Today is our last full day on the ship - sadness. We are at Castaway today...I'm actually not sure how many times we've been to Castaway now. At least 5? Because I think there was one cruise that went here twice...and then we also did the back to back that both visited... So while it's nice, we don't feel so compelled to spend tons of time here or rush out to grab lounge spots. Our plan today was to go out, see the beach, read a bit perhaps under the umbrella, eat the bbq lunch, and then head back to the ship for more activities.
Plan started out going pretty well...got the Mickey Churro waffles at the buffet...sunscreen'd up...and even took a few shots of the boat along the walkway to the tram.
Anticipating prime beach time!
Well...when we got to beach, we realized that 1) this ship had a LOT more people...and 2) most of them came out early to stake out lounge spots. So it took us awhile to find some chairs in prime shade zones. Eventually we succeeded!
Well...not quite enough lounge chairs were available, so I took LaoLao over to the adult only Serenity Bay to check that out. It was markedly more peaceful, less crowded, and generally more relaxing.
Even the food eating was more relaxing. And included grilled to order prime rib! (I'm pretty sure Cookies at the family beach did not serve prime rib).
Baba has a work call this afternoon though, so he was eager to get back to the ship. I was feeling the ocean breeze and considered staying at the lounge chairs longer. The twins convinced me to brave the water, just to say we went in. This is photo proof that I went in because I was the photographer!
It is always impressive how blue green the water is here. I need to do a RCL cruise to compare cruise line private islands with their Perfect Day at Coco Cay.
At 1:15, we decided to call it for the day in terms of shore time (plus another silent dance party was starting at 3). R excited to be riding the tram back -- she was a little sad we didn't do snorkeling...but the water was so cold!! Maybe come next cruise...in the summertime...
Since they had gotten a little wet already though, they decided to give the Aqua Mouse a shot (line was only about 10 min long!)
They're smiling...but as soon as they got off they were shivering and teeth chattering. 😆 Warm showers for all! And then off to deck 11 for some pre-dinner funnel vision...I can't believe this was the only 45 min we spent with funnel vision this cruise - a sign 5 nights was not enough!
So bit of a curveball at the end here, I started packing up our stuff...and realized the big suitcase Ian had taken to London had an entirely broken wheel where the plastic was coming apart with a big crack in the outer shell and exposed fabirc. I called Guest Services hoping for some duct tape...they told me to put it outside my door to see if the carpenter could do anything. When they confirmed he could not fix it, they went ahead and delivered us a brand new suitcase! It wasn't quite as nice as the model I had (plus it doesn't match our other bags now), but I was still very impressed with the lengths Guest Services will go to keeping guests lives easy and worry free!
I managed to get two bags fully packed before our last dining room meal. Again, sadness! We were back in Marvel, where the walls this time didn't have trivia but did have screens circling through various Marvel character drawings/renderings. The food...was overall not super impressive..but that might be because we've all gotten majorly stuffed over the course of the cruise.
Nonetheless, here are some dishes and thoughts - first the appetizers. Mushroom ravioli. Flavor was good, but a little overcooked perhaps? Ravioli was a little hard to chew at times.
Caprese salad - definitely NOT as good as burata caprese that we make at home. The balsamic glaze was particularly weak.
The chicken satay -- R wasn't that impressed. The peanut sauce did not meet expectations.
Lobster bisque - good flavor, low on actual chunks of lobster, but of the appetizers, this was one of the stronger ones.
Onto the mains - honey salmon with soba noodles. The salmon was decent...but not as tender or flavorful as the ones from the first night.
Beef Wellington - LaoLao was not a fan -- I think the mushroom paste layer threw her off. Ian thought it was passable.
My chili crisp chicken salad. I really liked the Asian ponzu dressing. The chicken...was good in a Chinese fast food way. Not a bad choice for those looking for a lighter meal.
Last dessert round! L has the celebration cake - not bad - 4/5.
R got the peach pie with ice cream - also a 4/5.
Baba got the blueberry cheesecake -- a little sour, 3/5.
LaoLao got the coffee mousse -- no sugar added - people thought it reminded them of Asian cake frosting. Light, okay, but nothing special.
LaoYe got the same cheesecake as Baba. Showing it here as the last dessert shot of the cruise!
I got a sundae for once -- chocolate everything!
Tonight was the final show: Frozen, the musical. We have seen Frozen umpteen times now so it wasn't as exciting to us as Hercules, but still enjoyable nonetheless. Shows are where Disney really shines I think. We actually ran into the dance crew practicing their sail away party dance as we were leaving on the last morning -- they work really hard! The dancers are really good!
We did one last activity tonight -- the Heard That game show. I forgot to bring my phone but L's moment of glory was beating this other kid in a lightning round of naming as many Disney Villains as she could. Our team crushed the competition!
Sadly that was the last activity...back to the stateroom...one last night of sleep...tomorrow we head back home!
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