Scared Silly But Loving It
- Thread starter dolphingirl47
- Start date
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
What gorgeous FE gifts. I bet everyone would have been delighted to have gotten those.
Your character pictures are just stunning. That's a great set of pictures you've collected on this trip so far and it isn't even over!
Your dress!!! You're just stunning in it. That style does suit you and you styled it perfectly with the necklace, bracelet and tiara. Just beautiful!
The pictures of you and Graham are lovely. They must be wonderful memories to look back on. You both look so happy.
Well done!
Your character pictures are just stunning. That's a great set of pictures you've collected on this trip so far and it isn't even over!
Your dress!!! You're just stunning in it. That style does suit you and you styled it perfectly with the necklace, bracelet and tiara. Just beautiful!
The pictures of you and Graham are lovely. They must be wonderful memories to look back on. You both look so happy.
Well done!
Paula Sedley-Burke
Proud to believe in Rainbows and Unicorns...
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
I am loving this TR and reading about The Magic and her new look! The DVC meeting sounded like the same format as ours in September. Good fun! I love Cabanas so that is a plus having that now! I have never been brave enough to do the Aquaduck either. Think with my spine problems it would not be good!
You did so well to meet Anna from Frozen. Omg have you read about the crazy queues at EPCOT with people getting to the World Showcase hours before it opens to run to Norway!
Love your FE presents.
Oh gosh Corinna your gown is beautiful and you look amazing in it. I am surprised the CM didn't want your photo for promo shots! Where did you get such a delightful garment made?
I love Minnie's holiday outfit that is just too cute. Does that make her a plaid. Lol...
You did so well to meet Anna from Frozen. Omg have you read about the crazy queues at EPCOT with people getting to the World Showcase hours before it opens to run to Norway!
Love your FE presents.
Oh gosh Corinna your gown is beautiful and you look amazing in it. I am surprised the CM didn't want your photo for promo shots! Where did you get such a delightful garment made?
I love Minnie's holiday outfit that is just too cute. Does that make her a plaid. Lol...
Paula Sedley-Burke
Proud to believe in Rainbows and Unicorns...
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
Hi Alison! Are they doing Elsa at DL in addition to Anna?
franandaj
I'm so happy, I could BOUNCE!
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
I didn't actually wait in the line to see, but I think both of them were in the M&G area. I took a picture of it as we walked by. The line was HUGE and this was on a weekday in February. I'll great here on my latest string of updates (which will be a while in the making now that I'm back at home and having to keep up with the daily business.)
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Thanks. I am very lucky that I have found some very talented people over the years that are happy to work with me to make these things happen
I love making them. Unfortunately there won't be any gifts on the next cruise. This is just too big a group and with the limited time to plan, I have decided to not ask for the Fish Extended lists.
I always love the photos. I am already planning to get the cruise CD again for the upcoming trip. Yes, it is pricey, but the memories are priceless.
I absolutely adore that gown. Two of the gowns for the next cruise are the same style, but minus the train and very different colours.
I think I would try the Aquaduck and enjoy it, but the Aquadunk is a little extreme for my liking.
I was very happy to see Anna on the ship and even though I am not normally into the princesses and can be a bit shy around them, I was totally at ease with Anna even before I watched the film. I would have loved to meet Elsa, too, but just having Anna was great. There is more of her to come.
I found a listing for this dress on Ebay:
This is a seller in China. I asked to stick with the red parts, but replace the white with green and add gold embroidery. It is made to my measurements so it fits like a glove.
Thank you. I cannot say enough good things about the improvements of Cabanas.
Corinna
Paula Sedley-Burke
Proud to believe in Rainbows and Unicorns...
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
Thanks for posting about the dress. The designer ( you ) and the maker on ebay did a great job! Did it take long from ordering it to it arriving?
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
About two months. I ordered the dresses for the upcoming cruise last weekend and now I am not so patiently waiting for them to arrive. Still, I know they will be worth it.
Corinna
Paula Sedley-Burke
Proud to believe in Rainbows and Unicorns...
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
two months isn't too bad to get such a good quality item. I am so impressed. It looks like a great fit as well so am thinking the tailor got that right. Very impressed. Look forward to your next TR for your next cruise complete with dresses
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
two months isn't too bad to get such a good quality item. I am so impressed. It looks like a great fit as well so am thinking the tailor got that right. Very impressed. Look forward to your next TR for your next cruise complete with dresses
Well, the planning is coming along nicely. Once I have finished this trip report, I will start a pre-trip report for the May trip.
Corinna
Paula Sedley-Burke
Proud to believe in Rainbows and Unicorns...
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
oh will look forward to that so I will
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Day 14
This was our first port day and we were due to arrive early and leave early. Grand Cayman is also a tender port so that added some time to get off the ship. We got up at 7:00 and got ready. Our nice new DVC bag came in handy. Once we were ready, we quickly went up to deck 9 to get some towels. While we were up there, we decided to grab some pastries from Cove Cafe and then we headed for the drink station where Graham got some coffee and I had an Earl Grey tea. We sat down and enjoyed the view while we had our breakfast. Once we were finished, we headed down to the Buena Vista Theater, which was the meeting point for the tenders for people who did not have excursions booked. We got lucky once again. As we approached the cast member giving out the tender tickets, she pointed us to the other door and advised us that they were about to send a group down and there was still room. We were told to just join the end of the line. We did and less than 10 minutes later, we were on the tender. We had see the tender boats at Grand Cayman change a lot over the years. On our first visit, they were essentially just floating platforms. The previous year, they looked like excursion boats and this was still the case this year, but the boats were a lot bigger. We went downstairs and there were not many other people on that level.
The crossing to Georgetown did not take long. When we arrived in the port area, the heavens opened. I have never seen anything like this. It only last about 10 minutes, but I think during that period we had about a week's worth of rain. Fortunately we were not far from shelter and we just waited it out. Once this freak shower had passed, we had a beautiful sunny day and it was very hot. On our last two visits to Grand Cayman, we had gone on excursions. This time round we decided to just head for the beach. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my wallet. I noticed this just as we were heading to the Buena Vista Theater and suggested I would go back to the cabin to fetch it, but Graham said we would just find a cash machine and get some money. So once the rain had stopped, this was the next task. We had hoped that there would be a cash machine right by the port, but that was not the case. We asked one of the people trying to sell excursions and he pointed us down a street opposite the port. We walked the whole length of the street, but could not find a cash machine. We decided that we would head in the general direction of Seven Mile Beach as we had seen some strip malls driving along that road the previous year and hoped that we would come across a cash machine on our travels. We were treated to a beautiful rainbow as we walked. We even came past a HSBC bank, but still no cash machine. It is really beyond belief that it is virtually impossible to find a cash machine on an island were banking is the second biggest industry.
We found an access point to the beach before we found a cash point. Graham went in the water, but there were a lot of rocks in the water at this stretch of beach. I stuck my toe in the water, but it was too cold for my liking. This was a real shame as this stretch of beach had beautiful white sand and we were the only people there. It just looked like a little piece of paradise. We decided to move on and saw some interesting wildlife on the way. Unfortunately I had a disagreement with one bit of wildlife. I caught my leg on a tree branch. It was bleeding quite a lot at first, but it soon enough stopped so I did not have it seen too. With hindsight, I should have taken it to the health centre. It took well over a month to heal and now I have a very angry looking scar. I think this may have benefitted from a couple of stitches, as it was so deep. We walked along the beach for about an hour, but there was no further access to the sea at first and then we got tangled up with the resorts. In the end we gave up and cut through a resort to get back to the road and walked back to the port.
Once we got back to the port area, we found ourselves a shady spot and sat down for a while to cool down. I was actually considering heading back to the ship to get my wallet, but this seemed like a lot of effort. There were a lot of people near where we were sitting offering shuttle services to the beach. Graham decided to speak to one of them to see how much they charge and if they accepted cards. They only charged $4.00 per person and although they could not accept card payments, they offered to take us to a cash machine near the beach resort were they were taking us. That sounded like a plan. We accepted that offer gratefully.
The resort they took us to is the Royal Palms Resort. They dropped off everybody else at the resort and then they took us to strip mall about half a mile further that had a bank that actually had a cash machine. Graham got some money and then they took us back to the resort. I was surprised that they actually had US Dollars in the cash machine. We had expected that they would have Cayman Dollars, but apparently there was a choice of both.
The resort was absolutely amazing. They offered all kinds of water sports there at an extra cost; they had a beautiful white sand beach with shallow access to the sea, a freshwater pool, a restaurant and a couple of bars. You could also hire a sun lounger with an umbrella or even a cabana. Everything was spotlessly clean. We did to bother with lounger. We just put our beach bag down where it was out of the way, but we could still see it and then the beautiful turquoise sea was calling us. We had a bit of a discussion about this. I absolutely love the colours of the Caribbean and Graham much prefers the darker blue of the Pacific. Still, he was quite happy with the Caribbean, too. As we had got quite hot, when we initially stepped into the sea, it was quite a shock, but it was actually beautifully warm once we were in. We were surprised how few people were actually in the water. The beach was quite busy, but there were less than 10 people actually in the water and most of those stayed in the shallows.
Even though the access was shallow, it dropped off quite steeply shortly afterwards. This was perfect for swimming. Actually, I say swimming, but essentially we swam out for a short stretch and then we essentially just floated and enjoyed our beautiful surroundings. Every now again if we felt we were drifting a little too far out we swam back towards the beach and then started floating again. On one of those quick swims back to the shallows I nearly jumped out of my skin. There was suddenly a huge silvery fish right next to me. The fish was obviously interested in me, but did not seem aggressive. Still, I was not happy about its presence. The fact that I had a cut on my leg made me even more nervous. We decided that we had enough of the sea shortly afterwards. We Googled images of the fish at Grand Cayman when we got home and the best that we could find out that this was a member of the Grouper family.
When we came out of the water, we collected our beach bag and headed towards the front of the resort. As we came in, I spotted the pool and that looked very appealing. We found some outside showers on the decking near the restaurant. The showers were blissfully warm. Once we had rinsed off the salt and sand, we headed in the pool. I swam for a bit and then I noticed that they had ledges around the sides of the pool with jets of water. So I sat there for a while. At some stage I had enough water for a day and I got out of the pool. Graham had already got out a while before. We both drip-dried for a while and once we were no longer dripping, we went to the exit. There was a shuttle there, but we had to wait a little bit until the shuttle was full and then we headed back to the port.
When we got back to the port, a tender was just pulling in so we did not have long to wait. When we got back to the ship, we went to our cabin to get changed. As we approached the cabin, I noticed that there was a piece of paper behind our fish. While I picked this up and read this, Graham had already gone inside and asked me why there were some tubes on our bed. The letter stated that they were special commemorative Coke bottles to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Disney Cruise Line and that they were given exclusively to Platinum Castaway Club members. The tubes had the 15th anniversary logo on them and inside were classic Coke bottles that had the logo on as well. Graham suggested that we should drink the Coke, but I would not hear of it. They are now sitting on our windowsill at home.
This was our first port day and we were due to arrive early and leave early. Grand Cayman is also a tender port so that added some time to get off the ship. We got up at 7:00 and got ready. Our nice new DVC bag came in handy. Once we were ready, we quickly went up to deck 9 to get some towels. While we were up there, we decided to grab some pastries from Cove Cafe and then we headed for the drink station where Graham got some coffee and I had an Earl Grey tea. We sat down and enjoyed the view while we had our breakfast. Once we were finished, we headed down to the Buena Vista Theater, which was the meeting point for the tenders for people who did not have excursions booked. We got lucky once again. As we approached the cast member giving out the tender tickets, she pointed us to the other door and advised us that they were about to send a group down and there was still room. We were told to just join the end of the line. We did and less than 10 minutes later, we were on the tender. We had see the tender boats at Grand Cayman change a lot over the years. On our first visit, they were essentially just floating platforms. The previous year, they looked like excursion boats and this was still the case this year, but the boats were a lot bigger. We went downstairs and there were not many other people on that level.
The crossing to Georgetown did not take long. When we arrived in the port area, the heavens opened. I have never seen anything like this. It only last about 10 minutes, but I think during that period we had about a week's worth of rain. Fortunately we were not far from shelter and we just waited it out. Once this freak shower had passed, we had a beautiful sunny day and it was very hot. On our last two visits to Grand Cayman, we had gone on excursions. This time round we decided to just head for the beach. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my wallet. I noticed this just as we were heading to the Buena Vista Theater and suggested I would go back to the cabin to fetch it, but Graham said we would just find a cash machine and get some money. So once the rain had stopped, this was the next task. We had hoped that there would be a cash machine right by the port, but that was not the case. We asked one of the people trying to sell excursions and he pointed us down a street opposite the port. We walked the whole length of the street, but could not find a cash machine. We decided that we would head in the general direction of Seven Mile Beach as we had seen some strip malls driving along that road the previous year and hoped that we would come across a cash machine on our travels. We were treated to a beautiful rainbow as we walked. We even came past a HSBC bank, but still no cash machine. It is really beyond belief that it is virtually impossible to find a cash machine on an island were banking is the second biggest industry.
We found an access point to the beach before we found a cash point. Graham went in the water, but there were a lot of rocks in the water at this stretch of beach. I stuck my toe in the water, but it was too cold for my liking. This was a real shame as this stretch of beach had beautiful white sand and we were the only people there. It just looked like a little piece of paradise. We decided to move on and saw some interesting wildlife on the way. Unfortunately I had a disagreement with one bit of wildlife. I caught my leg on a tree branch. It was bleeding quite a lot at first, but it soon enough stopped so I did not have it seen too. With hindsight, I should have taken it to the health centre. It took well over a month to heal and now I have a very angry looking scar. I think this may have benefitted from a couple of stitches, as it was so deep. We walked along the beach for about an hour, but there was no further access to the sea at first and then we got tangled up with the resorts. In the end we gave up and cut through a resort to get back to the road and walked back to the port.
Once we got back to the port area, we found ourselves a shady spot and sat down for a while to cool down. I was actually considering heading back to the ship to get my wallet, but this seemed like a lot of effort. There were a lot of people near where we were sitting offering shuttle services to the beach. Graham decided to speak to one of them to see how much they charge and if they accepted cards. They only charged $4.00 per person and although they could not accept card payments, they offered to take us to a cash machine near the beach resort were they were taking us. That sounded like a plan. We accepted that offer gratefully.
The resort they took us to is the Royal Palms Resort. They dropped off everybody else at the resort and then they took us to strip mall about half a mile further that had a bank that actually had a cash machine. Graham got some money and then they took us back to the resort. I was surprised that they actually had US Dollars in the cash machine. We had expected that they would have Cayman Dollars, but apparently there was a choice of both.
The resort was absolutely amazing. They offered all kinds of water sports there at an extra cost; they had a beautiful white sand beach with shallow access to the sea, a freshwater pool, a restaurant and a couple of bars. You could also hire a sun lounger with an umbrella or even a cabana. Everything was spotlessly clean. We did to bother with lounger. We just put our beach bag down where it was out of the way, but we could still see it and then the beautiful turquoise sea was calling us. We had a bit of a discussion about this. I absolutely love the colours of the Caribbean and Graham much prefers the darker blue of the Pacific. Still, he was quite happy with the Caribbean, too. As we had got quite hot, when we initially stepped into the sea, it was quite a shock, but it was actually beautifully warm once we were in. We were surprised how few people were actually in the water. The beach was quite busy, but there were less than 10 people actually in the water and most of those stayed in the shallows.
Even though the access was shallow, it dropped off quite steeply shortly afterwards. This was perfect for swimming. Actually, I say swimming, but essentially we swam out for a short stretch and then we essentially just floated and enjoyed our beautiful surroundings. Every now again if we felt we were drifting a little too far out we swam back towards the beach and then started floating again. On one of those quick swims back to the shallows I nearly jumped out of my skin. There was suddenly a huge silvery fish right next to me. The fish was obviously interested in me, but did not seem aggressive. Still, I was not happy about its presence. The fact that I had a cut on my leg made me even more nervous. We decided that we had enough of the sea shortly afterwards. We Googled images of the fish at Grand Cayman when we got home and the best that we could find out that this was a member of the Grouper family.
When we came out of the water, we collected our beach bag and headed towards the front of the resort. As we came in, I spotted the pool and that looked very appealing. We found some outside showers on the decking near the restaurant. The showers were blissfully warm. Once we had rinsed off the salt and sand, we headed in the pool. I swam for a bit and then I noticed that they had ledges around the sides of the pool with jets of water. So I sat there for a while. At some stage I had enough water for a day and I got out of the pool. Graham had already got out a while before. We both drip-dried for a while and once we were no longer dripping, we went to the exit. There was a shuttle there, but we had to wait a little bit until the shuttle was full and then we headed back to the port.
When we got back to the port, a tender was just pulling in so we did not have long to wait. When we got back to the ship, we went to our cabin to get changed. As we approached the cabin, I noticed that there was a piece of paper behind our fish. While I picked this up and read this, Graham had already gone inside and asked me why there were some tubes on our bed. The letter stated that they were special commemorative Coke bottles to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Disney Cruise Line and that they were given exclusively to Platinum Castaway Club members. The tubes had the 15th anniversary logo on them and inside were classic Coke bottles that had the logo on as well. Graham suggested that we should drink the Coke, but I would not hear of it. They are now sitting on our windowsill at home.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
By then we were ready for some lunch. As we both really enjoyed Cabanas the previous day, we decided to go back there. This time round there was no soup and more of a Chinese theme to lunch, but it was again delicious. They had the amazing chips again so I had some of those. I also had different types of stir-fry some of which were quite spicy. Graham had some salad, peel and eat shrimp and some fish. He also could not resist the chips. He also had some bread and butter pudding. He decided that they must have a British chef at Cabanas as the bread and butter pudding was delicious and they do proper chips now.
After lunch, we took a wander along deck 9. We bumped into Michelle and her family who had stayed on the ship that day and made good use of the Aqua Dunk. We chatted for a while and then moved on. Graham had a deck massage on one of our previous cruises and was mulling over getting another one. He was in two minds about this, but as he was struggling with a stiff shoulder and neck I pushed him to go for it. Normally they can do it right there and then, but this time round they gave him an appointment for 17:00. At that stage we had nothing further to do for a while and we decided to have another nap.
We got up again in time for when the last tender was due to leave Georgetown and headed up to deck 10. We wanted to watch us sail away from Grand Cayman and more important still, hear the horn. The Captain was not hanging about and shortly after we arrived on deck, we were already moving. Once we had heard the horn and were underway, we went back to the cabin. That evening was Pirate Night and this is one of my favourite occasions for character photos. I also finally found my perfect Pirate outfit in the run up to the cruise and this was based around a beautiful gown. As this had a corset back, Graham's services to tie me into this were required. He did a great job as usual and once he was finished with we, I put on my Pirate accessories. We then headed down to the Promenade Lounge for Pirate Trivia.
We had sat there for a while and there was no sign of a member of cruise staff. I had started to wonder if I got the venue wrong. There were quite a few other people sitting there as well. I asked them if they were there for Pirate Trivia and they confirmed they were. While we were waiting, we had a drink. I decided to try the Drink of the Day and Graham had a Virgin Piña Colada. Eventually a member of cruise staff arrived, but then there were some technical issues. In the end we were running about 30 minutes late. They have changed the questions again and they were fiendishly difficult. I really thought we were sunk. Graham had to leave before the end of the quiz as well to go for his massage. So for the last couple of questions, I was on my own. In the end we got 13 out of 25 questions right. After the scoring was done, one member from each team had to stand up and then sit down once their score was called. We started with 6 correct answers and straightaway a large group of people had to sit down. I could not believe my eyes when after 11 correct answers were called; I was the only one left standing. We had done it again. Yet again we had won Pirate Trivia. I so wished that Graham had been there to share this moment with me.
After I had collected our prizes, which were some keyrings, I headed over to the atrium. I had missed Pirate Mickey for now, but was one of the first people in line for Pirate Minnie. Once I had seen Minnie, I went up to deck 4 to get in line for Captain Jack Sparrow. There were not many people in front of me, but Captain Jack Sparrow took his time with everybody and I started to get a little antsy as I was worried that I would miss Mickey again as he was out at the same time. Fortunately when I got back downstairs, Mickey's line was still open and the line moved quite quickly. That then meant that I had plenty of time to go back to deck 4 to see Pirate Stitch, who was really the character that I wanted to see the most. Stitch took his time with me and reminded me why he is the second biggest love of my life. When I finished with Stitch, the photographer at the white backdrop was still there and I decided to head there next to get some photos.
Once I was all done with the photos, I went up to Shutters to check out the photos that had been taken the previous day. I really liked them. I then went back to our cabin to chill out for a bit. Graham arrived shortly afterwards bearing gifts. It was my birthday in November and Graham had not been able to find a suitable gift locally so he had told me that he would get something for me while we were on holiday. I knew just the thing. Once the first
cruises on the re-imagined Magic had sailed, news filtered through that there was a new Disney Cruise Line Dooney and Bourke design, which was initially exclusive to the Magic. It was a variation of the Charms pattern that is available in the parks, but the background is navy blue and the charms are all Disney Cruise Line related. It literally was love at first sight for me. I showed this to Graham in the first day and that evening he came back to the cabin with a tote in this pattern. Not only is this bag the perfect size to take to work as it fits everything that I could possible want or need, but he also found me one with a perfect placement. This is one of the nicest birthday presents I ever received.
Soon the next character set was due to start. There was just one character that I rather wanted to meet that I was still missing and that was Captain Hook. So I headed out to meet him. Graham decided to come with me. Captain Hook did not have much of a line and therefore it did not take me very long. Once I was done, we headed back to the cabin. I had originally brought a separate gown for Palo. The trouble was that I rather liked the gown I was wearing and it was really comfortable. I was a little worried that it was too piratey, but it was sold as a wedding gown. I decided to just run with it. I took off all the pirate accessories and added some a bit more understated accessories. Nobody batted an eyelid.
We decided to head up to Palo a little earlier than our reservation. The restaurant manager welcomed us and sent somebody to check if our server was ready for us. He then escorted us to our table. Susanna came to welcome us. During this cruise we had a stronger feeling than usual that Disney Cruise Line keeps a very detailed file on their guests. People seemed to know stuff that there was no way they could remember from the previous times we met them. For instance our server Edward knew straightaway that Graham liked his steak medium rare. There is no way that he had remembered this from 2009 with the thousands of people he would have encountered since. Still, Susanna genuinely seemed to remember some stuff from the previous year. It was an absolute joy to meet her again. We both decided to stick to the water as we still had our wine in the cabin, which in the end we did not have that evening. We had the anti pasti platter with Prosciutto, Bresaola, Sweet Peppers, Parmesan Cheese and Olives and some lovely Garlic Pizza Bread. Graham then followed Susanna's recommendation and had the Fritto di Calamari, which was lightly-crusted Calamari with deep fried Cherry Peppers. I think the peppers were quite spicy as I could almost see steam coming out of Graham's ears when he bit into one of those. I had my favourite dish on the ship: the Grilled Portobello Mushroom with Polenta with a Shallot Sauce. After the starter, we were given some Lemon Sorbet to cleanse the palate. For his main course, Graham chose the Oregano and Parmesan Crusted Rack of Lamb with Sangiovese Roasted Shallots, Olive Oil baked Roma Tomatoes, Potato Torta and Herb Jus. I went with the Beef Tenderloin Palo with some kind of Potato dish and Barolo Red Wine Sauce. For dessert we both had the Zabaglione with Sangiovese-infused Berries and Biscotti Chips. At the end of this dinner, you could have rolled us out of Palo. We were just finishing up when one of the photographers appeared. We had our photos taken and then paid the tip, as dinner was free as one of our Platinum perks and said goodbye to Susanna.
We went downstairs and headed to the atrium to get some photos. The only back drop that they had up that night was the white one, but we got some nice photos there and I also got some Magic Shots with Tinkerbell. We then headed back to the cabin and got ready for bed. I took a photo of our towel animal before settling down. I wondered if I would be able to see the fireworks from our cabin. We did not see anything, but we could definitely hear them. Once they were over, we fell asleep.
After lunch, we took a wander along deck 9. We bumped into Michelle and her family who had stayed on the ship that day and made good use of the Aqua Dunk. We chatted for a while and then moved on. Graham had a deck massage on one of our previous cruises and was mulling over getting another one. He was in two minds about this, but as he was struggling with a stiff shoulder and neck I pushed him to go for it. Normally they can do it right there and then, but this time round they gave him an appointment for 17:00. At that stage we had nothing further to do for a while and we decided to have another nap.
We got up again in time for when the last tender was due to leave Georgetown and headed up to deck 10. We wanted to watch us sail away from Grand Cayman and more important still, hear the horn. The Captain was not hanging about and shortly after we arrived on deck, we were already moving. Once we had heard the horn and were underway, we went back to the cabin. That evening was Pirate Night and this is one of my favourite occasions for character photos. I also finally found my perfect Pirate outfit in the run up to the cruise and this was based around a beautiful gown. As this had a corset back, Graham's services to tie me into this were required. He did a great job as usual and once he was finished with we, I put on my Pirate accessories. We then headed down to the Promenade Lounge for Pirate Trivia.
We had sat there for a while and there was no sign of a member of cruise staff. I had started to wonder if I got the venue wrong. There were quite a few other people sitting there as well. I asked them if they were there for Pirate Trivia and they confirmed they were. While we were waiting, we had a drink. I decided to try the Drink of the Day and Graham had a Virgin Piña Colada. Eventually a member of cruise staff arrived, but then there were some technical issues. In the end we were running about 30 minutes late. They have changed the questions again and they were fiendishly difficult. I really thought we were sunk. Graham had to leave before the end of the quiz as well to go for his massage. So for the last couple of questions, I was on my own. In the end we got 13 out of 25 questions right. After the scoring was done, one member from each team had to stand up and then sit down once their score was called. We started with 6 correct answers and straightaway a large group of people had to sit down. I could not believe my eyes when after 11 correct answers were called; I was the only one left standing. We had done it again. Yet again we had won Pirate Trivia. I so wished that Graham had been there to share this moment with me.
After I had collected our prizes, which were some keyrings, I headed over to the atrium. I had missed Pirate Mickey for now, but was one of the first people in line for Pirate Minnie. Once I had seen Minnie, I went up to deck 4 to get in line for Captain Jack Sparrow. There were not many people in front of me, but Captain Jack Sparrow took his time with everybody and I started to get a little antsy as I was worried that I would miss Mickey again as he was out at the same time. Fortunately when I got back downstairs, Mickey's line was still open and the line moved quite quickly. That then meant that I had plenty of time to go back to deck 4 to see Pirate Stitch, who was really the character that I wanted to see the most. Stitch took his time with me and reminded me why he is the second biggest love of my life. When I finished with Stitch, the photographer at the white backdrop was still there and I decided to head there next to get some photos.
Once I was all done with the photos, I went up to Shutters to check out the photos that had been taken the previous day. I really liked them. I then went back to our cabin to chill out for a bit. Graham arrived shortly afterwards bearing gifts. It was my birthday in November and Graham had not been able to find a suitable gift locally so he had told me that he would get something for me while we were on holiday. I knew just the thing. Once the first
cruises on the re-imagined Magic had sailed, news filtered through that there was a new Disney Cruise Line Dooney and Bourke design, which was initially exclusive to the Magic. It was a variation of the Charms pattern that is available in the parks, but the background is navy blue and the charms are all Disney Cruise Line related. It literally was love at first sight for me. I showed this to Graham in the first day and that evening he came back to the cabin with a tote in this pattern. Not only is this bag the perfect size to take to work as it fits everything that I could possible want or need, but he also found me one with a perfect placement. This is one of the nicest birthday presents I ever received.
Soon the next character set was due to start. There was just one character that I rather wanted to meet that I was still missing and that was Captain Hook. So I headed out to meet him. Graham decided to come with me. Captain Hook did not have much of a line and therefore it did not take me very long. Once I was done, we headed back to the cabin. I had originally brought a separate gown for Palo. The trouble was that I rather liked the gown I was wearing and it was really comfortable. I was a little worried that it was too piratey, but it was sold as a wedding gown. I decided to just run with it. I took off all the pirate accessories and added some a bit more understated accessories. Nobody batted an eyelid.
We decided to head up to Palo a little earlier than our reservation. The restaurant manager welcomed us and sent somebody to check if our server was ready for us. He then escorted us to our table. Susanna came to welcome us. During this cruise we had a stronger feeling than usual that Disney Cruise Line keeps a very detailed file on their guests. People seemed to know stuff that there was no way they could remember from the previous times we met them. For instance our server Edward knew straightaway that Graham liked his steak medium rare. There is no way that he had remembered this from 2009 with the thousands of people he would have encountered since. Still, Susanna genuinely seemed to remember some stuff from the previous year. It was an absolute joy to meet her again. We both decided to stick to the water as we still had our wine in the cabin, which in the end we did not have that evening. We had the anti pasti platter with Prosciutto, Bresaola, Sweet Peppers, Parmesan Cheese and Olives and some lovely Garlic Pizza Bread. Graham then followed Susanna's recommendation and had the Fritto di Calamari, which was lightly-crusted Calamari with deep fried Cherry Peppers. I think the peppers were quite spicy as I could almost see steam coming out of Graham's ears when he bit into one of those. I had my favourite dish on the ship: the Grilled Portobello Mushroom with Polenta with a Shallot Sauce. After the starter, we were given some Lemon Sorbet to cleanse the palate. For his main course, Graham chose the Oregano and Parmesan Crusted Rack of Lamb with Sangiovese Roasted Shallots, Olive Oil baked Roma Tomatoes, Potato Torta and Herb Jus. I went with the Beef Tenderloin Palo with some kind of Potato dish and Barolo Red Wine Sauce. For dessert we both had the Zabaglione with Sangiovese-infused Berries and Biscotti Chips. At the end of this dinner, you could have rolled us out of Palo. We were just finishing up when one of the photographers appeared. We had our photos taken and then paid the tip, as dinner was free as one of our Platinum perks and said goodbye to Susanna.
We went downstairs and headed to the atrium to get some photos. The only back drop that they had up that night was the white one, but we got some nice photos there and I also got some Magic Shots with Tinkerbell. We then headed back to the cabin and got ready for bed. I took a photo of our towel animal before settling down. I wondered if I would be able to see the fireworks from our cabin. We did not see anything, but we could definitely hear them. Once they were over, we fell asleep.
mandymouse
Bahama Mama Time !!
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2003
Loving the pics from the Royal Palm Resort, we're thinking of going there in September. Did you notice how much it was to hire loungers/umbrellas etc ? Thanks 
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
This is most certainly one souvenir that I could have done without. Still, apart from a nasty looking scar that will fade over the years, I have not done any permanent harm.
Corinna
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Loving the pics from the Royal Palm Resort, we're thinking of going there in September. Did you notice how much it was to hire loungers/umbrellas etc ? Thanks
Welcome on board. I did not notice how much the chairs and umbrellas are. I had a look on their website and normally it is $2 per person to get in (we were not charged this for some reason) and $7 for a lounger. Umbrellas are apparently provided by a different company and are $10 according to Trip Advisor. I would not hesitate to go back there.
They also do an all inclusive package which includes admission; lounger; an open bar with unlimited cocktails, bottled beer, wine, sodas, juices and bottled water and lunch. This is $75 per adult.
Corinna
mandymouse
Bahama Mama Time !!
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2003
Thanks for all the info Corinna, we will definitely give this place a try, it looks lovely
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