Home from a Disney Cruise

We are back! If you did not notice that we were gone, I will try not to hold that against you. But try to pay better attention next time, okay?

We just arrived home from a Disney Cruise. Yes, we have been on a few Disney Cruises before, but this one was different. How so? Well funny you should ask, because I just happen to have a list. Here you go:

1. People - This time, we went with my parents and my sister’s family, none of whom had ever been on a Disney Cruise before. In fact, except for my sister, none of them had been on a cruise of any kind before. And yes, Jaylin was there, too, even though he is not in the above photo. More about that in a few paragraphs. It was interesting going with people who had not been before to see what they enjoyed about it. And also our good friends the Jamersons just happened to be on the same cruise. So we had lots of people to spend time with at different times during the day, which was lots of fun.
2. Places - Our previous Disney Cruises had all had the same itinerary: Nassau, Castaway Cay, day at sea. But this time, the day at sea was replaced with a second Castaway Cay day. It was great overall, because it gave us a little more time to dodge the rain at Castaway Cay. In some little ways I did miss having the extra time on the ship - believe it or not, we never did take a ride on the AquaDuck on this cruise. But it all worked out well. Also, we managed to find some new and different places to visit along the way, too.
3. Weather - Before our cruise, a great big low pressure system decided to park itself over Florida and the surrounding area, refusing to move out of the way. So there was lots of rain, and not all that much sun. And some more rain. Did I mention the rain? It wasn’t all bad, though, because we knew to make the most of the non-rainy times, and we did just that. It was also interesting to see how the Disney folks made accommodations for the rain, such as moving the Sail Away party from the pool deck to the main lobby. A little different, but that’s okay.

But there were also a lot of things that were the same from before, too, which is good if you have had good experiences in the past as we have. As always, the level of service on the cruise was outstanding. Our meal servers at night were about the best we have ever had, and Laura made it a point to tell them so. The food was great, even though I am not accustomed to all of that fancy eating. The ship of course was as great as it always is, and Castaway Cay is still one of my favorite places to be, even if it is raining. Those are the kind of things that keep us coming back for more, I suppose.

Now, about the photo up above. I don’t usually share my favorite photo from a trip right when we get back, but this time I am doing just that. And as you can see, there really is nothing fancy about this photo. No long exposure, no fun camera tricks, no tripod, no big pose. Just me holding the camera at arm’s length to get a photo of Laura and me at the beach. At the end of that day, I transferred this photo from my camera to my phone and was showing it to some of the others, and everyone commented on how much they liked it. That made it even more of a favorite of mine than it already was.

A few weeks before we went, I was looking around at the satellite photos of Nassau to remind me of my bearings when we got there. We don’t usually do any kind of excursions there; we just walk around on our own to see what we can see. But while I was looking, I saw that there was a beach that was just past where we had walked to before. So we thought we might give it a try if the conditions looked good.

The day at Nassau came, and the afternoon looked to be mostly free from rain. Jaylin decided that he would rather stay on the ship and do some things with his cousins and grandparents, so we set out on our own. It took us about 30 minutes to walk to Junkanoo Beach, mainly because we kept getting behind slow walkers on the streets, but it wasn’t too bad. And then we enjoyed a great time at a beach that we had never visited before. It was fun to set out and do something different, somewhat unplanned, and fun. This photo was just after we arrived and right before we got in the water. The clouds were present, but they never did bring any rain. So we enjoyed our time there for as long as we could stay before heading back to catch up with the rest of our folks. Fun times!

This photo was about as unplanned as the beach visit was, and that is what I like about it. It reminds me of just a couple of us kids out there having some fun at the beach, which sums us up pretty well.

Anyway, if you have been around here before, you know that I usually post lots of photos and write lots of words about our cruise trips (go here and here for some examples). All of that will be coming in the future, so stay tuned for lots more!

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. - Psalm 24:1-2

About the photo:

See above for most of what you would want to know about this photo. Just a shot with a fisheye lens and my God-given selfie stick (that is, my arm) to get lots of the scenery around us in the frame. Processed in Photoshop using the Google Nik filters. The usual stuff.

Here is an after-and-before version of the photo to show the differences that the processing made. I usually show before-and-after, but I like this order here because it makes Laura look good (not that she needs any help with that) and me look ordinary (can’t help what I am).

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips. Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Lens: Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens Date: June 9, 2017 Location: Junkanoo Beach, Nassau, Bahamas