Dina's and Peter's MAGIC(al) second - January 2022 5 night MDAS

[MainStreetFireman]

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 - Castaway Cay

We were able sign up for the virtual cue in the DCL app before we even left the room, and we got an estimated disembarkation time between 0830 and 0845. IIRC, the virtual cue opened at 0700, which may be why I set my alarm for that specific time. We got push notifications the night before that we could join the virtual cue to leave the ship at a certain time. It was all very easy and organized...one good thing about the app.


Peter likes a nice full English breakfast, and Cabanas offers most of the things. I'm noticing he has no black pudding or mushrooms on his plate. Since I wasn't looking, I'm not sure if they were not there, or if he just wasn't in the mood for them that day.

So I headed back up to the stateroom to grab my license (which nobody ever looked at when we got back on the ship, by the way).

Here's something I neglected to tell D about the app. After we joined the virtual queue and were admitted to CC, I opened the app to see if any different options popped up. Instead, I got another notification that I could join the virtual queue to disembark to CC.....again. So, I joined to see if it would give me an error message (being that I was already on CC and had scanned off the ship with my DCL room card). Nope. I got a third invitation later on CC. I joined again. Still no interconnectivity with their database that knew I was on CC already. In case you missed my earlier mini-rant about the app, it's the Titanic of sea-apps. DCL really needs to scrap it and start from the keel up.


Yes, I do love a full English. Sadly, there was no black pudding available and no mushrooms. Oh well. Also, the cream of wheat was thin. Less water, and make sure there's lumps as well....please.


While no one looked at D's license, I was told at embarkation at the Bahamian security checkpoint that only 1 ID per party would be needed. As a firefighter who is very used to "tagging in and tagging out" every member on a scene at multiple points, I really felt like this was just security theater...although no Disney characters were present at this venue.

 

[Ronneeaght]

I didn't get the birthday cake sundae. I got the fry bread and oh my goodness was it amazing. My server could tell I loved it and offered to bring me another but after eating up every morsel of that AND the Flynn Rider platter I was already rolling out of there. Looking forward to a repeat when we sail on the Magic again in September. I bet my DD7 goes for the sundae, though!!

 

[mullysisters]

Yes, I do love a full English. Sadly, there was no black pudding available and no mushrooms. Oh well. Also, the cream of wheat was thin. Less water, and make sure there's lumps as well....please.

I loved Cream of Wheat as a child. The two times I had it, I think at my Nana's house. My Mom made rolled oats porridge every morning only! Occassionaly we had Red River cereal - that was my favourite.

 

[MainStreetFireman]

When we have the luxury of a morning off together, we make steel cut oats. Takes 40 minutes, but so worth it. Very different than rolled oats. If you're an oatmeal fan, I highly recommend it.

 

[iloveeeyore]

I didn't get the birthday cake sundae. I got the fry bread and oh my goodness was it amazing. My server could tell I loved it and offered to bring me another but after eating up every morsel of that AND the Flynn Rider platter I was already rolling out of there. Looking forward to a repeat when we sail on the Magic again in September. I bet my DD7 goes for the sundae, though!!

The fry bread was the other one I wanted to try! Haha I don't know why we didn't just ask for one of everything. We knew we wanted to!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Tuesday, January 18 continued - Couple's Swedish Massage at Serenity Bay Cabana!

There was a good reason we headed over to Serenity Bay bright and early! We had a massage to get to! Our appointment was for 11 am, and we wanted to make sure we arrived with plenty of time to spare so we could choose some loungers and take a little walk on the beach.

I think I had read when cruises had started back up again that SB was a little unkempt and unpleasant, with seaweed and construction? Not so anymore; it is perfectly pristine.









If not for the wind, the morning would have been absolutely perfect. Peter and I disagree about how warm it got before our massage and relatively when, but I would say that it was before 10am when I was able to take off my light jacket and feel comfortable in my sundress. Peter thinks it was later.

We made our way over to the massage check-in kiosk at around 10:40. The masseuses greeted us warmly and happily, eager to get started early.

We had Neri and Kathy, and they were wonderful!




Because of the cold wind, the shutters were mostly closed, which was a bit disappointing because it obstructed our view a bit, but most of the time we were in there, our eyes were closed, anyway!


The massage was amazing! I became aware over the course of the hour that I was clenching my teeth and forced myself to relax. This happened several times, most frequently at the beginning. The smell and sound of the ocean, and the feeling of the light breeze that still made it through the mostly closed shutters, combined with the expert massage, was absolutely heavenly. The cost to us for this experience was $190.82 including the automatically added 18% gratuity (we left a little extra cash, which we did pretty much every time we had an opportunity to say "thank you" to the wonderful staff for their diligent and caring service). Honestly, this didn't seem at all out of line for what it was worth, and in fact not much more than we would have paid near home. We would book this again in a heartbeat IF we had another double-dip cruise, but probably not if we only had 1 day at CC, as we would want to enjoy the beach longer. We would probably both prefer the more elaborate Couple's Choice Massage on the ship over this experience, but that one is also way more expensive.

I forgot to take a photo of the cabana when we first walked in, but this is what it looked like after, as we were getting dressed to leave




Neri and Kathy did offer some aromatic and healing Elemis products to purchase before we signed the bill, but it wasn't a hard up-sell in any way. Overall this experience was great and we are so glad we did it!

As we said farewell, Neri and Kathy gave us each a "free" ice cold bottle of water, reminding us to stay hydrated the rest of the day.


Yup, by the time we were done, it was right around noon, and time to head over to lunch.

 

[MainStreetFireman]

Tuesday, January 18 continued - Couple's Swedish Massage at Serenity Bay Cabana!

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If not for the wind, the morning would have been absolutely perfect. Peter and I disagree about how warm it got before our massage and relatively when, but I would say that it was before 10am when I was able to take off my light jacket and feel comfortable in my sundress. Peter thinks it was later.

I realize that a few days ago, I was living in 7 degree temperatures. But just check out the palm trees in these pictures. The wind was crazy. I stayed wrapped in towels until we left the beach for the massage.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Tuesday, January 18 Continued on Castaway Cay

Lunch at the BBQ site on Serenity Bay was delicious! I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the salads and the salmon was some of the best I've had. It was described to me as bourbon glazed, and it was so moist and perfectly cooked. Peter ordered a steak rare, and it was a little too rare for me to enjoy, but I didn't want to order another whole steak just to have some a little more cooked. The hamburgers and hot dogs were about average, but the real star was the RIBS! They were so tender, with just the right amount of sauce! Overall, the BBQ exceeded our expectations.

This is my plate with salmon, ribs, brisket, salads (macaroni, bean and corn (can't remember if the bean and corn were together or if they were 2 separate salads) and potato), and corn bread. The breads were the only disappointment of the buffet - this corn bread was pretty dry with little flavor. And there was another kind of bread, pineapple maybe, it just wasn't great.


Peter's cheeseburger, ribyeye and cole slaw


Here's the pineapple bread next to the cornbread. Meh.


After lunch, we ventured back to the SB beach, where the wind had died down significantly and we could relax and enjoy the gorgeous day.






When I look at these pictures now, I can't help but smile and feel a sense of peace.

I don't have a photo of the drink or of me drinking it, but Peter went over tho the plane hangar looking bar and bought me a beverage in a "bamboo" souvenir cup that was very cute. I don't know what the drink was called but it was really tropical. I want one now. Our receipt says "non-alcoholic beverage" $23.04 (that includes the souvenir cup).

Around 3 we decided to mosey on back to the ship via tram. On the tram we met a lovely couple around our age from the Chicago area and had a lovely conversation and would be happy to run into them many times over the rest of the cruise. This is one of the best things about a Disney Cruise...meeting the nicest people!

I love this plane. The little Disney touches.


And some characters we ran into




Our new friends took some photos of us as we walked back to the Magic, and they came out great despite the strong back-lighting from the beautiful sun!


And that was the end of our perfect day at Castaway Cay. We were hopeful we'd be back there in a few days, but we knew from experience, you can't make assumptions you'll make it!

Up next, evening on the magic and our first time at Lumiere's.

 

[MainStreetFireman]

Tuesday, January 18 Continued on Castaway Cay

I don't have a photo of the drink or of me drinking it, but Peter went over to the plane hangar looking bar and bought me a beverage in a "bamboo" souvenir cup that was very cute. I don't know what the drink was called but it was really tropical. I want one now. Our receipt says "non-alcoholic beverage" $23.04 (that includes the souvenir cup).

I would swear that it WAS alcoholic. Trying to remember if it was a frozen drink or a rocks drink. I know it wasn't a "mule" because you drink those at home and I wanted to get you something different. II think it was a Konk Cooler. White and dark rum, coconut cream, passion fruit, pineapple and orange juices. Taste familiar? I guess you need a memory refresher.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Hi, Dina and Peter!! I was so excited to stumble across this TR, having enjoyed your FANTAS(y)TIC prior one I've enjoyed getting caught up on the start of your trip. Such a wonderful day at Castaway Cay--I'm SO glad you were able to dock this time and enjoy. It's spectacular, isn't it!?

My husband and I are going on a 7 night cruise on the Fantasy in June (rescheduled from last year) to celebrate our 15th (plus 1) anniversary. Reading your TR has me so excited to get back to cruising!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Hi, Dina and Peter!! I was so excited to stumble across this TR, having enjoyed your FANTAS(y)TIC prior one I've enjoyed getting caught up on the start of your trip. Such a wonderful day at Castaway Cay--I'm SO glad you were able to dock this time and enjoy. It's spectacular, isn't it!?

My husband and I are going on a 7 night cruise on the Fantasy in June (rescheduled from last year) to celebrate our 15th (plus 1) anniversary. Reading your TR has me so excited to get back to cruising!

Yay! So glad you found us again. Yes, Castaway Cay definitely is spectacular, it really blew our expectations out of the water. The Fantasy is so great, I wish you and your husband the happiest and most magical of anniversaries!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 - Back on the ship

After some amazing showers to wash off the sand and sunscreen (I think I have already described how astonishingly wonderful the stateroom shower is?), we dressed and headed out for an evening of fun.

We still had hours before our 8:20 dinner, and the featured show was a rerun of Tangled, which we agreed we didn't need to see again. We decided to head up to the pool deck to enjoy some more fresh air, panoramic views of the gorgeous island, and sailaway. First, we grabbed a snack, as it had been HOURS since our last meal LOL.



I just have to add here that we didn't think the pizza on the Magic was horrible. I have read terrible reviews, and I believe the overall consensus is that the pizza on DCL is bordering on inedible. (snob alert) We are pretty picky about our pizza, having spent our entire lives living in and around various burroughs of NYC. We have lively family debates about which pizza is the BEST pizza in our area, it's mostly great. I'm not gonna claim that Pinnochio's pizza was amazing by any means, but it definitely wasn't even close to the worst pizza we've ever had. It won't kill you to give it a try, I promise. That said, I wouldn't plan to rely upon it as your main source of sustenance while on the Magic.

Next, we stopped at the Cove Cafe, where the plan was to get one of their specialty coffee cocktails, but for some reason, we instead ordered a drink of the day.

I don't remember what it was, (receipts don't give specific drink name), but it was delicious and sweet and cost $6.20 with tip included (we always added a little extra gratuity, which shows up on our itemized bill as "extra gratuity.") Also, it shows up as "Signals Bar - Liquor," and not Cove Cafe, where we actually were. I suppose they share liquor?

Next, we made our way to actual Signals Bar...I think it was happy hour. This is a CloudyLicious and it was very much up my alley, made with Sauvignon Blanc, Belvedere Peach (vodka) and Jasmine White tea. I found this by searching on line for Signals menu which jogged my memory.

The cost of this drink with the tip added was $11.44 during happy hour.

We went back to the stateroom before dinner, I think Peter wanted to grab his jacket and tie, and we found this guy, with way too many chocolates for the two of us


Our dinner this night was at Lumiere's, and we were excited as this is probably our favorite menu out of the bunch. The decor in here reminded us of a diner in Astoria, Queens in the 90s. Not that there's anything wrong with that, we love Greek diners, but maybe Lumiere's could use an update?

The table setting is lovely.




For starters, we ordered the escargot, which is as delicious as it was on the Fantasy


And the fried brie.


Peter thought it was OK. For me, it was one of my favorite dishes of the cruise. I wanted another serving, but refrained. I don't think we tried this on the Fantasy; maybe Peter did, but I didn't taste it? It would have been the first Royal Court night, I will have to go back and check our report from that sailing. It's hard to imagine, knowing Peter and me, that we would have not ordered fried brie? The problem is, this menu has too many delicious options!

Between our apps and our entrees, there was a character parade that was loads of fun. From our table against the windows, we were a little removed from the action, which was a-okay with us, but it was hard to get good photos. Hope you can get an idea...


I'm approaching my photo limit in this post, so will continue the rest of our dinner next post.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 dinner continued

We also had a soup course this night. I ordered my all-time favorite French onion

which was absolutely perfect! (Seen some bad reviews about tasteless, onion-less soup I think on the Fantasy? But trust me, this one was spot-on!

Peter ordered the Potato Leek

which was fine, but IMO totally meh, compared to the French Onion.

We swapped half-way through so Peter could fairly get his shared of the superior soup.

For an entree, Peter went with the Chateaubriand

which was perfection!

I ordered the Rack of Lamb Medium

which was delicious, though I would have preferred it slightly closer to rare. It comes medium. The medium is part of the name of the dish on the menu. I suppose you could ask for it well, but it doesn't get less than medium. Still, very delicious...well seasoned and I enjoyed the burgandy rosemary sauce.

Melroy gave us puzzles with crayons each night. They were fun and not so easy. Make the giraffe face a different direction by only moving one crayon...


For dessert, we ordered a Grand Marnier Souffle and a Creme Brulee. Both were as scrummy as could be!






OMG this dinner was so rich and filling, and could not have been any better than it was (unless maybe the lamb had had 1 minute less in the oven).

We kind of rolled out of there and went straight back to the stateroom for some serious wallowing. It was close to 10 pm by the time we got out of there, so close to bedtime anyway. I heard there was some great entertainment at the Promenade Lounge and at Keys. But we were too tired and stuffed to get ourselves there haha.

Up next...Marvel Day at Sea packed with amazing activities...and we still fit in Palo Brunch and a tasting!

Spoiler Alert!! Below the answer to the giraffe puzzle!!

(It's still confusion because somehow our crayons got switched around so the colors aren't in the right place vs. the before photo I don't think.) I swear we didn't even have any more adult drinks with dinner!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Such a yummy dinner!! We love the fried brie, as well, and french onion is my FAVORITE!! Your drinks before dinner looked really great--we never took advantage of the drink of the day or happy hour on our prior cruises, so this is definitely something I hope to do differently on our anniversary cruise this summer.

My son really loved getting stumped with magic tricks and jokes by our servers at dinner on our cruise in 2019. I was thinking that's something I'd really miss when it's just the 2 of us, so I'm super excited to hear that you were given puzzles to solve, too!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Such a yummy dinner!! We love the fried brie, as well, and french onion is my FAVORITE!! Your drinks before dinner looked really great--we never took advantage of the drink of the day or happy hour on our prior cruises, so this is definitely something I hope to do differently on our anniversary cruise this summer.

My son really loved getting stumped with magic tricks and jokes by our servers at dinner on our cruise in 2019. I was thinking that's something I'd really miss when it's just the 2 of us, so I'm super excited to hear that you were given puzzles to solve, too!

The bars and lounges are wonderful and offer lots of interesting libations! I also recommend throwing in a tasting or two on sea days...such a treat!

We got the crayon tricks when we were a table of 3 married couples on the Fantasy last time. Happily, having kids along does not matter when it comes to those antics!

 

[MainStreetFireman]

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 - Back on the ship

Next, we stopped at the Cove Cafe, where the plan was to get one of their specialty coffee cocktails, but for some reason, we instead ordered a drink of the day.
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"For some reason".....hmmmm....maybe the reason was......WE'RE HAVING...A GREAT CRUISE!

 

[greensombrero]

Glad to see further posts, I continue to enjoy your TR.

I have to comment on the pizza. I think pizza is one of those foods that can be enjoyable even when it isn’t great. I won’t claim to be as well versed as you may be on pizza but I’ve had a wide range of pizzas. I sometimes find myself enjoying cheap frozen pizza because it is somehow comforting and nostalgic even though I know it isn’t good pizza. I feel like DCL pizza is similar. It’s included, it’s available all the time, it’s hot and gooey and I’m on the ocean so I enjoy it. Even though I know it isn’t “good” pizza.

I sail again in 15 days and your dinner report is reminding me what I have to look forward to!

 

[MainStreetFireman]

Glad to see further posts, I continue to enjoy your TR.

I have to comment on the pizza. I think pizza is one of those foods that can be enjoyable even when it isn’t great. I won’t claim to be as well versed as you may be on pizza but I’ve had a wide range of pizzas. I sometimes find myself enjoying cheap frozen pizza because it is somehow comforting and nostalgic even though I know it isn’t good pizza. I feel like DCL pizza is similar. It’s included, it’s available all the time, it’s hot and gooey and I’m on the ocean so I enjoy it. Even though I know it isn’t “good” pizza.

I sail again in 15 days and your dinner report is reminding me what I have to look forward to!

I felt the same way. Also about the shwarma. I've had exceptional gyro in Astoria, and many NYC food carts. This was fine.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Glad to see further posts, I continue to enjoy your TR.

I have to comment on the pizza. I think pizza is one of those foods that can be enjoyable even when it isn’t great. I won’t claim to be as well versed as you may be on pizza but I’ve had a wide range of pizzas. I sometimes find myself enjoying cheap frozen pizza because it is somehow comforting and nostalgic even though I know it isn’t good pizza. I feel like DCL pizza is similar. It’s included, it’s available all the time, it’s hot and gooey and I’m on the ocean so I enjoy it. Even though I know it isn’t “good” pizza.

I sail again in 15 days and your dinner report is reminding me what I have to look forward to!

Thank you for following and commenting! ITA with this about pizza. It's my comfort food, so it has to be very bad for me NOT to enjoy it at least a little bit.

You are sailing so SOON! Lucky duck! Bon voyage!!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Wednesday, January 19, 2022 - Marvel Day at Sea

OK. WOW!!

We had chosen this cruise in part for Marvel Day at Sea. That said, in the months leading up to the cruise, we moderated our expectations. Afterall, we were in the middle of a pandemic, at that moment, at the height of a wave of a new variant, so entertainment and character interactions were curbed to a degree. Expectations play a huge role in satisfaction...perhaps this is why we were SO blown away by MDAS?

We started off the day a bit slow and at about 8:30, we made our way up to Cove Cafe for some large black coffess and then to Cabanas for a light breakfast. We had an 11 am reservation at Palo, so we didn't want to overdo it breakfast.

We could already see the MDAS theming at the buffet


Peter got a bowl of cream of wheat, which he found too thin for his liking, and I took one of the featured "sandwich of the day," which on this morning was a kind of breakfast burrito wrap, and it was delicious!


I found the only POG juice dispenser in Cabanas, which was not working great (probably running on empty), but I managed to eke out a few drops of the heavenly nectar.


We ran into our server Melroy in Cabanas and had quite a lovely conversation with him about his time with DCL and all of our hopes that things would return to normal soon. After a leisure breakfast, we headed down to Promenade Lounge for Animation class, which they call Comic Academy.


Our character was Spider Man




I think we both did a pretty good job! We have always loved these little character-drawing events and would have loved to attend more of them, but wouldn't have time if we wanted to squeeze everything in. They offered several of these academies over the course of the day.

We headed back up to the stateroom to freshen up for brunch. Our stateroom attendant had already made up the room and had decorated our sliding glass door with this decal.


So here's the thing that happened with booking Palo. I didn't try right away when the booking window opened to us, so I'm not sure if it would have been available for silver. We did decide to book it (technically...Peter agreed with me that we should book it, lol) several weeks into the window and it was unavailable. Then they added an option for the Nassau day, which I really didn't want because we planned to do something in Nassau. So I kept obsessively checking the cruise planner for openings on the sea day. I think it was probably the pandemic, but at about 8 days out, SCORE! Yay! We got a reservation for brunch at Palo!





Up next, thoughts on brunch at Palo!