DCL – Mkingdon's Blog

The Coats, Boats and Little Scrotes Tour 2023 – Day Eleven Thursday 19th January

09/04/2023 by mkingdon, posted in The Coats, Boats and Little Scrotes Tour 2023

Thursday 19th January

Today was our day at sea, which ironically means there will not be much for you to see and read about. We had a slower start to the day than yesterday with nowhere to be anytime soon and we did not surface until after 9am!

We went for breakfast up at Marceline. We had by now discovered that you could have a sit-down breakfast in some restaurants but our lie-in meant we had missed those by now.

By now we had also discovered tables out on the deck so we found one of those to eat at after sourcing some food from one of the food stations. A bit of queuing today but nothing too bad.

I forget how, but we learned that the boat had made an unscheduled stop during the night somewhere around Miami to let off a cast member with health issues that needed a hospital.

Breakfast was very tasty, and I shall not disclose how many plates were involved.

Trying to figure out what that coastline was defeated me. My sense of direction and geography are woeful.

We left this lovely location to go to another up on deck 14 to find some sunbeds. It didn’t take us long to work out that the first ones we chose were not right as the sun was shining on the opposite side of the ship so off we toddled to some beds around there.

Everything was idyllic for a good while until a multi-generational Brummie family arrived on deck and began shouting conversations from one end of the deck to the other. It’s not that I am anti-social, I just don’t like people much, especially those who think anyone else needs to hear their conversations.

Throughout the day we ordered drinks, including a bucket of water bottles as the temperature was a scorcher today. There were a few coolings off in the shower/pool when the sweat hit places long unseen.

Mid-afternoon I went down to the Inside Out themed ice cream parlour. I got three tubs, each with three scoops in for just $19. I asked the CM to repeat that at the till as I wasn’t sure if he’d said $90. I would have been shocked at the latter but not as much as I was at getting all that, on a Disney cruise for $19. The bargain of the cruise and the contents were awesome too. Clearly, I had now been conditioned to Disney cruise prices from all the rounds of drinks we had bought.

Emily had retreated to the shade, beaten by the temperatures today.

Me – Rocky Road

Emily – Chocolate

Louise – Cookies & Cream

We made it until 4.30pm before letting the sun win, as it was showing no signs of going anywhere. We made our way back to the cabin for showers and some packing.

The characters were out and about.

The way checkout works, and that was what we’d be doing in the morning, you have to leave your cases outside your cabin the night before. Not ideal, but understandable. It would be chaos if every guest were dragging their luggage around with them.

At least we got all that packing out of the way now and we left the cabin at 5.45 headed for the Aladdin show in the theatre. We ordered some drinks and took a seat right at the back of the circle upstairs.

The show itself was great and we really enjoyed it, or would have….

but we left the theatre with mild PTSD after the utter chaos and lack of manners displayed by almost every guest around us. Unsupervised kids next to Louise were throwing food and drinks on the floor and constantly standing up, shouting and walking around. A family a few rows in front of us always had at least one of their number standing up, leaving or coming back to their seats. It sounds very first-world problems and it’s difficult to write down just how rubbish the experience was, but they need more CMs in the theatre to watch out for this stuff. Clearly, some people just don’t know how to behave in a theatre.

With the show over, we retreated to The Bayou for a calming beverage. We took the only table available right in front of the currently empty stage but this was a huge stroke of luck. Not long after this, the band turned up.

They were called The Wishes and their first set was full of interesting versions of Disney tunes. As many of you know, I am a rock God who frequently performs on stage, so I am well qualified to pass comment on a bunch of musicians who have forgotten more than I will ever know.

We really enjoyed their first set and were sad to see it end and dinner time approach. We left at 8.15 and went to the Roy Disney restaurant for our dinner.

This place is lovely.

We had…

Me – Tomato Soup, Filet Mignon and Cheesecake

Emily – Pasta, Tacos and a Sundae

Louise – Pasta, Filet Mignon and Bavarian Cream thing (not the official title)

Our table sharers for the cruise had to leave early in the morning to catch their flight home so would not be joining us for breakfast so this was to be our last meal together. We said our goodbyes to Stephanie, Bill and William…

and this was our excellent server Edi….

With dinner over, we returned to The Bayou and really enjoyed two more sets from the band. Honestly this for us was a real highlight of the cruise and we just wish we’d discovered them earlier.

We were dirty stop outs until after midnight.

We were at the stage of looking forward to seeing what the towel creature was on the return to our cabin each evening and the final effort did not disappoint.

Till the next time…….

The Coats, Boats and Little Scrotes Tour 2023 – Day Ten Wednesday 18th January

02/04/2023 by mkingdon, posted in The Coats, Boats and Little Scrotes Tour 2023

Wednesday 18th January

We were awake at 7am, excited to be at Castaway Cay today. Look, there’s a bit of it….

Wanting to avoid the scrum situation at Marceline Market and still not aware that some places did a more civilised sit-down breakfast, we had ordered room service last night. It was Continental in nature and absolutely fine. We wanted to be up, ready and poised to get off the boat as soon as possible so it worked well.

The view promised much for the day ahead.

We dressed and made our way to what we hoped was the right place to disembark and struck very lucky. As we stumbled out of the lift, still not sure where to go we arrived with perfect timing at the start of what looked like a long line back up the stairs that most folks had used to get there. After a five-minute wait we were allowed to disembark and we started our long walk to the beach.

We had decided to head for the adults-only beach. Look, I love kids…..that are related to me.

Being one of the first off the ship, my inner theme park commando wanted to set a blistering pace to stay ahead of the hordes of folks behind us, but due to Louise’s inability to sprint for a few miles at a time, we had to let some folks past us. It hurt.

We walked for ten minutes or so and arrived at the main area of the island. We asked a cast member where the adult beach was (we knew it was still a good distance away) and opted to take the tram the rest of the way. This took us there down the airstrip and to the adult beach.

We found a spot.

As we readied ourselves for a day of not much, I quickly discovered that Louise (you had one job) Williams had failed to put the sun cream into Ryan. I wandered off hoping to find a shop where some could be acquired. There was such a place but it meant getting back on the bloody tram and going back to the main area of the island. I was the only person travelling that way at this time of day, so I undertook a weird lonely tram ride. As I arrived back at the shops, I rolled from a still-moving tram, raced to the shop and hoped to get the thing bought and get back on the same tram before it set off again.

I was thwarted by some folks buying bloody souvenirs and deploying about 17 different discounts which meant the CM had to press more buttons than Rick Wakeman (ask your Dad) to process the sale. I watched the tram set off for where I wanted to go just as I took my receipt for the one item I had purchased.

I trudged back to the tram stop and settled in for my day ruining ten minute wait for the tram to return.

Oblivious to my struggles, as I returned Louise had done the ridiculous thing of starting a conversation with the family next to us. Appalled, Emily and I did our best to not get involved.

This family, from deep in some Deliverance-style Southern backwater, were telling Louise about how they went out to shoot things regularly and how we should try eating frogs and Gator tails. Hey, I eat Doughnut Burgers so who am I to judge?

We soaked up just being here all morning.

Until we were hungry enough to go and eat lunch. That was about one minute past 12.

It was a BBQ affair at the place just off the beach (no need to tram anywhere thankfully).

I finished with a cookie worthy of its own photo.

After lunch, on the way back to our beds we stopped at the bar for a drink.

I forget what the ladies had but I panic ordered an Aperol Spritz, which to my unrefined palette tasted like medicine.

Emily made a more successful order.

As we arrived back at our beds our Louisiana family next door had moved on, probably to shoot something, so we just lapped up the sun a little more.

Thinking I couldn’t come all this way and not venture into the water, I waded out a long way into the sea. I couldn’t walk far enough to get out of my depth. The water is crystal clear, and of course in January, chilly. I spotted a few Starfish, thankfully none of them chocolate. I returned to my sunbed and waited for the twins to descend out of my body cavity.

As the afternoon went on, the beach emptied, and that delightful late afternoon “golden hour” was just lovely and peaceful.

Louise and Emily ventured into the water for a little paddle before soaking up the last few minutes of sun. We had to be back on board by 4.45 so got the tram around 4.30.

It is a long old trek all the way back to the ship, with a change of tram halfway.

There was a security check as we re-boarded which didn’t take as long as waiting for the family in front to dig out their cabin keys for the crew to scan from the very bottom of the huge beach bag they had with them. As Scar says, be prepared!!

We went straight up to deck 11 and Marceline Market for a soft drink, with a nice view.

Back at the room we all showered and left again at 7.15 after a few photos of the view.

We stopped at the Star Wars bar (probably not its real name) for a drink.

The drinks menu was on some George Lucas style iPad.

The drinks were weird. My beer was a fruity one.

Louise’s wine was pretty standard other than the man sat in it.

The names and contents of Emily and Louise’s cocktails were really something I should have written the names of in my notes!

It was an unusual and pretty cool experience, but a bit loud, so like some noise-weary pensioners we moved next door to Nightingales.

We ordered our “usuals” and listened to some more piano playing.

With those finished, we were back in Arendelle tonight for dinner so we headed over there.

I ordered –

Crab Cakes, Jerk Chicken and Cheesecake.

Here is the Chicken.

Louise had –

Samosa, Jerk Chicken and Banana Bread Pudding…

Emily –

Samosa, Stir Fry and Banana Bread Pudding

All of the food was good, but we felt the desserts were a little tasteless. We of course still finished them all.

Tonight was Pirate’s night, for which we had not dressed up, but it was nice to see many had, including all the servers. After dinner, we went to Deck 14 to watch the Pirate Band perform at 10.15 and then catch the fireworks.