The McSparklesons Sail the Magic... AGAIN! $500 Potato Chips! 3/13

[hardingk]

And our next cruise will be on what looks to be the "perfect" non-DCL ship - the RCI Freedom of the Seas..... Soooo excited to explore that big beautfiful vessel!

But now we are on the Magic, and I'm still trying to decide if there really is a better ship out there???

We have sailed on Freedom in the past. I'd love to share my pics with you if you're interested? Don't think I did a TR though.

 

[jedijill]

I did a Western on the Freedom in 2008. Fantastic ship! Loved the Flowrider! Get your ice skating show tickets early...they run out early!

Jill in CO

 

[Wicket's Mom]

I love the sea days, I grab a chair by the rail, keep ordering boat drinks,& watch the world go by!

I noticed the Tervis tumbler, did you bring it from home? My cupboard is seriously stocked with Tervis!

 

[CRdisMom]

ahhhhh just a relaxing day...the pictures have made me gain weight!

 

[anewmac]

Oh we always to "TRY" multiple meals.. got to make sure we dont miss anything and all that walking, sunning, picture taking makes a gal hungry.. and THIRSTY!

We never did the drawings how fun. Man Kara you could get a job with Disney your pics are on point my dear! Btw so glad Jeff made the boat. LMAO There was a point that I was yelling RUN FORE.. err I mean JEFFFFF RUNNNNN

 

[tony64]

Got to love those at sea days, we managed to get Palo brunch on our and I must say it was our Favourite meal of the tip.

Lovin' you drawings.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Ahhh, wonderful relaxing sea day! Congrats for getting out of your chair and eating some more - I mean drawing. You really are an artist!

 

[karajeboo]

I think we just had a Jimmy Buffet moment.

Jill in CO

Why yes, yes we did.....

We have sailed on Freedom in the past. I'd love to share my pics with you if you're interested? Don't think I did a TR though.

I would LOVE to see them! I have been gobbling up anything FOTS I can find! I've been on a cruise board reading reviews, watching youtube vids..... I want to see it all!

I did a Western on the Freedom in 2008. Fantastic ship! Loved the Flowrider! Get your ice skating show tickets early...they run out early!

Jill in CO

I heard that! I think I will overprepare as usual. Heck, I already have one excursion reserved in Grand Cayman - same one we did on this cruise which I'll detail soon!

I love the sea days, I grab a chair by the rail, keep ordering boat drinks,& watch the world go by!

I noticed the Tervis tumbler, did you bring it from home? My cupboard is seriously stocked with Tervis!

Yes ma'am! I have a whole set I use on the patio - oh heck, I use them all the time for everyday use, plus my great big Ohio State one for travel!

ahhhhh just a relaxing day...the pictures have made me gain weight!

Which is why I gained so much on the cruise!!!

Oh we always to "TRY" multiple meals.. got to make sure we dont miss anything and all that walking, sunning, picture taking makes a gal hungry.. and THIRSTY!

We never did the drawings how fun. Man Kara you could get a job with Disney your pics are on point my dear! Btw so glad Jeff made the boat. LMAO There was a point that I was yelling RUN FORE.. err I mean JEFFFFF RUNNNNN

I was just thinking Divorce Forre....Jeff.... Divorce!!!!

Got to love those at sea days, we managed to get Palo brunch on our and I must say it was our Favourite meal of the tip.

Lovin' you drawings.

I am not sure which I love more, Palo brunch or Palo dinner. Both incredible in their own ways!

Ahhh, wonderful relaxing sea day! Congrats for getting out of your chair and eating some more - I mean drawing. You really are an artist!

I've now done Mickey, Goofy, Pooh, Stitch and Eeyore! Everyone did a great Eeyore (cause Jeff was not there! ) - Ally's was great!

 

[LuvEeyore]

Meals on a cruise are as follows":
wake up snack and tea or coffee while getting dressed
breakfast
morning snack
brunch
lunch
afternoon snack
dinner
bedtime snack
midnight snack or buffet
3 am munchies

Did I remember them all

 

[luvslikepi]

Meals on a cruise are as follows":
wake up snack and tea or coffee while getting dressed
breakfast
morning snack
brunch
lunch
afternoon snack
dinner
bedtime snack
midnight snack or buffet
3 am munchies

Did I remember them all

I would add Second Breakfast.

 

[karajeboo]

Meals on a cruise are as follows":
wake up snack and tea or coffee while getting dressed
breakfast
morning snack
brunch
lunch
afternoon snack
dinner
bedtime snack
midnight snack or buffet
3 am munchies

Did I remember them all

I would add Second Breakfast.

Room service breakfast, room service snack (you got that one as bedtime snack)..... yup, that should be all of them!!!!

NOW, let's see who can get all the drinks of the day!!!!!

 

[tgreencreatemem]

We have sailed on Freedom in the past. I'd love to share my pics with you if you're interested? Don't think I did a TR though.

We have sailed on RCL Liberty of the Seas (Freedom's sister ship) - twice - love it! I am sure you will have an amazing time. I lose my hubby every time to Flow Rider - but that works for me because then I can lie there and read my book with no annoying interruptions!

 

[JWBmom]

All things considered, it's a quiet day in the Mickey Pool.... ugh. So glad I have never had to spend any time here....

Kara- that is Tim and I sitting on the edge of the Mickey pool watching Brooke!!!! That place was chaos- but she loved it.

 

[Empress Room]

Ole McBlarneystone told us all about the "firsts" this trip - first time two Disney ships in Port Canaveral together. First time two Disney ships in ANY port together...... And he warned us of the "epic horn battle" that would soon begin.....

Perhaps Ole McBlarneystone had one too many DOTD, as the Wonder and the Dream were both in Port Canaveral on January 6, 2011 before the Dream's maiden voyage and the Wonder's WB Panama Canal Cruise. And if we really want to get technical and call Castaway Cay a port, the Wonder and Magic were there together back in 1999 when the Wonder was on its maiden voyage too.

But it makes for a great story any way, and another reason to celebrate

 

[jenseib]

I didn't know they did a drawing class on the ship.. How fun. I wonder if they do that on the Dream too.

 

[Beth D]

Meals on a cruise are as follows":
wake up snack and tea or coffee while getting dressed
breakfast
morning snack
brunch
lunch
afternoon snack
dinner
bedtime snack
midnight snack or buffet
3 am munchies

Did I remember them all

You forgot 4th meal (although a taco might be tough to find on the Magic) !

I think DS ate donuts for breakfast every day. I also wonder how I missed the ice cream machine until day 5 of our cruise! We'll have to try room service next time. I did the bring a tray down to the room a couple times for the sleepy boys.

We also liked deck 7, easy to go down for dinner, but a little tougher back up in the evenings (we were with my parents who have more difficulty up steps...)

 

[Wicket's Mom]

My kids were always eating on our cruise! Two of the boys were teenagers at the time, eating machines.

I have to say I lost 8 pounds on our cruise! It was all the running up & down the stairs! Not so easy to lose weight these days!

 

[tony64]

It's not stopped raining here, like forever! Need another McSpankley trip report update.

 

[karajeboo]

I think this is the day that our vacation REALLY started. I mean, Day 1 is so overwhelming that you really don't get to relax and enjoy. In this case, Day 2 was in KW and we didn't really get to enjoy as much of the ship, so we decided TODAY was the start of R&R for the week!

Although, how can you NOT relax when you're 11? I mean, actually, 11 years and 1 day!

Time to head in and get all purtied up for dinner and Ally's belated celebration!

One thing we learned after our first DCL cruise.... the drinks at the captain's reception do NOT go on your shipboard account! Bottoms up!

Remember when our Palo server, Mo, told us that this was our captain's first voyage? Well, we had some questions for ole Captain Bobby.....

Ally: So, Captain Robert, tell me about the engines on this ship. Are they Sultzer Z40 with 514 RPM? I find it fascinating....
Jeff: Huh? Where's the free booze?
Ally: I see the 5 bowthrusters and main power 43200 KW.
Jeff: Huh?
Kara: Oh, Captain Bobby, I love a man in uniform.
Jeff: Huh?

It was stimulating conversation as usual.....

Captain Robert: So did you find my free booze?
Ally: Oh for goodness sake, really?
Jeff: Huh? Where?
Kara: Oh Captain Bobby, you so silly! Nice uniform!

Now, I'm not sure if it was seeing two ladies in red, or if he was aware of our collision course with an iceberg, but ole Captain Robert was sweating like nothing I've ever seen!!!! I mean, SWEAT! This was no ordinary easy going captain greeting passengers. So? What's the deal Bobby?????? Are you nervous about driving the ship? Or driving conversation with crazy passengers like the McSparklesons..... OR were you just star struck??? That's it!!! You recognized us as THE McSparklesons??????

After I pulled Jeff away from his 5th waiter handing out drinks...... it was time for dinner.

The bread service for this night was the Fig and Date Ciabatta Roll
with minted yogurt dip

Hmmmm, I think someone is excited to celebrate her birthday again!!!

Jeff and I ordered a bottle of wine for the evening, and it drove me NUTs when our assistant server always poured for Jeff first, even though I oftentimes ordered the wine.

For our appy, we all ordered the Double-Baked Aged Reggiano Parmesan Cheese Souffle with gorgonzola blue cheese, spinach, and mascarpone sauce with white truffle oil.

Jeff also ordered the "Belle's" Scallops Au Gratin - Seared scallops and mushrooms in a light white wine sauce topped with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven.

Sadly, both were not as good as they were last year. Once Jeff ordered the scallops he remembered them from last year, very flavorful, but they are the teeny tiny scallops.... I do not know why the cheese souffle was not as good, but last year we went through THREE of them for the three of us, and this year, Ally ordered her own, ate one bite and pushed it aside. I had to agree it was a bit "mushy" this year......

I honestly do not remember our soup or salad, and I guess it wasn't very exciting because I have no photos.... so on to the entree!

Jeff ordered the Rack of New Zealand Lamb with a Dijon Mustard Crust
with gratin potato cakes, baby Mediterranean vegetables, and rosemary flavored jus.

He really really enjoyed this.....

I got the Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington covered with mushroom stuffing wrapped in puff pastry served with fingerling potatoes, baby vegetables, and a cabernet black truffle jus, which is what I ordered last year and it was DELICIOUS!

Ally was ordering off the adult menu a lot this trip, and she ordered the Parma Ham Wrapped Chicken Breast - Stuffed with mozzarella cheese and vine ripened tomatoes on fingerling potatoes drizzled with spinach pesto and proclaimed it a "keeper."

I tried it and it was really YUMMY!

I needed a little something after dinner to keep me awake. All that fun and sun on deck just tuckered me out!!! And I think I know just the thing....

COFFEE! With a little sumpin sumpin on the side.... as in Frangelico!

Which goes GREAT with birthday cake!!!

Our servers made a HUGE deal out of her birthday, much more so than last year it seems....

And what I really remember about all our dining room experiences is that our HEAD server really spent a lot of time with us this cruise. We never had any issues, so there was no reason for him to schmooze us, but he was just very attentive and I felt we knew him MUCH better than our head server last year.....

From left to right, Assistant Server Stiliyan, HEAD server John, and Server Gusti.

John and Ally....

I bought a special cake for her birthday, but I don't think I'd do it again. It was beautiful, and really tasty, but if I recall it was about $30 and we gave it to our servers to take back to their room.

Plus, they will bring out a single serving cake to celebrate, at no charge. AND if you buy the celebrations decoration package, with the room decor, it comes with a cake, which we ended up giving to our cabin steward. We just couldn't even think about eating in the room - if we did get hungry, there was always room service.

We just didn't let Ally order!!!!

And even though we had that big ole cake, we still ordered dessert! Jeff had the Prince Charming Chilled Chocolate Souffle - Semi-frozen chocolate cream with almond brittle.

And I got the Cinderella's Lemon Cheesecake - Lemon-infused cheesecake with dark cherry compote

I have become such a sucker for any lemon desserts lately. And this was really good! We knew up front we would be offering the cake to our servers to take back and share with their roommates, so we all just had little tastes, and then ate our desserts....

Hmmmm, I still wonder how I managed to gain so much weight on this cruise?

Continued next post

 

[karajeboo]

This is the first night the spanx started screaming. I mean, that dress was S-N-U-G...... there was only one way to hold it all together. Ladies? You know what I"m talking about!!!! Spanx are a girls best friend. Diamonds? yeah, yeah.... But they can only emphasize one little finger. Or an earlobe. Or a wrist.

But spanx? They can help out a whole midsection. I mean, top to bottome. Am I right or am I right????

So as I made my way, very carefully, out of LUmiere's to head back to de-spanx myself...... look who we found???

Now Minnie entertaining the kids is great. And this is exactly why I say the DCL is so much more intimate than WDW. No pushing or shoving to get to Minnie. She's not in and out in 30 seconds. She's there to really mingle with the kids. LOVE IT!!!

But I think I took this shot because of Midtown. That is the duo that was always in the Promenade Lounge. And we still imitate her when she does her tribute to Michael Jackson. I swear, on both our cruises, we must have seen them EVERY single night. Somewhere. They were even on Castaway Cay.

If you've ever seen her do her Michael Jackson tribute, you'll get this.

"Whoo hoo!" Flip the hat and put on a child's head.

Enough said.

But to see Jeff do HIS Michael Jackson tribute?

Once we made it into the elevator (cause the spanx said NO to the stairs!), I felt very safe knowing we were being escorted to the 6th deck.....

And then it happened.....

Ally decided she wanted to stay in our "fancy" clothes for the show......

That's when the spanx started SCREAMING!!!!

But that's not all that started screaming.....

Again, ladies, need I say more?????

We met up with Tammi and Tori at the entrance to the theater so we could see Twice Charmed....

And of course the Big Cheese himself, all decked out and looking handsome.... and Jeff looked okay, too....

I believe Tammi must have made the girls a better offer, because Ally ditched us and Jeff and I settled in to watch the show.....

I was trying to get out of this show, but Jeff talked me into seeing it again and I'm very glad he did. The only show I will never see again is coming up later. Just gets me so emotional.....

After the show we went to find Ally and quickly learned why she ditched us.....

So she DID get a better offer!!!!

Jeff and I headed back to the room to get changed and off we went to find some adult entertainment... wait, that didn't come out right. We went to find some , well, we went out clubbin!

And being the party animals we are, we listened to one song, ordered one drink, and headed back to the cabin where Ally met us about 2 minutes later.

A perfect end to a perfect day!!!!

Up next: Grand Cayman and the BEST port excursion EVAH!!!!