Originally Posted By goodgirl Day Five of Nine – Tuesday – Indiana Jones and the Tortola Expedition We woke up to land! Tortola was a new port for the Disney Cruise Line and this was the inaugural stop. By the way, moving into areas of land masses helped to reduce the rough seas and ultimately the swaying of the ship. We dined at Parrot Cay and then headed ashore. We wanted to go to a beach. We saw our Cruise Director, Christian, on the dock so I asked him where we might go. He suggested a place called Smugglers Cove. We found an open air taxi type bus. The driver told us it would be $10 per person each way and that Smugglers Cove was far away and it was a very windy and curvy road to get there. He suggested another place called Cane Garden Bay. The cost was only $6 each. So we climbed aboard the taxi and began our adventure. If you’ve ever ridden the Indiana Jones attraction at Disneyland or Walt Disney World then you know exactly what we went through! We basically were driving up over the hill to the other side of the Island. Except that it was a very, very windy curvy road. And the road is only about six feet wide. And they drive on the opposite side of the road. And they drive fast. Very fast. And the open air taxi has no shocks. And when a curve is coming up in the road the driver has to slam on the horn to alert anyone coming around the corner on the other side. At any moment I expected that giant ball to come rolling toward us! So we arrive at Cane Garden Bay. Our driver introduces us to a woman who we pay $5 each for lounge chairs, umbrellas and towels on the beach. There’s an open air bar called The Big Banana, so we order Pina Coladas too. It turned out to be a little bit of heaven. The sand and water were gorgeous. Nice warm refreshing water. Caleb had fun playing in the sand and water. We had hot dogs for lunch and then it was time to head back to the ship. Another scary (but fun) ride back to the ship. Our driver stopped a couple times to let us take photographs. The others were going to head to the ship and I was going to go shopping but it started to rain and I didn’t want to wander around getting wet so I joined them. Tonight was the Pirates IN the Caribbean Party! We dined at Lumiere’s. Our servers were all dressed as pirates. We each received a keepsake menu and bandana. For dinner I enjoyed: Black Beard’s Jumbo Crab Cakes, Chilled-to-the-Bone Honeydew Melon and Mango Soup, The Black Pearl’s Oven-Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Sour Cream Chive Smashed Potatoes and Sugar-baked Carrots with a deep red Wine Glaze. And for dessert I indulged in The Calypso Ice Cream Sundae which was comprised of Rum and Raisin Ice Cream, Caribbean Cake and a Rum Caramel Sauce. Partway through dinner all the wait staff gathered and with music in the background marched through the restaurant. Guests were encouraged to join them so Kay, Diana and Caleb joined in the fun. After dinner we went up to our stateroom to find another towel animal on the bed. We stowed our Pirates souvenirs and headed to the Walt Disney Theater. They had a special showing of the new Disney movie “Earth.” It was phenomenal photography, especially the time lapse photography. The overall theme was baby-animals-circle-of-life-global-warming. I found some of the scenes worrisome and wondered what the children in the audience thought. After the movie we headed up to Deck 9 for the Pirates IN the Caribbean Party. Lots of singing and dancing and all the characters were dressed as pirates. It climaxed with a really cool fireworks show over the ocean. They also set up a buffet but we were all full from dinner so didn’t get any food. I need to interject here that we didn’t really stay up late at night. I think we were all in bed before midnight most nights. And most nights while at sea we left our drapes open and cracked the door a little. The air was warm and the sound of the ocean was pleasant. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out. I haven’t slept this well in years. We would awaken in the morning around 7:00 am to Caleb chattering about something. Very nice.
Originally Posted By SuzieQ I think the kids in our family liked the Pirate IN the Caribbean night the most of all. Isn't it fun? We had no room for the on-deck buffet either. I still have our bandanas
Originally Posted By Kala OMG the drive sounded just crazy! I would have needed a double dose of motion sickness meds!! The Big Banana! LOL love it! I still haven't seen Earth yet maybe I'll do that on Thurs. hmmmmm I love pirate nite, especially the fireworks. We dress up 'cause no one knows us and we are nerds.
