„Did you feel pressured to provide only EXCELLENT ratings?“

[MAGICFOR2]

Welcome Back!

 

[nickgid]

This is the first trip report I have read of yours and it is fantastic! The details that you give create such a wonderful visual. My dream is to go on one of these cruises but until then I can live vicariously through yours. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

 

[MEK]

Welcome Back Karin! Can't wait to hear about your latest adventures! You have been MIA far too long!

 

[dizneeat]

Boy, I have neglected this TR!!!

But I promise to update as soon and as much as possible at least as long as I am still on vacation.

The D&B purse is SO nice!! How lovely that Mario remembered you- but I am not surprised! I am sure you make a lasting impression, you are both so kind. An aft balcony is the BEST, isn't it? Joan has one on our upcoming Dream in October (Evie and I and our husbands are next door, but we plan on spending more time on her balcony than our own, lol!). We are going to do something new in Nassau this time, a foodie tour- really looking forward to it! You have been to Nassau so many times, I always find in interesting how you make all your stops at all your favorite places!

I love all my D&Bs!
That aft balcony was awesome, but I was so missing the round tub in the family staterooms. But I guess I would book an aft stateroom again on a short cruise. For our upcoming Fantasy b2b I booked us a family room with round tub again.
We usually pick something new every time we go to Nassau, or something that impressed us the first time around. But your foodie tour sounds awesome, can't wait to hear all about it.
We did a foodie tour at Cinque Terre this summer and loved it!

OMG, between the lovely green dessert and the "king" outfit, I think you had quite the time. So funny!!! And a nice way to end the evening is with a little disney treat.

Mario made sure we got our fair share of laughs. He was so funny! His green dessert was just the funniest idea ever!

I was quite a few updates behind with my trip to WDW and moving. It's great to read the updates on yiur TRs since now my next Disney Vacay is a cruise on the Wonder!

I loved your ideas for shopping in Nassau. We're not sure what to do when we go there on our Dream cruise. Ellen, I'm also interested in information on your foodie tour!

Two Mickey bars in one day! . All the meals you had look so good. I can't wait to try all these places on the Dream! And how fun with the chocolate bar fishing with your neighbors.

No problem falling behind, look at how long it took me to update here.
So you are cruising on the Wonder? Where are you going? I really would love to cruise on her again, we have so many beautiful memories!
Have you been to Nassau before? If not, I have a walking tour that takes you to most of the sights and is easy to follow. We have done it several times, but nowadays we just do our shopping round and maybe explore another street or two.

Yes, two Mickey bars a day. I love having them on vacation. I am an extremely slow eater and it the blazing Florida sun I have barely eaten an ear when it is all melted. So sitting out on the veranda and enjoying a Mickey bar is awesome for me.
Oh, and the chocolate fishing was the funniest thing! The kids loved it as much as Tom and I did.

It will take me a while , to play catch up here
But it seems that platinum has it.s advantages ! love the view and pictures like always , my mother always says dessert first is a better way to eat
and a knife hope she did not say redrum ? (this is a line from the movie the shining)

And I'm just waiting on my niece's pictures to do a Trip report .
Karin we missed cruising with you and Tom , but we had a great trip we even found a Dunkin Dughnuts in the Bahamas that was the best part of the trip . tell Tom we said HI and hope he is doing well .

XOXOXO from me and my Family XOXOXO
also sending you a PM please check it out

Platinum sure has its advantages, Jeff.
As for the dessert first thing - if on vacation it is definitely allowed.

We really missed you all this summer too, Jeff. We talked about you a lot and I really really hope that you will make it to WDW next summer.

 

[Volkswagenphreak]

Im loving your trip report!! Great job.

 

[pas130]

Boy, I have neglected this TR!!!

But I promise to update as soon and as much as possible at least as long as I am still on vacation.

We missed you Karin!

 

[dizneeat]

Have fun!!!

Thank you, Teresa, we had a really good time!

How absolutely cool that you get to preview that!!! Have fun and take some pictures!!!

It was great to see it before the general public and we really had a blast despite the horrible weather.

Hi Karin! Getting caught up again. Feels like I’m always just trying to catch up.

And now it is MY time to catch up.

Another wonderful Royal Court lunch! That is definitely my favorite lunch option on the Fantasy.

We love breakfast and lunch in the Royal Palace/Court. So nice and the food is delicious.

How weird about the verandah divider!

It was really making us feel uneasy, especially since we often forgot to lock our veranda door.

Your room service goodies look great as well. I’m so glad that we took advantage of room service on our last cruise - it really is so pleasant and convenient! I have yet to remember to Mickey bars though! What is wrong with me???

Now that we have checked out how room service works we really get our fair share. And Mickey bars are just a must have.

Oh, I haven’t seen that Dooney DCL print before! It’s so cute!!!

It had just come out shortly before that cruise.

Looks like another great meal at Royal Court - three in one day! I LOVE the single Mickey head dessert!

Yes, and it is always a good day if we have three meals at Royal Palace. Oh, and Mario was such a hoot with his "surprise" dessert.

I had no idea there was going to be a Ratatouille ride at DLP!!!! I am so jealous!!! That is one of my absolute favorite Disney movies. I can’t wait to read about your experience!

It is such a fun ride. Trackless and 3D. We really had so much fun. I need to try and post the link to the video Tom made.
They did not allow video cameras, but Tom's regular camera which was sitting on his arm was on and videoed the whole thing.



Let me know if it works for you.

Exciting about DLP. I am still deciding if I am going there or not. Vienna is out I think as I am going to London to see the Harry Potter Tour.

Ah, what a shame that you cancelled Vienna. Well, you will just have to come back another time.
London is fun too!

 

[dizneeat]

first sorry to hear about the pipe problem ,
but again the food pictures look amazing love every shot the water pictures i love , those food pictures of food where did you eat ? you found a kitty picture cute he looked so cute sleeping , enjoy the rest of your of your cruise you and Tom and cannot wait to see More

I think because this was Disney and the ship had just been in Drydock we expected everything to be perfect and for the price they had charged for the 12 nights it better had been.
But we had a lot of really nice food, just follow along my new TR and you will see a lot more yummy food.

Wow despite the problems your trip loos amazing! I have never been on a cruise but I definitely want to very soon especially after these gorgeous photos.

It was just a few little things, but they added up and we were just not used to it coming from Disney.
Cruising is really good fun, you should give it a try.

Dropping in to let you know I'm enjoying your trip report! Finished reading the pages linked on the first page. Then I found the entry you made about the Med cruise on the Magic. Wonderful photos at the cruise stops.
I've not been on a cruise before. I get seasick easily and a friend of mine said she could sometimes feel the motion but she got used to it after a couple of days. I'm afraid I would not get used to it. I'm thinking I'll get a prescription for motion sickness and try a short cruise. If I do okay; I'm doing the Med cruise!

Thank you for taking the time to pop in and read along.
I am working on finishing off this TR as I have already started my Med one.

Try a 3 day cruise. You will have two ports during the day and the ship will just move during the night. I was worried about getting seasick and being stuck on board but there is so much to do and see that I completely forget we are on a ship.

That's kind of sad about the Magic. We sailed on her in October 2010, deck 6. So far, it was the best cruise we ever had, though perhaps that was because our Dismeet group on that cruise was incomparably awesome.

Lovely pictures from the Med.

Sadly I have to say that we enjoyed the other three ships more than the Magic. Maybe we had our expectations set too high. I thought they had ironed out all the kinks while in drydock, but when we spoke with people, many of them had noticed that the toilets had a bit of a smell and there were leaks (we could see loads of dryers all over the ship).
What really hit me was how sloppy their "make over" was. You could see how they had painted into other areas, there was still tape (from protecting the glass) on our stateroom door and other little things. It just added up.
But the ports were awesome!

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Karen! Thanks for checking in and sharing your trip pics with us! It's fun to see where you've been. So sorry the Magic isn't up to snuff this trip. She was our first DCL love. Maybe it's dime for another dry dock? Enjoy the rest of your cruise - so fun that you have DLP to look forward to!

I wish we had been able to update more often. We had a really fun time once we started to just ignore the issues.
It is definitely time for another dry dock - they NEED to get things in real working order. At the moment it just looks like they only put a bit of icing on the broken cake.
Oh, and DLP didn't quite turn out the way we expected, but we just changed our plans a bit and had a blast.

I am sorry to hear this wasn't your favorite, but it does look like you saw some beautiful sites. Home now, you must be getting ready for DLP. Have fun! I can't wait until you are back... you have been missed.

I so wanted to fall in love with the Disney Magic, but it never happened. Guess I am a "Wonder" girl.
The ports were awesome and we had some out of this world excursions, I just cannot wait to share all the pics with you all.

Sorry about the sewer smell...but your pictures look AMAZINGGGG! I cannot WAIT to hear about this trip! Have lots of fun in Paris!

The ports were awesome. And I guess we were just looking too hard and saw all the little imperfections and that was a let down.
But all in all we had a fun summer vacation.

Hate sewer smells.

The pics are really nice.

Hate the smells too and once we got an air freshener it was MUCH better. The ports were awesome.

 

[disney67]

Wooooo Hoooo cannot wait for sweet pictures and I cannot tell you how much we think of you guys daily and miss you the same way XOXOXO
bring on this TR

 

[dizneeat]

Karin, we are on the Magic next year
I shall bring my air fresheners !

I really hope they are going to figure out a way to fix that problem. We were not the only ones complaining.

Hi Karin! Love your pics, but wwwwww to the smell and other issues. What a shame! Especially on a ship so recently reworked.

Hurry home so you can tell us all about the rest of the cruise!

They did update the dining rooms and bars, but I would have liked to see that they tackled the issues that had been there for a long time, like non functioning pipes.
There was nothing major, but the little things just added up.

Welcome Back!

Thank you, Tammie!

This is the first trip report I have read of yours and it is fantastic! The details that you give create such a wonderful visual. My dream is to go on one of these cruises but until then I can live vicariously through yours. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

Thank you for reading and your kind words!
We really have fallen for cruising, especially with Disney, you really should give it a try.
Next update coming up soon - oh and btw. I have a Med cruise TR running as well.

 

[dizneeat]

Welcome Back Karin! Can't wait to hear about your latest adventures! You have been MIA far too long!

Thank you, Mary Ellen!
I already started my new TR, I will repost the link here.

Im loving your trip report!! Great job.

Great to know that you enjoy it. Thank you for your kind words.

We missed you Karin!

Ah, thank you, Jeannette, I am here to stay now, at least for quite a while.

Wooooo Hoooo cannot wait for sweet pictures and I cannot tell you how much we think of you guys daily and miss you the same way XOXOXO
bring on this TR

Hi Jeff,
I sent you a PM, hope you join me on my new TR!
Miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Repost:

The wait is over ..............

I started my newest trip report!

We're out of it! A summer 2014 "MAGICal" Med adventure​

 

[dizneeat]

Day 4, February 18

Big ship – beautiful small island - Part 1

We were up again shortly before 7am and headed out onto the veranda to see if we had gotten close to Castaway Cay yet. You could see land further away, but we were not sure it was Castaway Cay, so we went to take showers. Showers done we headed out onto the veranda again and now we were CLOSE to Castaway Cay.





























Since we were at the back of the ship we watched the ship back in and enjoyed the clear blue skies and the sight of the beautiful island. Once the ship was docked it was time for us to head downstairs to have some breakfast.
Again we headed for the Royal Palace, but this time Mario did not work there, so we were taken to a table by another server and started laughing when he showed us our “special” table. It was the same one we had had twice the day before.
We ordered some



coffee and juice and ordered our breakfasts. Again we started with the same starters, the



Swiss Bircher Muesli, Muesli with raisins, shredded apples and yogurt for Tom and the



Mornin' Tug Boat, fresh blend of strawberries, bananas, almonds, raisin granola and low-fat yogurt for myself. Both were delivered pretty fast and were as delicious as they had been the day before. I am pretty boring when it comes to ordering breakfast at the Royal Palace, so I ordered the



Traditional Eggs Benedict, Toasted English muffin with grilled Canadian bacon, served with poached egg topped with hollandaise sauce, grilled roma tomatoes and link sausages again. Tom went for the



Three-Egg Omelet with peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, ham and cheese hash browns and white toast. Again, it only took minutes for our breakfast to be served and we both enjoyed it a lot. In the meantime there had been an announcement that the ship had been cleared and we were now welcome to disembark and head to the island. So, once we had finished breakfast we headed back to our stateroom and were surprised to see someone peeking into our veranda from the other side. We walked outside and saw that they had already started to put the wooden railing back on, which was missing at some of the staterooms on our deck.
The worker who had peeked into our veranda asked if we would mind him coming over when we were out and we told him that we didn’t mind him coming over right now if that was what was on his mind. So a few seconds later he knocked and brought the railing with him to be fixed. And while he was doing it



we got changed and put on our Cabana wristbands before we made our way to deck one to sign off and spend the day on Disney’s beautiful private island.

To be continued ............ ​

 

[jenseib]

I am missing this island and you haven't even stepped foot on it yet!

 

[dizneeat]

I am missing this island and you haven't even stepped foot on it yet!

I am missing it too, Jen. Especially since we had no chance to get there this summer and have to wait until April until we return.

 

[Linda67]

Yay a Karin update and it includes Castaway Cay - you've made my day

 

[Leshaface]

Eggs Benedict is certainly not boring! It's the best breakfast dish.

I totally forgot how big your verandah is! So nice.

 

[dizneeat]

Yay a Karin update and it includes Castaway Cay - you've made my day

Always happy to please, Linda!

Eggs Benedict is certainly not boring! It's the best breakfast dish.

I totally forgot how big your verandah is! So nice.

No, they are not boring, it is ME as I am always ordering them. I just love them, they are my vacation breakfast.

The veranda was just like a second room, and so peaceful out there.

 

[JKSWonder]

Thumbs up on the Eggs Benedict for me too. It is also my go to vacation breakfast.

I also ordered the Muesli (we were on the Fantasy just two weeks ago) based upon a prior review of yours, and I did like it very much. They had a version of it, though perhaps not as good, at Cabanas each day too so I found myself eating it quite a lot.