner so good those scallops perfection. I ate it all except the shrimp the kids ate those.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

Dh got this yummy dinner on Yodi recommendation. He ate it all and I got to have some potatoes and they were the best I’ve ever had on DCL.

Then desserts.
Dairy free brownie dd1 got same thing but with vanilla ice cream.
View attachment 895776
Was told it was yummy. Pineapple sundae get the sundae

Sugar free coconut flan

It was dh least favorite sugar free dessert. I also did not enjoy it but the girls both loved it so maybe it was a texture thing for us. Yodi also brought the rum cake to try. It was also just ok.

Get the sundae. We then went and played trivia at O Gills Disney villains. We actually knew our villains still didn’t win. Another thing I noticed is we really didn’t get to know the entertainment staff like before. It was always a different cm at trivia and characters where as in the past we saw the same CMs over and over again and got to know them. Then the girls were off to the edge they played games and really loved it there. Dh and I hung out in the stateroom chatted and sat on the veranda. Dd 2 came back a little after 9 exhausted she was asleep by 9:30. Also we forgot inside out 2 was playing tonight dh had not seen it with us but we figured we would wait and watch it at home. Dd1 came back and wanted to wake her sister for the fireworks but we said no. Dd1 and I watched from deck 10 all the way back.

Hard to see but there were all these bubble wands going off and it was so pretty. The girls earlier were reminiscing about the show on the fantasy pirate night in between the dinner seatings they didn’t do that this cruise. The fireworks were great and dh actually watched from the veranda even though a message in the app said not to! Poor dd2 was mad the next morning that she missed it! She goes we need a redo!

 

[KGmomoftwins]

I forgot to mention at dinner Ralph did a magic trick and told us churro waffles in cabanas tomorrow. Then yodi told us about the and then on our way out of rapunzels Ralph told us again. Also the family across the hall acted up during the night screaming baby and they were screaming at each other. I think someone came and intervened.

Ok Sunday August 25 the day where everything and anything we wanted to do was at the same time. I’m not a fan of cabanas in fact last cruise we did not eat there once but girls had their heart set on churro waffles. I went up and got coffee first and Flavio told me they were opening at 6am tomorrow nice.

At 8.15 dd2 and I went up to cabanas other 2 were sleeping and grumpy. We made 2 full plates and then covered them with 2 other plates for the 4 of us to have breakfast in bed or veranda in the case of dd2 and I. Cabanas was empty and they were just putting out a tray of the yummy goodness.

I get the hype they are fabulous! Once you go churro you will never go back!

Actually all the food we got was really good.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

I wanted to go to the 9am adult only theme of the magic tour but girls and dh were in a funk and we had bbb at 9:45. So I hung in the veranda which was lovely. I debated over and over on whether the girls were to old or not. Dh thought they were to old but they both really wanted to do it. I love the location on the classic ships with the magical stair case. Cost for the castle package is 99.95 and the girls get a t shirt and bag. I wanted them to choose the dcl version which was the cruise emblem in rhinestones on a pink shirt but both went with the classic best day ever one. If you have a bigger girl they have sizes to fit. Also the bbb dropped a new bag. No more cinch but knock off loungefly

So one girl loved her hair other was like it’s to tight and she wanted it styled like Belle with half up half down bun. Side not I was so bummed their appointment was at the same time as Captain America and I love him. Lol it was the only time during the 4n he was meeting at 10 am. Dh told me to go but I felt weird. We were done by 10:15ish enough time to go to anyone can cook apple strudel all of us went. Then we went shopping. Girls got their friends some magnets and each a pin. I loved dd1 got the special rapunzel royal table one. Dh did not see anything but I got a dcl cardigan and I love it.