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

[karajeboo]

Originally Posted by rndmr2

Thank God Jeff made it!

Awesome night pics of the pool. The hypnotist show sounds like fun, there was one when we were on our Honeymoon and that was fun, too (it was a Princess cruise). You have to wonder sometimes, though if people are faking it or not.

Gotta love a good cheese plate!!

I think that's why they started with about 9, and by the time it was done, there were only 4 left I think. He would tap them and send them back to the audience when he knew they weren't really under....

Originally Posted by saintstickets

Fantastic TR karajeboo!

I love these shows. DW and I saw one at the Isle of Capri Casino in Biloxi, MS that literally had us falling out of our seats we were laughing so hard. If I can ever get up the courage to take DW on a cruise (she keeps asking about life insurance in the same sentence as talking about a cruise!), I hope they will still have a hypnotist performing.

Of course this is something that is on everyone's bucket list to do on a cruise! I can sympathize about the language barrier since we're from Mississippi. What's not to understand about "y'all are fixin' to break something if you keep fiddlin' with that"!. And another thing, thank you for spelling it y'all instead of ya'll. Down South we may talk funny but we do know proper grammar for contractions...it's y'all for you all...what the heck is ya'll for? Okay, okay, we know about contractions but not about ending a sentence in a preposition!

I was an English major so grammar and spelling are BIG issues for me! Even for our "own" language!!!! I used to work with a guy and when I'd say, "Where are you going to?" Or something like that, he would always answer, "I'm heading out to Preposition Avenue, where are YOU going TO?"

Originally Posted by hardingk

Another great update! What cabin were you in again?

6631 this trip - last time it was 6648 basically across the hall and down a couple..... LOVE the aft end of the ship!

Originally Posted by Cheryl726

Great pics of the pool deck at night! Love that!

I couldn't believe nobody was around!

Originally Posted by tony64

Phew,glad Jeff made it back on time.
We've not ordered room service, I don't know where we'd put the food, we are always so stuffed with all the others meals we have had on board that we couldn't face anything else.

That's not to say we won't make the extra effort to squeeze it in on our next trip.

Don't forget, we didn't make it to the dining room that night..... And Jeff had a liquid dinner in KW!

[hardingk]

Originally Posted by karajeboo

6631 this trip - last time it was 6648 basically across the hall and down a couple..... LOVE the aft end of the ship!

We are in 6581 on Magic this August!

[karajeboo]

Originally Posted by hardingk

We are in 6581 on Magic this August!

And the great thing about Deck 6 on the Magic is that you can take the stairs anywhere from your room - down 3 to nightclubs/bars and 2 restaurants, down only 2 decks to one restaurant,, down 1 deck to kids clubs, and up only 3 to pools and Topsiders. It's a great location and you never need to wait for the elevator!!!! Unless you want to go from dinner up to the pool - that's a looooooong walk!

[hardingk]

Originally Posted by karajeboo

And the great thing about Deck 6 on the Magic is that you can take the stairs anywhere from your room - down 3 to nightclubs/bars and 2 restaurants, down only 2 decks to one restaurant,, down 1 deck to kids clubs, and up only 3 to pools and Topsiders. It's a great location and you never need to wait for the elevator!!!! Unless you want to go from dinner up to the pool - that's a looooooong walk!

Awesome! Great to know! Thanks. If I remember right, you had an inside too?

[emdowens74]

Have I told you I'm following? It's helping me relive the MAGIC! Had a blast and am enjoying reading your experience.
We are booked for next year, Fantasy June 1st EC!

[karajeboo]

Originally Posted by hardingk

Awesome! Great to know! Thanks. If I remember right, you had an inside too?

Yup, inside and it was awesome!

Originally Posted by emdowens74

Have I told you I'm following? It's helping me relive the MAGIC! Had a blast and am enjoying reading your experience.
We are booked for next year, Fantasy June 1st EC!

That's sooner than us - we are booked for the NYE 2013 cruise - it's only 555 days!!!!

[MAGICFOR2]

Originally Posted by karajeboo

He totally fit the part, too! Nice guy, really, and bless her heart for being polite when I know she wanted to run and hide.



I can only imagine!!!!!



Sorry, you must wait, young grasshopper......



There is another place that people say is "the best" called Blue Heaven. It's kind of down toward the Southernmost point (that's actually north of the southernmost point.....). But when we met Jeff's buddy, he pointed us right across the street to Kermit's.... and I can't imagine anything better than that. I do know they have several locations, too.



This pie was not bitter AT ALL! It was sweet, with just a bit of tang. Ally has now perfected her own key lime pie that actually rivals ole Kermit's..... So yummy!

Ally's getting to be quite the cook!

Originally Posted by karajeboo

And the great thing about Deck 6 on the Magic is that you can take the stairs anywhere from your room - down 3 to nightclubs/bars and 2 restaurants, down only 2 decks to one restaurant,, down 1 deck to kids clubs, and up only 3 to pools and Topsiders. It's a great location and you never need to wait for the elevator!!!! Unless you want to go from dinner up to the pool - that's a looooooong walk!

I love Deck 6! The 3 flights in either direction is one of the reasons. We never take the elevators. or should I say SLOWevators!

[MAGICFOR2]

I'm so relieved that Jeff made the ship! It's fun when things don't go as planned and you can just relax and enjoy the moment. Poor Ally - I was imagining you getting all kinds of steaks and sandwiches, etc. You would have had to invite all your neighbors in for a party!

[jenseib]

So did Jeff say he was one of the runners back to the ship...or did he play it cool, like he had been on for a long time.

[karajeboo]

As usual, Jeff was up with the sun on our first "sea day!"



Sea days are my FAVORITE! I love to just enjoy the ship - when I book cruises now, I could care less where we go, I book for the ships. We are very particular and spend a great deal of time watching youtube vids, reading other cruise message boards, trying to find the "perfect ship." Well, aside from anything DCL!

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???

It was shaping up to be a great day, as we were making our way to the Cayman Islands.....



What was really amazing was that we could see Cuba all day long. We stayed really close and I don't think Cuba was ever out of our sight..... This is the one Caribbean island that I really really REALLY want to see someday when it opens up to US tourism. I am a big Hemingway fan and would just love to explore Cuba the way he did......

When Jeff got back to the cabin with coffee for both of us, I had already taken the liberty of ordering room service the night before......



Now I think I may have figured out why I gain about a pound a day on cruises.....

Room service AND breakfast buffet!!! Seriously, I gained 6 lbs on this cruise - Jeff gained 8. Not good at all. Well, it WAS good, just not good.





The one thing you will never see is an idle crew. They are always polishing, cleaning, shining, or whatever it is they do to keep this 14 year old ship looking GREAT!



We were all ready for a day to do NOTHING, so we found our loungers, and dropped.





We love to find chairs up on Deck 10 overlooking the Quiet Cove Pool. Unlike on the Dream, where the areas surrounding AND overlooking the Quiet Cove Pool are adult only, on the Magic the area above is not limited, so Ally can easily find us by just coming back to our chairs and waving down to us if we are taking a dip to cool off.....

See?



We try to get away, but the kid always finds us......

Quiet Cove Pool - VIDEO - click to play!

But it was bloody mary time, right? I mean, it IS vacation!!!



Looks like we have company! I tried for the longest time but couldn't figure out what ship this was..... Later we were being "chased" by what appeared to be a really large ship (Oasis? Allure?) but she turned off before getting close enough to see....



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





After a VERY busy morning of doing... NOTHING.... it was time for lunch! I mean, talk about working up an appetite!

Looking back from just above Topsiders....



Walking back, with Topsiders inside dining on the left....



The ice cream station. I am so surprised by little skinny minny Ally didn't gain as much as we did because I think every time she joined us, she either had ice cream, or the telltale signs of ice cream recently.....



Continuing back toward the front of the ship, getting ready to pass the Mickey Pool.... ugh again!



Quick lunch today from Goofy's Galley - a yummy turkey sandwich and a bit of fruit..... gotta save room for another lunch later!!!! And you were thinking the fruit was healthy!!!!





I'll be honest, I'm a sandwich girl. You could offer me surf and turf and I'd still choose the sandwich for lunch. Now dinner is another story, but there is something about a sandwich for lunch.....

Did I mention lunch #2? OK, so it wasn't much, I really just went for the desserts...... ONly 6 lbs? Amazing!!!!



Continued next post....

[karajeboo]

Now one thing we discussed before we left for this cruise, was what we could try "new" this time..... And one thing we decided was that we would do the Art of Animation.

I first did this at Hollywood Studios with Ellen and the DISmoms last year and LOVED it!!! So I took my mom, niece, and Ally back in December when we all traveled to WDW...... Ally and my niece loved it so much that I took them a second time that week!

This time we decided to get Jeff involved and he was ready to draw!!!!

So off we headed to Animator's Palate to draw Mickey!





Seems only fitting, right?



They look happy, right?



That was BEFORE they put pencil to paper......

Not sure who drew this, but I'm soooo glad they titled it Mickey Mouse so you didn't confuse it with Mighty Mouse, or any of the rats from steerage....



Same here....

When did Mickey/Mighty/Steerage Rat go crosseyed????



Ahhhh, wonder who drew THIS Mickey??????



Oh wait, that's MINE!!!!!!

I will admit, Ally did much better in WDW with the underlit table and the paper locked in place.

Poor Mickey......

Did I say poor Mickey? How about poor Goofy??????

Yes, I made them all stay and draw again!!!

Not bad, Ally.....



I think Jeff was drawing a cross between Woody and the Evil Snow Queen....



And who could have drawn this masterpiece???



Well I'll be... I think that is MINE!!!!

So we did it! WE fought back against the "deck gravity" that had us firmly in its grasp on our last cruise. We fought back and got OUT OF OUR DECK CHAIRS and actually did something different on our first day at sea!!!!

AFter a bit more sun and fun, it was time to get ready for more food!!!! It's Prince and Princess Dinner, time to dress up and celebrate Ally's birthday (a day late.....)!!!!

[KristiMc]

I gained 7 pounds. It could have been those 2 croissants that I had from room service every morning - they were so good.

I'm not going to show you my drawing of Goofy - not very good at all. I missed the Mickey drawing.

So glad that you got up off those chairs and did some activities. You will need to teach me to hang out on those chairs a bit on the Fantasy - with a drink in hand.

[jcarwash]

I think my son would look at that plate of donuts and find Mickey!

[karajeboo]

Originally Posted by KristiMc

I gained 7 pounds. It could have been those 2 croissants that I had from room service every morning - they were so good.

I'm not going to show you my drawing of Goofy - not very good at all. I missed the Mickey drawing.

So glad that you got up off those chairs and did some activities. You will need to teach me to hang out on those chairs a bit on the Fantasy - with a drink in hand.

It's also "vacation drinks." At home I like wine or a nice cold beer in the summer, but on vacation I go for the frozen concoctions that help me hang on...... And they are LOADED with calories!!!!!

Originally Posted by jcarwash

I think my son would look at that plate of donuts and find Mickey!

I see it too!!!! I'm really excited to hear your take on the Fantasy. We are reviewing the Dream from our DISmoms trip right now, but 4 days was definitely too short a stay on a ship that large..... SOOOO excited for a full week on the Fantasy!

[jedijill]

Originally Posted by karajeboo

It's also "vacation drinks." At home I like wine or a nice cold beer in the summer, but on vacation I go for the frozen concoctions that help me hang on...... And they are LOADED with calories!!!!!



I see it too!!!! I'm really excited to hear your take on the Fantasy. We are reviewing the Dream from our DISmoms trip right now, but 4 days was definitely too short a stay on a ship that large..... SOOOO excited for a full week on the Fantasy!

I think we just had a Jimmy Buffet moment.

Jill in CO