A Merrytime on Castaway Cay

Day 7 and we are in the Bahamas at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay!  Katie and I were planning on participating in the 5K in the morning, and Mom and Dad would meet us later for lunch, but Katie wasn't feeling good, so I got off the ship early by myself.

(here's a map!)

There is even a trolley to take people around the island,

but I had a "race" to do!

The island is really beautiful.  Below is the family beach-there is also a separate adult beach a bit further from the ship.  The trolley will take you to the further beach, but the 5k route took me pretty close.

After meeting up with Mom, Dad, and Kate, and running into a couple other characters,

(Katie saw Donald right after she got off the ship with our parents)

we headed out to find the special bbq lunch on the island.

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Time to relax on the beach!

(this bag was a FE gift--perfect as a beach bag!)

(and of course the fun sun hat I got!)

Once back on board, we took our last leisurely look through the ship.

(Coll map showing where we are at Castaway Cay!)

Dinner that night was at Animator's Palate,

where this time we drew our own characters and the restaurant brought them to life!

Its already time for the See Ya Real Soon party,

as Mickey and his friends say their last goodbye.  Katie and I then headed back to the Tube for a drink,

before it was time to go back and pack everything up.

A Cruising Fantasy & Fish Extenders

Day 6 was another lovely day at sea on the Fantasy--and Semi Formal night!  We started with breakfast in the Enchanted Garden (breakfast and lunch are served on different days in the different sit down restaurants)

Time now to relax up on the deck! 

(Dole whip with rum...)

(Eye Scream soft serve--yum)

Speaking of Eye Scream, Katie and I were able to try out one of the gifts we got in our fish extender--a sundae kit!

So, just a bit about cruising with the Disney Cruise line.  Guests often decorate their doors with magnets (ours are below--some I made and some we received as gifts) and some (like us) participate in the fish extender exchange (FE).

Next to the door you can see the fish, which is really for the crew to put notices, etc. for guests.  The extender is the gift receptacle participants hang off of the fish for others in your exchange group to leave gifts in.  Katie is responsible for making the extender--for this one I found two Disney themed stockings for $3 each and Katie put our names on and sewed them together.  People use all sorts of things for their fish extender.  I thought the stockings were a neat touch since this was a Christmas cruise.

Its so much fun to come back to the room to find goodies in the stockings or bags hanging from the fish.  We participated in an adult only group and two family groups.  We had originally planned on just the adult and one family group, but I had gone a little crazy buying things.  Here is some of stuff we got!

For me the fish extender is worth it.  I had a lot of fun figuring out what gifts to give each person (I do individual gifts, but others do one gift for the entire family--it is up to the giver).  It extended the fun!  I joined the Facebook group for my particular cruise (also worth it to get to interact with other people that will be cruising with you) and signed up for different FE groups.  Groups can vary in size--10 cabins per group is pretty normal.

Here is a peek at what I have to the women in the exchange group--Christmas tsum tsums I found on clearance at Target (exciting find!), Disney lip balms, a bottlecap necklace I made (I had a ton of fun designing them) and cruise themed wristlets I Disney-fied.  I like to look throughout the year for things on clearance.  

But today was also semi-formal night, so it was time for us to get dressed up.

Taking pictures with characters in our different outfits is definitely a fun part of the cruise.  Here is Daisy rocking her formal wear.

Dinner this night was a Royal Court, the only one of the 3 sit down restaurants I haven't shared yet.

(Our waiter and assistant waiter this cruise.  They rotate dining rooms with you throughout the cruise and take the time to learn things you like and don't like)

(Dad taking a picture of Katie and I trying to get the perfect food pictures)

Drinks this night at the bar near the lobby so Mom can people watch everyone in their pretty outfits.

When we got back to the room we had a new FE gift waiting for us--sun hats for our next day's adventure.