4th day on the Cruise, 2nd time at Castaway Cay

On the 4th day of our cruise, we were back to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay.  We were so excited to go there and experience it again.  It's such a beautiful place!  After breakfast at Cabanas on ship, we got off the ship onto the island.  We took the tram again, taking us over the family beach.  

Hudson excited to play in the sand again.  Nyles, Hudson and Steve getting breakfast.  Hudson playing w/ a caution sign as we were leaving our staterooms.  Carter saying hi to Olaf on the island.

Hudson at the beach, then later at lunch he took Steve's burger and ate it.  

Nyles and Carter laying in the hammocks on the island.

Joann ready to go snorkeling.  Carter went out to the larger snorkeling area once, but then just wanted to look around at things near the beach.  Nyles and I went out many many times, and Dave, Joann and Diane joined us once also.  It was so fun to see the cool statues under the water and the sea life.  We even saw a wild Stingray, though kept our distance since he still had his stinger in tack.  

Carter eating some ice cream after lunch.  Thankfully Hudson took another nap in his stroller again so we didn't have to go back to the ship.  Beautiful palm trees w/ coconuts in them.

Beautiful Castaway Cay.  Steve and Carter taking a break and relaxing.

Cute Hudson.  Getting our feet washed off before heading back to the ship.

One more group picture in front of the ship before boarding.  

Hudson waving to Aunt Diane in the car in front of us.  Beautiful scenery all around.

Back on the ship, as we were changing, Hudson wanted to hug his Diaper Genie for some reason.  It was awesome that Disney provided one for us, along w/ the Pack-n-Play in our stateroom though.  Nyles and Carter wanted to go swimming again once back on board, so we took them up to the pool.  Ironically they were the only ones in the pool, which was nice.  

I went down the yellow slide w/ Carter, and then down the red/back one w/ Nyles.  Carter wasn't tall enough for the black one so he kept going down the yellow one.  For the black one, you stand on a clear plexiglass, enclosed in a tube, then Donald Duck counts down, "3, 2, 1" and the plexiglass opens up, and you fall down the water slide!  I closed my eyes the whole time!  Nyles asked me to do it one more time, so I did, then said that's enough for me.  He went back several more times though and thought it was really fun.   No thanks!

Nyles and Carter wanted to keep swimming and going down the slides, so we decided to just eat dinner up on deck 9.  Dave, Diane and Joann went to our regular rotation for dinner though so our servers wouldn't be wondering where we were.  Later they came up and had ice cream w/ the boys and watched a movie on deck while we put Hudson down to bed.

It was another wonderful day at Castaway and on the ship!

3rd Day on the Cruise, Day at Sea, Pirate Night

The 3rd day of our cruise was a day at sea.  It was relaxing and fun to explore the ship more.  Here are some highlights:

On our way to breakfast, the boys checking out the view.  We decided to go to the sit down breakfast since we weren't in a hurry to get off the ship.  They had lots of yummy options, including Mickey waffles, bacon, hash browns, fruit, etc.

Silly Carter and Hudson at breakfast.  Joann by Pixie Hallow, and more ice cream of course :)

After breakfast we explored the ship while Hudson went down for a nap.

Thankfully the water was calm while we were at sea.

We ran into Rapunzel, Donald and Daisy while heading to the kid's club.  The boys made pillow cases the night before at the kid's club and brought them back to finish the next morning.  I then showed them the front of the ship so they could see out as well.

Nyles going down the slide at the kid's club, called the Oceaneer Club.

The boys thought it was fun to climb the poles on deck.  We of course had to get some ice cream.

Too funny.  While eating ice cream Nyles dropped some on his shirt, and it just happened to go below Mickey, which makes it looks like he was peeing, haha :)

Other passengers hid ducks around the ship to find, and we found a couple.  The boys thought it was a lot of fun.  In our stateroom we had LOTS of movies to watch if we wanted, in addition to the movie playing on deck at the pool and in the movie theater on the ship.  Steve would watch a movie while Hudson was down for a nap or to bed at night.

That night was Pirate Night where you could dress up if you want to.  We brought t-shirts to wear.  We were also provided Mickey pirate handkerchiefs to wear.  The kid's menu was provided on a captain's hat, pretty fun!  Hudson usually just wanted plain noodles to eat, and Nyles and Carter would get steak.  The server would also cut up their steak, which was awesome!

Dave and Joann in their pirate attire.  Hudson took Steve's phone and took this cool picture of his crayon and cornbread.  During dinner they also had a pirate parade for people to join in.  The boys went w/ Steve and did the limbo.

Pirate night at dinner.

Hudson after eating his Mickey bar for dessert.  

We didn't notice but Carter apparently wrote his name on the tablecloth (oops).

Cute Carter and Hudson after eating their Mickey bars for dessert.

More pirate activities after dinner.  We ran into Captain Hook and Smee.

Group picture, and looking out at sea.

Professional picture w/ Captain Hook and Smee.

Another professional one in our pirate attire.

Captain Barbossa towel design, playing shuffle board on deck, and a picture w/ Stitch.

More fun on deck and ice cream.

Diane gave the boys a cute Lego Pokémon ball.  They loved to visit Diane's room and play.  

Our rooms were all next to each other so it was easy to visit.

The boys wanted to order room service once so they did that night. 

They ordered cookies and Mickey bars of course.  Yummy yummy!

Steve put Hudson down for bed, and the rest of us went up on deck for the Pirate party.  They had the characters come out, then lastly Mickey came out and started the fireworks!

Mickey saving the day!

Fun fireworks up on deck!

After the fireworks they had another special buffet available for everyone.  After a quick snack we headed off to bed.  It was a fun day at sea!

2nd Day on the Cruise, Castaway Cay

The first night on the cruise during dinner, I started to feel sea sick, like the room was spinning.  Steve had a motion sickness patch so I put that on behind my ear.  It helped some.  Steve stayed w/ Hudson after dinner and put him to bed, then the rest of us went to the show.  

The next morning though I was still feeling sick to my stomach.  It reminded me of morning sickness.  I stayed in bed while everyone else went to breakfast.  After they got back, Dave and Steve gave me a blessing of healing.  Miraculously I started feeling better shortly after, so I got dressed for the beach and we headed out.  I never felt that sick again, the rest of the cruise.  I'm so thankful for power of the priesthood.

We made our way off the ship and onto Disney's private island, Castaway Cay.  Earlier it looked like it might rain, but thankfully we had NO rain the whole week!  We had absolutely beautiful weather the whole week, between 75-80 degrees!  Here are some highlights from our first day at Castaway Cay.

Riding the tram at Castaway to get to the family beach.

Cute Hudson playing in the sand.  Beautiful scenery.  Picture with Jack Sparrow.

So gorgeous!  We bought snorkel gear for each of us and brought it w/ us so we could snorkel as much as we wanted to.  It worked out really well and we all had a GREAT time snorkeling.  That's pretty much what we did the whole time there.  There is a section just for snorkeling and they have hidden things you can find, in addition to the fish you see.  There is a statue of Minnie, Daisy, Dumbo, Mickey, pots, motor parts, and submarines.  It was really fun to find and see under water.

Going out on the tram, Hudson playing in the sand/water, Carter going snorkeling, and eating lunch.

They had lunch provided at one of two places, called Cookies.  They had ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, fruit, chips, cookies, and of course more ice cream.  Since it's Disney's private island, its all included as part of your cruise.  Thankfully Hudson took a nap in his stroller during lunch.  

He woke up just as we were finishing and had a couple things to eat and some ice cream.  

Then back to playing in the sand.

We found a sand dollar while snorkeling, but weren't able to bring in on board.  

There was plenty of shade under the palm trees and umbrellas.  It was wonderful!

Making our way back to the ship.  Getting a picture in front of the Disney Magic before boarding!

Back on board, on our way to dinner.  They did a presentation of Tangled, and brought lanterns out by our tables.  It was Rapunzel's birthday so we had birthday desserts.  It was a lot of fun and the food was yummy!  The boys ordered steaks, which they thoroughly enjoyed! Hudson had to try the Mickey bars this time too.

More fun towel designs after dinner.  We found Daisy Duck on our way to the kids club.  The boys slept in Dave/Joann's place each night since Hudson went to bed earlier and we didn't want them to wake him.  The housekeeper made up the boys' bed in Super heroes, which they loved!

It was a super day and we had a lot of fun!  We were thoroughly enjoying our cruise to say the least!

Boarding the ship, 1st day on the cruise

 

Our day of arriving at the cruise ship finally came!  On Monday, April 25th we took a shuttle from our hotel in Fort Lauderdale down to the port of Miami, which took about 35-40 minutes.  

Zero days left!  A pretty flower outside our hotel and another lizard.  

Hudson trying to push grandma Joann in her wheelchair.

Dave outside the hotel walking w/ Hudson.  Finally on our way in the shuttle.  

Thankfully Hudson took a nap on the way down. 

After getting off the shuttle, we dropped off some of our luggage to go to our staterooms, then checked in for our cruise.  We then all had to get tested for Covid.

Waiting in line for our turn to get Covid tested.

Once we were tested we had to wait.  Thankfully they switched from PCR test to Rapid Antigen, so it only took 15 minutes, but the 15 minutes lasted a while ;)  Thankfully we all passed and were cleared to board the ship and sail!!!

Getting onto the ship.  The boys got to meet Captain American also.

Welcome the McGraths!

To say we were excited to board is an understatement!  It was such a relief after all the months of being careful and cautious wearing our masks, especially the boys at school.  We were all so thrilled to finally be on board the ship and start our cruise vacation!!!

While our staterooms were getting ready, we got a bite to eat and explored the ship.

The boys were excited to get an ice cream cone and go swimming especially!  They also just started bringing back the Sail-A-Wave deck parties again after stopping them due to Covid.  Our staterooms were ready about this time, so Dave volunteered to take Hudson back to the stateroom for a nap. 

We finally made it and were sailing away!

Saying goodbye to Miami and hello vacation at sea!  Carter going down the slide at the kids pool area.

That night we had dinner at Rapunzel's Table.  The food was great and of course the boys had more ice cream, specifically Mikey ice cream bars for dessert!

After dinner, Steve stayed at the stateroom w/ Hudson so he could go to bed.  The rest of us went to a show, Rapunzel the musical.  It was awesome.  The boys loved it too!  I liked it better than to movie.

Nyles and Carter w/ a cute towel animal they made for us before going to bed.  Hudson loved to play w/ the remote and phone any chance he could, so we unplugged the phone.

It was an awesome day!  We were so excited for the days ahead of us!