jedijill
Chiefs fan living in Bronco country
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2005
- Messages
- 7,331
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Its cruise day! I woke up this morning to see the Magic docked across the bay at the Pan American pier!
The building in the foreground was the pier in front of the Sheraton OSJ where the Carnival ships were docked on Friday.
After taking pictures of the Magic I started packing everything back up and getting ready to go. I met with Debbie and Kayla and we walked over to Starbucks for breakfast. We ran into some folks that had just gotten off the Transatlantic (well, I noticed his shirt and started talking to him!) and they told us about how it took forever to get off the ship. While we were eating it started storming really really hard! It poured and the wind was really blowing. We just hung out and enjoyed our breakfast. After a bit the rain stopped and we walked down to CVS so Kayla could buy new sunglasses and find a Puerto Rico souvenir key chain. Shopping done we walked back to the hotel and grabbed our luggage to take downstairs. The lobby was a madhouse! Lots of Disney cruisers getting ready to go to the port. We were just checking our bags with bell services since we had an important place to visit before getting on the ship....Bacardi! Luggage stowed, we walked across the street to the pier and caught the ferry across the bay. The ferry costs $1 RT. We walked out of the ferry building and looked for a taxi. Some guy kept telling us to follow him to another building...it seemed shady but it was legit. All the taxis hung out in a parking garage a short walk from the ferry terminal. The taxi drivers waited to fill up a taxi and then dropped us off at Bacardi. I think we paid $4pp to Bacardi.
We checked in at Bacardi for the English tour. We were given a pager (like at a restaurant) and it soon went off. We got on a tram that took us past the offices and the distillery. The guide gave us some info on the buildings and the plants (sugar cane and coconut palm) planted outside.
We got off the tram and were led into the visitors center. We were only able to take pictures in the first room. The guide explained the significance of the bat on the label. The next room was a theater where they showed a movie about the history of Bacardi along with some vintage ads. The rest of center had recreations of the original distilling process along with documents and furniture from the history of the company. One of the more interesting rooms gave a you a chance to smell the rum during each stage of the distilling process. There was also a section where you could smell each flavor of rum. Some were yummy!
Finally we got to the final room where their bartender showed us how to mix a cube libre (rum and coke) and a mojito. He then gave us a taste of the 8 year old Bacardi. It was strong but delicious! After leaving, we got back on the tram where they let us off at the gift shop! I bought a bottle of the 8 year rum for my dogsitter and then we went out to get our 2 free drinks. I chose a cuba libre and a mix of a flavored rum and fruit juice. I can't remember what it was now but it was tasty. Both drinks were free and although small, the bartenders used a heavy hand!
While we were sitting and enjoying our drinks, Debbie got texts from her coworkers that were at the pier. This is the first time we heard of all the issues boarding the ship. They said that they had been standing in the hot building for almost 2 hours before they got on board. We were glad we were at Barcardi!
We grabbed a cab back to the ferry terminal and caught the ferry back to the pier. On the ferry, we decided to skip lunch and just head to the ship. We weren't that hungry and knew we had an early dinner. We picked our luggage up from the hotel and caught a cab to the pier at about 3pm. I think we paid about $21 for the 3 of us plus 4 suitcases plus carry-on bags.
There weren't many people at the pier. We quickly gave our luggage to the porters and headed inside and walked through the metal detectors and checked in at the counter. We saw the duty free store in the pier. We walked right on the ship. We came on the ship on Deck 4 and walked around the top of the atrium. It was rather odd. That's when I had a chance to experience the first of the changes to the Magic. The new chandeliers are not good. I really miss the Chiluly chandelier from before. It was odd not having the second staircase as well. Although it was strange, I was just happy to be on the ship!
Since the rooms were ready, I headed down to deck six to drop off my carry on and water. I got to the room and figured out I had already lost my KTTW card somewhere between getting on board and my cabin! My cabin host was right there and she let me in my cabin to drop my stuff and then I headed upstairs to get a new KTTW card before the safety drill Guest Services was able to get me a new card issued quickly. I headed back down and started getting a little unpacking done. I put my magnets and my FE up and got my water in the fridge before the drill. I was in a Cat 12 inside cabin on Deck 6 Forward. It was a great location very close to the Forward elevators which weren't ever busy. It was a quite a walk to the laundry room but not too bad.
For the first time ever, I found the directions very confusing for finding my muster station. I stopped and ask someone and was directed to the starboard side of the ship. I could find every muster station but mine. Finally someone told me I was on the wrong side of the ship. Argh! Glad it wasn't a real emergency. I made it to my correct muster station. I have to say the drill is so much more pleasant now you don't have to wear your life preservers. It started to rain while we were waiting but luckily it wasn't blowing in too badly. Once the drill was done I headed to go find a snack since we had skipped lunch. The line for chicken tenders was huge so I grabbed a couple of small pieces of pizza and a drink of the day...Bahama Mama! I scarfed the pizza down and took the drink back to my room. I was hoping that my bags would show up so I could get ready for dinner.
When I got back I had one of my 2 bags. I unpacked what I could and got cleaned up for dinner. I couldn't dress up since my bag with my nice clothes was still MIA. For the first time I was on Main dining since that is what my friends preferred. They are all east coasters so it made sense to them but it was a shock to me. After doing main once, I'm going back to late dining. It just works so much better for me!
Dinner was at Animator's Palate.
Debbies coworkers showed up and I got introduced to them. Let's just say we girls had a great time all week.
We were introduced to our great serving team, Rey from Phillipines and Mauricio from Mexico. We really enjoyed them all week.
I started off with the Black Truffle Pursettes. They are so yummy!
Baked Potato Soup
Marinated Angus Tenderloin. I subbed in the sour cream mashed potatoes instead of wasabi mashed potatoes.
Sorcerer Mickey came to visit!
I had the chocolate brownie cheesecake for dessert.
The food was good...It wasn't amazing but good. The serving team was really good and very personable. After dinner I headed back to my cabin to see if my last bag made it. On my way I saw Minnie in her fiesta outfit taking pictures in the atrium.
Back in my cabin I was happy to see my last bag. I unpacked the rest of my stuff and stored the bags under the bed. During the reimagining, all the beds were replaced with the same beds that are on the Dream and the Fantasy. There is plenty of room to store suitcases without having to lift the bed up now.
All aboard was at 9:30 pm. I believe that they ran a make up drill around 10. I went up to Deck 10 forward to watch the sailaway. There were tons of locals parking across the street from the pier to watch the ship leave. We finally cast off at about 10:30pm. It was cool to see and wave at all the people down on the dock. We slowly backed out to a wider spot in the bay where the captain swung the ship around so we could head out of the bay. We sailed right by El Morro which was lit up. I didn't have my camera and the Iphone takes terrible night pictures. It was beautiful! You'll just have to trust me.
After we got out to the open water I headed back to my cabin to get some sleep.
Next up, A Day at Sea!
Jill in CO
Its cruise day! I woke up this morning to see the Magic docked across the bay at the Pan American pier!
The building in the foreground was the pier in front of the Sheraton OSJ where the Carnival ships were docked on Friday.
After taking pictures of the Magic I started packing everything back up and getting ready to go. I met with Debbie and Kayla and we walked over to Starbucks for breakfast. We ran into some folks that had just gotten off the Transatlantic (well, I noticed his shirt and started talking to him!) and they told us about how it took forever to get off the ship. While we were eating it started storming really really hard! It poured and the wind was really blowing. We just hung out and enjoyed our breakfast. After a bit the rain stopped and we walked down to CVS so Kayla could buy new sunglasses and find a Puerto Rico souvenir key chain. Shopping done we walked back to the hotel and grabbed our luggage to take downstairs. The lobby was a madhouse! Lots of Disney cruisers getting ready to go to the port. We were just checking our bags with bell services since we had an important place to visit before getting on the ship....Bacardi! Luggage stowed, we walked across the street to the pier and caught the ferry across the bay. The ferry costs $1 RT. We walked out of the ferry building and looked for a taxi. Some guy kept telling us to follow him to another building...it seemed shady but it was legit. All the taxis hung out in a parking garage a short walk from the ferry terminal. The taxi drivers waited to fill up a taxi and then dropped us off at Bacardi. I think we paid $4pp to Bacardi.
We checked in at Bacardi for the English tour. We were given a pager (like at a restaurant) and it soon went off. We got on a tram that took us past the offices and the distillery. The guide gave us some info on the buildings and the plants (sugar cane and coconut palm) planted outside.
We got off the tram and were led into the visitors center. We were only able to take pictures in the first room. The guide explained the significance of the bat on the label. The next room was a theater where they showed a movie about the history of Bacardi along with some vintage ads. The rest of center had recreations of the original distilling process along with documents and furniture from the history of the company. One of the more interesting rooms gave a you a chance to smell the rum during each stage of the distilling process. There was also a section where you could smell each flavor of rum. Some were yummy!
Finally we got to the final room where their bartender showed us how to mix a cube libre (rum and coke) and a mojito. He then gave us a taste of the 8 year old Bacardi. It was strong but delicious! After leaving, we got back on the tram where they let us off at the gift shop! I bought a bottle of the 8 year rum for my dogsitter and then we went out to get our 2 free drinks. I chose a cuba libre and a mix of a flavored rum and fruit juice. I can't remember what it was now but it was tasty. Both drinks were free and although small, the bartenders used a heavy hand!
While we were sitting and enjoying our drinks, Debbie got texts from her coworkers that were at the pier. This is the first time we heard of all the issues boarding the ship. They said that they had been standing in the hot building for almost 2 hours before they got on board. We were glad we were at Barcardi!
We grabbed a cab back to the ferry terminal and caught the ferry back to the pier. On the ferry, we decided to skip lunch and just head to the ship. We weren't that hungry and knew we had an early dinner. We picked our luggage up from the hotel and caught a cab to the pier at about 3pm. I think we paid about $21 for the 3 of us plus 4 suitcases plus carry-on bags.
There weren't many people at the pier. We quickly gave our luggage to the porters and headed inside and walked through the metal detectors and checked in at the counter. We saw the duty free store in the pier. We walked right on the ship. We came on the ship on Deck 4 and walked around the top of the atrium. It was rather odd. That's when I had a chance to experience the first of the changes to the Magic. The new chandeliers are not good. I really miss the Chiluly chandelier from before. It was odd not having the second staircase as well. Although it was strange, I was just happy to be on the ship!
Since the rooms were ready, I headed down to deck six to drop off my carry on and water. I got to the room and figured out I had already lost my KTTW card somewhere between getting on board and my cabin! My cabin host was right there and she let me in my cabin to drop my stuff and then I headed upstairs to get a new KTTW card before the safety drill Guest Services was able to get me a new card issued quickly. I headed back down and started getting a little unpacking done. I put my magnets and my FE up and got my water in the fridge before the drill. I was in a Cat 12 inside cabin on Deck 6 Forward. It was a great location very close to the Forward elevators which weren't ever busy. It was a quite a walk to the laundry room but not too bad.
For the first time ever, I found the directions very confusing for finding my muster station. I stopped and ask someone and was directed to the starboard side of the ship. I could find every muster station but mine. Finally someone told me I was on the wrong side of the ship. Argh! Glad it wasn't a real emergency. I made it to my correct muster station. I have to say the drill is so much more pleasant now you don't have to wear your life preservers. It started to rain while we were waiting but luckily it wasn't blowing in too badly. Once the drill was done I headed to go find a snack since we had skipped lunch. The line for chicken tenders was huge so I grabbed a couple of small pieces of pizza and a drink of the day...Bahama Mama! I scarfed the pizza down and took the drink back to my room. I was hoping that my bags would show up so I could get ready for dinner.
When I got back I had one of my 2 bags. I unpacked what I could and got cleaned up for dinner. I couldn't dress up since my bag with my nice clothes was still MIA. For the first time I was on Main dining since that is what my friends preferred. They are all east coasters so it made sense to them but it was a shock to me. After doing main once, I'm going back to late dining. It just works so much better for me!
Dinner was at Animator's Palate.
Debbies coworkers showed up and I got introduced to them. Let's just say we girls had a great time all week.
We were introduced to our great serving team, Rey from Phillipines and Mauricio from Mexico. We really enjoyed them all week.
I started off with the Black Truffle Pursettes. They are so yummy!
Baked Potato Soup
Marinated Angus Tenderloin. I subbed in the sour cream mashed potatoes instead of wasabi mashed potatoes.
Sorcerer Mickey came to visit!
I had the chocolate brownie cheesecake for dessert.
The food was good...It wasn't amazing but good. The serving team was really good and very personable. After dinner I headed back to my cabin to see if my last bag made it. On my way I saw Minnie in her fiesta outfit taking pictures in the atrium.
Back in my cabin I was happy to see my last bag. I unpacked the rest of my stuff and stored the bags under the bed. During the reimagining, all the beds were replaced with the same beds that are on the Dream and the Fantasy. There is plenty of room to store suitcases without having to lift the bed up now.
All aboard was at 9:30 pm. I believe that they ran a make up drill around 10. I went up to Deck 10 forward to watch the sailaway. There were tons of locals parking across the street from the pier to watch the ship leave. We finally cast off at about 10:30pm. It was cool to see and wave at all the people down on the dock. We slowly backed out to a wider spot in the bay where the captain swung the ship around so we could head out of the bay. We sailed right by El Morro which was lit up. I didn't have my camera and the Iphone takes terrible night pictures. It was beautiful! You'll just have to trust me.
After we got out to the open water I headed back to my cabin to get some sleep.
Next up, A Day at Sea!
Jill in CO
I can see why you were a little hesitant.
After the mojito, they brought around 3 other drinks. I can't remember what they all were but one was beer based...blech! The last was a B52 shot that was really good. We didn't get to do the normal mix behind the bar. They said there was another event on the other side of Keys. I think there was a wedding reception...I saw the bride walking down my hallway earlier. The class was fun and the drinks were strong...it's a great deal for $15!
