Our Magical Westbound Transatlantic Voyage: September 2010

[Maz]

Originally Posted by Jools

I don't know about that Maz. I seem to remember you and John off to socialise in the Cove cafe after dinner. I even went with you on one occasion. I've been thinking about the dining rotation too. I don't know what to go for early (so I can be greedy at the dessert party) or late, so I can loaf about at the pool until 6pm like I did most days last year. Ah decisions, decisions...

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Oh what problems. One of our US friends we met up with last month had just had early dining for the first time and wondered why she hadn't done it before. She loved it and having all evening to enjoy herself afterwards. She will be doing early from now on.

You know how long we managed to stay at the Geezer meet you came along to Jools , and it was like that at the few others we went to. by the way, that one was a little dire to be honest, perhaps it livened up after we went. A couple of times we got there and it had already finished(started at 10pm and it was after 10.30) and 2 other times they had drinks tastings in there. I did hear though that some nights they were the noisy group in there. Tut!

Originally Posted by DisneyPirate

Thats one thing I definitely want to do this time ... make it to one of the Cove Cafe night-time gatherings

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Goodness gracious me Sarah, you are far too young! You don't even reach the Geezer in Training category! However, you can go along as an official helper seeing as Tony will reach GIT status onboard!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Maz

Goodness gracious me Sarah, you are far too young! You don't even reach the Geezer in Training category! However, you can go along as an official helper seeing as Tony will reach GIT status onboard!

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If you ask me Tony has already reached GIT status a long time ago

[Maz]

Originally Posted by DisneyPirate

If you ask me Tony has already reached GIT status a long time ago

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[Guest]

Day 8 – Day at Sea:

Another incredible morning dawned on the Magic, Tony was up to the gym and I was really tired, despite the extra hour in bed. What is about doing nothing on board ship .. it really wears you out. However I got up and got all dressed up because this morning we were heading to our Palo brunch and I was very excited about that, because ever since I had joined the DIS and developed a peculiar obsession with the Disney Cruise Line the Palo Brunch was the one thing that everyone sang from the same hymn sheet about …. . and it was lengendary. On my first cruise, when I was in the humble position of being a non-castaway club member, I had failed to secure a Palo brunch reservation, but this time I had staked my claim in Rocking Bar D on embarkation day and victory was in sight.

Because our Palo reservation was at 11pm, we went for a latte at Cove Cafe at about 9am, but not wanting to make any dent in our appetities, we left any food well alone at this point.



This was to be a very sensible decision. Well what can I say about Palo brunch, I don't really think there are words in the English language that have been invented to describe the divine experience that is Palo brunch. We were welcomed and introduced to our server, Sylvester from India, who immediately made us feel relaxed and pampered. We were shown around the various delights on offer, and given a delicious champagne cocktail.











The food was amazing …. I started with a few nibbles from the appetisers selection, including fabulous smoked salmon and a lovely salmon mousse which I had with the melba toast.



After the appetisers we shared a pizza, which had one of the most perfect thin pizza bases I have ever had. After this I decided to hit the breakfast product selection where I had a warm cinnamon bun which was to die for, and some of the delicious stollen bread with whipped cream and strawberries.



Descriptions to do not do it justice. Both Tony and I decided to forgo the cooked meals, as we were already too full, and I wanted to leave room for some of the little desserts.

My selection:



Tony's selection:



We also had lovely coffee and Tony had a second glass of champagne. It was lovely to be in such a perfect place, looking out at the crystal blue ocean, while eating such delicious food in such amazingly relaxing surroundings, and being able to just chill and take our time. I loved it ! We must have wobbled out of Palo, and I am sure that is a familiar feeling to a lot of people reading this.

By now it was 1pm and time for the famous DIS Champagne girls get-togther. I whizzed down to the cabin to pick up my bottle of fizzy stuff and my pink feather boa. The party was being held in Sue's suite so a big thanks to Sue for this, as she willingly handed over her cabin to a motley crew of pink clad women, drinking champagne at a very early hour in the afternoon, who knew what would happen. Fortunately we were all on our best behaviour. A group photo was taken in one of the starirwells:



We must have looked a very strange sight to any passers by. The Champagne girls meet upw as a great success … I really enjoyed myself chatting to all the ladies face to face who I had been virtually chatting to for 2 years.









Our lovely hostess:




Once the Champagne Girls gathering was over, I met up with Tony who had just finished his beer tasting session in Animators:



to be continued ...

[Guest]

After wandering around the ship a bit more we headed to meet our tablemates Michael and Michele at the mask making session at 5pm.





We had brought a couple of masks with us but they had snapped in transit and so we were hoping to produce something half way decent for the masquerade ball which was being held that evening. It was surprisingly good fun making the masks, and we had a good giggle. Tony was exceptionally proud of his results.



As the glue was still wet we took the masks down to the cabin to hopefully dry before they were needed at dinner. So it was by now already time to get dressed in our purple and black themed villainous clothing and head to see the show “Villains Tonight”



This show was really fantastic, really upbeat and funky and the cast gave an amazing performance.









Once the show finished we dashed down and picked up our masks, which were still a little bit tacky with the wet glue, and we headed for a mingle in the atrium, and then to dinner …. the Villains Dinner, in Animator's Palate.



Cruella de Vil aka Kimberly was sitting nearby:



Our neighbours:



I particularly loved the music playing during dinner .. which was all of the villains' numbers from Disney soundtracks ! Dinner choices for this evening were: Appetisers : honeydew melon with prosciutto ( although I didn't eat the prosciutto, as it was too salty for my tastes ) and baby green salad. Entree – jumbo shrimp and porcini mushroom tagliatelle which was delicious and for dessert I chose the sweet temptations of sugar-free Raspberry Cheesecake, Maleficent's Ricotta Crčme Brűlée with Raspberries, and The Villains Chocolate Ending





Straight after dinner we headed to the atrium for the Villains Masquerade ball where the Villains from Villains Tonight were having a meet and mingle session with the guests.

[Guest]

The masquerade ball was actually nothing like a ball, more like watching the very energetic cruise staff dancing to cheesy pop tunes and party songs such as macarena, cha cha slide. What is it with DCL, they have all of the fantastic Disney soundtrack repetoire at their disposal and what do they come up with … the Macarena, the Cha Cha Slide and Hey Baby for goodness sake. It's the same at the sailaway party … drives me crazy. And surely they must know the definition of a Ball, just think Cinderella, Enchanted etc ….. the one thing Disney should know is how do throw a proper Ball. OK, I'm off my soap-box. Against my best intentions and probably because I had had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner mylegs somehow found themselves on the dance floor doing a very poor rendition of the Macarena with the very energetic cruise staff and the Queen of Hearts, a very surreal moment that was !



When I had embarrassed myself enough I returned to the safety of Deck Four and watched the festivities from above.



At the end of the night they cascaded millions of black and white dots of confetti down from the ceiling,





which was very impressive and very pretty but made an almighty mess,



and before the last piece of confetti hit the floor the cast members were out sweeping it up.



So the masquerade ball was a bit of a disappointment, but entertaining none the less, and I did take lots of photos of everyone in their masks.





After the party we popped into Rocking Bar D where there was some karaoke going on so we stopped and had a drink with some of our group Mandy, mark and Karen




Some of the singers were actually very good, so it was quite entertaining. End of the evening brought a lovely stroll on the deck for some fresh air and then to bed.

[M M]

Great report Sarah, it's great seeing people I know in your pics, can't wait for August

[Michelle]

Re-opended

[Jools]

Originally Posted by Michelle

Re-opended

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Thanks Michelle, I've just read it all again. I highly recommend this trippie for anyone wanting to get a taste for life onboard the Magic

[Guest]

Day 9 – Day at Sea:

We were up at 8am. This morning we had our character breakfast in Parrot Cay, so before breakfast I decided to go and do a spot of laundry, as we were getting a bit low on the unmentionables front.

Unfortunately laundry on board ship is not a quick process, and by the time I found the laundry room somewhere on Deck 6, there was already a wait for the machines. Two out of the six machines were not working which made it worse. Anyhow, I waited for as long as it took for a machine to become available, and then I loaded it up and headed out to join Tony for a quick coffee and stroll on the deck before breakfast. Before we were due to start breakfast, I whizzed down to the laundry room to see if my wash load had finished, but it was still going round. There was a lot of controversy going on in the laundry room as people were not taking their washing out once it had finished, and some other people had taken it upon themselves to remove the finished washing. I supposed that was fair enough, as people don't want to hang about in their all day.

I returned to Parrot Cay and ordered breakfast, then returned to the laundry room to transfer into the dryer, then back to breakfast. I ordered a Mickey waffle: -



The characters had arrived so we took loads of photos with them.








At the end of the character photos I whizzed back down to the laundry room and my washing had finished, so I took it back to the room and then went back to Parrot Cay where everyone was sporting imaginative hats, made from napkins and other items from the table / kitchen. I was relieved I had missed out on the hats!




After breakfast we decided to go and find somewhere to sit on Deck 6, as I wanted to relax and read a little, We grabbed two loungers close to the midships funnel and in the shade, as I don't like sitting in the sun. This was a lovely spot, until noon, when they blew the ship's whistle, and we realised we were mybe too close to the funnel for comfort. At 1pm we had arranged to meet Michael and Michele at the DVC social, although we were gatecrashing really as we don't own any DVC points. We played an interesting game matching people with things they had done or places they had visited, and had a very enjoyable Blue Hawaii cocktail. At the end of the session Michael disappeared and then reappeared with another tray of Blue Hawaii cocktails …

as I had not had any lunch yet, these were going to my head a little bit, but they were really very nice. Time to get some fresh air …..



The next thing on the agenda at 2:30pm was Tequila tasting for Tony, Len, Michael and Michele, but not for me, as I would have been under the table. I don't really like tequila so I just went along to watch. I did try a sip of a coffee tequila but it was gross. The others all got into the spirit of the session and seemed to enjoy the drinks...









and the hats ….



By now it was time for lunch so we went and grabbed some chicken strips / burgers and fries. Tony desperately needed to soak up all of that alcohol.

At about 3:30 pm we headed down to our room to prepare for the DIS room tour. This had been organised by Lynne and bascially involved us all meeting and wandering around the ship, checking out all the different categories of cabins. We were the CAT 11. I had decided I wanted to give out tradtionally British food samples and I managed to pick up a few bits in Gibraltar Morrisons, so I ended up with a selection of Bakewell Tart, Thorntons Toffee Cakes, Jelly Babies and After Eight Mints. Once it was all prepared we headed to Lynne and Len's cabin to meet up with the DIS group. It was incredibly crowded, so I popped back to our cabin to await the tour group.

Once everyone had been to our cabin in Steerage, we tagged along to see the other categories. I particularly liked the Navigator Vebrandah, the CAT 4 and the CAT 3 suite with the enormous balcony. After the room tour finished we all wandered along to Sue and Glenn's cabin where we chatted a while with some of the guys.

Before too long it was time to go and get changed for the show, which this evening was the comedy of Heath Hyche. To be honest we didn't get this at all and maybe this was just a cultural thing, but I really didn't think he was at all funny. The funniest thing was watching all the other guests who clearly thought he was hysterical.

Dinner was in Parrot Cay and the menu was entitled Flavours of the Mediterranean. I had the appetiser of Spanish Melon Cup, followed by Frisee Salad. Main Course was Herb Crusted Monkfish and I chose Barcelona Sundae for dessert, which was made with butterscotch ice cream and was delicious.

After dinner we headed to see the premiere of the movie “You Again” in the Buena Vista Theatre, but we managed about half an hour before we started to nod off .. not that the movie was slow or anything, it was actually quite good, but we just had zero stamina. The seats were also a bit cramped for Tony's legs and he was quite uncomfortable sat at the back. We decided to call it quits and headed to the cabin to bed. These sea days were really taking it out of us, despite the extra hour each day.