Trip log, day two. Nassau, Bahamas.
3-Night Halloween on the High Seas Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida
October 14, 2023
Guests Ashore: 9:30 am Guests Onboard: 5:15 pm
Personal Navigator – Day 2
Took advantage of an early Saturday morning to go on a photowalk around the quiet ship with the focus on the halloween decor in the Grand Hall. My plan was to start in the Grand Hall (as well as the atrium on the other ships) as this can be the most challenging location to photograph without other guests in the shot. Since this was my first Halloween on the High Seas cruise aboard the Disney Wish, I wanted to capture photos of “Boo,” the Pumpkin Tree.
PUMPKIN TREE
Frankly, Pumpkin Tree photos was my primary objective this morning. After that, it was just a casual photowalk that turned into taking pictures of the cats of the Disney Wish. All that was missing were actual cats. Below are just a few of the cat pictures I captured during my morning stroll.
It was still early-ish, and Nassau was still not visible on the horizon so I enjoyed the sunrise with a cup of coffee.
I had a timelapse setup for our arrival to share as a video, but the GoPro I was using overheated, and cut out just as the ship was entering the port near the lighthouse. What was salvaged I added to the start of a video included later in this trip log entry.
The renovated Nassau Cruise Port looks great from the ship, a welcoming change from the multi-year construction sight and prior to that, storm damaged buildings.
On our way to The Rose to meet folks for Palo brunch, we stopped at a halloween photo op on the upper deck near the forward funnel.
The bartenders were still getting The Rose setup for service so we did not order any pre-brunch beverages. Each time I walk through Palo Steakhouse, I think I spotted something that wasn’t there before, like this clock and the unpictured cutlery handles on the wine coolers near the entrance.
Today’s first group cruise event was a group brunch at Palo Steakhouse. The following menu has been added along with pictures for almost all menu items here.
One of the benefits of brunch with a large group is that you can get a taste of the old brunch were you can sample a bunch of stuff when ordering a variety of items for the group to share. They bring it and it is served family-style.
We had a selection of the flatbreads (which is fancy for pizza), including the off menu grape and gorgonzola!
The egg frittata and omelet arrived and looked amazing. I was able to sample the frittata, and it was downright delicious.
11 out of 10 times, I will order the Parmesan-Crusted Chicken. However, today I ordered something that I normally would never order, anywhere – EGGPLANT. I won’t say where I last tried an eggplant entrée, but it was so bad I’ve had an aversion to anything eggplant since. The Rollatini Melanzane changed my mind on eggplant and clearly my aversion was due to the preparation, not eggplant itself. The eggplant entree at PALO Steakhouse was wonderful and I will defiantly order again during future brunch visits.
Did anyone leave room for dessert? Not really, but ok, we’ll go out for a nice walk later. The plating of the desserts does not go unnoticed, each dessert delivered to our table looked great on the plate.
One of the most interesting art installations on the Disney Wish is hidden in the private room in the back of Palo Steakhouse. My pictures do not do this justice as the reflections cloud the intricate details of the individual watch gears and clockwork parts. This is one of those creations that I wish was in a more public space to see and appreciate more often.
During brunch, Isabelle went around the Wish passing out goodie bags to the staterooms in our group and hid some rubber ducks.
She also made some nautical ornaments in VIBE during a craft corner activity.
Following brunch, I got momentary distracted by college football.
This is our first time back to Nassau since the official opening of the new $300 million dollar renovation of Nassau Cruise Port. As I mentioned earlier, it looks great from the ship, but more importantly, I wanted to see the new port up close.
Near the cruise ships we spotted a Guest Services area which was later staffed with a representative from the port and a police officer.
I picked up what I assumed was a Nassau Cruise Port shopping guide and map, but it was a general Nassau area map. Still quite helpful for those exploring the area outside of the port fences. The QR code on the printed map leads to an interactive map at https://nassau.anchormate.io/home.
The pier area was clean and the walkway from the ship provided adequate space for a busy day and was mostly shaded! As we approached land, we were greeted by a giant video screen with a neat virtual 3D aquarium intermixed with advertisements for area businesses and attractions.
One of the best things about the immediate port area is the abundance of restroom facilities, including a location with water and a bottle filling station right at the end of the pier near the security checkpoint!
Today, we were the only ship in port when we went ashore resulting in a lovely walk around an empty port.
However, due to a the newness of the renovation, and the single ship in port not a lot of the venues within the port were operation, or open on a glorious Saturday afternoon.
At the far end of the cruise port is an amphitheater, which I am sure is a fun venue for locals to enjoy some entertainment. Not knowing the future use plans for this area, but it seems like a great spot to go out and toss the ball around (potentially – not seeing untying preventing this on the posted rules), or let the kids play in an open area.
In my humble opinion, the revised cruise port gates are placed in the perfect spots with one directly across the street from Pirate Republic Brewing. In our numerous visits during port days, the atmosphere has always been family friendly. The beer and cocktails are great as well as the food (we did not eat here today, but have in the past – Emily loves their conch fritters). They offer a selection of canned beers to go which you can carry back onboard within your personal carry on allotment of 6 cans.
One of the other primary spots at the Nassau Cruise Port is The Bahamas Museum of Junkanoo showcasing the parade, costumes, choreographed dancing, and music of the annual event. We did not have the time to explore on this trip as the museum recommends allowing about 45 minutes to tour. The museum recommends purchasing admission tickets ahead of time as this allows you to schedule a time slot to enter, but keep in mind tickets are non-refundable, but at this time can be moved to a different date. Admission is currently $10 per adult (children are $7) with guests 3 and under free.
As the lone cruise ship in port, we were graced with numerous vantage points to take photos of the Disney Wish.
One common event from our group cruises has been a ship specific scavenger hunt. We pass them out on embarkation day and provide everyone about 24 hours to explore the ship to mark down the location of each item. Our Disney Wish Photo Scavenger Hunt is available to print, and take with you on your next Disney Wish sailing; just be careful, as the solution key is also included in the linked article.
We also have photo scavenger hunts available for the Disney Magic and Disney Dream with another in the works for the Disney Wonder for our next group cruise.
Our next group activity was Halloween Music trivia which included a mix of tunes and clues. Below is a video with the clues for each song – let me know how you did at home.
| # | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Name the Character/Actress singing this melody from the 1992 film. | Sarah Victoria Sanderson (Sarah Jessica Parker) – Hocus Pocus |
| 2 | Name the Movie | Ghostbusters |
| 3 | Name the Movie | Trick ‘r Treat |
| 4 | Name the Movie | Beetlejuice |
| 5 | Name the Song | Calling All The Monsters |
| 6 | Name the TV Show | Scooby-Doo |
| 7 | Name the 1971 Movie | The Exorcist |
| 8 | Name the Movie Franchise | Nightmare on Elm Street |
| 9 | Name the Song | Thriller – Michael Jackson |
| 10 | Name the TV Series | Stranger Things |
| 11 | Which Disney Park Featured this song? | Disneyland Paris – “It’s Halloween-lo-ween” |
| 12 | Name of the Classic TV Special from 1966 | It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown |
| 13 | Name the Movie Franchise | Friday the 13th |
| 14 | Name the fictitious halloween mask novelty company featured in Halloween III: Season of the Witch | Silver Shamrock |
| 15 | Name the TV Series | The Addams Family |
| 16 | Name the Disney Channel Original Movie which features this song | Descendants |
| 17 | Name the song inspired by the a 1929 Silly Symphony animated short which was later included on Disney’s Sing-Along Songs: Happy Haunting: Party at Disneyland! | Spooky, Scary Skeletons – Andrew Gold |
| 18 | Name the TV Series | The Twilight Zone |
| 19 | Name the title character | The Phantom of the Opera (Erik) |
| 20 | Name the song | Monster Mash – Bobby “Boris” Pickett |
| 21 | Name the film | Nightmare Before Christmas “This is Halloween” |
| 22 | Name the 1988 film | Killer Klowns from Outer Space |
| 23 | Name the song featuring the guest vocals of brothers Jermaine and Michael Jackson | Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell |
| 24 | Name the song featured in a 2015 Disney Channel Original Movie | Rotten to the Core – Descendants |
| 25 | Name the Disney Villain | Oogie Boogie |
| 26 | Name the film franchise | HALLOWEEN |
While we were all gathered together, we also hosted our own craft corner, decorating small pumpkins.
Isabelle has been eager to go to Wheezy’s Freezies. While wearing her Wheezy’s Freezies t-shirt, today was the day! While there, we spotted the same Sorbos edible straws (← affiliate link) that we discovered during a spring break cruise on the Mardi Gras as well as a new to me fun etch-a-sketch Wheezy’s Freezies menu display. She chose the Cowboy Shake and it was served in a Nightmare Before Christmas HotHS tumbler.
Hello old friend! The DCL Beer mug with a refreshing Terrapin Luau Krunkles. Fun story, I did not have a plastic version of this mug in my collection, I’ve always left with the glass mug. As of today, I now have a plastic DCL Beer mug in my collection!
If you are beer drinker, the beer mug is a great way to get more beer for your buck, and leave with a keepsake souvenir for only $15.25 (current price when purchased ahead of time from Disney Cruise Line’s Onboard Gifts & Amenities page). The beer mug allows you to get a 21 oz. refill of beer for the price of a 16 oz based on the draft beer available on your sailing which can vary by venue.
At anytime, you can turn the mug into a bartender for a beer mug token, which allows you to turn in the mug and use elsewhere for a new mug. Just make sure to exchange it before you leave so you have a clean beer mug to take home.
Our dinner rotation took us to 1923 tonight which ended up being a light dinner following our brunch earlier in the day.
Our evening entertainment lineup started with 90s music trivia in Triton Lounge which needs to have 50% more capacity at least to handle the passenger demand – or at least that was the case this evening. The Dream class ships have the best venues for popular trivia with The Tube/Evolution and D-Lounge. Azure and Fathoms on the Wonder and Magic are often adequate, but the Wish venues feel cramped including at times, Luna.
Following 90s trivia (we did very well, but two groups did better!), we walked across the hall to Keg & Compass for college football and a general trivia session.
As the defecto sports bar on the Disney Wish, Keg & Compass offers a number of TVs and tonight actually had multiple college football games up until the start of trivial where the TVs are used for showing the trivia questions.
Thankfully, the Disney Wish offers stateroom tv on demand on your own device! Open up the DCL Navigator app and you will find a link to opens up in your browser with a selection of TV and on demand offerings to stream on your personal device while connected to the DCL-GUEST wireless network. Just like the other aspect of the DCL Navigator app, Stateroom TV DOES NOT REQUIRE A PAID INTERNET PACKAGE! When looking for live sports, check the special event channel as those for instance are used on Sundays for NFL football games.
It was quiet in Mickey’s Mainsail when I walked by allowing me an opportunity to look at some of the Halloween merchandise available. I came close to picking up this cool Halloween on the High Seas Pumpkin Tree figure.
Oh, I almost forgot, tonight was Pirate Night.
Pirate’s Rockin’ Parlay Party remains my favorite pirate themed event across the fleet.
It’s been 84 years (or more like almost 2 days) and I’ve yet to grab a slice of pizza. Following the pirate party, I grabbed a night cap and headed to bed.
This was also my first cruise since they updated the app to show the ship time conveniently placed under the clock on my iPhone. While not important on all sailings, this will be helpful on cruises elsewhere when your personal device clock does not updated to local time, or in some case when the ship time is different from local time on land (we’ve actually had this happened I believe in Europe once, and its very important when going ashore).
Please note that all onboard activities and schedules follow ship time. To modify the time on your device, access your settings.
We returned to our room with a lovely towel animal on our bed with a flickering LED candle. Tomorrow, Castaway Cay.
Complete Trip Log Index
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.
Loving your report! May I ask, how many people were you able to have in the Palo private room?
The private room is typically maxed out at 10. At times they will try to accommodate additional guests, but the company line is a maximum of 10 guests.
The current private room request form for lists the following:
Palo Private Room may be reserved for larger parties of…