Let Sleeping Dogs Lie in the Sand: Magic Southern Caribbean 9/20-9/27

[eandesmom]

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!

That rain was crazy! So smart that you didn't head over right away. Bacardi looked like fun

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!

the folks on our plane waited that long, just brutal.

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!

I would have a very hard time with first seating, not to mention it meant we were on opposite schedules and never saw each other! BOOO.

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.

it really was an amazing sail away1

Before I get started, I need to go back and mention that I went to the show the previous evening. Before the show started, the cruise director Natalie gave her announcements and then called up Miguel who made the announcements in Spanish. A good portion of the passengers were from Puerto Rico so I thought this was a nice touch...until Miguel rambled on 2-3x longer than Natalie talked. He was like a bad game show host...just over the top and fake. It got really old over the course of the week. Just my 2 cents and other may disagree but I didn't care for either Miguel or Natalie. I missed my Brent!

I didn't mind Natalie but then again I tuned her out most of the time. We had her on the Dream so maybe that's why she didn't bother me, most people seemed to dislike her rather intensely.

I slept in a bit and then got up and headed to the DVC presentation. I was hoping to win the $200 OBC but it was not to be. There was a nice presentation and some prizes but I didn't win anything. There is no danger of me adding on through DVC since the point prices are now completely outrageous. If and when I add on, it will be through resale. I did get a free mimosa...free always taste better!

ARRGH! We were there too, can't believe I didn't see you there. WAH.

Your Palo server sounds horrendous. I didn't care for our evening service but it wasn't poor like that, that's really unacceptable.

Your mixology group sounds like a lot of fun, I enjoyed ours but we didn't really get to meet that many folks given how the tables were set up. It was fun though.

OMG that spa treatment sounds absolutely heavenly! Next time I swear I am skipping the mani and pedi on board (NOT impressed with the quality at all this time) and might have to consider something a bit more decadent.

We actually only made it to O'Gill's one night and if memory serves it was a little bit by accident, like we had wanted to go somewhere else but for some reason ended up there? We weren't there long either, one drink. Which is kind of sad as I loved the vibe in there. On the other hand, not so sad as we pretty much lived on our verandah each night.

 

[jedijill]

Joining in!

Looks like you had a nice time pre-cruise in San Juan. I would love to go there - looks beautiful!

It was beautiful! I really liked San Juan.

That is a shame about your Palo server - I'm glad you said something. I mean, everyone has a bad day but to take it out on you guys was not right. Those servers in Palo are supposed to be the best-of-the-best.

This guy just wasn't appropriate. I wanted his behavior corrected and really didn't want him for dinner later on.

I have heard those chicken fingers are great! 6 cruises under my belt and have never had them - I'll have to remedy that this next time around!

I don't know why they are so good but they are crack!

The fried brie is one of my top 5 DCL appetizers. SO GOOD. That and the pasta pursettes. I could have just a meal of those.

Yep, those are the best 2 appetizzers!

Your room looks nice!

Thanks....The inside cabin is still pretty spacious for being the smallest on the ship.

I am going to check and see if that Alone Time treatment is available in February - sounds AWESOME to me!!

It's only on the Wonder and Magic. The Dream and Fantasy have a couples villa but nothing for single/solo travelers.

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

Great TR, Jill! I was really hoping Disney would offer this itinerary again in 2015 so I could fit it into our schedule. Unfortunately for me it wasn't offered, so I am going to have to make a different plan to get to the islands you visited on this trip.

Thanks! They are offering some Southern itineraries in 2016.

We do have stops in San Juan and St Kitts on our next cruise, so I have started to look at excursions there. I'm glad you liked the Segway tour in San Juan because that is what we will most likely do there. I can't wait to see what you did on the remaining islands!

I highly recommend the Segway tour. It was a lot of fun!

We just cruised on the Dream in Sept and I absolutely fell in love with the fried brie! I want some now!

Your furbaby is really cute. I'm glad she is feeling better.

Thanks! Unless you looked at her paw, you'd never know anything happened. I am so thankful it was a low grade tumor. Friends of mine just had to put their baby down who had the same kind of tumors although his were more advanced.

I really enjoyed this cruise. I'm going to try to get another update done tonight.

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

Oooh!

Australia will be heading to the West Indies in 2015; but that's not the right time for me. Maybe the one after that. 3 or 4 years.....I just need to *tell* DH that I'm going to go solo without him and go with you instead.

Sounds like a plan!

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

Did you like the Sheraton in San Juan? We are flying in day before our cruise in 2016 and have to find a hotel.

I did like the Sheraton. It's very convenient to Old San Juan. The hotel breakfast buffet wasn't that great and it was expensive but Starbucks is very close as well as many other great restaurants in OSJ. The ferry terminal is right across the street as well.

HTH

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

That rain was crazy! So smart that you didn't head over right away. Bacardi looked like fun

Bacardi was nice but they don't let you tour the actual factory. The free drinks were nice. Of course it was nicer than standing in the heat at the terminal!


the folks on our plane waited that long, just brutal.

Ugh!



I would have a very hard time with first seating, not to mention it meant we were on opposite schedules and never saw each other! BOOO.

I know! We need a do-over meet!



it really was an amazing sail away1



I didn't mind Natalie but then again I tuned her out most of the time. We had her on the Dream so maybe that's why she didn't bother me, most people seemed to dislike her rather intensely.



ARRGH! We were there too, can't believe I didn't see you there. WAH.

Ugh! I was right in the middle of the room too!

Your Palo server sounds horrendous. I didn't care for our evening service but it wasn't poor like that, that's really unacceptable.

He defiantely did not live up to the level of service I've had in the past.

Your mixology group sounds like a lot of fun, I enjoyed ours but we didn't really get to meet that many folks given how the tables were set up. It was fun though.

It was fun. It was very nice meeting Ellen. I tried to switch to your group but it was full.

OMG that spa treatment sounds absolutely heavenly! Next time I swear I am skipping the mani and pedi on board (NOT impressed with the quality at all this time) and might have to consider something a bit more decadent.

It is an awesome treatment! I think its a decent value as well depending on what treatment you chose.

We actually only made it to O'Gill's one night and if memory serves it was a little bit by accident, like we had wanted to go somewhere else but for some reason ended up there? We weren't there long either, one drink. Which is kind of sad as I loved the vibe in there. On the other hand, not so sad as we pretty much lived on our verandah each night.

I'm totally jealous of your veranda! I priced one out for me but I just couldn't justify the cost for this cruise. I might have if we would have more sea days.

I was so sad we didn't see each other more than the couple of times we ran into each other! We need a definite do over!

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

If you'll indulge me I'm going to slide in a real life update if only to explain why I haven't posted an update lately.

I celebrated my *cough* 27th birthday *cough* last weekend. I booked a reservation at rioja in downtown Denver. The chef won the James Beard award for Best Chef in the Southwest in 2013. It had been on my radar for awhile and then ehagarty from the Dis and the cruise highly recommended it so I decided that would be a great way to celebrate my birthday. They offered me a seating at the Chef's Counter so I jumped on it.

Excuse the picture quality. I was using my Iphone in lowlight.

I started with the Fresh Bacon. pork belly, cardamom, curried garbanzo bean pureé. It's cooked in the pizza oven. It was delicious!


rioja is known for their hand made pastas so I tried a half order of their specialty, artichoke tortelloni, artichoke mousse, white truffle brodo, queso de mano, chervil.



My entree was a grill Berkshire pork chop. cipollini aigre-doux, corn fritters, ricotta, squash blossoms, bacon. I just started drooling typing this. So good!



I was planning on ordering dessert but my awesome server dropped off the menu and told me they were treating me to dessert tonight! What's better than dessert? Free dessert! She gave me the menu but also offered me a choice that the chef was working on but wasn't on the menu yet. I jumped at it since it sounded delicous.

It was a peanut butter semi-freddo with an apple financier cake. It was rich and delicious. I was only able to finish half the semi-freddo since it was so rich!



I forgot to mention that someone brought around wonderful house made bread selections. So yummy! My server also offered to pair wines to each of my courses. The nice thing was they would do half glass pairings! I got to try 3 wines but could still drive home.

If you are ever in Denver, I highly recommend rioja!

http://www.riojadenver.com/

On Saturday, friends of mine invited me to their epic, every 2 years Halloween party. I can't find any pictures of me in costume but I went as Piper Chapman from Orange is the New Black. I had a ton of fun and spent Sunday in recovery mode.

On Tuesday night, I had a chance to see the special Chihuly After Dark exhibit at the Denver Botanical Garden. Chihuly is a glass master who designed the chandeliers on the Wonder and on the Magic prior to the refurb. After seeing the Magic, they should left it there! The glass sculptures were placed all around the Garden and have been there are summer. Starting in October, they have started opening the Garden at night to see the sculptures lit. It was stunning!





















Thanks for indulging my real life update. St Lucia coming up!

Jill in CO

 

[pkondz]

First off... Happy 27th (*sneeze*) birthday!
Your dinner looks delish, but what really grabbed me were the glass sculptures.
I love glass art and those are really amazing!

 

[jedijill]

Tuesday, September 23
St Lucia

I decided I needed protein to start the day off so I headed up to Cabanas for breakfast before my excursion. I really dislike buffet breakfast but I didn't have time for a sit down breakfast. When I got there, my serving team was working the omelet station. I asked Luis for some real scrambled eggs and he came through for me! I had powdered eggs so this was a nice surprise! I also tried some of the muesli that I've heard others rave about but it really wasn't to my taste.



Tour Description:

On this tour you will:

Board an air-conditioned motorcoach for an approximate 90-minute trip through Castries, up the Morne, through the Cul De Sac and Roseau valleys and along the west coast of St. Lucia for a spectacular view of the majestic Pitons.
Arrive at Soufriere and journey up to Sulphur Springs for an approximate 45-minute guided tour of the only drive-in volcano in the world.
Depart Sulphur Springs for a brief drive to the Morne Coubaril Estate, home to cultural experiences with replica huts from ages ago, gorgeous gardens and coconut de-husking demonstrations.
Spend approximately an hour at the estate exploring the gardens and breaking for photos of the spectacular island views. You'll also have the opportunity to taste ripe cocoa, see cocoa production and explore a sugar cane mill before tasting fresh cane juice.
Sit down at a rustic restaurant for a full buffet.
Reboard your motorcoach for an approximate hour-long trip back to the port.


I met my tour group at 8:30 and we were led out to small buses (10-12 people). We started out drive to Soufriere. I had been warned that St Lucia is very hilly and has really windy roads. They were right! I was doing fine but the bus driver/tour guide decided he needed to make stupid jokes the whole drive about throwing up and getting car sick. It got really old, really fast.





I believe this is the prime minister's house.



I think this is a breadfruit tree.





Banana plantation.



We stopped in a lovely little fishing village where there were lots of vendors ready to sell us souvenirs.











We got our first view of the Pitons.





We soon could see the volcano.



St Lucia boasts the only drive through volcano in the world. The area is actually a collapsed caldera and still has an active spot.



We got out at the volcano and had a special tour guide. We walked for a bit and the guide told us about the history of the volcano and the area in general.





This hole was created when a tour guide fell through the crust into the boiling water. Apparently he survived and is still alive.



Continued in the next post.




Jill in CO

 

[MEK]

Happy Belated Birthday! Your meal looks amazing and so do those incredible sculptures. Very cool indeed.

I am totally behind on the cruise portion of your TR, but I promise to catch up soon. I booked a "dummy" cruise on our cruise last week and I have to say that I am totally intrigued by the souther caribbean route so I am really anxious to bet properly caught up.

 

[jedijill]

Continued from previous post.


We loaded back up and headed to the Morne Coubaril Estate. The estate is now a botanical garden and historical area. We had a special guide here too that showed us some of the local flora and then took us to demonstrate how cocoa and sugarcane was processed.



Guide with a cocoa pod.



Cocoa beans drying.



Sugar cane press.



Giant caterpillar!



There was also a small set of buildings that St Lucians used to live in.







After we finished the tour, they provided a buffet lunch of local foods. It was pretty good. Lots of chicken and plantains!

After lunch, we boarded the bus again and headed back to the ship. The trip back took about 1 1/2 hours and seemed much more curvy! I drifted off a time or two.

The tour was ok but I sort of wish I had done something else. Our driver/tour guide wasn't the best. The whole tour was abut 6 hours which was pretty long.

Back on board I chilled in my room and ordered a cheese platter while checking email. The internet on board is much better and much cheaper than it used to be! Pretty soon it was time to get ready for dinner. Tonight was Pirate Night. Normally, we try to skip Pirate night in the MDR but our wires got crossed and we had Palo booked for the wrong night. We were scheduled in Animator's Palette again.

First up was the Crab Cakes. They weren't bad.



I also tried the potstickers.



I ordered the Sirloin which was huge but pretty decent.



Nothing on the dessert menu really caught my fancy so I ordered a Mickey Bar!



I was stuffed but all of sudden, this appeared!



Yep, I got another Grand Marnier souffle! I managed to eat a little of it! I rolled out of dinner thoroughly stuffed! Details of the evening are a little fuzzy but I think I headed back to my cabin and ended up going to bed early. No fireworks for me!

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

First off... Happy 27th (*sneeze*) birthday!
Your dinner looks delish, but what really grabbed me were the glass sculptures.
I love glass art and those are really amazing!

Thanks! The glass art was spectacular! I really wished I had a better camera...there were some areas that were stunning but I couldn't get a picture since it was so dark.

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

Happy Belated Birthday! Your meal looks amazing and so do those incredible sculptures. Very cool indeed.

I am totally behind on the cruise portion of your TR, but I promise to catch up soon. I booked a "dummy" cruise on our cruise last week and I have to say that I am totally intrigued by the souther caribbean route so I am really anxious to bet properly caught up.

Thanks Mary Ellen! You have a good excuse for being behind! I really commend the Southerns. It was so nice to go to some new ports!

Jill in CO

 

[PrincessInOz]

Happy Belated Birthday. *cough* 27 *cough* is a great age to be.
That dinner looked fantastic. You did well getting through it all!

What a great tour through St Lucia. I loved seeing all the scenery and the close-up volcano. Looks like the cruise is serving decent food; but in comparison to your birthday dinner, it seems fairly average in presentation.

 

[jedijill]

Happy Belated Birthday. *cough* 27 *cough* is a great age to be.
That dinner looked fantastic. You did well getting through it all!

What a great tour through St Lucia. I loved seeing all the scenery and the close-up volcano. Looks like the cruise is serving decent food; but in comparison to your birthday dinner, it seems fairly average in presentation.

The B-Day dinner was fantastic! So glad I treated myself!

St Lucia was gorgeous. I'm surprised they are dropping it from the 2016 Southern cruises. My tour was definitely less strenuous than Cynthia's tour in St Lucia!

Pirate night is my least favorite menu but I found the food on this cruise to be average or a little above average. Certainly not Palo or
Remy quality but I could usually find something tasty.

Jill in CO

 

[heaven2dc]

What a great cruise TR! I'm thoroughly enjoying reading all about your adventures I agree with you on the last tour that 6 hours was kind of a long time but still interesting. What beautiful views though of the island!

Loved the glass art show - so pretty all lit up at night. I haven't seen a pic of the chandelier on the Magic now so not certain what it looked like before and what it looks like now. But if Disney removed the chandelier that Chihuly designed, I can only hope the new one was half as beautiful.

 

[KatMark]

I think I wished you a Happy Birthday on FB (this week has been a haze), but Happy Birthday just in case I didn't. I'd love to be 27 again.

Sounds like a lovely birthday dinner and a fun Halloween Party. I love the pictures from the exhibit...beautiful.

I'm glad you were able to get your eggs for breakfast. I would have probably slapped the bus driver...but that's me (to me that would be like a pilot saying stupid stuff as you went through turbulence).

Sorry that you didn't enjoy the tour all that much. But what a great looking dinner you came back to. The potstickers and steak look yummy.

 

[teekathepony]

Happy belated birthday! Glad you loved your birthday dinner.
Wow, those glass sculptures are incredible!
St Lucia looks lovely, I love the fishing village. Very cool about the drive thru volcano! (But not so cool about the guide who fell in!! ) Sorry to hear you didn't love the tour itself though. 6 hours is a long time.
Your dinner looks pretty yummy, especially the souffle.

 

[pkondz]

I asked Luis for some real scrambled eggs and he came through for me!

OMG... I never thought of that.
I love scrambled eggs and am almost always disappointed with buffet eggs.

Ask the omelet guy.... so simple... so brilliant.

I also tried some of the muesli that I've heard others rave about but it really wasn't to my taste.

Muesli's okay. But give me a hot breakfast any day.

I was doing fine but the bus driver/tour guide decided he needed to make stupid jokes the whole drive about throwing up and getting car sick. It got really old, really fast.

I would think it got old the very first time he joked about it.

While I'm enjoying all your pics, this one stood out.

St Lucia boasts the only drive through volcano in the world.

Although, due to the inherent heat, by the time you place your order and get to the pick-up window, your ice cream is usually melted.

We got out at the volcano and had a special tour guide.

Usually, when someone tells me to get out at a volcano, I would be inclined to decline.

Gesundheit.

This hole was created when a tour guide fell through the crust into the boiling water. Apparently he survived and is still alive.

Holy! Talk about having an off day!

Guide with a cocoa pod.

Never would've guessed.
Interesting.

Sugar cane press.

Is the donkey providing power to the press or is it just tied there?

Giant caterpillar!

Imagine the size of the butterfly!

Nothing on the dessert menu really caught my fancy so I ordered a Mickey Bar!

Perfect!

Details of the evening are a little fuzzy but I think I headed back to my cabin and ended up going to bed early. No fireworks for me!

A little fuzzy? How much of that Grand Marnier souffle did you have???

Thanks for the chapters!

 

[pierresgirl]

Loving your report, great writing style! Esp the food porn

I missed where the best chicken tenders are and I don't like pasta but your birthday pasta sounded fab!