Mother/Daughter Cruise to Tortola, May 23rd, Lots of pics! COMPLETE 7/14

[tink too]

Great report and pictures.

We won't be visiting Tortola (or the Magic either ) until 2010, so I'll happily live through your TR for now.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

After the show Brent came out to talk to us about the evening entertainment lined up and to get us all excited about arriving in the first port in the morning.



Mom and I decided to go over to Studio Sea after that for Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer. As you walk in the door each member of your party is handed a number.

Mom and I found a table and ended up sitting next to our dinner companions, the honeymooners. One of the other couples from dinner was there as well.

This game is basically Who Wants to Be A Millionaire but all the questions are Disney related. There are two lifelines 1)Ask the audience 2)50:50

They choose the contestant to be put in the hot seat based on the numbers given out at the door so that it is completely random.

Emmalee (honeymooner) and I made a pact that if one of us got called up that we would go up together as they allow your to bring a helper up with you.

Several people got up to leave during the show so our little group grabbed their numbers to increase the chance of our getting picked. Sadly it never happened. We totally would have won with the two of us up there.

The show was a lot of fun to watch and I was happy to know that there was at least a chance that I cold participate unlike in Mickey Mania.

At one point during the show Donald Duck just wandered in and moseyed on up and "whispered" into the contestants ear like he was telling him the answer. Very funny!



They were able to get three contestants in the hot seat before the game had to end and we were released to dinner.

Tonight we were eating in Animator's Palate. I was very much looking forward to this for two reasons 1)The show that the restaurant puts on and 2)Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie!

Now as most of you know the restaurant starts out in black and white and as the evening goes on the pictures and walls begin to brighten-up with colour.






Now to the food!

Smoked Salmon and Trout with Goat Cheese Salad (Mom's)

Seafood and Avocado Wrapper


Creamy Butternut Squash Soup (Mine) I didn't really care for this but the others at the table did.



Smoked Black Forest Ham and Vegetable Salad Terrine


My entree Penette Alfredo. This was fairly tasty and I was satisfied with my choice.



Grilled Salmon with Creamy Risotto and a Barolo Wine Sauce


Pan Seared Veal Chop with Medjool Date, Sultana Raisin and Veal Farcis



Grilled Filet Mignon, Seared Scallops and Port Wine Demi Glace





Dessert Time!

I of course had to order the Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pie. It was delicious!


Peach and Ginger Cheesecake


Double-Fudge Chocolate Cake


Strawberry Shortcake


As we were eating our desserts the show started. The waiters all came out in their now colourful vests and Sorcerer Mickey led a parade around the restaurant. While that was going on the walls and paintings all lit up into full colour. It was very fun and neat to watch.


After dinner Mom and I went on up to our room and finished watching Ghost Town and then went to sleep. My throat had begun hurting that evening. It was only a bit sore so I was hoping that a good nights rest would cure me....


I set an early wake-up call so we could catch the sunrise and watch as the ship pulled into Tortola.

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[DMMarla07860]

when I went on my back-2-back cruise I had the Seafood and Avocado Wrapper which I enjoyed a whole lot, that picture makes me want one

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

when I went on my back-2-back cruise I had the Seafood and Avocado Wrapper which I enjoyed a whole lot, that picture makes me want one

It looks good but seafood makes me

To be honest while I enjoyed eating in the dining rooms as it was nice getting to know our tablemates, the desserts were delicious and the theming was great; I would have been just as happy eating up on deck 9. I am not a fancy eater and dinner always took soooo long in the dining room.

 

[lwilliam]

Your trip report is the first thing I look at when I get home from work.....
the pictures are AWESOME! your report is so detailed...LOVE IT.

can't wait to hear about Tortola - as you can see, our Tortola cruise is only a month away!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Your trip report is the first thing I look at when I get home from work.....
the pictures are AWESOME! your report is so detailed...LOVE IT.

can't wait to hear about Tortola - as you can see, our Tortola cruise is only a month away!

Thanks, I am so glad that people are enjoying it!

I have hundreds of photos from Tortola/Virgin Gorda and I will probably post most of them. I am terrible at cutting back on pictures. It was painful to do with the show pictures, we'll see how I make out with the island shots.

 

[lwilliam]

Thanks, I am so glad that people are enjoying it!

I have hundreds of photos from Tortola/Virgin Gorda and I will probably post most of them. I am terrible at cutting back on pictures. It was painful to do with the show pictures, we'll see how I make out with the island shots.

Do Not CUT BACK on any pictures

(especially the FOOD pictures)

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Do Not CUT BACK on any pictures

(especially the FOOD pictures)

Okay, don't complain when the sheer amount of them crashes your browser.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The phone rang bright and early at 5:15 am. Mom and I wanted to go up on deck to watch the sunrise and to watch as the ship pulled into port.

Mom and I went on up to Deck 10, there were only a few other people up there that early in the morning.





While up on deck 10 it was VERY windy as can be expected. What I wasn't anticipating was the wind stealing my drivers license and key to the world card right out of my lanyard. I was very lucky, my drivers license landed a bit down the deck and one of the passengers picked it up for me before it blew away again. My Key to the World card however was lost at sea. I was so grateful that my drivers license was saved as I would need it later on in the trip.

Mom and I made our way down to Guest Services to get a new key card. We were snapping pictures along the way. I wasn't in too much of a hurry as I was pretty sure that the fish were not going to be making any room charges with my card. I have to wonder how often something like that happens? Not fish making room charges but key cards getting blown out to sea.





Guest Services issued me a new key right away, not a problem at all. Mom took my cards and put them in her lanyard as the pouch on hers zips shut unlike mine.





When we got up on deck we were starting to see land!







We decided to go grab something quick from Goofy's Galley and then go back to the room to eat and get dressed for the day. We had only thrown on something quick when we woke up so we had to dress for our excursion.


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[Lifelong_Dreamer]

We watched from our verandah as we continued to approach Tortola.









As you can see the weather that morning was looking iffy. I was hopeful though as we could spy blue sky every now and then.

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[♥disneygirl♥]

I am LOVING your trip report!! All the pictures are fabulous. And now I'm realizing how waking up super early is worth it to get all of those sunrise pictures and pictures of the empty ship and another thing...how interesting that your stateroom was 6054! that's ours this coming July!

Keep the pictures coming!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I am LOVING your trip report!! All the pictures are fabulous. And now I'm realizing how waking up super early is worth it to get all of those sunrise pictures and pictures of the empty ship and another thing...how interesting that your stateroom was 6054! that's ours this coming July!

Keep the pictures coming!

Yep, definitely worth waking up early at least once to get the sunrise shots. If only it hadn't been overcast I am sure it would have been even more beautiful!

What a coincidence! 6054 was a great room and very convenient getting around the ship.

 

[GOS]

Enjoying your trip report and all the wonderful photos.

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Enjoying your trip report and all the wonderful photos.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks for reading and taking the time to post! I love to know that people are reading and enjoying.

 

[nokidz]

great tr.......love the pics, keep them commin.......

 

[DMMarla07860]

loving the report so far and you got some great pictures, makes me feel like I am on a trip while looking at them

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

great tr.......love the pics, keep them commin.......

Thanks! Great to hear from a fellow Canadian.

loving the report so far and you got some great pictures, makes me feel like I am on a trip while looking at them

Thanks! I always like looking at your pictures too. In fact I came upon one of your Youtube videos the other day.

 

[DMMarla07860]

Thanks! I always like looking at your pictures too. In fact I came upon one of your Youtube videos the other day.

cool

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

We were all set to meet with our excursion group, we were taking the Day At The Baths excursion, we still had half an hour to kill so we went up to Topsider's and munched on some fruit and then walked around on deck taking in the views that the port offered.

We eventually went down and met our excursion group in Rockin Bar D where we checked in, got our towels and were given a wrist band, a transportation card and a Disney sticker to wear that would identify us as part of the excursion. We were Blue Belle's that day. They led our group off of the ship and over to a Speedy's boat that was docked right next to the Magic. Very convenient!

Mom and I grabbed seats on top so that we could get some pictures and enjoy the fresh sea air.

Unfortunately for us the most ridiculous girls sat behind us and were arguing about Jon and Kate plus 8 and then they moved on to an argument about how long it took one of them to shower. This went on for quite a while and I really wanted to turn around and tell them to shut it.

I was really disappointed about how overcast it was but at least I didn't have to worry about a sunburn. I had been hoping for a nice sunny day as it would have really helped the pictures look a bit nicer at The Baths. Grey sky + grey boulders don't go as well as a blue sky contrasted with the rocks would have.

I think it took about 30 minutes to get to Virgin Gorda where The Baths are located. Along the way they gave us a brief history lesson about the islands that we passed.




According to our guide this mansion is owned by a televangelist.










The boat that we took over


Our group then boarded several open air taxi trucks that they had waiting.


Instead of heading straight to The Baths, which are actually very close to where the boat docked, they gave us a mini island tour. One thing that I noted right away was how wonderful the island smelled. It must have been all the flowers that gave it that scent. It smelt heavenly!



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[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Mom loved all the cactus that was growing all over the place.





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I know I am a child, I was endlessly amused by all the chickens and roosters that were just randomly wandering around the island. I compare myself to a child as I giggled every time I saw one as were all the other kids that were on the excursion.





I enjoyed the island tour but I was anxious to get to The Baths. Perhaps if the excursion were a bit longer I would have enjoyed the tour a bit more as it was though I could feel the time just ticking away.

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