bermuda – Bless Your Heart

Disney Fantasy Bermuda Day 6

April 19, 2023May 3, 2023 Shanny

Today we woke up and went to breakfast at the Cabana’s buffet again. It’s the fastest option vs a sit down served breakfast at Royal Court. We couldn’t help but notice the gray skies and rain.

The forecast for today was rain ALL DAY, and not just sprinkles, but full on RAIN rain!

This put a damper on our plans, but MIL & CSP decided to go out walking in the downpour anyway!!! I said BYE to those maniacs and went back to our room to read and relax in my dry clothes! CSP & MIL were hell bent on finding one of Bermuda’s famous fried fish on raisin bread (!!!) sandwiches! So they set out to locate one. That sandwich would have to be fed to me by Harry Styles himself for me to brave that rain! Ha! But! They found one!!! And they reported back that it was delightful!

LOOK how soaking wet CSP is!!! While out and about in Kings Wharf, MIL & CSP also tracked down a rum cake for FIL back home.

Look at CSP holding a closed umbrella! It won’t work if you don’t open it!

They still managed to have a good time, even though it was wet and rainy!

Not many people braved the elements today, so there wasn’t much of a line to get back on the ship. When they returned to our room, MIL & CSP were soaked to the bone! They changed into dry clothes while I ate my FREE room service lunch. Disney Cruise Line is one of the last cruise lines to still offer free room service. They have a great menu (I had a caprese sandwich with fruit). Just don’t forget to tip! Because we have late dinner we often order the All Hands on Deck cheese platter to snack on in the afternoon.

One of the fun things cruisers do on DCL ships is decorate our doors with magnets.

In fact, all of the walls in your room are magnetic too so (PRO TIP) we bring magnetic hooks to hang things around the room! I had these magnets made by Cruise Designs BB on Etsy. They did a fabulous job and got the magnets to me v quickly! My MIL was so excited to see her name on the magnets. Plus, a decorated door is easier to find in a long hallway of identical white doors!

Another little fun tip is on the tv in your room there’s a channel that shows the view from the bridge!

CSP loves this channel plus the one under it called Bridge Report which gives the latitude and longitude and shows the path your ship has cruised on that voyage, plus the locations of the other Disney ships. These channels also play Disney music.

One of the other things I love about a Disney cruise is that you can run into characters all over the ship!

We left Bermuda at approx 3 pm after some commotion- there were 4 passengers who they called over the PA to report to Guest Services right at 3pm. I thought oh wow- they aren’t back on the ship yet! Sure enough we heard some noise coming from outside so we all went out on the balcony to see what was up. Everyone was yelling and cheering and those 4 people were running towards the ship down the dock. It was so funny! Not too funny if you get left behind though! And they WILL leave you! Look on YouTube and see all the pier runners!!!

By now it was time to get ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was in Enchanted Garden.

It’s such a pretty restaurant! We were seated next to Gabby & Rob from Virginia (at their own table) and their baby boy Jamie. Gabby is a travel agent and we hit it off right away! They are so nice!

After dinner tonight was one of my favorite cruise shows- Match Your Mate. It’s like the Newlywed game. We rushed to the Tube (one of the adult bars/clubs onboard) but it was PACKED!!! The guy at the door said they would be broadcasting next door in O’Gill’s pub. We raced next door and managed to snag a table. Success!!!

Things were looking promising until they changed the channel to a hockey game!!! Nooooo!!! So CSP & I went out to the Carousel bar.

They were showing Match Your Mate on one screen but it was far away with no empty chairs in front of it (this pic is zoomed in) and we couldn’t really hear it. WHOMP WHOMP. Also, I ordered the drink of the day- the Yellow Bird- and it was a STRONG pour so CSP just escorted me back to the room then he went back to O’Gill’s to finish watching the hockey game with sports loving MIL.

Tonight’s towel animal. No idea what this is! A bunny?

Here is where MIL slept. The sofa converts to a bed and she said it was quite comfy!

Goodnight! Tomorrow is our last sea day!!!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Bermuda Day 5- Part 2

April 18, 2023May 2, 2023 Shanny

After our fabulous island taxi tour we were famished so we went to Flanagan’s Irish Pub in Hamilton for lunch. Well, a late lunch as it was approaching 3pm.

It was pretty warm by now so we opted to sit inside and enjoy the AC but we did have a table by the window with a nice view of the water.

CSP had the mussels, MIL had the wahoo fish sliders, and I had fish and chips.

After our wonderful lunch, we stopped in a local coffee shop then walked around Hamilton for a bit. I noticed lots of guys in the same type of outfit. Businessmen were all mostly sporting a suit jacket, button down shirt, tie, shorts, knee socks, and dress shoes. Pictured here. It is v cute! By now we were ready to head back to King’s Wharf (where our ship was docked) so we took a ferry.

Our ferry is pictured here in the foreground. The white boat.

There was another cruise ship in port (a Norwegian ship) so there were lots of tourists about. We stopped in to the Frog and Onion for snacks and drinks. CSP & MIL wanted to try some local beers. It is a v cool place.

The pub is located in an old cooperage- where they used to make barrels and casks long ago. It has the original stone walls.

You can definitely see the British influence in Bermuda. They still have the old red phone booths- just with no phones now.

After procuring souvenir beer glasses for MIL & CSP we walked back to the ship to get ready for dinner.

Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate. This is such a fun, albeit loud, restaurant.

The menu illustration moves when you tilt the menu

Tonight in Animator’s Palate the stars of Finding Nemo came out to play on the media screens all around the dining room! It was v cute!

Dinner was delicious again tonight! I had roasted chicken:

CSP had the tuna steak:

Back at table 18! The lighting is funky in this dining room!!!

One of my FAVORITE desserts of the cruise!!! It was vanilla ice cream with apple crisp rice pudding! And odd combo that really worked!!!

CSP’s dessert. I love the themed dishware!

MIL’s dessert.

I LOVE the sparkly floor filled with Mickeys!!!

On our walk back to our room (almost all the way forward) from Animator’s (all the way aft) we spotted Daisy Duck!

And Mickeym too!

Since we are docked in Bermuda for a day and a half CSP & MIL decided to go out on the dock and take pics of the ship! We never get to see the ship all lit up at night because usually we’re sailing at night. The Fantasy looks amazing all lit up!

That’s it for today! Tomorrow is day 2 in Bermuda!!!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Bermuda Day 5- Part 1

April 18, 2023May 1, 2023 Shanny

It’s Bermuda day!!!

This morning we woke up early and had breakfast in Cabanas- the buffet on deck 11. We were able to watch our ship dock in Bermuda.

We then went back to the room to get ready for the day.

We debarked early at 9:30 am and found a taxi driver named Rene Bean to take us on a taxi tour today. Rene’s minivan was parked right near the ship so we took off on a 4 hour tour of the island! Rene is a tour guide descended from many generations of Bermudian tour guides and he knows his stuff!!! If you ever are in Bermuda and want to take a taxi tour- be sure to ask if they are Blue Flag taxis- if so then they are regulated by the government in regards to price etc.

First up on our tour was this random looking bush on the side of the road. Rene picked off 3 leaves for us and cracked them then passed them out to us.

It smelled like Christmas! Turns out Allspice grows wild on Bermuda!

Almost immediately after the allspice tree, we were about to round a corner on this narrow street. A big bus was coming the other direction. When I tell you we came SO CLOSE to this bus — we could hear the bus passengers gasp and curse while Rene and the bus driver were trying to figure out the logistics!!!

Once we escaped (barely) with our lives, we made our way to this sweet little chapel that used to be a slave home. Apparently in Bermuda, everything is made of limestone- hence all the white.

So I found this interesting- there’s no city water system in Bermuda. See the grooves on the roof? They filter the rain water that goes down the tube and collects in the tank. Then a pump pumps the water out for you. The limestone helps to filter the water and clean it! If you run out of water you can buy it from the government, but most people just rely on the rain!

Next we went to Fort Scaur. There used to be over 90 forts in Bermuda (which is made up of many connected islands)! I’m not the biggest fort fan, but the views made it worth it!

The water is just insanely blue! I did not use any filters on any of my photos.

Plus it was a spectacular day! Barely any clouds in the sky and the temps hovered around 72*with a constant breeze. Just perfect!

Next up on our tour was Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. There was a small (and reasonably priced!) gift shop where we picked up some water and our Bermuda magnet.

Zoom in and you can see our ship from here!

You can climb the 182 stairs to the top if you’d like to (we were paying for this tour by the hour so we skipped that) for $2.50. There are gorgeous views from the grounds.

Back in the minivan. Just look at that water!!!

The gray blobs in the above picture are ash mixed with cement that the Bermudian government puts out to protect the reefs. The ashes come from when they burn all their garbage that can’t be recycled. Love that!

They drive on the opposite side of the road from us in Bermuda (which is a little disconcerting at intersections and roundabouts!).

We drove past the Unfinished Church in St. George. They were building this church but then decided to move the capital to Hamilton so they just left this church unfinished. Wild!

Saw this gorgeous swimming hole that’s only there at high tide.

Very cool rock formations all around the coast!

MIL had fun sitting up front with Rene! He tells some wild stories!!!

Check out this WILD huge compound we passed! Apparently it used to belong to John J. Astor!

We drove down by the airport- this is the welcome sign there.

Beautiful golf course with celebrity homes up top. Apparently Michael Douglas has a home here.

We passed this wild cemetery. All the graves are above ground because of the water table and they are all made of limestone.

We then made a stop at one of Bermuda’s famous pink sand beaches! Rene found us this amazing and practically deserted beach to visit.

Just LOOK at this water!!!

A close up of the pink sand in CSP’s hand. You can see the pink granules.

After the beach we headed toward Hamilton. On the way Rene drove us by his house. We wrapped up our tour in Hamilton, the capital. We thanked and payed Rene and I snapped a picture to remember an unforgettable tour!