disney_princess_85
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2009
Fantastic TR Sarah! Your pics are great, especially the ones of Sagrada Família. Looking forward to reading more. 
Our Magical Westbound Transatlantic Voyage Sept 2010. (Day 15 & 16 added 29/5/11 )
- Thread starter TotallyAngelic
- Start date
- Joined
- May 2, 2004
Fabulous update Sarah, Great photos of Barcelona, I went there for my 40th birthday and that brought back great memories
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
I have uploaded a slideshow of my Barcelona photos which you can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBrfsLzllg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBrfsLzllg
mark&sue
<font color=teal>I keep trying to convert everybod
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
Just caught up with this Sarah, so glad you manged to make it after feeling so poorly. Love all the Barcelona photos, it is a truly amazing place and of course you have to visit the Hard Rock Cafe (well we always do).
Looking forward to reading more.
susan
Looking forward to reading more.
susan
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
DAY 3 : JOINING THE DISNEY MAGIC
We woke up and were immediately overwhelmed with excitement as today we were embarking on the Disney Magic for a wonderful 14 day cruise … yes we were going to spend a whole two weeks on THE most beautiful cruise ship in the world!. It was also my birthday, but too be honest I had completely forgotten about that in all the excitement. We rushed to get dressed, sorted out the bags and then whizzed downstairs to go and find somewhere to grab some breakfast. The streets outside were quiet and we spotted a small bakery on the next corner along, and we thought we might see if we could muster up enough Spanish to order two pastries and two coffees. Fortunately we were better than we thought, or maybe the shopworkers were just used to tourists, but either way we ended up with exactly what we wanted. We sat in the shop and ate our breafast, and chatted to one of our DIS families, Melodie, Amy and Dave who were also buying some breakfast.
Before long it was time to head back to the hotel to prepare to leave for the ship.
We carted all of our luggage down to the lobby area, which was by now overflowing with luggage and being such a small hallway it was really obstructive, but we had no option really with all the many DIS baorders who were staying in the hotel. We chatted to some of our group who were waiting along side us, Amanda and Annette and Micheal and Marc. Just then Kimberly appeared to tell us we were needed for a group photo in the back room .. so we all headed back for the photo.
Everyone started to wish both me, and Stephanie, a happy birthday.
Before too long the bus arrived to take us to the ship …. the bus had been arranged by one of our Dis team, Stephen, but it appeared as though the bus was empty despite the fact that our hotel was supposed to be the second stop. We jumped on the bus and were quite surprised when the driver took us to the port without stopping for the chaps at the other hotel, but there was very little we could do about it at the time. I think one of group managed to sort it out and the bus went back to pick them up once we had all disembarked. It was all a bit confusing!
Anyways, the atmosphere on board the bus was electrifying, as we were all craning our necks for that first view of the Disney Magic, and we all let out an enormous cheer once she came into view, Needless to say I shed the first tears of the day at that moment.
We jumped off the bus and picked up our bags, which we immediately dropped off at a bag dropping off area. We then had to get into a line and wait, wait, wait, but it was a pleasant wait as we were able to chat with Paula, Robert and Marion who were next to us in line. Before long we were allowed into the terminal, which was pleasant enough but no way as wonderful as the Port Canaveral terminal.
We then joined another line to check in, and this was painless, and we managed to get Number 2 boarding cards, after which we headed through to another part of the terminal where we posed for photos with Mickey
and chatted with lots of DIS firiends. I was frantically texting Lynne so that we could meet up with her, but she had only just left her hotel at this point. Time passed quickly and before long they were calling concierge and group one, and then it was the turn of group two …. so we headed though a door, no Mickey ears on this occasion, and along a covered walkway to the gangway.
We gave the cast member our names and were welcomed on board the Disney Magic for the second time, and needless to say I shed a few tears for the second time. There were lots of people milling about in the lobby so we milled about with them for a while, admired the ice carving,
chatted to DISers and waitied for Lynne, Len, Gus and Morag to arrive. We decided to go up to Deck 4 and watch them coming on board
….. we waited and waited and waited …. we watched the ship's supplies coming on board:
and we had an encounter with Spanish Goofy,
but still no Lynne and party. I managed to call home and chatted to the kids and my Mum for a while but I could not get hold of Lynne by phone, so in the end Tony's stomach won out and we decided to go and get some lunch at Topsiders.On the way I popped into Rockin Bar D and secured a Palo Brunch slot, so I was happy with that.
The food was as lovely as ever and we sat with Annie and Howard for luch which was really nice and despite all good intentions when I approached the dessert counter, chanting the mantra “ I will only have one, I will only have one!”, it took no effort at all from a cast member to persuade me that I needed to have three. Well you know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men .. and people on Disney cruises faced with desserts. It was around about this time that I noticed all of my good intentions jumping overboard without so much as a backward glance.
Still no Lynne and family and by now I was starting to get worried. I knew nothing more than they had left the hotel but that was all, and we had made no contact with them since then. After lunch we had a stroll around and went back down to the lobby area to see if we could see them coming in, but no joy.
We also realised that we could go and find our room, so this we did, and were impressed with the location … very far forward on deck 6, round a corner and down a sort of secret hallway .. leading into the staff quarters but with only 2 cabins beyond us whose occupants would be passing our door. It was really really quiet and very out of the way.
By now it was time for out DIS meet in the Promenade Lounge … there was an enormous DIS contigent on this cruise and the Promenade Lounge was really crowded and it was really difficult to chat to people or even get around.
We got into line for lanyards, and for pins and were really impressed with both, so thanks to Eric and Jason and to Connie and Noel for your hard work with those. At some point we finally ran into Lynne and Len. Lynne had been quite upset as she had lots of trouble at check in with her ESTA application and at one point she thought that she might not be able to board the ship. So all of that trauma had really taken the shine of f their embarkation, but fortunately she had managed to sort it out and made it on board. What a nightmare! We all posed for a group photo, and then it was time to head off for boat drill.
Usual life jacket photos were taken,
and then we headed to our muster point on Deck 4. The whole process was painless, we retuned our life jackets to the cabin and headed straight up to the Sailaway Party, or the non-sailaway party really as we were not sailing until 9pm that evening, We pretended we were sailing away though, and grabbed a cocktail, joined the party in full swing, waved our streamers and danced along with the best of them. Brent, Mickey and the gang all made an appearance and then it was time for tearjerking moment number 3 … the countdown and the “When you Wish upon a Star” horn. It was truly amazing and almost surreal to be standing there listening to those wonderful seven notes …. I had anticipated this moment for almost 2 years, and I was not disappointed!
Once the party was fading we took our cocktails and enjoyed a stroll around the deck, and then went to the pool bar where we met up with Jodie and Mike, and soon we were introduced to Mike and Michele, who were to be our tablemates at dinner along with Lynne and Len and family. We enjoyed a few drinks and a lovely chat, before time caught up with us and we realised we should head down to the cabin to change for the show and dinner. I was determined to catch the first show
as we had missed it on our first cruise, so we whizzed to ourcabins, found our bags were there so we quickly dressed for dinner which was cruise casual, and headed to the Walt Disney theatre for the “Let the Magic Begin” show. The show was wonderful .. a great start to the cruise and aswell as the wonderful Disney moments we were introduced to the guest performers Mark Nizer, a comedian and Jimmy Tamley, a ventiloquist. Now ventriloquists are usually my worst nightmare, but I have to admit to being impressed with Jimmy and I did enjoy his routine.
After the show we mingled and chatted in the atrium until it was time for dinner. We were in Parrot Cay which is actually my favourite restaurant and we met up with our wonderful table-mates Lynne and Len, Morag and Gus and Michael and Michele ( photos to follow ). We had also linked dining with almost all of the late seating DIS group and so we were all seated in the same area … it was lovely to be able to chat and wave to so many familiar faces each evening,
We were also introduced to our serving team: our server was Leslie from India, our assistant server was Raphael and our head server was the lovely Yolande ( Mrs Brent Davies ). They were all absolutely wonderful if a bit too eager to please and up-tight at the outset.
Tonight we were having the “Let the Magic Begin” dinner and I ordered the following:
Appetiser: Smoked Salmon Carpaccio – delicious
Entree: Mesquite grilled chicken breast, with wilted spinach on crushed sweet potatoes, surrpunded with cream of corn and bacon sauce – again delicious.
Dessert – gave this a miss, no only joking, of course I didn't – I had Apple Tarte Tatin – caramelised apples, served over puff pastry with vanilla ice- cream - totally divine!
During dinner we suddenly started to feel the ship mobing .. our transatlantic adventure had begun !!!!
After dinner I was treated to a birthday cake surprise, and a birthday song from the restaurant staff and I surprised myself by being able to eat a piece even after that dinner … but I made sure everyone else had to have a piece too!!
After dinner we just wandered about a bit, walked on the deck in the moonlight, watched a bit of the Magic Quest game in Rockin Bar D which involved a group of men in bras and was rather amusing .. especially the bit at the end when they had to dance to “ I'm too sexy for my shirt” and the one who won was hysterical!
Before long we had to give in to tiredness, and we took ourselves off to our cabin and to bed.
We woke up and were immediately overwhelmed with excitement as today we were embarking on the Disney Magic for a wonderful 14 day cruise … yes we were going to spend a whole two weeks on THE most beautiful cruise ship in the world!. It was also my birthday, but too be honest I had completely forgotten about that in all the excitement. We rushed to get dressed, sorted out the bags and then whizzed downstairs to go and find somewhere to grab some breakfast. The streets outside were quiet and we spotted a small bakery on the next corner along, and we thought we might see if we could muster up enough Spanish to order two pastries and two coffees. Fortunately we were better than we thought, or maybe the shopworkers were just used to tourists, but either way we ended up with exactly what we wanted. We sat in the shop and ate our breafast, and chatted to one of our DIS families, Melodie, Amy and Dave who were also buying some breakfast.
Before long it was time to head back to the hotel to prepare to leave for the ship.
We carted all of our luggage down to the lobby area, which was by now overflowing with luggage and being such a small hallway it was really obstructive, but we had no option really with all the many DIS baorders who were staying in the hotel. We chatted to some of our group who were waiting along side us, Amanda and Annette and Micheal and Marc. Just then Kimberly appeared to tell us we were needed for a group photo in the back room .. so we all headed back for the photo.
Everyone started to wish both me, and Stephanie, a happy birthday.
Before too long the bus arrived to take us to the ship …. the bus had been arranged by one of our Dis team, Stephen, but it appeared as though the bus was empty despite the fact that our hotel was supposed to be the second stop. We jumped on the bus and were quite surprised when the driver took us to the port without stopping for the chaps at the other hotel, but there was very little we could do about it at the time. I think one of group managed to sort it out and the bus went back to pick them up once we had all disembarked. It was all a bit confusing!
Anyways, the atmosphere on board the bus was electrifying, as we were all craning our necks for that first view of the Disney Magic, and we all let out an enormous cheer once she came into view, Needless to say I shed the first tears of the day at that moment.
We jumped off the bus and picked up our bags, which we immediately dropped off at a bag dropping off area. We then had to get into a line and wait, wait, wait, but it was a pleasant wait as we were able to chat with Paula, Robert and Marion who were next to us in line. Before long we were allowed into the terminal, which was pleasant enough but no way as wonderful as the Port Canaveral terminal.
We then joined another line to check in, and this was painless, and we managed to get Number 2 boarding cards, after which we headed through to another part of the terminal where we posed for photos with Mickey
and chatted with lots of DIS firiends. I was frantically texting Lynne so that we could meet up with her, but she had only just left her hotel at this point. Time passed quickly and before long they were calling concierge and group one, and then it was the turn of group two …. so we headed though a door, no Mickey ears on this occasion, and along a covered walkway to the gangway.
We gave the cast member our names and were welcomed on board the Disney Magic for the second time, and needless to say I shed a few tears for the second time. There were lots of people milling about in the lobby so we milled about with them for a while, admired the ice carving,
chatted to DISers and waitied for Lynne, Len, Gus and Morag to arrive. We decided to go up to Deck 4 and watch them coming on board
….. we waited and waited and waited …. we watched the ship's supplies coming on board:
and we had an encounter with Spanish Goofy,
but still no Lynne and party. I managed to call home and chatted to the kids and my Mum for a while but I could not get hold of Lynne by phone, so in the end Tony's stomach won out and we decided to go and get some lunch at Topsiders.On the way I popped into Rockin Bar D and secured a Palo Brunch slot, so I was happy with that.
The food was as lovely as ever and we sat with Annie and Howard for luch which was really nice and despite all good intentions when I approached the dessert counter, chanting the mantra “ I will only have one, I will only have one!”, it took no effort at all from a cast member to persuade me that I needed to have three. Well you know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men .. and people on Disney cruises faced with desserts. It was around about this time that I noticed all of my good intentions jumping overboard without so much as a backward glance.
Still no Lynne and family and by now I was starting to get worried. I knew nothing more than they had left the hotel but that was all, and we had made no contact with them since then. After lunch we had a stroll around and went back down to the lobby area to see if we could see them coming in, but no joy.
We also realised that we could go and find our room, so this we did, and were impressed with the location … very far forward on deck 6, round a corner and down a sort of secret hallway .. leading into the staff quarters but with only 2 cabins beyond us whose occupants would be passing our door. It was really really quiet and very out of the way.
By now it was time for out DIS meet in the Promenade Lounge … there was an enormous DIS contigent on this cruise and the Promenade Lounge was really crowded and it was really difficult to chat to people or even get around.
We got into line for lanyards, and for pins and were really impressed with both, so thanks to Eric and Jason and to Connie and Noel for your hard work with those. At some point we finally ran into Lynne and Len. Lynne had been quite upset as she had lots of trouble at check in with her ESTA application and at one point she thought that she might not be able to board the ship. So all of that trauma had really taken the shine of f their embarkation, but fortunately she had managed to sort it out and made it on board. What a nightmare! We all posed for a group photo, and then it was time to head off for boat drill.
Usual life jacket photos were taken,
and then we headed to our muster point on Deck 4. The whole process was painless, we retuned our life jackets to the cabin and headed straight up to the Sailaway Party, or the non-sailaway party really as we were not sailing until 9pm that evening, We pretended we were sailing away though, and grabbed a cocktail, joined the party in full swing, waved our streamers and danced along with the best of them. Brent, Mickey and the gang all made an appearance and then it was time for tearjerking moment number 3 … the countdown and the “When you Wish upon a Star” horn. It was truly amazing and almost surreal to be standing there listening to those wonderful seven notes …. I had anticipated this moment for almost 2 years, and I was not disappointed!
Once the party was fading we took our cocktails and enjoyed a stroll around the deck, and then went to the pool bar where we met up with Jodie and Mike, and soon we were introduced to Mike and Michele, who were to be our tablemates at dinner along with Lynne and Len and family. We enjoyed a few drinks and a lovely chat, before time caught up with us and we realised we should head down to the cabin to change for the show and dinner. I was determined to catch the first show
as we had missed it on our first cruise, so we whizzed to ourcabins, found our bags were there so we quickly dressed for dinner which was cruise casual, and headed to the Walt Disney theatre for the “Let the Magic Begin” show. The show was wonderful .. a great start to the cruise and aswell as the wonderful Disney moments we were introduced to the guest performers Mark Nizer, a comedian and Jimmy Tamley, a ventiloquist. Now ventriloquists are usually my worst nightmare, but I have to admit to being impressed with Jimmy and I did enjoy his routine.
After the show we mingled and chatted in the atrium until it was time for dinner. We were in Parrot Cay which is actually my favourite restaurant and we met up with our wonderful table-mates Lynne and Len, Morag and Gus and Michael and Michele ( photos to follow ). We had also linked dining with almost all of the late seating DIS group and so we were all seated in the same area … it was lovely to be able to chat and wave to so many familiar faces each evening,
We were also introduced to our serving team: our server was Leslie from India, our assistant server was Raphael and our head server was the lovely Yolande ( Mrs Brent Davies ). They were all absolutely wonderful if a bit too eager to please and up-tight at the outset.
Tonight we were having the “Let the Magic Begin” dinner and I ordered the following:
Appetiser: Smoked Salmon Carpaccio – delicious
Entree: Mesquite grilled chicken breast, with wilted spinach on crushed sweet potatoes, surrpunded with cream of corn and bacon sauce – again delicious.
Dessert – gave this a miss, no only joking, of course I didn't – I had Apple Tarte Tatin – caramelised apples, served over puff pastry with vanilla ice- cream - totally divine!
During dinner we suddenly started to feel the ship mobing .. our transatlantic adventure had begun !!!!
After dinner I was treated to a birthday cake surprise, and a birthday song from the restaurant staff and I surprised myself by being able to eat a piece even after that dinner … but I made sure everyone else had to have a piece too!!
After dinner we just wandered about a bit, walked on the deck in the moonlight, watched a bit of the Magic Quest game in Rockin Bar D which involved a group of men in bras and was rather amusing .. especially the bit at the end when they had to dance to “ I'm too sexy for my shirt” and the one who won was hysterical!
Before long we had to give in to tiredness, and we took ourselves off to our cabin and to bed.
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Just caught up with your report - it's awesome
I love, love, love! your pictures from Barcelona
It's a shame you didn't have any pics of those men in bras...
Thanks Beth... Barcelona was really lovely. Las Ramblas didn't live up to the hype but the Gaudi architecture was amazing.
Ir certainly was !!
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
DAY 4: Our first day at sea and formal night in Lumieres!
This is where the trip report could get messy …. unfortunately when I was on board I was so busy and so captivated by the whole experience so I actually took very few notes along the way …. so the trip report will largely be based on what photos I took and information from the Personal Navigator, alongside the snippets which may hopefully spring forth from my memory! Those of you who were there and who may well have better memories than I do, please feel free to correct me where necessary.
The first thing we did once we were up and dressed was head for breakfast at Topsiders .. where I had a fresh fruit platter and a danish pastry and Tony had his usual full works, how much food can you cram on your plate in one go breakfast! There is nothing in the world like eating your breakfast outside at Topsiders … with nothing to see but the endless ocean and the horizon, the sun shining down and this warm fuzzy feeling like all is well with the world.
After breakfast we completed a couple of decks of Fish Extender gift drop offs, which always takes longer than anticipated, particularly when I write down half the cabin numbers totally wrong.
We also had a good walk around the ship, just to acclimatise ourselves with everything and bask in that warm fuzzy feeling.
We spent a while browsing in the shops before it was time for a buffet lunch at Topsiders, although I can't remember what the theme was I can ssure you it was delicious.
Before long it was time for my jewellery class, which Corinna had kindly volunteered to host for the ladies on our cruise thread, after we had been so impressed with her jewellery making skills. The class was great fun, and I managed to successfully produce a phone charm, a bag clip and half a necklace for villains night which was to come later in the cruise. The best part was chatting to the other DIS girls and it was difficult to concentrate on the task in hand because we were just into the chatting !! Here we are in action:
(photo courtesy of Kimberly)
Tony came along at the end of the jewellery class to escort me to our next event, a presentation by Don Williams, a Disney artist. This was incresdibly interesting as he gave a talk about how he mananged to get into Disney as a artist and it was not without a lot of effort and determination. While talking he was sketching Disney characters, and the sketches were given away in a raffle at the end.
(photo coutesy of Kimberly)
Disappointingly we were not the recipients of a sketch, but it was an very interesting way to pass an hour anyways. After the presentation we popped to the shop to sign up for a personal session with Don Williams, but alas this was not to be our lucky day, as all the slots were taken. We will have to be a bit quicker next time.
We decided to go up on deck where we sat and chilled for a while with a frozen cocktail and watched the ocean, before it was time to go and get ourselves scrubbed up ready for formal night.
With a bit of time and effort we were tarted up and away to watch Twice Charmed …. a lovely Disney production based on Cinderella, which I have seen before but it was still lovely to watch, and of course good triumphed over evil and Cnderella and Prince Charming lived happily ever after as so they should.
(photo courtesy of Kimberly)
We then headed to the atrium for the Captain's reception, where we got together with a few of our DIS friends and had a couple of delicious drinks which the cast members were passing round. We took a few photos of everyone in their formal finery before we all headed in for dinner in Lumieres.
Sue (su kraft) and Hayley:
Lynne (orlandothebeagle) and Len
Annie (bareacuda) and Howard:
Len and Gus:
Mickey:
For dinner I had the appetiser, Princess Madeleine Salmon Royal, slices of salmon with a honey dressing, followed by radicchio and endive caesar salad. Entree was the baked fillet of turbot with garlic smashed potatoes and sauted fennel which was really delicious, and for dessert I chose the sweet temptations – miniature servings of tiramisu, lemon cheesecake and chiled chocolate souffle.
After all of that I was well and truly stuffed. I took some photos of our tablemates and our neighbours:
Lynne (orlandothebeagle) and Len:
Morag and Gus:
Michael (mdwoodman) and Michele:
Our neighbours: Warren (steamboat will) , Abby, Annie (bareacuda), Howard, Andrea (vakamuala) and Greg:
Us:
Lovely light fittings in Lumieres:
After dinner was over we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre to watch the cabaret which was Jimmy Tamley, and from what I can remember he was very entertaining. After the show we took our usual turn around the deck and then walked around the ship taking photographs before heading to bed.
This is where the trip report could get messy …. unfortunately when I was on board I was so busy and so captivated by the whole experience so I actually took very few notes along the way …. so the trip report will largely be based on what photos I took and information from the Personal Navigator, alongside the snippets which may hopefully spring forth from my memory! Those of you who were there and who may well have better memories than I do, please feel free to correct me where necessary.
The first thing we did once we were up and dressed was head for breakfast at Topsiders .. where I had a fresh fruit platter and a danish pastry and Tony had his usual full works, how much food can you cram on your plate in one go breakfast! There is nothing in the world like eating your breakfast outside at Topsiders … with nothing to see but the endless ocean and the horizon, the sun shining down and this warm fuzzy feeling like all is well with the world.
After breakfast we completed a couple of decks of Fish Extender gift drop offs, which always takes longer than anticipated, particularly when I write down half the cabin numbers totally wrong.
We also had a good walk around the ship, just to acclimatise ourselves with everything and bask in that warm fuzzy feeling.
We spent a while browsing in the shops before it was time for a buffet lunch at Topsiders, although I can't remember what the theme was I can ssure you it was delicious.
Before long it was time for my jewellery class, which Corinna had kindly volunteered to host for the ladies on our cruise thread, after we had been so impressed with her jewellery making skills. The class was great fun, and I managed to successfully produce a phone charm, a bag clip and half a necklace for villains night which was to come later in the cruise. The best part was chatting to the other DIS girls and it was difficult to concentrate on the task in hand because we were just into the chatting !! Here we are in action:
(photo courtesy of Kimberly)
Tony came along at the end of the jewellery class to escort me to our next event, a presentation by Don Williams, a Disney artist. This was incresdibly interesting as he gave a talk about how he mananged to get into Disney as a artist and it was not without a lot of effort and determination. While talking he was sketching Disney characters, and the sketches were given away in a raffle at the end.
(photo coutesy of Kimberly)
Disappointingly we were not the recipients of a sketch, but it was an very interesting way to pass an hour anyways. After the presentation we popped to the shop to sign up for a personal session with Don Williams, but alas this was not to be our lucky day, as all the slots were taken. We will have to be a bit quicker next time.
We decided to go up on deck where we sat and chilled for a while with a frozen cocktail and watched the ocean, before it was time to go and get ourselves scrubbed up ready for formal night.
With a bit of time and effort we were tarted up and away to watch Twice Charmed …. a lovely Disney production based on Cinderella, which I have seen before but it was still lovely to watch, and of course good triumphed over evil and Cnderella and Prince Charming lived happily ever after as so they should.
(photo courtesy of Kimberly)
We then headed to the atrium for the Captain's reception, where we got together with a few of our DIS friends and had a couple of delicious drinks which the cast members were passing round. We took a few photos of everyone in their formal finery before we all headed in for dinner in Lumieres.
Sue (su kraft) and Hayley:
Lynne (orlandothebeagle) and Len
Annie (bareacuda) and Howard:
Len and Gus:
Mickey:
For dinner I had the appetiser, Princess Madeleine Salmon Royal, slices of salmon with a honey dressing, followed by radicchio and endive caesar salad. Entree was the baked fillet of turbot with garlic smashed potatoes and sauted fennel which was really delicious, and for dessert I chose the sweet temptations – miniature servings of tiramisu, lemon cheesecake and chiled chocolate souffle.
After all of that I was well and truly stuffed. I took some photos of our tablemates and our neighbours:
Lynne (orlandothebeagle) and Len:
Morag and Gus:
Michael (mdwoodman) and Michele:
Our neighbours: Warren (steamboat will) , Abby, Annie (bareacuda), Howard, Andrea (vakamuala) and Greg:
Us:
Lovely light fittings in Lumieres:
After dinner was over we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre to watch the cabaret which was Jimmy Tamley, and from what I can remember he was very entertaining. After the show we took our usual turn around the deck and then walked around the ship taking photographs before heading to bed.
mandymouse
Bahama Mama Time !!
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2003
I love that they still held a (non) sailaway party. I'm loving all your photos, and it's nice to put faces to some of the names too 
A great first few days, and you all look fabulous for Formal Night too
I look forward to reading some more
A great first few days, and you all look fabulous for Formal Night tooI look forward to reading some more
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
I love that they still held a (non) sailaway party. I'm loving all your photos, and it's nice to put faces to some of the names too
I look forward to reading some more
Thanks Mandy
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
DAY 5 : Gibraltar !!
We were quite excited about visiting Gibraltar me because I had never been there, and Tony because he had spent a lot of time there during his Navy days and was looking forward to revisiting old haunts. We were both up early .. Tony went off to the gym and I went up on deck to take some photos .. it was still quite dark and very quiet up on deck,
so I snapped a few photos of the view
Morrisons:
I watched the sun come up for a while, before heading back to the cabin to prepare for the day ahead. When Tony returned we headed to breakfast at Topsiders, and before long it was time to head off the ship to explore Gibraltar. Our plan was to walk up to the Cable Car Station and take the cable car up to the top of the Rock, where I hoped to avoid any contact with the apes at all cost, but was going up there purely for the photographic opportunities of the view of the straits etc.
So we headed off to the cable car station, and on the way we encountered the Trafalgar Cemetary, which was very interesting.
We wandered for a while, reading the inscriptions and marvelling at hoe old and historically important this place was. It was also very moving.
While we were there I heard something rustling in the trees, and was shocked to spot an ape up there, who promtly decided to leap out of the tree and approach us I don't think I have ever moved so fast. I managed to snap this photo using the full extent of my zoom lens!
We continued to the Cable Car station, taking photos of the architecture and anything else I found remotely interesting along the way.
continued in next post.......
We were quite excited about visiting Gibraltar me because I had never been there, and Tony because he had spent a lot of time there during his Navy days and was looking forward to revisiting old haunts. We were both up early .. Tony went off to the gym and I went up on deck to take some photos .. it was still quite dark and very quiet up on deck,
so I snapped a few photos of the view
Morrisons:
I watched the sun come up for a while, before heading back to the cabin to prepare for the day ahead. When Tony returned we headed to breakfast at Topsiders, and before long it was time to head off the ship to explore Gibraltar. Our plan was to walk up to the Cable Car Station and take the cable car up to the top of the Rock, where I hoped to avoid any contact with the apes at all cost, but was going up there purely for the photographic opportunities of the view of the straits etc.
So we headed off to the cable car station, and on the way we encountered the Trafalgar Cemetary, which was very interesting.
We wandered for a while, reading the inscriptions and marvelling at hoe old and historically important this place was. It was also very moving.
While we were there I heard something rustling in the trees, and was shocked to spot an ape up there, who promtly decided to leap out of the tree and approach us I don't think I have ever moved so fast. I managed to snap this photo using the full extent of my zoom lens!
We continued to the Cable Car station, taking photos of the architecture and anything else I found remotely interesting along the way.
continued in next post.......
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Unfortunately when we arrived at the cable car station, we were informed that the cable cars were not going to be running because of high winds, so the only way up the Rock was to take a taxi or walk, neither of which we found particularly appealing, so we decided to walk into the main town and the street which was appropriately known as Main Street. We came across a shop which specialised in photographs of Naval ships and had data bases going back years, and Tony managed to find photographs of all the ships he served on in the Navy, including one photograph which showed him actually standing on the deck. We bought these and plan to get them framed up at some time. There was a shower while we were in the photo shop, but luckily by the time we exited the shop it had stopped, so we just wandered around the streets for a while, popping into a few shops along the way until we decided it was time for a coffee.
We found a coffee shop / bar in one of the back streets, as as we were sitting there we spotted Warren and Abby passing by, and they decided to come and join us, so we had a lovely coffee and a chat. We then continued wandering aimlessly around the streets, taking lots of photos,
and then Tony set out to try and find a bar he used to frequent in the Navy, a place called Charles' Hole in the Wall. He was thrilled to find it was still there, although it was closed, and the actual hole in the wall had now been bricked up and it had a regular door.
By now we had seen most of the main area of Gibraltar and so we decided to head back to the ship via Morrisons supermarket, as I needed to buy chocolate bars for the candy swap and other gifts, fizz for the champagne girls party, toiletries I had deliberately left at home because of the weight allowance, and a few other bits and pieces. It was amazing how many cruisers and cast members were in Morrisons we bumped into people we knew in every aisle!
Shopping completed we headed back to the ship . it was a relief to get back to the air conditioning and get rid of the shopping bags.
Once on board we decided to get some very late lunch, and because the buffet was closed we opted for chicken strips (me) and burger ( Tony ) followed by soft serve ice cream. We then sat up on deck and relaxed and watched the world go by for a few hours.
The show that evening was a Beatles tribute act, so we decided to give that a miss. I hate to admit it but I am not a big fan of the Beatles music and Tony wasn't fussed either.
continued below ............
We found a coffee shop / bar in one of the back streets, as as we were sitting there we spotted Warren and Abby passing by, and they decided to come and join us, so we had a lovely coffee and a chat. We then continued wandering aimlessly around the streets, taking lots of photos,
and then Tony set out to try and find a bar he used to frequent in the Navy, a place called Charles' Hole in the Wall. He was thrilled to find it was still there, although it was closed, and the actual hole in the wall had now been bricked up and it had a regular door.
By now we had seen most of the main area of Gibraltar and so we decided to head back to the ship via Morrisons supermarket, as I needed to buy chocolate bars for the candy swap and other gifts, fizz for the champagne girls party, toiletries I had deliberately left at home because of the weight allowance, and a few other bits and pieces. It was amazing how many cruisers and cast members were in Morrisons we bumped into people we knew in every aisle!
Shopping completed we headed back to the ship . it was a relief to get back to the air conditioning and get rid of the shopping bags.
Once on board we decided to get some very late lunch, and because the buffet was closed we opted for chicken strips (me) and burger ( Tony ) followed by soft serve ice cream. We then sat up on deck and relaxed and watched the world go by for a few hours.
The show that evening was a Beatles tribute act, so we decided to give that a miss. I hate to admit it but I am not a big fan of the Beatles music and Tony wasn't fussed either.
continued below ............
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Dinner was in Animator's Palate,
where I had wild mushroom risotto, followed by smoked salmon, trout and goats cheese salad, penette pasta and apple crumble ..
all of which were totally delicious. A few photos were taken at dinner:
When Lynne answered me too for her dessert, she didn't realise it would be taken literally:
After dinner we decided to go for a night cap with Michael and Michele in Diversions,
and on the way there we got a bit distracted by the Magic Quest game which was going on in Rockin Bar D so we watched that for a few minutes. The host was the lovely David:
Lets just say it was quite entertaining, particularly the guy on the far right in the white bra, who eventually won the game by dropping his pants to the tune of I'm too sexy for my shirt
in Diversions we met up with Jodie and Mike who were concocting their own cocktails with the bartender Nur:
Jodie had invented this cocktail called Klondike and although I can't remember what was in it it was totally delicious.
We ended up having a couple of nightcaps and then on our way to the cabin we bumped into Angie, Dennis and PJ so that called for a photo moment !!
a few more photos on an empty Deck 4:
Overall it had been a really interesting and enjoyable day, and I was really tired buy the time my head hit the pillow ( nothing to do with the nightcaps of course !! ).
where I had wild mushroom risotto, followed by smoked salmon, trout and goats cheese salad, penette pasta and apple crumble ..
all of which were totally delicious. A few photos were taken at dinner:
When Lynne answered me too for her dessert, she didn't realise it would be taken literally:
After dinner we decided to go for a night cap with Michael and Michele in Diversions,
and on the way there we got a bit distracted by the Magic Quest game which was going on in Rockin Bar D so we watched that for a few minutes. The host was the lovely David:
Lets just say it was quite entertaining, particularly the guy on the far right in the white bra, who eventually won the game by dropping his pants to the tune of I'm too sexy for my shirt
in Diversions we met up with Jodie and Mike who were concocting their own cocktails with the bartender Nur:
Jodie had invented this cocktail called Klondike and although I can't remember what was in it it was totally delicious.
We ended up having a couple of nightcaps and then on our way to the cabin we bumped into Angie, Dennis and PJ so that called for a photo moment !!
a few more photos on an empty Deck 4:
Overall it had been a really interesting and enjoyable day, and I was really tired buy the time my head hit the pillow ( nothing to do with the nightcaps of course !! ).
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
DAY 6 : DAY AT SEA
Woke up early with a lovely relaxing day at sea to look forward to. Tony did his usual gym visit and I paid lip service to exercise with an invigorating walk on Deck 10.Breakfast was in Topsiders, we are creatures of habit without a doubt, but there was something so very special about sitting up there with the sun shining surrounded by nothing but the ocean. My memory has deserted me with what exactly we did after breakfast, but I know before lunch we went to a DVC presentation, mainly because I just wanted to know exactly what being a member of DVC involves. It was quite interesting and if I had the spare money up front I might have been tempted, but it is probably not right for us right now, and I have always been advised to buy re-sale DVC points anyhow. At least I now knew exactly what the deal was. Tony disappeared off to DIS wine tasting at some point, while I headed of for the scrapbooking class, which was basically a bit of a let down, other than an opportunity for a chat with some ladies from our DIS group.
We were given some scrapbooking pages which will come in useful should I ever get around to completing a scrapbook, but that was baiscally it, and I don't think I would rush back.
Lunch consisted of fast food from Plutos again .. as you can see we are really sticking to the healthy lunch ethic we planned before joining the ship.
The afternoon was taken up with reading and relaxing on the upper deck, before it was time to get ready for the show. The ocean this evening was absolutely stunning … so flat calm it was surreal. I couldn't stop taking photos of it.
The show was a Spanish Flamenco show, Los Mulero, which was excellent.
Dinner this evening was in Parrot Cay and the wonderful island dinner. I ordered Jamaican chicken tenderloins, Parrot Cay salad, caribbean roast chicken and for dessert, the sweet temptations platter of crème brulee cheesecake, lemon merigue pie and s'more vanilla cake.
After dinner we walked on Deck 4, took some photos:
and then headed off to see the late show which was Mark Nizer who did some juggling and cabaret type entertainment which was ok, but nothing special really unless you really love juggling.
I think we took another walk around the deck after the show before heading to the cabin and to bed. For some reason I didn't take many photographs today.
Woke up early with a lovely relaxing day at sea to look forward to. Tony did his usual gym visit and I paid lip service to exercise with an invigorating walk on Deck 10.Breakfast was in Topsiders, we are creatures of habit without a doubt, but there was something so very special about sitting up there with the sun shining surrounded by nothing but the ocean. My memory has deserted me with what exactly we did after breakfast, but I know before lunch we went to a DVC presentation, mainly because I just wanted to know exactly what being a member of DVC involves. It was quite interesting and if I had the spare money up front I might have been tempted, but it is probably not right for us right now, and I have always been advised to buy re-sale DVC points anyhow. At least I now knew exactly what the deal was. Tony disappeared off to DIS wine tasting at some point, while I headed of for the scrapbooking class, which was basically a bit of a let down, other than an opportunity for a chat with some ladies from our DIS group.
We were given some scrapbooking pages which will come in useful should I ever get around to completing a scrapbook, but that was baiscally it, and I don't think I would rush back.
Lunch consisted of fast food from Plutos again .. as you can see we are really sticking to the healthy lunch ethic we planned before joining the ship.
The afternoon was taken up with reading and relaxing on the upper deck, before it was time to get ready for the show. The ocean this evening was absolutely stunning … so flat calm it was surreal. I couldn't stop taking photos of it.
The show was a Spanish Flamenco show, Los Mulero, which was excellent.
Dinner this evening was in Parrot Cay and the wonderful island dinner. I ordered Jamaican chicken tenderloins, Parrot Cay salad, caribbean roast chicken and for dessert, the sweet temptations platter of crème brulee cheesecake, lemon merigue pie and s'more vanilla cake.
After dinner we walked on Deck 4, took some photos:
and then headed off to see the late show which was Mark Nizer who did some juggling and cabaret type entertainment which was ok, but nothing special really unless you really love juggling.
I think we took another walk around the deck after the show before heading to the cabin and to bed. For some reason I didn't take many photographs today.
mandymouse
Bahama Mama Time !!
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2003
Another great update Sarah, I love your pics, especially those calm sea ones, and that dress you're wearing in the last photos is lovely
Share this page
GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!
