Sailing with the Gang...DCL magic, Feb. 2016

[Timon]

Seriously loving your Atlantis pics! Looks like a gorgeous place! I would love to spend a week there

Hmmm, if you had zoomed in on the Aquaduck, you might have seen me

 

[jenseib]

Beautiful rooms at Atlantis and the view of the Magic in the background is priceless.

The Ships in the background really is a beautiful site....and we were the only one in port that day which made it really nice.

Hi Jen,

Great pics of the Chiluly too!

I've priced out going to Atlantis, I think I looked at the cheapest ones - those other house type places, they don't have resort fees tacked on.

I've had trouble with the DIS a lot lately - it doesn't want to move ahead pages, and stops responding-I'm usually on around 8-9 at night...

Do you mean the harborside villa type things? Those are mega expensive from what I have found.

Dis is just crazy. Saturday morning I refreshed literally 30 times on one page to get it to load right and then gave up.

Seriously loving your Atlantis pics! Looks like a gorgeous place! I would love to spend a week there

Hmmm, if you had zoomed in on the Aquaduck, you might have seen me

I would love to stay as well. So many places and not enough money.
That would have been funny if I saw you on it. But not quite that good of a zoom on that lens.

 

[jenseib]

Karen led us down the hall to another room to check out.


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All I can say is Wow! I really need to win the lottery so I can stay here.


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As grand as this room is, it still only holds 4 people.


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This is the bathroom in the entryway.


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Karen then took us out to the balcony and this was stunning. Huge balcony with fabulous views.


The bridge suite.


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And we asked her about how to book that and actually that is booked through the casino. I have no clue why, but I thought that was interesting. Lisa mentioned she heard it was the Ohprah suite or the Michael Jackson suite and Karen says it has had many names over the years after certain stars that have stay there a lot. I thought the best name for it would be the Jennifer suite….and yes I would bring my friends too!


Those are the Beach Towers off in the distance.


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Down below was the turtle area….so cute!


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Atlantis selfie!!!


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Up next…..Let’s go find some sharks!

 

[KarriTigger]

You have my absolute dream job - being a Disney TA! I'd love to be one...and am working towards it (financially un-viable right now, but it's my goal) I love all your TR's - Alaska one was really fun. Thank you for letting me vicariously live through your report!

 

[jedijill]

Atlantis is a cool resort. I'll probably never stay there but its fun to visit!

Jill in CO

 

[jenseib]

You have my absolute dream job - being a Disney TA! I'd love to be one...and am working towards it (financially un-viable right now, but it's my goal) I love all your TR's - Alaska one was really fun. Thank you for letting me vicariously live through your report!

Alaska was very fun. I really want to go back soon. Maybe I can talk Skip into it again next summer.
Thanks for reading!!

Atlantis is a cool resort. I'll probably never stay there but its fun to visit!

Jill in CO

In all likelihood I probably will never stay there either. I have about 1 million things on my bucket list.

 

[jenseib]

We stood out on the balcony for quite some time chatting with Karen and just enjoying the views.


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Trying to be artsy.


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We had Karen take a picture of us.


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And then we took a picture of Karen.


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And our tour was done…..actually Karen was going to take us through the Dig as part of the tour, but we told her we had gone through already this morning and our plans were to go through the Shark tunnel next and we said we were find doing it on our own. Had we known that was part of the tour, we could have actually scheduled it earlier and not bought the Dig tour for ourselves. But we did get a discount and with the fabulous tour we got from Karen we didn’t mind. I mean she gave us one of the best resort tours I have ever been on. She was so knowledgeable and thorough…and nice too. This ending up being so much more than I expected and we were all so happy to have chosen to do this today.


We said our goodbyes and headed off. It’s kind of funny as Ellen and I were looking up something for Atlantis the other day and we found a picture of Karen and her info….and it was an “I know her” moment! Hahaha.


We headed down to the shark area next so we could walk underneath the sharks.


Lots of activity going on today.


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We headed down to see the sharks and fishies!


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Looking into the lifeless eyes of a shark!


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The tunnel!


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Can you imagine swimming around with that thing on your nose?


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And then we saw the funniest thing. I call these the nemo fish. They are like the ones from the movie where when they were talked to, they all formed shapes to answer the questions. These guys swam over as we were standing there talking. After a bit I noticed they were still there but swimming in a circle….over and over and over.


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We just started cracking up.


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And a video of them.


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They were still swimming that circle when we moved on too.


We found some more lobsters!


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Just loved the colors in these tanks.


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Up next…. Chowder? No we have a surprise for you!

 

[Pinkocto]

All caught up, I was away for several days.

Loving these updates. Atlantis is gorgeous! What a fabulous tour with Karen. Thank you for all the gorgeous pictures.

I have not been on the Dis in the last week or so, so I can't comment on problems in that time frame, but it's been working good for me.

 

[Timon]

Who's the leader???

That other fish is bad at merging!

 

[jenseib]

All caught up, I was away for several days.

Loving these updates. Atlantis is gorgeous! What a fabulous tour with Karen. Thank you for all the gorgeous pictures.

I have not been on the Dis in the last week or so, so I can't comment on problems in that time frame, but it's been working good for me.

The tour was just so excellent. Much more than I thought it would be.

I am wondering if it is my Time Warner box. I was having issues with my router and I got a new one and some things are now working better, but some are not.

Who's the leader???

That other fish is bad at merging!

It was hysterical.

 

[jenseib]

We surfaced again and took a look at the rays.


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And moved on. It was time to go but we took pictures as we walked.


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I think I see the backside of water!


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And then back into the lovely lobby of the Coral Tower.


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We then found a taxi…and just so you know, the guys out front are very helpful at getting one for you…and off we went. Ellen and I planned to go to Van Breugels for some Chowder. This was a small bar that served food and I believe Ellen found it on some culinary tour she did years ago and has come back a few times since. The other girls wanted to go back to the ship. Ellen asked the driver if he knew where it was and he said he never heard of it. Ellen said it would be fine to just drop us off at the port area as it wasn’t a far walk. We took a more winding way back and all of a sudden he stopped….right in front of Van Breugels. He had been lying! Haha. We got out and said goodbye to the girls and headed in.


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We sat down at the bar and Ellen asked if the girl she knew and loved was working and she came down and they did some bonding. Ellen said we would like some chowder but they didn’t have any today. I get the feeling this is the kind of place that cooks what they want when they want. LOL. So we said ok and ordered a drink. We would just eat on the ship. After a bit they told us to not leave as they had a surprise for us.


Out they came with this plate….looks good doesn’t it.


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And it was…except that it was deep fried GATOR! And no matter how tasty it was, I had a hard time getting around that fact. Hahaha. I did eat quite a bit of it though and had to keep telling my brain to stop thinking about the fact that it was gator.


I discovered there was free wifi here and Ellen and I then got on our phones and communicated with the outside world. We found out that the new Royal Caribbean ship had to go back to dock after going through a storm and there was a lot of damage. Ellen and Brook were sailing a short cruise on this ship in about a month or so, so we were hoping the damage wasn’t too bad and it would soon get back to tip top shape.


After I had sent some emails, posted pictures on facebook and I even texted Claire via iphones we settled up our bill. I tried to pay for my half and once again, Ellen paid for it all. I tried to hand her money and she wouldn’t take it. It was so nice of her but not needed at all. Maybe she felt sorry for me because I had bought 2 Dooney purses the night before and now she thinks I am broke? LOL.


Ellen was finishing up her drink so I walked outside for a few minutes and texted Claire some more. If I stayed right up near the building I still had free wifi.


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Ellen came out then and we walked back to the ship.


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I know there was a reason I took this next picture, but looking at it now….I have no clue why. Maybe I thought it was funny that he was feeding the birds?


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We went through security and headed back to our lovely ship.


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And then we took pictures of each other in front of the ship. We had picked up brochures and I had a stack with me and I displayed them as if I was selling the Bahamas while getting my picture.


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And back to the ship we went and we went our separate ways. I think I went back to the room to drop off my stuff and leave my big camera in there.


I am pretty sure Cass was in the room and I am sure I chatted with her for a bit. I took this picture out our window.


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I honestly don’t remember what I did after that and if Cass joined me or not. I think I made my way to Guest services to apply gift cards and cash to my account. I found that they already charged my card for the purses but was told it would be reimbursed and only the difference would go on my card at the end of the cruise…and that’s exactly what happened.


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Up next… A Celebrity Sighting!

 

[Pinkocto]

Oh my about the fried gator, but it looks scrumptious! How kind of them to fix you a plate, did they charge that or just the drinks?

Love that waterfall with the moss.

And I can't get enough ship pictures

 

[jenseib]

Oh my about the fried gator, but it looks scrumptious! How kind of them to fix you a plate, did they charge that or just the drinks?

Love that waterfall with the moss.

And I can't get enough ship pictures

I really can't remember if we were charged or not. I am thinking yes, but I could be totally wrong. Ellen paid, so I guess since I didn't end up giving any money to her I can't remember how much it was.

 

[jenseib]

I believe I did some browsing around the ship after a visit to Guest Services.


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There are my purses…the blue one on the right is my cross over bag.


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And the one on the bottom is my full sized bag….I just LOVE these and am switching back and forth between the 2 since I got home.


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They were getting ready for the Tangled show tonight, which we were all excited about. I don’t think any of us had seen it, though Carol may have because I know she cruised back in Dec. and I think it was on the Magic.


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A look in another shop.


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I still miss the Chihuly here. I am not a fan of the new light fixture.


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And some more roaming.


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And I stopped and took a picture of some of the art pictures I liked.


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And a walk through Shutters.


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And a walk out to my favorite deck.


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It was getting pretty close to leaving time.


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And back inside.


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And a celebrity sighting…and we all know I just can’t catch a good shot as they walk by.


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Up next…. The perfect lighthouse! And we’re spending the night where????

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Great report! I've been reading along and just caught up. Love all the pics and the Atlantis tour was awesome!

 

[rndmr2]

They were still swimming that circle when we moved on too.

Funny! Maybe they are new to the display and they are used to a much smaller tank?

I think I see the backside of water!


atlant

LOL! I always take that picture on the Jungle Cruise

Out they came with this plate….looks good doesn’t it.


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And it was…except that it was deep fried GATOR!

OMG! Did they tell you what it was before you started eating it?? That would be the only way you's ever get me to eat that.

I still miss the Chihuly here. I am not a fan of the new light fixture.


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I am not a fan of the new one either.

Nice update, beautiful pics. That Atlantis really is a pretty resort. As much as it might be nice to stay there, I would rather go on a cruise than stay in Nassau for multiple days/nights.

Love all the pictures around the ship, too. Your new Dooneys are nice, love that blue one!

 

[jenseib]

Great report! I've been reading along and just caught up. Love all the pics and the Atlantis tour was awesome!

It was a very nice tour.

Funny! Maybe they are new to the display and they are used to a much smaller tank?



LOL! I always take that picture on the Jungle Cruise



OMG! Did they tell you what it was before you started eating it?? That would be the only way you's ever get me to eat that.



I am not a fan of the new one either.

Nice update, beautiful pics. That Atlantis really is a pretty resort. As much as it might be nice to stay there, I would rather go on a cruise than stay in Nassau for multiple days/nights.

Love all the pictures around the ship, too. Your new Dooneys are nice, love that blue one!

Those fish were just so funny.

Yes they told us what it was, but I still tried it.

I agree, I rather do more cruising to new or other destinations than stay in Nassau....especially since I usually have to limit myself how many times I can go away in a year. My husband thinks traveling once a year is more than any person should do.

 

[jenseib]

I continued around the ship taking pictures.


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Tonight was optional dress up night and they were setting up the pretty backdrops for pictures.


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And back to the room…probably to shower and get ready for the night. Our stateroom host had left our beds/bunks made like this because we had egg crate cushions on them. He could have taken them off each day and put that back on but he asked Cass and she said it wouldn’t matter if he left them as is and it really didn’t. We were not in the room much this cruise. A longer one it might have made a difference but we were so busy most of the time it never bothered me.


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And I believe we started pulling out then.


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At some point I think I ran outside to get some pictures.


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It was getting a little chillier already too. Bummer.



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And then I took some of my most favorite pictures this cruise.

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I am always trying to get great shots of the lighthouse using my fancy camera….and now I am using my point and shoot and got some of the best I have ever taken.


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I liked them so much that I picked one of those out and printed it and framed it for my bedroom.



Then the announcement was made. Because of the winds and waves we were going to head straight to Castaway Cay tonight and dock. Of course we won’t be able to get off the ship till the morning, but as wavy as it is, we probably won’t be able to dock tomorrow if we wait. HOW>>>COOL>>>>IS>>>>>THAT? I had wondered if we would be able to dock myself a few times knowing this had been a bit of a rougher sailing than normal. Seeing the waves come in at Atlantis also made me wonder earlier in the day. I am so glad they decided to go tonight so we could make it there. I know it happens every so often, but I felt special to be able to do this.


I headed back to the room and we could see the pilot boat out our window. I really tried to get a shot of the guy jumping from boat to boat, but I just couldn’t make that darn window move out further for me to see. LOL.


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Then they pulled away and waved at me. I guess they saw how crazy I was trying to get pictures.


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We got ready for the show and headed to find seats for Tangled.


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Cass and I found some seats closer to the front. Michelle was in the front row and we saw many of the others several rows back. We decided not to join them as we wanted to be closer….but not front row close!


The show was amazing!!!! They did it so well. I really want to see this one again.


Again, at the end of the show I took a couple bootleg photos with my phone.


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Sadly they are not very good.


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I think we browsed shops after the show and then headed to dinner. Another celebrity sighting!


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Up next…We proudly present…..Your Dinner!

 

[TestingH2O]

I am always trying to get great shots of the lighthouse using my fancy camera….and now I am using my point and shoot and got some of the best I have ever taken.

I love that lighthouse so much. Great shots!

 

[canyoncam]

OMG I LOVE those lighthouse pictures!!!!

I also am loving looking at your pictures of the ship. I just got off the WONDER and even though that has always been my favorite ship, I do like how vibrant the new carpets are on MAGIC. Sadly you can see WONDER needs her drydock desperately. And the Tangled show I would love.