Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising THIS SECTION COMPLETED 5/7 - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
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To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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What a foggy arrival. I could see me eating from your breakfast buffet. Mark's choices with the fruit & melons from your plate would have been a great START. Hope the pig was not close.
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What a foggy arrival. I could see me eating from your breakfast buffet. Mark's choices with the fruit & melons from your plate would have been a great START. Hope the pig was not close.
Like my donkey, he doesn't seem to sail. I wonder if it's the same issue Eeyore apparently has - I'm told he doesn't have good sea legs.
Tuesday 24 February – part two: relaxing in the Rainforest and hanging out at the adult pool
We found ourselves in the adult pool area, and it all looked very inviting.
Then we spotted this – how the heck we missed this on our last cruise on the Dream in 2011, I do not know, but I genuinely did not know this was here.
Of course, that was it – I was sold, and knew what I wanted to do, so we headed back to the room to change. While we were there, we came into port, and this was the sight that greeted us…
I got a few more photos, before the screaming kid next door drove me nuts and I headed back inside. I wouldn’t mind, but his parents were right next to him, but he still insisted at shouting or screaming at them, and not once did I hear them ask him to keep it down a bit!
We got ourselves ready and headed back to deck 11, and bagged a couple of very comfortable looking loungers (and they were! ) and then headed into the hot tub. It was so cool, as not only is it an infinity tub, overlooking the view, but there’s actually a see-through section in it, down to the lifeboats below, which was a bit surreal. The only downside was the jets weren’t that strong, and my goodness, the water was hot, so we didn’t last long in there.
There wasn’t a single person in the adult pool, so I did wonder if it was open, but I figured it was, so we headed over there, and got in. I got in through the seating area nearest to the bar, if that makes sense to those who’ve been on the Dream, and for the rest of you, hopefully the photos you’ve already seen of this area help you to get that straight in your minds. The water here is very shallow, and it wasn’t overly warm. I cautiously made my way over to the main pool section that’s 5’5” deep (I could just about touch the bottom, but the water was practically over my mouth! ) and fortunately that was warmer, a really nice temperature.
I swam in there for a bit, doing some backstroke and breast stroke. I know, it probably doesn’t look big enough, but given my stroke rate, I’d estimate it was about four or five metres across, as one of the pools I swim in at home (I have a membership at home for a 16 metre pool and another one where I work) is only 10 metres, and I know how many strokes of back stroke I can manage, and it was about half that stroke rate.
We also sat in the seating area on the other side, where you can sit comfortably in the water, and you can also dangle your legs into the deeper section of water. We were joined by one other older woman, who didn’t seem to mind us swimming around, which was good. We were in there maybe 20 minutes, but I could feel the sun moving around, and I didn’t want to be in the sun and risk burning so we headed back to our loungers.
I didn’t stay there long, as I wanted to head into the Rainforest, but I felt bad leaving my towels there, as there are signs saying not to reserve loungers, so I had a word with a Crew Member, Shawn from Jamaica, and he was so sweet. He told me that when you were on board a Disney cruise ship, you were royalty and you shouldn’t be doing anything, least of all worrying about removing a towel. I asked him if would be Ok to go to the Rainforest, given that would mean doing something, and he gave me permission! He was charming to talk to, as we discovered that he’d been on the Alaskan cruises, and he’d seen a bear and been terrified. Now that I can relate to!
I headed into the spa, feeling a bit odd, as I was just in my tankini, but the Crew Members didn’t seem to mind, and heck, I couldn’t see the point of drying off, just to head into the Rainforest and get undressed again.
I couldn’t believe how quiet it was in the Rainforest. It had been busier last night! This just added to my theory of a lot of first timers, as I tend to find in conversations that once you’ve been ashore to Nassau, you often don’t go back a second time. We certainly haven’t, and I know a lot of people who feel the same, but it didn’t feel as if there were that many of us left on board now.
I secured a heated stone chair, and here’s a tip I’ll share with you. Do not go for the ones all the way to the right as you walk in, as they’re closest to the gym, and we kept hearing music and conversations from there, which wasn’t exactly relaxing at times.
Usually I don’t reserve a chair, but as it was so quiet (there were only two others in use when I arrived), I did and I headed into the whirlpool spas. Again, like the one outside, I wasn’t overly impressed by the jets in this tub. I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but I’m definitely used to more jet activity in the tubs I use at home.
Once I’d heated up in there, I headed through to the shower area to sample a selection of them. Of course, the problem with only taking cruises on the newer ships every couple of years is that you completely forget which showers you like, which ones are freezing (albeit cool mist and Siberian nights are a good indication ) and which ones are a bit warmer, so I had some interesting experiences, shall I say, until I figured out my favourite ones.
I will also say here that some of the buttons were quite tough to operate to get the showers to work, which was disappointing. I had to help a woman out at one point, and I got soaked after poking my head into the shower to press the button, which made us both laugh. However, I did get the last laugh, after showing her the problems I have with my fingers (I’ve had carpal tunnel for more than 20 years now) and that it was ironic that I could operate it, and she couldn’t!
I then went into each of the caldarium, the hamam and the laconium, often interspersing them with periods in the various showers to cool me down in between. Once I’d had enough of those, I returned to my heated stone chair, and I think there were only three people in there now. Mark arrived soon afterwards, and joined me on the chair next to me, and we read for a bit.
Mark then suggested going in the hot tub, which surprised me, as he’s not really a hot tub person, and neither of us lasted long in there, as it was again a little on the hot side, shall we say? I then introduced him to the various showers, and he tried the caldarium, the hamam and the laconium, with varying degrees of success. Let’s just say that I don’t think he’ll be back in the caldarium in a hurry! It was a little too hot for him…
We rotated on this process for some time, and in the end, by the time I left the Rainforest, I’d been there for over an hour and a half. Talk about getting your money’s worth out of it!
I left Mark to head back to the room, and headed to the women’s changing room to use the gentle sauna. Another tip – do not sit down in here without sitting on a towel! I did, and I was straight outside to grab one, as my goodness, the seat was boiling!
After a few minutes in there, I went to use the shower and wash my hair, and I do not remember the shower facilities being this good. As well as a very large shower (at least twice the size of the ones in your room), there’s an area outside, where you have a bench to put everything on, so you can get dried and dressed there, with a curtain that pulls across in front of it. If only the places I swim at at home had facilities like this!
Ahh the Rainforest, so relaxing!! I spent a lot of time in the hamam on our last trip. After leaving our arctic NY behind I relished how hot it was in there. Plus, I love the different scrubs they give you to use in there. I totally agree about staying on the boat at Nassau.
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Such a relaxing start to the day. Sounds wonderful!
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Ahh the Rainforest, so relaxing!! I spent a lot of time in the hamam on our last trip. After leaving our arctic NY behind I relished how hot it was in there.
Yes, I can imagine that was a bit of a shock to your system!
What a great time of relaxation! I never have gotten to enjoy the spas on the Disney ships but I now fully intend on doing the weeks pass to the rainforest on my November cruise
What a great time of relaxation! I never have gotten to enjoy the spas on the Disney ships but I now fully intend on doing the weeks pass to the rainforest on my November cruise
I bet once you get in the Rainforest, you'll be heading back there on all subsequent cruises.
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Like my donkey, he doesn't seem to sail. I wonder if it's the same issue Eeyore apparently has - I'm told he doesn't have good sea legs. 
The water here is very shallow, and it wasn’t overly warm. I cautiously made my way over to the main pool section that’s 5’5” deep (I could just about touch the bottom, but the water was practically over my mouth! 
) and fortunately that was warmer, a really nice temperature. 
He was charming to talk to, as we discovered that he’d been on the Alaskan cruises, and he’d seen a bear and been terrified. Now that I can relate to! 
This just added to my theory of a lot of first timers, as I tend to find in conversations that once you’ve been ashore to Nassau, you often don’t go back a second time. We certainly haven’t, and I know a lot of people who feel the same, but it didn’t feel as if there were that many of us left on board now. 
I spent a lot of time in the hamam on our last trip. After leaving our arctic NY behind I relished how hot it was in there. 
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