2/27 Magic Eastern in 8062 - Search for the Fountain of Relaxation

[ptk55369]

Hi all,

First time cruisers just back from our 7 Day Eastern on the Magic. Had an unbelievable time. Loved it so much we booked a 7 day Mediterranean for August 2011. I got myself a Barnes and Noble Nook just before departure and read a couple of books, one of them The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, so this trip report will be done in the style of an explorer's travelogue.

Our traveling party included myself, intrepid Explorer and occult Medicine Man, Dr. Peter Fawcett 39 - team Anthropologist and Logistics Dr. Rebecca Fawcett, 39, Science Officer Jack, 7 and Linguist and Disneyologist, Avery 4. We traveled in the company of a family of colleagues all of similar ages and backgrounds which provided excellent backup and comraderie on this very important mission.

Our simple goal was to track down by means of ocean transport, the mysterious state of Relaxare, loosely translated into English as the state of Relaxation. We had heard tales and studied for years the sketchy accounts of others who claimed to have passed through this elusive port of call. We hoped that with proper planning, enough resources and some help from the locals we encountered along the way we would be able to reach the goal and find a way to provide some conclusive proof of its existence to the rest of the world.

Little did we know the journey would prove as interesting and exciting as the promise of the fabled destination itself.

 

[ptk55369]

We arrived in good order late Friday night after an uneventful journey by dirigible. As travel of this kind has become so commonplace I will not bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that even our young wards have become so accustomed to the luxury of floating over the landscape that they scarcely remarked upon it save during take off and landing.

We sought comfort at the lodgings provided onsite near the hangers in a hotel run by Pritzker and Hyatt that we found to be both highly convenient and luxurious, if a bit expensive. Stepping off at the terminal and going right up to our rooms, particularly given the late hour of our arrival, was incredibly welcome after a day in the skies. We breakfasted overlooking the take-off strip and arranged for transportation to the pier just after the noon hour as our ship, the Magic, was to leave port just before dinnertime. The Hyatt offered a most excellent service whereby they picked up our bags in our room and in meticulous coordination with our ship's staff, had them hand delivered directly to our staterooms. This worked incredibly well and made the day free of hassle and more enjoyable. To that end, we were pleasantly surprised to find our bags had arrived before most others on the ship.

As we anticipated the hardships of a week at sea and the impact of those hardships on our children, the Drs. had made special arrangements to contract with one Happy Limo Service, LTD to ensure a comfortable ride for the younger members of our party with the hope that it would hearten them for the journey ahead. We could not have been happier. We were able to stop off at a local store for some last miinute items and arrived at the pier in good order, all for a price nearly 1/3 of what it would have cost to contract directly with the ship's company.

The lines at the pier were short and though we were hoping to use a recent grant from the Royal Geographic Society to upgrade to a Conceirge level room, we found the ship was at capacity and that was not an option. We were, however, extremely pleaeed with both the condition and location of our Category 4 room. We were 20 yards from the Aft stairs, which afforded us fresh air, drinks and a direct route to the pool and perhaps 40 yards from the midship stairs which provided quick access to the Clubs and Lobby area where many of the activities were found. Given a choice in the future, I cannot imagine a better location.

Our journey had started out perfectly. We were on board an amazing ship, which we found to be in excellent shape despite some recent reports of significant wear and tear. Our accomodations were downright spacious, the beds comfortable, the bathroom and sink configuration allowed for all to ready themselves at once, and the verandah provided an excellent latenight location for reading and logbook updates overlooking the moonlit ocean waters. Truth be told, more than once this particular explorer fell asleep on the verandah to the dulcet sounds of rushing seas and dull rumble of the motor moving us across the waves.

It was going to be a good week.

 

[Mojodisney]

Subbing. Loved reading your posts. Keep them coming.

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Delightful read. Signing up.

 

[ptk55369]

Thanks for the comments. Added some pictures to illustrate characters and story to date.

 

[ptk55369]

We were, of course, properly announced (though without title, which I found odd), greeted by many of the ship's staff and pointed in the direction of an amazing glass contraption that spirited us nearly 100 feet up in the air to the 8th floor in only a matter of seconds. After finding our way to our room we were delighted at all of the amenities provided us by our generous vessel host Captain John and were further greeted by an incredibly able and friendly stateroom host named Tri.

Tri, I am convinced, worked as hard as anyone I would encounter on this trip. The man was always at the ready with fantasmical towel animals, treats, clean linens and while doing so he was positively beaming everytime we saw him. He remembered our names at all times and was ever helpful. He seemingly worked all hours of the day, each and every day. I did not realize the amount of work that goes into providing for guests such an incredible experience and I constantly marvelled at both his skill and dilligence, and the nature of the entire ship and its staff in this capacity, during our trip.

I was hoping that we could recruit Tri for our expedition as I am sure he would have proved an invaluable member of our party in many ways, but alas, he had other committments and was unable to accompany us.

After securing our bags, which R had chosen as under the bed type roller bags (invaluable for space - had no idea where we would have otherwise stowed them), we enjoyed the verandah and fresh salt air before going abovedecks to enjoy the push-off celebration. The sheer size of the vessel is nearly unfathomable and difficult to convey. Being eight floors up we had an uncommonly good vantage point for nearly everything on our side of the ship including both manatees and dolphins who visited the bay below our balcony prior to departure. This was, it turns out, the only water-borne wildlife we would see from the ship the entire week.

After chatting with Tri a bit, we made our way up to the feasting room at the aft of the ship where they had set out great mounds of food from all over the world. They had also carved fruits into fantastical likenesses of flowers and small animals so that all manner of meticulously carved melons were placed around the food to give it a garden appeal I had never experienced.

We were always able to find something to our liking, though it was often very busy in this Topsiders Restaurant and upon reviewing some of my papers and the accounts of others who had journyed this way before, I have come to the conclusion that dining in the Parrot Cay restaurant upon embarkation would have been muchly more agreeable and relaxing to our party.

I have made detailed notes that will help us should we come this way again.

Finally, we attended a gala up on the 9th and 10th decks to celebrate the beginning of our voyage. It was very spirited and busy and we all had a wonderful time as part of the hoi poloi waving to shore, dancing, swinging wands of sparkling ribbon and generally cavorting with the rest of the shipgoing public.

Our first dinner was at 5:45pm and though we chafed a bit at the idea of dressing in something more formal than our day clothes, we enjoyed the idea of cleaning up after a long day of travel to sit down to a fine meal with our friends and compatriots. We had a delightful dinner in an unusual restaurant done up in white and black with line drawings of some of the most unusual creatures that would throughout the dinner light up. It was quite a scene.

We were well cared for by both Shantal and Gideon, two of the finest Serving staff available. Throughout the week they regaled us with stories of their homelands, provided riddles and puzzles for the table's enjoyment, did magic tricks and even folded napkins into remarkable likenesses of hats from all over the world. They were always polite, professional, enthusiastic and made each and every dining experience special.

Our local expert A, being classically trained in the art of recognizing and explaining all manner of things Disney, was constantly chattering on about this or that princess and who they were in love with and why that was so interesting or who this villain was and what they had done to whom and why and which ones lived happily ever after and so on. While I found parts of it fascinating I cannot imagine the amount of time that has been spent studying these things at that level of detail.

We are lucky to have brought someone so knowledgeable in this area along with us as it seems these characters, their stories and traits are quite pervasive thoughout this ship and I suspect that they may play some part in the future of both our voyage and perhaps our end goal.

Finally, a word on the noteriety that comes with being a world famous explorer.

Though we tried to keep word of our expedition quiet I am confident that somehow word must have gotten out about the importance of our project and its potential impact in the world of exploration and human anthropology.

There is no other explanation for the Captain of the ship assigning what were clearly his personal stateroom host and the best Serving staff for the ENTIRE week to follow our party along wherever we ate. I can't say that I didn't enjoy the attention as truthfully I have become accustomed to it. I just simply wanted to recognize the Captain for giving up for the duration of our stay on his boat what I am sure he considers a luxury.

That, my good men and gentlewomen, is class.

 

[papertraveller]

Charming, oh humble scribe! Your public is crying for more!

 

[ptk55369]

After dinner we retired to our turned down room, well appointed with a delightful pair of swan towel animals. We read from various books on the verandah to the children and finished our preparations for the next day.

I awoke early to watch the sunrise from abovedecks while the rest of the party slept in. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and explored the ship. We had heard that the captain's expert staff held daily lessons for the children on board but we could not have imagined the extent of the lessons or how valuable the knowledge conveyed would prove later in our trip.

Our little A spent the afternoon learning the finer arts of baking cookies, socializing with the best and the brightest on the ship, played a number of games and made some very interesting sculptures that decorated our room for the rest of the week.

The adults enjoyed some libations, first of a variety of wines from all over the world, given as a demonstration which was informative and gave us a chance to discover two new kinds of wine none of us had ever tasted. They featured prominently at our dinners over the next six days.

We also learned the magical art of opening a champange bottle with a sword or a knife - an indispensible skill for those of us who so often find a reason to celebrate with hundreds of bottles of champagne and don't want to tire our hands and fingers working out the corks on all of them. Since the wine and champagne didn't quite provide the proper amount of relaxation, we returned an hour later to sample a bevy of martinis in the same location. While the rest of the party clearly preferred the vodka based drinks, with their fancy apple or chocolate or pommogranite flavorings, I myself rather enjoyed my gin martini, along with the remains of those same drinks from the others at our party.

If you enjoy a midday drink, these sampling sessions are both informative and delicious.

Finally, as I was concerned for the welfare of J in the club, I went to pick him up prior to dinner. I found him in the midst of perhaps the most valuable training any of us would receive that week. The Club had imported for the children's benefit a Ninja Master from the wilds of the Orient. He had split a group of about 60 boys into 6 or 7 groups, each with its own striking moniker. J was leading a group of about eight other boys in age ranges from 4-10, who formed the team called the Flaming Snakes.

They had spent the afternoon learning the seven deadly ninja poses. The poses that I can remember were

Panda
Crane
Lotus Flower
Snakey Dead Man
Ballerina
Tiger Wolf

They all had specific movements and sounds, for example for Crane one had to stand on one leg with one's arms crooked at the elbow and held high making a sinister bird attack sound. All of the boys in the group would start at one end of the room and when the Ninja Master asked them if they were ready they would all shout in unison -

"Yes Master!" and he would issue the first command.

"Ninjas, sneak!"

They would advance stealthily towards an orb at the other end of the room and he would call out a deadly pose like

"Ballerina!"

The kids in that group would all have to execute two turns on tippy toes quickly but together and if they did not or they hesitated or if someone fell over he would command them back to the beginning where it would begin all over again. I heard the vaunted Master use as reasons for starting over such things as:

"I do not believe you are Cranes! Begin again!"

"Your snakey dead men are still moving. The object of snakey dead man is to fool the enemy into thinking you are dead AND disgustingly snakey. You appear neither dead nor particularly snakey. Begin again!"

"Your Pandas look more like Koala Bears! Begin again!"

"You have moved in front of your leader and that is against the Ninja code of honor. Begin again!"

This went on for minutes until, at last, the group of Flaming Snakes advanced far enough to reach and capture the sacred orb, proving their honor and skill as Ninjas. All the while the Flaming Snakes were being tested, the other groups sat together in Lotus Flower poses along the sides of the room creating a lane in the middle for the Flaming Snakes to be tested.

The Ninja Master was truly exceptional. His skill in teaching our young ward valuable hand-to-hand skills and methods of stealth was apparent, but most impressive was the sheer will he showed in commanding with utter awe the full attention of 60 young boys in a small space. It was nothing short of incredible.

This display greatly enhanced my perspective of these "clubs" and I found myself somewhat more receptive to the pleas of the younger members of our parties to remain therein, even when we entreated them to join us for family type activities.

I found that should I ever be interested in more adult verntures during the week, the younger members of our party were engaged, happy and of course, building a base of knowledge critical to the support of our larger expedition.

 

[jedijill]

Loving this report! Your writing style is fantastic.

Jill in CO

 

[ptk55369]

Thanks for the encouragement, Jill in CO! I will try to dig out some more pictures as that seems to draw the folks in.

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Had a good chuckle reading about the ninja master in the kids club.

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Just curious how the weather was for this trip.
We are thinking about doing the Eastern in Feb 2011.

 

[ptk55369]

The weather was mixed. A bit windy at all times, it was mostly great. In St. Maarten and St. Thomas the beaches and water were excellent and warm - mid eighties. The pools on board were always warm enough but my wife (who is always chilly) spent a lot of time wearing an extra sweatshirt when up on decks 9 and 10. When it was cloudy it was a little more chilly but we had what I would consider pretty good weather.

Now, Castaway Cay was pretty breezy but in the low 80s and yet the water was still chilly for the kids. All in all, we'd do it again in a snap but we're also from MN so anything even in the 70s was going to feel pretty good to us.

Hope that helps...

 

[Kay1]

Love the report and would love more pictures if you can find them.

 

[wrennies]

As I believe that I had noted to you in an earlier thread, My family will be staying iin this cabin for the May 26 Med. Cruise. I would love to see more pictures of the stateroom and hear about the condition of the room. Did you hear a lot of noise from the deck above?

Your story is very entertaining!

 

[ptk55369]

Kay1 - I will see what I can dig up.

Wrennies, As far as the room goes, it was perfect. Occassional noise from above that we noticed but not actually disturbing. It was probably most noticable on the balcony and even then certainly didn't diminish our enjoyment of the room. The locatoin really couldn't be beat.

Everything was in good order in the room - it being our first cruise - iwe felt t was incredibly spacious. The hair dryer is old european model with a hose and has little power but, other than that, I can't think of anything that was a negative. I think the hair dryer is the same in all non-conceirge rooms but was worth mentioning.

We had a full plexiglass balcony which was wonderful. Any other details I can provide?

We loved the room - wouldn't have changed anything about it at all with the exception of the hair dryer. There was no visible wear and tear and we are both used to staying in executive club level hotel rooms/quality for work. We were both very impressed with the state of the stateroom.