Disney Cruise Line - July 6th 2014 - 9 Night Mediterranean – Day at Sea

[LaurenM]

This morning we had a relatively early start as we had booked to do the ‘Art of the Theme Show’ tour at 9:15am. My family and I love learning about the ins and outs of Disney design and operations so I had been itching to do this tour after seeing it in personal navigators from previous cruises.

We arrived at Palo’s slightly too early so went out onto the deck to take some photos. We went back inside to find our tour guide, Brittany from Canada, waiting for us. After convincing her that Natasha was indeed 18 years old and therefore eligible to do the tour we sat down to wait for anyone else to arrive. No one else turned up so Brittany started our own private tour by showing us round an empty Palo’s whilst the staff set up for the first brunch of the cruise. She took us into the small private dining space past the kitchen and discussed the name ‘Palo’ and the design features of the restaurant. As we made our way back to the front of the restaurant mum was snapping away taking lots of photos when the Head Chef insisted that she take a photo of him, as he is soooo important!

Brittany continued and started discussing the Venetian masks on display when three more individuals turned up for the tour. Despite this no longer being a private tour it was still much more personal than the groups of 35 we saw on this tour when it was held again later in the cruise. Brittany also pointed out all the guest books that have been signed since the Disney Magic set sail in 1998 all beautifully bound and kept on a shelf as part of the ships history.

From here we walked down the stairs to Deck 5. Here we stopped and spoke about how this deck is geared towards the younger cruisers due to the Oceaneers Club, Oceaneers Lab and it’s a small world nursery. To make the little cruisers feel more at home here they lowered the ceiling in the public spaces so much so that even I, at 5ft 4.5, can just touch the ceiling (not in the stateroom areas). We continued on round to the Buena Vista Theatre where we spoke more about the design elements used, including the carpet, doors, lettering and stage. We were also told that the theatre has 13 rows of seats because that was the traditional number in cinemas during the golden age of film. However, there wasn’t enough space to accommodate 13 full sized rows so that back row has less leg room than all the others – so bare this in mind when choosing a seat!

We carried onto the It’s a Small World Nursery where we were allowed to look through the 2-way glass to check it out. Brittany told us that Disney initially did not think they would have many infants sail with them so this space was originally a galley for the kids clubs. However, on their inaugural cruise there were many more infants than they had planned for and this trend continued. Eventually the space was converted to a nursery. On the Disney Wonder (the Disney Magic’s sister ship) this galley was also built but was ripped out, before it could be used, on the transatlantic voyage to Florida for its launch and a nursery added!

From here we continued next door and entered the Oceaneer’s Club during its open house. We came in to find Minnie Mouse in her Hawaiian dress playing with one or two children in the middle of the main library space. This level of interaction the children get with the characters in the kids spaces and meet and greets was very impressive and a great perk of Disney cruises for those with children. We all commented how we would have loved this when we were children and we will definitely be recommending it to my aunt and uncle who have a 3yr old and a 1 yr old.

Brittany encouraged us to take a look around the recently reimagined space including having a go on the Slinky Dog slide in the Toy Story area. Mum, dad and Natasha headed off for a go whilst I manned the camera. Now this slide is small and fairly steep so I expected it would be a fairly short ride. However, it seemed to take quite a while for mum to make an appearance at the bottom and when she did she ended up backwards! It turns out she had somehow managed to bump her head a number of times on the way down and twist herself around in a very small space. Brittany let out a small shriek and quickly asked Mum if she was okay whilst I managed to capture the moment on camera and dad and Natasha were in fits of giggles over mums misfortune. Mishap over we continued to tour round the other areas in the club taking photos and wishing we were 5 years old again.

After exiting the Oceaneer’s Club we headed the atrium next to the walkway between the Club and Lab where Brittany discussed the reasoning for joining the two spaces and the original design of the atrium and the reasoning behind the changes made. We learnt that the carpet at the bottom of the atrium (Deck 3) is decorated with shells and other sea floor like objects, the Deck 4 carpet is designed to look like the sea water, the Deck 5 carpet to look like the surf of waves with the new chandelier designed to act as the sun. I really loved this little detail giving the atrium that added depth of design, as it’s such a Disney thing to do!

From here we headed to the Oceaneer’s Lab where we could only peep inside, as it wasn’t open house hours. The kids were joined by Detective Goofy for one of the scheduled activities, again highlighting the great character interactions you can find onboard. We headed around the corner to a corridor that has pictures with many statistics and facts about the Disney Magic highlighted. Although many are out of date since the dry dock reimagining of the ship we still learnt some interesting details including the fact that the paint on the hull of the ship is not black but a very dark blue to give the colour greater depth.

Continuing onwards we headed down the stairs to the Walt Disney Theatre bumping into Detective Goofy as he left the Oceaneer’s Lab – ever the professional he stayed in character and blamed Brittany for the crime committed in a game of very animated charades. At the theatre we spent a while hearing some basic facts about Walt Disney before heading down to After Hours on Deck 3 where we were shown around the three adult bars/clubs.

We finished our tour off in the atrium where Brittany asked if we had any questions and offered to take some pictures of our family in front of helmsman Mickey. As she had been so lovely and open we asked Brittany about her 3 years working for Disney Cruise Line and her love of Disney and her job as the D Lounge host was very evident.

I must admit that whilst we enjoyed the tour and learnt some interesting facts I was hoping for more information on the shows, operations and areas up on deck 9 and 10. However, this is just me being picky!

By now it was about 10:30am and we were all hungry so headed to Cabana’s for a late breakfast. Despite our late arrival there was lots of fresh, hot food that was constantly being replenished. Options included fruit, cereal, yoghurt, pastries, sausage, hash browns, American bacon, bread, and doughnuts. We were particularly impressed to find traditional English back bacon was readily available, which made Natasha’s day!

After a brief stop in our staterooms we headed down to After Hours, via deck 4 where we bumped into Goofy out on his jog, for our first wine tasting in Keys. We had been told Natasha could not attend, as she was not 21, so she brought a book and sat in the cushioned portholes whilst we went on to Keys. Mum, dad and I were seated on two black couches near the bar with 4 place settings made up of two white and three red wines (and yes we got to drink the spare place setting drinks after as well!). Our host for this session was Ross from Guildford, England who works in Palo and two members of his wines team. Once everyone had arrived Ross gave us a brief history of wine including the difference between old and new world wine. Whilst we enjoy wine none of us had never been to a wine tasting so were unsure of the etiquette but Ross expertly leads you through each glass discussing the colour, smell and taste before letting you guess what country it is from or the grapes used. He was very knowledgeable but readily accepted that different wines suit different tastes and was not pretentious at all. After we had finished going through the wines on our place settings champagne was brought out for us to try, which turned out to be Tattinger Brut and it was delicious! I normally prefer sparkling wine to champagne but this has changed my mind. Once Ross was finished we were left to finish our very generous wine samples and ask any questions we had. On speaking to Ross we found out that Natasha could actually participate in the alcohol tastings, contrary to what Guest Services had told us. So our next port of call was Guest Services where we booked the chocolate and liquor tasting ($30) and another wine tasting ($15), which we felt was a very reasonable price given the amount of alcohol provided.

As mum was starting to feel the effects of the wine we headed to Deck 9 for some pizza and grabbed some fountain drinks before heading down to the Walt Disney Theatre at 2:15 for a showing of Maleficent in 3D. Natasha and I had both seen this movie before but we had enjoyed it enough to warrant a second viewing along with mum and dad. We all enjoyed the movie except by the end we were all freezing due to the insanely cold air con they have in here.

After the movie we headed back to our staterooms where we all managed to fall asleep on the amazingly comfortable new beds they have. So comfortable in fact that we didn’t wake up until 30 minutes before dinner and tonight was formal night! I managed to set a new personal best time for showering and getting ready and we arrived for dinner on time just a little frazzled.

Tonight’s dinner was in Carioca’s with the standard South American menu. I much prefer the new simple décor in here compared to photos of Parrot’s Cay but it now lacks any character and was our least favourite of the restaurants because of this. Equally this was one of our least favourite menus particularly as we have three non adventurous eaters but luckily Disney plan for this with the ‘Lighter Note Offerings’, which came in very handy.

For appetizer dad had the Deep Fried Lobster Croquette and mum had the Empanadas Panzudas de Carne.

For main course mum had the Lobster, Shrimp and Mahi Mahi Skewers, dad had the Jose Carioca’s, Natasha had the Lighter Note Chicken and I had the Lighter Note Sirloin Steak. Once again everyone enjoyed their meals, including Natasha and I who were very impressed with the amount of flavour in the chicken and sirloin given they had no sauces.

For dessert mum had the Coconut Tres Leche ‘Three Milk’ Cake (as recommended online), dad had the Suspiro Alimenea, I had the Sweet Temptations for others to try as I was full and Natasha had a Mickey Ice Cream Bar.

Tonight at dinner when our Head Server made his nightly visit to our table we noticed that he seemed extremely concerned about whether the quality of service was to our liking and whether they could improve anything or do more to please us. Is this normal? We were wondering whether they had received a complaint about the service as this continued for almost every night of the cruise where he was quite forceful about us airing our views. However, this was never needed as Rodel and Romina were perfect in their service and dealt with plain/substitution food requests from Natasha and I without a fuss.

After dinner we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre to get good seats for Villains Tonight! Natasha and I had read reviews of this show long before our cruise and were very excited that we would finally get to see it. The show definitely lived up to the good reviews and we loved the title song developed for the show. We were particularly impressed by the woman who played Yzma as she got her movement and voice spot on!

As we had some time before tonights adult show we headed to Keys for the interim. The bar only had a few groups in so we took a seat where we sat earlier for the Wine tasting with a view of the gentleman playing the piano. A lovely server from Ukraine (who’s name escapes me) came over to inform us that unfortunately Keys was only for the 18 years and older – a running theme of the holiday. We kindly informed her that Natasha was 18 (almost 19) and provided her Keys to the World card as proof. The server was very apologetic and spent a while chatting with us about the menu, our likes and dislikes before recommending a fruity sparkling wine for Natasha as she is not a fan of strong cocktails. Mum ordered the Coco Royale and dad and I went for a Manhattan each. The effort spent making these drinks and the presentation at your table is very special in Keys, so the staff in here certainly earn their tips. The atmosphere in Keys is elegant and sophisticated and is much more suited to my taste than anything I have found in the UK. However, my one hang up is that myself and Natasha were made quite uncomfortable by other guests who were clearly unhappy to have two young adults in the bar despite the fact that we were sat having a quiet conversation and not causing any trouble.

Unfortunately we had to quickly consume our drinks and head up to the Walt Disney Theatre for the adults show featuring the ventriloquist Paul Zerdin. Natasha was prepared and armed with her Key to the World card and as usual on entering the theatre a crew member tried to inform her that the show was only for those 18 and over. Natasha showed him her card and he joked that she was well prepared and that this must happen a lot, which was fine except we later found ourselves sat next to a family with two boys who were quite obviously not 18 but hadn’t been challenged due to their height. You may notice that the treatment and lack of consistency over young adults and teenagers is starting to become a running theme of these reports and something we believe Disney needs to address – but more on this tomorrow!

The show was very entertaining and he was the best out of the three guest performers we had over the length of the cruise. Luckily although described as an adult show the only additions to his family act that we noticed was the inclusion of some bad language and some references that younger children probably wouldn’t understand. After the show we decided to call it a night and headed back to our staterooms for the evening.

Tomorrow – Katakalon, Greece with no excursions (and an unfortunate pool side incident)

[NatsyNoo]

Another great day, thanks for sharing!

[Tinkers]

What a great day, looks like you had fun exploring the kids clubs !

[Bats]

Some servers (of all levels) are a tad too consumed at trying to get an EXCELLENT rating. It's the only rating that DCL will except and anything below that warrants being flogged with a big stick covered with nails ... Or at least that's how it seems!

Next time, just let them know that you are aware of how the ratings work .. It should stop the pushing then.

[Alison]

Loving all the little facts on the tour - would love to do that. You all looked great, dressed up for formal night!

[KarenG]

A lovely day, but I don't blame you for getting a bit frustrated on the under age (or not!) issue.

[Ycryan]

Fantastic photos. x

[Twentyyears]

Sounds lovely if somewhat frustrating for your sister!

[pluto66]

A lovely day apart really like the look of the wine tasting.

[kansaskitty]

The tour sounds brilliant, right up yours and your dad's street lol! I love the sound of the villains show. Your poor sister keep being ID'd, she will love it when she's 50 and looks 40 though eh!?