Look, Kids, It's Nassau!

The first port of call for our cruise was Nassau, Bahamas.  Rob and I explored this port on our cruise in 2014, so we used this day as an extra day on the ship.  There is so much to see and do on a Disney Cruise, we wanted to make the most of our short time on the boat.

The night before we had ordered a continental breakfast from room service, which is free on DCL!  They brought us a pot of coffee, cereal, fruit, and donuts.  Another DCL tip, get the donuts, they are Krispy Kremes!  The kids had cereal and watched Disney Junior, the parents enjoyed coffee out on our verandah, an excellent way to start the day.  I also used this time to read The Navigator, the cruise newsletter that you get each night.  It tells you everything happening on the ship that day, gives you meal, movie and show times, and has port information.  The thing I was interested in was character meeting times.  Our kids love to meet the characters and a cruise is the best place to do so because the lines are shorter than in the parks.

First up, some Disney Junior characters! Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Doc McStuffins (or Stuffins as my kids call her).

My kids had no idea who Jake was before the cruise, but that morning they watched him while having breakfast and they were thrilled to go meet him.  Jake is now a family favorite.  Also, Disney has photographers who take your photo at the Meet and Greets, but they are like, $20 each, so I didn't buy them.  Please enjoy all my slightly off center yet free pictures.

After our character encounter, the kids and I met Rob at the buffet for second breakfast.  Eggs, bacon, Mickey waffles, the usual. :)  Then we changed into our swimsuits and headed up to the pool deck.  The kids had a blast splashing and sliding in Nemo's Reef.  Then we got into the Mickey pool, which was great.  The water was only about 2 feet deep, with a slightly less deep area around it, maybe 6 inches deep.  So the adults can sit and be in the water watching their kids, but not taking up valuable swimming space.  Oh, and the pools on Disney ships are always under the watchful eye of lifeguards.  Our kids could have stayed in the pool all day, but since it was very sunny, we made them take a few breaks.  Here they are, looking over at a Carnival cruise ship.  

When mommy and daddy were done with the swimming (aren't we so mean?) we changed into dry clothes and dropped them off at the Oceaneer Club.  Freedom!  Time for an adult beverage, a book, and a walk around the ship! Apparently the only thing I found worth taking a picture of during this time was Goofy, taunting a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.  It was parked next to us and Goofy was waving at the people on it, and motioning that they should come over to our ship.   Disney magic!

Then it was time to get the kids from the club and get dressed for dinner.  It was formal night and we had a few characters we wanted to meet first.  Each night of the cruise, the characters are dressed according to the theme.  For formal night we met Chip and Dale in their tuxes.

Up next, the Grande Dame herself, Minnie Mouse.  There was a bit of a line, so I asked the kids to pose for me.  This is what I got.

If I may brag for a minute, I made Anne's sailor dress.  I wanted her to have a classic navy and white dress and couldn't find what I wanted anywhere. I think I did a pretty good job! Finally, it was our turn.

How adorable are these kids?  I may be biased, Hehe.  Anytime Miss Anne can meet her Minnie Mouse she is in heaven.  I hope this kind of childhood magic stays around for a long, long time.

Then we met up with Rob for dinner at The Royal Palace.  It's based loosely on Cinderella and a great place for Formal Night, especially since the food leans French.  I had my favorite, escargot and duck confit, plus crispy roasted duck for the main course.  Rob found a new favorite, Chateaubriand, which DCL serves with his favorite sauce, Béarnaise.  The kids were most excited that they were allowed to have dessert every night.  

We never went to the shows during our cruise.  Since we had the 6pm dinner the show started at 8 for us, and after long days swimming, playing and not napping, no way were we going to make it through a show!  There was always live entertainment in the main lobby, so the kids danced off that sugar.  Beautiful sunset!

Nice to watch the sun set through a portal window, even better out on our verandah.

And that was the end of our day "in" Nassau.  If we went again and the kids were older maybe​ we would book an excursion.  But probably not.  There is way too much to do on board, and it's best to do it when everyone else is off the ship!