Pictures from the October 2011 MiceChat Cruise on the Disney Dream

[Trekkie Dad]

Here are some of the pictures I took on the MiceChat Cruise just a few weeks ago. Not many people, just a lot of scenes. I'll give a shout out to Fairy Godmother Travel for setting this all up. OK on with the pictures. The first is at the port, waiting our turn to board:


Neighboring ships:




Underway:




The chandelier:


The bed is ready for the night:


Pillow detail:


Food pictures from dinner at Animator's Palette:








Thus ended the first night of the cruise. Seems I failed to take pictures of our fellow cruisers. More to come.

[Trekkie Dad]

The next morning, the ship docked in Nassau. (Actually, I was attending a spin class in the gym as we came into port.) While others spent the day shopping, gambling, or swimming with dolphins, we had other plans. Through the Ministry of Tourism, we arranged to meet with a Bahamian family and spend the afternoon with them. Beyond that, it was a total surprise.

It was a gas. They drove us around parts of the island (in the pouring rain, I might add), eventually ending up at their home. There they had prepared a hot lunch of chicken, fish, rice, corn, carrots, and TWO desserts. We talked of travel and politics and exchanged addresses, phone, and email. Before they took us back to the ship, we took a couple pictures. Here they are with one of their 17 grandchildren:


And of course we took a picture together:


Back on the ship, we had dinner in a private room at Palo with eight other MiceChatters, but I forgot to bring my camera. Pictures were taken, of course. I just don't happen to have any. It was one heck of a dinner.

There's that bed again, but with a different animal and the activity schedule for Castaway Cay:

[Trekkie Dad]

I swear there were other MiceChatters on this cruise. We saw them at dinner and ran into them at other times, but everyone was pretty much left to do as they wished. We were all SOMEWHERE on Castaway Cay. Jimmie and I spent about half our time walking about the island and the other half on a cruise. You'd think with 4000 passengers aboard and 1500 crew (and Disney characters everywhere), you'd see some of them in my pictures. Sorry to disappoint.

Here's my shots from the day:














Here's what greeted us back in our room:


And of course, the dinner shots:

[Trekkie Dad]

The next day was a day at sea. There was plenty to do. I went to another spin class, we both watched Cars 2 in 3D in the theater, I rode the Aquaduck, and Jimmie took a towel animal class. But alas, all I have are more pictures of food from our last dinner on the ship.







There was some adventure after the cruise. The bus taking us to the airport blew out a tire. (Someone else has pictures, I'm sure.) No one was injured, but we were delayed enough for a couple people to miss their flights. The rest of us had a leisurely afternoon in the airport recharging computer and cell phone batteries. Our flights back to California were on time and uneventful. They were showing Cars 2 on the flight, but I had just seen it.

[Fairy Godmother Travel]

There was a spinning class? Was that in the gym? ooops never made it over there

The Bahamian day looks pretty awesome--what a great idea!

Haha what IS that red monster on your bed?

[Trekkie Dad]

There was a spinning class? Was that in the gym? ooops never made it over there

The Bahamian day looks pretty awesome--what a great idea!

Haha what IS that red monster on your bed?

Considering it was pirates night, the monster may have been Davy Jones.

We had been to Nassau once before on a Disney Cruise, and I was looking to do something different. A little research online, and I found the "People to People" program by the Ministry of Tourism. You tell them where and when you'll be in the Bahamas, and what your interests are, and they try to match you with a local family with similar interests. The couple they matched us with has been hosting tourists since the 70's and have made friends from all over.

The spinning classes on the ship were led by one of the personal trainers. There was no fee for the class (or for the use of the gym), but of course, tipping was encouraged. They had signup sheets at the spa. The spinning classes were the first to fill up.