Hello my Friends...A MARVELous Anniversary cruise on the Magic with MDAS Jan 2019

[xavier2001]

I had been looking forward to this dinner ALL week. At first I was a little disappointed that we had to wait until the LAST night, but the silver lining is it gave me something to look forward to. And it did not disappoint. Starting with this beautiful sign outside the restaurant:

And then this fun 'cake'-a-pult:

I think the lanterns are one of my favorite features of this restaurant, they really help to immerse you into the Disney theme:

I love all the details, here is the bread bowl:

And the napkin holders:

And I even loved the fancy water glasses:

More lanterns, because I can't stop looking at them:

And a very blurry photo of the menu cover:

Pretzel bread! There may have been 3 whole pretzels, we inhaled the first 2:

Once we put our orders in, they started the show. It was very noisy, but we were able to hear what was going on. Something about it being Rapunzel's birthday:

Eventually the Thugs, and even Rapunzel came out. They visited the tables throughout the meal as well:

Ok, on to the food. For an appetizer, I had this delicious ravioli:

And DH this meat platter (mine was better):

Then it was on to the second course, DH had the trio of salads:

And I had the potato soup. This one was delicious, but not quite as good as the one in Animators with the cheese and bacon:

I had ordered the steak for dinner tonight, it did not disappoint, although I cut out all the fatty bits:

DH went way out into left field for him and ordered the Pesto Pasta with scallops. He said he mainly ordered it for the pasta, he wasn't even sure if he liked scallops:

His verdict, the scallops were 'good' but the pasta was AMAZING. He said he would definitely order that dish again.

While we were finishing our main course the thugs came around. Both ended up sitting next to DH at different times, the first thug picked up our bread bowl and started banging it loudly asking what it took to get some food around here. He had a pretty funny interaction with our head server. DH was pretty embarrassed as he's not the attention seeking type and all eyes were on our table. Later, this thug, who was 'good friends' with our club host Guy, came around. DH kept trying to goad him out of character, but he did very well staying in his 'Thug' role. Here they are trying to master the 'indifferent' look:

Soon it was time for our coffee and desserts. This when they started the end of the show which included a beautiful lantern carrying event and a parade. We did not participate in the parade but enjoyed watching all the servers and kids join in. For dessert we both had the birthday cake sundae:

And shared this chocolate cake.

I definitely put Rapunzels at the top of my list for beauty and theme, it was everything I hoped it would be. I even give it higher ratings than Tianas, and Tianas blew me out of the water when I first saw it. We handed our servers our tip envelopes, and said our goodbyes, as we were doing Express walk off in the morning and knew we would not be at breakfast. Rey tried to convince to come to breakfast anyway, saying he could get us in and out in 15 minutes and that he'd hold our table just in case.

We left the restaurant, full and happy, couldn't resist one more photo on the way out:

I'm close to my photo limit, so will finish out the evening in the next post.

 

[xavier2001]

During dinner, we had talked about our evening attack plan at length. We knew we wanted to hit up the last few trivias (remember the Mickey medallion obsession), and knew we wanted to spend some time in the Fathoms as well. We also had to pack in there somewhere as well. The show in the Walt Disney Theater tonight was Dreams, I had seen it twice on the Wonder, and DH wasn't interested so we decided to skip that as well as the 'Til we Meet Again' show as we had seen that multiple times as well. We headed from dinner straight to O Gills for 90s music trivia. We knew this was our best chance at winning. Tim hosted this trivia, and by happenstance we happened to sit right near where he was with his microphone. The place was packed.

We did really well (well DH did really well and I helped with 1 question), but alas, we came in 3rd place. No Mickey Medallion. I was a tiny bit crushed. But we moved on, determined to make the most of our last night.

We had 45 minutes until the next (and final) trivia of the cruise started. So we dashed upstairs, saw this guy:

And threw our stuff into suitcases. I guess the one advantage to a shorter cruise is that it takes less time to pack up all our junk, always sad to take the magnets down:

From here we headed back to O'Gills, where they were now serving snacks (look an adult beverage that is NOT a MaiTai):

We munched and also worked on filling out our cruise comment card. We gave all 'excellents' and gave quite a few shout outs to our favorite cast members:

We played our last Disney themed trivia, and did not even come close to winning, its hard when you aren't a parks person, and only know about the parks based upon trip reports you've read.

During Trivia I noticed some flashes of lightning outside the ship. DH hadn't seen them and thought I was crazy. So we ventured out to Deck 4 so I could prove him wrong. It was chilly, wet, and windy. All the loungers had been tied up, so we did not stay out there long. We ventured to Fathoms, which was not open yet, so sat in the comfy port holes and watched the dark waves. There was a couple next to us arguing about seeing lightning as well, so I chimed in that yes, I saw lightning too, we weren't crazy! Soon Fathoms opened and we claimed our color changing booth for one last time. While we were there chilling, Tim came and sat with us for awhile, and he had a BIG surprise:

He said because we won brain teasers trivia the other day AND that we were his most faithful Fathoms followers, he wanted us to have Mickey Medallions. Good thing I had already given a shout out on the cruise survey. I was SO excited, what a great end to the week.

I somehow did not get any Mai Tai photos tonight but just assume they were the same as the last 4 nights and I had more than 1 (maybe more than 2, its all a little fuzzy). We played 80s music showdown:

And then Marcus Monroe, a comedian and juggler did an adult show. We missed his family show earlier in the week (I think it was on Marvel night), he was pretty funny, again I think the rum made him funnier):

It was after 11 when he was finished, we hit up Deck 9 for one last late night pizza snack. On our way back to the room, we shared an elevator with Sasha from Palo, he was just getting off work. He was leaving for home the next day and wearily told us he had not started packing, it was going to be a long night for him. Here's my half eaten pizza in case you needed proof:

It was close to midnight, and I knew I should to to bed as the alarm was set for 6 a.m., but I wasn't tired, so I sat on the balcony for a long while watching a beautiful storm at sea. I eventually retreated to bed, where I tossed and turned most of the night.

Next up, debarkation, journeying home, and final thoughts.

 

[xavier2001]

Day 6 - Til We Meet Again

Sadly, the worst day of every cruise had arrived, the day they kick you off and give your room to someone else. Like I said the alarm went off at 6, I had tossed and turned all night, maybe got 2 good hours of sleep. DH got up first and got showered, then he ran up to Cabanas for some sustenance to get us going while I got in the shower. He had seen poor Sasha up there serving breakfast. Sasha had been up until 3:30 packing, then up early to open Cabanas. I was feeling his pain. This is what he brought back for us to share:

Between being really tired, sad about leaving, and lets face it, all those Mai Tais, I wasn't feeling great. I managed to eat a little bit and that was it. Where was the peanut butter toast from our PC cruise, that's what I needed!

We headed down to Deck 4 just after 7:15 when they said Express Walk Off would begin. They had not cleared the ship just yet so we joined the long line. It wasn't too long after that that we started moving, and it all went pretty quickly and smoothly from there. This was our first time doing Express walk off and lugging our own luggage, it was pretty efficient. We were outside the terminal in no time at all. I had arranged Jiffy Jeffy to pick us up and take us back to Fort Lauderdale. We had a somewhat early flight (11:45), Disney doesn't recommend flying before noon. We wanted a quick ride to the airport. Our driver was there waiting for us, and I snapped this next photo at 7:53 as we were headed into the tunnel:

We made it to the airport in good time. The baggage drop line was short, and we made it through security very quickly. Fort Lauderdale is a small airport, the entire terminal was one big waiting room. There was a Starbucks and a bagel shop, and a small convenience store. It was crowded but we managed to find seats, and eventually were able to snag ones near the charging ports. We were so sad:

My Delta app texted me before the airport screens that our flight had been delayed by 20 minutes. That 20 minutes eventually turned into an hour which meant we had a LONG wait. We tried to check our email and catch up on social media but the internet connection was VERY slow. Both my Verizon and the airport free wifi were frustrating, way slower than even the ship wifi. At some point I wandered around and bought some peanut M&Ms and diet coke for the way home, and got some bagel sandwiches for us to share as we knew we were not getting lunch. The sandwiches were meh, and I may have snacked on the candy instead. Around 12:30, the flight finally started boarding, and then we were off. This flight we were in the same row but in both middle seats, which was not the most fun thing in the world. But it was a direct flight and knew we'd be home soon. As we headed for the runway we heard a terrible 'thunk, thunk, thunk' noise with every turn of the wheel. Soon we stopped and the Captain announced they were sending a repair team out to deal with the 'thunk'. We sat another 20 or so minutes, but thankfully they were able to get it repaired and we were on our way, we took off at 1 pm.

We landed back at CVG, claimed our baggage without incident, took the shuttle back to our car, and headed home.

We met up with my parents and the kids for a Mexican dinner, as my parents were headed home that evening. I was SO tired that all I wanted to do was sleep, but energized by seeing the kiddos again, they had had a great time with my parents, but missed us as well. We bid my parents farewell, then headed home where I crashed on the couch.


Overall, this was an AMAZING trip. I was so worried about leaving the kids, and so worried and DH and I would have nothing to talk about, but it was all good. It was a much needed break from reality, and one DH and I both said we aren't going to wait another 15 years to do again. We did some different things from our last cruises, and really enjoyed the adult spaces on the ship. We put a placeholder down and I have already started thinking about our next adventure. I'd like to do the 2020 EBTA, which has not yet been released. DH is still on the fence. I'd also like to sneak in a quickie on the Dream before then for 2 reasons, 1 it will get us to GOLD, and 2 it will complete our GRAND SLAM. The kids' 12th birthday is in the fall. I already have a cruise picked out, but DH wants to think it over for awhile, stay tuned.

As far as Marvel Day at Sea, it was a fun and different experience. I am not a Marvel Superfan, but enjoyed the shows, and activities. It is impossible to do everything, and even with what we did manage to squeeze in it was a busy day. So my advice, pick the things that mean the most to you, and if the other stuff works out great, if not, don't sweat it. And don't miss the Deck show in the evening.


So, we have reached the end of another great trip. Thanks for reading along, and holler if you have any thoughts or questions!

 

[SixtoMouse]

Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed your report.

 

[Skylarr29]

Enjoyed reading both this report and your PC report! We’re also eyeing the 2020 EBTA! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

I am a long way from finishing your report but if I don't post now I will forget what I wanted to say. How annoying that the parents were not taking care of their children and engaging in responsive parenting. How the heck are the wee ones going to learn proper behavior if it is not enforced. We always took our daughter with us to conferences, restaurants, vacations, etc and she would sit quietly and draw or pay attention or one of us would leave with her and do something with her that was age appropriate. It appears that way too many parents on your cruise were focused only on their own enjoyment and not the enjoyment of their children or fellow passengers.

Wow, fifteen years before you took a vacation with just the two of you. It took us twenty-one years and then it was only because Sarah was away at college. Sarah is at the College of Wooster which may be close to you????

How is your weather this week? We are on day two of campus closure due to the weather. K-12 schools have been closed all week but the colleges (where I work) stay open until driving/being out in the cold is way into the danger level.

Keep reporting! You are doing a great job.

Yum on the drinks!

Kate

 

[cadien]

Having been on the Wonder twice, and never the Magic, it was strange to me that everything was the same, yet a little bit different. It took awhile to get used to that.

We were on the Magic out of Miami for MDAS in April 2018 and get on the Wonder in four days, so I'm expecting similar disorientation.

I snapped a shot of our hotel for some distance perspective:

I recognize that colorful building! And have an almost identical photo. That's where we sat right after boarding. We skipped the buffet but also the dining room. Just had Dole Whips with rum and chilled.

 

[cadien]

Backing up again to before the trip began, I had had a crazy few weeks, and told my DH that he was in charge of his own packing, somewhat of a foreign concept in our 15 year marriage. The night we were packing, I asked him if he had something nice for Palo, he pointed out the dress shirt, and 2 ties in his packing pile. He was on top of it. Or so I thought. Rewind to embarkation day, when we were unpacking, and he realized he did not have his dress pants. Yikes!! He had several shorts, and 1 pair of jeans, but no dress pants. From reading these boards, I knew they allowed jeans in Palo for brunch, but could not remember for dinner. And we were a little aghast, because we are in the 'if you are going to go to a nice restaurant, dress the part' camp. So we debated what to do. DH did go down to the Palo dining change area embarkation day and ask, they assured him it would be fine if he wore jeans, as long as they were in good condition. 'Good' is a subjective term.' We decided to keep our reservation and see if we could find a better option in the shops of Grand Cayman.

We experienced a version of this! DH always does his own packing and usually successfully. But he forgot a dress shirt for Palo. At least those are sold in the ship gift shops. For $$$. He's bringing it on this next cruise to try to get some more of his money's worth.

 

[Jess_S]

Thanks for a great trip report. (I am impressed by how quickly you finished. I am still working on a TR I started 6 months ago).

 

[oufpat]

Thanks for a great report. We'll be on the Magic out of Miami in April with the kids and grandkids. They are all so excited for their first Disney Cruise! We all have oceanview rooms on Deck 2, just wondering how expensive it was to upgrade to a Verandah?

 

[xavier2001]

Enjoyed reading both this report and your PC report! We’re also eyeing the 2020 EBTA! Thanks for sharing.

I am anxiously awaiting the dates, I'm thinking the kids will miss the last week or 2 of school if we do it, but really do they do much schoolwork in May lol.

I am a long way from finishing your report but if I don't post now I will forget what I wanted to say. How annoying that the parents were not taking care of their children and engaging in responsive parenting. How the heck are the wee ones going to learn proper behavior if it is not enforced. We always took our daughter with us to conferences, restaurants, vacations, etc and she would sit quietly and draw or pay attention or one of us would leave with her and do something with her that was age appropriate. It appears that way too many parents on your cruise were focused only on their own enjoyment and not the enjoyment of their children or fellow passengers.

Wow, fifteen years before you took a vacation with just the two of you. It took us twenty-one years and then it was only because Sarah was away at college. Sarah is at the College of Wooster which may be close to you????

How is your weather this week? We are on day two of campus closure due to the weather. K-12 schools have been closed all week but the colleges (where I work) stay open until driving/being out in the cold is way into the danger level.

Keep reporting! You are doing a great job.

Yum on the drinks!

Kate

Thanks! I try not to be too judgmental of parents but misbehaving kiddos drive me crazy. All kids have their moments, but there was a lot of misbehavior that we observed. I also think the older my kids get, the less tolerance I have for the toddler/preschooler set, maybe I'm just getting old!

Its freezing here, school was closed today and will be tomorrow too d/t -25 windchills. We are expecting more snow tomorrow night, so they may be off Friday as well.

Thanks for a great trip report. (I am impressed by how quickly you finished. I am still working on a TR I started 6 months ago).

I may have neglected all my other household duties to finish LOL! I find doing the trip report helps with the post cruise Disney blues, at least until I can plan my next trip!

Thanks for a great report. We'll be on the Magic out of Miami in April with the kids and grandkids. They are all so excited for their first Disney Cruise! We all have oceanview rooms on Deck 2, just wondering how expensive it was to upgrade to a Verandah?

We paid $600 to upgrade at the port. It was a lot, but I rationalized that we had given up our $500 Cabana at Castaway Cay and had a $100 on board booking credit, DH was thankfully agreeable to my whims. I think there is something so magical about a first cruise, they will have SO much fun!

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

On our way back to the room, we shared an elevator with Sasha from Palo, he was just getting off work. He was leaving for home the next day and wearily told us he had not started packing, it was going to be a long night for him.

My favorite Palo server is Sasha! Poor guy, that had to be rough working, then packing, then working again.

Fort Lauderdale is a small airport, the entire terminal was one big waiting room.

I much prefer the FLL airport over MIA. It tends to have less expensive flights from DTW also.

As far as Marvel Day at Sea, it was a fun and different experience. I am not a Marvel Superfan,

Our next cruise is a Star Wars cruise. I am not a Star Wars fan, in fact I have only seen the first movie but even though Rob will have to update me on each and every character I think it still will be fun. Hopefully I can enjoy the theme as much as you did the Marvel Day at Sea theme..

Kate

 

[lorimay]

Wow! That went fast, enjoyed reading about your adventure!! Glad you had fun!
I love cruising with me and hubby alone, our first was in 2012, our kids were adults already.
We have done many by ourselves now and several with the grandkids, they love it and are mad when we go without them.
We haven't tried Rapunzels yet, we are booked for Bermuda in September and I will get to see it finally.

In 24 days we are doing our first WBPC on The Wonder, can't wait to go to Tiana's for the first time.
I read your PC trip report too!!!

 

[Dahlin43]

Thanks for the review! We just found out our cruise in January 2020 will be a Marvel one. We are Marvel fans, so I literally squealed when my TA emailed me. My LO will be 5 on that cruise and this will be her third cruise but the first one where we can FINALLY take advantage of the kids club. I can't wait! LOL
Can I ask, about how much was the uber from FLL to Miami? Thanks!

 

[xavier2001]

My favorite Palo server is Sasha! Poor guy, that had to be rough working, then packing, then working again.



I much prefer the FLL airport over MIA. It tends to have less expensive flights from DTW also.



Our next cruise is a Star Wars cruise. I am not a Star Wars fan, in fact I have only seen the first movie but even though Rob will have to update me on each and every character I think it still will be fun. Hopefully I can enjoy the theme as much as you did the Marvel Day at Sea theme..

Kate

The first time we had Sasha we thought he was pretty pretentious, but he has really grown on us, had I known he was going to be on the Magic we would have requested him, funny how they move around.

We chose FLL because of cost as well, it was easy to navigate.

Star Wars is on my DH's list too, one of these years!

Wow! That went fast, enjoyed reading about your adventure!! Glad you had fun!
I love cruising with me and hubby alone, our first was in 2012, our kids were adults already.
We have done many by ourselves now and several with the grandkids, they love it and are mad when we go without them.
We haven't tried Rapunzels yet, we are booked for Bermuda in September and I will get to see it finally.

In 24 days we are doing our first WBPC on The Wonder, can't wait to go to Tiana's for the first time.
I read your PC trip report too!!!

So jealous, you are gonna love PC, I wanted to go again in 2020, but the dates are just too early in the year for us. We will definitely go again, probably when the kids are grown.

Thanks for the review! We just found out our cruise in January 2020 will be a Marvel one. We are Marvel fans, so I literally squealed when my TA emailed me. My LO will be 5 on that cruise and this will be her third cruise but the first one where we can FINALLY take advantage of the kids club. I can't wait! LOL
Can I ask, about how much was the uber from FLL to Miami? Thanks!

I think it was around $40 for the Uber, which I thought was really reasonable. I know it was only $7 to take from the hotel to the port the next morning. It was our first experience with Uber, and it was a great one!

And enjoy the kids club, 5 is a great age!

 

[tundra1]

Day 3- Grand Cayman, Pirate Night

Ok, backing up a minute before getting into this next post. When we first booked this cruise we were trying to save money (clearly that is out the window by now) so we did not book any excursions for Grand Cayman. Most of what was offered were beach adventures, which does not particularly interest us, or snorkeling, which you can read about in my PC trip report. So we decided to play it by ear and see what we were in the mood for. I booked our Palo dinner reservation for this evening, knowing it was Pirate night, and knowing its a menu we've had several times before.

Backing up again to before the trip began, I had had a crazy few weeks, and told my DH that he was in charge of his own packing, somewhat of a foreign concept in our 15 year marriage. The night we were packing, I asked him if he had something nice for Palo, he pointed out the dress shirt, and 2 ties in his packing pile. He was on top of it. Or so I thought. Rewind to embarkation day, when we were unpacking, and he realized he did not have his dress pants. Yikes!! He had several shorts, and 1 pair of jeans, but no dress pants. From reading these boards, I knew they allowed jeans in Palo for brunch, but could not remember for dinner. And we were a little aghast, because we are in the 'if you are going to go to a nice restaurant, dress the part' camp. So we debated what to do. DH did go down to the Palo dining change area embarkation day and ask, they assured him it would be fine if he wore jeans, as long as they were in good condition. 'Good' is a subjective term.' We decided to keep our reservation and see if we could find a better option in the shops of Grand Cayman.

Ok, fast forward back to Day 3. I did not sleep fantastic, but better than the night before, I woke up just before 9, still to early for vacation. I peeked out of the balcony to get a glimpse of the island and saw that the tender boats were already up and running:

Loving your review so far. I wish I could see all the pictures, but so far only an occasional picture here and there. It sounds like you had a fantastic time! Can't wait for our first cruise next year!

We decided to head to Lumiere's for breakfast. This time we were seated by ourselves, which made for a nice, quiet meal. I got my coffee, and we both ordered breakfast. Before long the pastry cart came along, and I settled on a croissant, here's a half eaten photo for you:

For breakfast I ordered the breakfast skillet, which was potatoes, chorizo, cheese, and eggs. I would not have thought to order it, but yesterday's tablemate did, and it looked good so I gave it a try. It was delicious, but very greasy:

DH (who was now all about the food photo taking), ordered the French toast, to which our server made a HUGE deal about it being the Frenchest thing on the menu. It looked delicious:

We enjoyed a leisurely meal, then went for a walk to work off the calories. We spotted the Fantasy pulling into port around this time, she's way in the distance:

By now it was after 10, so we headed to the room to gather our belongings, had to get a photo of the matching pirate shirts:

We headed down to the Buena Vista Theater to get our tender tickets, thinking by now the line would be down. We were surprised to find half the theater full, waiting for their tenders. We grabbed our tickets and joined the line, again noting just how many toddlers and preschoolers were onboard, it was hard for them to wait patiently, most were doing a pretty good job. We didn't have to wait too long until our row was called, and we were off to the tender boat. We were nearly the last ones on, so we had to go downstairs and way to the back to find a seat. The good news is it wasn't too long and we were off:

Pretty view of the Magic:

There were 4 ships in port this particular day, meaning the port area was VERY busy. We tooled around the shops across the street, not finding much. We wandered into one store that had some nicer clothes, one of the workers asked if she could help us find something, with a little communication difficulty, finally it clicked and she said 'church pants, yes we have these.' I was getting a little excited as she took us to the back of the store where there was a very nice rack of dress shorts. While they were nicer than DH's jeans, I knew they would not be allowed in Palo. We headed back outside and sat near the fountains, using the free wifi to check in with home. I even tried to google clothing stores in Georgetown, but came up empty handed. At this point we were tired of the crowds, sad we did not accomplish our mission, and ready to head back on board. So we headed back across the street, and hopped on a waiting tender boat. A short while later we were 'home.' Took this to show just how close the boats got to the ship:

From the time we got on the tender, to the time we got back on the Magic it had only been 90 minutes, it was a short visit to Grand Cayman. We decided to take advantage of the quiet ship, put on our swimsuits and headed up to Deck 9. We had worked up an appetite again, so got pool food. I had my usual hotdog:

DH got the special of the day, the philly cheesesteak, he was not overly impressed:

So they he got some pizza for us to share:

And I had this drink of the day:

We spent some time in the pool and hot tub, and just relaxed. It was cool in the shade, warm in the sun. A few hours later we headed back to the room to get cleaned up, then headed to O'Gills for more Trivia:

We did better this time, but still not well enough to win. Right after Trivia they were doing adult only craft hour. We thought why not:

Here was the finished product, which we gave away to a friend:

After this we headed to the Promenade Lounge for more trivia, snapped a better picture of this beauty on the way:

After this trivia (for which I have no photographic evidence), we headed back to the room for a rest and to get ready for Palo. There was a note on our bed asking us not to leave anything on the veranda, and to please not watch the fireworks from the veranda, as there was a chance ash could blow on us. We made a mental note.

Next up, dinner at Palo and Pirate Night.

Day 3- Grand Cayman, Pirate Night

Ok, backing up a minute before getting into this next post. When we first booked this cruise we were trying to save money (clearly that is out the window by now) so we did not book any excursions for Grand Cayman. Most of what was offered were beach adventures, which does not particularly interest us, or snorkeling, which you can read about in my PC trip report. So we decided to play it by ear and see what we were in the mood for. I booked our Palo dinner reservation for this evening, knowing it was Pirate night, and knowing its a menu we've had several times before.

Backing up again to before the trip began, I had had a crazy few weeks, and told my DH that he was in charge of his own packing, somewhat of a foreign concept in our 15 year marriage. The night we were packing, I asked him if he had something nice for Palo, he pointed out the dress shirt, and 2 ties in his packing pile. He was on top of it. Or so I thought. Rewind to embarkation day, when we were unpacking, and he realized he did not have his dress pants. Yikes!! He had several shorts, and 1 pair of jeans, but no dress pants. From reading these boards, I knew they allowed jeans in Palo for brunch, but could not remember for dinner. And we were a little aghast, because we are in the 'if you are going to go to a nice restaurant, dress the part' camp. So we debated what to do. DH did go down to the Palo dining change area embarkation day and ask, they assured him it would be fine if he wore jeans, as long as they were in good condition. 'Good' is a subjective term.' We decided to keep our reservation and see if we could find a better option in the shops of Grand Cayman.

Ok, fast forward back to Day 3. I did not sleep fantastic, but better than the night before, I woke up just before 9, still to early for vacation. I peeked out of the balcony to get a glimpse of the island and saw that the tender boats were already up and running:

We decided to head to Lumiere's for breakfast. This time we were seated by ourselves, which made for a nice, quiet meal. I got my coffee, and we both ordered breakfast. Before long the pastry cart came along, and I settled on a croissant, here's a half eaten photo for you:

For breakfast I ordered the breakfast skillet, which was potatoes, chorizo, cheese, and eggs. I would not have thought to order it, but yesterday's tablemate did, and it looked good so I gave it a try. It was delicious, but very greasy:

DH (who was now all about the food photo taking), ordered the French toast, to which our server made a HUGE deal about it being the Frenchest thing on the menu. It looked delicious:

We enjoyed a leisurely meal, then went for a walk to work off the calories. We spotted the Fantasy pulling into port around this time, she's way in the distance:

By now it was after 10, so we headed to the room to gather our belongings, had to get a photo of the matching pirate shirts:

We headed down to the Buena Vista Theater to get our tender tickets, thinking by now the line would be down. We were surprised to find half the theater full, waiting for their tenders. We grabbed our tickets and joined the line, again noting just how many toddlers and preschoolers were onboard, it was hard for them to wait patiently, most were doing a pretty good job. We didn't have to wait too long until our row was called, and we were off to the tender boat. We were nearly the last ones on, so we had to go downstairs and way to the back to find a seat. The good news is it wasn't too long and we were off:

Pretty view of the Magic:

There were 4 ships in port this particular day, meaning the port area was VERY busy. We tooled around the shops across the street, not finding much. We wandered into one store that had some nicer clothes, one of the workers asked if she could help us find something, with a little communication difficulty, finally it clicked and she said 'church pants, yes we have these.' I was getting a little excited as she took us to the back of the store where there was a very nice rack of dress shorts. While they were nicer than DH's jeans, I knew they would not be allowed in Palo. We headed back outside and sat near the fountains, using the free wifi to check in with home. I even tried to google clothing stores in Georgetown, but came up empty handed. At this point we were tired of the crowds, sad we did not accomplish our mission, and ready to head back on board. So we headed back across the street, and hopped on a waiting tender boat. A short while later we were 'home.' Took this to show just how close the boats got to the ship:

From the time we got on the tender, to the time we got back on the Magic it had only been 90 minutes, it was a short visit to Grand Cayman. We decided to take advantage of the quiet ship, put on our swimsuits and headed up to Deck 9. We had worked up an appetite again, so got pool food. I had my usual hotdog:

DH got the special of the day, the philly cheesesteak, he was not overly impressed:

So they he got some pizza for us to share:

And I had this drink of the day:

We spent some time in the pool and hot tub, and just relaxed. It was cool in the shade, warm in the sun. A few hours later we headed back to the room to get cleaned up, then headed to O'Gills for more Trivia:

We did better this time, but still not well enough to win. Right after Trivia they were doing adult only craft hour. We thought why not:

Here was the finished product, which we gave away to a friend:

After this we headed to the Promenade Lounge for more trivia, snapped a better picture of this beauty on the way:

After this trivia (for which I have no photographic evidence), we headed back to the room for a rest and to get ready for Palo. There was a note on our bed asking us not to leave anything on the veranda, and to please not watch the fireworks from the veranda, as there was a chance ash could blow on us. We made a mental note.

Next up, dinner at Palo and Pirate Night.

 

[Hubie]

Hi,

Enjoyed your report. We were on the same wonderful cruise. Everything was great except for the wind at Grand Cayman. We had our snorkeling excursion canceled and signed up for swimming with the stingrays, but that was also canceled. Got sticker shock when my wife and I had a drink at Margaritaville (one beer and one small other drink for $22). There was nine of us (us, kids, grandkids and boyfriends) and in general we all had a ball. We also had the best servers ever (Alix and Harry) and this was our 7th Disney Cruise.

 

[xavier2001]

Hi,

Enjoyed your report. We were on the same wonderful cruise. Everything was great except for the wind at Grand Cayman. We had our snorkeling excursion canceled and signed up for swimming with the stingrays, but that was also canceled. Got sticker shock when my wife and I had a drink at Margaritaville (one beer and one small other drink for $22). There was nine of us (us, kids, grandkids and boyfriends) and in general we all had a ball. We also had the best servers ever (Alix and Harry) and this was our 7th Disney Cruise.

I think I remember seeing those shirts around, good looking crew! It was such a fun trip, sorry that your excursions got cancelled, I have done snorkeling many moons ago in Grand Cayman, it is beautiful water. We snuck into Margaritaville to use the restrooms, felt bad not staying for a drink, but were afraid of that sticker shock!

 

[aboveH20]

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your trip report -- it's given me a break from reading the freezing rain updates that may impact our ability to leave Thursday tor the same cruise.

On the five night MDAS cruise I know there's not a formal night, but was there a night when they hinted you could dress a little nicer? I don't want there to be, but I want to be prepared.

 

[xavier2001]

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your trip report -- it's given me a break from reading the freezing rain updates that may impact our ability to leave Thursday tor the same cruise.

On the five night MDAS cruise I know there's not a formal night, but was there a night when they hinted you could dress a little nicer? I don't want there to be, but I want to be prepared.

Thanks for reading along, I hope the freezing rain doesn’t slow down your travel! There was an optional dress up night. We didn’t really dress up this cruise, other than my night at Palo, I changed into capris vs shorts for dinner and a nicer than a T-shirt top (except marvel day, I kept my captain America shirt on lol). Happy travels!