Our Magical Westbound Transatlantic Voyage: September 2010

[Jools]

I'm really enjoying your report Sarah I know Gibraltar wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. I'm hoping to spend more time on the Main Street this year. It must have been great for Tony finding prints of all the ships he served on, especially one with him actually on the deck

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Jools

I'm really enjoying your report Sarah I know Gibraltar wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. I'm hoping to spend more time on the Main Street this year. It must have been great for Tony finding prints of all the ships he served on, especially one with him actually on the deck

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I loved just wandering around the streets. This year we plan to do a dolphin watch boat trip in the morning, then get the cable car up the rock ( if it is running ) and finally invade Morissons to buy some drinkies for on board the ship.

[Jools]

Is that a Disney dolphin watch or a private tour? I'd like that too. Morrisons is a must do for drinks and toiletries for me

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Jools

Is that a Disney dolphin watch or a private tour? I'd like that too. Morrisons is a must do for drinks and toiletries for me

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I will book it privately. I got the link from Corinna who did it last year. I can send it you if you like when I am on my other computer where the link is saved.

[Jools]

Originally Posted by DisneyPirate

I will book it privately. I got the link from Corinna who did it last year. I can send it you if you like when I am on my other computer where the link is saved.

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That would be great - thank you

[Guest]

DAY 6 : DAY AT SEA

Woke up early with a lovely relaxing day at sea to look forward to. Tony did his usual gym visit and I paid lip service to exercise with an invigorating walk on Deck 10.Breakfast was in Topsiders, we are creatures of habit without a doubt, but there was something so very special about sitting up there with the sun shining surrounded by nothing but the ocean. My memory has deserted me with what exactly we did after breakfast, but I know before lunch we went to a DVC presentation, mainly because I just wanted to know exactly what being a member of DVC involves. It was quite interesting and if I had the spare money up front I might have been tempted, but it is probably not right for us right now, and I have always been advised to buy re-sale DVC points anyhow. At least I now knew exactly what the deal was. Tony disappeared off to DIS wine tasting at some point, while I headed of for the scrapbooking class, which was basically a bit of a let down, other than an opportunity for a chat with some ladies from our DIS group.



We were given some scrapbooking pages which will come in useful should I ever get around to completing a scrapbook, but that was baiscally it, and I don't think I would rush back.

Lunch consisted of fast food from Plutos again .. as you can see we are really sticking to the healthy lunch ethic we planned before joining the ship.



The afternoon was taken up with reading and relaxing on the upper deck, before it was time to get ready for the show. The ocean this evening was absolutely stunning … so flat calm it was surreal. I couldn't stop taking photos of it.

















The show was a Spanish Flamenco show, Los Mulero, which was excellent.

Dinner this evening was in Parrot Cay and the wonderful island dinner. I ordered Jamaican chicken tenderloins, Parrot Cay salad, caribbean roast chicken and for dessert, the sweet temptations platter of crème brulee cheesecake, lemon merigue pie and s'more vanilla cake.



After dinner we walked on Deck 4, took some photos:







and then headed off to see the late show which was Mark Nizer who did some juggling and cabaret type entertainment which was ok, but nothing special really unless you really love juggling.

I think we took another walk around the deck after the show before heading to the cabin and to bed. For some reason I didn't take many photographs today.

[Guest]

DAY 7 : MADEIRA

We woke up at about 7am and were soon up in Topsiders for breakfast with the beautiful backdrop of Funchal in Madeira:









We had no specific plans for today, other than to walk up to the Cable Car, take a ride up to Monte and then walk down into town and just wander around. Once breakfast was finished we headed to our room and picked up what we needed for the day, before disembarking. On the top deck the crew were busy painting over the sides … no rest and relaxation for them:



Nearby the ship you could walk up some steps which took you to the top of a cliff …. no railings or anything just the ocean and rocks below … not exactly the most health and safety conscious place I have visited:



The walk to the cable car was along the promenade, with a few stops to take photographs of the Disney Magic, the beautiful flowers and the wonderful views. It was a very pleasant walk along the sea-front, apart from the hassle from endless taxi drivers touting for business, and I took lots of photos:

[Guest]

Once we arrived at the cable car station we bought tickets and were straight on to the cable car.









The trip up the mountain was rather nerve-wracking to say the least, as we were suspended high over houses and steep ravines etc and I managed to take my mind of the enormous drop by filming with my camcorder, as the views were incredible. As we were getting settled into the cable car someone leaned in and took our photo, needless to say as soon as we got out of the car at the terminal, the staff were there trying to flog us the photo and they were not too happy when we said we didn't want it. One thing I noticed about the locals on madeira is that they didn't miss a trick to try and part you from your money.

Once in Monte we had a wander round, had a look at the beautiful church which was situated on the top of the hill. We stood a while and watched the banter of all the local guys who were operating the toboggan rides.





I took a few photos of the lovely church:









We then had a short stroll around the hillside, and I was captivated by the stunning flowers which were growing in this area. They were enormous.







The view from Monte:





At one point we were walking along a quiet lane by ourselves when we came across a random chap playing an accordion. As we walked past him minding our own business he rushed over and gestured in a rather aggressive manner at the tip tray on the top of his accordion. I was rather surprised as we hadn't really acknowledged him or asked him to play, but he was a bit threatening so we put bit of lose change in his tray and hurried past. I was glad I wasn't on my own to be honeat, as he would have been quite intimidating.



Before arriving at Madeira I had stated categorically that no way would I do the toboggan ride, it was way too touristy for me, I mean I wouldn't even ride on a gondola when I was in Venice for the same reason. But for some reason I had a split second change of heart and we decided to give it a whirl. Other people giving it a whirl were captured on the camera:

[Guest]

So we paid our fare and jumped in one of the toboggans and off we went. The ride was really quite tame and I managed to film the whole way down, and it was interesting in a way, but I won't be rushing back to repeat the experience. On the route once again someone popped out and took our photo and then they tried to sell it to us at the end. Then when our ride was approaching the end of the run, one of the chaps, who had said not a word up to this point, leaned forward and asked if I had enjoyed the ride … to which I replied yes, and then I asked him how often he did it during each day, mainly because I was interested, I thought it was a lot of hard work and I try and engage locals in conversation to find out more about them etc etc. However I realised it was not conversation he was after, when he replied … “I hope you are going to give me a big tip then”... and he certainly wasn't smiling. I must admit at this point my opinion of the local population was not a particularly positive one.

Click on the link below to see our "on ride video" of the toboggan ride:

youtube/watch?v=FLt0SXrzh1w

Once off the toboggan we decided to start walking down to the town, as we hoped to find the Old Town and maybe somewhere where we could have lunch. The walk down was really lovely, the lanes had little water gulleys running alongside the roads and the flowers were beautiful.







Very fresh bananas:



A local resident:



We walked through a lovely residential area and also had stunning views out across the ocean.






















When we reached the town we started to look for the Old Town but without much success and we found ourselves in a local market. This was very interesting, all the local produce was there for sale: flowers,



fruit and vegetables,







spices,

[Guest]

and fish ,



including the local speciality the Scabbard fish … a bit of an ugly brute to be honest:



We stopped in a terrace cafe above the market for a local beer and just watched the world go by for a while,


and when we were leaving we asked our server for directions to the Old Town. We wandered down along the sea front until we came to a older part of the town, with lots of pavement restaurants and a fortress type building, and we assumed this was the elusive Old Town.













We were approached by a lot of people trying to lure us into their restuarants, and we eventually were persuaded by a girl who was singing. We sat down on the terrace of the restaurant, and ordered omelettes and drinks, and continued to watch the world go by, including a very strange looking chap who looked like he had walked straight off the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. The food was simple and very nice and we chatted to the restaurant owner, who was a complete football nut and had even heard of our local (and very small and insignificant) football team in North Wales.

After the meal we wandered back along the sea front and attempted to find some shops, but unfortunately we never came across any significant shopping area, so that put paid to any serious souvenir shopping, so we decided to head back to the ship.

Once back on baord we decided to head to the Quiet Cove pool to relax a little. I had a little swim and even went in the hot tub. While we were relaxing Amy came along and gave me an enormous bag of my favourite American chocolate …. Reece's peanut butter cups, which she had left over from the candy swap. So I was a happy bunny, chilling by the pool with an ice cream, a coffee and more than my own weight in peanutbutter cups. In the end I made Tony take them away from me as I would probably never make it to dinner if I carried on munching !

We wandered around the deck a bit and watched the Captain and the officers negotiating the departure from Madeira.











Then we went to get ready for the show, which was to be a hypnotist called Ricky Kalmon. The show was entertaining, but it was obviously all staged. The best bit was Amy getting hypnotised and she had to act as though she had her pet mouse Remy with her on stage, and she was getting the mouse to do tricks. There was also a chap who ended up thinking he was Miley Cyrus. At the end everyone had to pat Brett the cruise director on the head ….



It was entertaining for what it's worth. After the show we spent some time in the lobby mingling and having photos taken with Woody and Jessie:







Then it was time for dinner in Lumiere's for the French dinner. I had applewood smoked bacon and wild musroom tart, followed by market green salad. For entree I chose Lumiere's seared sea bass which was delicious. I was really loving all of the fish dishes on board. Dessert presented a dilemma because I absolutely adore Crème Brulee and Michele was advising me that I simply HAD to choose the Grand Marnier Souffle as it was divine. So not wanting to look totally porcine and order two desserts I opted for the souffle, and I was not disappointed. It was divine.

Following dinner we decided to go to the late show which was Jason Bishop, a magician who I found quite entertaining and I did enjoy his show and the way in which he presented his act. Warren however could tell exactly how he did all his tricks as he had trained in the field of magic himself. I was, howver, rather impressed and clearly being of inferior intellectual capacity couldn't work ourt zip! After the show we followed our usual pattern of a nocternal stroll on the deck, before turning in and setting our clocks to go back one hour during the night. This was the first of five hours we gained on the trip, and if you can get five free hours on board the Disney Magic you certainly don't knock it !