At Port

During our cruise, we made two stops at Bahamian islands - Nassau and Castaway Cay (pronounced 'key'), Disney's own island. For a bunch of folks from the Dakotas/Minnesota, it was quite the experience to walk off the ship onto a tropical island.

At Nassau, Dwain and Benita treated us to a beach day excursion. It included a bus ride from the port to the Atlantis resort. Once there, we were given a tour of the resort grounds and taken to a beautiful ocean beach. The advertised amazing open-air aquarium turned out to be just a handful of small pools with rays and small shark in them, which was disappointing, but we made up for it. We enjoyed a nice lunch together before Dwain and Benita headed to the Casino and the rest of us hit the beach.

We soaked up sun, collected sea shells, splashed in the ocean and even checked out a nearby swimming pool with waterfall.

Nassau was fun, but Castaway Cay was dreamy. This port call was free for cruisers, which made it even nicer. There are additional adventures you can pay for - such as snorkeling or cycling - but it's unnecessary. We took the kids straight to the beach - after a couple of photo opps - and swam, swam, swam. The family beach was enormous, making it easy to find a couple of beach chairs or lounges, stake out a spot and get comfortable. The waves are also wonderfully broken by a rock ridge, so there's hardly an undercurrent to worry about.

We had planned to stay for just a bit before taking in a movie on ship, but we couldn't tear ourselves away. Dwain and Benita headed out to take in a barbecue and some site-seeing, while we just kept swimming. Near lunch time, we checked the kids into Scuttle's Cove, an on-island Oceaner Club of sorts. The secure playground included a water park, playground and beach sand galore. Counselors treated them to games and lunch, while Jason and I enjoyed lunch together on ship.