Trip Log Day 3: Disney Wish – 3-Night Halloween on the High Seas Bahamian Cruise – Castaway Cay

Trip log, day three. Castaway Cay.
3-Night Halloween on the High Seas Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida 
October 15, 2023

Guests Ashore: 8:30 am Guests Onboard: 4:45 pm
Personal Navigator – Day 3

Today started just in time for sunrise and a view of Castaway Cay as we approached the island.

While I enjoyed the view, Emily headed out to Senses Fitness to ride the bikes. Good news, is the Peloton app works on the premium surf internet package. Although, she did have a few workouts downloaded in the app prior to the sailing just in case.

We headed ashore early to find a place for us all to congregate today. On our way out, we saw the newly installed commemorative sign which was soon enhanced with nautical decor and names of families who have completed 50 or more Disney Cruise sailings over the last 25 years since the Disney Magic first set sailing in July 1998.

The island information sign, set up near Marge’s Barges and Sea Charters, alerted everyone who likely already knew most tours were cancelled today. While, I still have a few cruises to go until I get my name on the commemorative sign, the Snorkeling Lagoon closure was first time I’ve encountered this sort of closure and I’ve been out there in some heavy currents before.

Normally, snorkeling is the first activity when we go ashore at Castaway Cay if we are going to snorkel. Isabelle asked to snorkel, as she had not seen any of the new things in the lagoon. With the ‘closed till further notice’ status, we decided to walk around and take some pictures while it was still relatively quiet on the island.

Fine art your way with the Disney Wish and chain.

The Heads Up Bar has an easy to read menu along with examples of the specialty souvenir mugs available to order and enjoy while you are out enjoying the views from on Pelican Point.

Talking about the views, Pelican Point offers great views of the ship.

On our walk back, we stopped over at the observation deck looking out to Pelican Plunge.

We stopped by Flippers & Floats to grab some snorkeling vests (we brought our own snorkeling gear) which are required in the Snorkeling lagoon, but it was still closed and the staff said to check back in an hour or so as they anticipated the closure to lift around lunchtime. The required vests are complimentary making snorkeling free when you bring your own gear.

Summertime Freeze was serving up Frozen inspired beverages with a full compliment of Olaf and Sven sippers available.

We spent the majority of the time before lunch hanging out and chatting with the group on loungers on Pelican Point where we set up some beach games such as ring toss, which was a blast!

It was time for lunch at Cookies BBQ for some island fare.

As we returned to our loungers, we discovered that snorkeling had opened. Izzy just got new gear before our March Spring Break cruise where our snorkeling excursion was cancelled, and has been eager to use it. Throwing caution to the wind, we set out right after lunch.

Remember when your parents said to you ‘no swimming until an hour after you eat?’ Well, that’s great advice – especially when dealing with currents. The visibility in the snorkeling lagoon was not ideal, but as you moved further out, the visibility improved.

Here is a snorkeling highlight video that goes off the rails at the end. I accidentally changed my GoPro to Timelapse mode. The combination of the sun, water, and lack of prescription glasses – I’m not sure how this hasn’t happened sooner. Anyway, the end of the video gets wonky as I slowed down the Timelapse footage in an attempt to salvage the recording.

After snorkeling, we packed up our belongings and headed back to the Disney Wish where I was immediately distracted by something shiny… The Browns vs 49ers game was available as one of the two games on the special events channels. Special thanks to whomever chose to include this game which made up for the Browns game that was televised onboard last year against Miami. (Sorry about the 49ers fate in this game Heather, and thanks for putting up with me at the end).

Even more convenient was the ability to watch the game on my iPhone via the Stateroom TV Streaming option found in the Navigator App when clicking on the More tab.

After composing myself, I cleaned up and we headed out to The Bayou. Well, that was the plan until I heard the Kaiburr Crystal has been joined with a significantly less expensive offering in Hyperspace Lounge, the Hyperfuel Coaxium Box and is described as follows:

Unrefined Coaxium is a very volatile and highly explosive substance. Once mined, it would gradually begin to destabilize and turn red in color before exploding violently if not stored property in a temperature-controlled environment.

Energized Coaxium is what allows ships to travel through hyperspace.This makes it extremely valuable, and The Galactic Empire has almost total control over it. We posses a small amount stored in a secure travel safe container for our most valuable guest.

400 credits

It was busy at this time, so asking a bartender for details was not in the cards. On the way back (yes that very short walk between Hyperspace and The Bayou), I took a detour to Luna Libations to purchase a Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor’s Car popcorn bucket for a close friend back home. Tonight’s attire was Halloween / Cruise Casual so I called it my costume for a bit until I ran it up to the room so I didn’t break it.

Dinner this evening took us into Worlds of Marvel which is my first time seeing the revised show with Spider-Man and additional video footage presented across the restaurant’s screens.

We didn’t try anything new on the Worlds of Marvel menu, but there was a special dessert delivered to our table at the conclusion…

The Halloween on the High Seas spider dessert.

We also took a table side picture. I wish we could pick the borders/frames added to images. Maybe this is possible, but I’m not aware of this option. Is this an option?

Second cruise with the digital photo package and we still didn’t take more than 15 pictures. However, it was more than we took on the Dream this summer. We are making progress. The signage for photos is prominently displayed onboard and even post cruise the email reminders have been helpful. The reminder emails feel like they are weekly until the ability to download from DCL’s cruise photo page expires.

Tonight’s big event was Mickey’s Mouse-Querade party out on the upper decks.

Well, that was the plan until there was an AV issue on the deck stage (a weather graphic was used, but it was actually an AV issue per the announcement), which caused the show to move inside to the Grand Hall. This is one of those times where I miss 3 stair wells to help move a ship’s worth of people.

Eventually, we made it to the Grand Hall and to the credit of the crew, they gave everyone adequate time to reposition from the upper decks.

Here is a look at Mickey’s Mouse-Querade Party from the Disney Wish in the Grand Hall.

Day 3, and we just noticed the fall coffee offerings at the cafés: Toasted Marshmallow, Speculoos Latte, and Black Forest Latte.

Following the halloween party, we headed to Luna to get seats for our group to enjoy another trivia session. Since we were in place early, we had an opportunity to order the Golden Mimosa from the Luna menu. The orange beverage is a combination of Ciroc vodka, Elderflower liquor, orange juice and Taittinger champagne.

Trivia this cruise became more competitive between our individual teams within our group than with the rest of the passengers. Overall we faired well during General Disney Trivia, but neither of our teams contended for the top spots. We were close, but as difficult as these trivia clues are at times, there are still folks getting them all right and some even picking up the bonus points when applicable. I understand my place in trivia, as a happy participant.

Speaking of clues, I was all set to call it a night when I heard one of the best movie theme songs (CLUE The Movie’s main theme) being to play and a graphic for WishQuest appeared on the Luna stage screens! I had no idea what to expect, but I was entranced by music. WishQuest was fun to watch, but it would be better if it was held in Hero Zone as this event can become a physical challenge getting to one of the Cruise Staff members quickly with whatever random item called for during the round. The clues are not straight forward like asking for a ballpoint pen, some clues are riddles such as bring me a sock with a hole in it. Spoiler alert, all socks have at least 1 hole, the hole you put your foot into! Even if you don’t participate, this was a fun event and I am glad I stuck around instead of going to bed.

Bed can wait, there was still a somewhat compensative NFL game, Giants vs Bills, this was mid-October in the NFL season so the stakes were a bit different for both teams and was a game that kinda came down to the final play.

Now time to call our final day onboard a night and head to bed.

Trip log, day four. Debarkation day at Port Canaveral.
3-Night Halloween on the High Seas Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida 
October 16, 2023

We were up dark and early in order to leave as soon as possible with Express Walk-off. While we waited, we filled out our guest feedback form which included a separate sheet with specific questions pertaining to the Halloween on the High Seas offerings.

And we were off as soon as express walk-off allowed……so we could get home for work and school. It’s Monday morning back to reality, but not a bad place to start the day.

I’ll leave with a random thought that I couldn’t find a place to share this earlier. The Disney Wish is growing up and maturing in a good way. This is not really new, but this is our first time back on the Wish since November 2022. The following are new since then and were major improvements: First and foremost the swapping out of the terrible no touch elevator buttons in favor of traditional push buttons made a world of difference the few times we utilized them. No more stopping at every single floor because someone looked the wrong way at the touch-less button panel. Single best improvement on the Wish since she launched and I take the stairs 90% of the time. The other improvement is venue signage around the ship, such as the venue way-finding signage flanking the deck 12 directory listing. There is now an actual venue sign for Triton Lounge instead of a printed panel above the doorway.

Thanks for taking the time to follow along on our Halloween on the High Seas adventure.

Interesting in joining us on a future DCL Blog Group Cruise? We have two upcoming sailings. In 2024, we are sailing the Disney Wonder to Alaska, and in 2025 we will return to the Disney Magic for a magic sailing from Cay to Cay visiting both Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay.

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