Anchors Away! The TCD Gang Has Another Dream (cruise)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

16 hours ago, Momof6....aka Marty said:

Go, TCD, Go! The Fort Fiends are counting on you!

Not to win the race. Just to take many more fabulous photos.

LOL.  I probably shouldn't have called the 5K run a race.  There was no chance that I'd be winning anything. I just wanted to complete it!

More photos are coming up!

10 hours ago, DramaMama .......... Janet said:

You're not making me want to book a cruise, man.  

Out of seven Disney Cruises, some of the TCD gang had seasickness issues on one.  That was the Thanksgiving cruise, when the Gulf Stream is rougher than it is in summer.  That's pretty good odds.

They have lots of meds for seasickness these days.  I think you'd be fine.

59 minutes ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

You look fantastic!! Do you know how much weight you have lost? 

Are you talking to me?

LOL, I don't think I've lost much weight at all.

I have been training for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon, so I think some weight has been redistributed, but I really need to lose some to get ready for that race.  I'm about to get a lot more serious with the training, so I expect that there will be some good changes coming up.

So,not so much yet.  But, I appreciate the kind words.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's move on.

We left off on Sunday, June 26th on the way to the Castaway Cay 5K starting line.

It was nice to have the feeling of having the island to myself.  This pathway here will be wall to wall people all day long- it's one of the main areas on the island:

There are nice restrooms and showers here:

That game pavilion is a fun place to hang out and get out of the sun/weather.  We never made it there on this trip:

The main family beach is right here- you can see that a lifeguard is already on duty- it was only 8:44 am when I took this photo:

As mentioned earlier the giant fake palm tree has lost its leaves, and now the cell tower that it was disguising looks like a giant jumble of antennae.  But, maybe it's less obtrusive this way?:

A closer look:

After a bit more walking, I arrived at the Pelican Point tram stop area.  There are shops conveniently located here.  This one has been rethemed since my last visit:

They sell Castaway Cay 5K merchandise in that shop over there.  And a lot of other stuff too:

Wouldn't you know, Frozen has found its way onto Castaway Cay:

This shack is where you can rent snorkel gear and floats.  Snorkel gear for one guest is $31. To use a snorkel that someone else has had shoved in his mouth and slobbered all over.  That's why we bring our own.  Note that there are more signs adorning that shack.  We will take a closer look at one in a moment:

The 5K start and finish line is right in this area, and there are ice water containers set up here:

Since I had never done the 5K before, I wasn't sure what the deal was if you had a beach bag or gear with you.  On the ship, the CM's told me that they had a secured box that guests could leave their stuff in while they ran.  I was carrying our snorkel gear and some towels.  My plan originally was to use the box, but the start/finish line was right near the part of the beach that we like to visit, so I got the idea instead to just use my stuff to save us a few chairs.  I didn't have anything valuable with me, so I wasn't worried about it getting swiped.  And, I clearly had time, as none of the other run participants had arrived yet, so I headed out to the beach.

Here's that sign on the side of the shack I mentioned earlier:

A closer look:

Joe Lanzisero.

Never heard of him.

But, thanks to Google, I now know that he is a high ranking Disney Imagineer.  Here's a short clip of him talking at a D23 convention:

And, now that I saw that, I recognize the guy.  I know that he has been on some of the Travel Channel shows that have featured the Disney Cruise Line.  He also was involved in the planning of the Mystic Manor attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland, which I have heard good things about.  I found some on-line articles discussing his involvement with the planning of the design of the Disney Dream, and he was heavily involved with the planning and story behind the Aqua Duck slide.  I am OK with him having a sign on Castaway Cay. But, of all the ones we have seen so far, he's the only one that I'm OK with.

Here's the part of the beach that we like, and it was neat to be the first guest to arrive here.  I had my choice of where to set up our base camp:

Should you ever get this responsibility, my tip for you is to focus on spots that will provide shade, whether from umbrellas or palm trees.  Sun is easy to find on the island. Shade isn't.

I picked a good spot for us, and then headed to the start for the race.

I had debated bringing my camera along, but I knew that I'd be sweating up a storm, and I didn't want to have to try to hold on to anything while running.

I have one word to describe the run.

Brutal.

It ended up being 9 am before we started.

We ran from the start/finish line out to the runway, then around the bike path loop with the observation tower, and then back out to run to the far end of the runway.  Then we repeated all of that on the way back.  There was no shade. No clouds.  No breeze.  And 90 plus degrees and high, high humidity.  I walked as much as I ran.  The only advantage I had over a lot of my fellow runners is that I've been running several times a week at home, where our weather has been about the same. But, I tend to run at dusk.  That direct sun beating down on us was a killer.  Nobody I saw looked happy.  I was just happy to finish.  And I did.

After finishing, I collected my medal and headed back to the beach to check on the stuff I had left there.  My plan was to head back to the ship to shower and change, and then come back to join the family.  I figured that they would be here by then.  But, when I headed to the beach, I got a surprise.  All of the girls had gotten an early start, and they were already here!

The twins had left the ship just a bit after I did.

They got to ride the tram instead of taking that long, hot walk that I did earlier:

Twin #1 is a chip off the old block, and snapped a photo of this sign that I hadn't even noticed:

Bob Chapek is the current executive in charge of Disney Parks.  He's the guy that has stirred things up recently with rumors of putting Guardians of the Galaxy and other Marvel attractions in the parks.  As far as I know, he hasn't worked on anything related to DCL.  But, he still gets a big sign?

The twins liked the new Frozen themed shack, and ended up with a lot of photos of it:

This is a detail I had missed earlier- snapshots of Olaf at various landmarks around Castaway Cay:

Here's a very sweaty man with his first Castaway Cay 5K medal:

The next time I do this, I'm going to bring all of the stuff I need with me, and stay on the island after the run.  But, I had left my swim trunks, sun screen, and most important- beer on the ship, and I needed to go back and get all of that.

But before I headed back, my oldest DD convinced me to take a slide on the Pelican Plunge.  My running shorts would work for that.  So, I took the plunge.  That felt great.

Then I hopped the tram to head back to the ship:

I love everything about Castaway Cay.  Everywhere you look, you'll see beautiful landscaping and props:

And, almost everywhere you are on the island, you will have a view of your ship:

I liked the fact that I could always easily locate our cabins by looking for those two support poles under the bump out on Deck 11:

You know that good old Bob Iger has a big sign on Castaway Cay.  His is in a spot near the ship that everyone has to walk past.  Going and coming.  The ego on that guy:

When I left the ship this morning, I used the aft gangway, which was right below our cabins.  This time of day, they were only using that for guests leaving the ship.  Later, we will be able to enter this way, but for now, I had to walk up to the forward gangway:

That was OK, though.  I was able to look straight up at the Aqua Duck, which was cool:

Do you see that little trolley thing way up there near the top row of verandahs?  I am not sure what they do, but two workers ride that back and forth to do some kind of work on the ship.  The got up close and personal with Mrs. TCD one morning when she was getting dressed and looked out our window to see them right outside of our verandah.

Because I had to use the forward gangway, I would have to get to the aft of the ship, where our cabins were, once I got on board.  I decided that I would take the elevator up to deck 11, and then walk back on the open deck.

That's what I did.  To get to the stairs that would take me down to deck 10, I had to walk through Cabanas.

I don't know why I didn't think they'd still be serving breakfast, but they were.

I hadn't planned to eat breakfast after the run- I was just going to have an early lunch on the island. But here I was.

How could I not fix a plate?

Since I had just run a 5K, I treated myself to something that I had wanted to try, but hadn't- steak and eggs.  Plus two kinds of potatoes, and some corned beef hash.  Here's my plate:

And this was my view:

 I could see everything from here- both family swim beaches, the Pelican Plunge area, the cabanas, and even the adult area.  And what a day!:

I ate as quickly as I could, then headed down to the cabin for a quick shower and my return to the beach.

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

The only thing I dislike about your reports, are I cant see any photos until I get home!

So thus the dilemma, read the report without photos and stay caught up or lag behind everyone else and wait until I get home and read the report the way it was intended, with the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

For heaven's sake next time try a white shirt!

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Here's a very sweaty man with his first Castaway Cay 5K medal:

 

 

[Seals 111]

My husband and two of my sons participated in the 5K.  I left the ship a while after they went to the meet up spot on board. I walked to the start/finish line thinking I'd see them finish. I waited about 10 minutes and much to my surprise the group of runners arrived from the ship to start the race. So the start time is apparently very loose. I think they said they were waiting for some people and then they all walked there in a group. There were a lot of people already off the ship by that time too. 

I love Castaway Cay and never tire of seeing pictures of it. 

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

Congrats on the 5K, and I like that Iger is a Shrimp Distributor. Oh and yes, try and find a light colored shirt to run in, might make it a lot better. LOL

Best Regards,

Norm

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

with the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.

I see what you did there!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Whoa, I'm finally caught up!

Great trip report TCD, congrats on the 5k also.  CP said the same thing about the heat.  

One question from early on, you said they added a kiddie puddle pool, I always thought the puddle pool was for adults only since its in the adult section.  But I just looked it up and you are right.  I guess i should know better than to doubt CP.

WBI

[Travisma 1,317]

21 minutes ago, Momof6....aka Marty said:

I see what you did there!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Move along, nothing to see....

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

18 hours ago, DramaMama .......... Janet said:

You're not making me want to book a cruise, man.  

But he is making me want to book another cruise!

[caveat lector 181]

Many cool things in this installment.

Firstly, that is a righteous medal. Way to go dude.

Second, the post run breakfast. I hit the kitchen cabinets after I saw that pic.

Third, the view from where you consumed said breakfast. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous.

Finally, why the heck do,they have a cell tower?  Did TCD twins hit you up for the Bahama cell data plan?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

21 hours ago, Travisma said:

The only thing I dislike about your reports, are I cant see any photos until I get home!

So thus the dilemma, read the report without photos and stay caught up or lag behind everyone else and wait until I get home and read the report the way it was intended, with the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.

What kind of slavedrivers do you work for?  No photos?

I give you credit for reading instead of just looking at the pictures.

21 hours ago, Dalspot ... Karen said:

For heaven's sake next time try a white shirt!

 

Have you ever been to a wet t-shirt contest?

No way I'm wearing a white t-shirt to run 3+ miles on a 90+ degree day.  It would not be pretty.

20 hours ago, Seals said:

My husband and two of my sons participated in the 5K.  I left the ship a while after they went to the meet up spot on board. I walked to the start/finish line thinking I'd see them finish. I waited about 10 minutes and much to my surprise the group of runners arrived from the ship to start the race. So the start time is apparently very loose. I think they said they were waiting for some people and then they all walked there in a group. There were a lot of people already off the ship by that time too. 

I love Castaway Cay and never tire of seeing pictures of it. 

Sounds like they follow Bahamas time on the island.  I would have preferred to run at 7:30 am, rather than 9, but nobody's going to move that fast on the island, Mon.

I'm with you on the Castaway Cay photos- I love that place!

19 hours ago, parrothead7368 aka Norm said:

Congrats on the 5K, and I like that Iger is a Shrimp Distributor. Oh and yes, try and find a light colored shirt to run in, might make it a lot better. LOL

Best Regards,

Norm

I think a better strategy might be to plan my next cruise for January or a cooler month.

It didn't matter what color shirt I wore that day- I was going to be a sweaty mess at the end.

17 hours ago, Momof6....aka Marty said:

I see what you did there!

He's not wrong.

17 hours ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

Whoa, I'm finally caught up!

Great trip report TCD, congrats on the 5k also.  CP said the same thing about the heat.  

One question from early on, you said they added a kiddie puddle pool, I always thought the puddle pool was for adults only since its in the adult section.  But I just looked it up and you are right.  I guess i should know better than to doubt CP.

WBI

I was surprised to see that Funnel Puddle where it was too.  I heard that it had been added, but didn't pay attention to the location.  I thought it would be in the area of the Aqua Lab that they have on the Fantasy.  It's not.  It's on the deck right above the adult pool, overlooking the adult area.  Which is a really strange place for it.  And that little used bar seating area where the Aqua Lab is on the Fantasy is still a bar and seating area on the Dream.

The Funnel Puddle is small, and seems to be geared toward toddlers, so I don't things ever get too crazy or noisy there.

15 hours ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

But he is making me want to book another cruise!

Do it.

10 hours ago, caveat lector said:

Many cool things in this installment.

Firstly, that is a righteous medal. Way to go dude.

Second, the post run breakfast. I hit the kitchen cabinets after I saw that pic.

Third, the view from where you consumed said breakfast. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous.

Finally, why the heck do,they have a cell tower?  Did TCD twins hit you up for the Bahama cell data plan?

I wish that I could run a 5K on Castaway Cay every day and follow it with that breakfast and that view.  That was all really nice.

I'm not sure if that is really a cell tower- as best I can figure all of those antennae are used for communication by the staff on the island.  The DCL ships have wireless phones that they call Wave phones that are provided in the cabins.  Guests can use these anywhere on the ship and on the island.

On this cruise, we also got to use a new app that DCL introduced since our last cruise.  They provide free Wi-Fi on the ship to power this app, and it allows guests to set up group texts and view deck plans, weather reports, and the daily schedules of activities.  The even have Disney emojies on there.  It worked pretty well, but I like not carrying my phone around on cruises, so I personally didn't use it very much.  My girls did, though.

And there are data plans for sale beyond all of that.  I offered to buy one, but the girls said it wasn't necessary.  Maybe it would have been necessary on a longer cruise, but on a three night cruise, you have access to your regular cell service before sailing from Port Canaveral, and early on the day you get back -so it's only two full days with no cell service. 

TCD

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Say what you want, I see a difference. What an awesome start to a day. Hot and sweaty from a good workout, on a tropical island I might add. A quiet breakfast with an amazing view. It all sounds heavenly to me. Now off to be a beach bum with your family, yes sir that's my kind of day.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

47 minutes ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Say what you want, I see a difference. What an awesome start to a day. Hot and sweaty from a good workout, on a tropical island I might add. A quiet breakfast with an amazing view. It all sounds heavenly to me. Now off to be a beach bum with your family, yes sir that's my kind of day.

Thanks.

That was definitely my kind of day too.

You heard about the beginning of the day.  The next update will tell how the rest of the day went.

Spoiler alert: It was a great day.

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Maybe a yellow or light green shirt? Even pink would be better than black. I know you were going to be sweaty anyway, but wearing black in tropics? No thank you.

In any case, way to go on the run! I am inspired. Not inspired enough to actually do anything in this heat. But inspired enough to think about it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Wow, so much hate.  Black shirts matter, too.  

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

15 minutes ago, Momof6....aka Marty said:

Maybe a yellow or light green shirt? Even pink would be better than black. I know you were going to be sweaty anyway, but wearing black in tropics? No thank you.

In any case, way to go on the run! I am inspired. Not inspired enough to actually do anything in this heat. But inspired enough to think about it.

And you have inspired me.

I'll bring a pink shirt for the next Castaway Cay 5K.

8 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Wow, so much hate.  Black shirts matter, too.  

As the TCD girls say: Too soon.

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

1 minute ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

As the TCD girls say: Too soon.

TCD

Oh darn.  And I'm usually so politically correct.  

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

12 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Oh darn.  And I'm usually so politically correct.  

You and me both.

TCD

[jmaul 65]

36 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Wow, so much hate.  Black shirts matter, too.  

 

27 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

And you have inspired me.

I'll bring a pink shirt for the next Castaway Cay 5K.

As the TCD girls say: Too soon.

TCD

 

25 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Oh darn.  And I'm usually so politically correct.  

Still, it got an up arrow from me.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It's still Sunday, and we're still on the island.

I rejoined the family on the beach, and we had a great morning enjoying the sun and the water.  The water was the perfect temperature- a little cool for us Gulf coast folks, but that's a good thing on a hot day.

It was 5 o'clock somewhere, so Mrs. TCD and I got to work on finishing the last of our Coronas.  The girls wanted to try a drink from the new Frozen bar, and headed off to get themselves one.  They came back with these:

That's called a "Worth Melting For," and the Olaf is white chocolate and edible.

They said that there was alcohol in these drinks, but I'm not so sure that there was.

I Googled to see if I could answer that question, and found a recipe on the Disney Parks Blog.  Apparently, this drink and the Frozen themed bar, was introduced last summer, and the edible Olaf looked a little different:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/07/disney-cruise-lines-summertime-freeze-recipe-worth-melting-for/

When it got a bit past noon, we decided to head to lunch.

They serve a buffet lunch on the island, and lately, we always hit the pavilion called Cookies Too. 

Then it was back to the beach.

There was talk of making the hike to the snorkeling lagoon, but no one was too thrilled with that, and, for the first time ever, we didn't snorkel on Castaway Cay.

Instead, we made an excursion to the Head's Up bar, where the TCD gang gathered for a new tradition: Konk Koolers for everyone!

The Head's Up bar sits out on a point that provides a great view of the ship across the swimming and boating lagoons- it's really just a shack:

Here's the menu they have posted behind the bar, but I think you can get just about whatever you want here:

You can see that a Konk Kooler is like a Pina Colada, but it also contains passion fruit and orange juices.

Also worth noting are the prices- $5.95 for a cocktail is a bargain compared to what you'd pay at WDW.

And, while we are still on that last photo, note that we have yet another sign with someone's name included.

This one mentions Kermode Thornton.

And I'm stumped.

I couldn't find anyone by that name on Google.

My best guess is that maybe these are first or last names of some very obscure people with some connection to Disney.  This sign is not in a very prominent place, after all.  But, it's definitely a custom sign, as it mentions Mount Rustmore.

Here's our round of Konk Koolers.  Mrs. TCD wisely chose to not mix boats, and ordered a Corona instead:

These are tasty drinks, which hit the spot on a hot day on the island:

The view from here:

At the bar selfies:

Some more photos from the Head's Up deck:

After our refreshment break, it was back to our spot.

More sun.

More swimming.

The day passed quickly.

Our oldest DD was the first to call it quits.

She headed back to the ship a bit past 3.

I was still up for a bike ride.

Twin #1 was the only one who wanted to join me.

So, we headed to the bike rental shack.

There were plenty of bikes available for us to choose from this late in the day:

I think the bikes have been new every time I've visited Castaway Cay.  I wonder how often they replace their fleet, and what happens to all of the old bikes?

We headed out on the same runway that I had run on earlier:

It was still hot as heck, but Twin #1 went out as fast as she could:

I snapped this photo on the fly- there's a big looping bike path that you can ride on by hanging a right at that old airplane- I had to run around it twice for the 5K.  There's an observation tower back there.  But, we skipped that for this ride:

Instead, we rode all the way to the end of the runway, and turned right on a paved road there that runs behind the adult beach and the adult beach cabanas.  We were quite a ways from the ship here:

We headed down this trail:

And found the end of the road here:

There's a rocky beach here, and we always check it out:

The adult area of the island, Serenity Bay, is way at the end of this beach.  Which gives you an idea of how far we had ridden the bikes:

If you ever visit here, bring shoes:

I don't know what it is, but I love to be out here on this far point of the island, where it's quiet and peaceful, and look how clear the water is:

Here are a couple of shots taken by Twin #1:

Then it was time to head back.

Heading back on the runway used to provide a great view of the big fake palm tree, but now it doesn't:

It's just an unthemed pole and a bunch of antennae:

To help you comprehend what a loss this is, here's a photo from the TCD archives showing what that big fake palm tree used to look like:

 

I wonder if Joe Lanzisero knows about this?

I guess they've spent so much money putting up those clever signs that there's no money left in the budget for fake palm fronds?

It was just a bit before 4 when we got back from bike riding.

The Olaf bar was closed:

It was 4:01 when we got back to the beach.  All Aboard time was 4:45.

There were only us and a couple of other fun lovers left on the beach.

All of these floats were abandoned:

The twins were the last guests in the whole swimming area:

If you ever want to ride Pelican Plunge with no waits, this is the time of day to do it.  It was 4:02 pm when I took this photo.  I think it was staying open until 4:15, and there was not one person out there:

The twins took off right about here.

Mrs. TCD and I dragged chairs down to the edge of the water, and I opened our last two Coronas, which I had saved for this very moment.  We were the only people on the beach.  The lifeguards were still on  duty, and periodically announced that the beaches would all be closing at 4:30 pm. 

As we sat, there were CM's behind us tidying up the beach, stacking chairs, and closing the umbrellas.  We got the hint, and started heading out a bit before 4:30.

We headed to the tram, and laughed when we ran into the twins.  They had stopped at the restrooms to rinse off in the showers, and had to wait for the tram.  We walked up as it was loading, and got to sit together on the ride back to the ship. After the tram ride, we reluctantly began our short walk back:

I don't recall seeing this buoy here before, and I thought it might be one of the old Mount Rutmore ones with a new paint job, but I have been wrong about things like this before:

I didn't know that Twin #1 had taken a photo of this Bob Chapek sign, so I took this one.  I'm including it, because it shows the building that the sign is on:

I took this shot from the gangway, just as we were about to enter the ship.  It was 4:33 pm, so I doubted that we were the last guests on the island, but there wasn't anyone walking up toward the ship:

And that was our day on Castaway Cay.

We just have the night left, and a little bit of the next morning, and this short cruise will be over.

That isn't my last photo of Castaway Cay.

Since our verandas were right above the gangway, we headed up to the rooms to watch our departure from Castaway Cay.

It was there we learned that we were not quite the last guests to board.

I've got some photos of all of that, and from our last night on the ship, to share in the next update or two.

TCD

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

Excuse me for not being 'politically correct' :O  LOL

 

23 hours ago, Dalspot ... Karen said:

For heaven's sake next time try a white light-colored shirt!

 

 

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

LOLOL

 

46 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Wow, so much hate.  Black shirts matter, too.  

 

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

What an amazing day!

[Specularius 102]

I feel a little cheated that we did not get to enjoy Pelican Plunge on our first ever visit the last week of May. It was closed for refurbishment. Loving the report.