Day 19 –
Board the Disney Magic!
We have all been looking forward to this relaxing portion of our trip after having many days packed full of stuff to do. It will be very nice to have an easier pace for this part of our trip.
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| An eerily empty tube station |
The very first taxi in line was a van large enough for all of us. There was also a person there offering a Disney shuttle bus to the ship. Someone who doesn’t research as much as we do, would likely have walked to it and paid $10 per person for the short ride. I’m pretty sure the taxi ride for the seven of us didn’t cost as much as one person on the shuttle.
With over 1000 Platinum members on this cruise, reservations have been tough to come by even though we’re the second highest return cruiser status- Gold, and we’ve tried to reserve since opening day.
The rest of
the afternoon was a relaxing day by the pool and then the Sail-a-Wave party on
deck. A very fun way to start the
cruise! The Magic feels like home to us, and we all jumped right into doing what we wanted to do. At this moment for the kids that meant swimming and getting soft serve ice cream on deck.
For me that meant watching the kids have fun, taking pictures, looking at the Navigator (activity schedule), and getting a Drink of the Day.
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| Only brought a couple magnets but were gifted many |
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| The White Cliffs of Dover |
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| Dover Castle |
Our dinner was at Rapunzel’s Royal Table which is new since the last time we sailed on this ship. The restaurant is decorated very nicely with lanterns. The food was good as usual and our servers (James and Francesca) seem very nice. They both have been excellent and have served the children more quickly than ever to allow them to get back to their kids’ clubs ASAP.
We skipped
the Be Our Guest show tonight. Ella, Zoe
and Zach all wanted to get straight to the kid’s club – they didn’t even wait
for dessert at dinner! I picked them up
at 10:30pm and they still didn’t want to leave. 
We only participated in one group this time because as the kids get older, they're less into it. It's tough to gift something teens will like. Also, we end up with SO much stuff that we couldn't possibly take it all home. Also we of course need to bring our gifts for others, which we've always creatively thought of a nice cabin gift that doesn't take up much space. This time, it took up the least space of all. We bought refillable popcorn buckets for each cabin and gave them a letter and $5 gift card to refill it three times. Actually it was impossible for us to find $5 gift cards so it ended up being a $5 bill. (The refill used to be $1.50 but I think it was slightly more. Whoops. Three refills was our good intention.)The kids were busy and we wanted to deliver our gifts before people bought their own popcorn buckets, so we bought ten buckets of popcorn (with lids) and made the deliveries by ourselves.
Day 20 – Portland,
England
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| Portland Castle |
We definitely weren’t ready for a port day yet, so we didn’t plan any excursions for today. The three youngest went to the kid’s club right after breakfast. The rest of us did get off the ship for a short while.
Portland is where the D-Day forces launched from and they have a small, but informative, museum there that we toured.
It was a good chance for Jacob and Max to learn a bit about World War II and to see some of the vehicles and equipment that were used. Part of the museum was a video of people from Portland talking about what it was like here during that time.
This museum encouraged touching and climbing into the equipment on display. Jacob put on the gear the troops wore as they stormed the beach. They carried about 80 pounds. It was powerfully moving for me when I internalized that many of the men were only 3-4 years older than Jacob that day.
The rest of
the afternoon was more pool time and movies.
It’s been a
challenge to get the youngest kids to leave the kid’s club each night. And then of course, Zach is hungry, even
though it 11pm! I seem to remember this
from last time. It’s been equally as difficult to
get Max to participate in his club. Although it’s posted as ages 11-14, they
told Jacob he wasn’t allowed in. That he should go to the Vibe (14-17) instead.
Jacob has done that a couple of times per day. Although Max won’t admit that
going without Jacob is what’s keeping him out, I’m pretty sure it is.
Day 21 –
Ringaskiddy, Ireland; "Time to Start the Dominoes"
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| Love my cappuccinos at Cove Cafe |
We were in
Ireland today. We booked a private tour
which worked out perfectly. We felt pretty special with a 20 person tour bus all to
ourselves.
Our driver took us straight to Blarney Castle, bypassing the line and inquiring whether other ship passengers had arrived yet. Nope, we were the first. Even so, we had an hour line to get to the Blarney Stone.
Our driver took us straight to Blarney Castle, bypassing the line and inquiring whether other ship passengers had arrived yet. Nope, we were the first. Even so, we had an hour line to get to the Blarney Stone.
It’s
posted as an hour wait, however most of the “wait” is climbing up and through
the castle. It wasn’t boring at all. We had information to read throughout the
whole line to the stone. Kissing the stone may be what people tell about, but
going through the castle was the cool part. They say sometimes the line is 3-4
hours long. Not sure how long it got that day once visitors from two cruise
ships arrived.
Blarney Castle was great. It was quite a bit smaller than most of the castles we’ve visited, but this one did the best job of describing what life was like in the castle. The line wound through the castle itself, so we had plenty of time to view each of the rooms and read most of the signs.
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| Looks like stained glass from outside, but is not glass |
We had to climb the spiral staircase up
through the castle. It was probably
about seven stories high and the line of people went all the way from the top
to the bottom of this narrow little staircase.
Zach and his brothers were in the front of our family, which put them
out of sight of us, and as they approached the top, we heard Zach say, “Time to
start the dominoes.” Not sure if he got
that from his brothers or if he thought of that himself, but it was pretty
hilarious. 
The wooden parts of the castle have rotted away or burned, but most of it was made of stone and that is in mostly good condition.
It seems like it would be impossible to attack this castle between the trap door in the front, the front gate itself, murder holes in the ceiling, and then the extremely tight stairwell.
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| View from Blarney Castle |
The Blarney Stone itself is at the top floor of the castle, on the
bottom of one of the turrets. Legend
says that the Blarney Stone is magical and will give the gift of eloquent
speech if you kiss it. Well, kissing it
isn’t that easy. It requires lowering
yourself backward on a stone wall and tilting your head way back. There are some bars embedded in the stone and
a helper to stop you from falling to your death. The kids and I all missed and ended up just
kissing the stone above it without realizing it. Kyrie went last and that’s when they made it
more clear that the Blarney Stone was the smooth one at the VERY bottom.  |
| Kissing the Blarney Stone |
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| Kissing the stone ABOVE the Blarney Stone |
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| Also above |
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| The Blarney Stone is above this window a bit to the left. |
I was also
impressed by the gardens and area surrounding the castle. It was very beautiful and well
maintained. There were flower gardens, a
poison garden, a jungle trail, the rock close (like an alley), a druid area,
and a fairy glen. We spent about 4 hours
there, but still didn’t see everything. 
After that our driver (from Paddywagon Tours) took us on a nice tour of the area for about 2 hours.
Our driver was a little dry, although very nice and accommodating. He is originally from Wales, to keep with the theme of having tours from foreigners rather than natives. He’s lived in Ireland for 16 years though, so I think that’s alright.
He
gave us a drive through tour of Cork. He offered to let us wander around the
shopping streets for a while, but the kids didn’t want to walk anymore after
the weeks of touring we’ve just done. He drove us up to a fort which had a nice
view down over Cork and across to Cobh where we were initially scheduled to dock.
I heard a Holland America ship whose captain was from this area was sailing
that ship into port for his first time that day. I’m sure that was a big deal
if it’s true.
Our last views of Ireland (and any land for quite some time!)...
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| The fort we were at |
The show
tonight was a magic show (which wasn’t very good). By the way, I guess this is a good time to
mention the couple things I actually don’t like about this cruise. First of all, of course, the magician, but
really, I’m probably just kind of hard to please about that. It would have to be a pretty amazing magician
for me to like it. Next, is John
Charles. He is a singer/comedian guy
that passengers seem to enjoy, but I don’t find him very entertaining. It would be fine, but he’s been on our last
three cruises and I would like to see someone else for a change! But, my biggest complaint, is that there
isn’t a daily lecture. On our previous
Transatlantic cruise there was a woman (Stacia Martin) who told a detailed history of the Disney theme
parks each sea day and on our Panama Canal cruise there was a man (Captain Puckett) who lectured
each sea day about the Panama Canal.
Those were some of the most interesting parts of those cruises and we
looked forward to those lectures each day.
This cruise does have the man who does the voice of Mickey Mouse (Brett Iwan,) which
I’m sure will be interesting, but he only speaks twice during the whole voyage
and there isn’t any other lecture on the other three sea days. I just think it’s a missed opportunity.
I’m not impressed with the cruise director compared to
the past either. He’s got a good personality, but I assume he’s responsible for
planning the entertainment. There’s not as much variety in the movies shown,
and the live morning shows are disorganized compared to when the women
directors hosted them. No biggie, just less impressed with this guy even though
others rave about him.
Okay, enough
complaining. I’m really having a great
cruise and I wouldn’t want anyone to get the impression that I’m anything less
than thrilled to be fortunate enough to have this great adventure! Agreed!
Day 22 – 1st
Sea Day
Today was definitely
a day of relaxing. Unfortunately, Zach
has a cold and wanted to stay in bed all day.
So, we took turns staying with him and then doing things around the
ship.
One of the
things we did was go to the Gold/Platinum Member reception.  |
| Commodore Tom Forberg |
The captain told us some statistics about the ship and future destinations. The ship’s Entertainment Director (not sure what the correct title is – or his name) Trent, gave us a behind the scenes look at the stage. They used a time-lapse video of the stage setup that goes on. Since, all of the set pieces for the cruise have to fit in a very small space they have to carefully place each piece in the exact right spot and in the exact right order. They also had a camera man go under the stage to show the small room that they use to bring certain pieces up to the stage during the show.
I spent some
time on deck and also went to see the new version of The Lion King. Kyrie went to a variety show in the
afternoon. It was a juggling
comedian. It was pretty entertaining, but I can tell why he’s not a headliner.
The dining
room staff was nice enough to send my dinner up to my room since I had to stay
with Zach. Disney really does an amazing
job of handling every situation. And, it
was lucky for me because the appetizer was a beet and goat cheese tower that
was – I’m not exaggerating – probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten. It was really that delicious. I told Kyrie that I would take a whole cruise
just to eat it again.
Dinner was at Rapunzel's Royal Table.
Tonight pub thugs met us at the door. They told Ella to keep that expression on her face all night, that she fits in with them. They were hosting a surprise party for Rapunzel. Our table happens to be right by the stage. That means we got extra attention from the pub thugs between sets.
It was part one of a two night dining experience. Four nights from now, when we rotate back to this restaurant, we'll finish her birthday party with the floating lantern celebration.
I guess the seas will not remain this calm for the whole voyage – before the show the captain announced that there is a hurricane foretasted to be in our path between Canada and New York on our last sea day. They are reviewing options in case they need to change course. That is still several days away, so things could easily change by then, but we’ll see what happens.
I guess
Jacob likes his club. It’s eleven
o’clock, which is late for us, and he’s still there. I’m glad he’s having a good time.
It’s kind of
hard to describe what makes a Disney cruise so special. Reading our blog, it probably doesn’t sound
like much and part of that is because I take a lot of it for granted. This is our sixth Disney cruise and I already
know how great the crew members are and I’ve already experienced so much of the
Disney magic before that I just feel like I’m repeating myself by describing
it. But there really is a remarkable
difference in a Disney cruise.
I’m sure
some of it is simply because they have tons of experience dealing with
families. Our stateroom attendant has
been perfect about getting our room taken care of at the most convenient times,
without us ever having to ask her. They
obviously always have something for the kids to do and of course they have many
activities that the family can do together.
So, we get a lot out of all of that.
Plus, I really think a big part of the difference are the passengers
themselves. There is such a comradary
between the passengers. Everyone has
something in common right from the start because everyone knows at least some
of the Disney characters. I get the impression many are even
bigger Disney fans than we are. The passengers are ready to have a good
time and they themselves add to the magic by decorating their cabin doors with
magnets, participating in gift exchanges, or even dressing as pirates on Pirate
Night. It’s really a great time for
young and old alike.
1700 of the 2500 passengers on this cruise are repeat
cruisers. More than 1000 have been on 6 or more. One lady is on her 93rd Disney
cruise! And another one has been on 60-something. I gave up going to the Disney
trivia contests because I can’t even get close to winning.
Day 23 – 2nd Sea Day
As always, I'm early to bed and early to rise. I enjoyed my quiet mornings watching the sunrise with a cappuccino from the Cove Cafe.
Our second
sea day was a busy one. The seas were
rough this morning, but then fairly calm.
We had a character breakfast this morning. The kids aren’t that impressed by the
characters at this point, but they posed for some pictures. It was one of the few breakfasts that we’ve
all eaten together since we usually all wake up at different times. 
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| Zach is feeling better today! Thor hammer! |
We all went
to the theater to watch the new Aladdin.
I’m tired of Disney making all of these live action versions of their
old cartoons, but I did like that one. I
would prefer some new, original movies instead of just remakes. I agree, but I did like Aladdin
and the Lion King. I look forward to seeing Dumbo too.
In the
middle of the movie, the captain announced our revised itinerary. To avoid the hurricane, they have decided
that they need to cancel our planned Canada ports completely. We instead, head directly towards New
York. We will spend the “Canada Days” at
sea and then park at New York City for the whole day prior to disembarking the
next day.
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| Rainy and windy morning |
This change won’t matter much to us, since we weren’t planning on doing much in Canada anyway, but I’m sure some others are quite disappointed. Plus, not everyone will be thrilled with having six sea days in a row.
It’s funny though, 30 minutes after this announcement, the rain had cleared and the sun was shining. I’m crossing my fingers that heading south to go around the hurricane brings warmer weather on the sea days than we otherwise would have had (even if there was no hurricane.)
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| Afternoon Snack |
Here's a tip for novice Disney cruisers, two of our most desired room service items are not listed on the menu and they are also no charge. We asked for unwrapped Uncrustables sandwiches before we disembarked in Ireland, We took them in our backpack in case the kids were "starving" when we weren't near food, or in the very likely scenario that Zach didn't want anything from wherever we ended up eating lunch.
But the Mickey bars are the real treat! I'll take one over the soft serve ice cream on deck any day!
This
afternoon, the man who does the voice of Mickey Mouse did a presentation. He is only the fourth person ever to do
Mickey’s voice and has been doing it for about 10 years. It was an interesting presentation.
Walt Disney of course was the
first voice of Mickey. I get choked up a little when they say Walt was
Mickey and Mickey was Walt. I think it’s cool that Brett Iwan who is the
current voice was not a voice actor or actor of any kind before trying out. He
was always a big Disney fan and it is his dream come true.
Walt Disney of course was the
first voice of Mickey. I get choked up a little when they say Walt was
Mickey and Mickey was Walt. I think it’s cool that Brett Iwan who is the
current voice was not a voice actor or actor of any kind before trying out. He
was always a big Disney fan and it is his dream come true.  |
| The kids' usual dinner |
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| The lobby decorated in Frozen theme |
The show
tonight was great! It was a hypnotist
named Ricky Kalmon. He hypnotized about
10 members of the audience. The
highlights were the guy who thought his shoe was Simba from the Lion King (and
held it up for all to see), and when several audience members did their best
renditions of lip syncing “Let it Go”.
Zach and Zoe thought it was the funniest things they’d ever saw.
I’m bummed I missed this show. I seriously could not
stay awake. I was in bed at 7:30pm and our clock read 6:30pm making it seem
even lamer. We gained another hour back for the third night in a row last night.
Our mousekeeper changes the clock at turn down service.
Also tonight
was the Character Campout, a chance for the younger kids to sleep over in the kids
club. I was reluctant to sign them up
because we’ve fallen for this a couple of times before. Last time, Ella and Zoe went. I assumed they would want to be picked up
before they even went to sleep. At about
midnight, I finally believed that they were really staying, only to get a call
a half hour later (once I was asleep) that they would like to be picked up.
Well, this
time they really did all stay the entire night – even Zach. They had a Descendants party and it sounds like they had a lot of
fun. Apparently, they even slept because
they didn’t seem that tired this morning.
I’m sure that changing our clocks back an hour for the third night in a
row has helped!
Day 24 – 3rd
Day at Sea
The seas
were quite rough last night. I woke up
quite a few times. I’m guessing that
we’ll have mostly rough seas as we get closer to the hurricane. They have tied up all of the speakers on the
top deck – probably to keep them from doing any damage if they break off. It rained some this morning and at one point
there was a fog (or maybe just sea mist blowing off the waves) all the way
around the ship. It looked really cool –
like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean.
The air has
definitely been warmer since we started heading more southward. The wind keeps it from getting that hot, but
it’s pretty nice. It’s been mostly sunny
today. Unfortunately, the rough seas are
keeping the pools closed. Zoe did go in
the hot tub though.
The voice of Mickey also likes to do Disney artwork...
The voice of Mickey also likes to do Disney artwork...
Jacob attended a drawing class with me. I don't know that we learned much, but I'm glad I got to hang out with Jacob!
While Zoe was relaxing, the rest of the kids went to the movie theater to watch Avengers: End Game. I’m glad they went, because Zach really wanted to go and I really didn’t want to have to watch it again – especially since it’s 3 hours!
Instead,
Kyrie and I got to read. It was a very
lazy day for us, which was nice.
I’ve been listening to this novel on Audible. I’m about
7 hours into it with 23 more hours to go! I usually choose nonfiction personal
development or business books. But I vowed to leave that stuff behind this
vacation. I’m enjoying this book (which I'll name later in the blog when I remember it) because the setting is England, France, and
Spain in a time period we just learned a little about during our recent tours
of castles and cathedrals on this trip. The stories include Mary Queen of Scots
and Queens Mary and Elizabeth Tudor. We saw where all three were laid to rest
in Westminster Abbey.
Tonight,
Kyrie and I had dinner at Palo, the upcharge restaurant on board. The kids ate on their own with our regular
dining staff. It was kind of funny,
because the staff and nearby tables said how good the kids were even though we weren’t there, but
the kids shook their heads and told us it didn’t go that well. They said that Zach was really cranky because
some of the vegetables got in his macaroni and cheese.
Zach has been really cranky about food the past couple of days. He’s already a very picky eater and now he’s tired of the macaroni and cheese and doesn’t want to eat anything except sugar. It’s going to be a challenge.
Tonight was
another Hypnosis show. It wasn’t quite
as fun as the first one, but it was still pretty good.
Day 25 – Day
at Sea #4
This morning
we watched Toy Story 4, which was a lot of fun!
The hypnosis
guy did a self-help kind of lecture today.
We also went
to another lecture from the voice of Mickey Mouse. The highlight of this one was that he brought
some people up from the audience to do some of the other voices. They were all pretty good!
Tonight was the continuation of Rapuzel's birthday celebration at dinner. Instead of thugs, they had musicians and Flynn Rider.
Tonight was the continuation of Rapuzel's birthday celebration at dinner. Instead of thugs, they had musicians and Flynn Rider. 
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| Zach with Flynn Ryder |
The kids apparently did a lot of crafts and face painting in their club today. Everyone is "busy" relaxing and doing what they enjoy independently and sometimes together. It's perfect for all of us.
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| The only thing worse than Zoe's crazy outfit was Once Upon a Song |
The show tonight was Once Upon a Song. With so many great Disney songs to choose from, I expected a lot from this show, but it was quite disappointing. The song selections were odd and even the good songs were almost unrecognizable because of the renditions.
Day 26 – Day
at Sea #5
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| Every sea day there's a live morning show that is somewhat entertaining |
This was the
day that we were supposed to be in Sydney, Nova Scotia. I didn’t really mind missing this stop
because we had this stop a few years ago, on a Sunday like today, and most of
the shops were closed and there wasn’t much to do. However, this is also where they would
normally pickup the next entertainers on the ship. So, they are improvising the entertainment
schedule a bit and apparently not even having anything in the main theater on
the last night except for a showing of The Lion King (which has been playing in
the movie theater on board all week).
This is odd because we will be in New York by then and you would think
they could find someone to bring on board for a night or at least play a
movie that hasn’t been playing in the movie theater on board all week.
Kyrie and I
had brunch at Palo today.
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| Cool photo opp today, but that's not our thing |
Anyway, I really enjoy Palo, especially their brunch. The service is generally outstanding and the food and presentation is excellent. I must comment though that since they produce good quality flatbread/pizza at Palo, they really should use the same crust for Pinocchio’s Pizzeria on deck. MSC spoiled us in this regard.
Ella and I played bingo. It was kind of fun, but we didn’t get very close to winning.
There have
been a lot of flying fish today. That’s
about the extent of the wildlife on this part of our vacation. There were some birds following the ship for
the first few days, but after that it’s just ocean out there.
Zach was
excited because Max took him to open house at the young teen club on board The Edge. Zach likes it better than Max does I think.
Speaking of our server, I have to give more praise to James. He's from the Philippines and has been working on the Magic for ten years. Our assistant server is Francesca from England. Her parents got to board the ship at our Portland port to spend some time with her. They have been excellent! Probably the best team we've had. I know I said Sunny on MSC was the best, but now these two have rivaled him. It's a tie!
They served the three young ones their meals quickly and offered desserts right away, which surprisingly our kids often declined, so they could get back to their club quickly.
I like a little decaf coffee with dessert, and Francesca remembered that every night after the first without me asking. James knew Max doesn't like cheese, and even when Max would forget to specify to hold the cheese, he would automatically do it. Same for me with seafood. For instance he knew there was an anchovy garnish on one of the dishes I ordered, and automatically made sure they left it of of mine. Understated and excellent!
Since I'm talking about service, Pa our stateroom hostess has been exceptional as well.
Tonight’s entertainment was a star from Broadway. She was in the Tarzan show (but maybe only in Germany?) That was better than I expected since I don’t really like that sort of thing. She really put together a complete show, with songs from each of the Disney On Broadway shows.
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| Jacob tried Oysters tonight |
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| The kids were genuinely impressed by our server's magic trick tonight! |
Speaking of our server, I have to give more praise to James. He's from the Philippines and has been working on the Magic for ten years. Our assistant server is Francesca from England. Her parents got to board the ship at our Portland port to spend some time with her. They have been excellent! Probably the best team we've had. I know I said Sunny on MSC was the best, but now these two have rivaled him. It's a tie!
They served the three young ones their meals quickly and offered desserts right away, which surprisingly our kids often declined, so they could get back to their club quickly.
I like a little decaf coffee with dessert, and Francesca remembered that every night after the first without me asking. James knew Max doesn't like cheese, and even when Max would forget to specify to hold the cheese, he would automatically do it. Same for me with seafood. For instance he knew there was an anchovy garnish on one of the dishes I ordered, and automatically made sure they left it of of mine. Understated and excellent!
Since I'm talking about service, Pa our stateroom hostess has been exceptional as well.
Tonight’s entertainment was a star from Broadway. She was in the Tarzan show (but maybe only in Germany?) That was better than I expected since I don’t really like that sort of thing. She really put together a complete show, with songs from each of the Disney On Broadway shows.
Tonight was
also Pirate Night. Everyone had a good
time on deck (and the weather was perfect).
Zach even danced a little – which was a complete change from the show on
the first day when he just stood still.
I managed to stay up and attend Pirate night! This is
only the second time in six cruises that have. It was fun! So cute watching
Zach sword fight using his tiny glowing sword against his “buds” big fancy sword.
Zoe spent the whole time trying to get the panning camera on her to see her own face on the big screen.
And it’s the first time I checked out the buffet afterward. I wasn’t hungry at all, just wanted pictures of the melon carvings!
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| Hungry for a turkey leg after not liking the oysters? |
Day 27 – 6th Day at Sea
This being our final sea day, I may have taken even more pictures of the sunrise. My usual view from the Cove Cafe was the one with the clouds pinking up. I could get a glimpse of the sunrise at the back of the ship, but nothing picture worthy. This morning, the sun was still rising when I went to get my eggs at the buffet, so I got a full view. 
The youngest
kids didn’t go to Toy Story the other day with the rest of us (because they
never want to leave the kid’s club,) so I took them to it this morning. We all enjoyed it.
Jacob took
Zach to the open house at the older teen club, Vibe, today. Zach was so excited when Jacob told him that
is where they were going.
While the others where watching Toy Story 4, Jacob and I went to the last live Morning Show and afterward, seeing the whole group of characters together, I persuaded him (easily) to get our pictures with them. This being a very desirable photo opp, they limit it to one photo per cabin. Luckily we have two cabins, since Jacob preferred his own photo rather one with just him and his mom.
While the others where watching Toy Story 4, Jacob and I went to the last live Morning Show and afterward, seeing the whole group of characters together, I persuaded him (easily) to get our pictures with them. This being a very desirable photo opp, they limit it to one photo per cabin. Luckily we have two cabins, since Jacob preferred his own photo rather one with just him and his mom.
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| The Cove (adult area) pool |
This really felt like the last day on the cruise. The commodore's noon announcement made it sound that way so much that Trent the cruise director got on right afterward to state that people can still reboard in New York and there was still "plenty" of entertainment.
All of the typical last day activities were scheduled today too like Friendship Rocks which is a show with the kids from the Oceaneers Club and Lab, Disney Dreams on the main stage, and I forget what it's called, but ALL the characters come out at 11 pm in the lobby for a big group photo opp (of them all together, not with them.) I assume so people could enjoy the time in NYC if they wanted to without missing these things.
At Animator's Palate tonight, we got to draw characters that become animated on the big screens before the end of dinner. We've done this many times before but it is always fun. Max drew Shrek and Marc drew the German burnt toast cartoon on his character's shirt. Zach's looked a bit scribbly not surprisingly, but it turned out to look really cool when it was animated.
Tonight’s
show was Disney Dreams. Just Zoe and
Ella went with me. I’ve seen that one
several times, but it was better than I remembered it being. We all enjoyed it.
Normally,
Disney always has a sea day for the last day on the ship. That’s how this one was supposed to be. Having a port day instead is messing up their
schedule. Instead of having the going
away shows on the last day, they are having them today. It’s kind of annoying, because it makes it
feel like tomorrow doesn’t even count.
Some people are
actually leaving the ship a day early, but probably mostly because Disney doesn’t have any real entertainment on the last day.
actually leaving the ship a day early, but probably mostly because Disney doesn’t have any real entertainment on the last day.
Kyrie and I have both been surprised by how much time Jacob as spent at his club. Most nights he is there until at least midnight. Jacob is definitely not outgoing, so it was kind of surprising. The youth staff on board is really good at getting the kids involved though, so I think that helped Jacob get past his shyness. Unfortunately, Max is in a different club, which he has barely gone to. We tried to make him go the first night when they introduce the kids to each other, but Max wouldn’t go and so he really never got to know any of the other kids.
We found out tonight that Jacob’s been doing a contest in his club. He gets points for accomplishing certain tasks. Tonight is the end of the contest and he said he needs to get a selfie with the Cruise Director to get more points. During dinner he was reviewing the schedule to try to figure out where he could ambush him to get the selfie.
Day 28 –
Parked in New York City
Well, Jacob
got the selfie with the Cruise Director last night and he won his contest. He won a coffee mug, but he’s pretty
competitive, so I’m sure just winning was the best prize.
We got to
New York early this morning. Kyrie and
Zoe woke up in time to see the Statue of Liberty while the ship was sailing by
it. Not sure why, but everyone has to
get off the ship and go through passport control – even if you are staying on
the ship. Overall, the process took a
long time, but we didn’t have to leave the ship until the very end, so we were
probably only off the ship for about an hour (mostly just waiting for them to
clear the ship).
It was
another very nice day outside. Plenty of
sunshine and warm weather – especially for the end of September. We spent most of the afternoon by the pool. I think the Funnelvision (the big movie
screen over the pool), is the best invention in cruising. There is always something to watch if there
is nothing else to do. I’m surprised
more cruise companies don’t do this.
By the way,
I’m all caught up on laundry. One of the
nice things about Disney Cruise Line is that they have several laundry rooms on
board. And, not sure if this was just
for the Transatlantic, but they gave us free detergent and free dryers
throughout the trip!
They did have one new entertainer tonight, but for some reason they didn't put it in the main theater. She was called "The Woman of a
Thousand Voices". She mostly did song parodies using different character voices. Some of the impressions were very good. It wasn't a great show, but it was better than watching The Lion King again!
Overall, this wasn't our favorite Disney Cruise, but it was still pretty great. The food and service were all excellent as expected - only the entertainment was lacking and part of that was due to the itinerary change which they could do nothing about. We definitely had a great time and look forward to more Disney Cruises in the future!
Click here for part 5
Enjoyed reading this...it gave me a memory worth reviewing...we did have a wonderful time on this Cruise...hated having to waste time leaving the ship then returning due to Hurricane
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