All at Sea: DCL UK Staycation Day 1 - 20 Aug 2021

[Gill H]

Apologies that this is so late - life got in the way, and therefore my memory is a little short on some details by now. Regardless - enjoy!

<<Travel day

Despite the fact that our Port Arrival Time (PAT) was not until 12:45pm, we were up bright and early at 7am and soon down for breakfast. Lots of people in the restaurant were wearing Mickey ears, Disney-themed t-shirts and even Disney masks. It was easy to tell we weren’t the only ones heading for the Magic. As always with a Premier Inn, the food was good quality and although we do prefer it cooked fresh, which wasn’t possible at this time, we were impressed with the way the buffet was managed. And of course the staff were super friendly and very helpful.

We headed out to explore a little of Southampton and pick up a few minor essentials along the way. We didn't try the helter skelter though!

We ended by relaxing with a coffee in what must be one of the last remaining branches of Carluccio, where we treated ourselves to some slices of toasted pannetone, before heading back to the room to chill for a while.

We’d booked a taxi for 12:30 but had to check out by 12, so went and waited in the bar. We knew that you shouldn’t arrive earlier than your PAT time and had read of the long queues which had been caused by people doing that. However, our taxi arrived at 12:15 so we didn’t really have much choice. We had a nice chat with the taxi driver, who it turned out had spent 6 weeks living in our town a few years ago! He enjoyed reminiscing about his favourite pubs and places to go. Not that we had much time for chat, because the journey was literally 10 minutes. We were glad we hadn’t tried walking it with luggage though, as there were some big roads to cross and tricky paths to negotiate.

However, it did mean we were at the port by 12.25 - much earlier than we intended. There were no queues though, and the baggage handling staff beckoned us over with a cheery wave. We had soon checked our cases in and were told to go straight through to have our LFT tests done. Again, no queue at all and the tests were very quickly dealt with. We were then told to go through and find a seat while we waited for our results. The hall was laid out with rows of chairs on both sides, facing a set of Disney character posters. It did feel rather like we were coming to a wedding, and we joked about whether we should sit on the bride or the groom’s side.

A helpful member of staff found us some seats, and in no time at all our emails arrived, confirming that our tests were negative and we were safe to travel. Yay, it was really happening at last! We were soon through the hallway and up to the desk where we showed our documents and were sent through to the gangway.

[Gill H]

Soon we were sanitising our hands and waiting to step into that beautiful atrium. A CM asked our family name (he turned out to be the hard-working David, a member of the entertainment crew who we would see several times over the next few days). And with that. David announced “Disney Magic, please welcome aboard the Hothersall family!” and we walked in to a round of applause. I know it’s a small thing but it really does make you feel you’ve arrived at your happy place.

Arrangements for boarding were slightly different on this cruise as they were asking people to stand on particular marked areas in the atrium. Once they had filled all the spots, there would be a little welcome and then we would be escorted through to the next stage of the process so another group could come in. We were shown to a spot right near the stairs, but when we saw a family behind us, we offered to swap places so the children would have a better view. They were thrilled a few moments later when Captain Mickey and Captain Minnie came down the stairs and welcomed us with a song and dance. This was a nice little touch and again, it added to the whole feeling of magic from the moment we boarded.

Next we were sent through to Fathoms where we were shown how to turn off roaming and get full access to the DCL app. I think they could have made the process a little clearer (or maybe we were just particularly clueless) as it turned out we didn’t activate all the facilities – we didn’t set a PIN for charging and so weren’t able to tip on the app or make a placeholder for another cruise without going to Guest Services. But that didn’t become apparent until later.

It was now about 1:30 and we were told Rapunzel’s Royal Table was open for lunch, so in we went.

This had changed since our previous cruise, as it was still Carioca’s back then. The restaurant was stunning, decked out in Rapunzel’s signature purple and gold, and with little references everywhere to symbols and characters from Tangled.

Our servers were lovely although I don’t remember their names (they weren’t our regular evening servers). We mentioned to one of them that we had spotted our previous assistant server, Amphie, and wanted to say hello, so later on she came over. Of course, she probably didn’t remember us from 3 years ago, but it was nice to see she was still around and had been promoted to server.

[Gill H]

The lunch menu felt very similar to its previous incarnation, however, and not all the menu items fitted the theming. To start, Peter had the empanada with red chimichurri.

I had the seafood and chicken gumbo.

Both were nice enough, though not especially hot (which was to become a theme over the cruise, as it had been last time). To follow Peter had a chicken Caesar salad, which he enjoyed.

I went for the muffuletta sandwich. I wasn’t a fan of this at all, I’m afraid, it was much too dry. I really don’t like the American style of huge layers of meat or cheese in a sandwich, and would much prefer them to be broken up with some salad or dressing.

Peter finished the meal with a cookies and cream cheesecake.

I chose the Welcome Aboard sundae, which featured vanilla ice cream, pecan caramel cupcake bites and a butterscotch sauce. They had me at caramel…

[Gill H]

By now it was 3pm, we were very full, and slightly regretting having had such a big lunch when we would be back there at 6pm for dinner. Our next task, though, was to complete the muster drill. This was being organised in a different way due to the current restrictions. Usually everyone goes to their designated point at the same time and is shown what to do in an emergency; but this time we were told where our designated point was when we boarded, and we just needed to go to it at some time that afternoon and scan in with our cruise app, to show we knew where it was, and then watch the safety video on the app.

Our muster point was near Cabanas, so just a quick trip up in the lift. We scanned in, watched the video and then walked through the atrium, spotting another welcome show on the way.

We took a relaxing stroll round deck 9 to remind ourselves where everything was, ending up in Cove Café for a lovely coffee. They had redesigned the café since our last cruise and it was really beautiful and relaxing. And we even had characters on our lattes – although they ran into problems with the Mickey one.

They also don’t seem to give out that really salty biscotti biscuit any more, which was a relief as we didn’t like them! After a while, Peter nipped out to the loo and on his way back he ran into the lovely vloggers Adam Hattan and Gary C!

If you haven’t come across them, they are two friends who do lots of Disney trips together and their videos are great fun. They vlogged this cruise too, so do have a look (once you have watched our videos of course!)

[Gill H]

We’d been told our stateroom would be ready by 4pm, so nipped down to deck 7 and soon found stateroom 7124, with our cases outside, and the room key cards in an envelope on the ‘fish’ outside the door. It was the first time we’d had a verandah – our previous stateroom was a deluxe interior on deck 2, but we had gone for a verandah this time so we could have somewhere to get a bit of fresh air with our masks off. Although by the time we sailed, they were letting us take them off when outdoors anyway. Still, our ‘navigator’s verandah’ was very nice, sheltered from rain and wind but with a chance to enjoy the view and some fresh air. At this point, though, the floor and seats were very wet – whether from rain or cleaning we weren’t sure. So we didn’t risk sitting out there just yet.

The stateroom was as lovely as expected, with plenty of storage space, the useful split bathroom with lovely H2O+ toiletries, and of course all those little Disney touches such as the maps on the lamps showing the various Disney castles and ships. There was an announcement over the tannoy saying that the safety video would be played on our stateroom TVs, so we watched it again just to make sure. Then we took some time to get ourselves unpacked and have a rest before getting changed for dinner.

Our stateroom host was a guy called Wibi, who was very friendly and helpful. He soon sorted out the issue with the water on the verandah, and by the time we had finished dinner all was fine.

So, back to Rapunzel's Royal Table.

[Gill H]

We were table 20.

It was at this point that we met our servers. This is going to sound bad but after all this time I honestly can’t remember their names! But they were two lovely guys who couldn’t do enough to help us. A photographer came round during all the meals too, which I don’t remember happening often last time.

I had the non-alcoholic drink of the day, and Peter ordered a Coke as usual. The bread service was accompanied by butter served in Rapunzel’s frying pan.

I started with the ‘crisp Arendelle shrimp’. I guess the connection is that Rapunzel and Flynn can be seen in the crowd at Elsa’s coronation – ehh, flimsy but whatever. The shrimp came with pea puree, fried potato, pancetta and pea shoots, as well as a lemon, tarragon and caper mayonnaise. It was light and delicious.

Peter skipped the starter and chose the Flynn Rider platter for his main course – very German indeed as it was mostly pork. Grilled smoked pork loin, roasted smoked pork belly, bockwurst sausage, braised red cabbage, fried potato dumpling and a red wine sauce. The only difference is that if we had actually been in Germany the portion would have been huge!

I went for a lighter main course – angel hair pasta (see what they did there?) tossed in pesto with caramelised scallops, roasted tomatoes, sun-dried tomato tapenade and a roasted Meyer lemon. This was honestly one of the best dishes I ate on this trip. I know many people found the food at Rapunzel’s not to their liking, and I would agree much of it was heavy and hearty as you would expect from a German influenced menu. But I think I chose the best main course. The scallops were perfectly cooked and the pasta was so tasty.

For dessert, Peter went for the warm ‘braided’ apple strudel. German influence – check. Reference to hair – check. It was served with ‘vanilla sauce’ aka custard, and butter pecan ice cream (not sure that ties in too well, but it was nice, so hey).

I chose the Gothel Black Forest Tower. This one hit all the right notes, being a version of black forest gateau in the shape (ish) of a tower, with a chocolate cream and cherry compote. Delicate and delicious.

During the meal there was a small show featuring Rapunzel, Flynn and some of the thugs. It was fun, but very much depended on you having a good view. Fortunately we were in a great location, but others weren’t so lucky. Still, the lantern parade was lovely, even though they weren’t able to go as near to the guests as they usually do.

[Gill H]

After dinner we posed for some photos in the atrium before browsing in one of the shops for a while.

Mickey’s Mainsail had a short queue to get in, whereas White Caps had a huge queue. I had honestly never seen people queuing for the shops before, and I gather it was very much a feature of the staycation cruises. Sadly there were supply problems and the range of merch wasn’t as big as usual, but there weren’t many things we really wanted anyway, so we just had a browse at this point.

Then we went up to deck 10 to watch ‘Freezing the Night Away’. We had read that this was a good spot. Most people were on deck 9 in front of the stage, and although they had been told to keep to their designated spots, it wasn’t always easy with excited children. We were above the action and had a great view.

The show was a Frozen-themed dance party which was good fun. And we even had a photographer come round to us there too.

After the show we went to O’Gills for a general trivia quiz, which we won (not that there were many others playing so it wasn’t that hard!) Our prize was two DCL keychains. I decided to try a Konk Cooler which was a cocktail I had been recommended. It’s not on the official menu but apparently it is usually served at Castaway Cay, and all the bartenders know how to make them. It was fruity and delicious. Peter went for a pint of Stella instead.

Then we moved on to Keys piano bar to listen to Tim Moss at the piano for a while.

Peter had a Manhattan and I had a Pomegranate Martini, which we sipped slowly, knowing how much they cost!

We met Robyn and Simon, who we know from inviting them as guests on the Great British Mickey Waffle podcast. I also own several of Robyn’s hair bows and masks – check out her website Sew Tiki for details. She was kind enough to give me a scrunchie for my hair too.

Wandering back to our room we found that tonight’s towel animal was a crab. We then decided, in the grand tradition of cruises, that what this evening needed was more food. We phoned to order the ‘All Hands On Deck’ cheese platter. Last time we asked for one of these, they brought two, but this time it was just the one as requested. It was plenty between us, and nice to enjoy on our verandah before we turned in.

We phoned again to order coffee and pastries for the morning, as we wanted a light breakfast before our Palo brunch.

And with that we climbed into our superbly comfortable bed and were gently rocked to sleep. See you tomorrow, folks.

>>Day 2

[MrsBC]

Great start - I wanted to go on a staycation cruise as we've cruised on the Magic before - but DH wouldn't be persuaded! He happily agreed to book 'warm' cruises though and we now have 2 to look forward to instead if 2022 is good to us!

[Hels80]

Looks like a lovely first day!

[Lizzim]

Fab first day, do you have any cabin photos later in the trip?