2017 Disney Cruise - Pirate Night
As the 2017 Disney Cruise trip report continues, we have enjoyed a fun day at Nassau and are getting ready for Pirate Night…
Once back on the ship, we rendezvoused with the rest of the family in our rooms, and it was time to start getting ready for the evening. But this was not to be a regular evening. Instead, this was Pirate Night, as has become the tradition for the third night of four night Disney cruises over the past several years. We are not the kind to dress up in elaborate pirate costumes, but instead we just settle for some pirate t-shirts and bandanas. Laura always brings her Pirate Mickey ears, and Jaylin brought along an eye patch. That was about it for our pirate costumes, but it was good enough for us.
There is one in every crowd. In this crowd, the one was apparently my sister. Who knew?
As we were getting ready, the ship was leaving the port, so I stayed out on the verandah to get some photos of the lighthouse as we passed by it. Pretty cool to be able to see it from several different angles as we passed by it. But then before long we were out in the open sea, sailing on to our next port.
The lighthouse in Nassau as we were leaving port. From the earlier post The Lighthouse in Nassau, Bahamas - read all about it there.
We Burnses and Bramletts were also off to dinner, which was once again in Animator’s Palate, because Pirate Night dinner is always at the same restaurant as the night before. However, the menu is different to reflect the pirate theme. And Andrea and Mariya were dressed in pirate costumes for the night. Also, the artwork on the screens in Animator’s Palate was all pirate-themed to go with the night. From Pirates of the Caribbean concept art (for both the ride and the movies) to Peter Pan and Treasure Planet, it is interesting to see some of the artwork on display. Not sure what some of the other restaurants may do for the night, because we always seem to end up in Animator’s Palate.
For my dinner choice I chose jerk chicken with rice and peas. Almost like being back in Jamaica, because it tasted very similar to what we would eat when we were there. And after we ate, Andrea and Mariya had puzzles for us to solve. We figured out a few of them, but others of them had us stumped. I always like that they take the time to do that with those of us who don’t rush out as soon as we are finished eating.
But we eventually did have to leave, because they were having to get ready for the next wave of diners. They did not throw us out or anything, but we were among the last to leave as has become our custom.
We went out to the Deck 4 Promenade to walk for a bit and enjoy the sunset. Because there were some clouds still out, it was not the most perfect sunset, but it was still nice to see how the sun lit the clouds as it was going down. We relaxed for a bit while sitting in the deck chairs, taking in the view of the clouds and the water passing by. After our day of walking, it was nice to sit for a little while and enjoy the view. I always say that cruises have as much or as little as you want to do, and sometimes it is good to do some of each as we were doing. However, you can rest at home, so we never spend that much time doing it on a cruise like this.
Yes, I have several photos that are similar to this, because that is how we like to spend our time on these cruises.
We made our way up to the pool deck to get a chair for the movie. In keeping with the Pirate Night theme, the FunnelVision screen was showing one of Laura’s favorite movies, Muppet Treasure Island, so we found a place to watch it. Actually, it was not difficult, because there were not that many people up there. I don’t know if there are not that many Muppet fans any more, or if people don’t want to watch a 20 year old movie, or if everyone was in line to have their pictures taken with Mickey Mouse down in the lobby, or if they were all watching the magic show in the theater, but there were not many of us up there besides Laura, Jaylin, Andrew, and me. But that’s okay. Because of the general noise of the ship and the fact that they did not have the movie volume turned up all that loud, it was a little hard to hear, but at least they had the subtitles on the screen, too.
The Disney Dream’s pool deck on Pirate Night. From the earlier post Sailing in the Evening on the Disney Dream - read all about it there.
Toward the end of the movie, I made a quick trip down to our room. I knew I wasn’t missing all that much since we have seen the movie many, many times, and I needed to get the tripod for my camera for the next events of the evening. When I came back to where the rest of the movie group was, I saw that the crowd was starting to grow in size just a bit, which was fine. The magic show must have ended, and the second dinner seating was starting to wind down, which meant that more people were wandering up for the Pirate Night festivities.
Pirate Night includes a dance party and a buffet, both of which apparently last well into the evening, although we are never up long enough to see the end of it all. Our favorite part of Pirate Night is the fireworks, and I wanted to be sure to get a good spot to get some fireworks photos, which was the reason that I had gone down to the room to get my tripod. After all, long exposures of fireworks can be pretty cool.
Because I was more interested in the fireworks than in the stage show with Captain Jack Sparrow and the other pirates that leads into the fireworks, I chose a spot on the upper level above the pool deck and main stage that was halfway in between the two funnels. We had an okay view of the stage, but we had a good view of where the fireworks would be. And we got there early enough that there should not be anyone trying to push in front of us. A tripod helps with that, too.
Other members of our group joined us as it got closer to starting time for the show, with the Jamersons finally arriving after their dinner. I was a little curious as to whether they might be able to find us, but I guess we described our location pretty well. While we were waiting, I took a few test shots to make sure everything was set right, except of course that I would have to adjust a few things slightly when the fireworks started.
At the appropriate time, the show started, and Captain Jack and the others did their thing of running around on the stage and up and down the side stairs. It was the same show we had seen before, and it was okay, as it was before. But then at the end Captain Jack used the magical gauntlet to light the fireworks, and that was when things got good.
Taking fireworks photos is a little tricky in several ways, but one way is that you almost get too focused on the camera and not focused enough on just enjoying the fireworks themselves. I tried to do the best I could at both, and I think it all went well. The photos looked good to me, and the fireworks looked really good in person. I was glad that the rain had ended and that conditions were right so that we got to see them. Fireworks at sea are always cool.
Fireworks at sea! From the earlier post Fireworks on a Disney Cruise - read more about it there.
Even though we were not going to stay for the dance party and the buffet, the night was not over yet. The three of us Burnses and the Jamersons had decided to see the late night showing of the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, since none of us had seen it yet. How fitting to see a pirate movie on Pirate Night of a Disney Cruise?
Pirates! Or just the Jamersons dressed up like pirates.
We made our way down to the movie theater, not knowing for sure how many others might have the same idea as us. As it turns out, there were several there, but there were also still several empty seats. I guess the fact that the movie started at 11:00 and lasted over two hours was enough to turn some people away. But as I often say, we can sleep at home, and this way we were saving over $20 that we would have paid to go to the theater to see the movie back home, too.
The movie was good, although probably not the best of the franchise. And I really did not have as much trouble staying awake as I thought I might. But once it was over, we all made a quick beeline for our rooms, and it did not take us long at all to fall asleep, seeing as how it was almost 1:30 AM. A late night, but worth it for a little bit of pirate fun.
We were greeted by some loving swans when we got back to our room.
See the beginning of our final day as the 2017 Disney Cruise trip report continues!
