Category: Cruise

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Transatlantic Cruise May 2013 – Day 5

Today we get to see land, a rarity on this trip, as Today is Castaway Cay day.

After breakfast we returned to our original room and were pleased to find the toilet fixed. We got ready and disembarked at about 10am.

On the walk to the beach we stopped to get pictures with Pluto (on the beach) and Minnie (at Mount Rustmore). At each one the cruise staff loved my Snow White Villains top with the apple and old hag.

Paul had jet biking booked for 11, so we found a spot on the beach for me to settle into whilst he went. I sat and listened to music in the heat. It was overcast but still really hot and humid. I looked up at one point to see a Disney ship out at sea. Confused, I looked to port and thankfully Magic was still there, so what was this Disney Ship out at sea? I grabbed the camera and headed down the beach. Taking a few pics and zooming in I saw it was the Disney Dream. She came all the way to port and we had our very own battle of the horns. Magic with her one and only “When you wish upon a star” and Dream with her full repertoire. It was a little hard to hear as the wind carried the sound, but still great to witness. Dream stayed only a few minutes before heading back out to sea. As I listened to some more Les Miserables soundtrack on my iPod, I tried to drown out the crab racing noise of folks yelling and the cruise staff shouting over the mic. I still seemed to hear that “King Crab” won.

Paul returned from jet biking and after 30mins or so relaxing we went to get some lunch. Being on Magic, and it not being full, the island and BBQ seemed really quiet. We went to Cookies in the family area and got the usual fare. As we sat at our signature table (one on its own tucked away in the foliage) we saw a huge seagull frenzy after folks had left some food behind. It was ferocious and loud! As we sat there we heard more crab racing and would you know “King Crab” won again. I reckon he’s sussed the deal – smart crab.

After lunch we walked around to “Heads Up” Bar, our usual afternoon stop. We took a quick stop to watch Pelican Plunge then sat at the bar and watched the snorkelers. I sipped on my usual Piña Colada whilst Paul had a cold Bud. We were leaving port at 3:30, quite early, but needed to get across the Atlantic apparently. After a quick look in the shops we got the tram back to the ship at just after 2:30.

After last nights debacle we had a meeting with Alex the Guest Services Manager when we got back on board. He met us at Guest Services and was very apologetic, in agreement that our treatment was not what was to be expected of a Disney Cruise and said he was still investigating what happened and there would be action taken. His customer service was superb it has to be said and after firstly offering us our Palo visits on the house he eventually gave us some onboard credit to compensate for our inconvenience. He offered his services 24 x 7 and has indeed called us since then to check all is ok.

After the eventful night we were a little sleep deprived so decided to take an afternoon nap ahead of dinner. Dinner was back in Lumieres. I’m afraid I actually can’t remember the starters ( I think it’s old age setting in) but I do know we had sirloin steak with walk the plank butter for main course, which was flavoured and spiced butter that Paul loved and had extras of x three! For dessert I had the Maleficant creme brûlée and Paul had a chocolate cake.

After dinner we went to the shops where Paul’s top, the black and white equivalent of what I’d worn in the day, was equally as popular. We also discovered after chatting to the staff that many people were asking for the transatlantic polos and hoodies. When the shop said to didn’t sell such items guests were insisting they’d seen people wearing them. Of course what they had seen was Paul’s shirts as distributed on day 1. Oops. Paul bought a really stylish Disney watch and I have got some t shirts, a ring, another Disney bead for my bracelet and a silver ship charm to wear as a pendant (so far :-)). Oh yeah, we’ve also bought a Vinylmation and some pins along the way, not sure if I’ve mentioned those.

Since it was villains night and we’ve seen that show a few times we decided to skip it. Instead we went to sessions bar to listen to David, a scouse singer and guitar player. After playing Cat Stevens we ribbed him for playing BoyZone (since the song was Father and Son) and he kept having to control his giggles during his set.

Still tired from the day and constant hours we have to add on each night we turned in. I blogged for a while meaning we were still up until after midnight.

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Transatlantic Cruise May 2013 – Day 4

True to form the day started with room service brecky at half 8. No order issues this time and the same chap delivering so he now chats with us. We were out by 10am and off to our first trivia of the day; Disney theme tunes. After about 5 questions we felt really smug thinking we were doing so well. Even with our debate about what movie the song reflections was from, which Paul insisted was Pocahontas but I knew was Mulan, we figured we were well in it to win it. We were so wrong. As they were scored we had got so many wrong and ended up with an appalling score. Still, we met some new friends, an older American couple who were travelling with their pink haired daughter who we getting married. Straight after the tunes trivia was another Cruisin’ for Trivia. Our Chicago friends Shaila and Apurva joined us some had some reasonably intelligent and knowledgable folk between us. We stormed the science questions about chemical names and bones of the body and again thought we must be in with a shot at winning. This time we were close, second I think, but second is not winning.

It was now time to go eat (all we do is quiz, eat and sleep). We opted for the Cabanas equivalent buffet, Top Siders but the choice was poor so again ended up with pool deck hot dogs and fries. We chilled out for a while on sun loungers (I completed your first 3 days blog for posting) then I headed off to the spa. I had a manicure and pedicure which was as good as always. Paul met me afterwards telling me he’d actually won some trivia on his own. It was general knowledge and despite only getting 11 out of 25 the others were clearly not very knowledgable as this was the winning score. Another damn keychain added to the collection.

We headed back to our cabin for my feet and hands to totally dry ahead of getting ready for dinner. Tonight our Boston table mates were at Palo so there were just the four of us. The restaurant was Parrot Cay which is a dreadful tacky mix of a Mexican restaurant and the Tiki room at Magic Kingdom. It’s being changed as part of the refurb as apparently no one liked it. To start I had pulled pork on a pizza bread base, followed by a chilled pineapple and coconut soup. Paul had a shrimp salad, eating all of the shrimp but leaving every shed of salad. For mains we both had the rib steak which was very tasty and tender.

After dinner guess what we did? Yep, trivia. We’d arranged to meet Shaila and Apurva again as we were reigning champs but when we got there it was trivia with a difference. The room was divided into 2 halves with each half being a team. Each team then nominated a runner to represent the team and run up with the answer. We nominated Apurva who did a great job hurling himself at the buzzer in the middle, flying across the room and sliding along the floor. Sadly though, the other team knew more answers so yet again we lost.

It was now show time and tonight was a comedic juggling act. He was a really good juggler and got a lot of audience members on stage making fun of them to provide the amusement and comedy value. It was an OK show. Afterwards we took a walk on deck 10. We were actually anchored at Freeport as we’d stopped for fuel. We could see loads of tankers around us and the lights of a Carnival ship in port. We did a complete circuit of the ship with Paul taking a few pics along the way. After this we decided to turn in and go to bed. Now you’d think this would be the end of the days blog but actually it’s not. Sadly there was some late night drama for us. It happened about 2:30 am with Paul waking me up to tell me the toilet was broken. The flush wouldn’t work and the bowl was full of water. An inch or so away from flooding. We called guest services who sent a housekeeping guy. He obviously could not fix it and told us we would need a plumber the next morning and in the meantime use the public toilets a deck down! Not finding this acceptable Paul got back on the phone to guest services. About 15 minutes later an engineer arrived. He was in a small technical room next to our cabin for about 10 minutes before he too announced he couldn’t fix it. Paul was back on the phone again, by now on first name terms with Elanor at tho the end. He explained it wasn’t good enough but all we could be offered was another cabin. So, at about 3:30 am we trudged along the ship and up a deck to another room (me in my pjs I might add). We did manage to get some sleep and use the toilet :-). We had breakfast on order as ever so Paul rang Elanor one more time to ensure it came to our new room. It turned up on time with our resident sever.

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Transatlantic Cruise May 2013- Day 3

Breakfast arrived as ordered at 8:30. To begin with it was the wrong order but he very quickly swapped it. Toast, cereal, bagels, croissants, donuts, juice and tea. Yum. We headed out just before 10am and went to our first trivia. This was cruisin’ for trivia, a multiple choice general knowledge quiz. Despite the multiple choice we still did pretty badly so moved on. After a quick wander around the bar area it was time for trivia number 2; television theme tunes. We spotted a couple from Paul’s online group; Shaila and her husband. A really nice young couple from Chicago. They’d had t shirts from us the day before. Together we made a formidable team and won, my LA Law answer being the clincher. Feeling victorious we decided to get some lunch. We opted for the deck fast food with hot dogs and chips again. We sat in the quiet cove area to eat once more. Afterwards we both had ice creams and sat in the sun at the back of the boat. This time I applied sun cream! After this we headed back to the room where I blogged from the balcony and Paul took a siesta on the bed.

Before dinner we thought we’d try one more trivia which as Disney trivia in the Diversions bar. We were on our own for this one and with no help reverted to our previous form of doing badly. Now dejected we went back to our cabin to get dolled up for formal night.

We were first to arrive at dinner this time but were quickly joined. There were just the 6 of us again and the chap from El Paso was in full Scottish regalia, kilt, sporran, the lot. Dinner was a princess menu, another new one to us. Starters were duck quesadilla for me and sausage and potato casserole soup for Paul. I then had a Caesar salad. Mains were steak for Paul and lamb medallions for me. The lamb was really nice. Desserts were chilled chocolate soufflé for Paul and banana bread and butter pudding for me. With these full 3 meals a day I figure I’m gonna gain a few pound to trip 🙁

After dinner we went to a piano bar to listen to a guy playing movie and show themes and you had to guess them (in a very informal non competitive way). After his 45 minute set it was off the the theatre for tonight’s show. We forgot about the signers and sat at the back again. This was a full Disney production called “Twice Charmed”. It was a play on the Cinderella story and was really good. As ever, the characters were running up and down the aisles so we got to see both Cinders and Prince Charming up close.

After the show we turned in again. We start to add an hour on each evening now so it will help us stay up later and get used to eastbound jet lag gradually. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we also booked next years cruise; a 14 night Westbound transatlantic in September. We are going to then take a week in Orlando making it a 3 week trip. It’s kind of for our 10 year anniversary (although we know that’s this year). We’ve also asked for a concierge suite to make it special but are waiting for availability.

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Transatlantic Cruise May 2013 – Day 2

We had to be up at 5:15am and despite the late night and less than 8 hours I was surprisingly awake. I had ear ache though so was struggling to sleep. We got up about 5:15, got ready, packed and left. Shuttle buses were parked outside and we took the one to our terminal. The airport was very empty and quiet and we got curbside check in. It was then up an escalator into the terminal and straight through security. Our gate was the literally the other side. All such a far cry from 12 hours previously.

We got some breakfast at Burger King then waited at our gate. We boarded on time and had business seats right at the front of the plane. The flight was an hour and it seemed no sooner we were up that the belt sign was on again to land. We landed early by about 15 mins. We were off and out (domestic so no immigration or customs) and at baggage claim in minutes. Sadly our luggage wasn’t so we had to wait. As we did so we looked for our driver. We had booked a private limo to the port and had been told our driver would find us in the baggage claim. As our bags came off and we began to put the DCL tags on them I spotted a guy with a clip board saying Paul Brenan (no typo by me there I assure you). He took us to the car and loaded our luggage (which from inside the car sounded like a bit of a mission for him). At about 11:45am we were off to Galveston. I had another 40 winks on the way, the journey taking about 1 hour 15 in total.

As we arrived into Galveston it was very much an industrial port but we spotted
Magic. We were dropped off and after a bit of repacking we headed in. After the usual security there was a short line to check in, during which the lady behind us suddenly said “are you Paul?”. She wasn’t psychic but had spotted his embroidered shirt that he had been selling to a group online. After another line to board (the system was not as good as Port Canaveral) we were finally aboard the Disney Magic by about 12:30. Since cabins are not accessible until 1:30 we decided to drop our black Vinylmation with gold and silver sharpies at guest services for signing and to get some food. We went to the Quiet Cove on deck 9 and got some hot dogs and fries. We saw a couple of folks from Paul’s online group. Team t shirts made them easy to spot. Paul was finally getting to put faces to names, some online user names not even actual names.

At 1:30 we made our way to our cabin. It’s slightly different to Dream and Fantasy and even being at the back our balcony is not as big as the cabin at the back on Dream. We don’t have loungers like we did there, just chairs and a table. Within half an hour our luggage turned up so we took the opportunity to unpack fully. It’s nice to finally not be living out of a suitcase. Paul had arranged to be at his group’s meet and greet at 2:45 so armed with a suitcase full of t shirts and hoodies we wandered down. There were loads of people gathering and many introduced themselves as we handed out shirts and ticked them off the list. Too many names to remember although a mix of Brits and Americans; a really friendly bunch too. We only stayed for about an hour before heading out on deck. We looked over the dock from the promenade deck as we sat in port then at sail away time moved up to the quiet cove. I had my first piña colada as we basked in the warmth. Being on early dinner we headed back to the room about 5pm to get ready.

As we found our table in Lumieres there were already 2 couples at the table. It was a table for 8 but no others ever turned up. Lumieres is a nice restaurant, akin to Royal Palace on Dream. Our table mates consist of a couple from El Paso; American chap and his wife from Japan and a couple from Massachusetts. They were quite chatty and friendly. Dinner was a new menu to us. I had bruschetta to start with prosciutto and mozzarella and Paul had a spicy chicken wrap. Mains we both opted for the sirloin steak which was tasty although a little tough. Paul then had the creme brûlée for dessert whilst I had a coffee and pistachio mousse. We had taken our tetley tea bags with us so had a nice brew to finish. The Japanese lady was a big tea fan and had a nifty portable tea strainer device that she used to ensure she had her Fortnum and Mason earl grey leaves.

After dinner we looked around the shops. I picked up another charm from my bracelet and we got a new cruise line Vinylmation. The show was at 8:30 so we had a 20 minute or so wait until doors opened. We got seats near the back by the sound desk. The WD theatre on Magic is all one level so no balcony. We were both absolutely shattered and considered ditching the show but eventually persevered. It was a welcome aboard so nothing special but ok. We have signers at the front of the theatre so may sit there for the added entertainment.

As soon as the show was over we wanted our bed so got a drink and went back to the cabin. Paul wanted a bath but there was an issue with the plug. He called maintenance and apparently the guy came and offered another plug but I must confess I slept through all that! We both slept like babies.

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Transatlantic Cruise May 2013 – Day 1

Dallas Fort Worth sucks! Sorry to start with a negative statement but you’ll see why when you read on. Just to lift you up a little, we are safely on board, it’s Sunday and we’ just at our second trivia of the day. No wins yet though.

So, we flew out of Heathrow on Friday. We had separate seats on the upper deck in BA Club World but a nice chap opposite me agreed to swap with Paul so we ended up across the aisle from each other. The flight was smooth apart from a 30 min stretch with the belt sign on but even that was not really bumpy. Food wise Paul had the steak and I opted for chicken Caesar salad. We’d had cooked breakfast in the airport earlier so I wasn’t overly hungry. Talking of the airport, I didn’t mention my airport shipping did I? I looked in Tiffany’s at the charm I was due to pick up in Dallas and bought a friendship bracelet from Links of London. Paul was looking for a specific camera lens but didn’t find it.

The flight itself seemed to pass really quickly to me even though it was the full 10 hours, I read my multitude of magazines that Paul had put on my iPad and did some puzzles. I did snooze for a few hours too I must confess. Paul watched a film called Cloud Atlas and also the latest Die Hard movie. The flight for him was tough though as he had a migraine but was well attended to by the cabin crew.

We landed early, about 3:45 and then it started. Apparently this made the UK news so you may already know but essentially it took 3 and half hours to get out of the airport. As we got to the immigration hall we knew we were in for a long wait just looking at the line. Of the 40 desks there were about 6 open for us. Even the US citizens had a long line (although it did clear quicker). Lots of people had connecting flights but it mattered not! No one was prepared to help so the line became full of rather fractious folks…..

After getting through in just under 2 hours we sighed with relief thinking we could finally get the car and go shopping but oh no…the line in the baggage hall to exit customs was just as long, winding it’s way all around the baggage hall.

We finally exited just after 7 and if you think that was the end of the evenings traumas you are mistaken. It got worse. Paul had found a map that showed a walkway to another terminal where our hotel was and given we had wheely cases we figured this was a better option that the shuttle bus. We followed the map and even asked 2 airport workers but no one knew so said walkway. It was hot, humid and tense as you can well imagine! Eventually we got the bus to the terminal and followed the signs to the hotel. Straight through the car park, what could be simpler? A car park without constant stairs up then down that’s what. I swear there were half a dozen sets of stairs and we had 3 x 26 kilo cases plus Paul’s photography equipment. As we finally made it to the hotel we must have looked very dishevelled, so much so that a very nice man rushed to my aid and even gave me a bottle of water. Poor old Paul, who had done most of the hard work I must admit was dripping with sweat. The hotel was lovely and the service was very good, things will get better now right? WRONG!

We had booked a hire car for the evening as we had researched some shopping malls and an Applebee’s for dinner. I also had to collect my Tiffany’s charm. Since time was getting short we thought a taxi to Hertz might be quicker so asked the concierge. It took about 10 mins when a town car arrived and offered the trip for 30 dollars. As its only 3 miles away we laughed and asked if he thought we were stupid. In another few mins the booked taxi arrived clearly displaying his meter rates of $2.95 plus 75c per quarter mile. As we approached the driver told us it would be a flat fee of $23, it would have been $21 for one person. Paul asked about the meter, demanding the trip be metered. The driver got very tetchy and in the end drive off! So, running later and later we opted for the shuttle bus after all. By now it was well after 7:30 and the mall we want closed at 9. Paul thought he best call Tiffany’s to check and looked at me horrified as he announced they closed at 7pm. Given we were flying out the next morning at 9am I was stuffed. We were going to have to ask nicely for a refund and I was without my birthday prezzie from my mum.

We got the shuttle to the terminal, then another shuttle to Hertz where thankfully our car was waiting. We still went to the Gallaria mall, arriving just after 8. I did manage to get the things I want from Sephora (make up items) and also got a charm from pandora (guardian angel – angel wings and a pearl) and also a leather cuff that I’d seen online and wanted from Coach.

We left the mall and headed for WalMart. We needed to stock up on tablets for home and Paul got some coke to take on board. He also decided to joke distastefully at the counter that we had loads of pills and a bottle of coke to go wash them all down with. The lady at the counter seemed unimpressed but sold us over Thousand pills and the coke anyway!!

It was getting late, 9pm, and we were both tired (being Texas we were 6 hours behind). We found the Applebee’s on sat nav and off we went. Paul opted for the chicken won ton tacos and I had a fajita wrap, both with fries. It was 10pm when we got out of there and had the awful palaver of the 2 shuttles again to get back to our hotel and we worked out by the time we got to bed we’d been up for 22 and a half hours.