Trip Report Marriage is a DREAM!

Hi and welcome to our honeymoon TR! :joyfull: Most of you know me by now, but I'll do some quick introductions for any newcomers!

I'm Brittany and this is my husband (EEK! 😍), Dylan. We are from Pennsylvania, but moved to Florida 2 years ago for jobs, sunshine, and Disney! We are teachers in the same district.. I teach 1st grade and Dylan teaches high school (US History and AP US History), but when we first moved here Dylan worked full time at the Disney Palm & Magnolia golf courses. He still works there part time, mostly to maintain his golf and Disney CM perks. 😉 We got engaged in the Magic Kingdom just before moving to FL, and it was only fitting that our wedding be Disney themed as well. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the most perfect day ever!
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Prior to moving to FL, I always imagined that my honeymoon would be at WDW. That didn't make much sense seeing as we can go whenever we want, so we thought, "Why not a Disney cruise?" It got us away, I could get my Disney fix, and most importantly, we could RELAX! A little while after we had made that decision, we discovered that Dylan gets a discounted rate on cruises... I'm talking 50% off discounts. :oops: Disney offers these discounts to CM's in an effort to fill the staterooms that weren't booked by regular guests. We couldn't believe it, but we were thrilled! The only drawback is that to get the discounted rate, we would have to wait until the last minute to book, which meant we wouldn't know anything about our destination, length of cruise, which ship, sail dates, NADA until it was nearly time to sail. We officially booked our cruise about a month before our sail date. So where are we going?

July 7-12, 2019
Disney Dream
5-Day Cruise: Nassau, 2 stops at Castaway Cay, and a day at sea


We arrived at Port Canaveral around 1pm for our 1:45pm boarding time. There were CM's stationed at each "checkpoint" to guide us and tell us where to go next.. everybody was super friendly and helpful and it was an extremely smooth process! We were advised by friends over in the DCL forum to just park at the port since it was our first cruise and we wouldn't save that much money by parking elsewhere. The convenience of parking at the port did prove to be worth the price!

Helloooooo beautiful!
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We entered the terminal at got in line for check in. We had a bit of a wait, but there were a ton of CM's working at the desk and they were pretty efficient at moving guests through the line. Soon we were all checked in and sent to board the ship immediately!

We asked an older woman in front of us to take our picture here, and she seemed very annoyed by the request. She also did a poor job of actually capturing what we wanted a picture of. 🙄 I tried not to let it bother me, but I wasn't completely successful lol. I would just like to think that if I saw a young couple wearing shirts indicating that they were on their honeymoon, I would be eager to put my own needs aside for just a few moments to capture an important memory for them. It's not a huge deal, we still have the picture.. but I was still bothered.
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I decided to say "Hakuna Matata" and move on... we were about to go on a Disney cruise! :joyfull: We continued along and stopped for our pre-boarding picture. We decided against paying for the expensive photo package.. I feel as if this is probably frowned upon but I took pictures of all of the PhotoPass pictures on my phone. :angelic:

A quick sidebar about the cruise PhotoPass - There are large bookshelves on Deck 4 of the ship that contain folders disguised as books. You scan your Key to the World card and it tells you what color, character, and number your photos can be found in and then you locate that "book" on the shelf. For example, ours was yellow Donald Duck 16. Inside the books, you'll find printed copies of all of the PP pictures you've had taken in varying sizes. We were a little confused about this for a few reasons. Isn't it a waste of money to print pictures for people that didn't purchase the package? And how do they prevent people who didn't purchase the pictures from taking them anyway? These are the questions that haunt me! Lol.

Another thing about cruise PP - the CM's will not take pictures on your phone. We asked at Castaway and she said that she's not allowed, so we had to have another guest take it for us. I thought that this was super odd considering the PP photographers at WDW are able to take pictures on phones? The character attendants were able to take pictures at meet and greets, but the photographers would not.
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Anyway, moving on! We walked onto the ship and were announced as the Reinsel family. 🥰 I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that! We stepped into the atrium and though it was stunning, I was surprised at how small it was! I pictured it being much more grand, but it was beautiful all the same!
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We stopped to say hello to Donald before continuing on to explore the rest of the ship!
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Matt and Kelly

Well-Known Member
🤣 What is it about Disneyland?! In October we were at the Match Your Mate show, and the newlywed couple playing said they found the "magic" in a family restroom at Disneyland! They ended up winning the game 😂

I wonder if this happened in the restrooms near Alice in Wonderland. If so, he sure played his cards right!

Michael Scott Rimshot (The Office)
make funny GIFs like this at MakeaGif
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
My husband and I have been together 17 years and married for 5 but we would fail miserably at that game LOL. R has the worst memory ever - unless it comes to stupid, useless movie quotes and trivia! He can barely remember what we did last week, much less answer questions from 17 years ago :)
 

Matt and Kelly

Well-Known Member
My husband and I have been together 17 years and married for 5 but we would fail miserably at that game LOL. R has the worst memory ever - unless it comes to stupid, useless movie quotes and trivia! He can barely remember what we did last week, much less answer questions from 17 years ago :)


Hey now...there is nothing wrong with being able to recall countless movie or tv quotes, as useless as that skill may be! I'd like to think I'm an expert in that field!
 

PopPopBear

Member
Monday, July 8

Jude gave us our dessert menu and we decided to go a little easier on ordering than we had the previous night. 🙃
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I had the Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brûlée with Almond Biscotti. It was good but the top tasted a little burnt.
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Dylan had the Apple Tart Tatin - Caramelized Baked Apple with Vanilla Ice Cream. I didn't try this one but it looked and smelled very good!
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Jude had apparently not forgotten about our (my) love of sweets, because he brought us an additional option without us asking. 😋 This was the Grand Marnier Souffle and it. was. INCREDIBLE. I'm so glad that he brought it because we both LOVED it!
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While we were enjoying our dessert, Marta discovered that we were on our honeymoon and passed the information along to Jude. Before we knew it, another plate arrived to the table. 🙃
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Marta was cracking up and scolded Jude for giving us even more to eat. She ended up putting a metal cover on it and wrapped up some silverware so we could take it back to our room for later. Our stateroom hostess ended up mistakenly taking it before we'd had a chance to eat it, but I think we made up for it with our sweets intake the rest of the week. :angelic:

We finished up and said goodnight to Jude and Marta. Some pictures of the restaurant on our way out!
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We stopped a teenager for these less than ideal pictures before continuing on to our next activity for the evening. 🙃
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I have had my fair share of Grand Marnier Souffles. They are soooo good!!!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am enjoying your TR SO much!! I haven’t ever been on a cruise, period, but if I ever did one I’d go DCL for sure. Congratulations on your marriage! ✨

You definitely need to make it happen.. you won't be sorry! :joyfull: Thank you so much!

Pffft...I’m not scared! Just uncomfortable haha.

Though I did read something about unlimited soap/shampoo. This does tilt the scales a bit.

Lol! I'm going through serious withdrawals.. can I buy it on property anytime I want? Yes. BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME IF I BUY IT. :hilarious:

I'm with you, Matt. I don't swim, so the thought of being surrounded by all that water (and seeing all those creepy videos on YouTube of furniture and pianos flying across the room on cruise ships in bad weather) doesn't really excite me. The food, however... does.

What to do... what to do?! :geek:

Haha! The food makes it totally worthwhile! To be honest, once we got busy and involved in doing things on the ship, it was surprisingly easy to forget that we were indeed in the middle of the ocean. You simply MUST do it at least once. ;)

I’m so excited to read all about your honeymoon
Those desserts look awesome - I now want some.......
following along - (I know I’m late but I’m here now)

Welcome board! :) I did think of you when I ate ice cream on the ship!

🤣 What is it about Disneyland?! In October we were at the Match Your Mate show, and the newlywed couple playing said they found the "magic" in a family restroom at Disneyland! They ended up winning the game 😂

Oh my word. :hilarious::hilarious: I mean, that honestly seems kind of unsanitary but to each their own. :hilarious: Dylan and I are going to Disneyland next year so maybe we'll join the club of magic making bandits and win the show someday. :hilarious:

My husband and I have been together 17 years and married for 5 but we would fail miserably at that game LOL. R has the worst memory ever - unless it comes to stupid, useless movie quotes and trivia! He can barely remember what we did last week, much less answer questions from 17 years ago :)

Lol! It's way more difficult than you would think, but we had a blast! :joyfull:

I have had my fair share of Grand Marnier Souffles. They are soooo good!!!

Sooooo yummy! Definitely one of my favorite desserts from the entire week. 😋
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
I’m late to the TR but am all caught up now. A Disney Cruise is definitely on my list of Disney must-dos! Grand Mariner soufflé?! Yes, please! Sorry you had bad weather on your first Castaway Cay day! If I ever get to take a Disney Cruise I would definitely book one with 2 Castaway Cay stops for that very reason. Everything looks amazing!
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
Hey now...there is nothing wrong with being able to recall countless movie or tv quotes, as useless as that skill may be! I'd like to think I'm an expert in that field!

R will sometimes use one in conversation and look at me expectantly like I'm supposed to know what to say next. I'll be like "It's that from a movie or something?" and he'll get annoyed that I don't know it's a quote from Biker Boyz :joyfull:
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I’m late to the TR but am all caught up now. A Disney Cruise is definitely on my list of Disney must-dos! Grand Mariner soufflé?! Yes, please! Sorry you had bad weather on your first Castaway Cay day! If I ever get to take a Disney Cruise I would definitely book one with 2 Castaway Cay stops for that very reason. Everything looks amazing!

It's definitely something that every Disney fan needs to do once (and then again and again because you get hooked :joyfull:). The soufflé was amazing! I was super grateful that we had a second Castaway day to count on.. and two perfect days there would just be a bonus!

Don't know how I missed this!?
I'm here now, and loving it! You two are adorable!

Aww thank you! :joyfull: Thanks for reading!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, July 9

We decided to sleep in a bit this morning before heading to Cabanas for breakfast. It was way more chaotic than the previous morning when we were there early. I went with a made to order omelet today and was kind of disappointed.. it was a little dry and didn't have much cheese on it. Dylan makes me omelets frequently at home so I guess I'm just used to the way he makes them. ;) The POG juice, however, was still amazing.
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We disembarked around 11am and headed for Nassau. I had purchased the Unofficial Guide book (highly recommend!) and there is a self-guided tour in it that hits some really neat locations. We didn't end up doing the entire tour, but there are some things that we missed that I'd like to go back and see next time. It was actually pretty interesting, because otherwise we probably would have just looked around the main tourist area and then went back to the boat.

Speaking of the main tourist area... YIKES. I was SUPER overwhelmed as we walked through and tried to avoid eye contact. I get that these people are trying to make money, but they were like sharks! I was so happy when we finally made it to the other side and could breathe normally. :hilarious:

Anyway, we started walking toward our first destination and saw some interesting sights along the way.
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We actually met up with a couple around my parents' age who happened to be going to the same place. They were cruising on a different cruise line to celebrate their anniversary. :) I felt a little safer walking with a larger group. 🙃 Soon we arrived at the Queen's Staircase!
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There was an "unofficial guide" that approached us and told us the history of the Queen's Staircase. His knowledge was actually pretty impressive, so we did give him a tip to thank him for his time.
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We climbed all 66 steps to the top and then climbed them all the way back down. Cardio complete for the day. 😉 It was really cool to see and I highly recommend taking the time to check it out!
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We didn't walk all the way over to the water tower, but it was another stop included on the book tour.
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coachwnh

Well-Known Member
Late to the cruise party, but happily reading along. We've never taken a cruise, but I love your approach to the food. When we travel, I love trying things I normally wouldn't eat at home. I guess the cruise gives you that option without risk.

Dylan had the Duck Confit

Tried this myself this summer in Brno. Something I would never eat at home, but I really enjoyed it.

Also tried port knuckle in Vienna. It was actually really good!
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Congratulations again on the wedding and looking forward to reading more.
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, July 9 cont.

We bid our new friends farewell and continued on with the rest of our tour. We passed by the post office and were surprised by how run down it was.
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We also passed by this sketchy looking McDonald's.
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The government buildings were really neat and it would have been cool to get inside, but we weren't able to make that happen. My grandma said that she actually had tea with somebody important that I can't remember inside one time that she visited.
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It was around this area that we also saw a man laying in the street that we weren't certain was alive. :oops: When we passed by again later he was sitting up... crisis averted lol. Our tour had us heading to the Graycliff Hotel, but we ended up finding some really cool hidden gems that weren't mentioned! The actual hotel was to the left of this back alley.
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We stopped at the Heritage Museum and looked around inside the lobby. We didn't want to pay to go into the actual museum, but it would probably be neat to see. There were still some cool artifacts and pictures to look at in the lobby area.
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We walked a little bit further and stumbled across this adorable winery! We were lured inside by the AC, but I'm SO glad that we did this! They were doing free wine tastings, and we ended up LOVING the blend that one of the employees created himself. A bottle was surprisingly cheap, so we decided to purchase one to take home!
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They even printed a custom label for us! 🥰
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Haha we had the same guide at the Queen's Staircase, I am sure!!

Lol! I'm sure he spends most of his days there. 😉

Late to the cruise party, but happily reading along. We've never taken a cruise, but I love your approach to the food. When we travel, I love trying things I normally wouldn't eat at home. I guess the cruise gives you that option without risk.



Tried this myself this summer in Brno. Something I would never eat at home, but I really enjoyed it.

Also tried port knuckle in Vienna. It was actually really good!
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Congratulations again on the wedding and looking forward to reading more.

Thank you very much! 🥰

You hit the nail on the head.. there's no risk with cruise style dining! I still wasn't as adventurous as I probably could have been, but I guess that comes along with the picky eater territory. Either way, I tried some dishes that turned out to be incredible that I'm glad I didn't miss out on!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, July 9 cont

I sat outside on the winery while they got our bottle ready and Dylan paid. I could have stayed here all day!
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We came across some very noisy parrots as we walked down the sidewalk.. they're a little hard to see, but the most visible one is toward the upper right corner.
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We started to make our way back toward the main part of town, and my coffee-loving heart started to sing when I spotted this little beauty. 😍😂
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Our last stop was Pirate Republic, after hearing many good reviews from @lostpro9het. We passed a very animated pirate on the street, but there weren't any around once we actually got to the brewery.
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Some lights for @Doc Disney!
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We sat at the bar and perused the menu. We actually ran into our friends from earlier while we were here, so it was fun to hear about the rest of their day while we enjoyed our drinks!
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The current offerings on tap.
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Dylan decided to go with the flight.. he got the Gold & Haze of Piracy (Belgian White Ale), Captain Kidd's Kolsch (Bahamian style Kolsch), and Black Beer'd Stout (Breakfast Stout). If I remember correctly, the second one was his favorite.
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I had a Wrecked Pirate - spiced rum, coconut rum, pineapple rum, pineapple juice, blue curaçao, soda water, and lime. It was strong, but very good!
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We finished our drinks and decided to head back to the ship around 2pm because it was sooooo hot! Overall, we really enjoyed Nassau, though I can see why a lot of people don't like it. As I mentioned earlier, I hated all of the people screaming at us and trying to get us to buy whatever they were selling. The drivers were INSANE, so it was a little overwhelming trying to navigate the narrow roads and randomly placed sidewalks with cars flying around. Many of the areas were extremely rundown, which I didn't really expect. Most of the Bahamians that we interacted with were super friendly and helpful and made us feel welcome. We really enjoyed doing the tour and would probably revisit some of the places we hit this time, and we also talked about trying to hit up a beach for a little bit of a different experience. I don't think that Atlantis is worth the money, so we would definitely have to do some research. I feel a lot more confident with planning a day at Nassau now that we're somewhat familiar with the island.
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StephK

Well-Known Member
Really enjoying your cruise report :)
Carly was our cruise director on the Dream last May, I thought she sounded like Mary Poppins 🥰.
We pulled up to Castaway Cay in the morning to a HUGE storm and she told us we wouldn't be able to venture out because it was dangerous and we pulled back out to sea, I was so devastated I cried. We spent the day at sea and the next morning woke to a huge surprise and they'd gone back to Castaway Cay and let us spend the next day there instead, you could hear cheers from all over the ship when Carly announced it. The best Disney magic ever.
 

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