Sunrise on the Disney Dream – Day 2 Nassau
We arose to the gentle rocking of the ship as we continued the last portion of our journey to Nassau, Bahamas. Day one on the Disney Dream was a blast and we were looking forward to another fun day on the ship. Most of the Hayes household likes to sleep in to a normal hour of the day but for some reason my internal alarm clock is set to 5:30 am (thanks Mom)! The one benefit of waking up early is it gives you the opportunity to explore the ship when very few people are up and about. I decided to seize this opportunity as I grabbed my GoPro and traversed to deck 12.
Although it was a bit windy due to the fact that we were still sailing, I secured the camera to the railing just off of the left side of the forward adult section of deck 12. The sun was just working its way into the eastern skyline over the water. I set up the time lapse feature of the camera and just sat back and enjoyed the view and the ocean breeze. It was the perfect way to greet the day!
Cabanas Breakfast as the Disney Dream Pulls Into Port
I returned to the stateroom to find the Hayes clan lounging about, the boys watching Mickey cartoons and Emily reading her book. Since we were approaching the port at Nassau, I quickly showered so Hunter and I could go up to Cabanas and enjoy breakfast on the back deck. Emily and Sawyer were perfectly fine just hanging out in the room and were excited for us to return and deliver them breakfast in the room. Hunter and I stocked our plates with delicious breakfast goodness and acquired the last table on the back deck. The ship had just passed the outer banks of the island and began its 180 degree spin before navigating the rear of the ship into port. It was really fun to watch, and the weather was absolutely perfect!
Hunter and I stacked some plates with corned beef hash, potatoes, bacon, and other breakfast treats for Mom, stacked a few cereals for Sawyer, and headed back to our stateroom. We headed out to the veranda to watch the final approach of the Disney Dream to the Nassau port. Because Emily and I were looking forward to a more chill dinner, the time in the room gave me the opportunity to secure a Palo dinner reservation for Emily and I for the evening. The boys agreed they wanted to go to the Oceaneer Club rather than have to dress up for dinner, so the plan was approved by all parties involved.
Disney Dream Deck 11 Outdoor Fun
After bellies were full and all were ready to move, we got our swim gear on to enjoy some outdoor fun on decks 11 and 12. We wanted to take advantage of the picture perfect Bahamian weather and decks 11 and 12 provided the ideal opportunity. We started with the Aquaduck, although the wait was about 45 minutes. Emily and Sawyer went together with the GoPro and Hunter and I followed. Although the weather was perfect, the Aquaduck water was a bit chilly. We moved to the Mickey pool to splash around for a bit in the heated water. Sawyer was also excited for the opportunity to run around Nemo’s Reef. Since we had never splashed around in the family pool we moved up to deck 12 midship to a small little pool area. It was a great break from the main pool area because there weren’t nearly as many people.
After we had our fair share of water fun, Goofy’s Mini-Golf was calling from deck 13 so we grabbed our putters and played the nine hole course. I never get tired of playing mini-golf overlooking the Atlantis Resort on Nassau from the back of the ship. After our round, we were ready for some eats, so got a table near the Waves bar on deck 12, which was all but abandoned. Emily and I took turns snagging some food from the quick serve areas and Cabanas and brought it up so we could enjoy our lunch outside. Nothing like a couple of Captain’s Mai Tais to wash down lunch! Before we headed back to the room, the boys took a couple more rides on the Mickey slide to cap our afternoon outdoor fun.
Disney Dream Inside Fun
Back in the room, we changed out of our wet clothes and headed back out to finish up our Muppets Midship Detective Agency game from the previous night. It was really interesting because part of the game sends you to Pepe’s door on deck five to verify clues that you receive along the way. Pepe’s door (see Disney Dream day one post) is this small little stateroom door that looks just like a regular stateroom door only 1/3 the size. Somewhere along the way Sawyer started believing the it was a real door and that at any moment Pepe (a prawn Muppet) was going to jump out. It got so bad that he didn’t even want to play the Muppet’s Midship game anymore. Poor guy.
Since we boarded the ship and Hunter got the first glimpse of the movie lineup onboard, Hunter had been asking if we could go see Star Wars Rogue One that was playing at the Buena Vista Theater at different times throughout the cruise. Recently Hunter, Sawyer, and I had a guys’ night where we watched Star Wars Episode 4 and the boys were hooked. It turned out that there was a showing of Rogue One in the middle of the afternoon on day two, which provided the perfect opportunity for Hunter and I to see the movie… in 3D no less! We bought a bucket of popcorn, after talking Hunter down from wanting the Tie Fighter bucket which was three times the price and probably wouldn’t have fit in our luggage. Emily and Sawyer went to explore the ship which really meant that they went back to the room because Sawyer wanted to watch Mickey cartoons and Emily got to enjoy reading her book. (Emily here: I tried! It was a lot of whining and complaining and I finally gave up!) The movie was awesome, getting us both fired up to continue our Star Wars movie series when we returned home.
Evening on The Disney Dream
After the movie, Hunter and I returned to the room and catch up with Emily and Sawyer. Because we had Palo reservations, I headed up to the quick service location on deck 11 to get the boys some dinner while Emily finished her makeup. The boys chowed down on a burger and some pizza while I got ready and then we all headed down to drop the boys off at the Oceaneer Club so Emily and I could enjoy a dinner at Palo. The experience was amazing which we attributed to our entertaining server Diego. If you go on a Disney Cruise, I would highly recommend that you book a dining experience at Palo. The service is always top notch and the experience provides a relaxing atmosphere to enjoy your meal. It also gives Emily the opportunity to get her favorite drink in all the land, the Limoné Basilico, a lemon and basil tinged martini.
Since we had an early dinner at Palo, we were able to pick up the boys from the Oceaneer Club so that we could enjoy the evening together. We went to the room to change into our swim gear to enjoy a night up on deck 11. Before we did that though, the shoppers in the family wanted to go to deck three to check out the shops. The boys both had gift cards that they wanted to use (thanks again, Anderson!) so we spent a fair amount of time debating over the options. We finally picked our items and brought them back to our room before going up to deck 11 for what we hoped would be some outside fun. When we arrived up on deck 11 the pools were already closed and covered in preparation for the pirate party on the deck. Although we had grand plans for the evening we all agreed that a cozy night in the room with some yummy room service wouldn’t be all bad either. A cheese plate and some warm chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk were the perfect accompaniment to the Mickey cartoons as we discussed our excitement for our arrival at Castaway Cay the following day.
