Renée's Camera Gear added 6/30: 05-28-2011:Where In The World... 11-Night Med Cruise

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Let it begin... LET IT BEGIN!!
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This set of posts is dedicated to capturing some of the fun and excitement of our "Magic in the Med" European holiday.
Cross-posting from our Travelblog http://witw2011.wordpress.com/
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If you’re reading this then you probably already know that Renee and Steve are off on yet another adventure.
This one is pretty special for us since we mark 25 extraordinary years together in 2011. While our anniversary isin’t until late August, we have had a special trip planned for a few years.
This is dedicated to capturing some of the fun and excitement of our “Magic in the Med” European holiday. Renee suggested the idea of blogging my way around the trip. I have to say I was not thrilled right off, but then she showed me that it was pretty easy (that was a big sell!) and fun (mostly) and it’ll give us a chance to have it all in one place for later.
So ‘buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!’

See ya real soon and have fun commenting

 

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Renee is 'trial-packing' to see how well she's done with clothing selection... and it is going so well that she's certain something has been left out or forgotten. Ahh the challenges of the well-organized

In the meantime, Maud decides she wants to work on her tan. She has to look her best as she and Ian are off to spend 3 weeks at “The Meadows Bed & Biscuit at Lake Norman”, a swanky, all-inclusive dog resort.


Bone-shaped, zero-entry swimming pool... how cool is that?

A couple of days ago on Friday night we went to a local restaurant, Martino’s, and had a great evening with our bestest friends and next door neighbors, Robert & Elizabeth and their twin sons Robert and Harrison. This place has great white pizza, yummy bruschetta and Fat Tire on tap. These lucky folks are kind enough to ‘keep an eye’ on Claudette, our 7 1/2 pound orange cat while we’re away.

Claudette tries to blend in at Christmas 2010

 

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Work, work, work! We are busy making certain our various teams can survive us being out of touch for 2 1/2 weeks. Lotsa preparation, extra documentation
etcetera, etcetera, etcetera
Flights are confirmed (despite the best efforts of Iceland!) and Boarding passes are printed.
Who Cares About That… Where Are We Going On The Ship?

Here’s the Magic in the Med Map:

SPECIAL NOTES:

• We are spending three glorious days in Barcelona before we board ship
• Renee will be visiting the mammoth Vista Spa aboard on the first sea day
• Sicily replaced our original port of call, Tunisia… for obvious reasons. I really had looked forward to seeing the ruins of Carthage, and stepping onto the African continent, but Sicily ain’t bad!
• We get back at about 8 or 9 am (or earlier) on the last morning, but we’re staying one more day in a different part of Barcelona and flying the following day

 

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The kids... ready for playtime at 'The Meadows'
One of our best friends said "when I die, I want to come back as one of your dogs"... They do live happy lives

 

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It’s 6am, Day Of.
Coffee is made, luggage is packed, the car service arrives in a few hours. Our destination is Barcelona, Spain arriving at 7:55am tomorrow… that’s 20 hours from now, adjusting for time zones, and we won’t be sleeping upon arrival. So here’s to napping on the trans-Atlantic flight — yeah, right!
———– 9:30am
BOOO!
DL 94 JFK to BCN is currently DELAYED, departing terminal 4, gate B22
Maybe this will open up First Class opportunities?
——— 11:05am
Checked in at Charlotte, about 2 hrs till the first leg departs
——— 12:40pm
Now aboard the smallest aircraft in the world. 3 seats across 1×2 for a lovely 2+ hour hop to New York.
I think I know some passengers better than My wife at this point.
Closing the door
--- Arrived OK, No upgrades. The flight will leave 1 hour late

 

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Oddly, we found ourselves sitting in front of a wall mural… Just in front of Europe.
Renee is intently ignoring me in this candid photo

 

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The flight to Barcelona has finally arrived.
Time to load the cattle car

Moooooooooo!

 

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We have arrived!
The flight was about 2 hours delayed leaving. Lots of extra air traffic with flights diverting away from the Iceland volcano. After clearing customs and collecting luggage, we met our driver and he whisked us through the streets to our hotel.


Rooms at the AC Diplomatic aren’t ready yet so it’s time to visit the nearby streets.

 

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Double Espresso for me
Cappuccino for Renee
Croissant for each of us

 

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There’s an entire store for this
Don’t need ‘em! We couldn't get any happier

 

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Renee has some spectacular pictures (natch!) but here’s a glimpse from my iPhone

 

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Wow! What an amazing day we had Thursday!!
WARNING!!! Wayyy long post follows…

We attempted to start out early and found that Barcelona doesn’t wake up much before 10am!
Hooray for Starbucks!
Interestingly they have no ‘coffee’ machine as we are used to in the States, rather they have extra espresso dispensers and, of all things, a fresh orange juicer (no picture handy). This thing takes whole oranges and simply crushes them; peels, seeds and all; with juices coming out of the bottom. It’s about 50% more expensive than a latte, but very popular based on our visits. If you want coffee the way we think of it, it’s “Americano”.
So today we went in search of some “Hannibal” (watch the video here) badges left behind by our favorite close-up magician. Hannibal was in Barcelona a few months ago supporting a tech company at convention. We exchanged some messages and he left us some cryptic clues (natch!)
Link to his site here: http://www.chrishannibal.com/
So we have searched and searched… and we think we have been thwarted by the diligent cleaning crews around Barcelona.



We knew that the likely location of the arena mentioned is the former bullfighting arena (not a very popular sport in the Catalan capital) that has been converted to shopping in recent years. We were not very near to this site so we looked to Clue #2…
We located clue number 2 here at the Museo De Cera De Barcelona.
Searching and searching, we still found no sign of Hannibal having been ‘close to wax’ so we moved on to the next locale…


Hmmm… across the street from “The Snail” gads!
So it turns out that there is an old, famous restaurant called “Los Caracoles” that must be just the place..
It’s a lovely, out-of-the-way place with beautiful etched glass windows. We searched valiantly in the adjoining streets, in the little bits & bobs shops across the lane from here….

We even checked out the shop just across the street from Los Caracoles.


::::::::::::::::::: An hour later ::::::::::::::::::::::::
Okay, so no Hannibal marker found anywhere, despite the fun of the search

We were hungry and thirsty by this point so we went in search of a Tapas bar Renee had read about before we arrived,
Sagardi

They had all kinds of unique and original creations. You collect a plate and pick the various tapas you want to have. In the end they ‘count the toothpicks’ and you pay based on the number. Some folks are fairly ignorant and ‘accidentally’ drop toothpicks before paying… we really hate this kind of thing but otherwise we really enjoyed the great variety and fun of the place. They were constantly bringing new plates full of tapas from the back room. There was one that looked like there was shaved coconut on it… but it turned out to be some rally awesome cheese,
We tried their signature ‘cider’ but neither of us found it to be to our taste. When we came iup to have our toothpicks counted, they noticed we had a fair bit of the cider left in both cups, asked if we liked it, and then didn’t charge us for it… class!
BTW: We are amazed at how multilingual service is here in Barcelona. Not only English but we heard Italian and French and lots of German as well. This is supposedly ‘The’ destination for Europeans on holiday… we see why !



So after the Tapas we stopped in at a place we’d visited in the afternoon the day before… “Mi Burrito y Yo”


Those of you who may recall our little trip to the US Virgin Islands last year may recall the “Donkey Diner” episode… this place just warmed the cockles of our hearts as a result. Sitting outside, drinking wine, enjoying local food and entertainment
Pan Pipes on the Plaza outside Mi Burrito y Yo in Barcelona
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr1kWdqmd0o&feature=player_embedded



Soooooooooooooo… Now what?
It’s about 11:00pm and we’re not tired so we happen to find an amazing Irish Pub along the way (I know, right?)
Imagine that?

 

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Friday was a fun and busy day but nothing spectacular. Now it’s Saturday and time to board the Disney Magic for 11 nights in the Mediterranean. Repack-repack-repack… Turned in the bags to Disney (they have a service at this hotel and will deliver our luggage to our stateroom later in the afternoon. So we’ve packed our backpacks and headed for the Port of Barcelona.
A number of other cruise companies are in port with folks sailing out for various week-long cruises, so we are issued our Disney stickers to make sure we get on the right transport.
Here’ the Magic next to the monstrous Liberty of the Seas… we look like a toy boat

The first two Disney boats were designed to look very similar to the classic ocean-going liners of the 1930s with twin stacks (only one is needed in modern liners… the second one is a club for teens on these boats). They gave it a sharp bow (a ‘cruiser bow’) and lots of railings.

These pics were shot with my iPhone through the glass of the transport bus from the hotel so they have a rather green cast. Renee could clean up and correct this… but she’s not doing this travelblog

So after processing through the Port authority and getting our Keys to the World(electronic passes that unlock your door, allow you to charge stuff to your account and are required to enter and leave the ship in the various ports), we headed aboard to our stateroom.
We’re on Deck 8, starboard. If you look at the picture above our cabin is just below where the first ‘long bulge’ juts out above the round portholes. That area is where the Vista Spa & Salon is located.. convenient!
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Home-Sweet-Home


When cruise ships leave port, they traditionally sound their distinctive horn a couple times. Often when a ship prepare to leave and sounds her horn others will announce their presence with authority, with the ‘horn war’ going to the loudest(generally acknowledge by it being the last one to sound). Although the Disney ship is not as large as some of the others in port, she does her best to keep up with the ‘big boys’. In this short video clip we were standing on our veranda when the Disney Magic and RCL Liberty of the Seas decided to duke it out.

Disney Magic vs. RCL Liberty of the Seas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2DcVSud0OM&feature=player_embedded

5:00PM Port of Barcelona sail-away
Captain John! Master of the Disney Magic prepares to navigate away from the Port.
This shot is from our veranda looking forward. The Captain is looking aft from the starboard wing bridge (yes, there’s one on the port side as well…)ensuring all is well as the harbor pilot drives his ship out to clear waters. Captain John was Master of the Disney Wonder a number of years ago when we cruised for the first time on a Disney ship.

I was absolutely amazed at the incredible blue-ness of the Mediterranean Sea. This un-retouched shot is about an hour away from the Port of Barcelona, taken from the veranda of our room. It looked like this everywhere we went.
Our first full day day out was a ‘Day At Sea’, spent enjoying the relaxations aboard ship. Renee went off to a few hours in the Sessions Spa, first a hot stone massage and then off the the ‘Rainforest relaxation room’ where they have heated tile beds to soak the cares away. Renee rejoined me in the mid afternoon.
Tonight is our ‘formal night’ so we are off to dress for the big Broadway-style stage performance of “Twice Charmed” and then off to our 8:30pm dinner seating at Lumiere’s, one of four restaurants aboard.
More about the restaurants next time:

 

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Dining aboard Disney Cruise Lines is a different experience than aboard most cruise ships. Many cruise lines have a single large dining facility where people are scheduled for certain times each day to help stagger the service times for the kitchen to accommodate . This works rather well however the visual experience tends to be the same each day, particularly if you also take a breakfast or lunch meal at the usual buffet served in the same facility. Disney decided to take a radical approach when they launched DCL a dozen years ago with ‘rotational dining’. They have 3 smaller, separately themed dining areas aboard with a fourth ‘adults only’ upscale facility. You have the same table number and dining time (‘early’ at 5:30 or ‘late’ at 8:30) each evening however you move from one dining facility to another each evening. In a pleasurable twist, your serving staff moves with you each evening. By the second or third night out they know if you want a cocktail before your meal and what type of wine you prefer with your food plus any other ‘special needs’ you may have. This provides for a friendly and engaging experience with your serving staff while providing a completely different dining experience each evening with the additional benefit of smaller groups of people eating at the same place and time. Where you are dining is printed on your ‘Key to the World’ mentioned earlier.
Our dining began at Lumiere’s, a French cuisine restaurant inspired and themed from the movie/Broadway production Beauty and the Beast (it’s named after the French-speaking candelabra character in the film). It very lavish with lots of gilding, heavy draperies, high ceilings and elegant entry platform area. There are huge chandeliers down the centerline of the entrance each with a crystal red rose.
The next restaurant in our rotation is perhaps our favorite; Animator’s Palate. This place rather defies description… but I’ll try. Aside from a great menu of diverse dishes, the environment is a large part of the attraction. Scattered around the restaurant are sketches and drawings of animation through 100 years of Disney art. Many are the ‘wallpaper’ while others are being displayed on various digital screens on the wall. Large paintbrushes act as columns to hold up the roof. The brush portion of the columns are in color and change over time with subtle shifts in accent lighting. Our serving staff has shifted outfits from last night’s traditional garb for a 4-star facility to a white shirt/black vest with more animation art stitched out on it. Just about desert time, the entire place transforms… the walls suddenly are color versions of the the black and white sketches taking on a depth and richness not seen previously as well as all the black and white movies and pictures become color. When the staff comes out to deliver the desert menus their outfits have also transformed to full color versions of the artwork that decorated their vests and shirts. the wall trick is rather fascinating to see. When you get close to the wall you realize its perforated with thousands of holes. When the transformation happens they fade down the lights illuminating the walls and there’s an entire color version of the walls BEHIND the perforations that are then lit… so that’s what you see… very cool magic

The final restaurant is Parrot Cay (pronounced “Key” for those not up on their island-speak, mon) This is a bright, casual, laid-back bit of Jamaican foodie-fest, ideal for the more common Caribbean cruising this ship is generally doing. The menu is spicy and exciting and the servers have moved to loud, colorful shirts and crew pants and it’s easy to imagine you are no longer in the Mediterranean. The fare is a nice switch-up from the heavier eating at the other two venues. There is still a robust variety of foods with all the locations offering vegetarian fare standard as well as beef, poultry and fish. Every meal comes with starters, soup or salad, main course and signature desserts.
You may notice some of the photos look significantly better than others on this page… all courtesy of Renee Peoples Photography… she captured some very cool shots of all the restaurants, with my iPhone pic of Parrot Cay being the jarring exception… though it kinda fits the slightly whacky joint!
Finally, there is the ‘plus’ restaurant that many cruise ship have aboard. On the Disney Magic this is PALO, a southern French cuisine venue located on the upper deck in the aft portion of the ship. It sports width-of-the-ship curved widow-wall presenting a gorgeous view off the fantail of the ship and requires prior booking reservations. The restaurant charges an additional $20./person rather than being ‘all included’ as all the other eating aboard cruise ships. Prior to sailing each person is permitted only one reservation during a sailing at Palo’s and some of the most popular times are booked out quickly by concierge guests and others with priority privileges. Invariably, the restaurant has some additional capacity and you can attempt to book additional seating opportunities each day if you desire. This is a dress-up environment, though not formal. The other regular restaurants are ‘cruise casual’ but Palo’s expect men to bring a jacket (no tie required!) and ladies usually out-dress us guys anyway. The menu does not disappoint! Our regular tablemates (we sit at a table for four and share it with another couple) are originally from Belgium and have lived in the Provence region of France for a number of years. They owned and operated a successful restaurant specializing in regional cuisine and are on this cruise celebrating the sale of the property. They are immensely pleased with the Palo selection, preparation and level of service as well as the great tasting foods. It’s a big meal as far as we are concerned but cannot argue with the quality and attention to details!
Other fun places to eat around the ship include:
Pinocchio’s Pizzeria:
Pizza’s made to order… and a full bar… excellent!!






Pluto’s Dog House: Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Fries (and a partial bar!)
Goofy’s Galley: Sandwich fare and deli-like stuff… this place is always busy, and no bar (shrug)
Topsider Buffet: Yep! There’s always a buffet somewhere… This is where the early breakfast buffet takes place for folks wanting a bit to eat before heading ashore for the day. They generally open at 7:00am or earlier if we make port early. Nothing surprising with a typical cafeteria-style speed and convenience except they have an omelet bar at the back that makes pretty good made-to-order stuff.

 

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That's it for now!
More coming over the next days, hope you enjoy

 

[Toria]

That's it for now!
More coming over the next days, hope you enjoy

Looking forward to the rest! I loved the horn battle.

 

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Tonight is the evening of our first ‘Day at Sea’. We’re enroute to the beautiful island of Malta.


Tonight’s towel animal:


We would get different ones every evening with the turndown service, a briefing on our port of call in the morning (if there is one) and a few chocolates. Notice which of the Seven Dwarves is on the chocolate (hint: it’s NOT Dopey)
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Since it was ‘dress up time’ there were pictures to be taken with the Master of the Magic, Captain John:


…and the Master of Ceremonies

Some of us just HAD to ham it up a bit!

This little item arrived during the dessert portion of the meal, it was cute!

 

[PVA]

Enjoying your report. We leave Los Angeles in 22 days 23 hours and 9 minutes for our July 9 Med Cruise!

PA

 

[ctldavis]

We are enjoying your report. We live in Matthews, NC and will be on the June 18th Med. Cruise.