jenseib

March 30, 2014, Sunday, Day 10 I can’t believe it! It’s our last full day on the ship. I must say though we have been having a great time and enjoying every minute of it. Today was our Castaway Cay day. I must admit I was a bit worried that we wouldn’t be able to dock. I know when it is wavy or too windy the ship has issues docking and it had been both for most of the cruise. I have read a few TR’s where the ship would try for a while and then give up and some where it tried for quite some time and did actually make it in. I was hoping it would work for us. I got up early and headed out to see the sites. There she is! Getting closer. The decks have been swabbed for the day. After watching for a bit, I went back inside. Back out to deck 4. What a beautiful sunrise! I was playing with my panoramic feature on my phone. Backing in! As you can see, the water wasn’t exactly calm. I LOVE how blue the water gets when it is churned. We did not seem to be having any issues backing in. The Cabanas off in the distance. Then I headed back to the room to check on the family…who were dead to the world. I then headed through Cabanas to the back of the ship. The seagulls knew we were coming into port and were swarming. I noticed construction off in the distance. I am not sure if this was just the staging area or if they are really building something back there. I know they were building new cabanas so this might be the base where they work out of….or it could be a future expansion….which there has been rumors of over the years. Cast Members getting ready for guests. I then went and got myself a bite to eat. And I must’ve done some more wandering. So pretty! And some more exploring.

I headed back to the room and showered and just kind of hung out and straightened things up. We had been part of the fish extender exchange…kind of like a secret santa that’s not so secret. You sign up ahead of time and then deliver gifts to other rooms that are part of it and they in turn deliver little gifts to yours. You hang your pocket extender on the fish outside the door. I had been delivering ours off and on throughout the cruise….. I went through what we had and we really got a lot of things this time and some nice stuff too. Typically a lot of it is junk, but we did get some decent usable stuff this time around. After a bit Claire and Skip made it back to the room. Claire had made a friend at the pool…actually on the Aqua Dunk. Yes…her and Skip did the Aqua Dunk. Skip said it was painful and only did it once, but Claire did it several times. While in line she recognized a girl who had sang karaoke the night before and struck up a conversation with her. They then swam together and had a lot of fun. Claire asked if she could skip dinner tonight and go to the kids club as her friend was going to be there during the time of our dinner. I said that was fine and I was excited she had made a new friend. I told Claire to get in the shower and I would order some room service. Skip wanted to know why I would do such a thing…..because I can…that’s why! Claire at this point in time always had me help her wash her hair. She can do it on her own but preferred me to do it. I told her to just do it on her own and she kept yelling out for help and step by step instructions. Seriously? It’s not hard to take a dang shower. Now that it is several months later she is a pro at taking them and doesn’t ask for help and I am so happy she decided this is something she can do on her own…..about time! So I made the room service order and we just hung out in the room while we waited. Skip took a little nap. A knock finally came on our door and our goodies were here. I got Claire a hot dog and fries since she would be missing dinner. She doesn’t like buns so she took the hotdog out and started eating it before I grabbed the camera. I ordered the All Hands on Deck cheese platter. After we had our snacks we decided to head out for a bit. I have no pictures, so I am not sure exactly what we did, so it must not have been too exciting…or it was and I was too excited to take pictures. LOL. I believe we then headed to the show, where Skip got some sort of beverage and Claire got popcorn. Tonight’s show was Villains Tonight, which is my least favorite Disney show. It was also pirate night tonight. Skip thought this one was better than the night before, which surprised me. I think we then dropped Claire off at the kids club and headed back to our room for some reason for a few minutes. And then a walk by the Buena Vista Theatre. Captain Hook out for a meet and greet. And we worked our way to dinner, which was at Lumiere’s tonight. It was strange with it being just the 2 of us. Our rolls. I got my favorite drink…a Princess Delight. It’s so good….no alcohol in it for those wondering. I think it’s a mango and Strawberry smoothie basically. I actually had them make me something like this on the Princess cruise I took in Sept. Not quite as good but it was not too far off and delicious as well. Skip was trying different ways to wear his bandana. They came around taking pictures at one point so Skip and I gave our best pirate looks. Since I had a coupon for a free picture this is the one that I ended up getting. It was the only one where Skip wasn’t giving a creepy look. Appetizers started to come out. I got the Escargot - with diced mushrooms and garlic butter, served with a Baguette. I also got the Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp – with green asparagus, horseradish cream and dill dressing. Skip got the Onion Soup Gratinee – with baguette and Gruyere cheese. I believe I got the Roasted Filet for an entrée. (Well some kind of steak) After feeling left out last night, Skip got 2 entrees tonight. I have no clue what this is…possibly the duck? And some sort of steak as well. He cleaned his plates so they must’ve tasted decent to him. All too soon dessert was being served. I got my favorite DCL dessert…the Grand Marnier Souffle. Skip went with the Strawberry Shortcake Sundae. I also got a 2nd dessert….because I can. The Peanut Butter Mousse. Needless to say, when we were done we were extremely full. We headed out to get Claire so we could enjoy the Pirate party and had a run in with Mr. Mouse. Claire was ready to join us. Her friend had just left about 10 minutes prior for the party as well. We headed up top with the party already started. Something I have never seen or remember noticing at least was that they were selling stuff at the pirate party. Skip went to the side and observed and Claire and I went a little closer to try and see. Pirates were invading the ship! As we watched the party I noticed Mickey was getting in place to save the day…I pointed him out to Claire. Mickey stepped out…still waiting for his entrance…..just “hanging” around. A few more people spotted him now. He even waved to a few people. And he is ready to save the day now. This would’ve been a great shot if it wasn’t blurry. And with Mickey saving the day…the fireworks started. Once the fireworks ended it was back to the party! Dance like a pirate! These CM’s really work up a sweat with all the dancing they do. They had a camera panning us and a few times we could see ourselves onscreen. Claire also saw her new friend on there as well. Claire went over to hang with her Daddy a bit. Having fun!!! We watched these guys dance a bit. I am not sure if they were all one family or just friends, but the one guy was really dancing and they were all cheering for him. We hung out in the area for a while and watched people dance, watched the screen, and just chilled and had a beverage. After the party started slowing down we headed back to the room to call it a night. I think Skip headed off once again to wander a little bit and see what was happening in the adult area, but I don’t think he was gone too long before he came back to go to bed. It had been quite a long day and we seemed to have done so much. Even though this was only a 3 night cruise it really seemed like we were making the best of our time and enjoying a lot of things.

I'm open water certified, what kind of questions do you have? PM or fb msg me so we don't get too OT in your TR! That was a lot of abbreviating lol. If I get close to that point I may take you up on that

There are always these junky boats here in Nassau. Not sure why, but they look like they will sink…or they are loaded up with garbage too. I always love to take pictures of Atlantis…and the plan was to head over there later yet today. All the cruise ships docked ahead of us. I think this is the most I have seen in port at one time on a visit to Nassau. Ours is the prettiest though. Holy cow! ANOTHER one is coming in too. We were dropped off at a different location than where we boarded but still not far from the ship. We then stood around and decided what to do next. We were hungry so we decided to head back to the ship for lunch. The plan had been that after lunch we would head over to Atlantis but Claire only wanted to swim. She complained about how it wasn’t enjoyable while snorkeling because she kept taking in water and that she saw next to nothing. I am pretty sure she was exaggerating but I also knew she was at her max. She had not had enough sleep over the past week and this girl needs a lot of sleep. Skip agreed that we could just spend the afternoon on the ship and forget about Atlantis. I have to admit I was disappointed, but it wasn’t worth an argument. I told them after lunch I may come back on shore though to do a little shopping around. We headed back towards the ship. I did take pictures as we walked though. I laughed at that sign on the right…..thank goodness they have a large selection of Booty Shorts! I got a shot…sort of…of the new duck tale the ship was sporting. A few more pictures of the ship before we board. First stop was the bathroom. And then we hit Cabanas for some lunch. And of course some dessert….which always includes a chocolate chip cookie. After we ate, Skip took Claire swimming. As they were in there I noticed how much Claire looks like Skip. At one point I only saw both their foreheads sticking out and I couldn’t tell who was who. LOL. I told them I was heading off the ship again for a little bit and would catch up with them later. I walked down the streets and browsed a few shops. I know I went in the Del Sol store and looked at things but they were more money than I wanted to spend for what they were. I ended up just buying some pretty and nice smelling soaps and a couple of magnets. I then headed back to the ship. Cold towellette?

I would love to try scuba some time but I am so nervous about it all the same. I have a friend that got certified a while back. We lost contact over the years. I would love to ask her questions now that I would want to do it.

I am not sure who this guy was…probably one of the instructors. Skip kept telling us he saw a bracelet or necklace on the bottom….I never could see it, but he insisted it was there. I think he thought he found treasure because he would tell everyone about it. LOL. Claire was struggling and I tried to help her a bit, but I think the waves were just a bit too bumpy for her as a beginner to go with the flow so much. Here is a look at the waves. Now I know they don’t look huge but for a snorkeling day for us who are not super experienced it moved us around more than we would like. Claire really was struggling. Every time we pointed something out she said she couldn’t see. I really should’ve taken more time to see if her mask was right, because I think she was taking in water more than I thought, which made it hard on her. She also told me later she just had a really hard time looking down and keeping her air thing (that’s the technical term. LOL) out of the water as waves kept going over her. But she wasn’t having as hard of a time as those 2 kids with the loud mom. The mom would take each one out separately and the other would cling to the steps at the boat. They did a lot of complaining and I think one was crying. They clearly did not like this at all. At least Claire was giving it a shot….but this was something she wanted to do. I will say Claire was not overly impressed with it when we were done but I think it was the conditions more than anything and she is willing to try it again in the future and hopefully we’ll have calmer seas. I noticed more fish seemed to be in the area all of a sudden. And then I realized why. This guy was feeding the fish bread. At least I assumed it was bread. I took a little video of the fishies too. By this time Claire had had it. She was taking in too much water and was feeling cold. I too was getting pretty tired as it was harder swimming with it being wavy and I too was getting a bit cold so I told her I would take her back on the boat. Skip wanted to stay out a bit more, which was fine with us. We headed to the ladder and had to tell the child clinging for life that we wanted up. I think in the end that family just gave up and went back on the boat too. Claire went up and then me. Let’s say I am not graceful using these stairs. I think the ladder is actually easier. I took off my flippers and then threw them on the steps and tried to hoist my body out of the water….It took a few tries…If someone was videoing it, it probably would make America’s Funniest home Videos. We dried off and got situated in our place on the boat. I believe that is Skip out there in the red trunks….probably still looking at that bracelet! They started to call everyone in and Skip made a slight more graceful transfer to the steps than I did. But not but much! Time to head back. I just love how blue the water is. This boat appeared to be sinking, but no one seemed to care…I am not sure if it had been there a few days or what. I just found it creepy. They did hand out snacks and drinks for us as we went back. Just basic small stuff and I think it was koolaid and very watered down.

I headed back to the room and got the family going. Sadly, Claire was pretty tired and it took a lot of coaxing to get her moving today. Once we were ready for the day we went and got some breakfast. All the important essentials. I believe we were eating out back so we could watch us pull into Nassau. I thought that this ship looked like a lego. A carnival ship already docked. It was warm out but still extremely windy and the seas had still been rocky out there, but calm as we pulled into the harbor. Another Carnival ship coming in. I think this is the one that was already docked. We had plans today! When we sailed the Dream in 2012, Claire tried snorkeling for the first time with the sting ray feeding adventure at Castaway Cay. She took to it easily and she has asked since then to do a real snorkeling excursion. So I looked at options and we booked one for this day. It was a morning excursion and the plan was to do it, come back to the ship for lunch and then take a taxi over to Atlantis to check out the Aquarium. At the designated time we met up with the group. Most of Disney’s excursions meet on the ship and then you head out together. I really like that. Most other lines don’t do it that way. After everyone was there and accounted for and we all showed our room keys and ID’s we were escorted off the ship. We were led just outside a gate and told that our boat would soon be there for us. They let us in the gated area and our boat arrived. And we boarded her. I like to people watch and check out the people on excursions with us. There was one family that was all blonde and beautiful…the perfect family. LOL. It was like a family out of a magazine. Then there was the family with a mom (I don’t remember if a dad was with them or not, but I think so), and she was the loud talker that explained things to her preteen to young teen kids. It was obvious she wanted everyone to hear what a perfect parent she was explaining it all to her kids and you could see her look around to see if anyone else was listening. I swear I attract those kinds everywhere I go and it’s fine to explain to the kids what is going on etc, but I don’t need to hear it. In fact I did do some explaining to Claire….and Skip, but I said it in low tones…..of course Skip said Hunh? Once we all were settled in we took off towards the snorkeling location. I thought that boat looked kind of neat. The buildings look so pretty and colorful. We went right around the Mail Boat. Some of the boats docked there made me wonder how they were still staying afloat. And out to the open seas. It was still pretty wavy and for a little boat like this we did do quite a bit of bouncing around. We also received directions as we headed out. Finally we made it to our destination and we came to a stop. There were other people snorkeling in the area as well. I think we had a flag or something to identify which boat was ours and also were told to stay in a certain distance. Claire is ready and excited! We all used the stairs to jump in. …..remember that family where the Mom explained it all to basically all of us….her kids were blocking the steps because they didn’t want to get in and I think they ended up going back up and waiting till the rest of us went. The water was cold, but we got used to it fast…but it was wavy. It took us a bit to adjust our things so we weren’t swallowing water or getting it in our masks. I will admit, it was kind of hard to snorkel with it being so wavy. Claire was having the most trouble. I took some underwater pictures and tried to play with them in photoshop, but unless you have a really good camera with a flash, I just don’t think underwater pictures come out all that fabulous. My favorite fish…The Claire. And here comes a shark….oh wait, that’s Skip.

March 29, 2015, Saturday, Day 9 I was up before anyone else…..because they are deadbeats on vacation!!! Ok, I also went to bed much earlier than them too. I went for a walk. I love the carpets. Still dark outside. This time of morning is very peaceful to be up on deck. You really see only a few people at most. The sun is trying to peek out. The crew hard at work cleaning the ship. A ship off in the distance. This one didn’t turn out like I wanted it to. I was trying to focus on the Mickey logo but I guess I wasn’t paying attention and it got the background instead. Continuing my morning walk. I had to check out the new splash area. The stairs up to the new slide. Pools are still closed at this time. I was getting a little hungry so I think I grabbed a banana. And walked around a little more and took a peek in the arcade.

I really don't know what some people consider a good cruise director either. For me if they are fun or not annoying then I like them. The first one I had on DCL was nice, but nothing so great I remember him. The 2nd one was just nice and I seemed to like his personality. The 3rd annoyed the heck out of me. I like Brent because I had seen him on so many shows. Now as for their job...I really don't see them much around the ship to make or break my vacation. I am not sure what Andy's actual title is, but he seemed to be more present than the cruise director and he was super friendly and fun. I have cruise with him before as well and went on a tour he did. Claire was very worried about it, but if worse came to worse I was going to complain to someone higher as I knew were we left it. Yes all the main dining rooms food is included as well as soft drinks. The buffet (cabanas) and the little fast food areas on top are included and any soft drinks you get at Cabanas or the self serve station are included. If you order it from a bar or room service there is a charge.

We decided to walk around a bit. We took a walk through Shutters on the way. And out towards the atrium. And the clubs weren’t really happening yet. Skip was bound and determined to hang out here tonight though because Andy said he had special stuff planned. We then picked Claire up from the club. She was interacting with some CM’s. I think they were doing a dance type game and she looked like she was having fun. I was so glad she was giving it a chance. We headed back to the room to change clothes. I think this is when I got our room host to find Dumbo for Claire. At that point I just couldn’t go on. I told Skip I was getting pretty nauseous and I was just so dang tired. (We had been going pretty strong at the parks for a week). Claire wanted to go see the karaoke so Skip said he would take her while I took a rest. I think it was around 10PM and I just totally died in the bed. I woke a little later when I heard Claire talking. She chattered about the karaoke a bit, I asked her if she sang and she said no (she is very shy) and that’s the last I remember. I guess she got herself ready for bed. I later found out she actually stayed up and watched TV for a while and then went to sleep and Skip went to the clubs and people watched and enjoyed whatever entertainment Andy had going on. I think he met a few guys to chat with as well. I never heard him come in. I did find several rum and cokes on our bill when I checked it the next day, so he must’ve had a good time. LOL. I wish I could’ve stayed up later, but the lack of sleep and the motion was just too much for me and I am sure I needed to do a little catch up in the sleep department anyways.

We still had time to kill so we walked around a bit, kind of hoping we would bump into Skip. It’s pretty dead up here. We moved on. We then made another stop back at our room and noticed our beds had been turned down. This is when panic set in. Claire sleeps with silky…the blanket…and Penelope…a doll, every single night. She also had been sleeping with her Figment and her Dumbo she got at the parks. As you can see, only silky and Figment are in the picture. We did some searching and found Penelope right away but Dumbo was missing. Last seen he was on the couch. My guess was he got folded into the bed, and I kept trying to figure out how to unfold it to check and I just couldn’t get it to budge. I found our stateroom host, who was a lady and asked her and she said to look around more as she never saw him. I am going to say it now……she was very nice but never seemed to want to do anything extra. I think she was probably one of the worst stateroom hosts I have ever had…though the one I had on our first Dream cruise was not that good either….I never saw him once. We looked all over the place for Dumbo throughout the night and never could find him. Later in the evening I had to insist that she open the bed up to take a peek and she seemed to fight me on this still…..sure enough when she did open the bed, there was Dumbo smashed in between. Claire was so happy to have him back and I gave our gal a “told you so” look but I did thank her too. We headed out to dinner (at this point we still had not found Dumbo and Claire was still worried). Tonight our dinner would be in the new Carioca’s. We waited outside for Skip and waited…and waited. He didn’t show up and I was not about to miss dinner so we headed inside. They took us to our table…..where we found my husband already sitting. UGH! I told him how we had been waiting for him out front like we had discussed but he said he just felt like being seated. Ok then…..not good with directions….does not play well with others….to name a few….. We met our servers and for the life of my I know longer remember their names. They were good, but not great or memorable like some in the past. I do remember they were a little harder to understand than some of our past servers though. But they were super friendly and I didn’t really have any problems with them. I just didn’t bond with them. On my last Magic cruise I really bonded with our servers….as did I with the ones on our first Dream cruise. We took a look at the menus. I had been doing a little menu peeking before the cruise and I wasn’t sure how I would like it, but I figured I would try a few things and if worse came to worse I could get a burger up on deck later or order some room service. Bread was served. I think it was a type of banana bread. I tried to take pictures of the restaurant since it was all so new. We made our orders. I ordered a few things and 2 entrees. I kept telling Skip as he was looking over the selections that he could order more than one thing from each area if he wanted but he didn’t seem to get it. I think he was afraid they would tell him no. Claire sat next to her Daddy as she was so excited he was along. She got the soup…I think it was chicken soup…but whatever it was we had to scoop out most of the vegetables because God forbid one would touch her lips. I got an Empanada. It was very good….I could eat 3 or 4 easily. I think Skip got the Deep Fried Lobster Croquetas. I actually think we both got it but I must’ve eaten all of mine before I thought of a picture. I believe we enjoyed them. Claire working on getting those horrid veggies out of her soup. Skip had a tomato soup. The menu has changed a few times and I am not sure if it still being served or not. Claire’s entrée was brought out fast since she planned to do the dine and play and head to the kids club soon. She surprised me by trying something other than chicken nuggets. Soon our meals came out as well. I don’t see what I got on a menu but it sure looks like prime rib to me. It was good...I do remember that. I think Skip got the Lobster, Shrimp and Mahi Mahi skewer. I also got the Jose Carioca’s which is different skewers of meat. They were good too but I did not like the rice at all. I liked some meats better than others and my friend has told me you can request them to be just of the meats you like instead of getting all the different types…I will do that next time. Skip looked at his plate and then looked at ALL of my food and stated…You clearly made out much better in this deal…..um yeah. I told you that you could order more than one entrée. I did let him try some of my foods and I told him he could ask for another entrée and they would go get it for him, but he said he was ok. We were approaching the time for Claire to leave the kids club and she still had not received her dessert so I reminded our servers and they quickly brought it out for her. She ate about half since she was in a hurry and then I took her up front and had her checked into the clubs. She wanted to give it a try but she told me she didn’t want to stay too long so she wanted us to come after her soon after dinner. Skip and I made out dessert choices then. Skip got the sweet temptations with a trio of desserts. I think it was a chocolate torte, a strawberry cheesecake and a cream cheese flan. I can’t remember what this is….I am thinking cream cheese flan….and I don’t remember if I liked it or not. This was the strawberry cheesecake and it was good. We left quite full, so that was a good thing. I still would like to try more things here. The menu is a little “wild” for us and probably not a favorite, but I still had a decent meal. With that we left and headed outside to take a stroll together. One thing I haven’t mentioned….it was quite rocky. I take bonine every day while cruising and it helps quite a bit. Tonight the waves were starting to get to me. I wasn’t sick, but I could feel it enough to make me uncomfortable. I also was super tired and the motion just made me want to sleep. Skip had big plans for the evening still and I told him I wasn’t sure how much longer I would last.

LOL. Thats pretty common on DCL. Many have more than what I put out. I have had good luck with ours...I don't think any have walked away but I do often try to put our name on them too so they are worthless to others. I have a friend who had issues with a bunch of kids stealing theirs and they actually followed the kids one day to let them know it was unacceptable.

Let’s get this party started!!!! Brent was our cruise director. I had never had him, but he is always in the promotional videos for DCL so it was kind of neat to have him. I know some people really are particular about who the cruise director is…..me not so much. I really don’t care, though I tend to have liked some of them more than others. Brent was one of my favorites so far. Actually of the 4 DCL cruises I have taken, there was only one I didn’t care for and I can’t even remember his name now, but he was on our cruise on the Dream in Nov. 2012. I love that the characters are part of the party. No one does a sail away party like DCL! Oh no!!!! Donald lost his hat! As the party was winding down we were starting to move so we went in search of Skip. I found him towards the back of the ship. He had gotten some sail away drinks. I asked him what they were and he didn’t know but thought they were strawberry daiquiris. He had gotten one for me and I took a sip. It tasted like it had a touch of coconut in it and I just cannot stand coconut. I sipped it off and on as I didn’t want to hurt his feelings too badly, but in the end I gave it to him because it just wasn’t good to me. We decided to do a family selfie to post on facebook before we got out of port. Good bye PC! Lots of well-wishers sending us off. I was also messaging some of my friends and they were watching us on the webcam as we sailed away. There was the mystery drink. Skip parked himself at that table and Claire had to use the restroom so we went inside and used the one outside of Palo. Yes I took a picture of the tampon machine. If you may remember….I have a running joke with a group of friends. When we see free tampons we report it to each other and take pictures. It started for the most part in Feb. when I found free tampons in the Disneyland Hotels. I took a picture and posted it in our facebook group and since then we joke about it all the time. Well the Magic has free tampons too. I actually knew that from last time when my friend who sailed with me and I discovered it and had a good laugh then. It’s still true for the reimagined Magic as well. Back outside we watched the world go by as we headed out to sea. Good bye! See you in a couple of days! This boat kept buzzing around and I kept telling Claire it was the pilot boat…and then I saw it was a police boat. I spotted the pilot boat later. As we floated out many people left the decks. We had late dinner so I was in no hurry to go back to the room to get changed. I took a few more pictures around the ship. I think these were some of the food offerings at Daisy’s deLites. We headed back to our room And went out to our balcony. That’s when I saw the real pilot boat. We then got ready to head to the show tonight. I don’t think we changed our clothes yet. I think we went as is. I loved how fresh and bright the new carpeting was. Tonight’s show is Twice Charmed. The ritual each night at the show was started tonight….Claire wanted Popcorn and she only had to bat her baby blues at her dad and he would buy her some……Yes popcorn is not free for the shows. (I don’t think there is any free popcorn or candy bars on the ship) They sell it right outside the entrance. Skip would typically get a beer as well. They do have servers coming around before the show too. If you ask, they will also bring back popcorn as well. The popcorn was really good, but pricey for the amount you got, which was a very small bag. It is now freshly popped though. Sadly you can no longer take pictures at the shows so I don’t have any. We really enjoyed the show though and Claire thought all the costumes were just beautiful. After the show we headed out with the masses and Claire and I wanted to peek in the shops. Skip said he had no desire to so he was going off on his own. He said he would meet us outside the restaurant for dinner at the designated time. Bye dear! After we shopped around we headed towards the atrium. We did a little people watching. And then we headed back to our room. Earlier I had done some unpacking, though I don’t remember exactly when. I also had brought several magnets for our door and had put them out as well. We got ready for dinner and relaxed a bit and then headed back out. I just love Deck 4! A ship off in the distance.

The spa leads into the gym. They were doing a demonstration in there and the CM looked at me and said I took a bad picture of her. LOL. I told her she looked fine. I love looking at the treadmills…..I just ordered a new one for myself at home. My old one was dying fast and has been pretty worthless for the last 2 years so I haven’t used it much and my body shows it. Skip said I could get a new one for Christmas and I can’t wait till it comes. My oldest daughter Paige says I am the only person she knows who owns a treadmill and actually uses it. But like I said, the last 2 years it’s been on its last leg, starting with a badly slipping belt…to basically the motor starting to burn out after a few minutes walking now. Let’s just say it’s a fire hazard now. I also own a cheap exercise bike….which I do not use as much….and should. Banana anyone? Or perhaps and orange? Back into the spa. This is the women’s locker room and it did NOT get a refurb…I think it needed on…to get rid of the awful peach colors in there. I believe this was a sauna. The heated tile loungers that so many people love. This is like a sauna type room too (I am not very spa savvy so I am sure I am not calling things by their proper names) and it’s hot. Back out to take a few more shots before leaving Senses. I love this next picture. And back out on deck to check out some more of the ship. This place changed names….and I can’t for the life of me remember off the top of my head what it was called before. The Cabanas sign. I then took a walk around deck 4, working off some of that lunch. I then went and found my family and we got Claire dressed again. It was getting time to do the muster drill. Our station was in Animator’s Palete. They had freshened up this place and it looked nice. I can’t wait to see the new show. Skip is doing his creepy smile here. He thinks he is funny when he does this. As we waited, Skip’s phone rang. I told him to just ignore it and call whoever it was later as you weren’t supposed to be talking on the phone during the drill…..did he listen? Nope! I did give him the evil eye and he didn’t talk for too long. Once the drill was over we headed out with the crowds and tried to make our way up to the top decks so we could watch the sail away show. Claire and I found a spot near a railing and Skip wandered off. He did that a lot! She was worried about him but I told her that he is a big boy and I couldn’t worry about where he was every single minute. Andy came out and got the party started. Skip LOVED Andy. He hung on every word he said…and I think he had a guy crush on him. All through the cruise he would say…. ”Andy says this is fun to do”…or something along those lines. If Andy recommended it, Skip thought it should be done. Andy was on the last cruise I took on the Magic too and he is pretty cool.

This is a beverage counter. I am not sure, but they might serve snacks too. It looks like a nice place to “hang”. I then headed back outside. Another ship in port. A look down at the adult pool. I must’ve cut through here for some reason. Sports deck A look out at the tugs. I wanted to head to the Spa. It had a new name and a little bit of sprucing up since I last sailed the Magic. I walked through Senses, peeking in here and there and taking pictures. I am a licensed hair stylist….though I don’t practice anymore I keep up my license…as you never know…so I like to check out the salons. I moved on to check out the different treatment rooms. I love the way they decorate the tables during the open house. Good to see the tub fixed. Last time the panels were coming off. Getting artsy. I really enjoyed taking pictures in here.

It was now close to 1:30 and our stateroom would be opening up so we headed that way. This was the new Castaway Club gift. I liked this bag. I think it is cute. I have heard they have improved it a bit since I last sailed as the handle would unravel. I haven’t used mine enough to see that happen. Claire was checking out the room. Selfie I really do love the split bathrooms and bathtubs on DCL. So much roomier than other lines. They still have the horrid hair dryer….I ALWAYS bring my own. Skip was supposed to meet us in the room…..and he had not shown up and Claire was getting antsy. We went out to the balcony to take pictures and I forgot to change camera settings. Major over exposure….I quickly fixed that. This is one issue I wanted to point out. The balconies really needed to be repainted. This is a pipe out there….it’s all rusty looking. Also the railing and floor could’ve used some freshening up as well. See the drain in the corner? Rusty looking as well. A look down. To the right. To the left…in case you hadn’t figured it out, we were towards the aft on deck 6. We were in room 6626. Disney really does have the nicest terminal. The prizes in my bag. Skip never showed up, so Claire changed into her swim suit and we went back up top to find him and to let her swim….She had this vision of swimming with her dad and he was ruining it. We found him and he said he didn’t need to go to the room and figured we would find him eventually. UGH! He took Claire to the pool and found a chair to watch her. In case you wondered…there is a smoking section between the adult and family pools…and it extends into the adult pool area…on the starboard side. I went out to find them and Claire was having some fun in the pool. This next picture cracks me up. It looks like this girl is going to smack Claire. I asked Claire what was going on and she said the girl had been splashing someone she knew and then accidently splashed Claire and was apologizing here. Skip said he would keep an eye on Claire and I decided to walk around and take some pictures. First stop, the Vibe….which is the teen club. I never got a chance to check it out last time I sailed the Magic. A look back as I came up the stairs.

Another stop in one of the kids bathrooms. Claire was being a little goofy. A look out the porthole window in the secret passageway. And back to the Tink area. After a little bit of playing we moved on once again. The Promenade Lounge looked exactly the same as before. The bars/nightclub area had totally been revamped so I wanted to check that area out next. Fathoms is where a lot of activities go on during the cruise. In the day they have both adult and kids events and in the evenings they often have adult entertainment in here. On down towards Keys. This is the staircase that leads down to the nightclub area. Claire posed for me. A peek into Keys. They were getting ready for an event in there. They had some food set up on the table and it was listed as a private event. We stopped off at the bathrooms, which did not change in look at all either. Back out down the small hallway. The carpet looked so fresh and new. This shop is where they sell duty free alcohol and cigarettes. A look inside O’Gills. They sometimes have food out to snack on in here.

Claire headed up to give the slide a try. I thought this area was really cute. I forgot to mention that the Castaway Club Member lanyards were now made of a different material and much softer on the skin. Now entering the Marvel area. The bathrooms in the kids area are so darn cute. Next we headed into the Tinkerbell area. I think the area seemed a bit bigger than before. I really think they did a nice job with the refurb in the kids area here. We then headed off to the other side of the kids club through the secret passage way, which I never even notice the last time I had sailed the Magic. There were a ton of activities to do and Claire seemed excited to come to the clubs. On her previous DCL cruises she was a little shyer about it. The first one she only went the first night and then she worried what my Mom and I were doing the whole time she was in there. The 2nd cruise we went on a big family trip and she went in once with her cousin who is 10 months older. Claire enjoyed it but her cousin wasn’t impressed for some odd reason and since her “older” cousin didn’t like it she didn’t want to go back. This time Claire promised to give it another try and try to interact with other kids as well.

Exactly. It's kind of boring. The slide looks like a lot of fun though!

We were heading towards the back of the ship to get to Cabanas and cut through Shutters, which is where they display the photos taken throughout the cruise. And up the elevator. To Cabanas. The style and décor of this Cabanas is different than on the Dream and Fantasy. I found a table out back. I love this outside area. Sadly they did make it smaller after the refurbishment to make Cabanas bigger, but there was still room to sit out there with tables and it still is bigger than what the Dream has. Cape Canaveral off in the distance. Taking in the views. I believe Skip and Claire went to fill their plates while I waited at the table. Claire’s plate. My turn to head up. I filled my plate and headed back to the table. Time for dessert…..I LOVE those chocolate chip cookies!!!!!!! They have really good ice-cream too. After we were done we decided to do some exploring and show Skip around. The new water splash area. The new slide. They also put in these cabana like shaded areas. I spot a meet and greet. Skip decided to park himself on a lounge chair but I wanted to explore some more. Claire decided to come with me. Again, I am just not a big fan of the new light fixture. We decided to get Claire checked into the kids clubs and take a look at the refurbishments there. Claire was given a band that is very much like the Magic Bands at the parks. This used to be the pirate themed area. It is now magically transformed into Andy’s bed.

March 28, 2014, Friday, Day 8 Morning came and we packed up everything. I did put a few things in my Mom’s suitcase for her to take home to allow us a little more room for future purchases. We were a little slow this morning, well the other 2 were. I was busy trying to get everything situated so that we could leave in a timely manner and not leave anything behind. Mom had some breakfast items still, so I believe we each had a little something to give us some energy for the day. Finally we loaded the car and said our good byes to my parents. They were heading to Legoland today and then tomorrow they were flying home. We had a nice time with them and it is nice that they don’t feel the need to do everything with us or make us feel guilty about doing what we want to do. ---- Before I go further, I will discuss why we chose the Magic and this particular cruise. I really wanted a 4 or 5 night cruise. The thing was if we were to do one that long that meant we wouldn’t sail till Sunday or Monday. Now I am all for longer vacations, but it would also mean Claire was going to miss more school days. We were trying to avoid missing too many. I looked at other lines and even put a Princess cruise on hold. That was the only one that had dates that worked and it was for 5 days. The downside was it was out of Tampa. In the end Skip said he really wanted to see what all the fuss was about with Disney. Skip also wanted to fly out of Toledo, which means he can only fly on Allegiant, which only flies a couple of days a week. They had a Thursday flight and the Magic sailed on Friday, so it worked out perfectly in that regards. I also was interested in seeing what they did with the Magic since the refurb. I knew a lot of things had been changed, but I also knew many things that should have been updated were not. I went into this cruise knowing it wasn’t a complete makeover of the ship but many things were improved. I also knew that there had been many complaints already about many of the staterooms. Some were leaking water, some had a smell to them, and some still looked like there balconies needed painting. It was kind of like Disney put lipstick on the rooms rather than starting with a good foundation before applying the rest of the makeup. Luckily I am pretty good with going with the flow and though I may not like things I still was going to make the best of it I could. And though I touched on some of the negative things, there were many more positive things about the ship than negative. ---- --- We then headed towards the port. Again, Skip was trying to give me directions….because you know he knows how to get there even though he has never been there. He really hates that I use Siri and makes fun of me doing so many times…but she gets me where I need to go most times….or at least in the right direction. Of course once we got going I pretty much knew the way. It’s a fairly straight shot once you get on the right road. Skip then asked me why I was driving instead of him. LOL! I know I said I always drive, but many times on vacation he actually does do the driving. I reminded him that I was the one to get the car and it was in my name, so he probably shouldn’t be driving…..Ah…good point! Soon we were seeing the Magic off in the distance and ooh and ahhing over it. We got off at the right exit and went in and they checked our ID’s and we stopped to unload our luggage. I handed over a tip. Skip think’s it’s a rip off that you have to tip these guys. But unless you want to carry your bags on yourself and haul them around, it’s the right thing to do. The guys were really helpful and told us where to go to park our car. This was a new one for me. In the past I have been dropped off at PC and picked up after the cruise and I have stayed at Residence Inn and used their Park and Cruise reservation and used the shuttle back and forth….but this was the first time we were parking in the garage at the port. I did do some investigating at parking offsite at a nearby lot, but in the end the savings wasn’t worth the hassle of getting there and back for us. We pulled around and went into the garage and parked. Claire was doing the potty dance so we needed to find her a bathroom soon. We grabbed the rest of our things out of the car and made sure to put the key in a safe spot and went to find a bathroom. Luckily there is one right there in the garage and we made use of it quickly and then proceeded to cross the street towards the terminal. I rarely get many pictures outside the terminal because I am too excited to get in, so I did try to take a few more today. Skip made a lot of dorky comments to us because he likes to try and rile us up. We ignored him and I knew deep down he was excited….and a little nervous about it all too. Looking back at the parking garage. We entered the building and had to go through security check. There was a bit of a line, but it moves fairly quickly. You cannot take pictures there, but it is very similar to an airport security check. Once we got up in the terminal we went to check in. Claire and I are Castaway Club members so we had the shorter check in line. This line is for meeting characters, which we chose to bypass. The ship had not started boarding yet. But for some reason people like to hoover near the ears. I don’t know why as it makes it harder for those with earlier boarding numbers to get through. We decided to head outside and take a look at our new home for the next few days. There was an ashtray out there and Skip took that as a sign that you are allowed to smoke out there. I am not sure if you are or not, but I suppose you can if there is an ashtray, but I also felt it was rude. Many people are out there looking at the ship and it’s not a big area. I tried to discreetly tell him not to, but he didn’t listen. I don’t think he understood what I was saying. The guys were sprucing up the ship. It looks like a few CM’s were having some shore time. A RCCL ship off in the distance. I noticed that they were starting to call numbers now. Gosh I can’t remember what we had…I am thinking 6 or 7 off the top of my head, but I know it wasn’t too far down the line so I kept peeking in to hear what was being called to board. I believe this is where the concierge and platinum people wait. I actually have waited in this area before…..back in 2011 when I did a tour of the Dream….this is where they had us wait for the bus back to WDW. They were calling numbers fast. Basically every 30-60 seconds the next group was being called. And before you knew it our group was called and we made our way to board. YIPPEE!!!!!!! Mickey was walking right by and I quick tried to take a few paparazzi pictures. I made us all stop for the boarding picture and Claire blinked in one and Skip had a creepy look in the other so I never bought either. Now it was time to board! Waiting our turn. The Disney Magic would like to introduce the Jenseib family!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! The first time I boarded the Magic I thought the atrium was so small…..this time I was used to it a bit and it didn’t seem so shockingly small. It did seem a little weird to see the second staircase missing, but not in a bad way. Mickey had been moved and his new spot was nice. The new light fixture. I have a confession….I don’t think this is fabulous. It’s OK, but not a great fixture for the atrium and I liked the old one better. Guest services. We had a mission…..LUNCH! We like buffets. I know it’s not for everyone, but Skip REALLY likes buffets, so we were heading towards Cabanas which was formerly known as Topsiders.

With the parade over and all of our FP+’s of the day used we were going to head out and try to get over to MK for a short while before we had to go and pick up Skip from the airport. We started our walk to the front. We found another photopass photographer and decided to stop. Claire wasn’t feeling the roaring emotions that I was. You can just see it in her face…..My mother is so embarrassing. Goodbye Animal Kingdom I believe we took the bus over to MK so that we wouldn’t have to worry about getting there in our car and then of course we would have to take the monorail over as well. I figured it would not be any faster for us to drive. This bus is a VIP bus. We wondered if it was for the cast of the Middle that had been filming there all week. I don’t think I mentioned it much…but they were there and my parents actually saw them filming the part where they entered the park. I had a hometown friend at Disney as well and she also watched them film that segment and she took a few pictures and posted them on facebook. When the episode aired you can see her in the background walking. How sad…our last moments in the MK. We stopped off for some more pictures. Claire wanted to look and see if the store in Tomorrowland had the new version of the Disney infinity disc that someone had told us about. We were told to look through the rows of them and they were hidden in the back. So we made our way back there. I also want to mention that we had been in contact with Skip off and on today. He did end up going to get a new birth certificate, which I was relieved about. He also bought 2 new pairs of dress pants to bring along. I had to forbid him to take anything out of his suitcase and I even talked to Paige, who at the time was living with us, and told her to make sure he had all his papers out and ready for when he went to the airport. My last contact with him was when he was at the airport and all seemed to be going well. Holy cow it’s open! I have NEVER seen it open before in my life! Ok maybe many years ago I did, but not in the last 10. I guess it means it’s extra busy if they opened it. There was a dance party going on as we walked towards the store. We headed into the store and sadly the new discs were not out, so my guess is they sold out or they weren’t supposed to be out and were pulled. Claire did buy a couple of infinity characters for her game though. After the shopping we sat for a few minutes and watched the dance party from the side and then we decided we should eat before leaving since it could be very late before we found decent food again later. And since the terrace was open that is where we decided to go. We went with the pasta Alfredo with chicken. And chocolate cake. And we enjoyed it very much. Our view of the construction….and the Move it Shake parade off in the distance. Time to move on. We went off to the side and just kind of people watched and observed things. I think this is when I had my last call from Skip. We still had a little bit of time before rushing out so we made one more stop. We got in line for Daisy and Minnie and if the posted time was right and the line kept moving we would have just enough time to see them before heading out. While in line we saw some families playing the same type of head bands game we had seen earlier in the trip. I couldn’t think of the name and I asked one family what it was called and they told me to just search hedbanz in the app store and we would find some free kid versions. So we did and I downloaded the app and we started playing. Why did it take the last line of the trip to realize we could’ve been playing this the whole time? It really made the time pass much faster and before we knew it we were ready to visit Daisy. And Minnie. We finished with time to spare and Claire felt the need to make one of those do it yourself pixie sticks so we stopped off at the candy store to do that. With that we exited the park. We could’ve spent a little more time in there but I didn’t want to jinx myself and then have to wait for a long time for another bus to come and run late. Skip is not a patient person at all and he would call me over and over asking me where I was if I was late. I always try to allow for time to pick up bags and such when I pick someone up from the airport, but I think Skip has a magic power that makes them come out faster for him. LOL. Another VIP bus. And back to the AK to get our car. We then programmed Siri to get us to Sanford and headed that way. It was now turning dark as we drove along and I recognized most of the route but as we got closer she took us a different way than usual. I think this road might be newer. It was pretty deserted….and dark and just looked newer. We came in from a side entrance rather than the main entrance we usually go in and out of. I noticed several cars parked in a lot across the street so I headed over and parked as well. It was kind of like a field with some areas stoned and there were at least 30 cars waiting there. We were a little early, so I got out and stretched for a little bit. The time that he was to land came and went and I called his phone and it was still off. Ok, they must be a little late. I was messaging with my friend Deb and she went online to look and see if there was a delay. I don’t think she found one. We saw a plane coming in for landing and we wondered if it was his plane. Sure enough about a minute later my phone rang. He was about 15-25 minutes late if I remember right and he said they were a little late loading the plane. I told him to call me when the bags were coming off and I would then make my way to pick him up. Right then a police man came into the lot and whirled a siren and told us we were in a bus lot and we were all parked illegally and if we didn’t want to be arrested we would leave immediately. I thought that was a little harsh. ….So I took off driving and made the circle around the airport but Skip wasn’t out yet. I decided I would just keep circling since there did not seem to be a cell lot anywhere that I could find. This airport is typically easy to get in and out of but tonight it was crazy busy with traffic. As I circled around the 2nd time he called and asked where I was. I pulled up and he hopped in and asked for cigarettes because he didn’t pack any. UGH. This guy smokes like a chimney but relies on me to pack his cigarettes when we travel. He jumped back out and took Claire with him as his bags had not come through yet. I had no spot to actually park legally so I went ahead and parked at the end of the curb. Sure enough a few minutes later the police came around and sirened me and announced over his loud speaker that I was parked illegally and had to move. Of course I couldn’t because he was in the way, his lights were in my mirror so I couldn’t see what was coming around the other side of him….and what I could see was a ton of cars. He kept telling me to move and I waved that I understood. But seriously, was he blind? I know I was by his light! LOL. But I just had to slowly creep out the best I could. I have never seen them so strict there patrolling the area. Of course we have never arrived at night there either. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I circled again and Skip then calls and asked where I went. I told him I had to move and I was on my way back around. Skip then takes Claire and his suitcase across the road…for no reason at all…to wait for me. This is not the area to stop and be picked up. This lane is for through traffic. UGH. So I stopped and he throws his case in the trunk and they jump in the car and I can mentally hear the cars behind us cussing us out. Ok, let’s get the heck out of here. We exit and he makes some comment about me going the wrong way and that we need to go by the gas station, which I pass. So I turn around and he asks why. I said because you wanted the gas station and I park there thinking he is going to buy cigarettes and a drink for the road. He often likes to stop and pick up a coke or something. Nope he wanted the road next to the gas station because he says we have taken that road before. So we take the road against Siri’s recommendation and it’s a toll road that seems to have a both every mile. Ok, I might be exaggerating but it had a lot of tolls. The whole trip back he talked all about his flight, his week without us etc….and if we didn’t answer within a half of second he would say Hunh? We just started laughing because every sentence ended in Hunh? Now he does this a lot but it was even worse than normal and I told him if he said Hunh one more time I was going to throw him overboard once we got on the ship….It never stopped….and still continues at home. Claire said we should get him a shirt for Christmas that says “Hunh?” on it so he doesn’t need to bother saying it. I told her it wouldn’t make a difference. The lovely thing about driving with my husband is that 98% of the time I drive. He almost never drives when we go places together. Well at least behind the wheel. He certainly knows how to tell me how to drive from the passenger seat. And he did just that the whole way back. I was going too fast, too slow, I wasn’t going the right way, I missed the exit….which I have no clue how he would know since he has never been to this Marriott before. Yes, I was pretty sure I might murder him before the end of the trip. Now I know he was excited to be finally down there with us and his vacation was just starting, so I did try to cut him a little slack. And Claire was just over the moon that he was now here and she was going to be able to show him all about Disney cruising. I just knew heads would clash at some point. He had ideas of how he wanted to spend time….with some relaxing. Claire had lots of ideas of activities she wanted to do with him…and I had the real plans….the ones people were supposed to follow! We did tell Skip about the car and its lack of power and he noticed it too and we all just laughed. This car was such a piece of crap that it was just funny. We made it back to the Marriott….and we were still all alive. No murders committed yet. Skip said hi to my parents who were settling in for the night. We made up the couch bed for Claire and we too all settled down since tomorrow was the big day. Claire was quite wound up. I know it was because she was so excited that her dad was now here, but we had to tell her to get to sleep more than once. Finally we all drifted off and got a decent night sleep!

I think Jammin Jungle parade will pull up several!

While we waited they brought some birds by for us to look at. And this bird did not want to be left out of the fun. Soon it was time for the parade to come! Minnie! I just can’t express enough how much I love this parade! The music is awesome and the floats are great. I will really miss it! I have to admit…I may have teared up a few times. MICKEY!!!!! And with that the parade was over. We were so happy to have seen it one last time. We really are very sad it’s gone. I sometimes watch it on youtube. If you get a chance look up the last performance on May 31st. You can see the CM’s are really putting their all in it and some are tearing up. I will admit that I watch it from time to time and have a good cry. Yep I am a total geek!

After the Nemo show we hung back a bit before exiting with the crowds. Once we did we started to make our way towards Everest, which was our next FP. We decided we should make a potty stop before going on the ride. The line was crazy long and Claire was doing the pee pee dance. We noticed the family bathroom off to the side and only 1 person was waiting there so we headed over to wait for that one. We got in there MUCH faster and Claire was all smiles again. We then headed back over towards Everest. The FP line moved fairly fast, though it was pretty full too. This has become one of Claire’s favorite rides. The ride was fun and we had a surprise….The Yeti Moved! I have never seen him move EVER. Claire and I both noticed it as did others on our train. I posted it to a facebook group where someone argued till they were blue in the face that it didn’t move. I guess with in the first year of Everest being built the Yeti was too big and broke some major support beam. Supposedly since then he has never actually moved but they put strobe lights on him occasionally to give him the appearance of moving. I suspect some part of this story is correct, but I am pretty sure he has moved off and on over the years too, though the last few I have not heard any reports of it. This was NOT strobe lights. His arm actually reached down at us. However not a full reach like I have seen on tv specials. I will swear this till I am blue as well. LOL. There were other reports of him moving the same week I was there as well. There were a lot of stars in the parks the week we were there (and they were filming the Disney episode of the Middle while we were there as well), so I am not sure if he was moving for that reason or not. But he definitely had some movement and we were super excited to see it. Our photopass picture. Love the people in front of us! After that fun ride I tried to talk Claire into going back on using the single rider line. Of course she was much too young to go by herself…at least in her mind. I tried to explain that we would be in line together and I would go first and wait at the end for her, but she wouldn’t do it. We decided to head over to Dinoland then and ride the Triceratops. That too had quite the line, but I think we got on in about 20 minutes or so. I took lots of pictures from the sky as Claire steered us. After that ride we needed to get a drink. It was getting close to the parade time and we were NOT going to miss this for anything. The parade was ending in the summer, much to our disappointment. We had to see it one last time. This is our favorite current running parade and I was so sad they were going to take it away. I had hoped they would bring the Christmas version back for the Holidays, but sadly it was not. We made our way to find a spot for the parade. We ran into a few characters leaving their meet and greet. We found a spot and Claire drank her slushie. And I had a Mickey Bar. We still had a bit of time to wait, so we talked to the people around us. There was a lady who arrived a little late but sat behind the line of people. She had a little one with her, and I told her to bring her right up next to me as there was enough room for just her if she didn’t mind. I told her I would be taking pictures, but a little one next to me wouldn’t be in the way. The little girl loved it and I was happy to help. It was still crazy busy.