Living the Dream and remembering the Bagman TRIP REPORT COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - Page 18 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Wednesday 28 September – part one: what on earth is that argument about?
I was half awake and thought I heard the engines shutting off, but I wasn’t being fooled by that again for a second day. Instead, I sneaked a look at the curtains, and it was showing daylight. Ok, so sunrise was 7:00am. It must be a reasonable time then, and definitely time to get up, bearing in mind we went to bed at 9:30pm last night!
I crawled out of bed, and went to look outside, and we were moored up, or parked, as I like to say It always really winds up any maritime people, trust me…
We got ready to head out to Castaway Cay, and just as we were about to leave our room, we heard the disembarkation announcement. We made our way up to Cabana’s for a quick breakfast…
While we were there, we saw quite a row going on. We weren’t quite sure what the heck it was all about, but from what we could gather, two families both wanted the same table. Why, I have no idea, as it wasn’t even by the window. In the end, the family who were already present gave up, after the Crew Members tried to explain on at least three separate occasions (as we clearly heard them) to the single woman that the table was taken. They kept telling her that they would find another table for her family of five, but they weren’t even there at that point. They walked up about five minutes later, when the other family had had enough and were sick of it, and decided to leave. I hate it when things like that happen and people have to be so over the top about petty things.
After breakfast, we made our way down, and headed out to Castaway Cay for the first time since we endured the tropical storm there on my 40th birthday in 2012. It looked a lot more promising today, although it also looked a heck of a lot hotter too!
We made our way over to the tram stop, and it wasn’t that busy, and within a couple of minutes, a tram was there, so we jumped aboard, and were off.
There weren’t as many photo opps on the way over as I remembered, but maybe the foliage has just grown in the almost four years since we were last here.
At the changeover for trams (for those who haven’t been to Castaway Cay, there are two tram services. One takes you to all accessible parts of the island, except Serenity Bay, which is reserved for adults. You have to take a second tram over there), there was no sign of one, so I took the opportunity to get a couple of photos here…
I don’t think we’ve ever really explored this area, as we don’t have kids, so it holds little interest for us. If anything, we just make our way straight over to Serenity Bay. I know people are going to tell us we’re missing out, and I’m sure we are, but there you go…
Soon enough the next tram pulled up, and my goodness, it’s a bumpy ride over there. The message came on to say it could be bumpy, and we were like “it’s a bit late to warn us that, as we’ve already been thrown up and down!”
On the way over, we saw some of the mad fools participating in the Castaway Cay 5k run. I do not know how they do it in this heat!
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The island just looks so clean and beautiful! I hope to make it there one of these days! Ugh, I'm with you on the petty stuff that goes on in public sometimes.
That's a shame about the scene at breakfast. I hate witnessing that, and have been making a concerted effort to make sure I don't ever get sucked in to something like that. It's never worth it, even if you 'win'. You still ruined a piece of your vacation. And likely that of those nfortunate to witness your toddler-like behavior.
Oh, I miss CC! This will be two cruises in a row for us where we don't have a stop. Alaska makes sense, but I'd love to convince the captain to swing down there to let us warm up a bit after our Newfoundland stay on the WBTA. It would only add a few extra days before we arrived back in NYC, but I'd be good with that. Think I can make that happen?
I think the views are better from the walkway than from the tram, because the foliage is so think along the roadway. But with the heat, the tram certainly makes for a more comfortable transport to Serenity Bay!
I think I'd only consider the 5K in November-February, and even that is iffy because of the humidity. When you get away from the shore, and the sea breeze, I find it can be hard to breathe. Add in running, and it's not something I'd do.
Ugh. Crabby morning people, hey? I take those opportunities to show my kids exactly how NOT to behave! That stupid little things like that aren't even worth a second thought. Those poor kids, how embarrassing to watch their parents argue over a table.
Anyway.... beautiful morning! Yes runners are crazy. But it somehow justifies all the food and drink to be consumed later.
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That's a shame about the scene at breakfast. I hate witnessing that, and have been making a concerted effort to make sure I don't ever get sucked in to something like that. It's never worth it, even if you 'win'. You still ruined a piece of your vacation. And likely that of those nfortunate to witness your toddler-like behavior.
Well said.
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Oh, I miss CC! This will be two cruises in a row for us where we don't have a stop. Alaska makes sense, but I'd love to convince the captain to swing down there to let us warm up a bit after our Newfoundland stay on the WBTA. It would only add a few extra days before we arrived back in NYC, but I'd be good with that. Think I can make that happen?
Well, I'm sure all the passengers (and probably the crew) would be in favour of that... but I'm not sure deviations from the cruise itinerary are that simple to do. So much for Disney listening to their guests, right?
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I think the views are better from the walkway than from the tram, because the foliage is so think along the roadway. But with the heat, the tram certainly makes for a more comfortable transport to Serenity Bay!
I think I'd only consider the 5K in November-February, and even that is iffy because of the humidity. When you get away from the shore, and the sea breeze, I find it can be hard to breathe. Add in running, and it's not something I'd do.
Nor me! I think I'd narrow down your time period even more to December or January only, as we had some pretty hot days in late February this year...
Ugh. Crabby morning people, hey? I take those opportunities to show my kids exactly how NOT to behave! That stupid little things like that aren't even worth a second thought. Those poor kids, how embarrassing to watch their parents argue over a table.
I know, if I'd been a child witnessing my parents behaving like that, I'd have wanted the floor to swallow me up!
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Anyway.... beautiful morning! Yes runners are crazy. But it somehow justifies all the food and drink to be consumed later.
How silly to get all bent out of shape over a table! Love your photos from Castaway Cay so far. If it weren't for the heat, it would be so relaxing there.
Nice photos from the start of your day at CC! That was insane at breakfast in the way the two families were squabbling over a table! There's a saying that goes like this...Making a mountain out of a mole hill!
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How silly to get all bent out of shape over a table! Love your photos from Castaway Cay so far. If it weren't for the heat, it would be so relaxing there.
You see, this is why we don't usually enjoy our time there, because it's always so darned hot. I know how much everyone loves it there and I get why, but we just can't stand the heat, so that's why we sometimes stay on board.
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Wednesday 28 September – part two: it’s hot even at 9:00am!
When we arrived at Serenity Bay, it lived up to its name…
There were even some hammocks free, which surprised me, although there was no way I was going to attempt to get in one. I have tried before, and there’s obviously a way to do it, but to date, all I’ve found is the way not to get in one. It’s not pretty!
A lot of the loungers in the shade were annoyingly all taken, especially quite a few had items on them from people I would imagine were in the sea in the full glare of the sun… We settled ourselves down in two that Mark dragged as high up the beach as he could to get out of the sun. We both had the feeling we wouldn’t be here long, as it was already getting too hot for us at 9:00am.
The clouds were also looking very ominous, and menacing. They’d looked that way in 2012 when the storm hit…
We lasted maybe 10 minutes on our loungers, then gave in, and decided we wanted to head back. The sun was already starting to beat through the trees and I didn’t want to burn, and we both felt very hot and uncomfortable, and were starting to sweat. To us, this is not fun. I know some people love sitting out in conditions like this, and good for them, but it doesn’t work for us. There’s no point doing something that’s actually going to make you miserable. At least we can say we made it out there this time, unlike our last four night cruise on the Dream, where we just didn’t get off the ship!
We headed back to the tram stop….
It was burning hot, and there wasn’t much shade to wait in there, so we were both very relieved when a tram came towards us. Phew!
By the time we got back to the changeover for the other tram, the sky was looking even more daunting…
In fact, as we waited, it started to rain. We thought it was going to become a downpour, but it lasted about a moment, and then stopped. It seemed we’d had a lucky escape, and we’d discover later from the captain’s late afternoon message that we had, as apparently they were expecting some very heavy showers.
It was a very busy tram back, as you can see!
I tried to get some shots of the Dream….
I did also manage to sneak a shot of the construction work they’re doing here:
We suspected there’s a lot of construction work going on here in preparation for the two new ships. I would imagine with the arrival of those, they’re going to need to expand the facilities here, as they’ll bring a heck of a lot more people with them…
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Instead, I sneaked a look at the curtains, and it was showing daylight. Ok, so sunrise was 7:00am. It must be a reasonable time then, and definitely time to get up, bearing in mind we went to bed at 9:30pm last night! 
It always really winds up any maritime people, trust me… 
[IMG]http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/chezp/chezp%202/Bagman%20Days/Day%2019%20 
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Love your photos from Castaway Cay so far. If it weren't for the heat, it would be so relaxing there. 
I know how much everyone loves it there and I get why, but we just can't stand the heat, so that's why we sometimes stay on board.
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