2017-12-24: Boxing Day in Castaway Cay

Wow, Christmas Eve already!  Today we got up in time to watch the ship dock.  The first thing Amanda noticed was how clear the water here is. Next, we got organized and headed down for breakfast in the Royal Court dining room.  The service was good, and food was tasty.

After a quick stop to change into our swimwear, we headed off for our day on the beach.  We stopped for pictures along the dock with Captain Hook and Smee… Smee tried to hide the croc on Michael’s hat from Captain but in the end Captain ran away from Michael and wouldn’t come back until we had moved away.  That’s the second person we’ve run into on the ship that is scared of that alligator on Michael’s hat!   There was a ginormous Christmas tree on the dock along with a Sandy Snowman and Snowwoman.    Further along we met everyone’s favorite swashbuckling pirate Captain Jack Sparrow!  Patrick and Amanda took the photo op and Patrick told Captain Jack how much he loves all his movies!  It was fun to see Patrick get a little star struck.

We continued along into the little village and found a nice shady spot on the beach. Jim noted that the Caribbean themed Christmas carols just weren’t working for him, but Amanda and Darrell enjoyed them.  Jim had another conference call to take so the rest of us went to play in the water and give him some peace and quiet.  The water is so blue and so crystal clear in the bay.  You could see everything around your toes.  Patrick took off ahead of the group… we had a little conversation about water safety when we caught up with him and the rest of the morning was spent splashing around having fun and watching the kids play on the rope course in the bay.   Eventually Darrell, Amanda and the kids all went to get snorkel equipment and a couple tubes.  All four returned to their beach spot where Jim was still on his call and Linda was soaking up some rays and people watching.   Time to try snorkeling… Patrick and Amanda were quick to get masks on and head out, Darrell and Michael both had issues.  Michael couldn’t figure out how to seal his mask properly and struggled with his breathing tube and Darrell struggled to get his mask on just right, so it would work properly, next time we will make sure to bring Darrell’s mask with us.  Amanda and Patrick swam out to the snorkel area and spotted lots of big fish.  There were lots of sunken items like pots that the fish liked to swim around and hide in.  They made it out to a white buoy ball and found an statue of Minnie Mouse with a bunch of tiny cobalt blue and yellow fish swimming around it.

After a little more time in the water it was time for lunch.  The line up was long, but the food was decent.  There was a good variety of salads, pasta salad, apple salad, coleslaw and lots of protein options including BBQ ribs. Chicken, burgers and hot dogs.  The clouds started rolling in just as we finished lunch, but the temperature stayed warm.

After an ice cream cone, we all returned to our seats and Jim joined us in the water for a dip… No one warned him about the chilly water temperature prior to entry.   Darrell went for a walk to explore the island a little more and get some pictures before joining us back in the water. We played in the water until about 3:30. It was time to return all our rentals and head back to the ship.  Upon arriving back at the ship, we were greeted by a bubble blowing snowman and peppermint chip cookies!

We came back to our rooms and dropped off our stuff.  Jim and Linda got cleaned up and took some time to relax in our room while the rest of us decided to go give the AquaDuck a try!   Darrell teamed up Michael and Amanda went with Patrick.  There was a super chatty little boy and girl in front of Amanda and Patrick… These kids made Patrick seem like a mute.  It was about a 20-minute wait to get on the slide.  It was worth it!  How fun to slip into the slide and around a corner and look down over the side of the ship then quickly back onto the ship and looping around the pool deck.

Next it was time to clean up and get ready for dinner in the Enchanted Garden.  Our wait staff moves from dining room to dining room with us.  Saul is very good with kids, glasses squeak and after dinner he shows us a trick even show the kids how to do it.   The Enchanted Garden is a neat restaurant where the panel lighting changes and acts like a sunset and the hanging lights look like blooming flowers.  Saul had a magic trick for the kids tonight… it involved a soya sauce bottle and 2 straws.  One straw is placed horizontally on top of the bottle the trick is to move the straw in a circle with the second straw without them touching.  Pretty cool.

The show tonight was the Great Dubois Masters of Variety.  A couple doing many different acts from plate twirling to juggling to riding a unicycle in a straight jacket for him.  She hula hooped, did acrobatics from a hanging ring and danced with two long pieces of fabric that hung from the top of the stage.

The ship was crazy busy in the Atrium with people lining up for pictures with Santa and some Disney characters.  Darrell and Amanda were commenting how they have never seen line ups for pictures on any other ship like this.

It was time to send the kids to bed… Santa’s coming.  Darrell and Amanda took a little walk around the ship to let Patrick fall asleep.  While they were out they ran into Stitch in his festive Hawaiian Christmas shirt!  Amanda was excited and had to get a picture with him.    Then it was back to the room and time for bed, by the time they returned everyone else was lights out!