The Very Best Cruise- Eastern Caribbean 1/17/2009

[Jumba17]

Great TR! I love all the pics, keep them coming! For your sake, I sure hope the kids warmed up to the kids club as the week went on. We have 5 year old twins, and DH and I are really hoping to have some adult time on our upcoming cruise.

 

[Bytor01]

So when I last left you we were turning in for bed on our first night and sailing down the North Atlantic Ocean towards our first stop, St Marteen.

But first I digress, I apologize that I have not updated the trip report but as I mentioned I have been involved with a heavy duty court case. It is over and the good guys one, namely me, so now I can get on with the report.

So here goes:

Mary and I are in the nice queen bed while the kids are in the other room on the sofa bed. We are getting a agood night sleep all around. Then the rude awakening happens...NOISE. Yes, big time noise at 3:45am. It sounds as though it is directly over us. It is the sound of people moving things up on deck 9. It is loud and wakes up Mary and I. The kids just sleep through it. It lasts about 20 mintues or so but its enough to really get me a little annoyed. We finally go back to sleep, when all of a sudden there it is again, NOISE. The same type of noise, the sound of chairs moving, but this time its 6:30am. It last about 20 minutes. Back to sleep for a third time and I get up at 7:45am.

I am a really heavy sleeper usually but this noise would wake up anybody. It is that annoying. I have no idea whether it is heard throughout deck 8 or just around our room. Bit of a snob here, but bare with me, we did upgrade to the CONCEIRGE level and paid a lot of money (mind you even if you didn't you should not be woken up like this). I wonder why they would have their guests in the most expensive staterooms in this area?

Anyway I went over to Vista Spa to get a run in. I run on the treadmill at home, exclusively, so I figured I would do it here. I got on and boy I did not remember how hard it was. I guess the boat was rocking to much because I felt like I was hydroplaning. I got off figuring it would be to hard and hit deck 4. I never ran down there before but it was pretty good. Of course running outside you have to deal with the wind but it wasn’t too bad. I did my 2.5 miles and went back up to the room. By this time the kids and wife were up and were having breakfast.

The kids went to the club around 10am and I went to the DVC Member Celebration in Rockin Bar D. I had no intention on adding more points ( I own at BCV-220 pts and SSR-120pts) but like going to it anyway. In ’07 there were about 30 people in Diversions. This time it seemed like there was not an open seat. I would say maybe 150 if not more were there. You get some good gifts (reason I go). They gave you a bag filled with 4 hats a couple of lanyards (already got 2 in the room when we got in. It was in this nice log book that DVC gave us). There was also a game like DVC Bingo where you had to go around to different people and see if they filled your card with the things they have done with their membership. It looked like fun but I really didn’t partake. Then they did a question and answer game where they had a lot of prizes. I mean a lot of prizes. I bet almost everyone there had a chance to win and did win. My card got picked and I had to answer the question of “What was Walt Disney’s first cartoon with Mickey Mouse called?” All with me know…”Steamboat Willie” I won a really nice beach blanket that turns in onto itself and sets up like a beach bag. It’s really nice and has a great big DVC logo on it.

I picked up the kids around 11 and we headed to the atrium where Mr Toad’s race was being held. James and Moira both played. James lost his heat in a very close race (photo finish and Moira won her race. Unfortunately Moira had a lead in the semis but hr toad caught a fly and was to busy eating to finish the race. They both received nice ribbons. Jiminy Cricket was in the area and the kids got a photo with him. We hardly ever see him so that was a treat. We then headed over to Shutters. We caught our embarkation photo and then headed to Pluto’s for lunch.


Embarkation Photo- Nolan family heading in

The kids and I then took a trip up to the Wide World of Sports Deck. There were some people playing hoops so the kids and I practice a little. The game ended and another started. James got in on the second game and Moira and I still practiced. It was very windy up there. It was in the 70’s but very cloudy for most of the day. It even started to drizzle very lightly while they were playing. Just enough to make Deck 10, outside the WWoSports area really slippery. Moira took a nice spill while in her flip flops because she would not take them off like I told her to. Oh well, maybe she will learn to always listen to Dear old dad (I doubt it).

But, now it was time to drop them back at the club and go to the Wine Tasting seminar in Sessions. Mary had most of the morning to herself after I go te kids to the club the first time. But of course she waited to the last minute to go work out and now I was sitting at a nice window table in Sessions sans wife. She finally strolled in just as the doors were closed and took her seat. Casually late is a common theme, isn’t it ladies, lol?


the good wines of the Wine Tasting Seminar

I can certainly tell you that the picture above was completely different from a picture I could have taken about an hour later if you know what I mean. We really like the wine tastings. You learn a lot and if you like wine you can’t go wrong. The wines (actually 5 wines and one champagne) were a 2007 Chateau St Michelle Riesling (since this trip my wife, a red wine (Merlot lover) has become the exclusive lover of Riesling. In the week that we are back, I think we have already polished off two bottles and a couple of glasses at dinner the other night when we went out. Sorry the others were a 2007 Santa Caroline (Chile) Chardonnay, 2007 Beaujolais Village-Louis Jadot (France) Shiraz, 2006 Wolf Blass (Australia) Shiraz, 2005 Sylvester Vineyards Kiara Cabernet Sauvignon, and a specially made for Disney Champagne, Fairy Tale Celebration Cuvee from Iron Horse Vineyard. They were all excellent. Again, if you like wine I would definitely recommend attending one of the two tastings during the cruise.

While it was still a little overcast we planned to go swimming. We picked up the kids around 2:30 and headed for the pool until 4. We couldn’t really stay much longer but I promised the kids they could hit the pool. They were upset they didn’t go yesterday so I had to give in today even though it was still a little too chilly out for me to go in. They went back and forth between the Mickey and Goofy pool. It wasn’t really crowded down there (I am sure it was the weather).

We got out of there and headed to the stateroom because I wanted to have enough time to get ready. It was Formal night you know. Last time all we did was wear suits to Formal night (us guys). This time I rented tuxes from Cruiseline formal. The tuxes were dropped off the night before and we all got ready. I wanted to get a good amount of photos so we had enough to choose from. I figured we were in our finest and I wanted a good family photo.






Here are some pics of the kids in their dress up finest

We headed downstairs and went right over to Captain Tom. We got a photo with him and asked one of the cast members to take one with our camera. It just didn’t work. We didn’t like the picture and the cast member muffed it with our camera. Of well. We hit the line at the Mickey Statue and the moonlight photo. We also took some pictures of ourselves on the steps while we were waiting in line.

Here are some of our best shots.












Next... Dinner at Lumiere’s, their menu, today’s Navigator, Golden Mickey’s and the rest of the night

 

[CastleCreations]

Hello! Loving your trip report...the pictures are great!

 

[lovesDCL]

Thanks for another good read! You all look so nice in your formal wear

 

[Jennifer_W]

Thanks for another good read! You all look so nice in your formal wear

ditto.

 

[nikkistevej]

Love your trip report and all of the pictures!!

 

[TammyNC]

Loving your report...will be back for more.

 

[Ender]

Really nice trip report please post more pics.......

 

[Bytor01]

Dinner was at Lumiere's tonight. I had requested that when we had Formal night we would be at Lumiere's. This was more for my wife than me but hey I do as she says, lol. Lumiere's menu tonight was the Golden Mickey's menu.

Appetizers
Prosciutto with Chilled Honeydew
Double Baked Aged Reggiano Parmesan Cheese Souffle
Spiced Asparagus and Citrus Delight
Grilled Bay Scallops with Pink Grapefruit Glaze

Soups and Salads
Broccoli and Maytag Blue Cheese Soup
Sangria Bisque
Scottish Smoked Salmon and Pear Salad
Salad of Mixed Baby Greens

Main Course
Grilled Ginger Lime Swordfish Steak
Jumbo Shrimp and Porcini Mushroom Tagliatelle
Oven Roasted Duckling with a Dark Cherry Glaze
Rack of New Zealand Lamb with Dijon Mustard Crust
Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington

Vegetarian
Roasted Turnips with Leeks and Pumpkins
Sweet and Sour Tofu

Bread
Freshly Baked Rosemary Potato Loaf

Lighter Fares were the same all week long

Dessert
Ricotta Creme Brulee
Baked Apple and Blueberry Pithiviers
Strawberry Sundae
The Golden Chocolate, Chocolate Award
Passion Fruit Napoleon

I went with the Grilled Bay Scallops, Sangria Bisque, Jumbo Shrimp and Mary went with Mixed Baby Greens, Grilled Sirloin Steak (lighter). The kids had Pizza. We all shared a couple of the Golden Chocolate Chocolate awards. This dessert may be the best on the ship. Mary and I also shared a glass of Apple Ice wine. This is very good and the first time I tried it was on the ship two years ago. Since then I have found that it is very difficult to find and have only been able to get it in one other restaurant that I have found. We also cancelled our wine package order. We figured that we would do more imbibing at Sessions later at night or at Rockin Bar D. We wanted to have fun and not be all worked up at dinner so we cancelled.

We had some time so we went back to the room to relax a little before the Golden Mickey's show. This is one on my favorite shows and everytime they do the Tarzan bit it in the show Ifound it extremely impressive. After the show we went back and changed out of our Formal attire and headed out to the Golden Mickey's after show.

This show was held at Studio Sea and I thought it would be a good time for the kids to be with us and get them out to do some playing and dancing. Boy, was I wrong. Moody, Moody, Moody. First, my daughter Moira started. James got up and went out and was having fun on the dance floor with the other kids. Moira would not budge. She was given me a real attitude (Mary was running slow so we were meeting her down here). Once Mary did come, it was James turn. Finally, I said forget it and we went back up to the room to call it a night. Mary and I wanted to have the kids go to the club for a little while so we could catch Freddy Fusion but that was not going to happen.

When we got into the room I was also upset but then they got in their PJ's and fell right to sleep. Hopefully....still all the excitement and getting over the last couple of days. We shall see.

Next up: Monday (another day on the ship, will our wake up call continue or ws it a fluke and a day fun filled with activities like can we all say PALO BRUNCH!!!)


James and Mary joining Mickey's conga line before the storm hit the fan with him


Moira joining them


Our Towel Swan


James and Moira looking out into the Great big dark Ocean

Sunday's Navigator

 

[Olga]

Loving your report. I always say Disney is the only place where no one bats an eye when children meltdown.

 

[lovesDCL]

Sorry to hear about the rough end to formal night. I hope the other nights were better. Thanks for another installment!

 

[dwick]

bumping...

 

[Bytor01]

I know, I know…you are asking yourselves…where did he go, the report was just getting going. I understand but life is getting in the way. I will try to keep it going.

So where were we…oh yes, just coming off our weekend and into Monday. Ahhh Monday, who likes Mondays? We do right here on the Magic. We have a bunch of things planned for the day…like Brunch at Palos.

I woke up a little before 8 (really 7 because of the time change 1 hour jump). I think I woke up on my own today because I don’t remember hearing the noise from deck 9. I went down to the gym while the family slept a little longer. Running on a treadmill today. I finally got the hang of it (boat moving makes it tough). I still don’t remember it being this difficult last time while running on the treadmill. When I got back the kids and Mary were up and were waiting for room service. Because we were in concierge we could order any type of food we want but it meant that we had to wait for 9am. If we wanted to order off of the room service menu we could have eaten earlier. Of course, Mary and I didn’t have breakfast (weren’t you paying attention…Palo Brunch…?)

After breakfast and getting showered the kids wanted to go to the club. Another change…kids starting to get in the groove and getting with the flow. They wanted to go do a lava flow thing at the Club so off they went. Mary and I headed to the Castaway Club reception at 11am. This was run by a lot of the cruise staff and the emcee was Brent. Hey had a little booklet that had some questions about the ship and they were showing clips from a short movie about when the ship was built and where. It looked to be very informative and fun. They also had some food and drink there but we held out…hello Palo… We met Karina, she is in charge of Guest Services. WE talked to here and she said that she was on the inaugural cruise of the Magic 10 years ago. She also said she started out as a beverage server and was now in charge of all of Guest Services. Another thing I found interesting is that management signs contracts (as do everyone) and they are 4 months on the ship and 2 months off. Other staff is 6 months on and 2 months off. She said that is because management is hard to come by and they don’t want them getting burnt out.

We left Rockin Bar D and headed to our favorite place…Palo. We have only eaten dinner there but have heard so many good things about the brunch. Let’s just say it is completely warranted. This brunch was fantastic and I am extrememly glad I did not waste my time on eating anything this morning. We tried just about everything…stolen bread (unbelievable), Alaskan King Crab legs, shrimp, caviar, chocolate crossaint, cheeses, blue cheese walnut bread, eggs benedict, 3 pancakes topped on each other with whip cream in between, Italian sausage pizza, caramelized veal with proscioutto, cappuccino mousse domes, tiramisu, chocolate pot dish dessert. These are just some of the items I tried. What was great is that our server, Fernando, took us around and showed us all the stations. He explained every item and made his recommendations. He then took us to the hot food and did the same thing. Fernando was excellent and I would definitely recommend him as a server. In fact, we will see him later in the week.

After we rolled ourselves back to the room we realized the kids were still in the club. I figured it was a good time for a short nap right before the next faze of completely letting myself go to that really dark and hot place.

Around 2:30pm I left Mary and went to Diversions. It was time for my first Beer Tasting of the week. Yelena, the very nice and funny bar master of Sessions was in charge. She was very good and told us many different things about all the beers we tried. She even told us what to look for and how to taste beer. The beers that were tasted were Stella Artois, Sam Adams, Bass and Guinness. She told us to leave some Guinness in our glasses because she was going to teach us how to make a black and tan. As a member of Irish ancestry and a proud member to have visited and still have family over in the old country I was dead set against this. A true Irishman would never ruin a fine Guinness by putting another beer in it. In fact, when I went over to Ireland a friend of mine tried to order a black and tan and they just about threw him out of the pub. So I did not partake in this ritual but drank an extra glass of Bass (because I drank it all the first time while not saving any and they filled my glass up). I have a lot of fun at the tastings and hey…4 beers more for me.

In the mean time Mary had picked the kids up at the club and they headed to the pool. When I finished I headed to the pool area but I had another tasting at 4. The pool looked to be crowded but they kept going back and forth between the pool and the hot tub. The kids were having fun and Mary was trying to relax as I headed to my Margarita/Tequila tasting.

I didn’t do this tasting the last cruise but I wanted to do all the tastings this one. I am not a big Margarita guy or tequila drinker. The closest I come to drinking tequila is when I have a Long Island Iced tea. We had 3 tequilas and 2 Margaritas. They were all pretty good and it was very interesting learning about tequila.

I got back to the room at 5 and the family was still not there. Our plan was to skip dinner tonight and get something at Topsiders alter. I was thinking that maybe they were still at the pool or I noticed that the 2 $10 arcade cards that were given to us today by the concierge staff were off the table. The kids wanted to see Bolt 3-D and it was starting at 5:30pm. I started to go up and see if they were still at the pool or the arcade but as I started to walk down the hall…there they came. The kids and I ran off to get to the movie on time and Mary had a relaxing (although she did go to the gym) evening alone to unwind.

We saw Bolt in the movies prior to the cruise but we did not see it in 3-D. The movie theater is very big and very comfortable. We brought some drinks in and some snacks. I also ran upstairs and got them some ice cream during the movie. The 3-D effects were very good and we had a lot of fun. This movie is great and I love the ending.

After the movie the kids and I walked up to Topsiders. Little did I know, it is a sit down for dinner and not buffet. They really did not have much of a kids menu to speak of. I was still hungry from Palo (and probably all the drinks). The only thing for the kids were Chicken Tenders and Minute Steak. They did not want that so we walked over to Plutos and they had some of the usual…hot dogs and fries. Of course I can never just order them something at Pluto’s (I love that place) so I had a cheeseburger and fries.

We all finished and went back to the room and met Mary there. I figured that this might be a good time to get a quick load of laundry done. I rushed down and threw a load in and it was not busy in there at all. James wanted a front row seat every night so we rushed down to the theater to wait for Twice Charmed. Last cruise Mary did not see this show. This was shown on our Palo night last time and Mary had a spa treatment before our reservation. So I took the kids to the early show that time and had them eat at Pluto’s. Mary really enjoyed this unique twist on Cinderella. This is a great show and as always it ends with a happy ending for mostly everyone.

I ran up after the show and put the wash in the dryer and we headed to Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer. Last cruise I got picked. This cruise…I didn’t get picked. Of course, we knew all the answers…even Sean Connery’s first movie role (in a Disney movie). Ok it was a lucky guess but I was still right.

We all went back to the room and I met them after I got the laundry. Somehow I got 3 items that were not ours mixed in with our laundry. Go figure. I ordered Chocolate chip cookies and milk before and when we got back there they were. Big cookies for all of us. This was a really calm night and Mary and I just relaxed on the Verandah after the kids fell to sleep.

Next up: Tuesday in St Maarten
Random pictures around the ship


TV above family pool area


Family pool and hot tubs


Another view of Family pool and Pinocchios Pizza


Adult pool


Another view of the Adult pool with Signals and Cove Cafe (just to the right of Signals)


Wide World of Sports Deck
Our Towel Elephant


Monday's Navigator

 

[lovesDCL]

Thanks for the update! Can't wait to hear about St. Maarten!

 

[Bytor01]

While we did not do dinner at Animator's Palate on Monday night I still have their menu.

Appetizers
Seafood Avacado Wrapper
Wild Mushroom Risotto and Porcini Wafer
Smoked Black Forest Ham and Vegetable Salad Terrine
Roma Tomotao and Portobello Mushroom on Polenta Cake

Soups and Salads
Grilled Gaspacho
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Confetti Tomotao Salad
Smoked Salmon and Trout with Goat Cheese salad

Main Course
Penetto Alfredo
Grilled Salmon with Creamy Risotto with Borola Wine Sauce
Pan Seard Veal chop with Medjool Date with Sultana Raison and Veal Farcis
Lemon Peppered oven stuffed chicken
Grilled Filet Mignon, seared scallops with port wine demi glace

Vegetarian and bread
Vegetable Korma
Farfalle All Ortola
Garlic and Herb Facoaccia bread

Desserts
Ice Cream Sundae
Double Fudge Chocolate Cake
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pie
Strawberry Shortcake
Peach and Ginger Chessecake
Seasonal Fruits with sugar free cookies (no sugar added)
Poundcake (no sugar added)
Assorted Sugar free ice cream

 

[Olga]

Here's a tip. If you order a hot breakfast the night before it can be delivered before 9am. We had hot breakfast delivered to our suite every morning at 7am by ordering the night before.
Enjoying your TR, amazing how you remembered all the names of CM.

 

[Bytor01]

Tuesday was a really nice day. We pulled into St Marteen about 6:30-6:40am. I know this because that darn dragging sound from up above on deck 9 woke us up again (Mary and I). The Magic was tied up to the docks right about 7. What’s funny is that I kept on getting the same numerous text messages. They said “Welcome to the Netherlands Antilles in order to dial out…blah blah blah”. I kept on erasing them and the text kept on coming back.

We ordered a light breakfast, some bagels and croissants. Unfortunately the brought regular croissants. We ordered chocolate ones. We headed off to Studio Sea to meet for our excursion around 8:15pm. We were taking the Golden Eagle Catamaran excursion today. This excursion is about 3-4 hours or so. You get a catamaran ride to a beach and stay at the beach to swim and snorkel for about an hour and a half and then ride back to the dock. After we all signed in we got some towels and then headed to deck 1 to exit the ship. Everyone is reminded to have photo ID and the KTTW card. This is because you will not be able to get past the customs people letting you back on the ship or even be allowed to enter the check point.

When we exited we were met by the excursion coordinator who then walked us over to where the catamaran was docked. It was about a 5 minute walk through the pier. There were many water taxis docked next to the catamaran and hey were getting ready to shuttle everyone over to downtown. What was good is that the Magic docks before all other cruise ships (there were 4 eventually).

The catamaran was very big and I would guess there were about 30 people on the excursion. It was not crowded at all. The ride over to the beach was really nice and we saw a lot of scenery on the way over. What was amazing was the airport was right smack dab on the beach it seemed. A plane came in for a landing and practically just made it over the fence which separates the beach and the runway. Amazing stuff. They served fruit punch or pineapple juice on the way over to the beach. No alcohol before snorkeling. I wonder why…?

We made it to the beach and we docked about 50 yards from the shore. I think it says feet in the ad but we were a little further out. You can either swim or get in the small boat. Mary got in the boat. I went with the kids in the water. Mary figured she would take all the stuff and keep them dry. As I said we stayed about an hour and a half. All snorkeling gear is included in the trip as well. The water was real nice but by the beach it was a little rough with a relatively strong undertow. It was good and we did some body surfing. James and I were having a good time. Moira was a little upset because she was getting tossed around a bit because of the waves. The water was not so clear so the snorkeling wasn’t the greatest. Before we got off the catamaran they did do some feeding by throwing some food overboard. A big school of small fish came swimming up (real fast) and gobbled up the food. That was neat.

It was soon time to go and the ride back was faster. With that we were hitting a lot of small waves. The kids were really enjoying it because they were in the front. Mary was nervous they would take a header off the boat so she went up front too. This made Mary a little sick after the ride was over. They served some ham and cheese half heroes which had lettuce and tomato on them. They were pretty good. They also passed around the same juices but you could have rum in them this time if you wanted. Also, Heinekens were flowing from so cans. Overall this was a real good excursion. Very fun and real good swimming. I would recommend it highly.

We wanted to go into town but figured we would walk back to the boat because we were so close. We went to our room washed up and then figured we would save some money and head to Topsiders for lunch. Topsiders had an Asian theme going on for lunch today. Complete with an Asian music mix on the speakers. I had some ribs, shrimp rolls, sesame chicken and the pineapple/mango salad. The food was excellent. We finished and then headed into town.

We headed for the taxis and found that it would be $3 per person to ride. We waited with everyone else. It seemed like there was a bit of confusion on the part of the people in charge but we eventually got on our taxi. There are signs up which tell you how much it is so there is no haggling over the ride’s price. But this didn’t stop the other people in the van with us. Apparently they thought it was $2 pp. When we got out I had to play peacemaker and tell them (there may have been a language barrier, they were definitely from Europe or Asia) there was a big sign that said $3. They paid but they were very unhappy. We walked around Front St (main shopping area). There are a lot and I mean a lot of jewelry stores and electronic shops. I walked into one electronic shop and a guy was very pushy in trying to sell me a lap top. All I did was ask a question…silly me..

The area was a little beat up and Mary and I thought Grand Cayman’s business district was a little neater. We bought the kids some souvenirs and as I always do I looked at some Rolexes. I always think about buying one. I almost did the last time in Grand Cayman but I am too cheap. Mary was telling me to do it but I just couldn’t. We went towards the beach area and had some ice cream. We finally headed back. We walked this time and the walk was decent. It was about 20 minutes but is definitely doable (even with two complaining 7 year olds).

We got back about 3-3:30pm. I took the kids swimming and Mary took a nap before dinner. Tonight was Pirate night and we wanted to really be ready for it. James wanted to get a pirate costume as his big souvenir so I took him down to Treasure’s Ketch and we bought his costume. We were all ready. We got ready for dinner and then headed off to Parrot Cay for the Pirate menu.

As usual, dinner was great. I had the Caesar salad, pasta envelopes, and beef tenderloin. Mary also had the Caesar salad and crab cakes. We kind of both shared dinner as we were still not that hungry. We skipped dessert tonight.

What to do…well the kids wanted to go to the Club to do what all young Pirates do…pillage and plunder so off they went. Mary and I headed to Sessions to relax and have a couple of glasses of wine. At our wine tasting the other day Mary became a huge fan of Riesling. This is big news because all she ever would drink was Merlot. So she is branching out. We had a couple of glasses each and I topped it off with a Baileys before we headed back and picked up the kids for the Pirate party.

About 9-9:15pm we got James and Moira and headed up to deck 9 to get a good spot for the party. We (Mary and I) planted ourselves in front of the stage while the kids were jumping around and playing. Just before the party got going 2 cast members came out and started dancing with the kids. For whatever reason, James and Moira really were not into dancing around with them.

The party started around 9:45pm. There was plenty of dancing by everyone in the crowd and on the stage. It was a great time. Of course, the best part is when Mickey comes and the song “I need a Hero” plays. The fireworks show then goes off during this song as well. It is awesome. What would a party be without food? After a gigantic food buffet and dessert buffet is set up for everyone. I always see people eating the famous turkey leg in WDW but have never tried one (I am more of a white meat turkey guy). But, let me tell you, I tried one and they are extremely good. I know why they are popular now. We had almost every type of dessert (tried all did not finish) and I made myself a nice big taco also. We let the kids watch about 30-45 minutes of POC The Curse of the Black Pearl. It started misting/drizzling but they didn’t care. They stayed in the rain with some towels over themselves and watched the movie. They did not want to leave.

I almost forgot. Andrea and Erika came and checked on us everyday. Today they brought an invitation to the Concierge reception and a bag of popcorn for the movie that was playing tonight (Bedtime Stories) instead of a show. We never went to the movie (we already saw Bedtime Stories). They are very good and always there asking if we need anything or having problems with something.

Next up: St Thomas and Coral World



St Marteen's pier


DCL has their very own reserved parking spot


Our Winter home (I wish)


Workers securing the Magic


No description necessary


View of Magic from Catamaran dock


My good looking family after a day of swimming


Magic from the Sea


Better view of the front of the Catamaran


Moira


James


My 2 Pirates


The Big Cheese and his crew


Our Pet Sea Turtle

 

[Bytor01]

Here is the Pirate's Menu and the Navigator for Tuesday:

Appetizers
Black Beard's Jumbo Crab Cakes
Pirates Golden Pasta Envelopes
The Buccaneer's Sun-Ripened Pineapple
Pearl's of the Carribbean

Soups and Salads
Chilled to the Bone Honeydew Melon and Mango Soup
Caribbean style spicy Vegetable Gumbo soup
Hideaway Bay Salad
Jerk Chicken Salad
Mr Smee's Bib Lettuce

Main
Treasure of the Seas Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops
Jack Sparrow's Musked Smoked Pork Shank
Castaway Cay's Chicken Breastrubbed with Pirate Island spice
Captain Hook's Macadamia dusted Mahi Mahi

Vegetarian
Baked Bell Pepper
Tiger Lily's Grilled Eggplant

I am sorry but for whatever reason I did not get the bread selection or the desserts.....

 

[ibouncetoo]

Really enjoying your report! Can't wait for the next installment, as I'll be hitting St Thomas in September. A visit to Coral World is on the possible excursions list.

 

[dwick]

Really enjoying your TR....we leave next Friday for the same intinerary and I'm soaking up all the great information. I do have one question though...I can't read the navigators very well. Can you tell me what time the clubs open on St. Maarten day? We are doing the Intro Scuba at 8:00am, but our children are too young so we're leaving them on the ship for the 2 hours. I'm concerned that the clubs won't be open that early.