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Day 10: Wednesday, June 16, 1999 -- Castaway Cay
I woke up about 7:00 AM full of anticipation about my day on Castaway Cay. Joe had a little bit too much fun last night, and I was unable to get him out of bed. He said that he would meet us later in the day on Castaway Cay for our 1:00 PM massages. Jimmie and I headed for the Topsider Buffet and stuffed our faces once again.
 
Snorkeling was the first thing on our agenda, but we only saw a few fish and Danielle's little sea turtle friend. We decided to make our way out to the advance snorkeling trail in hopes that we'd find more fish. It took quite a while to get out there and when we finally did the weather started turning dark and the water was getting quite choppy, so we headed back, but not before discovering the sunken treasure chest :-) It seemed like it took about 30 minutes to get back to shore and we were really tired when we finally did make it.
We found a couple of nice lounge chairs under an umbrella and just relaxed for a good long while. Just has it had done the day before on Blue Lagoon Island, the weather was starting to turn nice again, and HOT. At noon we headed to Cookie's Barbecue for lunch and had some of the best ribs of the whole trip. The huge chocolate chip cookies and lemonade were yummy too. Oh my stuffed again!
Soon it was time to meet Joe at the adult beach, Serenity Bay. This was a very nice quite secluded beach, and apparently Joe had been there for quite a while. We found him stuffing his face with fruit and the steak sandwiches that they were grilling on the beach. Joe and I found a designated spot to park Jimmy and headed for our massages at the cabana. The cabanas are elevated with 3 walls and an open end that faces the ocean, making them very private. A nice breeze was blowing in and the whole experience was heavenly. The women giving the massages were from South Africa. They told us that the Disney ship is a very difficult boat to get assigned to because the standards are so high. The cost of our massages were $69 each plus tip, and they were worth every penny.
By now Jimmie and Joe were both turning a bright shade of red again, and we decided that they had just about all the sun that they could tolerate this trip. Joe actually had one of the worst burns I saw on ship that night. On our way back to the "Magic," we stopped and bought a straw purse for my girl friend Gail, and I got a bright yellow Castaway Cay tee shirt. On board, we showered the sand off and laid down to nap for about an hour. Then we dressed for our evening meal at Parrot Cay, selecting our most tropical looking outfits to wear to the restaurant.
Before going to dinner we went up on deck to watch the ship pull away from Castaway Cay. We saw 3 Disney employees waving bye to us with those big white Mickey hands. The standouts from tonight's dinner were the crab cake appetizer and the lobster tail. Jimmie asked for and received a steak with his lobster tail. We also spent some time tonight getting to know our waiters. Alain, our headwaiter told us that the large phallic looking protrusion on the front of the ship was actually an icebreaker. Who knew? We also learned that the ship converts 500,000 gallons of seawater to fresh water every single day. Alain also explained that we were pretty much assured a nice day at sea tomorrow since Captain Henry would steer the boat anywhere the weather was good.
After dinner we went to the Promenade Lounge, where Joe and Jimmie could have a smoke. There we met Captain Henry who we all agreed looks like John Voight. Then it was on to this evening's show, "Hercules the Muse-ical." We enjoyed it and thought that the singers were excellent. There was some real down home gospel wailing in this show.
After the show we went up to deck 9 to one of the several outdoor bars for drinks. I was in the mood for another Bailey's Irish Cream coffee, but they didn't have coffee at the bar. Our waitress, Gillian from Montreal, volunteered to run to another deck and fetch the coffee so that I could have my drink. Is this service or what? When Gillian returned with my drink, she remained at our table for about 15 minutes answering all of our questions about life aboard ship.
Joe was running out of cigarettes so he bought some at the ESPN Skybox, the only place on ship where they can be purchased. Then, not even close to being ready to call it a night, we visited the Rockin' Bar D just in time to see a group of volunteers from the audience doing their impression of the Village People. It really looked like they were having fun in there, but it was so packed at this late hour we couldn't get into the doorway.
Next we headed for the Beuna Vista Theater to watch "Instinct." While I didn't think the movie was very good, it held my attention since much of the movie's philosophy seemed to be taken right out of one of my favorite books entitled "Ishmael." While the story was different (both involved gorillas though), I thought the ideas were down right plagiarism.
Finally, at 1:00 AM in the morning, I dragged myself to my stateroom for some much-needed sleep. That is when I discovered the wonderful swan Anita had fashioned from bath towels and placed on my bed. Disney magic was the last thing I thought about that night before I closed my eyes to sleep.
Day 11: Thursday, June 17, 1999 -- Day at Sea
I slept in until 9:30 AM today. Joe refused to get out of bed that early once again, so Jimmy and I decided to spend some time exploring the ship. First we stopped at Guest Services and prepaid our gratuities. While we were there, we picked up a list of hidden Mickeys on the ship and set out to find them from the clues. I believe I still have this list somewhere if anyone is interested. Before starting our search, I stopped by the stateroom to pickup my camera, and Joe was still fast asleep. We followed one of the clues to the bow of the ship where we found a huge hidden Mickey constructed from 3 holes cut in the deck near the staff swimming pool. I took a picture of the cool hidden Mickey for my web page, but unfortunately my thumb was partially covering the camera lens and that Mickey will remain hidden for a while longer. After locating most of the Mickeys on the list, Jimmie and I went to drag Joe out of bed.
The 3 of us went to Shutters to check out the photos and decided that we could live without most of them. Then we continued on to the ship's retail stores for some duty-free shopping. I found a beautiful Mickey medallion for only $495, but Joe refused to buy it for me. I settled for a Disney Magic tee shirt and a Disney Cruise Line photo album instead. I also purchased a Barbie and Ken family of dolls dressed in WDW clothing for my granddaughter that cost $60.
Since we skipped breakfast this morning, we were all three now ready for lunch and headed for the buffet at Parrot Cay. For the first time during the entire voyage, we were seated at a table with other people. I ended up chatting with the older couple on my left, while Joe and Jimmy monopolized the younger couple to my right with tales from their Richard Petty Driving Experiences.
After lunch we remembered that the girl who gave me my massage on Castaway Cay had recommended the Rainforest Room at the Vista Spa aboard ship. Joe wasn't too interested in saunas and steam rooms since his skin was so burnt and opted to lounge by the pool for the rest of the afternoon, leaving Jimmie and I to checkout the Rainforest Room on our own. This place was great! For only $15 you get to use the room for the entire day making it easily the best deal aboard ship. It is a large circular tiled room with 3 smaller rooms extending off from the larger room. In the center of the room is a lovely bubbling fountain. In another area of the room are 4 or 5 tiled "S" shaped relaxation loungers that felt slightly warmed and heavenly to relax in. To the back of the room are 3 circular shower rooms, each with a different type of experience, such as tropical mist, hydrotherapy, etc. Also on the back wall is a lion's head that spits out crushed ice for cooling your skin. The 3 smaller rooms consisted of a gentle sauna, a steam room and a eucalyptus sauna. The room is coed, and it really is a great place to hang out with your friends. When you purchase the use of the room, you are given a locker and a large fluffy bathrobe to wear in the hallways of the spa. Fresh towels are supplied in the Rainforest Room. Since we wore our bathing suits into the room, it was great to run in and out from the pool to the spa. Jimmie and I did this for several hours until the sky started looking ominous.
We waited for Captain Henry to steer the ship to where the good weather was, but to no avail. We later found out that an annual drill with the Coast Guard had been scheduled, and the ship was required to remain right where it was. Since the weather had gotten bad, this seemed like the perfect time to get our luggage packed, so we headed back to our stateroom. I had been contemplating canceling our Palo reservations for tonight since it would mean missing "Disney Dreams." But by now I had figured out that they didn't really check your seating times at the shows, and we could probably attend the 5:30 PM show if we really wanted to. I think partly because food no longer mattered, and partly because I didn't want Jimmie to have to attend a romantic dinner alone, and partly because I just wanted to get all the packing done now, I decided to cancel the reservations anyway. I tried to call the restaurant, but didn't get an answer, and someone later told me that Palo's didn't open until 5:30 PM. We finished packing everything but our carry-on bags and dressed pretty casually for dinner at Parrot Cay tonight. I was so completely sick of food by this point I didn't even bother to note what it was we had for dinner, but I know it involved food prepared by the different chefs from around Disney World. We said goodbye to our servers of whom we had become quite fond (we especially enjoyed harassing Erasmo), and handed out the gratuities. We told Alain that we had 9:00 PM reservations at Palo's, and had been unable to cancel them. He graciously offered to take care of it for us. Next we stopped by our stateroom to give Anita her tip. We were completely delighted with the service from the staff on this ship and tried to compensate them accordingly.
Time to head to "Disney Dreams." I can't say enough about this show. For any Disney lover, this is the perfect way to end a wonderful voyage. I was practically moved to tears when all the Disney characters appeared on stage at the end, and listening to the "oohs" and "ahs" of the children made me resolve that I would bringing my granddaugher on this cruise in the very near future. Without giving too much away, I'd also like to add that the special effects in this show were fantastic.
After the show, we went to our stateroom to place the luggage in the hall. We also grabbed the bottle of champagne that had been delivered to our stateroom the first day and headed to Sessions to polish it off. The waitress there brought us an ice bucket in addition to the glasses we requested, and uncorked the champagne for us. She even refused to take a tip for doing it. We noticed that Captain Henry and many of the ship's officers hung out here. Except for the piano playing, the room was very dark and quite. Little listening booths lined the wall of the lounge where one could select from about 75 different CDs to listen to. After several hours of drinking and chatting, the champagne was gone and we were ready for bed.
At about 12:00 AM in the morning, we found out the real reason our lovely room was probably so cheap. We were located directly across the hall from the luggage collection room. The banging and loud talking and joking of the workers made it impossible for us to sleep most of the night.
Day 12: Friday, June 18, 1999 -- Departure and Final Thoughts
Since we had to be off of the ship by 9:00 AM, we got up at 6:15 AM and showered and dressed. Next we packed up all the carry-on stuff, and headed to Parrot Cay for our final breakfast aboard ship. The service was much more rushed this morning as the waiters worked feverishly to get us off the boat and prepare for the next batch of passengers coming on board. We realized at this point just how many hours of the day the staff really must work. Even though we understood the reason we were being rushed, it really was a little hard not to feel resentful because the pampering had suddenly come to a stop.
After eating we said our final good byes and headed to our stateroom to pick up our carry-on luggage. Disembarkation was painless as we all had less than $600 in merchandise to claim with customs, and we quickly located our luggage and checked it with the airlines right there at the terminal. In less than 20 minutes we were sitting on the bus waiting to be driven to the airport. As the bus departed the terminal, there was one lone elderly woman standing there with a large white Mickey hand waving goodbye to us. I couldn't help thinking how "the magic" was slowing fading away.
Upon arriving at the airport we made a beeline for the Disney store just in case there was something we had forgotten to buy. I saw a pretty good replica of the Mickey medallion I liked so much on ship for only $30 and used the Disney Dollars Jimmy and Mary had given me for Christmas to purchase it.
Next we headed to Starbucks for some specialty coffee. While we were sitting there sipping our java, we saw the Disney Cruise Line group parade by headed for the buses. We called out to them, "You're going to have a great time." Our plane left at 1:00 PM exactly on time, and in a few hours I was sitting in my living room contemplating everything that had happened over the last two weeks.
Before dropping Jimmie back at his house, we decided to stop at a local restaurant for a bite to eat. Joe asked the waitress for some salt and pepper, and she grabbed some from the next table and slammed it onto ours. With a little sniff, Jimmie and Joe gently dropped their own napkins into their laps. We were home again, and the reality of it was really setting in. Joe said that while he's not willing to return to WDW anytime soon, he might consider going on another cruise. WooHoo! Disney Wonder, here I come.
There is one final story relating to my meeting with Danielle that I'd like to share with you. As I've already explained, because we never did meet at Splash Mountain on E-Ticket night, I was unable to make plans to meet Danielle on the ship. Weeks later when Danielle posted her trip report, I emailed her to tell her that I had a picture of that sea turtle she was so fond of. In the series of emails that followed between us, we realized that there were quite a few occasions on the ship where we might have met and didn't. This prompted Danielle to look through her pictures to see if she had captured anyone on film that looked like me. Then low and behold she found it. There I was peeking out from the very next table on a picture she a taken at dinner. For the entire trip, Danielle and I had been seated just one table apart and never knew it. I guess it really is a small world after all.
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