I had plenty of time until my 1pm shore excursion, so I took some pictures of Nassau on deck, filled my mug with soda, and staked out a place in the lobby of the forward lifts on Deck 10. The forward lifts had small lounge-like areas on the upper decks, with a small table and a few chairs. The one on Deck 10 had a big window, and was quiet and peaceful, making for a perfect place to sit and read my paperback. I was halfway through Men In Black II.
I'm a quick reader; within an hour I was done with MIB2, but I wound up dozing there in the lounge for another half-hour or more, until the mid-day sun coming through the big windows made it unbearably hot. But when I stood up and hit the button to call the lift, I noticed the sign on the bulkhead between the lift doors:
Trekkies will be familiar with the Ten-Forward lounge, from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as a restaurant/bar situated at the extreme forward end of Deck 10 of the Starship Enterprise. Ten-Forward was a major standing set, and was the setting for some of the most significant scenes during the show's 8-year run.
I took a couple of pictures of it, just for the novelty.
I dropped off my book in my cabin, re-filled my mug, and went to the ship's Internet Cafe, on Deck 3. Signing in was easy and painless; I didn't even need anyone's help, as the instructions were all on-screen. Usage of the Internet Cafe aboard a Disney ship is charged either by the minute (75 cents per minute, to be exact), or at $40 for unlimited usage during an entire 4-night cruise. At 75-cents per minute, I would have spent $40 in 53 minutes. I figured that I would be online far more than 53 minutes over the next 4 days, so I opted for the unlimited plan. And I did, in fact, spend over 30 minutes online right then, signing on to the Clubhouse and posting a brief update of my activities from yesterday.
By then I was hungry, so I got myself some pizza at a little place next to the Goofy pool, and refilled my mug again, and had lunch next to the pool on Deck 9. by the time I was finished with lunch, it was nearly time to sign in for my shore excursion, so I dropped my mug off in my cabin and went to WaveDancers, a club on Deck 3, to sign in. And once I signed in, showing my ID and Key to the World card, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet! You don't really need your wallet on board the ship, because all transactions are done with your Key to the World card, so I hadn't been carrying it around with me. I asked the Crew Member who was signing people in if I had enough time to run back to my cabin, and she said I had plenty, so I rushed down there, grabbed my wallet and some cash, and ran beck up to WaveDancers. I needn't have bothered running, however; I wound up sitting around for another ten or fifteen minutes before we actually got off the ship.
The ferryboat to Paradise Island has no affiliation with DCL. It's run by a private Bahamian company, so don't expect a Disney Friendship boat to pull up at the dock. But the folks on the boat are used to tourists and are quite friendly and pretty good at their jobs. As we boarded the ferry, each of us was given a ticket for the return ferry, which would run on the half-hour until 5:30. Each person on the Atlantis excursion also got a wristband; the wristband was color-coded and would identify our level of access to the resort (some tours get pool access, I had opted for the non-pool tour, which I later regretted). The ferryboat also gave us a great view of the Disney Wonder as we sailed around her to get to Paradise Island. I got some great photos of the ship.
On arrival at the ferryboat terminal, we were met by tour guides from Atlantis. They walked us from the terminal up to the resort, a distance of 3 or 4 city blocks, and broke us up into smaller groups of about 20 or so for the walking tour. It was here, walking that distance, then standing in the Bahamian sun for about five minutes as we broke into groups, that I realized what a moron I had been: I left my water bottle on the ship! Anyone who takes a shore excursion to Atlantis, remember two things: sunblock and water!
Atlantis is huge! I looked at the place and assumed from it's size that it must be a 6000 or 8000 room resort, but our tour guide informed me that it's actually only 2300 rooms. There are, however, eleven swimming pools, several of which I saw during and after the tour; they are very impressive, and I was kicking myself for not signing up for the tour that included pool access. The tour ended just outside the Dig exit, and we were left to our own devices. Our wristbands were good for the whole day, allowing us to re-enter the Dig and look through on our own as much as we wanted, and we were also free to go to the casino, the shops, or the restaurants in the resort. I was mainly interested in looking around and taking pictures, so I spent another hour or so doing just that. I was really impressed with the place; now I'm trying to decide if I want to take some money from next year's Disney budget to spend a couple of days there.
When I finally got too tired, too hot, and too sweaty, I made a brief bathroom stop to wash up a bit and headed back for the ferryboat terminal. Again, this was a hot, sunny walk, and I was kicking myself the whole way for not brining my water bottle with me. As soon as I got to the terminal, I got a Gatorade and collapsed on a bench in the shade for a while, until the boat arrived to take me (and a few other Disney cruisers) back to Nassau. The boat ride was only about ten minutes, then a short walk back to the ship, and I was again blessed by that most wonderful of all inventions, air conditioning.
I was really beat, so I headed back to my cabin for a rest. I hooked up my laptop and began typing in my trip notes and working on day one of this report. I also had a snack out of the gift box Magical Journeys had sent to each Clubhouse Member's cabin. Mike showed up around then, and we watched a little of Jungle Book on the ship's Disney movie channel. By then it was almost time for tonight's show, so I made my way forward to the Walt Disney Theater.
I arrived a little late for the show, but there are really no bad seats anywhere in that theater. The show tonight was a stand-up act my a musical comic named Gary Delena, and he was fantastic! He's a family comedian, so he knows how to make people laugh without use of bad language or suggestive subject matter; he's also a great composer of parody songs, giving us DCL-themed parodies to several current hits, and a few classic tunes like the theme to Gilligan's Island. I love a good comedy act, and this guy was really top-knotch, so I enjoyed myself immensely, and I was sorry the show wasn't longer.
Then it was back to the cabin to dress for dinner. Tonight's meal was at Tritons. I arrived right on time, but unfortunately the entire Clubhouse group wasn't seated as close together tonight, and we couldn't speak to the other tables as readily. Still, those at our own tables provided terrific company, and we all enjoyed the meal a lot. I ordered the terrific Camembert fritters with marinara for an appetizer, roast duck with orange sauce as a main, and chocolate mousse cake for desert. The duck was a little tough, as duck often is (or so I'm told; I've only had duck once before in my whole life, on the buffet at Crystal Palace), but it had the greatest flavor. And I cannot put into words how good the chocolate mousse cake was! I was already quite full from the appetizer and main, but I forced myself to each the whole slice of cake, even at the risk of making myself sick, just because it was so good. I'd have had a second piece, but I was afraid my stomach would burst at the seams if I had another bite.
After dinner I went shopping; I wanted to go snorkeling tomorrow, but I had forgotten my swim trunks and my mask and snorkel. The gear I could rent, but I needed trunks, so I went to Mickey's Mates and picked up a pair with the DCL logo on them, a DCL beach towel, and a few other trinkets I had intended to buy. I figured I might as well get it all in one fell swoop. I took the big bag back to my cabin, changed out of my dinner clothes, and went on deck for the cast-off party.
But when I began seeing the words on the page instead of the images they were meant to convey, I knew it was time for bed. I wound up hitting the hay that night around 2:15, not even worried anymore that the ship's motion would disturb my sleep; I knew it would not, and in fact I had a very quiet, restful night's sleep.
Walk Miles: 7.7