Pirates, Menu Change, San Juan and Extras from 8/7

MBFergie

Insane Mom
Joined
May 4, 2000
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471
On Wednesday night we found a very nice surprise in our stateroom. DCL made up a limited edition commemorative lithography called Pals Playing Pirates on Castaway Cay. The Certifcate of Authenticity states "This limited edition features Mickey Mouse, Donadld Duck and Goofy playing pirate games at Disney's astaway Cas island paradise. It was created especially for you, our DCL guest as a special Thank You for sailing aboard the Disney Magic to our special ports of call this summer. Many people took the picture and had it signed by captain and characters.

Pirates in The Caribean is the new theme night name and deck party. It was AWESOME!! At dinner they had red bandanas for all the guest to wear and the serving staff had new uniforms. Everyone looked great. They also have a new menu for this night, I can't find mine at the moment but it was one of the top meals. I know for dessert they had a warm banana with carmel sauce and coconut ice cream that was to die for!!

The deck party was filled with high energy dancing, a few surprises and a buffet on deck afterward. We enjoyed it more then the past deck parties. I didn't eat any food on the buffet but checked it out..they had chocolate and strawberry crepes, turkey legs and some mexican type items. The table decorations were really neat. They had a 5' long pirate ship made out of breads, a crossbone and skull ice carving, fake fire to name a few.

When we docked in San Juan we were greeted by a few TV news crews. The magic docking was big news! When we were getting back on board (only minutes to spare) there were alot of locals checking out the ship and waiting to hear the horn. The Magic held a lunch reception in Palos for local officials and such.

We chose not to do a shore excursion. We walked off the ship and headed into old San Juan. Checked out a few stores, then headed onto El Morro. What a incredible sturcture that is. My kids enjoyed it much more then they thought they would. The walk is long but worth it. We walked the fort for over an hour easily could have spent another hour if it wasn't for the troops "starving". So we took a cab back to the ship, only $2 or $3 per person.

After lunch my DS went to lab, DH went to the Wyndam Casino (very small and DH wouldn't go back) which is a 2 minute walk from the ship and I went with DD to Bacardi. DON'T take the excursion there. It was so easy to get to from the ship. When you walk off the ship you go to the left 2 piers (5 minutes) to board a ferry boat, only 50 cents per person. It's a 10 minute boat ride over. Then when you get off the ferry you walk to the right and there is a parking garage with cabs. For $2 a person they drop you off at Bacardi. So for $5 round trip with did the same exact thing as the excursion. The tour was ok. I wanted to see them actually doing the botteling so was a bit disappointed. Also, the rum at the factory was more money then at the port. But you got 2 free drinks per person in the pavillion while waiting for your tour to start.

I heard the longer rain forest tour was good, but the shorter one wasn't so hot. Spent alot of time in the bus driving. Horseback riding was fun. Snorkling and tours of San Juan not so good for the amount of $$. If you want to gamble you may want to consider a larger casino which is a 20 minute cab ride away.

Let me know if you have any ?? and I will try to help.
 
I'll echo what MBFergie says! There was a lot of important people from DCL on the cruise and a few of you will remember Jim, the cruise director. He is now in charge of DCL entertainment on land and he was there to check everything out.
Also as we boarded they were handing out free Mai Tias - I think they were expecting a few hitches so were keeping us happy - they didn't need to!
We did the shorter rainforest tour and really enjoyed it - it did exactly as the brochure said but I think a lot of people were expecting to go swimming - that was only in the longer tour. For $30 each I thought it was a bargain!
Wendy
 
Was there any mention to making this a regular destination for the cruise? We are 'hoping' for a 7 night Eastern in 2006 and would love to go to San Juan.

The Pirates Night sounds wonderful! We are going next month and can't wait to see it!
DJ
 

MBFergie: So sorry we didn't get to meet. Did you try to find us at the sailaway? There was a little confusion about the meeting place. I agree with all that you said about PR. We also did El Morro and it was fabulous. We walked both ways, but were exhausted when we got back.
To the person interested in Condado Beach: It's just outside Old San Juan so you may want to hail a taxi and do it on your own. All beaches in PR are public even if they're located on a hotel property (you just couldn't use the hotel's facilities).

As for gambling at the Wyndam......probably the worst payouts I've ever experienced in my whole entire life. I truly don't mind losing all my budgeted money, but I do expect it to last long enough to have a little fun. That was not the case at the Wyndam and I would not go back either.
 
When we docked in San Juan we were greeted by a few TV news crews. The magic docking was big news! When we were getting back on board (only minutes to spare) there were alot of locals checking out the ship and waiting to hear the horn. The Magic held a lunch reception in Palos for local officials and such.
That is so cool!

Thank you so much for the details on the changes. I cannot believe how excited I am getting for this cruise! It can't come soon enough! :bounce:
 
For all those who planned on wearing tropical attire on the theme night and now are upset about the switch to a Pirate theme.. you will still fit in with a tropical attire! We wore tropical shirts and it was fine!!
 
For those who did the Rainforest tour:

Did you see any Purto Rican Parrots at El Yunque? Years ago some cousins of mine lived for many years there as part of the WWF project to try and establish these wonderful birds back in the wild. They had some success, then a hurricane came through and dessimated the population again. My cousin has wonderful stories of these birds. They had to be very careful not to let the birds get used to humans. She would wear the same clothes and even comb her hair the exact same way when she entered the aviary, but the smart little boogers would still start to say "hello" when she came to feed them. We visited several months after the storms and the forest was a mess, spent several days on the island and never spotted a one.

Carla
 
Thanks for the report. We are on the 8/21 sailing.
 
we went to condado beach, left immediately, no waves, not very nice looking walked up to another beach about 15 minutes, well worth it, waves were rough, but it was beautiful, rented lounge chairs, maybe the beach was better if you did the resort thing, not sure what beach looked like from that side
 
Originally posted by bengals01
we went to condado beach, left immediately, no waves, not very nice looking walked up to another beach about 15 minutes, well worth it, waves were rough, but it was beautiful, rented lounge chairs, maybe the beach was better if you did the resort thing, not sure what beach looked like from that side

What was included at the Condado Beach excursion? We have this booked, but now I'm second-guessing based on your post. Can you give me more detail?

Thanks! :sunny:
 

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