Saturday was slated to be the highlight of our cruise, but as soon as we woke up, we knew something was wrong.  We walked out onto our balcony, and realized we were in an industrial area instead of at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island.  In a few minutes, we heard an announcement that the ship was in Freeport because of a passenger's medical emergency.  (Thankfully, we later heard that the passenger was in stable condition.)

The ship left Freeport and headed back to Castaway Cay with an expected arrival of noon.  Several activities were added to the agenda for us to enjoy in the morning, so we headed to breakfast and then set off to find fun.

Although Andrew still enjoys the characters, he chose basketball over photo opportunities during this cruise.  I guess that's pretty normal for an eleven-year-old boy.  Emily, on the other hand, wanted to see as many characters as possible, which made me very happy!  We spent the morning visiting with a few friends, including these fun villains.


We ate an early lunch, and then we participated in Family Fusion, a fun game that's part trivia, part Newlywed Game.  We competed against three other families and were leading the entire time, but lost at the end by 5 points.  It was lots of fun, even if we did miss out on the cool trophy!



After Family Fusion, we went back to our balcony to watch the ship dock at Castaway Cay.  The ship backs into port, so we had a perfect view.  Unfortunately, this is as close as we got to Castaway Cay.


The winds were very high, and the captain was not able to dock safely.  After trying three times, he announced that we would not be stopping at Castaway.  Instead, we enjoyed another day at sea.  Andrew seemed unfazed by this decision.  He went right back to the basketball court and played all afternoon.  Adam was also fine with the change because he went to see Lincoln in the Buena Vista Theater.  Emily and I were the most disappointed.  We had plans to parasail at Castaway Cay, and we were very sad to miss out on this experience.  But, it didn't take us long to regroup--after all, we were on the Disney Dream!  The cruise director added several activities, including an extra performance of the stage show Believe, so Emily enjoyed some time in the hot tub, and then we watched the show and met some of the characters in the atrium for a final farewell (also known as "See Ya Real Soon" in Disney speak).


We headed to Enchanted Garden for our final dinner.  We hated to leave these wonderful meals!  If you ask Andrew what he liked most on the cruise, he gives an enthusiastic response about the food.  Of course, I enjoyed all the meals because Disney made gluten-free dining so easy.

After eating, Andrew went to the kids' club for a final evening of fun. Emily also went to the club, but she stopped to exchange pins with some of the officers first.  She was thrilled to exchange pins with our cruise director Natalie!


Alas, all good things must come to an end, and our cruise was no different.  We returned to the cabin and prepared our luggage for departure.  We kept out the things we would need in the morning and set our luggage in the hallway to be transported into the terminal.  I thought I had everything just the way we needed it until I woke in the morning and realized I hadn't kept out any pants for myself!  Yes, I was the mom wearing a hoodie, shirt, and her flannel pajama pants at breakfast.  I was mortified!  As soon as we got into the terminal, I grabbed my jeans as quickly as possible and headed for the bathroom.  No, I did not take pictures of this--there will be no photographic proof of my mistake!  Thankfully, my kids aren't teenagers yet, so they weren't embarrassed by their mom's mistake.  :)

We are so thankful we had the opportunity to spend this week together.  My favorite part of our Disney vacations is that we are together, and it seems like we are in another world.  I treasure these times, and I look forward to more cruises and WDW trips in the near future!

Labels: disney, Family and Friends, Fun