14-night Eastbound Transatlantic Cruise (May 14-28, 2011) Lots of pics! COMPLETED 9/8

[iloverags2]

I'm with dad on that yacht...wowsa!

OMG! How cool you can see Africa! I so now am wanting to take this cruise even more...

Ok, the cave and its history are way too cool!

Are the apes at the top of the rock just out roaming freely? (And is that a baby I see in a couple of the pics?) If so, that would be a very cool thing to see. (Notice a pattern here? I'm thinking Gibralter is just overall very cool.) I would have been loving it if an ape came into my car...so cute!

I wonder if they have ever not gotten the road closed quick enough when a plane is hitting the runway...hmmmmmm...

Another fabulous update with outstanding photos!

(BTW, on a side note...it looks like there's a dead person floating in the Quiet Cove pool...)

 

[KevieKev05]

I'm with dad on that yacht...wowsa!

OMG! How cool you can see Africa! I so now am wanting to take this cruise even more...

Ok, the cave and its history are way too cool!

Are the apes at the top of the rock just out roaming freely? (And is that a baby I see in a couple of the pics?) If so, that would be a very cool thing to see. (Notice a pattern here? I'm thinking Gibralter is just overall very cool.) I would have been loving it if an ape came into my car...so cute!

I wonder if they have ever not gotten the road closed quick enough when a plane is hitting the runway...hmmmmmm...

Another fabulous update with outstanding photos!

(BTW, on a side note...it looks like there's a dead person floating in the Quiet Cove pool...)

The apes are indeed roaming freely! That whole area is a protected "reserve" that is for the apes to live. The government provides food for them as well!

And, wow! I never noticed the "body" in the Quiet Cove Pool photo...good eyes! Hahaha!

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 12 - May 25th, 2011 - Gibraltar, U.K. (Part 6)

As we got in our room, we noticed quite an odor. We smelled it this morning as well. It was a strong gaseous smell (like exhaust fumes) with a hint of cat pee! Lucky us! Dad smells it in their room as well, so he calls to see what can be done about it. Maintenance comes with one of the officers and decide to bring air purifiers and change the air filters. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to us that they could smell what we were smelling. Oh well...at least they are willing to help!

At about 5:55, we head upstairs to watch the sail away from this awesome port! We went to the back of the ship and got a spot along the railing. What was interesting was that we could faintly smell what we were smelling in our room up here! Interesting...

At 6:26, the horn sounded and we were on our way! Naturally, I snapped A LOT of pictures of this wonderful event!

Hello, bird!

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 12 - May 25th, 2011 - Gibraltar, U.K. (Part 7)

We believe that these were a couple of whales!

Africa!

DOLPHINS! Some of my favorite pictures from the cruise!

Sailing away was so spectacular, and I’m glad we went up to witness it. There were countless dolphins swimming alongside us! They LOVED jumping in and out of the wake we were producing. We were all in awe! Wow!

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 12 - May 25th, 2011 - Gibraltar, U.K. (Part 8)

By 7:15, we were back in our room, getting ready for dinner. James and I got some sun today from laying by the pool! YAY! I just couldn’t come home without some sort of a tan! At 7:50, we were making our way downstairs. We stopped at Shutters for Mom (and James ordered a reprint of a photo) and then we went through the shops again. Before long, we were on our way to the lobby to wait to enter Lumiere’s for dinner!

Sorcerer Mickey was out!

Dinner menu:

At 8:30, the doors opened, and in we went. Tonight’s meal was probably our least favorite menu on the cruise! Boo!

Mom’s fruit salad:

Tapas appetizer:

It was missing the “grissini stick,” so Marianne brought a bunch out:

James ordered two Tapas since he didn’t like the soup/salad selection. I ended up getting the tomato soup but wasn’t thrilled with it (sorry no picture...it was red liquid, hahaha).

Beef flank steak:

Veal:

Chicken:

Dessert menu:

My flourless chocolate cake. I disliked it VERY much...worst dessert I had.

James’ Kahlua cheesecake:

Warm french apple and almond tart:

James and I both disliked our desserts and Marianne could tell. So, James asked for the sundae off the menu:

And I still couldn’t find anything I wanted. So, Marianne brought me a vanilla sundae with a cookie! That worked for me!

At approximately 9:45, we had finished dinner and James and I were going to head upstairs to check out this “Party Paradiso” deck party. It was being billed as “A celebration of magic, fun, and excitement of our European arrival, with special appearances by some of your favorite Disney pals.” Hmmm..we’ve been in Europe for quite some time already. However, it was definitely new and something we’ve never heard of so we were cautiously excited!

I snapped a couple pictures on our way up:

Once we got up top, we saw another ship! We’re not alone, haha!

Pictures waiting for the party to start:

There really wasn’t that big of a turnout, surprisingly. At about 10:20, the party started (5 minutes late). There was A LOT of lame audience participation stuff for about 15 minutes. I loathe that kind of stuff...just get to the performance! We noticed that A LOT of entertainment crew members were watching, as well as a show director type guy. Hmmm...what could this mean?

FINALLY, characters started to come out and the show officially began in my book. Oh dear. This deck party CLEARLY wasn’t meant for this cruise. The whole show was THEMED to the Mediterranean and the ports of call those cruises were going to! Each character/segment was themed to a Med port of call (which you can see in the pictures I took). The show talked about our pending arrival in France and Italy. Ummm...excuse me? I would LOVE to go there, but I’m pretty sure our cruise was ending in a couple of days in Barcelona. We gathered that this was a “dress rehearsal” performance to prepare for the Med cruises. (Hence why out Entertainment crew members were out there watching/supporting.) I was incredibly disappointed. I understand they need practice, but it completely didn’t fit the context of our cruise. Oh well. I guess we can say we saw it. Anyway, here are the pictures!

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 12 - May 25th, 2011 - Gibraltar, U.K. (Part 9)

 

[KevieKev05]

DAY 12 - May 25th, 2011 - Gibraltar, U.K. (Part 10)

The whole show ended at about 10:50. It wasn’t that bad, it was just disappointing to me. Just another example of how this cruise wasn’t treated as a special, unique experience. (As you recall, my other big pet peeve was the merchandise selection being 95% Mediterranean themed.) Oh well. Pathetic complaining, I know.

We went back to Shutters to pick up the photos we had reprinted and then went to Mom and Dad’s room for a few minutes to discuss the show and the plans for tomorrow. Soon enough, we were back in our room and heading to bed at about 11:30.

Tomorrow was to be our FINAL sea day! Is this cruise really coming to an end?! Our next port of call was the place our cruise was ending! Oh no!

STAY TUNED!

 

[jessrose18]

Those dolphin pics are amazing! What a great great thing to see!

 

[iloverags2]

Wow...did Disney really miss the mark with that deck party. What a huge disappointment. But you did get some really awesome photos of the dolphin...so very incredibly cool!

Love the comment on the lack of tomato soup picture...it was red liquid. And how sweet of Marianne to bring out the sundaes!

Your pictures are once again incredible!

 

[annichan]

Those dolphin pictures are absolutely amazing!! It must have been a wonderful sight to behold.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Those dolphin pictures are absolutely amazing!! It must have been a wonderful sight to behold.

The dolphins, the birds, amazing! Are you sure they were not animatronics??!!! Maybe Disney planted them???!!!

 

[Pinkocto]

Firstly, how very bizarre about that dance party... Yet another flaw of that cruise director, I've already put his name out of my mind. How could he let that wrongness invade the magnificent Transatlantic Cruise! I totally agree, I would have been annoyed also.

I love the bird pictures! It's like you were one with nature for a few moments in time.

What was wrong with the chocolate cake? It looked scrumptous. How very disappointing. Do you feel like they weren't putting as much effort into the menus as time went on?

I will be very sad when this TR is done, you must drag it out as long as possible!

Oh, and did they clear up the odor before you retired for the evening?

 

[marie714]

The whole show ended at about 10:50. It wasn’t that bad, it was just disappointing to me. Just another example of how this cruise wasn’t treated as a special, unique experience. (As you recall, my other big pet peeve was the merchandise selection being 95% Mediterranean themed.) Oh well. Pathetic complaining, I know.

Wow...did Disney really miss the mark with that deck party. What a huge disappointment.

Firstly, how very bizarre about that dance party... Yet another flaw of that cruise director, I've already put his name out of my mind. How could he let that wrongness invade the magnificent Transatlantic Cruise! I totally agree, I would have been annoyed also.

I really don't understand these comments. There is a special deck party for the Mediterranean cruises that they had to create, including costumes, music, character voices, rehearsal time, etc. The cast that is on the Magic for the summer learns this show, and has a chance to perform it for the guests of the 14 night cruise. How does this hurt anyone?!?

I see it as a wonderful bonus for those of you on the transatlantic. You not only get all of the regular entertainment, plus multiple special offerings to fill up the 14 nights (variety acts, guest performers, etc.), but you also get some previews of the stuff that the Med cruises will get. With 14 nights, this wasn't taking away anything else from you, it's not like this replaced the Pirates deck party.

Heck, for that matter, why doesn't anyone complain about the fact that the Pirates deck party is still called Pirates IN the Caribbean? Clearly that was made for the Caribbean cruises and shouldn't have been part of this cruise either (sarcasm mode off).

 

[Pinkocto]

Perhaps if they had told everyone that it was a kind of dress rehearsal it wouldn't have been that bad. But when you're paying thousands of dollars for a trip of a lifetime you'd probably think it's weird too that they're referring to ports that are not on the itinerary. Almost like your cruise is not as important as the Med cruises. I think it would be the same if, on the Med cruises, they referred to ports not visited.... Both cruises are on my wish list, but I think they should be treated as totally seperate wonderful experiences.

 

[marie714]

Perhaps if they had told everyone that it was a kind of dress rehearsal it wouldn't have been that bad. But when you're paying thousands of dollars for a trip of a lifetime you'd probably think it's weird too that they're referring to ports that are not on the itinerary. Almost like your cruise is not as important as the Med cruises.

I am paying thousands of dollars for the trip of a lifetime on the westbound transatlantic, and I'm very much hoping that they do perform this deck party for us. They did on last year's wbta, so I'm optimistic!

I see it that my cruise is actually better than the Med cruises, cause we get all the regular stuff, plus the stuff the Med cruises got. Same goes for the dinner menus...all the regular ones, all the special Med ones, plus even more just for this cruise. And to top it off, most rates for the 14 night are lower than most 10-11 night Med rates.

Again, I'll be thankful to have the chance to see a special show that only a tiny portion of DCL guests ever see. Anyone who feels differently can enjoy the rest of the beautiful ship and save a better viewing spot for me!

 

[LindaBabe]

Love your report, Kev. Those Dolphin photos are FAB.

And I see where you're coming from on the party. On the PC, I felt similarly about some things - A lot of the hoopla was about something else (the Dream, in our case) and the 'specialness' of the Wonder relocation was over shadowed by it. Things just felt "off" somehow.

 

[KevieKev05]

Those dolphin pics are amazing! What a great great thing to see!

The dolphins, the birds, amazing! Are you sure they were not animatronics??!!! Maybe Disney planted them???!!!

Those dolphin pictures are absolutely amazing!! It must have been a wonderful sight to behold.

Thank you! I was so completely in awe at all the dolphins! And I must inform everyone that I probably took at least 50 pictures of this whole occurrence. I was just snapping away constantly hoping SOMETHING would come out in the photos. Thankfully, I got a few good ones!

Wow...did Disney really miss the mark with that deck party. What a huge disappointment. But you did get some really awesome photos of the dolphin...so very incredibly cool!

Love the comment on the lack of tomato soup picture...it was red liquid. And how sweet of Marianne to bring out the sundaes!

Your pictures are once again incredible!

Thank you kindly! Hahaha...I'm glad my humorous side is coming through! And yes, Marianne was just phenomenal in every aspect!

Firstly, how very bizarre about that dance party... Yet another flaw of that cruise director, I've already put his name out of my mind. How could he let that wrongness invade the magnificent Transatlantic Cruise! I totally agree, I would have been annoyed also.

I love the bird pictures! It's like you were one with nature for a few moments in time.

What was wrong with the chocolate cake? It looked scrumptous. How very disappointing. Do you feel like they weren't putting as much effort into the menus as time went on?

I will be very sad when this TR is done, you must drag it out as long as possible!

Oh, and did they clear up the odor before you retired for the evening?

I'm actually dreading the end of this trip report as well! It's been truly wonderful reliving and sharing my experience! And I'm not quite sure what was wrong with the cake. Must've been the mixture of flavors? I don't know...I'm sure others would enjoy it though! Regarding the menus, I don't know if they themselves were becoming lackluster, or WE were becoming tired of everything. There's only so many ways you can do beef and chicken, you know? Hahaha. Regarding the odor, it was practically gone by the time we went to bed. Since we smelled it on the top deck before we sailed away, I assume it had something to do with what was happening on the dock? Maybe?


And now I come to the (apparently) controversial part of my TR....

I really don't understand these comments. There is a special deck party for the Mediterranean cruises that they had to create, including costumes, music, character voices, rehearsal time, etc. The cast that is on the Magic for the summer learns this show, and has a chance to perform it for the guests of the 14 night cruise. How does this hurt anyone?!?

I see it as a wonderful bonus for those of you on the transatlantic. You not only get all of the regular entertainment, plus multiple special offerings to fill up the 14 nights (variety acts, guest performers, etc.), but you also get some previews of the stuff that the Med cruises will get. With 14 nights, this wasn't taking away anything else from you, it's not like this replaced the Pirates deck party.

Heck, for that matter, why doesn't anyone complain about the fact that the Pirates deck party is still called Pirates IN the Caribbean? Clearly that was made for the Caribbean cruises and shouldn't have been part of this cruise either (sarcasm mode off).

Sarcasm AND an eye roll? Wow!

If you recall, I said the show wasn't bad...it just didn't fit the context of this cruise. And, I don't want "previews" of a cruise I'm not going on or plan to go on. I would've gone on a Med cruise for that! I have a STRONG entertainment background which might be why I was so critical. Yes, I definitely understand the need for rehearsal time. Most times, for me, it happens behind closed doors and the first time on the stage is actually in front of people.

No, it didn't hurt me (or anyone else for that matter) to see this deck party. And, your argument about the Pirates IN the Caribbean deck party is definitely valid...to a point. In my opinion, that deck party focuses more on the pirate aspect and not the Caribbean aspect. This "Party Paradiso" deck party focused heavily on the ports of call to be visited. Also, the locations depicted in the Pirates movies aren't exclusively Caribbean-based. Actually, the opening scene of the fourth one takes place in Cadiz, Spain...a port we actually visited on this cruise.

Like I said, this is how *I* felt about this and not everyone will agree. That's fine. People were definitely enjoying themselves! Just not me. It was a cute show but I just couldn't get past how wrong it was for this cruise.

Perhaps if they had told everyone that it was a kind of dress rehearsal it wouldn't have been that bad. But when you're paying thousands of dollars for a trip of a lifetime you'd probably think it's weird too that they're referring to ports that are not on the itinerary. Almost like your cruise is not as important as the Med cruises. I think it would be the same if, on the Med cruises, they referred to ports not visited.... Both cruises are on my wish list, but I think they should be treated as totally seperate wonderful experiences.

Thank you.

I am paying thousands of dollars for the trip of a lifetime on the westbound transatlantic, and I'm very much hoping that they do perform this deck party for us. They did on last year's wbta, so I'm optimistic!

I see it that my cruise is actually better than the Med cruises, cause we get all the regular stuff, plus the stuff the Med cruises got. Same goes for the dinner menus...all the regular ones, all the special Med ones, plus even more just for this cruise. And to top it off, most rates for the 14 night are lower than most 10-11 night Med rates.

Again, I'll be thankful to have the chance to see a special show that only a tiny portion of DCL guests ever see. Anyone who feels differently can enjoy the rest of the beautiful ship and save a better viewing spot for me!

I truly hope you get to see this show. You'll definitely get enjoyment out of it and it's true...not many people will get to see it!

Love your report, Kev. Those Dolphin photos are FAB.

And I see where you're coming from on the party. On the PC, I felt similarly about some things - A lot of the hoopla was about something else (the Dream, in our case) and the 'specialness' of the Wonder relocation was over shadowed by it. Things just felt "off" somehow.

Thank you for understanding. You said it just about right.



And, I understand there's only one EBTA cruise this year and one WBTA cruise this year with no more in sight. In regards to merchandise, I was definitely hoping for a bit more. I admit that I would have bought A LOT more stuff if it was transatlantic themed. We would've eaten all that up! Hahaha.

 

[LindaBabe]

I can also see why there wasn't as much transatlantic merch - when we were in the character warehouse in orlando in January, there was a TON of it on clearance, dated the previous year.

 

[Pinkocto]

Interesting that you're being so snippy about this. Since this is Kevin's TR let's not be so rude and take up his space.

 

[KevieKev05]

I can also see why there wasn't as much transatlantic merch - when we were in the character warehouse in orlando in January, there was a TON of it on clearance, dated the previous year.

Totally understand that. We came across quite a bit of transatlantic merchandise last year which got us hopeful we might see similar items on our cruise! Still a shame though...like I said, we would've bought A LOT more that we did, haha. I guess deep down I was hoping they would've learned their lesson and not order as many of each item to sell for this cruise (so they didn't have an abundance of unsold items). Instead, they just chose a few items to offer. Oh well...still happy with my sweatshirt!