A Not Quite B2B (Magic/Fantasy) Double Cruise - May 2024 - COMPLETE

[Erica1016]

Day 6, Part 1 (May 8, 2024): Castaway Cay​

We broke the normal routine this morning! Todd had plans to do a long run on the island, so he didn’t run first thing. Instead, Todd explored the ship first thing and then I got up and we went to the Quiet Cove pool and hot tub when it first opened at 7 am. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves, I think one other person came to sit in one of the hot tubs. We were there until about 7:45.

The Quiet Cove pool area at 7 am was VERY quiet.​

We stopped and got a little snack from Cove Cafe, a croissant for me and a cranberry slice for Todd. We then went back to the room so that we could be ready to disembark as soon as we were cleared. This was the first time we ever were waiting at the door to get off. Todd ended up being the second off the ship and took off to start his run. I wanted to walk the 5K, but didn’t do the official course. I started my watch as soon as I got off the ship.

First one’s off the ship, and Todd’s off for his run. ​

I walked from the ship to the airstrip, did the loop out to the lookout once, walked out to Serenity Bay and then back to the bike rentals. I saw Todd a few times as he was doing his long run of 10.16 miles - his goal was to have a double-digit run at Castaway. My birthday is 10/16, so he went the extra little bit for that. He said he had stayed in the loop four times because it was shady. He was glad that there were water stops, but at first he didn’t see the white paper cones and was worried there were no cups. Luckily, he found them.

Todd passed me several times while I was walking.

I took my time and took lots of pictures with the items along the trail.​

I took my time and took lots of pictures. It had been a while since I went up in the lookout, so I did that too. I was having a bit of trouble with feeling like I was still moving on the ship, which was strange for me. We ended up talking to several people that day that felt the same, so I was happy it wasn’t just me. Todd was done with his run and met up with me just before I got back to the bike rentals to finish. I had to pace just a bit to get the last 0.1 miles, but I did it. We stopped and picked up our medals and headed to the chairs I’d put our bag on near the family beach.

Picking up our Castaway 5K medallions, to make the collection complete.​

I stayed on the island, went in the water to cool off and then read for a bit while Todd went back to the ship to shower and change his clothes. Once he came back, we sat there doing some people watching for a bit and then I went snorkeling. I’d gotten my own snorkel mask for my birthday and don’t prefer to wear fins, so I just needed to grab a vest and I was off. I went in on the side of the snorkel lagoon that was closer to the ship and was out for about 30 minutes. I did about half of the area, I think. I saw Boo’s door, the Dumbo ride vehicle, a submarine thing, Minnie Mouse and maybe something else? I was having a lot of fun, but after the long walk, I figured I should head back before I got too tired and got stuck out there. I knew we’d be back the next week, so I could save the other half for then.

Getting ready to finally use my snorkel mask somewhere other than a pool.​

By now, it was definitely time for some lunch! I cleaned up from the sand and put my regular shoes on, which was much more comfortable for me. This was our seventh time at Castaway, and we’d mostly eaten at Serenity Bay. Last year, we ate at Cookie’s Too, to try something different and we enjoyed that as well. We decided this time we should try Cookie’s so that we could say we’d done all three. Wow, was that a different atmosphere! We’re all for the family nature that comes along with a Disney cruise, but this was just hectic and loud. It was fine, but we decided we’ll do Cookie’s Two or Serenity Bay in the future. We have an upcoming cruise in December with Todd’s parents and we’ll certainly go to Serenity Bay with them! At least we tried it and can say we’ve done our due diligence.

Lunch at Cookies, I love the corn salad and fresh fruit.

Todd loves that there is Powerade on Castaway. ​

After lunch, we walked around for a bit. Todd went to In Da Shade to join in on the free-throw competition at 1:15. At first he was hesitant, but we ran into our PA friends, Jana and Erik, and he was going to do it, so Todd did as well. Then, Jana decided there were too many boys/men and she joined in as well! None of them won, but it was fun to do and was something new for us.

Time for the free throw contest.​

We started wandering back towards the ship. Todd turned in my snorkel vest for me and we ditched our towels in the bin. We walked through the shops and headed back. I took the tram and Todd walked. We were back on board around 2 pm and took showers before continuing our afternoon on board.

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[Erica1016]

Day 6, Part 2 (May 8, 2024): Castaway Cay​

After showers, it was time for some inside time doing trivia. We headed to Pixar trivia at 3 pm. Then we grabbed some deck snacks (chicken tenders, fries and ice cream) for second lunch. We ran into Jana and Erik at O’Gills and did some Disney trivia, which we did not win. Right after that was a brainteasers trivia, which Erik was very good at. Between the four of us (although this is not a strong suit for Todd, so it was mainly three of us), we managed to get 20/20!

Deck snacks for second lunch/first dinner. I couldn’t find any honey mustard, though.​

I headed back to pack up whatever we wouldn’t need overnight so we could put our bags out. Todd was down to one pair of socks and underwear left, which is unheard of for him! Luckily, we’d be doing laundry the next day at my aunt and uncle’s house. I managed to get everything packed up in about 25 minutes while Todd walked around and waived goodbye to the cast members staying on Castaway. We cleaned up for the evening and headed to the show. Tonight’s show was Disney Dreams, which we hadn’t seen in a while. It was great, as usual. We enjoy the shows!

Goodbye Castaway friends, until next week!​

At the end of the show, cruise director David mentioned that the Broadway guest performer, Gail Bennett, was going to be doing a show at Fathoms at 7:30 and I was so excited. Somehow, I’d missed this in the Navigator App and was so glad we heard about it. She was awesome as Mother Gothel and I was hoping she’d do similar stuff. She was fantastic! She sang some villains material (Mother Gothel and Ursula) as well as Mary Poppins, who she’d played many times. She also sang Baby Mine, which I love even though it makes me so sad. I’m so glad we saw her show!

Gail Bennett’s extra show, she is so talented.​

We were then off to our last dinner on this cruise. Luckily, it was Animation Magic night at Animator’s Palate, which I adore. Before we went on our first cruise, this restaurant with this show was my main reason for wanting to go. I get so excited for Sorcerer Mickey with the Fantasmic music and I was super excited to see Laura and Stuart see it for the first time.

Sorcerer Mickey making the rounds in Animator’s Palate.​

Dinner was great and we, again, had a great time with Stuart and Laura. Laura continued with the two-soup trend with Todd and when I couldn’t finish my steak, Stuart was happy to try it since he’d ordered something else. I was happy that we had all gotten so comfortable with each other. Each of us got a Mickey bar with our dessert to celebrate our last dinner together.

Celebratory Mickey Bars for the whole table.​

After dinner, I stopped in the shop to buy a t-shirt that I’d had my eye on (which you will see me wearing during the second half of our double cruise) while Todd headed to Fathoms with Stuart and Laura. Danny was hosting the game show Pop and then the 80’s Music Challenge. It was a much smaller group on the last night, but Danny did a good job getting the crowd going and keeping everyone engaged. The 80’s Music Challenge was something new that we hadn’t seen, but it was a lot of fun. The people who were there were very into it and the whole room seemed to have a lot of fun.

Our final towel animal of the cruise.​

We headed back to the room around 11:15 to find our last towel animal and Todd worked on filling out the comment card. It was crazy that after all the planning and waiting for this trip that the first half of our double cruise was coming to an end.

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 8): 30,685
Erica’s Steps (May 8): 19,857

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 7-8): 5 hours, 31 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 7-8): 6 hrs, 7 min

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[Erica1016]

Days 7 and 8 (May 9-10, 2024): Between Cruises in Coral Springs, FL​

Disembarkation day is usually the worst, but knowing we’d be getting back on a ship in two days definitely took the sting out of it. Todd will tell you that one of his favorite things on a cruise is getting up super early on the last morning to walk around the empty ship and come to peace that the cruise is ending. He was up and out of the room around 4:30 am. He explored the quiet ship and watched us pull into Port Everglades. He stopped at Cabanas and got some early breakfast before coming back to the room to get me up.

Todd is up and at ‘em very early on Disembarkation Day.

The whole ship to himself.

We’ve arrived at the port.​

I got ready and finished packing up the last of our items. Since we’d just be heading to my aunt and uncle’s house, I didn’t have to worry too much about packing to be ready for flights, which was nice. We headed to sit-down breakfast at Animator’s Palate with Stuart and Laura. Overall, I’d say we prefer Cabana’s on debarkation morning, but they were planning on going and we wanted to hang out with them one more time. We saw Jana and Erik one more time and were able to say goodbye as well.

I’d had a text from Aunt Barbara early in the morning saying that they planned to get there at 9:30, so after breakfast, we got in line to leave the ship. It moved very fast and before we knew it, we were off the ship. Picking up our luggage and clearing customs was super fast and we were at the pick-up area at 9:29! Unfortunately, there were some communication issues — my texts weren’t working well inside the ship — and we learned that they’d left a bit late and we’d have to wait a while. This was no problem, we were so glad they were willing to come get us and have us visit. There were only a few benches in the waiting area and there were several families that appeared to be camped out, so we were just standing. As we were there, we could see them starting to switch over from people getting picked up to people getting dropped off for the next cruise. They arrived around 10:15 and we were off to their house.

Communication for our ride. ​

My Aunt Barbara and Uncle Jeff are the best hosts, really! We always have great conversations and are happy to just hang out with them. Todd had A LOT of laundry to do, and I had some, too. We got that started and just relaxed around their house. Uncle Jeff makes the best grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so I requested that for lunch. YUM! After lunch, I was tired (and had a little bit of a cough/cold). To make sure I got better quickly, I took a nap. Todd got caught up on a few work things on his computer and chatted with Barbara and Jeff, who were getting Barbara packed for her Saturday flight to California

Uncle Jeff making the famous Grilled PB&J.

The finished result, before it disappeared.​

After my nap, it was late afternoon and we had some chips and guac and drinks before dinner. Dinner was a great meal of steak and baked potatoes. My family is HUGE on ice cream, so they were very happy to take us to their favorite ice cream places. Uncle Jeff, Todd and I ran out to a place called Witt’s to pick up some ice cream to bring home.

Todd called his parents to check in and see how Emmett was doing. Everything was fine there!

The next day was mostly more of the same.Todd got up and ran early while I slept in until around 8:30. Uncle Jeff made great coffee for me and omelets for breakfast and I stayed in my pajamas until mid-morning!

We made a run to Costco and Walmart hoping to find some rash guard shirts, but had no luck. We had meant to get some before our trip and forgot. We’ll definitely have to get some before our next cruise in December. We both really like the DCL ones that are available, but they’re way too expensive at $65. Aunt Barbara had a couple of shirts that she gave us to take on the next cruise, so that helped.

Todd’s laundry hanging out on the drying rack. It dried very quickly. Also a beautiful view.​

We went back to the house for lunch and had Costco hot dogs and leftover ice cream. I took another short nap and Todd did a bit of work. He also helped Uncle Jeff with a GPS thing he was having trouble with and Uncle Jeff was very grateful! I called my parents to check in with them and we went for a walk around the neighborhood with Aunt Barbrara. She was delivering invitations to a brunch they were planning for their elderly, single neighbors in a couple of weeks.

When we got back from our walk, Uncle Jeff had dinner almost ready — leftover steak and rice. We had to go out to a second ice cream place after dinner, Beloved. It was very good! I told you that my family likes ice cream!

One of our ice cream stops, thanks Aunt Barbara and Uncle Jeff.​

We finished up laundry and got everything packed up for heading to the Fantasy the next morning. We spent the evening watching some stand-up comedy on Netflix and YouTube..

While a true back-to-back cruise would be awesome, it was kind of nice to have a couple of days of downtime in between. Taking time to rest, spend time with family and reset the laundry was nice. By the second day, my cold symptoms were gone, so I was feeling absolutely fine heading into the next cruise.
It is rather convenient to have family so close to Port Everglades and we look forward to being able to see them more before/after cruises. We’ll be sailing out of PE in December and will be staying with them the night before and will spend a couple days with them after as well!

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 9): 8,344
Todd’s Steps (May 10): 19,395
Erica’s Steps (May 9): 5,770
Erica’s Steps (May 10): 7,551

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 8-9): 4 hours, 19 minutes
Todd’s Sleep (May 9-10): 6 hours, 26 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 8-9): 7 hrs, 15 min
Erica’s Sleep (May 9-10): 8 hrs, 42 min

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[Erica1016]

Day 9, Part 1 (May 11, 2024): Embarkation Day on the Fantasy​

Time for another cruise! Todd, of course, got up and started his day with a run. I also got up early to say goodbye to Aunt Barbara. She was headed to California and was off to the airport fairly early. While Uncle Jeff took her to the airport, I showered and finished packing. When Todd got done running, he threw in a quick load of last-minute laundry and also showered and packed. Uncle Jeff got back around 9 am and after a quick breakfast we were off on the ~3 hour drive to Port Canaveral.

Uncle Jeff and Todd in deep conversation during the ride.

We can see the Fantasy!​

During the drive, I spent some time checking out the Facebook group and WhatsApp chatter. These cruises were the first time I’d joined the Facebook groups and I was quite enjoying all the excitement as we approached boarding. Uncle Jeff dropped us off at the port around 12:15. He was so pleased at how organized the drop-off area was compared to his experience taking people to Port Everglades.

We were able to get right in and immediately made some friends while waiting in line. Robert and Marrianne from Georgia. We were admiring their tie dye Mickey shirts that they’d made. We’d end up chatting with them plenty of times throughout the trip!

Waiting in line to check in wearing my new t-shirt.
That’s Marrianne in her tie dye behind us, I think before we’d met.​

In our trips through Port Canaveral, we’ve run into a cast member, Robert, who is from the town next to us in PA. We always try to say hello to him and remind him of things we’ve talked about. We noticed he was checking people in, so we asked to wait so that we could go to his line. We had a nice conversation with him and then we were off to security and boarding.

Check the box for a picture with the model of the Magic.​

By the time we got inside, all groups were boarding, so we could walk right on the ship. We went up to Cabanas for lunch and saw that DCL trivia would be happening at 1:45. This was probably the earliest we’d played trivia on a cruise and the fact that it was our favorite was even better. Todd stopped and brought me some chicken tenders and a drink even though we’d just had lunch. We won trivia with a 19/20 score and I became paranoid that we’d be “those people” that kept winning trivia. Todd told me not to worry about it.

Chicken tenders and trivia - let the cruise begin!​

I texted our cruise friend, Lisa, who we’d met last year on the Fantasy playing trivia and showed her that we won already!

We won DCL trivia!​

We headed to the stateroom and one of our suitcases had already arrived. Our stateroom was great and so spacious. It used to be categorized as an accessible room, but isn’t any longer. So, it had lots of space and a walk-in shower. The storage was a little lacking, but we could easily make it work. I wanted to wait to do the unpacking until we had everything, so we headed up to Deck 12 to look around and Todd called his mom to check in one more time before we’d be off the grid all week.

Our home for the next 7 nights.

Very spacious.

Our nice, large bathroom.​

When we returned to the room, all of our luggage had arrived and I was able to unpack everything before the muster drill. I can get the unpacking and organizing done pretty quickly at this point because I do it about the same every time. It’s one of the many benefits of this being cruise #9.

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[Erica1016]

Day 9, Part 2 (May 11, 2024): Embarkation Day on the Fantasy​

Our muster station was again in the Walt Disney Theater and Todd again ended up with an aisle seat so he could run up to get a spot for the Sail Away party. I got up and joined him at the railing on Deck 12, our favorite spot. I watched the beginning and then noticed a first time cruiser that was standing a bit back and trying to see. I tapped her on the shoulder and gave her my spot and she was so thrilled. She came and found me later and said thank you so much, she said she teared up at the gesture. I’ve seen the party several times and while I enjoy it, I was just as happy to just hear it and her reaction made it totally worth it!

Todd’s got a front row view for the sail away party.

Post-sail away party dance party, looking for all our favorite cast members.​

We were especially excited on this cruise to see so many cast members that we remembered from last year. We sailed on this exact same cruise (same week, same itinerary, same ship) in 2023. We watched over the dance party and started ticking off everyone that we’d need to say hello to. We then went over to the side to watch the sail away and wave at the port camera that’s at Fishlips Waterfront Bar & Grill. I called Todd’s dad to remind him to look for us, but he missed it. I think I got some ice cream somewhere in this time frame as well.

Saying goodbye to Florida.​

We stopped at a general Disney trivia and played with a man we met from Pittsburgh. His family had a team that was too big, so he asked to join us. I joked that we didn’t need to win, we just needed to beat his family! His daughter came in a bit late and joined us as well. We ended up tying with 17/20 and then won the tiebreaker. It definitely helped to have them on our team – it always helps to have some people that have slightly different interests/experiences to round out the team. So, we’d won the first two trivias we played on the ship. It was happening, we were going to be those annoying people.

After trivia was the Family Time Game Show, so we stayed and watched that. Some of our teammate’s family was playing. His daughter was a RunDisney fan and participant, so Todd chatted with her about that. It was kind of funny because it was all adults playing instead of kid/adult teams. The cast member did a nice job adjusting to the crowd.

Family Time Game Show with all adults.​

We went back to the room to get ready for the evening. There wasn’t a show in the Walt Disney Theater, so we were taking our time. We stopped and played Disney Tunes Trivia. We did not win, that is always a tough one for us!

Dinner on night one was at Animator’s Palate. I was very happy with our dining rotation because we were going to be in Animator’s Palate for Pirate Night, which is my favorite! I actually wrote that we were in Animator’s on Pirate Night on the Magic, but as of the writing of this, I’ve realized we weren’t. We were in Lumiere’s and I was just remembering the wrong cruise, oops! We would be on this one.

We had two other couples at our table, Shelbie and Chance from Tennessee, and Liz and Ryan from the Chicago area. Our servers were Darma and Pamela, who seemed like they were going to be much more personable than our servers on the Magic. Our head server was Paulo; I’m sure you’ll be reading more about him later. We would end up having a very good time with all of our tablemates and lots of great laughs. Todd continued his two-soup tradition and one of our tablemates was all about it as well. We’d all be enjoying a lot of food on this cruise, as it should be.

Todd’s two soups!
Baked Potato and Cheddar and Creamy Butternut Squash from Animator’s Palate.

Ginger-teriyaki dusted Angus beef tenderloin at Animator’s Palate.​

I spilled on my shirt, so I walked back to the room to change before heading to The Tube for the night time entertainment. Todd went to get us seats. I was so excited when we showed up and Yoyo was the host for the week because we’d loved him last year. He saw me coming and yelled out my name (Todd had already talked to him and tipped him off). It was still fun to give him a big hug and catch up a bit. Kendall, who we also remembered from last year, was at all of the evening activities and was a lot of fun.

Yoyo played a game where people had to try and get through a conversation without saying yes or no (or any form of nodding, etc.). It was so funny how no one could do it. Most people were out at the very beginning when he asked if they were ready. The room/group game was Pop!, which is always a good one to get started with. We were on “Team Yoyo” and our team won. The Tube was packed and had a very fun energy, which gave me high hopes that this would be a fun group to cruise with. I would not be disappointed.

We headed back to the room around 11:15 to get ready for bed.

Night one towel animal: crab.​

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 11): 22,154
Erica’s Steps (May 11): 11,288

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 11): 5 hours, 54 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 11): no data, I left my watch charging all night

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[Erica1016]

Day 10 (May 12, 2024): Another Sea Day​

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This would be our first of three sea days on the 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing. As usual, Todd started his morning out with a run and I got up around 7:40 to go meet him for breakfast. While he did the abs class most mornings on the Magic, his experience on the Fantasy last year wasn’t as great, so he skipped it on this trip.

We ate breakfast at Cabanas and mostly had our usuals. I was happy to find fresh mango, which wasn’t as prevalent on the Magic. We sat at the counter facing the buffet, which is one of our favorites for people watching.

Another Cabanas breakfast that looks the same, but with mangoes!​

After breakfast, we headed to the Art of the Theme Show Tour. We try to do this on every trip, even if we’ve done it on a ship before. While there is plenty of information that’s repeated, each tour is slightly different depending on the cast member. We always enjoy it! Our tour leader was Taylor, and after chatting with her at the end, we realized we’d been on two other cruises with her. She was on the Dream in January 2022 and also on the Wish in August 2022. The interesting fact we learned on this tour was that ships can have a maximum of 2% real wood in their construction.

We fit in a Pixar trivia (we did not win, scored 14/20) before heading up to Satellite Falls from 11-12. Somewhere around this time, I also got my first ice cream of the day. Today’s added flavor was mango, which is my favorite!

Mike was shocked at Todd’s cone!

Yay for mango ice cream!
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After going back to shower after the pool, we were planning on having deck snacks for lunch. We decided to take a quick walk through Cabanas to check if there was anything good. The special section was Indian food, which we love! So, Cabanas won for lunch. The football cheesecake of the day was raspberry; I was still waiting for peanut butter.

Indian food day is one of our favorites!
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We headed to Deck 4 and walked two laps before heading to Disney Tunes trivia. I think I’ve mentioned that we don’t usually do well at this topic, but we really enjoy it. Surprisingly, we ended up winning with a score of 14/20. That was very shocking!

It was time for some “do nothing” time. I headed to Deck 4 to read for a bit (I probably took a nap). Stitch was hanging out down there and was up to his usual shenanigans. That was fun! Todd did his usual “nothing” of walking all around the ship. We never did the Midship Detective Agency on this trip, but Todd did go visit Pepe’s door. He also walked by the adult pool area and it was pretty packed.

Pepe’s tiny door on Deck 5.

The adult pool in the afternoon on a sea day.
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Our afternoon was filled with – surprise – trivia. We did Parks trivia (20/22), Ultimate Disney trivia (13/20) and a new category, Disney Food trivia (18/22). We technically tied the Parks trivia, but weren’t paying attention when they had people clap for their scores while we were discussing one we got wrong. I don’t think we won the food trivia, either, but that seems like a good score. We were liking the new categories they’ve added since switching to Knowsmore. The food category was a mixture of movie food and parks food questions and was interesting.

We stopped for some deck snacks of pizza and ice cream before heading back to our room to clean up for the evening. We had our first pixie dust in our fish extender. This was our first trip doing anything like that and it was fun!

A few of our pixie dust gifts.
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It was formal night, but we didn’t get very dressed up. The show in the Walt Disney Theater was Aladdin. We’ve seen this one several times and I always say I’m going to skip it, but the shows are all so good. This was another great show. The actor playing Genie was the same as last year and he was very entertaining. At one point, he was talking to Aladdin and a baby started crying. He immediately said, “look at that, you made a baby cry!” It was perfect timing and so funny.

Spiffed up for formal night.
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After the show, we stopped out on Deck 4 to enjoy the evening time. The water was so glassy it was eerie. We’ve never seen it like that while out at sea, the pictures don’t really do it justice.

The water was so glassy it was almost creepy.
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Because it was formal night, the welcome reception in the atrium was happening, so we went there to hang out and do some people watching.

Dinner this evening was at Enchanted Garden. We again had a great time with our tablemates.Todd continued his two soup tradition, which he passed on to some of our tablemates again. We also had one of our favorite desserts, the no sugar added Lemon Raspberry Mousse Bombe. If you like lemon and you haven’t tried this, you’re missing out!

Lemon Raspberry Mousse Bombe and a Mickey Bar at Enchanted Garden.
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We all headed to The Tube together after dinner. The game show, Intuition, was good and then there was a magician, Kid Ace. His show was fine, but I found the music he played to be too loud and distracting. He wasn’t the best illusionist we’ve seen, but it was entertaining enough.

The illusionist, Kid Ace doing his adult show.
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We headed back to the room for bed around 11:40 and had a lobster for our towel animal.

Towel animal Lobster.
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Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 12): 27,462
Erica’s Steps (May 12): 11,971

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 12): 5 hours, 43 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 12): 8 hours, 37 minutes

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[Erica1016]

Day 11(May 13, 2024): Luckily, we love sea days!​

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As per usual, Todd ran while I slept. Todd then startled the heck out of me asking if I wanted to go to the pool, I was sleeping pretty deep. Once the shock wore off, I was all for it. I like going to the adult pool and hot tub nice and early because no one is really there, yet. Something we’ve come to realize is that, for us, a half hour or hour is just the right amount of time for the pool and hot tub. So, we don’t have to have a big block of time to go and enjoy it before something else.

Today’s plan was to head to Royal Court for breakfast. We were showered and dressed and got to the atrium just before it was going to open. Todd ran up to Deck 4 to get a couple of cranberry slices from Vista Cafe while we waited. Our breakfast service was interesting. We think there were two different teams that thought they were assigned to our table. As you know, that means about 6-7 different people coming by and bringing us stuff, etc. It was almost comical. We also noticed that there was a little room that almost looked like a private dining room off the front of the restaurant that we’d never seen. This would become interesting later.

Sit-down breakfast at Royal Court.
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After breakfast we did a quick lap of Deck 4 before heading to our first trivia of the day, DCL trivia. This time it was for 18+. We told ourselves that we would eliminate ourselves if too many of the questions were ones we’d seen on this trip. There were several new questions and we ended up winning with a 19/20 score. The host gave us four medallions, so we gave one to the person who came in second and one to some first-time cruisers that played and we were chatting with.

A walk on Deck 4 in my new DCL shirt.
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The second-place finisher was Chris, from Utah. He was a solo cruiser and we struck up a conversation. He asked if we wanted to join him for Disney Tunes trivia coming up next. As I’ve said, this is usually a weak topic for us, but Chris was great. We certainly made a good team and scored 38/39 and won, again!
We also ran into Robert and Marrianne and chatted with them for a while. We were making lots of friends.

Todd and I headed up to Deck 11 for some ice cream and soda. We ran into Chris again and he sat with us for a while and we got to know each other better. Eventually, Todd and I headed up to Decks 12 & 13 to walk around and do some people-watching. We saw a ship off in the distance that was the first we’d seen since leaving Port Canaveral.

By now, it was lunchtime and we took a walk through Cabanas to see what was good. The specialty corner was Latin food and was fantastic! So again, we didn’t end up having deck snacks for lunch. The football cheesecake of the day was maple pecan, still not peanut butter.

Latin food day at Cabanas.

Maple Pecan football cheesecake and Mango Cream Pot at Cabanas.
​

After a fairly busy morning, I was ready to relax for a bit. I headed to Deck 4 to find a lounge chair and Todd went back to get my book for me. Just before he got to me, he ran into someone wearing a shirt that he wanted to ask about, so he started chatting with him. He found out that the guy knew a co-worker of his, so they were talking for quite a while and I was just patiently waiting for my book. Once he got to me, I enjoyed some do-nothing time while he went exploring.

Todd making friends with strangers…where’s my book?
​

The afternoon was quite busy with some different activities. We went to an animation activity and drew Stitch. We enjoy the animation when the cast member is drawing/instructing instead of the new way of just showing a video. The Magic was only doing the video, so we hadn’t done any on that cruise. The Fantasy was still doing it the old fashioned way, so we were happy. Drawing any character with Todd is entertainment enough for me!

Todd’s rendition of Stitch.

Erica’s Stitch - although I think he looks like Simba, the mouth is wrong.
​

We hadn’t played mini golf, yet, so we headed up to Goofy’s Sports Deck to do that. It was WINDY! We didn’t add it to the notes, but I’m pretty sure I won. I recall our scores being very close.

Todd playing mini golf in the wind.
​

There were two trivias happening in the afternoon that we’d told Chris we’d go to with him. The first was Cult Classics, which was tough. We scored 14/20 and came in second place. The second was Disney Channel Trivia, which we’d played on the Magic the week before. Most of the questions were the same, so Todd and I were careful to only answer the ones that we knew before that and let Chris answer the others without telling him the answers we’d learned. He knew all of the ones we didn’t, so we ended up winning. I felt bad to keep winning, but Todd assured me we were being fair. If we didn’t have Chris, we would have excluded ourselves from scoring.

By now, it was time to head back and get ready for the evening. The show in the Walt Disney Theater was Kid Ace’s family show. Again, like the adult show, it was entertaining but not our favorite. I really didn’t enjoy the loud music while he was doing his tricks.

After the show, we ran up to Deck 12 for the Color Spin Dance Party at 7:30. Todd knew about this, but I hadn’t read anything about it before our trip. It was fun, and what we’d expected. The characters were fun, and it was cool that Max made an appearance. Todd struggled a bit figuring out the songs because they were 90’s versions of Disney songs and it took a minute to place them. He really liked that it ended with a High School Musical song.

The Color Spin Dance Party with a surprise visit from Max.
​

Dinner on night three was at Royal Court. One of the other couples was eating at Remy tonight, so there were just four of us. Weirdly, our table was in one of the small rooms that we’d noticed in the morning. As you go into the restaurant and head to the right (or left) there’s a room with only 4 tables in it on either side of the main door. It was kind of nice because it was well decorated and was also quiet. As I think I mentioned on the first cruise, this is one of my favorite menus. And our trivia name, Deep Fried Brie, was serving us well, so we had to have some.

Deep Fried Brie, of course, at Royal Court.

Todd’s two-soup tradition continues.
​

The slate of entertainment in The Tube was Snippets and a juggler. We were unsure of the juggler because we’d seen one on the Fantasy last year and didn’t really enjoy the show. I was pretty sure this wasn’t the same guy. The group game show, Snippets, was fun. The crowd in The Tube was pretty good every night and very participatory throughout all the games. The juggler, Ivan Skinfill, was the same guy we didn’t like! Unfortunately, we were sitting near the front and I felt too bad getting up to leave once he’d started, so we stayed. He’s entertaining enough, but just not really our thing.

We headed back to the room around 11:30 to head to bed. We think this towel animal was a frog?

It’s a frog, right?

​

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 13): 24,281
Erica’s Steps (May 13): 9,471

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 13): 5 hours, 39 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 13): 7 hours, 36 minutes

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[Erica1016]

Day 12 (May 14, 2024): Tortola​

​

Land, ho! After two sea days, we arrived in Tortola. Todd started his day as usual with a run and came back to shower before breakfast on his own. I was a little tired and wanted to stay in bed for a bit. I turned on the Magical Porthole and watched us sailing into the port. I got up and ready and headed up to Cabanas to meet him around 8:45.

My Magical Porthole view from bed as we arrived in Tortola.

Todd’s breakfast. There was no whipped cream for his waffles and he
accidentally got butter thinking it was whipped cream.
Big disappointment for him.

My breakfast. Is it looking familiar? At least I got a waffle this day!
​

We decided to get off the ship for a bit after breakfast. Last year, in Tortola, we did the Island Drive and Beach Break tour, which was fun. This year, we didn’t have a specific excursion planned, but we wanted to get off and explore the port area a bit. We didn’t really do that last time, we just went to the tour and back. We walked around the shops a bit and sat on a bench at the side of a big, grassy area. There was a singing duo with music playing, which was pleasant. They also did games for the kids hanging out in the area (limbo, sack race, egg race, etc.). There was also a chicken roaming around that Todd was sure was going to attack him — it did not!

Enjoying the music and games at the port in Tortola.
​

Around 10:30, we headed back to the ship. We sat in on trivia, but didn’t actually play. This was a great time to head to the pool and ride the AquaDuck. The line was fairly short, we rode twice in a row and that was good for us. We went in the hot tub and adult pool for a bit as well.

Finally, today, we had deck snacks (chicken tenders, pizza and a sandwich) for lunch! HOWEVER…we never even checked Cabanas…I missed peanut butter football cheesecake! My favorite one! I can’t believe after checking all the other days that I forgot to check. Oh well, next time!

Todd was due to do some laundry, especially some of his running clothes. The laundry room was right next door to our room, which was convenient. The two washers were full, so he had to wait a while. The vacation was catching up with me and I was tired, so I spent some time in a lounge chair admiring the view and taking a nap. Todd used his do-nothing time to walk around doing whatever he does.

A Todd selfie while he was walking around during do-nothing time.
​

They had most of the lifeboats on this side of the ship down in the water doing training and drills, etc. Interestingly, Todd and I both took a bunch of pictures of this while he was on Deck 11/12 and I was on Deck 4. I was enjoying watching and listening to someone teaching a new person how to drive the boat and get it close to the rigging to bring it back in. He was so fast and got it so close, she was struggling a bit but was getting the hang of it by her third or fourth pass.

Todd’s view of the lifeboats from Deck 11.
​

A little after 3 pm, Todd came and collected me from Deck 4 and we headed to The Tube to do origami with Lilly. We made tulips and they came out pretty well. Todd was very pleased with himself. There was then an Ultimate Disney Trivia, somehow we won with a score of 13/20. We were shocked at that one.

Our origami tulips. Todd’s is orange, mine is pink.
​

We headed back to the room to attempt the laundry again and were successful at getting in a load each. We walked around on Deck 4 for a bit while waiting for the washers. I put my clothes in the dryer while Todd hung his all over the room. He never puts his clothes in the dryer, so laundry on vacation can get interesting. While my clothes dried, we just relaxed in the room for a while and I looked through all the photos Todd had been taking on the camera and downloading on the computer. I hadn’t seen any since the start of the trip!

Once laundry was done, we got ready for Pirate Night. I disappointingly forgot any of my pirate stuff. I have various levels of dressing up, but I didn’t bring anything! I made do with a striped shirt, my bandana and a bit of extra eye makeup. Todd never dresses up other than his bandana. He always seems to wear the same brown shirt, so I told him it was a treasure map.

Ready for Pirate Night.​

It was a very nice evening, as they all were, so we hung out on Deck 4 for a while before heading to TV Themes Trivia at 7:30. We scored 11/20. The winners had 13/20, so even with a low score, we were pretty close to winning another one.

Dinner was in Animator’s Palate. We had another great meal with our table mates. Our head server, Paulo (Portugal), was quite a character and we were all exchanging notes about him. When he came to our table and started on his schtick, we were all just cracking up. I know there’s a lot of criticism of the pirate night menu, but we rather enjoy it. I think most of the criticism is about the entrees, which I can understand. That being said, I really enjoy the appetizers, soups and salads. I’ve learned to order two crabcakes as my main course and Todd really likes the stir fried noodles, so we’re happy campers.

Shanghaied Noodle Stir-fry from the vegetarian options on the Pirate Night menu.
​

We all headed up to Deck 12 to watch the pirate show and fireworks together. My favorite Pirate Night is on the Wish. I really love the Pirate Parlay Party and the fireworks on that ship. On the Magic, I do really like the part when pirate Mickey comes to save the day. We do enjoy the fireworks on the Fantasy better than the Magic, though. Todd and I hung around to watch Club Pirate for a bit. I always have fun watching the Edge/VIbe kids doing the flash mob. I kind of forget it’s going to happen every time, but they always look like they’re having so much fun.

For the first evening of the cruise, we did not head to The Tube before bed. The only thing going on was Karaoke, and while we enjoy watching that sometimes, it’s not a must-do for us. We headed back to the room for bed around 11:15. Our towel animal…big surprise…a pirate!

Towel pirate.
​

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 14): 27,236
Erica’s Steps (May 14): 11,971

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 14): 5 hours, 48 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 14): 8 hours, 37 minutes

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[Erica1016]

Day 13 (May 15, 2024): Back to St. Thomas​

​

Here we were, 10 days later and back at St. Thomas. Fancy us! Of course, Todd started his day with a run. When he came back, we headed up for breakfast. We made a quick stop in Cove Cafe for a croissant and cranberry slice on the way. We mostly had our usuals, but I branched out and got a made-to-order omelet, which had been on my to-try list for a while. It was pretty good!

One of Todd’s many cranberry slices from Cove Cafe.
​

Todd wanted to get off the ship and do the same walk we did last week, but I wasn’t feeling it. While he went for his walk, I sat on Deck 11 and watched Tangled on Funnel Vision. I may have dozed off a few times as well. I’d wake up and cast members would be doing different things to get the pools ready for the day or more people would be around. It was very pleasant.

Todd on his walk at St.Thomas.

Mango ice cream.
​

Once the movie was over, I grabbed an ice cream and headed down to Deck 4 to enjoy the view of the harbor (one of my favorite places) and the lifeboats again. Todd came and found me when he got back to the ship around 10:30 and we headed to the Quiet Cove pool and hot tub. We ran into our tablemates, Chance and Shelbie and hung out with them in the pool for quite a while.

Headed to the Quiet Cove Pool.
​

We headed back to the room for showers before going to Ultimate Disney Trivia at 12:15. It was a particularly tough one, I think there were only about 9 people there. The cast member ended up giving everyone who participated a medallion; I don’t remember our score.

For lunch, we decided to go to Royal Court for table service. I quite enjoy the Roasted Red Pepper Arancini and I’d checked the menu to get the right day for that. I ended up only having that, I think. Todd had that and tomato soup and some kind of bread pudding. He loves desserts like that and seriously contemplated a second one.

Roasted Red Pepper Arancini at Royal Court lunch.

Bread pudding (maybe coconut) at Royal Court lunch.
​

Something kind of funny was keeping us entertained throughout lunch. There was a table near us that had two settings of food, but no people. One of the plates had some of the food eaten, but the other was completely untouched. We could see the servers trying to figure out if the people were coming back or if they’d just left. Eventually, they put one of the metal covers over the uneaten burger for a while. By the time we were done, they’d given up and were cleaning the table. It was just so funny to watch them be confused and worry about what to do with the mystery table. Our server for lunch was Tomislav (Croatia) and he was fantastic. I’d love to have him as a dinner server!

​

We hadn’t had that big of a lunch, so we took a swing through Cabanas. There was a salad that looked very good and I thought about having it, but didn’t. I did have a football cheesecake for dessert and Todd had some flan. I ended up getting a great salad with dinner, so it all worked out.

Second dessert, but we ate the football cheesecake too fast.
​

We stopped by O’Gills and did the 18+ activity to decorate our own drink holders. Some of what people were doing looked so cool. I’m usually pretty creative, but my creative juices weren’t flowing. I made a drink holder, but I ended up getting rid of it once we got home. Maybe next time I’ll decorate one worth keeping.

My decorated drink holder.

​

After the activity, we headed up to the top decks to walk around and look at the port and the other ships docked with us. There was an MSC ship and a Norwegian ship. It was impressive how closely they were all parked together. Todd shot some baskets on Goofy’s sports deck for a bit.

Basketball on Goofy’s Sports Deck.
​

It was almost all aboard, so we went down to Deck 4 to watch guests return to the ship and the cast members handing out cold towels. Todd left and went to watch Marvel Superfan Faceoff while I watched us sail away at 4 pm. He came back after it was done and we headed to the atrium to watch some character meet and greets for a while before heading back to the room to change for the evening.

Cold towels and ice water. And everyone returning to the ship.​

Before the show in the Walt Disney Theater, we met up with Chris to do Marvel Trivia at 5:30. We ended up in second place, much because of Chris. We love Marvel movies, but we don’t do well at the trivia. There are just so many details to remember!

The show in the theater was Junnk, a percussion group. They were awesome! This is my kind of show, I was so impressed at how they kept all of the audience engaged. We were both looking forward to the adults-only show they’d be doing the next night in The Tube. We also went to 90’s Music Trivia before dinner. This cruise had such big crowds in The Tube and it made the environment super fun, even though we didn’t do great.

Waiting for Junnk.
​

Dinner was at Enchanted Garden. Ryan and Liz didn’t end up showing up, and we all were hoping they were okay. Turns out they were just overtired from their two days of excursions and fell asleep. They said they set an alarm for dinner, but woke up at 10 pm in their room! In the past, I remember not being crazy about this second-night menu at Enchanted Garden, but this time I loved it. I opted for the Vegetable Lasagna and it was so good. Of all the things I ate on the cruise, this is the one I’ve been craving since we got back. I also got a side of potatoes that came with another dish at the recommendation of our tablemate, Shelbie, and it was an excellent meal.

Vegetable Lasagna at Enchanted Garden.
​

Sticking with our routine, we headed to The Tube after dinner for entertainment. We met a couple, Dawn and Michael, and had a great time with them. We teamed up for Majority Rules and won! I’ve never won that one, but thanks to Dawn, we did! I was excited because Yoyo knew it was my team because of the “Deep Fried Brie” on our sheet. Now, I have to use it forever! It was also Match Your Mate night, which is always a blast. It did not disappoint.

Almost time for Match your Mate with Yoyo, Kendall and Damien.
​

We headed back to the room after what felt like another packed day and had more pixie dust. Our towel animal picture is a bit blurry, but we think it was a gorilla. We headed to bed around 11:45 looking forward to another (and last) sea day in the morning.

Towel animal: a blurry gorilla.
​

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 15): 29,297
Erica’s Steps (May 15): 10,558

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 15): 6 hours, 0 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 15): 8 hours, 3 minutes

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[Erica1016]

Day 14 (May 16, 2024): Our last sea day​

​

It was really getting hard to believe that we’d been on this trip for so long, but we were still loving it! It was our last sea day, and we love sea days. Todd (as usual) got up and ran (although it was his shortest run of the trip) while I slept a bit longer. He came back and showered and then left to walk around a bit while I was getting ready. We headed to breakfast at Cabanas around 8 am. It was Churro Mickey Waffle day!

A beautiful view during Todd’s early walkabout.

Mickey Churro Waffles!
​

After breakfast we headed up to Goofy’s Sports Deck to walk around and take in the ocean views as much as we could this last sea day. Unfortunately, for no apparent reason, my new sunglasses broke. I had just gotten them in January at Old Key West Resort and was so excited to have them for our cruise. I’d only just started wearing them on this trip. I was very disappointed; there may have been a few tears.

At 9:15, we went to the towel folding activity for the first time. It was fun, although I won’t remember anything. We stopped in to listen in on Beauty and the Beast trivia and then met Chris for Pixar Trivia at 10:30. We scored 19/20, but I think the winners might have had a perfect score. We stuck around for Disney+ Trivia, which was a new topic! We made a team with Chris and another couple, Alex and Zoey. It was a great topic! We ended up scoring 19/20 and tied with a solo player who won the tiebreaker. Again, having a diverse team helped because Alex knew all the Star Wars stuff we didn’t!

Todd’s banana napkin at the towel folding activity.

Erica’s banana napkin.
​

We squeezed in a last lunch at Cabanas (tomorrow would be Castaway) before Todd headed to the DVC Preview presentation. I got some ice cream and headed to Deck 4 for a bit. I then went back to the room to gather my pixie dust gifts to deliver. I wanted to do something handmade and ended up crocheting little octopuses. I had a few room numbers targeted from the Facebook group and I gave some others at random when a door or fish extender caught my eye.

Crocheted mini octopuses for pixie dust gifts.

One of the many decorated doors, this one had a sticker station!
​

We met back at O’Gills for Imagineering trivia at 1:15. This ended up being a trivia-heavy day, but after a trivia-heavy cruise it made sense. This was yet another new topic, so we couldn’t resist. Todd loves reading all kinds of information about Disney and has read several books about or written by Imagineers, so this was right up his alley. We scored 19/20 and tied. We ended up losing the tiebreaker, which was a bummer. Robert and Marrianne came in for DCL trivia, so we formed a team with them. This is always our best topic and we had several new-to-us questions. We won with a perfect score!! We wanted to get outside to enjoy the day, but ended up walking and chatting with them in the atrium for quite a while. It was fun!

There was a Broadway guest artist, Joseph Spieldenner, on this cruise as well. He played Jafar in Aladdin and the father in Disney’s Believe. He was great. His presentation was mostly him talking unlike the previous cruise where she sang the whole time. He was explaining his career and the different twists and turns it took - more giving advice to young performers. We really enjoyed the first half, but it ran a bit long and got to the point that he was just listing names of people he’d performed with. Most of them we didn’t know, so we lost interest.

We headed to the Quiet Cove pool and hot tub one more time (around 4:30) before heading back to the room to get cleaned up for the evening. The show in the Walt Disney Theater was Frozen. Unfortunately, the family next to us kept getting up to leave and coming back. Oddly, it was different members of the family and mostly the adults. After getting up to let them out five times, I moved to a different area and caught up with Todd when it was over. The show was great!

Between the show and dinner we stopped in on Mouseketeer Madness and ran into Chance and Shelbie there. It was fun, as usual, but none of us got our numbers called to play.

Dinner was at Royal Court again and we were still marveling at our mostly private dining room. Dinner was fantastic and Todd and I tried the lobster tail for the first time. We enjoyed it, but overall it’s not really our thing. Paulo, our head server, was a maniac running around to deshell everyone’s lobster in record time. It was quite a spectacle. Our other tablemates were not with us again due to their reservation at Palo, so this was three nights in a row that we didn’t see them.

Todd with our tablemates Chance and Shelbie in our semi-private dining area at Royal Court.
​

After dinner, we headed to…you guessed it…The Tube. Chance and Shelbie joined us and we sat next to Michael and Dawn as well. The game for the evening was The Quest, which got a little crazy for DCL with people swapping clothes, among other things. After the game show was the adult performance for Junnk. They were awesome! They had the room split in half with some fun group audience participation games. Since the crowd at The Tube had been great all week, it was really something to see how everyone came together during this show to do different activities.

A slightly blurry picture of Junnk! And our trivia friend, Chris on the left.
​

We stuck around to watch some of karaoke with Dawn and Michael, which was about what you’d expect. Mostly, it was people singing/yelling songs that are too long (we think there should be karaoke-length versions) with a few good performances mixed in. The best was a guy named Anthony that we’d talked with another time. Apparently, he’d become known as Mr. Broadway because he sang Broadway songs all week. This was the first we’d seen him sing and he was great.

It was just about midnight when we got back to the room to find our sheep/ram towel animal. We headed to bed to get a good night’s rest before Castaway Cay and our last full day on the trip.

Our second-to-last towel animal. A sheep/ram.

​

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 16): 22,165
Erica’s Steps (May 16): 11,655

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 16): 5 hours, 45 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 16): 7 hours, 27 minutes

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[Erica1016]

For those of you that have been regularly checking in - thank you! You may have noticed that it's been a few days the last post. I've tried to be consistent and get the trip report done quickly, so I've made sure to work on it every other night or so.
This week has been a little extra busy with work, but I should have the next post by the end of the week!

There are only two days left in the trip to write about, so maybe I subconciously don't want to finish?

Just kidding, we'll be back in a couple of days!

 

[Erica1016]

Day 15 (May 17, 2024): Castaway Cay, take two! ​

​

It was now the last full day of the trip and we’d be spending it at Castaway Cay. Because of the long trip from St. Thomas, we had a fairly late all ashore time scheduled. Originally, we were slated to get off at 10:30 but Captain Fabian said it might be 11 or 11:30 before we’d be able to go ashore. So, we had some time to hang out on the ship before we had to get ready.

Todd ran, of course. His last run of vacation which brought his total trip tally to 94.94 miles. He came back to get me and we headed to breakfast at Cabanas around 8:15. We then went to the Quiet Cove pool and hot tub for a bit. We went back to the room and Todd showered and then went out to walk around and eventually watch the arrival, docking and unloading on the island. I relaxed in the room, watched the Magical Porthole and took a short nap. The two weeks of vacation mode was catching up with me and I was tired!

Another breakfast of my favorites at Cabanas.

Unloading and getting the island ready for us!
​

We were cleared to go ashore at 10:45, so we really weren’t that late at all. Some people were complaining, but I don’t think they’d realized that our original time was 10:30, so they thought we were very late. We took our time getting ready and left the ship around 11:15. We spent a bit of time in the water near the family beach and Todd actually went in this time. It was his second time in the water at Castaway in eight stops there. He’s afraid of wild fish. I decided not to bring my snorkel mask to the island this time, so I’ll have to do the other half of the snorkel area on our next trip.

Around noon, we were done in the water (and direct sun), so we headed back to our chairs in the shade of a tree and sat for a while absorbing the atmosphere and people watching. We headed to Cookies Too for lunch. As we remembered, it was a much nicer experience than Cookies. It was less crowded and for whatever reason, we enjoyed it more than the previous week at Cookies. I, personally, like that the fresh fruit area is with the rest of the buffet and not at a separate cart that is out of the way.

Lunch at Cookies Too.
​

After lunch, we visited In Da Shade and Todd shot some baskets for a bit. I played pool by myself - I won! This was certainly the hottest weather we ever remembered having at Castaway. Even the cast members were struggling and were talking about how hot it was. We headed back to the ship around 2:00. Todd walked, but I decided to take the tram. Big mistake! It took a very long time. I got on at the Scuttle’s Cove stop (first), but we waited a long time and then it went to Pelican Point and waited. It then stopped again at Scuttle’s Cove before heading back to the ship. It took nearly 30 minutes and Todd was really wondering where I’d ended up. We also messed up by having his ID and Key to the World card in the bag I was carrying, so he couldn’t just reboard without me.

You can see the sweat, it was so hot. Even In Da Shade!

Action shot.

Classic shot from Castaway Cay with Todd and the Fantasy.
​

I think the first thing I did was go up to Deck 11 to grab an ice cream and a drink because I was so hot. We then went back to the room to get showered and cleaned up before heading out to do some trivia before the show and dinner. We had yet another new trivia topic - Castaway Trivia at 3:30. We didn’t really get a chance to see how much we knew because there were only a few people there and it basically turned into a group conversation for each question. The questions were interesting, though!

At 4:15, we went to Old School Disney Channel Trivia - another new category. Some women who’d seen us winning a lot of trivia asked to be a team. The questions were very difficult and they didn’t know many. They kept saying how all of it was before they were born, so I felt really old. We scored 13/20 and, to our surprise, ended up winning. Our teammates were happy that they joined us so they could get medallions.

It was almost time for all aboard, so we headed to Deck 4 to watch the last few guests arriving to the ship and the piles of towels. It always just amazes us to watch the crew packing up everything. We had enough time to head back to the room to do some packing before dinner. We were opting to put our two large suitcases out to be picked up, so I wanted to get them done before the evening entertainment so I wouldn’t have to rush back to do it.

So many towels!
​

The show in the Walt Disney Theater was Disney’s Believe, which we always enjoy. Our trivia friend Chris came by to say goodbye and get a picture and he ended up sitting with us for the show.

Our trivia friend, Chris and his bucket hat.
​

Dinner was at Animator’s Palate for the Animation Magic show. This always amazes me and is so much fun. We had great conversation and fun with our tablemates wrapping up our experiences on the cruise. Todd tried sashimi for the first time and said it was just okay, but he was glad he tried something new. The dessert wasn’t moving me as much as the Chocolate Lava Cake from the night before, so I asked if Darma could get it. To no surprise, he came through and I was very happy!

Special delivery: Chocolate Lava Cake.
​

We headed to The Tube for the last evening’s entertainment and ran into Robert and Marrianne and I was able to say goodbye to them. We sat with Dawn and Micahel and played the 80’s group game show. It was fun, but not nearly as good as the crowd the week before on the Magic. We hung out with Dawn and Michael a bit after the game and watched some karaoke again.

A last evening of fun with Lany, Yoyo, Damien and Kendall. They were a great group!
​

And with that, our last full day of cruising on this trip was over. We headed back to the room to find our last towel animal, an adorable little mouse. Todd worked on the comment card and we headed to bed around 12:20.

A tiny mouse! And the comment card, Todd’s favorite.
​

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 17): 28,589
Erica’s Steps (May 17): 10, 847

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 17): 5 hours, 9 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 17): no data, charging overnight

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[KenyaSierra]

Day 15 (May 17, 2024): Castaway Cay, take two! ​

​

It was now the last full day of the trip and we’d be spending it at Castaway Cay. Because of the long trip from St. Thomas, we had a fairly late all ashore time scheduled. Originally, we were slated to get off at 10:30 but Captain Fabian said it might be 11 or 11:30 before we’d be able to go ashore. So, we had some time to hang out on the ship before we had to get ready.

Todd ran, of course. His last run of vacation which brought his total trip tally to 94.94 miles. He came back to get me and we headed to breakfast at Cabanas around 8:15. We then went to the Quiet Cove pool and hot tub for a bit. We went back to the room and Todd showered and then went out to walk around and eventually watch the arrival, docking and unloading on the island. I relaxed in the room, watched the Magical Porthole and took a short nap. The two weeks of vacation mode was catching up with me and I was tired!

Another breakfast of my favorites at Cabanas.

Unloading and getting the island ready for us!
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We were cleared to go ashore at 10:45, so we really weren’t that late at all. Some people were complaining, but I don’t think they’d realized that our original time was 10:30, so they thought we were very late. We took our time getting ready and left the ship around 11:15. We spent a bit of time in the water near the family beach and Todd actually went in this time. It was his second time in the water at Castaway in eight stops there. He’s afraid of wild fish. I decided not to bring my snorkel mask to the island this time, so I’ll have to do the other half of the snorkel area on our next trip.

Around noon, we were done in the water (and direct sun), so we headed back to our chairs in the shade of a tree and sat for a while absorbing the atmosphere and people watching. We headed to Cookies Too for lunch. As we remembered, it was a much nicer experience than Cookies. It was less crowded and for whatever reason, we enjoyed it more than the previous week at Cookies. I, personally, like that the fresh fruit area is with the rest of the buffet and not at a separate cart that is out of the way.

Lunch at Cookies Too.
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After lunch, we visited In Da Shade and Todd shot some baskets for a bit. I played pool by myself - I won! This was certainly the hottest weather we ever remembered having at Castaway. Even the cast members were struggling and were talking about how hot it was. We headed back to the ship around 2:00. Todd walked, but I decided to take the tram. Big mistake! It took a very long time. I got on at the Scuttle’s Cove stop (first), but we waited a long time and then it went to Pelican Point and waited. It then stopped again at Scuttle’s Cove before heading back to the ship. It took nearly 30 minutes and Todd was really wondering where I’d ended up. We also messed up by having his ID and Key to the World card in the bag I was carrying, so he couldn’t just reboard without me.

You can see the sweat, it was so hot. Even In Da Shade!

Action shot.

Classic shot from Castaway Cay with Todd and the Fantasy.
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I think the first thing I did was go up to Deck 11 to grab an ice cream and a drink because I was so hot. We then went back to the room to get showered and cleaned up before heading out to do some trivia before the show and dinner. We had yet another new trivia topic - Castaway Trivia at 3:30. We didn’t really get a chance to see how much we knew because there were only a few people there and it basically turned into a group conversation for each question. The questions were interesting, though!

At 4:15, we went to Old School Disney Channel Trivia - another new category. Some women who’d seen us winning a lot of trivia asked to be a team. The questions were very difficult and they didn’t know many. They kept saying how all of it was before they were born, so I felt really old. We scored 13/20 and, to our surprise, ended up winning. Our teammates were happy that they joined us so they could get medallions.

It was almost time for all aboard, so we headed to Deck 4 to watch the last few guests arriving to the ship and the piles of towels. It always just amazes us to watch the crew packing up everything. We had enough time to head back to the room to do some packing before dinner. We were opting to put our two large suitcases out to be picked up, so I wanted to get them done before the evening entertainment so I wouldn’t have to rush back to do it.

So many towels!
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The show in the Walt Disney Theater was Disney’s Believe, which we always enjoy. Our trivia friend Chris came by to say goodbye and get a picture and he ended up sitting with us for the show.

Our trivia friend, Chris and his bucket hat.
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Dinner was at Animator’s Palate for the Animation Magic show. This always amazes me and is so much fun. We had great conversation and fun with our tablemates wrapping up our experiences on the cruise. Todd tried sashimi for the first time and said it was just okay, but he was glad he tried something new. The dessert wasn’t moving me as much as the Chocolate Lava Cake from the night before, so I asked if Darma could get it. To no surprise, he came through and I was very happy!

Special delivery: Chocolate Lava Cake.
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We headed to The Tube for the last evening’s entertainment and ran into Robert and Marrianne and I was able to say goodbye to them. We sat with Dawn and Micahel and played the 80’s group game show. It was fun, but not nearly as good as the crowd the week before on the Magic. We hung out with Dawn and Michael a bit after the game and watched some karaoke again.

A last evening of fun with Lany, Yoyo, Damien and Kendall. They were a great group!
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And with that, our last full day of cruising on this trip was over. We headed back to the room to find our last towel animal, an adorable little mouse. Todd worked on the comment card and we headed to bed around 12:20.

A tiny mouse! And the comment card, Todd’s favorite.
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Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 17): 28,589
Erica’s Steps (May 17): 10, 847

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 17): 5 hours, 9 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 17): no data, charging overnight

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that picture of the towels- at first I thought the rocks in the background were even more bags of laundry

 

[Erica1016]

Day 16 (May 18, 2024): Time to go home​

They say all good things must come to an end and here we were. Disembarkation day #2. Todd continued his disembarkation day tradition and headed out to wander the ship around 4:15 am. He watched us going into port and reported a lot of fishing boats going in and out, which was something he hadn’t observed before.

A nice, early start for Todd’s last walkabout.

We pulled into the dock at 5:39 am.

All the fresh supplies are waiting to be brought onboard for the next cruise.
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He returned to the room around 7 and I got up and showered and we packed up the rest of our things. We’d discussed it with our tablemates the night before and no one seemed interested in sit-down breakfast, so we opted to go to Cabanas. We ran into two of our tablemates there and were able to say goodbye to Chance and Shelbie again.

The last Cabanas breakfast.
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Todd headed back to the room and grabbed our few bags and we sat on Deck 4 overlooking the atrium as long as we could before departure. Todd spent a bit of time outside watching the action on the pier. We got one more treat from the Vista cafe and headed off the ship around 8:45.

Some Vista Cafe snacks while we wait to disembark.

Still smiling even though it’s the worst part of the cruise.
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Everything went very smoothly gathering our luggage and going through customs. The new format where they just take your picture to match up with the passport you’ve already entered is so fast! We ran into our Port Canaveral friend, Robert (from near our town), one more time and he gave us a warm welcome back. We headed outside and called Cortrans to let them know we were ready. We’d scheduled our pickup for 9:30, but they were already waiting so we got right on. There was one other family that was already on the van, so we headed right out. We had a nice chat with that family while heading to MCO, so the trip went quickly.

We arrived at MCO at 9:45 am and had to wait a bit to check our bags because we were too early. Our flight was scheduled for around 2 pm. We got everything checked in and headed to security around 10:30 am. There was a large storm in Georgia that was delaying a lot of flights. Luckily, our plane was coming from San Juan. Since it was coming from the south, it was not delayed by the storm and we were able to leave on time.

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Our flight home was uneventful, but we waited a very long time (over 30 minutes) for our checked luggage to come out. Todd’s parents were picking us up and couldn’t understand what was taking us so long. While we were a little down from our trip being over, we were very happy to get home and see Emmett (our dog) again. We were wondering if he’d think we’d abandoned him after such a long trip - he was fine!

We spent the night with Todd’s parents and headed back home to Pennsylvania on Sunday. We ended up catching some bug at the tail end of our trip and were quite sick most of the following week. Both of us tested negative for Covid, but the symptoms were very similar. Luckily, a neighbor helped us mow our out-of-control grass and we were able to rest and recover.

This was our raked pile of grass after our big mowing!
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Stay tuned, we’re going to write one final post with our final thoughts about the whole trip!

Step Count:
Todd’s Steps (May 18): 12,617
Erica’s Steps (May 18): 7,241

Sleep Tracker:
Todd’s Sleep (May 18): 3 hours, 45 minutes
Erica’s Sleep (May 18): 6 hours, 28 minutes

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[Erica1016]

Final Thoughts and Future Plans​

First of all, thank you to all of you that have followed along and for those of you who will read this in the future. It was our first attempt at writing a full trip report and it was a lot of fun to relive our trip as we did.I hope people have enjoyed reading along. In addition to making our trip feel like it lasted just a bit longer, it also helped get through some of the countdown to the next one (150 days!)!

Now that we’ve had some time to reflect and talk about so many aspects of our trip, I thought we’d summarize some of our final thoughts on the experience:

People
One of the many recess we enjoy cruises is all the people we get to meet and interact with. This includes both guests and cast members. All of the friends we’ve made as tablemates or as trivia buddies make it so fun to walk around and see who we’ll run into. We definitely have kept in touch with several friends we’ve made on previous cruises. We also love getting to know cast members, especially the cruise entertainment staff. While we know it’s their job to be nice, we feel like we’ve made a bunch of new friends on each cruise. We also get really excited when we see them again on future trips!

Food
It probably isn’t hard to tell from reading our trip report that we really enjoy the food on DCL. It always meets our expectations. We eat normally at home and don’t go out to eat often so having two weeks of meals prepared for us is truly a pleasure. I know there are some that describe the food on DCL as average and even sub-par, but we look forward to and enjoy it all -- even the Pirate Night menu. We definitely have our favorites that we are already counting down to having again on the next cruise.

Entertainment
In terms of main stage shows, I don’t think we’ve missed a Broadway-style show on any of our prior trips and we hit them all on these cruises as well. One great thing about live shows is that each one is just a little different (actors, audience, atmosphere), so it doesn’t matter if you’ve seen it before. We are pretty frugal in our everyday life – to afford more Disney trips -- so the shows are a treat.

The cruise entertainment staff did a great job, as always, on both cruises. We connected with many cast members and enjoyed seeing so many that we remembered (and remembered us) from last year. While this trip was trivia-heavy, we enjoyed everything we did. We’re entertained by simple things, so trivia, arts and crafts, and drawing activities are fun for us.

Just being on a ship in the ocean provides entertainment for us. And we can experience it in our own ways. Todd walks around and sees things all around the ship. I observe from a lounge chair on Deck 4. Generally, for us, the ship is the trip. In our nine cruises, we have only done two official excursions! We still have a fantastic time and someday we’ll find time to fit some in.

The Ships
We’ve now sailed on the Fantasy three times for a total of 21 nights and it just feels like home. Before this trip, we would have said we prefer the larger ships and the Magic/Wonder were much lower on our list. However, the Magic surprised us with how much we enjoyed it. It had been five years since we were on the Wonder and nine years since we were onboard the Magic. It was a pleasant surprise to enjoy it so much.

We read a lot of people mentioning crowding on the ships or waiting in lines often and that has just not been our experience on DCL at all. Perhaps because we’re not hanging out at the family pool or waiting for characters? We show up at dinner right at the start and the line is already moving quickly. There really aren’t bad seats in the theater, so we show up about 15 minutes beforehand and have always been happy with our seat selection.

Future Plans
This trip was amazing and if there was any question if 12 nights of cruising was too much – it was not! I think both of us could have turned around and gotten right back on!

We’ll have to wait until December 2024 when we’ll be doing a 5-night sailing on the Dream. Todd’s parents will be traveling with us and it will be their first Disney Cruise. We’re very excited to share something we love so much with them. We’re also looking forward to a stop at Lookout Cay.

The Treasure is also in our future plans and we’ll be sailing in May 2025. It will be our third year in a row doing the same itinerary during the same week, but the new ship will be very exciting. Although, we’ll miss the Fantasy a little bit.

After that, everything is tentative. Perhaps the Wish in January 2026 after Todd does his fifth Dopey Challenge at Marathon Weekend? Maybe the Panama Canal – on my bucket list – if it opens up and I can get time off of work? We could finally pull the trigger on a Transatlantic sailing! There are so many to do and so little time (and money).

THANK YOU, again, for sharing our trip with us and reading along. If you ever run into us on a cruise, be sure to say hello!!

Erica and Todd

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