Today was the biggest surprise so far. Having never been to Croatia it’s very difficult to even imagine what the city looks like. Having been through a War as recent as 20 years ago its hard to imagine parts of the country not looking a little war torn. We were due to arrive in the city just after 11am and that meant we could enjoy the sail in as we sat and ate breakfast. For a coastal city, the entry to the port was full of hills and mountains, again, not what I expected but beautiful none the less. Venice was the last port that we had booked an excursion so today would be going it alone.having collected our things and made our way to Deck 1 Aft, Harry decided Dubrovnik wasn’t for him. This left us with a dilemma. Could we really head off the ship and leave him onboard at the kids club? After talking to the Kids counsellors and knowing we were only 20 minute bus ride away, we decided we would leave him for the few hours we planned to walk around Dubrovnik’s old town. All the club required was for us to let them know an approximate time we would be back on board and we could leave him there.
The port provided us with a free shuttle service to the old town of Dubrovnik situated about 15-20 drive from the port. The old town is contained within the walls of a fort and is paved with marble. We were there in glorious sunshine but I can imagine the fun there is to be had when it rains.
The narrow entrance to the town does cause congestion if you happen to try and enter at the same time as a number of tour groups but once inside it opens out into an almost grid style system of small streets and piazzas. The shops, most containing tourist merchandise cover a good percentage of the bundling space along with cafes and restaurants. The city walls allow you to walk along them for a small fee at at the opposite end of the city to the entrance you will encounter a harbour, aquarium and cable car up to the nearby hill. It’s certainly somewhere that you could visit for a much longer period. Although some shops and stalks did accept Euros the price was much higher than if you bought in their own currency and for one brief stop in Croatia we hadn’t bothered to exchange any money and therefore didn’t have any to spend. After an hour and a half we returned to the shuttle pick up point and head back to the ship.
Once back on board we picked up Harry, grabbed some lunch and then I headed to yet another Disney Trivia quiz. This time, there were only two teams and the questions weren’t quiet as hard as they had been the previous evening. Don’t worry, the quizzes are coming to the Disneybrit Radio Show very soon. The ship was still pretty quiet so it was up to the Goofy pool for a long swim and a new game entitled “Daddy surf board” before relaxing in the hot tub and watching Pixar shorts on Funnel Vision.
It was a quick change for dinner before the 6.30pm show “Once Upon a Song” where Disney Cast Members presented a series of songs from the Disney songbook in a medley/concert style performance. Although its simple, it is one of my favourite shows on board and has some unique and brilliant arrangements of the Disney songs you know and love. It’s not always featured on board so if you see it, don’t miss your chance. We left the Walt Disney Theatre and still had an hour until dinner at Animator’s Palette so headed over to Studio Sea to watch the game show “A Pirate’s Life For Me”. Yes, you guessed it, tonight is Pirate night of as Disney named it “Pirates in the Mediterranean – Caribbean Style”. Upon arriving for dinner our servers were in the Pirate outfits and we each had a pirate bandana to wear for the rest if the evening. As dinner finished we made our way to deck 10 to take part in the Pirate deck party (including Mickey’s zip wire antics) and the at sea firework show. As the fireworks finished a large queue formed at Topsiders for the late night buffet and having only just finished dinner there was no room for anymore. Instead bed beckoned and a lay in. It’s a sea day tomorrow