Our Magical Westbound Transatlantic Voyage: September 2010

[Guest]

Our Magical Westbound Transatlantic Voyage Day One: Barcelona !

Before I start this endless waffle, I suppose it makes sense to introduce ourselves ... and give you some brief details of the trip.

We are Sarah and Tony from Wales in the UK:

Firstly there is myself, Sarah, aged 45 (yikes), midwife, mother and total Disney nut. I love everything Disney, but have a particular obsession with Pirates of the Caribbean (both the rides and the movies). I collect Disney Pins, mainly POTC related, and I only ride indoor coasters! I adore ships and cruising and was hooked within seconds of stepping on the Disney Magic for the first time back in 2008

Secondly there is my wonderful husband : DH Tony, aged 48 – extreme coaster freak, Disney addict, can eat for the UK and loves everything about Disney, Cruising and Florida - especially the food..

Unfortunately this trip began badly due to a health issue and there now follows a sad and sorry tale of desperation and woe, so if you want to bypass this and jump ahead to the actual trip report then feel free ….

For probably the first time in my life, I was probably adequately prepared for this trip about a week before we left, with only a few little tasks to complete ahead of departure day. But before I had chance to realise this and for once allow myself to relax and actually enjoy the pre-holiday week, an unwelcome health issue reared its ugly head. This was partly of my own doing, as in a last ditch attempt to shift a few pounds, I had being doing the “Slim Fast” diet for about a week. I was thrilled to find out I had lost 4 lbs in a week, but began to feel the nagging doubt that all was not well in the bladder dept, and when I investigated the side effects of Slim Fast on the internet it appeared that I should have seriously increased my fluid intake to counter the potential problem it could create in the waterworks dept. ( without going into too much detail I have a bladder condition which flares up form time to time, is incredibly painful and I really have to drink loads to stop it from dehydrating, which triggers the pain. ) .

So off to the GP I went, and picked up a script for some antibiotics, and began consuming my weight in water to try and offset the problem. However the antibiotics were ineffective, and the pain began to worsen, so the night before we were due to fly to Barcelona I basically was ready to cancel the trip which I had looked forward to and anticipated for almost 2 years. To say I was devastated was the understatement of the century, and even though Tony was putting a brave face on things I could tell he was equally gutted. I managed to pack our bags just in case I felt up to it, and went back to the GP for a course of different antibiotics. Another very painful and sleepless night followed, and I was still convinced I wouldn't be able to travel … we were due to catch our train at 09:30 am the following day, and basically my mood was that low I couldn't have cared either way at that point.

I woke early on the Thursday morning, departure day, and decided to go back to the GP once more to see if I could get some stronger pain killers, which might make the difference. I managed to get an appointment at 09:15am and she gave me 2 weeks supply of diclofenac, and then I made my decision. We would go to Barcelona, we had 2 days before the cruise and we had 5 days before Gibraltar. If the antibiotics worked I would know by then, if they didn't and things became worse I figured I could fly home from Gibraltar.

I returned home and by now we had missed the train that would get us to the airport on time, so the only option was to drive and leave the car at Liverpool airport, which meant that when we arrived home to Manchester airport, we would have to get a train across to Liverpool to pick up the car. I quickly booked airport parking on-line, and started throwing the rest of the stuff into the bags. We needed to check in at 11:30 am and it was now about 10 am, so we threw the bags into the car, said a tearful goodbye to our two kids Taryn and Danny, and off we went to the airport.

We made it to the airport in about an hour, found the long stay car park and experienced number plate recognition for the first time when the barrier opened for us as we approached. We ended up parking as far out from the terminal building as was possible for on-site parking, and then had a long walk back, but once we got there check in was painless and both our checked bags came in at 18.5 kg, a whole1.5 kg under our allowance, which basically translates as how much we can shop for which by my standards translates as NOT VERY MUCH! Once rid of our bags we picked up our pre-ordered euros at Travelex and went through security and went in search of a sandwich for lunch, and a few gallons of bottled water for me. We bought a fairly acceptable sandwich in Boots and I tried to use WiFi on my Ipod touch, and I think by the time I connected it was time to go to the gate, so that wasn't much use.

We boarded the aircraft which I think was an Airbus 319. We had an initial delay because they had more people on the plane than on the boarding list so they counted everyone about 10 times, we had to show our boarding passes about 10 times, and then our passports. This delayed us by about an hour but they must have sorted it out, or thrown the person off, because eventually we were allowed to take off. The flight was uneventful, Tony had a coffee and I stuck to the water, and we landed at Barcelona none the worse for wear.

I was relieved to see our bags made it too, and once we picked them up we headed to find the aerobus. The aerobus was straightforward and we arrived at Placa Catalunya in about 30 minutes. Once off the bus we knew to look for the Banco Espana building, and to take the road to the left of it. and we spotted this easily and headed off to find the hotel. However we were a bit confused as the road to the left of it had a different name to the one we wanted. After walking a few blocks down this road we realised we must be wrong and we returned to Placa Catalunya feeling rather confused, only to realise there was a second Banco Espana building on the square. This time the correct road was alongside it and we headed a couple of blocks along until we found the Hotel Praktik Rambla.

We had booked this hotel after reading the reviews on Trip Advisor and it had attracted us mainly because it sounded quite unique and quirky and also centrally located to the places we wanted to visit and it was a good price at 90 euros per night. The following is taken from the Praktik Rambla website, and it was this description of the architecture which also attracted me to the hotel:

Architecture & History

Praktik is located in Barcelona’s nerve center, on 27 Rambla Catalunya. It occupies one of the most emblematic buildings in the Eixample: the Climent Arola house. The property, which is listed today, was designed at the beginning of the 19th century by the Catalonian architect Francesc de P. Villar i Carmona, author of such emblematic works as the monasteries at Montserrat and Sant Cugat, constructed at the end of the 17th and at the beginning of the 19th centuries.

This historic palace is on the Catalonian Modernist route, and has been exquisitely restored. Its exterior mixes original classic elements, such as the Ionic columns that support the gallery and the balconies on the first floor, along with other columns that are more Baroque in style. The interior, on the other hand, contains all the comfort, design and technology of the 21st century.

We would not be the only ones booking this hotel, it ended up with about 80% of the occupants being from our forum cruising on the Disney Magic and I was really excited about bumping into friends from our cruise meet thread!

We checked in and were given a room on the 4th floor. We squeezed ourselves and our baggage into the tiny elevator and up to our beautiful room. We had a room facing the Rambla Catalunya with a small balcony, and I stood out on the balcony for a while just wanting to absorb the atmosphere below us.

Views from the balcony:







The bed:



The bathroom:



We didn't have time to linger for long as we had planned to meet up with our cruise buddies Lynne, Len, Morag and Angus at their apartment down by the harbour, so armed with a trusty street map and a mobile phone we headed off down Las Ramblas in search of the sea.

It was a long walk down Las Ramblas, especially when some idiot ( ie. me ) decides to wear new sandals, and before we even reached the harbour I had blisters forming, so I had to dig around in my bag for some plasters. We reached the harbour and headed in the direction of Lynne's apartment, but when we found the right street there were lots of buildings with balconies so we sent a text. We were in the correct place, as Lynne and Len appeared from one of the buildings and we went up to their apartment in an even smaller elevator .. you really had to be close friends if you got into that elevator! If not you certainly were when you got out !

We spent a lovely couple of hours on the balcony chatting, enjoying a few local beers and some cheese, watching the boats coming and going in the harbour. It really was an ideal spot! I was relieved that the pain killers I was taking were taking care of my bladder discomfort, and I was really pleased I had decided to go ahead with the trip. I was finally starting to enjoy myself!

We decided to head back to the hotel at about midnight, so after arming my feet with new plasters, we walked back up the Ramblas. This place seemed a bit seedy after dark, with lots of dodgy looking men and teenagers lurking and offering you cans of beer when you walked by. We also came across some people offering something a bit stronger, so we just hurried along and made no eye contact. I was relieved to get back to the hotel. At the hotel all was quiet, so we decided to go to bed as we had a busy day planned the next day.

[Guest]

DAY 2 : Barcelona.

We woke fairly early at about 7:30 and once we were dressed we decided to head out and find some breakfast, before popping into the big department store El Corte Ingles on Placa Catalunya to purchase a few toiletries which we had left behind due to the baggage allowance. The weather was overcast and it looked like rain, but it did not dampen our spirits. We decided we wanted to try somewhere local and traditional for breakfast, so we found ourselves in the nearest Starbucks ! Two lattes and a couple of warmed croissants hit the spot! While in Starbucks we spotted a couple who looked familiar, and I was dying to go up and ask them if they were from the forum meet thread …. but bottled out in case they thought we were some sort of crazy people. I wish I had been more determined as it turned out to be Marilyn and John ! ( Granmaz )

We wandered to El Corte Ingles and once again seemed to be the target for opportunist street sellers who were now selling umbrellas! Very enterprising, considering it had just started to rain. There seemed to be no life in the store, and after examining and translating the opening times, it appeared we were on hour early, as the store opened at 10am. Not to worry, we decided to bring forward our touring plans of visiting some of the Gaudi sites, and we would pop back to the store at some point later in the day.

I had a mental image of how to get to the Gaudi houses, and I managed to get it spot on. About 5 minutes walk and we found ourselves outside Casa Batllo. This house was truly stunning and I loved the architecture, the colours and the way the balconies looked like alien's eyes ( well they did to me anyhow ) I stood in the road and nearly got run down by traffic trying to get these photos as I didn't want anything else in the field of vision:













A short walk along the road and we came to Casa Mila or La Pedrera. I didn't find this house as interesting or as inspiring as Casa Batllo, that is just my very humble opinion but I took a few photos so you can make your own minds up.





After the two houses we set off in our quest to find Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. This time my mental image of how to get there wasn't quite as accurate, and we did end up wandering the streets a little, trying to spot the cathedral spires in the distance. Some of the spires we spotted turned out to be the wrong ones, but still worth a photograph:





Eventually we found it, and once again my trusty camera sprang into action and I took one ot two photos …...

















The Sagrada Familia was totally awe inspiring, stunning, evocative, incredible … in fact you could run out of superlatives just describing it. There was a very long line to get into the interior so we just walked around the perimeter so that I could photograph it from all aspects and be amazed at every turn. The cathedral is very much a work in progress and I got a few photos of the building in action ….. on this one you can see a cement mixer being hoisted up to the top by a crane:





This installment will continue in the next post due to the glut of photographs and I make no apologies for this ... this IS the Sagrada Familia we are talking about here !

[Guest]

I tried to take a lot of close up photos of the carvings and the statuary on the Cathedral as this was truly stunning:











The detail to the windows was incredible:





In this photograph you can see the contrast in the colour of the stone ... I imagine one bit being either a lot newer, or just having been cleaned or something:







We saw lots of cruise tours at the Cathedral, and it made us giggle seeing long lines of tourists following behind a flag held aloft by a tour guide. (needless to say we would be doing the same thing ourselves in St Maarten) After I had photographed the cathedral from every angle imaginable, we decided to find the Barri Gotic ( Gothic Quarter ) and explore that area, which is the oldest part of Barcelona.

On the way back to the Gothic Quarter we came across a commotion at the metro station, where large numbers of television cameras and crew were interviewing a chap who looked like a fire officer or something. There were also large numbers of emergency services milling around: police, paramedics, fire personnel etc. No one seemed to be bothered that we were there and I even snapped a couple of photos. I never found out what it was all about.





Eventually we found ourselves in the Gothic Quarter, after passing the Arc de Triomphe on the way,



and really enjoyed wandering around the winding streets. To me this is what being in a city is all about, getting lost in the back streets and absorbing the atmosphere.

[Guest]

We stopped off for a bit of lunch in a beautiful square, and had a couple of delicious toasted sandwiches and lattes. Why is it that simple food tastes so delicious when eaten outside in a Mediterranean city. We sat a while and watched the hustle and bustle in a small market nearby, before decided to continue with our exploration. Our next stop was Barcelona Cathedral,



and we were able to enter inside this stunning building. The architecture once again was incredible and atmosphere very peaceful and relaxing.










It was interesting to see that the cathedral had replaced traditional wax candles with electric versions, which I found rather strange, but probably due to some safety consideration aimed at preventing fire. It did somehow detract from the atmosphere a little though, having these little cases of electric candles everywhere.



There was even a courtyard with a pond within the cathedral building, complete with resident geese, although my camera had annoyingly decided to run out of battery at this point so I was unable to take any photos of the geese.

At this point time was getting on and as much as I would have loved to wander though the streets until sunset, we had a forum meet date at the Hard Rock to go to, and we still needed to do the bit of shopping in the department store, so reluctantly we headed back to Las Ramblas and headed up towards Placa Catalunya.

We walked up Las Ramblas to El Corte Ingles, where we headed inside and picked up the toiletries we needed, although I did have a hard time working out what conditioner was in Spanish. In the end I gave up and decided to wait until Gibraltar and good old Morrisons! We then headed back to the hotel for a freshen up, and a camera battery replenishment, just in time for me to take lots more photographs in the hotel.


















Nothing like photo overkill in a trip report, and we're not even on the ship yet ! We wandered into the courtyard at the back and in the library area we encountered the couple we had rudely ignored earlier in Starbucks. This time I was more forthcoming and I introduced ourselves …. to our now lovely friends Marilyn and John. Not long after that some more people came in who looked absolutely exhausted …. it was Melodie, Amy and Dave. I think at this point they headed off for a rest before the get to-gether.

Before too long the meet was upon us, and we headed down to the Hard Rock Cafe on Placa Catalunya. We gathered outside the restaurant and met up with lots of the lovely people we had been chatting to on-line for nigh on two years.



We had a group photograph taken and then we were bustled into the basement, where we snagged a table with Lynne, Len, Annie and Howard, and then Woody came over to join us. We all had a great time chatting and making acquaintances with new friends. We were all very excited about the cruise. We had a drink, but didn't get any food at this point as we were planning on making pizza at Lynne and Len's apartment. When we left the Hard Rock Cafe the rain was bucketing down, and by the time we reached the harbour end of Las Ramblas we would have been less wet had we jumped in the sea. We then visited the supermarket to pick up some pizza and beer and by now we were wading in puddles 6 inches deep, and had really lost the will to live with the weather like that. We arrived at Lynne and Len's apartment and after dripping all over the floor I borrowed some shorts from Lynne and managed to get a bit drier.

We had a lovely meal of pizza and pasta washed down with beer and watched an epic thunderstorm outside as the rain continued to fall. I went on the balcony ... a bit of a different view from the previous night, and I tried to capture the delightful rainy ambience.










Morag and Gus arrived back at the apartment, and at about 10:30pm, when Gus was looking through his binoculars, he suddenly said he could see the Disney Magic. Of course we all thought this was a wind up, until we all had a look through the binoculars to see that he was indeed correct, we could see the two funnels lit up and the Mickey head logo and we were all beside ourselves with excitement.

Before long we decided to return to our hotel in anticiaption of a verty exciting day ahead tomorrow. The rain had stopped falling and our walk up Las Ramblas was at least dry, although the same dodgy characters from the previous night were still very much in evidence. There seemed to be a more visible police presence this evening too. We were in bed by midnight, and went quickly to sleep.

[Guest]

I have uploaded a slideshow of my Barcelona photos which you can see here:

youtube/watch?v=WXBrfsLzllg

[Guest]

DAY 3 : JOINING THE DISNEY MAGIC

We woke up and were immediately overwhelmed with excitement as today we were embarking on the Disney Magic for a wonderful 14 day cruise … yes we were going to spend a whole two weeks on THE most beautiful cruise ship in the world!. It was also my birthday, but too be honest I had completely forgotten about that in all the excitement. We rushed to get dressed, sorted out the bags and then whizzed downstairs to go and find somewhere to grab some breakfast. The streets outside were quiet and we spotted a small bakery on the next corner along, and we thought we might see if we could muster up enough Spanish to order two pastries and two coffees. Fortunately we were better than we thought, or maybe the shopworkers were just used to tourists, but either way we ended up with exactly what we wanted. We sat in the shop and ate our breafast, and chatted to one of our group, Melodie, Amy and Dave who were also buying some breakfast.

Before long it was time to head back to the hotel to prepare to leave for the ship. We carted all of our luggage down to the lobby area, which was by now overflowing with luggage and being such a small hallway it was really obstructive, but we had no option really with all the many forum cruisers who were staying in the hotel. We chatted to some of our group who were waiting along side us, Amanda and Annette and Micheal and Marc. Just then Kimberly appeared to tell us we were needed for a group photo in the back room .. so we all headed back for the photo.




Everyone started to wish both me, and Stephanie, a happy birthday.

Before too long the bus arrived to take us to the ship …. the bus had been arranged by one of our group, but it appeared as though the bus was empty despite the fact that our hotel was supposed to be the second stop. We jumped on the bus and were quite surprised when the driver took us to the port without stopping for the chaps at the other hotel, but there was very little we could do about it at the time. I think one of group managed to sort it out and the bus went back to pick them up once we had all disembarked. It was all a bit confusing!

Anyways, the atmosphere on board the bus was electrifying, as we were all craning our necks for that first view of the Disney Magic, and we all let out an enormous cheer once she came into view, Needless to say I shed the first tears of the day at that moment.





We jumped off the bus and picked up our bags, which we immediately dropped off at a bag dropping off area. We then had to get into a line and wait, wait, wait, but it was a pleasant wait as we were able to chat with Paula, Robert and Marion who were next to us in line. Before long we were allowed into the terminal, which was pleasant enough but no way as wonderful as the Port Canaveral terminal.



We then joined another line to check in, and this was painless, and we managed to get Number 2 boarding cards, after which we headed through to another part of the terminal where we posed for photos with Mickey



and chatted with lots of forum friends. I was frantically texting Lynne so that we could meet up with her, but she had only just left her hotel at this point. Time passed quickly and before long they were calling concierge and group one, and then it was the turn of group two …. so we headed though a door, no Mickey ears on this occasion, and along a covered walkway to the gangway.






We gave the cast member our names and were welcomed on board the Disney Magic for the second time, and needless to say I shed a few tears for the second time. There were lots of people milling about in the lobby so we milled about with them for a while, admired the ice carving,



chatted to DISers and waitied for Lynne, Len, Gus and Morag to arrive. We decided to go up to Deck 4 and watch them coming on board





….. we waited and waited and waited …. we watched the ship's supplies coming on board:



and we had an encounter with Spanish Goofy,







but still no Lynne and party. I managed to call home and chatted to the kids and my Mum for a while but I could not get hold of Lynne by phone, so in the end Tony's stomach won out and we decided to go and get some lunch at Topsiders.On the way I popped into Rockin Bar D and secured a Palo Brunch slot, so I was happy with that.

The food was as lovely as ever and we sat with Annie and Howard for lunch which was really nice and despite all good intentions when I approached the dessert counter, chanting the mantra “ I will only have one, I will only have one!”, it took no effort at all from a cast member to persuade me that I needed to have three. Well you know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men .. and people on Disney cruises faced with desserts. It was around about this time that I noticed all of my good intentions jumping overboard without so much as a backward glance.

Still no Lynne and family and by now I was starting to get worried. I knew nothing more than they had left the hotel but that was all, and we had made no contact with them since then. After lunch we had a stroll around and went back down to the lobby area to see if we could see them coming in, but no joy.

[Guest]

We also realised that we could go and find our room, so this we did, and were impressed with the location … very far forward on deck 6, round a corner and down a sort of secret hallway .. leading into the staff quarters but with only 2 cabins beyond us whose occupants would be passing our door. It was really really quiet and very out of the way.







By now it was time for our forum meet in the Promenade Lounge … there was an enormous group of us on this cruise and the Promenade Lounge was really crowded and it was really difficult to chat to people or even get around.



We got into line for lanyards, and for pins and were really impressed with both, and at some point we finally ran into Lynne and Len. Lynne had been quite upset as she had lots of trouble at check in with her ESTA application and at one point she thought that she might not be able to board the ship. So all of that trauma had really taken the shine off their embarkation, but fortunately she had managed to sort it out and made it on board. What a nightmare! We all posed for a group photo, and then it was time to head off for boat drill.

Usual life jacket photos were taken,







and then we headed to our muster point on Deck 4. The whole process was painless, we retuned our life jackets to the cabin and headed straight up to the Sailaway Party, or the non-sailaway party really as we were not sailing until 9pm that evening, We pretended we were sailing away though, and grabbed a cocktail, joined the party in full swing, waved our streamers and danced along with the best of them. Brett, Mickey and the gang all made an appearance and then it was time for tearjerking moment number 3 … the countdown and the “When you Wish upon a Star” horn. It was truly amazing and almost surreal to be standing there listening to those wonderful seven notes …. I had anticipated this moment for almost 2 years, and I was not disappointed!

Once the party was fading we took our cocktails and enjoyed a stroll around the deck, and then went to the pool bar where we met up with Jodie and Mike, and soon we were introduced to Mike and Michele, who were to be our tablemates at dinner along with Lynne and Len and family. We enjoyed a few drinks and a lovely chat, before time caught up with us and we realised we should head down to the cabin to change for the show and dinner. I was determined to catch the first show as we had missed it on our first cruise, so we whizzed to our cabins, found our bags were there so we quickly dressed for dinner which was cruise casual, and headed to the Walt Disney theatre for the “Let the Magic Begin” show. The show was wonderful .. a great start to the cruise and aswell as the wonderful Disney moments we were introduced to the guest performers Mark Nizer, a comedian / juggler and Jimmy Tamley, a ventiloquist. Now ventriloquists are usually my worst nightmare, but I have to admit to being impressed with Jimmy and I did enjoy his routine.

After the show we mingled and chatted in the atrium until it was time for dinner. We were in Parrot Cay which is actually my favourite restaurant and we met up with our wonderful table-mates Lynne and Len, Morag and Gus and Michael and Michele ( photos to follow ). We had also linked dining with almost all of the late seating group from our forum and so we were all seated in the same area … it was lovely to be able to chat and wave to so many familiar faces each evening,

We were also introduced to our serving team: our server was Leslie from India, our assistant server was Raphael and our head server was the lovely Yolande ( Mrs Brett Davies ). They were all absolutely wonderful if a bit too eager to please and up-tight at the outset.

Tonight we were having the “Let the Magic Begin” dinner and I ordered the following:

Appetiser: Smoked Salmon Carpaccio – delicious
Entree: Mesquite grilled chicken breast, with wilted spinach on crushed sweet potatoes, surrpunded with cream of corn and bacon sauce – again delicious.
Dessert – gave this a miss, no only joking, of course I didn't – I had Apple Tarte Tatin – caramelised apples, served over puff pastry with vanilla ice- cream - totally divine!

During dinner we suddenly started to feel the ship moving .. our transatlantic adventure had begun !

After dinner I was treated to a birthday cake surprise, and a birthday song from the restaurant staff and I surprised myself by being able to eat a piece even after that dinner … but I made sure everyone else had to have a piece too!



After dinner we just wandered about a bit, walked on the deck in the moonlight, watched a bit of the Magic Quest game in Rockin Bar D which involved a group of men in bras and was rather amusing .. especially the bit at the end when they had to dance to “ I'm too sexy for my shirt” and the one who won was hysterical, stripping down to his boxers!

Before long we had to give in to tiredness, and we took ourselves off to our cabin and to bed.

[mandy_mccormac]

enjoying your report upto now glad you seem to have got rid of the pain.
Looking forward to reading more

[Maz]

Hello

[Guest]

DAY 4: Our first day at sea and formal night in Lumieres!

This is where the trip report could get messy …. unfortunately when I was on board I was so busy and so captivated by the whole experience so I actually took very few notes along the way …. so the trip report will largely be based on what photos I took and information from the Personal Navigator, alongside the snippets which may hopefully spring forth from my memory! Those of you who were there and who may well have better memories than I do, please feel free to correct me where necessary.

The first thing we did once we were up and dressed was head for breakfast at Topsiders .. where I had a fresh fruit platter and a danish pastry and Tony had his usual full works, how much food can you cram on your plate in one go breakfast! There is nothing in the world like eating your breakfast outside at Topsiders … with nothing to see but the endless ocean and the horizon, the sun shining down and this warm fuzzy feeling like all is well with the world.





After breakfast we completed a couple of decks of Fish Extender gift drop offs, which always takes longer than anticipated, particularly when I write down half the cabin numbers totally wrong.
We also had a good walk around the ship, just to acclimatise ourselves with everything and bask in that warm fuzzy feeling.








We spent a while browsing in the shops before it was time for a buffet lunch at Topsiders, although I can't remember what the theme was I can ssure you it was delicious.

Before long it was time for my jewellery class, which Corinna had kindly volunteered to host for the ladies on our cruise thread, after we had been so impressed with her jewellery making skills. The class was great fun, and I managed to successfully produce a phone charm, a bag clip and half a necklace for villains night which was to come later in the cruise. The best part was chatting to the other DIS girls and it was difficult to concentrate on the task in hand because we were just into the chatting ! Here we are in action:



Tony came along at the end of the jewellery class to escort me to our next event, a presentation by Don Williams, a Disney artist. This was incresdibly interesting as he gave a talk about how he mananged to get into Disney as a artist and it was not without a lot of effort and determination. While talking he was sketching Disney characters, and the sketches were given away in a raffle at the end.



Disappointingly we were not the recipients of a sketch, but it was an very interesting way to pass an hour anyways. After the presentation we popped to the shop to sign up for a personal session with Don Williams, but alas this was not to be our lucky day, as all the slots were taken. We will have to be a bit quicker next time.

We decided to go up on deck where we sat and chilled for a while with a frozen cocktail and watched the ocean, before it was time to go and get ourselves scrubbed up ready for formal night.

With a bit of time and effort we were tarted up and away to watch Twice Charmed …. a lovely Disney production based on Cinderella, which I have seen before but it was still lovely to watch, and of course good triumphed over evil and Cnderella and Prince Charming lived happily ever after as so they should.



We then headed to the atrium for the Captain's reception, where we got together with a few of our friends and had a couple of delicious drinks which the cast members were passing roundbefore we all headed in for dinner in Lumieres.

Mickey:



For dinner I had the appetiser, Princess Madeleine Salmon Royal, slices of salmon with a honey dressing, followed by radicchio and endive caesar salad. Entree was the baked fillet of turbot with garlic smashed potatoes and sauted fennel which was really delicious, and for dessert I chose the sweet temptations – miniature servings of tiramisu, lemon cheesecake and chiled chocolate souffle.




After all of that I was well and truly stuffed. I took some photos of our tablemates :

Lynne and Len:



Morag and Gus:



Michael and Michele:



Us:



Lovely light fittings in Lumieres:



After dinner was over we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre to watch the cabaret which was Jimmy Tamley, and from what I can remember he was very entertaining. After the show we took our usual turn around the deck and then walked around the ship taking photographs before heading to bed.