UPDATED 01/20/11 -January 2, 2010- First Timers Cruise on the Magic!- Tons of pics!

[mmackeymouse]

This is a few months coming, but it took me a while to wind down from the trip and get all our photos organized and whatnot. The final verdict: we had a blast! This was our first cruise, and while I expected to have a decent time, it far exceeded any expectations we had going in.

There may be some parts of this trip report that seem really mundane or even boring. I really want to invite you into our trip. For many who have sailed DCL or any line, some of this stuff may seem trivial. But, prior to our trip, I read tons of trip reports, and I cannot tell you how much I valued all the little details.

Let’s meet the fam, shall we? First up, we have Dad, James/Jim/Mick.
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Then, there is Mom, Peggy.
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Then, there is me, Melissa.
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Finally, we have my younger sister, Jessie.
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Being from Southern Indiana, we fly out of Indianapolis. We have family up there, and they were actually down at the World over Christmas week, so we hadn’t gotten a chance to celebrate Christmas with them. So, New Years Eve, Mom and Jess drove Luke, our labradoodle to the gal that was boarding him. I didn’t go, and it was probably a good thing. I would have been entirely too emotional. Andrea, the boarder has a great set up, and I knew Luke would get tons of playtime and attention. Still, the whole, “Are you leaving me, family? Please don’t leave me” look would have guilted me the whole trip, I am sure.

Jess gave Luke this big bone for Christmas, and the funny thing is, it is rawhide, but for the longest time, he did not want to chew on it, only carry it around.
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Once they got back from dropping Luke off, we hit the road. Our car was packed to the max! On top of all of our luggage, we had loads of Christmas presents, too! The drive up to Indy took about 2 hours, and we arrived just about lunchtime. We decided to have the rest of the family meet us for lunch at McAllister’s Deli. I had a grilled chicken baked potato, and I am pretty sure that was my last healthy meal of the trip! Ha!

On the road up to Indy
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Enjoying McAlister's
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The immediate family and I then headed to the mall. I was on the hunt for a Butler t-shirt. (I’ve been a fan long before their Cinderella run). The only t-shirt I found was a 3X. No go. Dad had to get his brand new phone, which luckily arrived the day before we left, activated, and that took forever! Anyway, as I expected the day before we flew out was just craziness!

That evening, Dad, Jess, and I, being the good people we are headed to mass for Solemnity of Mary. Of course, it was probably the fact we would be missing mass that Sunday and the Catholic guilt associated with it that got us to mass that evening, especially considering the hectic day we had just had, and even more hectic day we had ahead of us. I dropped them off at my aunt and uncle (and cousins’) house where we would be staying the night, so that I could run some last minute errands.

I went to two different Kohls stores, Walmart, Sams Club, Target, and Meijer, all looking for those dang Butler shirts, but they were sold out. Everywhere. I was able to pick up a waterproof digital camera at Meijer. But, I ended up not even using it, and it may end up on eBay very soon. I also went to CVS to pick up some last minute medicine, Earplanes, stuff like that.

We exchanged gifts, ordered in pizza, and the boys played Wii Golf all evening. Mom and I spent the rest of the evening going through luggage one last time, tossing what we did not need, and weighing our luggage. My bag was originally about 53 lbs. By getting rid of some things, re-distributing others, I had it down to a much more manageable 47. At that point, I felt like I had been packing for a week, and I had! I had packed and re-packed so many times!

Dad playing some Wii Golf
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We had an early flight ahead of us the next day, 7 am! I had every intention of going to bed somewhat early, so that I could be up fresh as a daisy the next morning. Unfortunately things did not go as planned, and it was about 11 before I got to bed. Not long after that, I fell asleep.

I'll post some more either this evening or tomorrow morning!

[mmackeymouse]

The planned rise and shine time was going to be 4 am. It is about an hour drive to the airport, and we figured on about an hour to get ready, that would get us down to the airport with about an hour to spare. That did not happen either. I actually fell asleep before I could set my alarm. I am the type of person that likes to get up a little bit extra early, so it gives me time to get ready at my own pace, check my email, check the news, check the weather, etc etc etc.

When I opened my eyes, I was wondering what time it was, but it didn’t feel like I had been asleep long enough for it to be morning yet. I popped open my laptop, and it was 4:45 am! What?!?! Apparently everyone else did not set their alarms either, so I went room to room waking my family up. Everyone shot up in shock once they realized what time it was.

Luckily, our luggage was pretty much ready for us by the door, ready to go. We all made sure to wear clothes up there and to bed that we could leave there, so we did not have to worry about doing any packing in the morning, other than hygiene things. So, despite the fact that we overslept and that I did not get ready as leisurely as I prefer, we were able to walk out the door at 5:20 am.

My early morning face (and hair)
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Jessie, happy to be up and on vacation!
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My uncle Rick was driving us to the airport and he made pretty good time. We had checked in online, so we were able to bypass that part of the process. Unfortunately, none of us were paying attention to what time it was when we got there, so we took our time getting some breakfast at the food court. Side note: this was my first trip to Indianapolis International’s new terminal, and it is fantastic! It is very organized and spacious. You never feel like you are rushed or cramped. The time of day we were there didn’t hurt, but I have been since at different times of the day, and it was still pretty pleasant.

While I am not a fan of getting up that early for a flight, it was still one of the more enjoyable airport experiences I have had. The line for security was blissfully short, pretty much non-existent. We were walking from security into our concourse, and that was when it happened. My eyes bugged out of my socket when I saw the clock on the wall: 6:35 am!

To understand why this is insane, you have to understand our family. We are the types that are always there the full 2 hours ahead, waiting patiently. We thought for a 7 am flight, that probably wasn’t necessary. I don’t think we realized how close we would be cutting it, though. Mom, Jessie, and I still had to make a pit stop before we boarded, so we headed to the ladies room. As we were in there, I heard them make a last call announcement for our flight! We were only a few gates down from our gate, so we did not have to run, but we did walk briskly. When we got down to our gate, there was not a soul around. We were amongst the last to board the plane. I think there were maybe two people after us. We chose our seats when we booked, so they were right there waiting for us. To tell you the truth, even though I am a planner and doubt I would ever cut it so close again, I actually did not mind walking right through security to our gate, then right onto the plane. I think I like that a bit better than sitting and waiting.

I wish I could say it was a pleasant flight. It was okay for a while, but once we went further south, the turbulence was pretty rough. It was quite cloudy and the clouds were thick and low. During most of our descent we could not see anything but clouds. In fact, we did not get below the clouds until we were pretty much landing.

We are total believers in Disney’s Magical Express. This was our first experience with it, but it was well worth it! It was great to be able to take our time getting from Point A to Point B, and not have to worry about fighting to get to our luggage and the rental car counter. We followed the signs for pickup service, and then we saw signs directing us to DME. Once we get down to the lower level, it seemed like a ghost town. Once we finally got down to the DME area, they were so friendly! We were the only family there! They asked where we were going and we told them. The ME bus that was sitting there was actually empty, so it was going wherever we were going!

Mom (jokingly) nervous about the ride from the gate to the terminal
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Dad and Jessie so cool, they don't even have to hold on
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I have read numerous complaints about ME being too crowded or not room; I am sure that is the case at times, but that was definitely not our experience. After we got on, two other families joined us, both headed for our destination, The BoardWalk. We waited to see if anyone else was coming, but not for a long amount of time, maybe 5 minutes. Needless to say, we had plenty of space for ourselves and our luggage. The little movie was cute, and it was a pleasant ride to BW. Dad just loved the DME! He is always the driver, so not having to worry about exits or tolls or fighting traffic…..it was definitely his cup of tea. We cannot see doing Disney any other way now!

Our ME chariot awaits
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View of DCL bus from our seats inside....as you can see, not many people on our bus.
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It was roughly 10 am when we arrived at the BoardWalk. We actually rented from a gal on the DVC part of the board. We really got a great deal; and she did a wonderful job making sure the DME and everything got set up. It is always a trust thing when you are renting on here, but it worked out great for us. We will definitely consider it in the future.

Again, we had already checked in online a few days prior. We fully anticipated the room not being ready for us, so we planned to leave our carry on bags and utilizing their new text message feature. Well, check in was easy peasy, and surprise, the room was actually ready for us!

The BoardWalk decorated for Christmas
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They had a cute little gingerbread gazebo in the lobby. The cutest part is that the little train going around- each train car represents one of the shops on the Boardwalk.

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Now, being that we were only there for one night, we were obviously not really too particular about the room. That said, we had no complaints. I had read that some BWV rooms can be quite the haul. Our room was just a few doors down from the elevators. It was kept up nicely. Jess and I slept on the pull out sofa, and we both got a good night’s rest.

Hanging out in the room
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View from our room. Luckily for my sister who is afraid of clowns, we did not get a full view of the pool. Haha!
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There was not really any unpacking or settling in to do, so we just kind of lounged around for a while. I probably could have laid there all day, but we only had one day on Disney property and we were going to make the most of it! We headed over to the Yacht and Beach Club to have lunch at Beaches and Cream.

The BoardWalk
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Dad, Jessie, and I on the way to Beaches and Cream
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Mom and Dad
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More to come later!

[MomlvsGoofy]

Hi Melissa, Great TR so far. Love your pictures.

[Kay1]

I love people who take lots of pictures. Looking forward to lots more.

:)

[mmackeymouse]

We love Beaches and Cream! It has such a cute little atmosphere. It is pretty easily accessible from Epcot, so if you have never been, I highly recommend taking the International Gateway and trying it, at least once. I got a burger and onion rings. The onion rings were fabulous! The burger is not as good as it used to be, but it is still a step above most counter service burgers. I will probably try the philly cheese steak next time, as it looked delicious! And definitely go for the onion rings. For dessert, Jess and I split the brownie ala mode. It is not as big as the humungous sundaes that B&C is notorious for, but it is plenty for two or three people. The ice cream was true vanilla bean ice cream, which was great!

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Mom enjoying a Beaches and Cream burger. All of us had burgers, except for Jessie who had some soup
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The amazing brownie ala mode
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So, about the weather. Bear in mind, when we left Indy, it was 7 degrees out. 7 degrees, who knows what the wind chill was. Some of you may know, but for those who don’t, Florida was unseasonably chilly this January. Of course, it was better than 7 degrees! But, unfortunately, we did not get to use the clown pool. We went out and saw steam coming off the water. It was also a bit rainy around lunchtime.

At least someone got to enjoy Stormalong Bay at the Yacht and Beach Club :)
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Mom and Dad went straight back to the room. Jessie and I decided to head over to the Beach Club gift shop to see if they had anything cool or any good deals. No dice. Anyway, we walked out the back of the BC, and it was pouring, absolutely pouring. We were both wearing sandals, so we were thinking are we going to make a run for it? And then, like just out of a movie, we see one of the FriendShips sitting at the dock, destined for the BW, and as we start to try to get to it, it pulls away! Nooooooooooooo! Luckily the rain let up a bit, and we were able to make it back without getting too soaked.

Per usual for Florida, the rain was short lived. After a little nap, Jessie, Mom and I headed over to Downtown Disney. Dad was going to hang out in the room, go pick up the rental car, and meet us over there. On our bus ride to DTD, we passed Saratoga Springs. It looked beautiful, but it was HUGE. I would love to stay there sometime, but I would worry that we would be in the most inconvenient spot possible, and it would be quite the walk to get anywhere.

Jessie relaxing in the room, showing off her room key
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While waiting for the bus to DTD, I took this one
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Update soon, I promise!

[mmackeymouse]

Let me tell you, you have not experienced the Marketplace until you have been on New Year’s Day. I have been before on Christmas, and it was not even comparable. It was absolutely insane. Inside World of Disney, you would have thought there was a 90% off sale going on or something. I’ve never seen it so crowded.

Cool board games tree
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We knew that our souvenir space was limited. I brought a small suitcase as my carry on and left it empty. I then used a large purse as my personal item. So, the empty suitcase was for the souvenirs, but still, I knew I had to be smart about today’s purchases. We began at the Christmas store, which is probably my absolute favorite store. If I had a million dollars, I would definitely go to town in there.

Mom and Jessie were ready to move on before I was, so we did split up for a while. My next stop was the Goofy’s Candy Company. I had never been there before, so was definitely wanting to get something there, as I had seen pictures online. I was still pretty full from lunch, and had some other things I wanted to try, so I decided to come back before I left. I didn’t. On my next trip to Disney, I will definitely make it a point to leave room for Goofy’s Candy Co.

Goofy's Candy Company
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Look at this rice krispy treat! Waaaay too much sugar on one plate
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I actually did not get to a lot of the shops. Just the Christmas Store, Design a T, and World of Disney. Of course, I was in World of Disney for quite a while. I did splurge and get a Dooney and Bourke Disney bag, which I love! I had about $200 in Disney gift cards that I had racked up, on top of some Disney rewards points, so I did not feel too guilty.

I made the walk over to DTD- Pleasure Island to Cookes of Dublin for a Doh Bar. I have mixed reviews on this place. I looked at the receipt, and from the time I ordered until the time I got my Doh Bar, it was 25 minutes! It was really busy, and everything looked wonderful! I honestly think the cashier just forgot about me. They say to be patient, as frying to order takes time, so I sat back and waited. And waited. And waited. I started to notice just about everyone that ordered after me were getting their food. About 10 minutes into my wait, I noticed what appeared to be possibly my Doh Bar set out under the hot lamp. But, I didn’t know, so I continued to wait. Finally, I said something to the cashier, and she turned, and grabbed the thing that I thought was mine. So, it had been sitting there for a little bit. I was underwhelmed by the Doh Bar. The inside was ooey gooey chocolatey delicious. But, the outside was not as crisp as I expected. It was a bit chewy. I don’t know if that is a result of not eating it right away, and that sitting out caused it to lose its crispness. I may try it again someday, as hopefully my experience was an anomaly.

They had several holiday scenes outside at Pleasure Island. This was the one representing Christianity
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Cookes of Dublin
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Doh Bar (I was wiping powdered sugar off me the rest of the day)
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From there, I met up with Mom and Jessie. They wanted to go to Ghirardelli, and I probably should have held out for some Ghirardelli. They have a new setup since the last time we were there. The ordering part is actually much quicker and smoother than in the past. However, seating is still an issue. Because it was a bit chilly, I thought about ordering a hot chocolate, but I declined. Mom got a chocolate cone of some sort. My sister got an apple caramel sundae, it was a seasonal specialty. I thought it was so funny to go to Ghirardelli and NOT get something chocolate. But, to each his own, eh?

Jessie decided to head back to the room. I am a bit disappointed that I never made it to the Gourmet Pantry store and to Basin. Those are must do's for the next trip. Now, on the boards, I saw a picture of Earl of Sandwich’s Hawaaian BBQ Chicken sandwich, and I just had to try it. Now, at this point, my poor little belly was stuffed. This sandwich was comprised of grilled chicken, swiss, ham, pineapple, and barbecue sauce. I decided to have a bite while it was still warm and fresh. It was a very, very yummy sandwich. I decided to take it back to the room, and put it in the microwave later. Unfortunately, it was just not as amazing the second time around. For my money, I really believe that Earl of Sandwich is the best deal at DTD.

Hawaaian BBQ Chicken Sandwich- it was delicious
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Here is a really great picture where you can see the layers of ooey gooey goodness
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Eventually, Dad showed up with the rental car. We got a one day rental, for about $40 for the trip over to Port Canaveral. My dad was so enamored by the DME, he wanted to know why we did not just book the Disney Cruise Line bus. Haha! We explained to him that even for the one way trip, it would be significantly more ($100 more). Mom and I always say that it is not even the money, because, honestly, it may be worth it to have the leisurely ride over there. But, for us this time, it was more a time issue. Being first timers, we wanted to make sure we had the experience, were able to get Palo ressies, enjoyed the buffet and boat before it got busy. If they ever decided to have say an early bus and a late bus, and we had the option of making sure we arrived before boarding, we would definitely consider the bus option, even at the added expense.

More to come later!

[Señor DonDuck]

Signing up. Great report, so far! Love all the food porn, BTW. :thumbsup2

[Melcatfish]

Enjoying the trip report so far, love all the photos included, I always think photos really make a trip report!

Mel
x

[WarrFamily5]

We are heading down for 7 nights on the Magic in October so keep the reporting coming!!

Thanks!!

[mmackeymouse]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. I kind of had a bit of a computer crisis and lost some data. I am working on getting everything back and in working order. Hopefully, I will have an update this weekend. I thought I would post some random photos just to keep things going. :)

They have this cute little pet store near the dock in St. Thomas. I went in to find something for Lukie, but alas did not really see anything. But, it is a great little shop.
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Healthy? No. But when something is "free," why resist the urge of chicken fingers and fries calling your name?
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Jessie and I both got pedicures a couple of days before we left at a local place. Trust me, waaaaaay cheaper than doing it on board. I chose Colts blue for my color. It was a great Caribbean color for a cruise!
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Another view of the BoardWalk
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[Señor DonDuck]

Hope you're able to recover all your data.

[Tinkerkell123]

:surfweb: subbing...

Love your report so far! Hope you get everything recovered!

[jenshell75]

I am subscribing, I am loving :love: your Travel report and photos. I am taking my hubby and kids to WDW for Christmas 2011 :santa: and we are going to book a disney cruise :boat: I have been jotting down all your tips and hints as I have been reading your report. :surfweb:

Thank you

[mmackeymouse]

We drove back to the BW. At this point, we all took some meclazine (Bonine) as we had received tips to start taking the medicine ahead of time. Dad’s choice for supper was the ESPN club. Now, remember, this is January 1st, bowl season. Everything is a learning experience. We arrived maybe about halfway through the 2nd quarter of the first game. The line in front of us was not very long, maybe 15 people, but it was literally not moving. Everyone was there to watch the game, and they were staying to the end of the game. Even the bar area was standing room only. We waited in line for 2 hours! The thing is, once the first game got done and all of those people left, it cleared out pretty good. So, we could have been waiting 2 hours in our room or doing something else, and just came back after the first game and pretty much been able to walk right in. Live and learn. Because I was not super hungry, I just got a bowl of the chili. I was not a fan. They had chunks of sirloin steak in there, and I admit, that was a very nice change of pace. I quite liked that part. But, there was maybe only a handful of the sirloin chunks, so past that, I just did not like the flavor or the spice of the chili.

Mom and Dad on the way back from DTD
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BW at night
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Jessie and Dad getting ready to order. Dad obviously distracted.
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We made it to our seats in time to catch Pre-game
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Jessie got a Philly Cheese Steak, which as you can tell, is huge
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Mom got the Home Run Hot Dog. Hard to tell by the photo, but the actual hot dog itself is HUGE and so thick! Mom and I could have split it and it would probably still have been too much.
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Here is my Boo Yah Chili. Meh. I think chili is one of those foods that is so hard to get right, because every single person has their different interpretation of what chili should be: thick, thin, spicy, mild, beans, no beans, etc etc.
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Back to the room for the evening. Dad and Jessie went to bed pretty early. Mom had brought a duffel bag full of fish extender gifts. Before we left home, we went through and made an excel spreadsheet on who receives what and how much (because there was a pretty wide range of children). I had also printed out some labels. So, for the rest of the evening, we started to divvy up and bag and label all our fish extender gifts. It took a pretty good chunk of time. I think we probably could have done it at home, but we just weren’t sure with security or if after they were all put together if they may take more space. So, it was a pretty late night.

Luckily, I run pretty decent on a small amount of sleep (as long as I can catch up with it later at some point). The goal was to be at port by around 9:45 am. So, I got up about 6:30 am, and went down to the gym to work out. They have the coolest bikes there, where it actually simulates you biking up a mountain range. So cool! After about an hour of gym time, I decided to head down to the Boardwalk Bakery to see if it was very busy. In the past, anytime I had been by there in the evening, there are always lines out the door. I figured mornings would be worse. It wasn’t; it was actually pretty dead. Bear in mind, I had on shorts and a cutoff tee from working out, but it was still really, really cold out. It had rained and was still drizzling a bit. And I could see my breath…in Florida! So wrong!

Yacht Club in the morning
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I headed back to the room to see if everyone was up and at em’. And, they were. I got dressed and got all my stuff packed up. The plan was to wear my swimsuit underneath my clothes, but I think I just threw it in my carry on bag. As it turned out, because it was so chilly and windy in PC, it ended up not being necessary anyway.

Things seemed to be under control, so Jessie and I headed back to the bakery to pick up some breakfast. The cheesecake brownie looked soooooo good. But, I really wanted a chocolate croissant. Knowing we had a buffet ahead of us for lunch, I decided to play it conservatively and just get a croissant. It was good, but it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I have made chocolate croissants at home, and those we eat warm, so the chocolate just melts in your mouth. But, it was still pretty good, and it definitely hit the pre-trip spot. We grabbed a chocolate muffin for Dad and a cinnamon roll for Mom. Jessie got a cappuccino (blech, I am not a coffee drinker) and an eclair .

The chocolate brownie that was so tempting
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My chocolate croissant
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Jessie's eclair
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4590767886_6629a0406d_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4590143545_2fbabd3f6c.jpg

The Swan from our room. Even though it was drizzly early in the morning, the sun came out, and it was a gorgeous day. Sunny, with clear, blue skies.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4590781406_4b12ebfdb3.jpg

And that's all she wrote for now. Have a great holiday!

[CruisinEars]

Subbing too. Enjoying the report so far and looking forward to more.

[Señor DonDuck]

Ahhhhh, more food pics. :goodvibes

[giftcard]

Please come back! :surfweb:

Really enjoying your review!

[jockey]

Great report so far :)

[mmackeymouse]

Hey all! Sorry it has been a while; had some more computer glitches come up! Ach! I have not abandoned this trip report, I promise! Hopefully everything is back on track!

We finished our treats, and said goodbye to our lovely home for the night. Dad went to pull the rental car up, and Jessie and Mom started to load the luggage, while I checked out. The rental car ended up not having as much trunk space as we had anticipated, so we had to put 3 or 4 of our bags in the back seat with us. It was a tight squeeze but we made it work. I had put together a CD of fun cruise songs, so we popped that in and were on our way. (If anyone would like a copy, let me know!)

Here is where it got a bit dicey. Now, before we had left home, I programmed a bunch of addresses into our GPS, Betty. (Does anyone else name their GPS?), the rental car place in Canaveral, the airport, the BW, the Port. Well, we turned on Betty, and she was all sorts of confused. It was the first time we had turned her on since arriving in Florida, and she still thought she was in Indiana. It took her forever to get her satellites, and we were already on the road, so we couldn’t wait for her. I tried to get Dad to take the bypass, but it did not make sense to him, because to get to the bypass, you go South, and he knew we needed to go North. So, we ended up going that way, which was no big deal. We knew once we got onto the BeachLine/BeeLine, whatever it is, we’d be fine. When Betty finally got her satellites figured out, she still thought we were in Indiana, in Fort Wayne, actually, which is a good 6 hrs from where we live.

We turned Betty off and reset her. Luckily, the addresses and everything remained. It is a pretty pleasant drive, we thought. I know a lot of people say it is boring. But, you have to understand, for us, we are used to two-lane highways and hilly, curvy roads. A multi-laned straight-shot was like heaven!

Not long into the drive, I came to the realization via Betty, that our expected arrival time was a little after 10. This got me stressed out. I had read numerous different things. Some people claim to get there right at 10, and they got like a #9 boarding pass. Others say they got there at 10:15 and still got a #5. Always one to “prepare for the worst,” I just kind of went to a stressful place, thinking that we had gotten up early to get here early, really for nothing. After all, it wasn’t that we wanted to get there early just so we could be on the boat first. It was all about the Palo reservations. Once I realized that whatever will be will be, and there was nothing that worrying could do about it, I was able to enjoy the drive and the music.

I remember coming over one of the hills and I saw the boat for the first time. I was so excited, and said, “I see it, I see it.” They did not believe me that I could see it from that far away, but I did. Eventually, they could see it too. The Carnival Dream was there, and it seemed humungous, just massive. Still, I was proud to be sailing on the best ship Port Canaveral has to offer. It kind of makes you want to puff out your chest and strut.

Our first photo of the Magic; this was coming around the curve on our way to the terminal. Yay!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4590777508_68e312ae60.jpg

The plan was for Mom and Dad to drop me and Jessie off. We would get everyone checked in, and they would take the car to Avis and take the shuttle back. I had programmed Avis’s location into Betty, they gave me their passports, so I really felt prepared, like we had all our bases covered. Now, as most DISers do, I have been preparing for this moment for over a year, and read countless threads on the process of checking in, the layout of the terminal. I was going to tell Dad where to go, but did not want to seem like an annoying know it all (you know who you are), so I just let him take care of it.

Despite the fact that we clearly had plenty of time, it still felt a little rushed, and I cannot really explain why. Does anyone know this feeing? Anyway, we pulled up to the curb, unloaded the luggage, and Dad tipped the porter, and they took off. Jessie and I took all the carry on luggage with us, and entered the building. There was a bit of a line, but not bad at all. My sister thought I was absolutely nuts, because I had a thick folder of paperwork that I had ready for the cruise. I had everything in there, car rental paperwork, the cruise check-in stuff obviously, menus, maps, information on the islands, you name it, I had it. Anyway, she thought I was some crazy overplanner. That was until she saw the other people in line with THEIR little portfolios and folders and binders. It’s a DIS/DCL thing! But let me tell you, later on in the trip, she was quite happy Melissa came so prepared. On a side note, the whole day I was thinking that it felt like I was forgetting something. But, I just could not quite put my finger on it. I finally figured out I left my DCL Passporter at home! What?! Luckily, I had read it so many times, I think I had it memorized. Plus, I felt comfortably informed, thanks to the DIS!

We went through security and then on up the escalators to our DCL destiny. This is one of those things that, you can look at the pictures, you can read about it till you are blue in the face, but until you get there, you really don’t know what to expect.

Life Lesson: see those boys next to the ship model? Now, you can probably tell by the picture, they do not exactly "seem" like the Disneyfied type persay. I saw them here and there around the ship and they always seemed well behaved, no problems or anything. They were probably college aged kids, and from what I could tell, they seemed to be there on their own. Just goes to show you never know what types you will run into at Disney or on a Disney ship.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4590169041_96242bf834_b.jpg

Now, obviously, the goal (for any cruiser) is that #2 boarding pass. That was obviously what I was wanting. However, considering it was about 10:15 am, I was going to be happy if it was anything less than a #5. We got to the top, and the CM was standing right there with the cards. I felt relieved about this. Some people said they had to seek out the CM with the boarding cards. Others said they got them at check-in. Just one less thing to wonder about. The terminal was actually pretty empty once we got up there. So, the CM handed me our boarding pass and it was a, drum roll please……..#3! Obviously not the coveted #2, but all things considered, I was pleased.


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http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4589316067_ece0f6a97a.jpg


Things were working out nicely. So, now all we had to do was get checked in. We would have a leisurely wait ahead of us, exploring the terminal and taking photos. That was the plan. Well, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

[nenner1]

Hi Melissa,

Your TR is great so far! Can't wait to read all about the rest of your family's adventures onboard! :goodvibes

Jen

[Tinkerkell123]

Loving your TR and can't wait to read more! :surfweb:

I think I gained 5 pounds just looking at the dessert pix from B&C!

[mmackeymouse]

I meandered over to the checkout counter, and Jessie took off to check out the terminal. As I have seen mentioned is often the case, the Castaway Club line was longer than the regular line. The line moved pretty quickly. Before I knew it, I was in the on deck position. I opened my folder, pulled out our check-in paperwork, and three- three?- passports. I had forgotten to get Jessie’s passport from her. Okay, no biggie, I called her on her cell and she did not answer. So, I figured I would let the people behind me pass in front of me until I could get a hold of her. Before that happened, I saw her coming toward the check-in. I asked her for her passport, and she tells me that she left it in her checked luggage. Omg. And there is the curve ball.

Now, I knew the rules; we all know the rules. But, when it was my turn, I approached the desk with my tail between my legs, just praying for some Disney magic. I explained the situation, and then explained that Jess had a social security card and a driver’s license, and pleeeease, could that be enough? The answer, of course, was no. She asked if Jessie had her birth certificate with her. I checked, and the answer again was no. The CM, whose name was either Lucy or Judy or something like that, was able to get Mom, Dad, and myself all checked in and gave me the KTTW cards. She directed us down to the far end of the desk to the Customer Service section, where she and another gal were going to try to help us.

While we were down there, we saw a little sign indicating that there were no upgrades available, as the ship was to capacity. Darn. We were going to see what kinds of upgrades were available, but at this point, that was the least of our worries. They asked Jessie for a description of her suitcases, which, surprise surprise, both were black. The people flow was starting to pick up, but I was not all that concerned, because, as I said, when we got there, it was pretty vacant, so I just did not think there would have been that much luggage to go through.

We waited about 10-15 minutes, each of us taking turns going to the bathroom and taking pictures (of the terminal, not the bathroom ha). Judy/Lucy came and asked me to come downstairs with her. We went down the stairs at the front of the terminal, into the “No passengers beyond this point” security part of the terminal, where there sat a black suitcase. I didn’t even look in it though, because the tag stated that it was my mom’s bag. I told the CM so, and we went back upstairs. Of course, I am thinking that this is a pretty good sign, because if they found Mom’s luggage, surely all our luggage was together, and Jessie’s won’t be far behind. Apparently, they don’t sort it by stateroom or family (perhaps they sort it by weight or size?) because it was another 10 minutes or so before they came back.

In the meantime, I called Mom to fill her in on the situation, and came to find out that they were having drama of their own at the Avis counter. They needed the Avis paperwork, which I unfortunately had in my blue folder. Dad had given me the paperwork the night before, and I guess I took for granted that he would need it again. After all, we prepaid, and they filled the tank before taking it to Avis. So, I guess they were trying to get everything sorted out on that end. I told her to let me know and I could see if someone from the DCL terminal could fax the paperwork over there. Of course, I was thinking they may not even let us on the boat, because we were a big old fat thorn in their side so far.

While I was on the phone, one of the gals came up and took Jessie down to look through the luggage. It was her smaller checked luggage, and when she came back up, she came back empty-handed. Jessie was upset; she was upset that no one told her NOT to check her passport. Um,? I told her there was enough blame to go around, as when I was gathering Mom and Dad’s passports from them, I should have said something to her, that way she could have grabbed it before we gave her luggage to the porters. So, regardless of how obvious or trivial it may seem, absolutely check and double check, and make sure everyone is on the same page prior to heading to the terminal.

With every 5 minutes that passed, more and more people were entering the terminal. I estimated that with each new family coming through the door, about 8-12 bags were being taken by the porters. It was starting to feel like finding a needle in a haystack.

They came and got her one more time, as they had found her large suitcase. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking thank goodness. I have to admit, in my mind I was a bit selfish, thinking about all my plans: Are we going to get Palo reservations? How late will we have to board? Will we get to eat at Parrot Cay for the lunch? But, all of that went away. Luckily, Mom and Dad must have gotten everything sorted out with Avis, because they were on the shuttle bus on their way to the terminal.

My heart sank into my stomach when I saw Jessie come up the escalator, her eyes were red. She did not find the passport. I looked at the clock and it is 11:15 am. I know from reading that they occasionally board early, so they could be boarding as soon as within the next 15 minutes or so. So, I go into panic (I prefer to call it “damage control” haha) mode. All of the sudden, we went from, “Will we get on the boat in time to get Palo and before the ship gets crowded?” to “Will we get on the boat at all?” On top of that, my parents still had yet to arrive. We knew they were on their way, but what if there was an accident and traffic is being re-routed? What if traffic is just insanely busy? Anyone who has been to Florida knows a 5 mile trip could be 5 minutes or could be 45 minutes. Anyway, here we were 11:15 am, no passport, no parents.

[rosiep]

:eek:

What a time to leave us hanging!!!

Great report! Please continue....

[Andrea_loves_Disney]

popcorn:: on the edge of my seat!!!!!

[LVaughn]

Hey Melissa!

We were on this cruise with you. We met you guys at one of the meet-n-greets and saw you several times afterward. I'm enjoying your report so far. I can't wait to see the rest of it.

[mmackeymouse]

Jessie had double and triple checked her carry on bag, with no luck. I did the same with my blue folder, with the same results She seemed pretty certain that she had not accidentally put it in one of our suitcases. So, that raised the question of, could the passport have been left in our room at the BoardWalk? Worse, could it have been in her carry-on bag and accidentally dropped somewhere? Things were not looking good. Prior to our trip, I had read a thread where a gal had her purse stolen the night before embarkation. I don’t remember the specifics, but her husband at home and Dreams Unlimited and lovely Shirley spent all hours of the day and night trying to get that woman on that boat. I remember that the man had faxed the lady’s birth certificate to DCL. Unfortunately, we don’t keep a spare key near our home, so we couldn’t have even been able to contact anyone to go into our house to get her birth certificate and have it faxed.

I had purchased trip insurance, and I did have their number. I also booked through DU, and I did not have their number with me. At the time, I didn’t even think of calling DU. I am not sure there was anything they could have done anyway. So here are a few tips: make copies of birth certificates, passports before you leave. You just NEVER know. Make sure you remember the phone numbers of your travel agent and insurance carrier. Also, make sure someone you trust, within close proximity of your home, has a spare key or a code to get in the house. It is just a good idea in general, but in our situation, it could have saved our trip. I’d like to think that worst case scenario, DCL would have help us get set up with a nice WDW vacation.

We had migrated from the check-in counter corner to a table by the escalators. Jessie mentioned that if things aren’t sorted out in time, that I could go ahead and board and get the ressies taken care of. I declined. It was more important to me to board as a family than to get those Palo reservations. About this time, another CM came up and asked Jessie to come back down to the security area. Anxiously, I waited at the top of the stairs, both for Jessie and for my parents.

Sure enough, not long after Jessie went downstairs, I saw my parents come through security. They were probably in line while Jessie went downstairs, but they did not see her. Mom and I decided to go downstairs to see what the progress was, and Dad stayed upstairs with all of our stuff. We got downstairs, and Mom says to the security people, “I bet this happens all the time right?” They did not nod or say yes. And, from the looks on their faces, I think the answer was no.

The double doors opened and a cart came out, holding ALL of our luggage, all eight suitcases. Poor Jessie was just in tears. She went straight to her small suitcase, the one she had checked originally, unzipped the front pocket, and dug down deep. And there it was! Cue the Hallelujah chorus! I so wish I could have taken pictures of us under the “No passengers beyond this point” sign. But, as you know or for those that don’t, no pictures in the security area. Anyway, we thanked them profusely, then skedaddled up the stairs.

I realized that we still needed to get our pictures taken for our KTTWs. So, Jessie went to check in, while Mom, Dad, and I got our pictures taken. Luckily, the line was short, and we were able to get that taken care of rather quickly. Just about the time we got done with our pictures, they started the boarding process.

They began by announcing the family of the day. I half expected it to be us, because they felt so darn sorry for us. Haha! But, alas, it wasn’t. Jessie made her way over to get her picture taken, and they started boarding group #1. Because we had just gotten done with our pictures, we were towards the front of the crowd by default.

Then, they announce group #2, and there goes Mom, following the group toward the gangway. Oops! Looking back, it was actually a bit comical. I forgot to tell them which group we were in, and I guess she thought since we got there so early, we were in the second group. So, I went to grab her, and explained that we were in group #3. Then, comes the magical moment of the day: Judy/Lucy was standing right there and said, “Go on ahead. You guys have had a rough time.” We got to board with group #2 after all! I was so stunned and thankful. Many apologies to those whom we bypassed or cut in front of.


Alright, I should have an update ready to go later today!

[Señor DonDuck]

Wow, what a roller coaster beginning! Can't wait for the next update.

[mmackeymouse]

Grrrrrrr.

Okay ya'll, having major issues right now. Flickr has a new format, and now when I try posting photos, I get the dreaded red x. Right click, show picture, and it still does not show up.

The good news is I have the next week off from work, so hopefully, if I can get the pictures working, I will be able to post a bunch of the trip report.

Anyone else having issues with Flickr? I really do not like the new layout

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

OMGosh, I'm loving your trip trip report and am subbing in! The stress of it all, I can't believe you weren't in tears along with your sister.

I saw you ate at Earl of Sandwich, this is a must for our family on every trip!

I hope you are able to get your pics up soon!

[NHPixidust]

I'm hooked on your trip report so have to subscribe. We are also first time cruisers this October and need all the tips we can get! :thumbsup2

[mmackeymouse]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20659902@N04/4647937851/

okay can anyone see anything?

[Señor DonDuck]

Nope. Just see a ? box.

[angelabielanin]

Love this report can't wait for more!!

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

I hope you can figure out your picture situation......I am anxiously awaiting more pics and report!popcorn::

[mmackeymouse]

And, I am back in the game!

So, Mom led us through the Mickey Ears and we were on our way! We took a detour, and did not get our boarding picture taken. I kind of wish we would have. The photo disk is quite pricy. And, the photo packages are somewhat less so, but still a good chunk of change. Now, honestly, I went into the cruise, thinking “Pssssh, between the four of us, there will be plenty of pictures, plus the CMs can take any other pictures we’d need taken.” Anyway, I did not budget for photos.

Well, then you get there, and you go to Shutters. And, the pictures were really, really good. Very nice, high quality pictures. And, it is like, “Dang, we should have taken more pictures.” We did not really do any of the portraits they had set up. There were a couple of times, I would be on my way somewhere, and there would not be a line, and I’d think what the heck?, and get a photo done. In the end, both Jessie and I both got a 6x8 for about $10 each.

And, if you think about it, if you have a formal family portrait done, and buy just one 8x10 for about $20, that is a bargain. You cannot get a professional portrait done locally with a sitting fee plus the photo price for that reasonable. Next time, if there is a next time, I will definitely budget for pictures and also make sure to hit some of the picture opportunities.

Mom leading us across the gangway

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4590172107_5f945ba545.jpg

A picture of me with Mr and Mrs Duck

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4647937297_270f73f89d_b.jpg

Jessie with Miss Minnie. This was the pic she got from Shutters, but she must have it, so I only have our version

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4590097958_489183f3da_b.jpg

Back to embarkation: we were welcomed onto the Magic. I will not spoil it for any newbies, just in case, but for anyone who would like to watch, I will post the video.

Another tip: fake it till you make it. Let me explain. I read on the boards that the CMs will try to direct you to the restaurant of their choice, but if you want to try the other restaurant, just tell them, “No, I’d rather go here.” Well, these people do not know me. I am meek and a doormat and I am just not good at the word no. As I said, we wanted to eat at Parrot Cay, based on the preferences and recommendations of a lot of the DISers. I just knew that if they started trying to convince us to go up top, I’d buckle under pressure, and just say, “Well…..okay”

So, I didn’t even let them get that far. One gentleman stopped us and asked if we were heading to lunch, so I replied, “Yes, we are…..to Parrot Cay.” And that was that! He asked if we knew where we were going. We had studied the deck plans and maps beforehand, so we had a pretty good idea. I pointed to the left, down the hallway, and they guy nodded, and let us go. So, note to future cruisers, I cannot stress enough to do your homework. Everything is marked, and the CMs will help you get where you want to go. Trust me, there were plenty of times I got backwards and turned around on that ship. But, just the confidence of having an idea where you were going is such a good asset going in.

So, Mom, Dad, and Jessie took off to Parrot Cay, and I went the opposite direction to Rockin’ Bar D to get Palo reservations. Again, this is one of those things I read and re-read and studied before getting on the ship, because I wanted to know exactly where I was going and what I was doing. I went behind the elevators and saw a CM standing there. He asked if I was looking for reservations and I said yes. He must have thought I knew where I was going, because he did not exactly guide me or show me the way. Luckily, I saw the Beat Street against the wall, and knew I was headed in the right direction.

When I got to Rockin Bar D, I was not sure if I was in the right place. I mean, I knew I had in fact, found Rockin Bar D, but there was hardly anyone there. But, when I peeked in, luckily I have pretty stellar eyesight, and I could read a sign on the front of table said Palo on it. This is another one of those things that wasn’t really anything like I expected to be. It was much more casual than I expected.

They just had a long table sat out in the middle of the lounge. There were two lines. I cannot remember if one was Palo and the other spa, or one was Palo Dinner and one was Palo Brunch. Anyway, there was one person in front of me in the other line. Luckily, the line I needed was empty. I didn’t have to present my KTTW or anything. No forms to fill out. The gal just asked how many, then asked my name.

We had already decided that we wanted to do brunch. I would love to try Palo Dinner someday, but this first time around, I didn’t really want to miss out on anything, you know? But, Palo brunch is a highly touted affair, so that was definitely a do-not-miss for me. The gal offered me one time and one time only: Thursday at 10:30. I was actually so thrilled I did not ask for any other options. This was the exact day and time I was aiming for. So, I don’t know if I had pressed, if there would have been other openings or not. I definitely recommend the 10:30 slot. You get everything at its freshest, and it does not seem like everything has been picked through.

The reason I was aiming for Thursday was I wanted to have something to look forward to later in the cruise. I was afraid if we did Palo brunch earlier in the cruise, we would not have anything to look forward to later (Hello, Castaway Cay! Duh!) I was also afraid, if we had this amazing meal on Sunday, we might be disappointed in the food the rest of the trip. This concern proved to be not a valid one. While the meal itself WAS amazing, I didn’t suddenly find the rest of the food inedible. Later in the report, I will give my recommendation on Palo times, and reasoning behind it.

So between getting to board (a bit) early and getting the prime Palo ressies, I was feeling pretty great. I took my time wandering down to Parrot Cay. It was further than I expected, which speaks to the size of the ship. I knew it was all the way aft, and that I just needed to keep walking until I ran into it. At the time, it still felt like, “Okay am I close yet? Am I there YET?” Of course, after a week of roaming the ship, from one end of the ship to the other was like nothin’.


Video of our entry onto the Disney Magic! Woooo

Walking onto the Disney Magic (http://www.flickr.com/photos/20659902@N04/4794633287/?edited=1)

Up next: Was Parrot Cay the right choice for our embarkation lunch? And...a surprise guest that NO ONE saw coming, even me!

[Señor DonDuck]

Yay, you back up and running!

Nice update and I love the pic with Donald and Daisy (go figure :goodvibes)

Can't wait for the next update.

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Great update! We have cruised the magic before and had only recently heard about Parrat Cay after boarding. We will be cruising the Dream in February, I wonder what the options will be. I will be reading trip reports like crazy in January!

[angelabielanin]

Love all the report! Can't wait for more.

[cblack]

Love the report - keep it coming!

[AquaDuck1]

Love your trip report and pictures!!!!
AquaDuck1

[mmackeymouse]

Sorry for the delay! We are planning a trip to the World oiver Labor Day, so it has consumed my Disney mind for the time being.

I don't have many pics of the Embarkation Buffet. I am sorry! I think we were all so exhausted from all the turmoil that had just occured that we just wanted to sit down and relax.

Finally made it down to Parrot Cay, and I walked right in. There were a few families there, but not many. Trust me, by the time we left, it was jam packed. We ordered drinks, and then went to get food! Luckily, we got there early enough that the lines the first time around were not bad at all. I should have taken pictures of my food plates, especially at the buffet, because when you are trying a little bit of everything, it is hard to remember everything you had! I will do my best.

Just a side note: as of this post, I have gone the way of vegetarianism. But, I feel pretty confident that I will be able to give a pretty accurate, objective few of the food, even the meats. Don’t get me wrong. When I think of my favorite meat dishes, my mouth still waters. And, I still remember the taste pretty correctly. So, I will do my best.

I do remember having some carved meats, definitely some roast beef and maybe some ham? I had some fresh veggies and some roasted potatoes as well. There was a little table off to the side with assorted breads and rolls. There was also a table set up, I think perhaps it may be referred to on here as the “kiddie” table. There were some hot dogs and spaghetti and the infamous strawberry soup. I know the chicken tenders are also a pretty popular item, but I did not see any.

I got the spaghetti, and it was really well cooked. I am a little on the picky side when it comes to how I like my pasta. For me, it has to be al dente. If it is overcooked or soggy, blech, no thanks. Anyway, the pasta was cooked perfectly, so no worries there.

I also had the strawberry soup, which in my opinion, was fantastic. I had read that they added mint to the soup, and they definitely did, if you can see from the pictures. That said, I think the mint gave it a really great flavor. And, the mint leaves were not as bothersome as many suggested. I almost went back for a second bowl. I wanted to save room for dessert. What is funny is that I don’t really remember what I had for dessert. It isn’t that they were BAD. Just similar to the other desserts I had over the course of the cruise. But, I definitely remember that strawberry soup. So, maybe I should have sprung for the second bowl.

What was left of my strawberry soup. YUM
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4590798782_ddcddae338.jpg

I don’t know if I was just still so stuffed from the previous day or what, but I was not as ambitious at the buffet as I expected to be. To finish the meal, I got an assortment of desserts, but I probably only had a bite or two of each.

Jessie got a picture of the cheesecake.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/4589250500_22d54b3d08.jpg

Jessie's dessert selection. As you can see from the background, even by dessert, there were still plenty of free tables. We dawdled a bit while eating our dessert

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4590801900_623ca13a80_b.jpg

Jess would kill me for posting this!
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Interesting note: we had a star sighting on our cruise. While I was up for round two of the buffet, this guy walked in. He was pretty tall and very athletic looking. A bunch of the CM’s started slapping fives with him and patting him on the back. Then he got in line across from me and got his food. He was wearing a New York Yankees shirt. So, I thought to myself, Could this guy be a baseball player? I convinced myself otherwise, considering 1) I am a baseball (sports in general) fan, and if this guy was a baseball player, I’d recognize him and 2) If he WAS a baseball player, and was on an escape from it all, why would he wear his team gear on the ship? I just decided that the guy is probably just a repeat cruiser- which is partially true.

I went back and shared the encounter with the family. I explained what happened, and I was like, “I think someone famous is on our cruise.” I went back up for dessert, and he was right behind me getting fruit cobbler and vanilla sauce. We later found out that the mystery man was none other than Yankees Gold Glover Mark Teixeira, (pronounced Te-sherra) fresh off a World Series victory!

I want to make it perfectly clear that while I thought it was cool that someone so famous was on our cruise, I was in no way star struck. As I mentioned before, I am a baseball fan, but I root for the Cardinals, and am not, nor will I ever be a fan of the Yankees. I was not pulling for them in the World Series, and if they make it that far again, I would still cheer against them. That said, the thing that is so crazy, is I had watched this guy in games countless times. I had seen him in interviews and on ESPN, so I was pretty familiar with him. But, when he was standing right next to me, I did not recognize him at all (even with him wearing Yankees clothes).

Well, as I said earlier, by the time we were done with our meal, Parrot Cay was pretty busy. So, we gathered up our stuff and skedaddled. PC was the perfect choice for our embarkation brunch. I would not hesitate to come here again. I cannot offer an honest comparison between it and Topsiders, but we were happy with our choice. And, once we got out on deck and found out chilly and windy it was up there, it made the choice that much better!

We wandered around for a bit; on Deck 5, forward, there is a little sitting area, so about 1, we just met down there, and waited until we could go to our room. We never did hear the announcement; we also never saw anyone going by us to get to their staterooms. But, we saw it was around 1:35 pm, so we decided to just try the door anyway. Slid the KTTW in the lock, and……we’re in!

I made a couple of new friends while roaming the ship
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[sdjen]

Really enjoying your report - keep it coming :thumbsup2

[DMMarla07860]

Mark Teixeira was on your cruise, haha I just got jealous for a second:lmao:, I'm a big Yankees fan.

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Great update! We have cruised 5 times on the Magic and never even knew about the TS buffet until reading it here on the Disboards.

[TotallyAngelic]

Really enjoying reading about your adventures. The passport business was a bit near the knuckle though .. what a traumatic start. Home everything is plain sailing fro here on in. Love the food photos :thumbsup2 Looking forward to more !!

[zurekgirl]

keeeepppp those pictures and get descriptions coming:thumbsup2

[dr&momto2boys]

Enjoying your TR and you've got me hooked! I hope you haven't given up! I know it's a lot of work! I've been working on mine for 4 months! Almost finished! :rotfl:

[farah]

What a great trip report so far. We are heading on the Magic in March and am loving all the tips and info...Can't wait to hear more about your exciting trip:)

[Goldeelox9]

Sounds wonderful so far!

[devonsmommy]

Can't wait to hear more!

[mmackeymouse]

Hey guys! I have not forgotten about you guys or the report! Thanks for sticking with me! Life gets in the way sometimes. I have not been on the DIS for a while; starting to get back into the swing of things. Between my sister's Mexican Riviera cruise and a Double Dip in 2012 that I am just dying to go on, and a possible trip to the World in September..gotta get back into the DIS spirit. It is hard to believe that one year ago to this day, we were all packed up and ready for our trip to the airport the next day. It feels like it was just yesterday.

I will have a couple of new posts up hopefully tonight, and will try to get things up to speed over the weekend.

[mmackeymouse]

We did the standard look-around, Dad turned on the television, and we all settled in for a bit of rest. My nap was not particularly long, but it was definitely a power nap and gave me the boost I needed for the rest of the day. By the time I woke up, our luggage was there!

Naptime

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We were in room 5520, one of the Secret Porthole rooms, so a Cat 10. I feel safe to say that the storage was adequate for the four of us. One of the steamer trunks might have been nice, but Jessie and I were able to fit most of our clothes in the desk drawers. Mom and Dad used the actual dresser. The rest, we stored in the closet. I know you can get extra hangers, but we actually had just enough. I think the people ahead of us may have had extra hangers, because there were about 20 hangers in the closet, which I think may be more than usual? It worked out.

Some views of the room:

The Jonatha Brooke version of this tune is quite lovely. While I think the Dream looks AWESOME, one thing I was a bit disappointed about was that the headboards were pretty standard. I was hoping for something similarly whimsical, as I think things like this provide such a Disney touch.
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I love this photo. If they would have had this photo for sale in the gift shops, I would have definitely bought it. Walt strolling on deck with a Mickey doll in his hand. It just makes me believe that he would have truly loved DCL. And that his presence is really felt all over the ship.
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Here are some pictures to show you the views outside the Secret Porthole window of 5520. I've read that 5520 and its counterpart, 5020 have the best views of all the SPH rooms, so please do not take these pictures as definitive of what a SPH will look like.
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Every little nook and cranny had a purpose. Mom brought along an over the door shoe organizer, which is one of this forums biggest tips. It actually turned out to be totally worth it. A great tip! We hung it outside one of the bathroom doors. I had some magnetic hooks that we attached to the back of the main door to hang our lanyards from. We made sure not to waste any space. The stateroom was actually a perfectly decent size for our purposes, considering we weren’t in there all that often, at least all of us at the same time. You always hear the nightmares about cruising in a closet, but this is nothing like that at all. The porthole really did help with the natural light. I think I would probably be okay in an inside room (especially with the Dream’s new faux portholes), but having that porthole there, even partially blocked, was a bonus. While I certainly would never turn down an upgrade, I cannot see myself splurging an exorbitant amount of money for a verandah.

While the others started to unpack their stuff, I got to decorating the door. I had spent quite an amount of time creating these little magnets. I had collected most of the backgrounds and clip art from over on the magnet thread. I also picked up some fonts on dafont.com. I just used standard Microsoft Publisher to make the magnets. Mom also cut out and magnetized the Home Depot Mickey heads. I probably only printed about half of the magnets I had made. It was enough.

Now, I had every intention of making some nice, fancy magnets. But, you know how December can be. It just flies by. I was swamped at work trying to get the office prepared for my absence. Then, trying to get all the last minute Christmas stuff done. It was probably the 26th before I even thought about getting the magnets done. It was too late to order magnetic paper from Amazon. So, I thought about going to someplace like Staples and Office Depot to get everything laminated. Unfortunately, being from a small town, that would mean a 45 minute-hour drive. It just was not worth it to me.

Ultimately, I went to Walmart and bought a roll of magnetic tape. It was about $3 maybe. We had some card stock, so I just printed the magnets on the card stock, figuring it would be a bit sturdier. Then I cut the magnetic tape into small pieces and attached it to the back of the magnets. It worked just fine. They probably were not as weather-proof and sturdy as they could have been, but aesthetically, they looked just fine. So, if you are not up for the magnetic paper or lamination, just invest in some card stock and magnetic tape. The card stock will definitely make it more travel friendly, less apt to rip, etc.

To tell you the truth, I did not even get the magnets finished and printed until the night before we took off for Indy. I got maybe two or three hours of sleep. I probably was not going to get much sleep from the excitement, anyway, so I was up till about 3:30-4 am, printing those magnets and attaching the magnetic tape. It was not a difficult task, but between the printing and cutting and magnetizing, it was just a long task. It was funny, because my sister asked me, “Do we win anything if we have the best door?” So funny. I explained, no, just for the fun of it. We did have some boys tell us they never got lost, because they always knew to look for our door.

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After some lounging around and roaming the ship, it was just about time for the mandatory boat drill. I left my camera in the cabin, so I don’t have any pictures. Let me tell you, they pack you in like sardines! We were outside on Deck 4 (I believe group G) for our station. Our team leaders were Trevor and Luisa, both members of the entertainment staff. I know they tried to make it fun, but when you are as excited as I was, you just wanted it to be over, so we can get this trip started! Trevor was from California, I believe, so he was one of the few American CMs on board.

As we were waiting, we were facing the Carnival Dream, and we saw them set sail. No fanfare or anything. Bear in mind we were on Deck 4, so it seemed like the Dream was sooooo tall compared to us. Trevor and Luisa did call out some families names, but for most of us, they were able to look at our lifejackets and check us off. Soon enough, the muster drill was over, and we were on our way.

*Just a note: if you see any magnets you are interested in, let me know. I still have them all saved in Publisher format, and would be happy to email the files. If you have Publisher, you can just change the Names or Wording. Some of the fonts I used were custom fonts found online, so the fonts may not come out exactly right.

[iloverags2]

Wowsa! What an ordeal at the port...so glad everything was cleared up and you got on board finally.

I agree that the staterooms are not bad at all (of course this is coming from someone who sailed in a Royal Caribbean inside stateroom of 119 sq. ft. with 3 other adults...yes, four adults in that tiny, little stateroom!).

Oh yes...that strawberry soup is divine!!! Wishing I could have a bowl of it right now!

Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise!

[pamcarey]

Great update! Your door looks great, and I love your Christmas-y fish extender!!

[Señor DonDuck]

Awesome update. Thanks for the room decor pics.

[DundasDad]

Going on our first cruise on the Magic in March ... loving your descriptions of everything!

As a first-timer, I don't think I could ever be too prepared!:thumbsup2

[Lauralooneyfordisney]

sub a dub:banana:

[mmackeymouse]

After dropping our life jackets back at the room, Jess and I decided to roam the ship for a bit before heading up to the Sailaway Party. Mom and Dad stayed in the room to finish unpacking. (Okay, let’s be real here. MOM unpacked while Dad relaxed and watched TV) When we got up to Deck 10, it was extremely windy! The Goofy pool had been covered, but at that point, it was not crowded at all on Deck 9. However, considering that was the “kiddie” area, I was worried that it would get a little too crazy, and thought Deck 10 would be safe for our tastes.

About 10 minutes before the Sail Away Party....not too crowded.
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As of January, they were still handing out shimmery streamers. Ours were red and blue, and I think they had a gold color as well. We found a spot up on Deck 10 port side between a couple of little wooden things (I believe they are some sort of storage bin) It was a nice spot. I don’t think there are any “bad” spots at the Sailaway party, unless you are 5’1 (me) and standing behind someone about 6’4. But, luckily, I wasn’t. The cameras were filming the crowd and they panned around till everyone had their shot being seen on the Dumbotron. Looking back, because it was so windy, being down on Deck 9 might not have been so bad after all. By the time it started, it was not nearly as crowded down there as I had expected. The only thing, as I mentioned before is my short stature. I would have to be close to the front to be able to get a view.

Jessie with her streamer
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Me and Jess
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Mom and Jessie getting ready for some fun!
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The view of the party from our spot
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The party went along quite nicely. I worried that they would draaaaaag it out and that it would take forever. Not true! The characters came out pretty quickly. We saw Trevor down there getting into the act. I feel awful that I cannot remember the gal that MC’ed the event, as she was a hoot! I want to say her name was Jill but that is an honest to goodness shot in the dark. And, our cruise director for our sailing was……drum roll please….the one, the only……..BRENT!

Right in the middle of the photo was our MC for the party. Anyone know her name for sure?
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CMs getting into the fun
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I liked Brent a lot. Never had any personal interaction with him or anything. But, he seemed like a good guy that loves his job. And, you cannot beat the way he says, “Ladies and gentlemen, gehls and boys” That said, I am not super passionate about him as CD. I know on these boards, cruise directorship is a hot topic, and people go to war over who’s the best and why. Christian, Brent, Christian, Brent. I liked Brent a lot; I am sure I would have liked Christian a lot. And, well, that’s that.

Brent goofing around with the characters
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The characters came out and danced around, and they played some cool music. Then, the countdown started. Like I said, they didn’t drag it out, which is a great thing. It was long enough to build momentum, but not so long that you lose interest. Anyway, the countdown started…..5……4…..3…..2…..1! The ship’s horn blared, and we were on our way.

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Here is a link to our Countdown Video:
Countdown to Takeoff (Sort-of) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/20659902@N04/5350349911/)

I headed over to the side, to see the CMs with the huge Mickey hands. Unfortunately, there weren’t any out there. So, I waited…..and waited…..and waited. No CMs and the ship was not moving. By then, the crowd had dispersed, and my family had split up. I never did see any CMs with big hands, and it was getting pretty chilly. I had some little itinerary cards to deliver, so I decided to go inside to do the deliveries. I took the cards with me, so I did not have to go back to my room.

Remember in my last post, I mentioned the Carnival Dream sailing away during the muster drill? Here is a picture from Deck 10 of her sailing away.
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The Terminal (no big Mickey hands :confused3)
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I definitely got to know the ship. I was constantly getting lost and backwards. Even though the staterooms are posted, WITH arrows, I was still getting all messed up. I would get going one way, then realize the numbers were going the wrong way, then have to turn around. So, here are some recommendations. Map the staterooms. Print off the deck plans and highlight the staterooms. I did not do this, because I thought as long as I followed the directions , I would be fine. Apparantly, when I got the boat, I became dyslexic (no offense intended to anyone who really is dyslexic.) Or at least, start at one end of the ship and work your way to the other end. I found that when I started midship, I was constantly going back and forth, back and forth.

The deliveries were not bad; we had about 10 staterooms to deliver to, so it was a great way to explore the ship. I was constantly greeted by CMs and just felt so welcome. One of the families on our FE list got moved due to flooding. That would be a nightmare to deal with, but if it resulted in an upgrade, it may be worth it. One gal I was passing, a passenger, not a CM, was about five feet away, and is like, “Hey Melissa!” I am not sure how she knew me. I doubt she could read my KTTW through my lanyard from that distance. I did introduce myself to a couple of families, so maybe she was in one of those rooms?

This brings me to just a huge difference between DCL (and any cruise I suppose) and WDW. I love WDW. It is very much a part of my past, present, and future. Stepping inside those parks brings me back to my youth in a way no other person or place ever can. That said, the cruise was a little different, obviously because it is on a much smaller scale, I am sure. With the cruise, it seemed very much like a camp or a college atmosphere. You won’t meet or see everyone on board. But, there WILL be certain families or people you see multiple times, even daily. Kind of like with college, when you hang out in certain places, you inevitably run into the same people. You may talk to these people, you may not. For me, even if I did not talk to them, I always wondered about them. What is their life at home like? I wonder what their story is. Are they frequent cruisers or first-timers like us? And again, even if you do not speak, it is like there is an unspoken but distinct bond that exists. For one week of your life, you were family. With WDW, unless you hang out around your resort a lot, you are very rarely going to run into the same people. Or, if you do, you are too busy to notice.

Moving on. While I was roaming the hallways, they made an announcement that we were waiting on some passengers, which was why departure was running late. Well, okay! Either they booked their transport with DCL or they had some friends in high places! Eventually, while I was down on Deck 1 or 2, I felt the teeniest jolt, followed by a humming. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that must be when we officially embarked on our journey.

[DMMarla07860]

the person who MC'd was Tisa prob, I saw her in a few pictures and had her as the host person back in 2009 and my back-2-back so just guessing that, great picture:cool1:

[sdjen]

Thanks so much for posting again! I especially liked seeing the cabin pics. I am actually sailing in the same room in 3 weeks ;)

keep it coming! :thumbsup2

[edlarom]

beautiful pics

[pamcarey]

Great pics of the sailaway party!

[LadyKay]

We leave on our cruise aboard the Magic in 39 days. Your TR has me so excited and thoroughly in formed :)

[mmackeymouse]

When I was done, I headed back to the room. Mom was sitting on the couch reading one of the guidebooks DCL has. I asked her why she was in the room when she could be out exploring the ship. By this point, it was darkish. The sun had gone down, but it was not pitch black yet. Now, to understand the miracle of this cruise, you have to understand my mother and why we had never cruised before.

Mom was definitely the most anxious about the cruise of all of us. Without going into great detail, she had a life experience many years ago, that left her wanting nothing to do with boats (except the kind that sails on 3 feet of water). So, the idea of being on a huge boat out on the open water was never even an option for us. She vowed that it would never happen. However, through bribery or coercion, or a bit of both, we were able to talk her into a cruise, provided we met all the conditions of the deal. She agreed. And, well, we came through on the deal.

She told me, in jest, that she may cry before getting on the boat, and I imagined a scene where we would have to drag my sobbing mother onto the ship. Luckily, it was not that bad. She read the DCL books that I had at home and kept up with the DIS boards. She watched the Travel Network specials on general cruising and DCL. She took notes! I think getting informed was the best medicine. Also, all the planning was able to help her focus on the little things, all the fun activities to look forward to, and kept her mind off the big issue of being on a boat.

Anyway, the day seemed to be going well. She was in high spirits at lunch and at the party. Of course, at those points, we were still next to terra firma. So, I found her in the stateroom, reading. She looks up at me, and says, “When are we leaving?” I said very matter-of-factly, “Mom, we’re moving” and nodded out the window. One of the funniest moments of the whole trip happened next. She looked out the window, saw the water moving, and shrieked! I wish I had it on video; it was sooooo funny! But, it just speaks to how little movement you feel on those big ol’ boats.

I had initially hoped to be on deck as the Magic left the channel and wave at the people eating at Grills. However, due to the late departure and the darkness, I opted to take another little nap instead. Maybe another time it will be light out and I can enjoy it that way.

Second nap of the day
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When I awoke, Jess and Dad were back to the room. It was sometime after 7, so we decided to get ready for our first supper at Animator’s Palate. Our dining rotation was APLAPLA. Which is easy to remember by thinking, “Apple” Haha. We had late seating. This worked out pretty good for us. We never felt rushed.

We must have arrived, like, RIGHT after AP opened, because we were pretty much able to walk right up and walk right in. We had table 24. The location of 24 in each restaurant had positives and negatives. A waiter came up and escorted my mother (and the rest of us) to our table. He was sort of being sing-song about it and marching in a silly way. I tried to get a photo, but trying to take a photo of action walking backwards is a little difficult.

Our escort
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Our table ended up being a 4-top, which was fine. I was torn going in. Did we want to eat with others and chance being with someone that was really weird or annoying? On the other hand, dining with new people seems to be part of the cruising experience. Did we want to miss out on that? Since we could not choose either way, I did not call in ahead of time to make requests. I just decided to let the powers that be decide our cruising fate. It worked out fine. Some days it would have been nice to have someone else to converse with instead of just us. Other days, it was nice to not have to worry about forcing conversation with other people. In the future, I will probably again go with letting the cruising gods make the decision for us. I won’t be upset either way.

Table 24 in AP was near the kitchen, tucked away in a little corner. There was a wall behind us and beside us. Then, in front of us was the pathway for the servers and guests. This was nice, as we really only had one other family to worry about. Luckily, the tables were adequately spaced apart, so we never really felt like we were encroaching on other people’s territory. We did feel a little far removed from the central action of the restaurant, but the views of the show were fine.


Some photos of us enjoying Animator's Palate:

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[farah]

Great pics and great TR..looking forward to reading more!popcorn::

[pamcarey]

Great pictures from AP!

[Señor DonDuck]

Great updates!

[LVaughn]

the person who MC'd was Tisa prob, I saw her in a few pictures and had her as the host person back in 2009 and my back-2-back so just guessing that, great picture:cool1:

I was on this cruise, and I can confirm that it was definitely Tisa. She was great, whether it was a family activity or adults only late at night.

[mmackeymouse]

Yes, Tisa was great! I agree.

Who's ready for some food porn?

At this point, I think it would be good to mention that we did bring along seasickness medicine and never had any trouble. We bought generic Bonine (enough to last a lifetime, I think) at Sam’s Club for about $5 for 100 caplets. We took one pill the night before. We took another right before we boarded and another right before supper. I know a lot of people have posted that AP the first night can be a bear when it comes to the motion sickness, but we did okay.

We were soon greeted by our server Igor and our assistant server Marija (pronounced Maria). They were from Bosnia and Serbia I believe. Not 100% sure on that. They were both lovely, but my family absolutely fell in love with Marija. I think my parents wanted to adopt her. I wasn’t sure how my folks would take to the whole over-the-top being waiting on hand and foot thing. But, we never really looked at them like “servers.” More like new people to get to know who just happen to work on the ship.

One thing I was particularly nervous about was fakey fake waiters. You know how it is when you go to a restaurant, and a waiter is just SO fake and so obviously angling for a tip that it is a turn off? I was worried we’d have to go through 7 nights of that. One thing I will say for poor Igor. He was definitely trying to get us to expand our simple palates. With not much success, I might add, but he tried. It did not come across like he was pushing something the kitchen wanted pushed. It more came across like he wanted us to step outside the box and try something different.

So, here is a tip for the newbies. Find the menus and print them off, even the kids’ menus. You can find them; they are out there. It is so nice to kind of have an idea going in what you are wanting. I did this, and put them in my blue folder. And every afternoon, everyone went to the blue folder to find the menu for that evening. Even though we had seen the menus, we still asked for a kids’ menu that first night, because you never know if anything has changed. I think Igor was amused by this.

So, for our orders: I got a Shirley Temple, loaded with cherries. Everyone else ordered pop of some sort. (Yes, in Indiana, we call it “pop”) Of course, I had seen the Shirley Temple on the DIS boards before, but the rest of the family was pretty wowed by it. In fact, when they came back for refills, Jess went with the Shirley Temple instead. They brought out foccacia with garlic dip, which I just LOVE foccacia. They also had regular rolls and butter and they were both quite nice.

My sister and I ordered the Taleggio Cheese Tart. Dad didn’t see anything on the menu that sounded good to him, so Igor offered to just bring him a regular side salad, and Dad accepted. Mom got some fruit salad from the Kiddie Menu. For our main course, Dad, Jessie, and I all got the Pennette Pasta. Mom and I both got the Beef tenderloin, carved the order. She ordered hers medium well and mine was medium. I asked for mine, “meat only,” but they brought the whole dish. She asked for a baked potato instead of the Wasabi mashed, and that was accommodated, no problem.

So…..about the food. Jessie liked the cheese tart. I was not a huge fan. Someone on the DIS had mentioned that if you like BBQ chicken pizza, that you would like this dish. So, I decided to try it out, even though I had never really had Balsamic Vinegar before. I was concerned about the micro greens, but they were a total non-factor. I found myself wiping the Balsamic sauce on the plate, and I was trying not to seem rude about it. Igor commented that Balsamic vinegar does have a very distinct taste. For me, it was not really the taste of the Balsamic, more like the quantity used. With any pizza, if there is too much sauce on it, I wipe it off. I like very minimal sauce on my pizzas. But, I really did want to try it, so rather than not eat it at all, I just wiped the excess sauce on my plate. I don’t think I would get this dish again, or if I did, see if they could go with little to no sauce.

The Tallegio Tart. You can also see my Shirley Temple in the corner.
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As for the pennette pasta, I thought it was fabulous! It seemed to be a very popular dish around the room. I am kind of picky about turkey, and the thought of it on pasta seemed odd to me. But, I will eat it, and I did not want to go through the trouble of asking for it without turkey. You almost couldn’t even taste the turkey at all. It just faded to the background. The cream sauce and pasta were the stars. Also the prosciutto was perfectly crisped, which I loved. And the shaved parmesan was my absolute favorite part of the dish. It was top notch quality parmesan cheese. I loved it. Dad and Jess seemed to like it as well, as they both finished theirs.

Pennette Pasta-Great dish! This is actually one of my favorite food pictures (not bragging- the camera did it, not me). It really shows every part of the dish really well. Enjoy!
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The tenderloin, I probably would not get again, but it was not BAD, so I don’t want to give that impression. Mom liked hers. Mine was fine. I asked for it Medium, and it did come medium. It was reddish pink in the middle, just like I like it. But, it did not taste medium at all. It did not taste overcooked, but I just did not get that hint of (please don’t be grossed out by this, as now being a vegetarian, I am grossed out even typing it) that bloody taste. But, like I said, mom liked hers, so to each their own.

The carved to order tenderloin: cooked medium
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For dessert, Jess and I both got the Warm Apple Crumble. Mom got a Mickey Bar. And Dad asked for exactly one scoop of chocolate ice cream. I think- no I know- he was just testing them. The apple crumble was delicious. The crumb topping was very nice. The apples were the weak point of the dessert, as they were not as sweet as I prefer. But, it was topped with my favorite, vanilla BEAN ice cream. The whole dessert together really worked. Mom enjoyed her Mickey Bar, of course.

Another nice picture- Apple Crumble
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Mom and her Mickey Bar
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Now, here is where Dad gets….well, Grumpy. Igor brings him TWO scoops of chocolate ice cream. Now, bear in mind, he eats it all. But, he grumbles about “following directions” and stuff like that. Again, he ate it all, so why was he complaining? Who knows? He’s a man. I told mom later to have a talk with him, because that attitude all week would not make the trip pleasant. I guess she did, because he was fine-ish the rest of the cruise.

The show was fun and neat. Mom and I had the better views, as we were facing the entire restaurant, and Jess and Dad were just facing the wall. But, they turned their chair around and enjoyed the view too. Overall, it was a nice end to a nice day.

Up next: a wrap up of Day 1, plus some more photos!

[Señor DonDuck]

Food porn is always appreciated! :thumbsup2

Do they charge extra you for the shirley temples or it it included free like pop?

[princesspiglet]

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5082/5317516784_dfeaff6025_z.jpg[/IMG]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4591505470_b7747f6c2d_b.jpg

B]*Just a note: if you see any magnets you are interested in, let me know. I still have them all saved in Publisher format, and would be happy to email the files. If you have Publisher, you can just change the Names or Wording. Some of the fonts I used were custom fonts found online, so the fonts may not come out exactly right. [/B]

I would love it if you could email me the magnets! I especially love the Let the Magic Begin, Yo Ho Pirate and the smaller one where the Fab 5 are looking into the sun- two magnets up from the door handle.

Thanks so much and really enjoying reading your report!

Oh, email is athenasmommy@comcast.net

[LVaughn]

Do they charge extra you for the shirley temples or it it included free like pop?

No, they don't charge extra for them. My kids drank them every night. It was basically a glass of cherries with a splash of Coke each night. I can't imagine how the ship doesn't run out of cherries, because a lot of kids love them.

[Señor DonDuck]

Thank you. My daughters will be very happy to hear that.

And sorry for my typos (I was multi-tasking during my lunch break)

No, they don't charge extra for them. My kids drank them every night. It was basically a glass of cherries with a splash of Coke each night. I can't imagine how the ship doesn't run out of cherries, because a lot of kids love them.

[pamcarey]

Wonderful food porn!!