We'’re out of it! A summer 14 “MAGICal” Med adventure Day 14/Aug 05 updated 05/05

[Leshaface]

That's exactly how i'd be looking at that extra money too! Way awesome!

That's too bad about the cruise directors.

I was thinking that they name of your TR was like we're so tired and out of it! Well that just stinks that that was the motto of this cruise.


Mmm, I would have totally gone for that salmon carpaccio.

Oh no what?! I know how much you guys like your sit down breakfasts. I would have been totally bummed out, especially if you had planned around that. Why wasn't this mentioned beforehand? Sad.

 

[Flossbolna]

First I wanted to say how envious I am of your premium economy scoop!! And it is great that you got a refund on your change fee!

I have seen Brent in DCL videos and I can see what you say about him appaering fake. I wonder whether for me this has something to do with the fact that he is not from the US and therefore sounds different. It's not that I have anything against the UK, I love travelling there and spent time at university there. But a DCL cruise is more an American experience to me, so that's what I expect despite there being so many different nationalities on board.

I see that your carrot and scallion bread looked as boring as ours. I had a major obsession with the lack of delivery on the bread where they promise something exciting and then it is just plain white bread anyway...

Do you have any idea whether the no table service breakfast was being done on previous Med seasons?

 

[pas130]

I was happy to see your food pics Karin, and as I read on I didn't like the sound of no table service breakfast and that lurking smell.... However I am still excited I may see you in August!!! The latest from DH is we shouldn't do universal and Disney and it would be more cost effective to just add two days onto Disney...I mentioned I'd keep looking for universal discounts and play it by ear..lol

 

[JKSWonder]

No sit down breakfast option? No bircher muesli? Unacceptable.

Was a reason for this ever given? Seems so strange.

 

[debsters41]

I'm all caught up!

It was disappointing not to have the option of ordering a hot, fresh breakfast every day. We weren't planning on getting off early at any port either, so I had been thinking about Lumiere's for breakfast, too.

We also had George. He goofed in the beginning sitting us with 20 somethings from Brazil who did not want to talk. They asked to be moved away from us. Talk about awkward! Later he put us with a great group of other middle aged folks and we got on well!

So sorry about your room troubles so far... and you haven't even mentioned the rest yet!

We had a faulty air conditioner which was really bad because we were in an interior room and we felt really stuffy! John (my husband who you haven't met yet ) had been looking forward to a very cold room all summer because Greece was unseasonably humid this year, and we don't have air conditioning. They were able to fix it by the second day.

Look forward to hearing about the rest! Also, when/where is the PTR for next summer? I have already arranged to be in Orlando on the 15th

 

[dizneeat]

Ugh! No wonder you weren't enamored of the Magic. Your meet really was at a bad time.

We had learned about it on FB and thought it was so odd. And funnily enough a lot of people left once the ship started moving.

I understand about Brent/Armando...I felt the same way about Natalie/Miguel on my Magic cruise.

Ah, they were such a bore! Even thinking about them now does not make it any better.

Bummer on the lack of sit down breakfast! I dislike the buffet as well...I would really be upset too!

Thing is, that we don't really have time for a leisurely breakfast at home, so to be able to sit down and have a yummy breakast is a huge part of vacation enjoyment - thanks to DCL it was not so.

Ugh, I hope you get the smell situation resolved!

Jill in CO

Well, we were able to resolve it ourselves two days later.

It just so happens that the dates I have been considering are Sept 6-10 or 7-11!

That would be awesome, Christine!

Mickey sure is looking out for you!!

Mickey sure wants my money.

What terrible timing on the Meet time. Obviously someone wasn't thinking ahead!

Yes, that someone definitely picked the wrong time.

Yay for a meet with a new friend.

It was so nice to finally meet her in person. We had had a lot of conversation by email and on FB and got along really well.

Agh...the smell still there.

It was there to stay.

All if your food looks quite yummy.

It really was!

Not good news on the breakfast limitations.

Agh...the smell.

I'm sorry things aren't off on the right foot.

I think what really hit us was that we were so looking forward to be able to have a nice sit down breakfast. Yes, you can sit down at Carioca's and Cabanas too, but serving ourselves was just not what we had been looking forward to.

That Frozen Cappucino sounds really good. I think I want one of those, I hope they have them on the Wonder!

Just make sure they stick to what the menu says. We had it several times and it was always different. Consistancy was not Disney's strong side during that cruise.

That's not cool that they don't have a sit down breakfast on Port days. I'm debating whether or not to go to the buffet or sit down restaurant on our excursion days.

We really enjoy the table service breakfasts. They spell out vacation to us, so much nicer than serving yourself, then go searching for a table and then one has to guard the food, while the other gets some drinks. No, just not what I really like.

Your dinner looked great! But I'm so sorry about the smell in the bathroom. That could not have been pleasant.

We had a wonderful dinner and our serving team was fun, the smell from the bathroom not so much. We had to "air" the room by opening the veranda door and then make sure the bathroom door would stay shut.

 

[jenseib]

A lot of people have been disappointed that the rooms weren't fully redone. I think Disney just put on lipstick instead of a full face of makeup hoping that would make people happy.
The smell issue has been going on since it has been out of drydock. Certain rooms seem to just stink from what I was told. For a while several rooms had water leaking issues too, but I haven't read that one in a while.
They really tried to do too much in a short time and should've just scheduled another 2 weeks to get it all done.

Dinner looks fabulous and so does dessert!

 

[dizneeat]

That's exactly how i'd be looking at that extra money too! Way awesome!

A penny saved is a penny for Mickey - that's the way it has to be, isn't it?

That's too bad about the cruise directors.

I think it is really hard to live up to Christiaan who we love as a CD, but Brent was just too fake for me.

I was thinking that they name of your TR was like we're so tired and out of it! Well that just stinks that that was the motto of this cruise.

I knew that there were several interpretations to the title of our TR, but it was really the constant "running out" of something during the cruise. On the other hand, it helped to save some money.

Mmm, I would have totally gone for that salmon carpaccio.

It was very good!

Oh no what?! I know how much you guys like your sit down breakfasts. I would have been totally bummed out, especially if you had planned around that. Why wasn't this mentioned beforehand? Sad.

I think we were the first cruise with no table service breakfast, well, at least of the Navigators I checked (and I checked a few ).
What I did not get was how this was something "special" for the guests. I found it pretty lame. I had all our excursions planned around having a nice breakfast beforehand, and now we were faced with luke warm buffet.

First I wanted to say how envious I am of your premium economy scoop!! And it is great that you got a refund on your change fee!

Believe me, I could not believe how lucky we were with it. I checked my booking several times over the last few days just to see if it still said premium economy.

I have seen Brent in DCL videos and I can see what you say about him appaering fake. I wonder whether for me this has something to do with the fact that he is not from the US and therefore sounds different. It's not that I have anything against the UK, I love travelling there and spent time at university there. But a DCL cruise is more an American experience to me, so that's what I expect despite there being so many different nationalities on board.

There was something about him that just didn't click with me. I could not put my finger on it, but from the very beginning he really annoyed me. And Brent in connection with his Spanish sidekick made my skin crawl. And they would go on and on and on.
You know the people you see and know you are not getting along with - that was Brent and us.

I see that your carrot and scallion bread looked as boring as ours. I had a major obsession with the lack of delivery on the bread where they promise something exciting and then it is just plain white bread anyway...

Ah, the bread basket mystery. We would often wonder where those "special" ingredients were hidden in the bread, as most of it looked quite generic and if there was a special one, there was not a lot of it in the basket.

Do you have any idea whether the no table service breakfast was being done on previous Med seasons?

I checked Navigators before our cruise, many of them and did not see it mentioned, but there were a few cruises after the one we were on that did not have it. It was hit or miss as the one directly following ours had the TS breakfast again.

I was happy to see your food pics Karin, and as I read on I didn't like the sound of no table service breakfast and that lurking smell.... However I am still excited I may see you in August!!! The latest from DH is we shouldn't do universal and Disney and it would be more cost effective to just add two days onto Disney...I mentioned I'd keep looking for universal discounts and play it by ear..lol

As much as we enjoyed dinner, we did not like the news of no TS breakfast. Especially since I had planned our excursions so we could have a nice breakfast. Thing is that we both kind of have a hurried breakfast during the year, Tom leaves the house at 4.30am, so he usually doesn't have much breakfast. I leave house at 7am and while I need a lot of tea in the morning, I really don't have time for a nice leisurely sit down breakfast. That is what vacation is for .. this time we were a bit out of luck.

I am as excited as you by the prospect of being in Orlando at the same time as you and your family!
And I am really hoping UO comes up with a nice discount for our dates, so that you can get the best of both worlds too.
They used to have a great deal, where, if you stayed 3 nights or longer your tickets were for free. Keeping my fingers crossed something like this will return.

 

[dizneeat]

No sit down breakfast option? No bircher muesli? Unacceptable.

Was a reason for this ever given? Seems so strange.

Nope, no table service breakfast on port days. As for a reason, our head server made it sound as if it were a HUGE advantage for everyone. Well, it was not for us.

I'm all caught up!

Yeah!!!

It was disappointing not to have the option of ordering a hot, fresh breakfast every day. We weren't planning on getting off early at any port either, so I had been thinking about Lumiere's for breakfast, too.

So you didn't have a Lumiere breakfast either - guess you were one of the "lucky" cruises.
I just think that if they want to stay top with service, then they should at least offer the option of a TS breakfast every day. There are people who do NOT want to get off the ship too!

We also had George. He goofed in the beginning sitting us with 20 somethings from Brazil who did not want to talk. They asked to be moved away from us. Talk about awkward! Later he put us with a great group of other middle aged folks and we got on well!

Ah, being seated with the wrong crowd is no fun. We have had our share of "fun" table mates and ever since have asked to be seated on our own. Thankfully it worked so far.
And glad it worked for you in the end as well.

So sorry about your room troubles so far... and you haven't even mentioned the rest yet!

Debbie, as I mentioned before, they were all small issues, but if you add them all together, it was not what we were used to from Disney.

We had a faulty air conditioner which was really bad because we were in an interior room and we felt really stuffy! John (my husband who you haven't met yet ) had been looking forward to a very cold room all summer because Greece was unseasonably humid this year, and we don't have air conditioning. They were able to fix it by the second day.

Yikes, that does not sound like fun either. Good for you they could fix it!

Look forward to hearing about the rest! Also, when/where is the PTR for next summer? I have already arranged to be in Orlando on the 15th

I have not started a PTR for March and next summer yet. I was thinking of including it here, but with two PTRs I am tempted to do a real one. I will probably start once I have finished my February TR. Only two half days to cover. I might be able to finish it tomorrow.

A lot of people have been disappointed that the rooms weren't fully redone. I think Disney just put on lipstick instead of a full face of makeup hoping that would make people happy.

I could not have said it better, Jen. They were just putting patches on and not really redoing everything that needed to be done. I mean some parts were truely beautifully redone, the staterooms not so much.

The smell issue has been going on since it has been out of drydock. Certain rooms seem to just stink from what I was told. For a while several rooms had water leaking issues too, but I haven't read that one in a while.
They really tried to do too much in a short time and should've just scheduled another 2 weeks to get it all done.

Our stateroom host stated that they had the "air" on all day, to help with it, but it still smelled.
Oh, and we had a little "extra" water in our room as well, but that is another "fun" story for lateron in the TR.

Dinner looks fabulous and so does dessert!

Dinner was really nice every day - they had their act together there, even though some of the meats were tougher than expected, but I guess that comes from catering in Europe.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 5, July 27

Not quite as planned, but fun none the less! - Part 1

We woke up around 7am and peeked out the veranda door. There was land! So we quickly jumped into some clothing, picked up the binoculars and headed outside.











The Magic was gliding along the French coast and what we saw was amazing. Once I got used to the binoculars I could even make out the palace of Monaco up on the rock and the harbour of Monaco.





It was so awesome to see the destination we wanted to go to from Villefranche right now from our stateroom. We took turns watching the coastline,















while the other was in the shower and getting ready and around 9am we headed down to Carioca’s for breakfast. Many people were already in their excursion groups and headed downstairs to the Tender Lobby. Carioca’s was about half full when we arrived and there was a little wait to sign in, but then we were quickly led to a table.
The server quickly asked for our choice for drinks and after Tom had ordered some coffee I asked for a larger mug and some tea. Sorry, they only have tiny cups. Okay, no tea, water it is then for me. And while he was on his way to get water and coffee we headed to the buffet. The cast member handing out plates was dancing and singing and we just stood there waiting to be handed a plate.
Okay, not quite the service we were craving.
When she finally was done with her little act, she hands us some plates. Now Tom’s was okay, mine was dripping wet. Only when I started shaking off the excess water she kind of looked up and that was it. Thankfully we had some tissues to dry the plate off a bit and then we started to fill our plates.



Tom had picked some scrambled eggs, an omelette, some bacon and breakfast potatoes, asparagus and baked beans. I had kind of an



English breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, baked beans, bacon, breakfast potatoes and some fruit. We returned to our table and I quickly took pics of the food before we tried it. And were quickly let down. Unseasoned eggs, limp bacon and luke warm baked beans. Not really the breakfast we had envisioned before heading out on an excursion to France. Neither of us finished their plate and we were soon on our way back to our stateroom again.
We had to wait until they announced that everyone was able to tender ashore, so we just sat out on the veranda and enjoyed the view of Villefranche. Around 10am the announcement was made and we packed up our stuff and headed to the Buena Vista cinema to pick up a tender ticket.



There was quite a bit of confusion and no one seemed to know what to do, so we asked a cast member where to go. Followed her advice and were at the wrong end of the room. So we moved all the way to the other side, where we were then told to grab a seat in the row they told us to sit in. We waited for about 5 minutes until we were told to follow a cast member who led us down the stairs and to our tender boat.
We were some of the first ones on, so we were able to choose a seat and wait for the boat to leave.

To be continued ..........​

 

[jedijill]

Wow, service was really off for you today! Hopefully it gets better.

I enjoyed Villefranche...not my favorite port but it sure is pretty!

Jill in CO

 

[franandaj]

I'm sorry that your breakfast was not up to par. I know what you mean about the buffets, they are not always as great for their offerings. I never get eggs from a buffet because I am very particular about how they are cooked.

I think you have taken kitchen tours, or am I confusing you with someone else on the DIS? Do you know if they use real eggs for all their scrambled eggs on the cruise line? A lot of hotels in the USA use "powdered eggs" when they serve scrambled eggs, so I don't choose them. I only eat eggs from the omelet bars where they cook them to order over easy. Do you know about this or am I confusing your reports with someone else's that I've read?

That coastline looks so beautiful! I've only been to Paris and the surrounding areas of France, but I've heard so much about the Coastal regions. I need to put that on my bucket list of places to visit. Your pictures are making me want to visit both from a cruise and stay!

 

[Flossbolna]

Sorry that the breakfast was not as nice as you had wished for.

The coastline looks spectacular from the water. I have been to Provence quite a few times, but only once did we drive down to the coast where we visited Nizza and Grasse (the place where they make nearly all the perfume in the world). I have to say, I found it far too populated to be really pretty. But from the water, all those buildings add a lot of charm! I guess why yacht vacations there are so popular among the rich and famous!

 

[dizneeat]

Wow, service was really off for you today! Hopefully it gets better.

I enjoyed Villefranche...not my favorite port but it sure is pretty!

Jill in CO

Not the start to the day I had wanted it to be, but we made the best of it. It was kind of funny, as since this was Europe I had some ports where we were just going to wing it and this was one of them. And even though it did not go as planned we had a really great day!

I'm sorry that your breakfast was not up to par. I know what you mean about the buffets, they are not always as great for their offerings. I never get eggs from a buffet because I am very particular about how they are cooked.

It was just as we expected, rather on the cold side, we just were not prepared for underseasoned, but that seemed to be the case for breakfast all cruise long.

I think you have taken kitchen tours, or am I confusing you with someone else on the DIS? Do you know if they use real eggs for all their scrambled eggs on the cruise line? A lot of hotels in the USA use "powdered eggs" when they serve scrambled eggs, so I don't choose them. I only eat eggs from the omelet bars where they cook them to order over easy. Do you know about this or am I confusing your reports with someone else's that I've read?

Yes, we have done galley tours on three of the four Disney ships. To be honest I have no idea if they use fresh eggs or powdered, but I guess it is powdered. One more reason why I really like poached eggs.

That coastline looks so beautiful! I've only been to Paris and the surrounding areas of France, but I've heard so much about the Coastal regions. I need to put that on my bucket list of places to visit. Your pictures are making me want to visit both from a cruise and stay!

The French riviera is really beautiful and it was great to see it from the water. We would do that itinerary again in a heartbeat - maybe not on Disney, but the itinerary was great.

Sorry that the breakfast was not as nice as you had wished for.

Well, it was as expected.

The coastline looks spectacular from the water. I have been to Provence quite a few times, but only once did we drive down to the coast where we visited Nizza and Grasse (the place where they make nearly all the perfume in the world). I have to say, I found it far too populated to be really pretty. But from the water, all those buildings add a lot of charm! I guess why yacht vacations there are so popular among the rich and famous!

We have visited the French Riviera before and it looks VERY different when you are on land. It was awesome to see it from the ship, we had picked the perfect side to have a lovely view of the coastline.

 

[jenseib]

It's funny because I am reading a TR on another board and they are complaining that Carioca's was never open for the buffet in the mornings their whole cruise. I think they really did a lot of experimenting over on the med cruises. I heard some good and bad reveiws about several things.

 

[SplashMom]

Love your trip report so far! We have cruised on the Dream twice and are booked for a Western Caribbean on the Magic in March and I'm getting a bit nervous. We loved the Dream but wanted to try something different. I hope the Magic is magical for us, lol!

 

[KatMark]

I am drooling over the coastline pictures...it just looks stunning. And so cool you could see Monaco once you figured out your binoculars.

I am sorry breakfast was a disappointment (sounds like the Disney bacon). I hope the day improves once you are off the ship.

 

[dizneeat]

It's funny because I am reading a TR on another board and they are complaining that Carioca's was never open for the buffet in the mornings their whole cruise. I think they really did a lot of experimenting over on the med cruises. I heard some good and bad reveiws about several things.

I can say for sure Carioca's was open every day of our cruise. Not that we really cared for it.
There were definitely some hickups in our cruise. I guess we will have our expectations toned down for our March cruise and will hopefully be pleasantly surprised.

Love your trip report so far! We have cruised on the Dream twice and are booked for a Western Caribbean on the Magic in March and I'm getting a bit nervous. We loved the Dream but wanted to try something different. I hope the Magic is magical for us, lol!

We are booked on the Magic in March as well and we are open to give her another chance. It was just that that particular cruise came with a hefty price-tag and I would have liked service and offerings that equaled that tag.
But we did have a nice vacation, out shore excursions (not booked through Disney) worked out really nice. Well, all but one, but you cannot have it all, can you?
So you are on Western Caribbean? Which one are you on? We are on the March 29th one.
Any thoughts about what you are going to do in the different ports?

I am drooling over the coastline pictures...it just looks stunning. And so cool you could see Monaco once you figured out your binoculars.

I am sorry breakfast was a disappointment (sounds like the Disney bacon). I hope the day improves once you are off the ship.

It was awesome sitting out on the veranda and looking at the coastline. The binoculars were something else. Getting them to work with my glasses took a bit of getting used to.

Tom and I got used to the breakfast, so much that we did not even try the food before putting salt onto everything. And not once did we make a mistake.
We had a really nice day once we were off the ship and our luck continued with shore excursions. You are all in for some really nice photos!

 

[pas130]

Karin I remember those fabulous $99 unlimited 7 day tickets. Of course universal was not as popular then, but that is how DHs love affair ended with WDW lol. He is the more budget sensible when it comes to vacation and it may end up being a Disney only trip... Well with beach time of course. I could drop CL but nah

 

[dizneeat]

Karin I remember those fabulous $99 unlimited 7 day tickets. Of course universal was not as popular then, but that is how DHs love affair ended with WDW lol. He is the more budget sensible when it comes to vacation and it may end up being a Disney only trip... Well with beach time of course. I could drop CL but nah

Yes, they used to have some AWESOME discounts and we loved staying onsite as you got Universal Express for free. Well actually that is one thing that I am most looking forward to with staying onsite.
We lost interest in UO a few years ago when we started to cruise, but with all the new additions it is back on our radar.