Sailing with the Gang, Disney Magic, Feb 7. 2016

jenseib · May 21, 2016

Cass and I hopped the shuttle.

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We were browsing shops and just looking around and once again ran into our runners.

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jenseib · May 21, 2016

And then we headed to the beach. Cass was WAY ahead of me.

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We got to talking to one of the lifeguards and this is when we found out there was going to be no swimming today. Everything in the water was canceled. We asked if it would open later and she said it was highly doubtful as the wind and waves were so strong that it actually knocked over some tower thing in the water and it was now on the beach and she pointed at it.

She was so happy to see that we docked last night. She lives on the island…well all the life guards do and she says they have a rotation…I want to say it’s 6 weeks and after that you go on the ship for a week or 2 and then someone comes and replaces you. Today was her turn to go back on the ship and I guess she was ready for ship life for a while.

She was really nice to talk to and informative too.

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jenseib · May 21, 2016

Cass was pretty bummed about not being able to swim. I didn’t mind so much as it would have to be pretty warm for me to. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to see how my camera worked underwater. I had bought it in July last year right before our Alaskan cruise and was really hoping to snorkel on this trip and give a try. No luck for that….guess I have to aim now for my Oct cruise on the Fantasy!

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So after checking out the water, we moved on.

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We decided to head to Serenity Bay for some pictures.

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We saw Liam, the one CM who I thought was kind of cute.

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jenseib · May 21, 2016

And Brook running too.

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Now I know a lot of people love Serenity Bay and I only have visited it once, which was my last DCL cruise and I just took pictures…but I just don’t think it’s all that heavenly. I guess it’s just much smaller than I thought it would be. I was hoping maybe this time I would think differently.

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Nope…still feel the same…in fact this time it was even smaller. The waves were washing the beach away.

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jenseib · May 21, 2016

The waves had washed the sand away from the base of the umbrellas and there were some CM’s trying to move them and the chairs back further…but they didn’t have a lot of space to move. A couple of times I thought they might take off in Mary Poppins style.

Mother Nature was not playing nice today. We decided to head back and do some shopping.

And we saw Brook running again…looking a little less energetic now as she was nearing the end.

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We browsed the shop and I think we each got a few things. Usually on CC I find 20 shirts I want and have to decide between all of them. This time I was not falling in love with much and the one top I really did like was a little more than I wanted to spend and it had longer sleeves. In the end I didn’t get it but I later found out Ellen did and then I regretted not getting it because it looked really nice on her.

After our purchases were made we decided to work our way back to the ship. We ran into Kelly at one time, Ellen at one time and I believe Mary Rose and Lisa. Besides Kelly who had just gotten done running, the rest were just arriving on the island. I think most of them were going to check out Serenity Bay but I am not sure if they settled there or not.

This is part of the broken tower thing the life guard had told us about. I just can’t remember what it was.

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And this is what washed ashore.

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jenseib · May 21, 2016

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Even with all the waves and wind, the island was still beautiful.

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jenseib · May 21, 2016

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Up next….heading back to the ship and a date with some Stars.

Edited May 21, 2016 by jenseib

jenseib · May 24, 2016

Cass and I worked our way back to the ship, stopping along the way to take pictures.

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jenseib · May 24, 2016

Our beautiful ship.

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You can never have too many shots of your ship.

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That blue water is just so amazingly beautiful.

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jenseib · May 24, 2016

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Yeah, I got a little carried away with ship pictures. LOL.

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I really like this next picture.

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jenseib · May 24, 2016

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Cass mentioned this sign was new. I can’t say yes or no really. I guess I could look through my old pictures, but I believe her, she usually has a good memory on things like this.

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This area has changed….and in my opinion….not for the better. Not sure why they changed it, Mr. Fishy is gone.

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jenseib · May 24, 2016

Those waves were just crazy.

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Now when we got home, several of us had been in a social media group for our cruise. Some people mentioned they went in the water. I know for a 100% fact that no one was allowed in the water the whole day. I think these people went in anyways. Some swearing they were allowed. It was kind of weird though actually. One even mentioned thinking a family member got sick from being in the water and when someone else pointed out that no one was ever allowed in the water she kind of changed the story. Honestly I wasn’t impressed with a lot of people in our group. Maybe it’s just me, but I have only found one good pre-cruise group since I started joining them and that was the Galveston cruise I was on. It just seems hard to get close to any of the people. I don’t think we saw anyone from that group while on the ship either.

I started looking for one for my Oct. cruise, but so far no luck, but then again I am not too sad about that fact either. Hahaha.

After we got back to the ship we just went right to our room. The nice thing about our room is that it was pretty close to get on and off the ship and just 1 floor up, so no need to wait for an elevator. I think Cass changed and we got a bite to eat.

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I am thinking I also got chicken tenders but maybe not. I started slacking at food pictures after a few days.

Then on to a snack at Cove Café.

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I think we just fooled around a bit…I don’t have more pictures till the evening, so my guess is we just chilled or something. Maybe Cass went for a swim on the ship?

And then we had a date with some stars….the kind in the sky!

Star Wars, the Force Awakens was playing. Cass and I both have seen it right when it was released, with her going to it the day before the official release and I went with Claire on its release date. Of course we both needed to see it again to try and decipher some of the things that puzzled us and we hoped seeing it a second time we would catch things we didn’t the first.

Well the theatre was packed. I think because island activities were at a minimum many others had the same thought as us. Though we had this planned even before we knew how cruddy the day was going to be.

Let’s just say the seats are NOT comfortable and there is not enough leg room. I felt like I was on top of Cass. And I was getting stiff and achy. There were people getting up and down and even though it is stadium seating there really isn’t enough room to easily walk the aisle. I think about ¾ of the way through I got up and moved a seat over which then allowed both Cass and I to sit kind of sideways and stretch our legs a bit more.

That being said, we enjoyed the movie once again and both had some new theories on it. I can’t wait for the next one to see if any of my theories are even close to being remotely right. Of course I have to wait till late 2017 before I can even hope for some answers.

Some of the girls did spend some time on the island but I think most came back somewhat early and just hung out and did their own thing.

I believe after the movie I got showered. I am pretty sure Cass and I went to the show with the comedian who had been at the club the night before. He was good but the adult shows are always better.

Later I met up with some of the girls who were hanging out in Keys. I don’t remember what Cass ended up doing.

The girls were all ordering drinks. I am just not a big drinker anymore. In my younger days I drank a lot of beer and hung out at the bar every weekend, but now a days I can barely drink 2 before feeling hung over the next day.

This Sommelier was kind of a hootty tooty snob. He asked what I wanted and at first I said nothing. He kind of kept pressuring me so I asked for a strawberry daiquiri.

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He came back to tell me it was going to be like 15 minutes for it, so I said forget it. Then he asked if he could suggest something. Um…no. I said something like I don’t like drinks with a lot of alcohol in them and he kind of made a snide remark. He also made some snobby remarks to some of the other gals too.

I finally settled on an Amaretto Sour. I love those babies. They taste like kool aid and I can suck one of those down in 2 minutes easily.

He brought the drinks out and did some fancy presentation for some of them.

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jenseib · May 24, 2016

I tasted a few of the girls drinks. I believe a couple got the Moet Ice and that was really good.

Brook got something that would knock your socks off. It was STRONG.

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My drink.

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Obviously I had gone shopping too since I have a bag sitting there. I think I bought a sweatshirt which I totally forgot about till last week when I went to grab one in my closet and thought...hmm when did I get this?

We wanted to head out to the pirate fireworks so he had to exchange the fancy Key’s glasses for ones that we could carry around the ship. And he brought our bills.

Note…When the Sommelier suggests a drink for you, he usually is going to suggest one that is high in cost. Brooks drink was outrageously expensive and awful. I think in the end she did not drink it. I think she even tried to water it down with pop and still couldn’t drink it. I believe Carol’s was not too good as well. I am so glad I stuck to what I know.

Up next…Pirates IN the Caribbean and fireworks in the sky!

jenseib · May 26, 2016

We all headed out and went out on the deck just in time for Mickey to come out. You can see him ready to fly in here.

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We missed most of the show itself but we had a lot of fun watching the fireworks.

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jenseib · May 26, 2016

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That was fun!

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Time to head off to dinner. I found out Cass had watched the fireworks from deck 4 with Deb and she said it was really a nice spot to watch and not be around the zillions of people.

Tonight we were back in the Royal Palace and had the pirate menu, which is one of my favorites.

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Food was ordered and once again, I did not hold back!

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jenseib · May 26, 2016

This pasta dish is seriously one of my favorite dishes of all the meals on the ship.

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And I devoured it!

The waiters all paraded around and a few of the girls joined in.

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As much as I like the pirate menu, I am not a fan of most of the desserts they offer, so I went with old faithful….the Mickey bar.

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Again, I can’t remember if I hit the club tonight or went to bed early. I am thinking this is the night I went to bed early. I would love to enjoy more time at the club but I was now over a week into this trip and it was taking its toll on me with the lack of sleep and no naps!

I love the chocolates.

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I think I was back up on the top bunk again tonight and I think Cass was on the couch bed? I survived once again, but of course had to wear my shoes to get up there and then I threw those stinky things back down.

Up next…a relaxing day at sea

jenseib · May 30, 2016

Wednesday, Feb 10, 2016, Sea Day

For some reason I had wrote Feb. 9 as Sunday…No clue why and that is obviously not correct.

Today was a day at sea and I just love Sea days. I love doing different things on the ship that is offered….or not. Just doing my own thing is really relaxing. I don’t do well with relaxing on my own so this kind of forces me to take it slower.

I was up early as always and I am pretty sure Cass was too.

I started out by taking pictures around the ship.

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This is as close as I got to the new Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. The door was closed so I didn’t go in.

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I meant to go back but I never did.

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I think I may have stopped for a banana.

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jenseib · May 30, 2016

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I think I walked around a bit then went to get some breakfast in Cabanas.

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jenseib · May 30, 2016

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jenseib · May 30, 2016

I found a seat and looked out at the gray looking day.

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It was too cold to go outside and eat sadly.

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After breakfast I walked around and took some more pictures.

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jenseib · May 30, 2016

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jenseib · May 30, 2016

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This store is now a Star Wars store…in the past this is where you bought alcohol and cigarettes. FYI, you can only now buy packs of cigarettes onboard and I think it’s at the bars if I remember right from what a CM told me. They no longer sell cartons. I know for some buying cheap cartons onboard was always a nice perk for cruising. Disney did away with it. I do know that when Skip bought one last cruise we were on as a family they had very limited selections and I don’t even think that his brand/style, which is a pretty popular one, was even available then.

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jenseib · May 30, 2016

Into O’Gills

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It was time to head back to the room and get showered and all pretty! Well as pretty as I can do with what I have. LOL.

We were having brunch at Palo today. I LOVE their brunch. I found out later that Cass does not like the brunch and prefers dinner. I don’t care for dinner. How could my good friend go so wrong?

When planning this trip, we had a lot of Chiefs and not many Indians. Everyone had ideas and it became difficult at times to decide on some things. Almost all of us had cruised Disney before and all of us have our own likes, so it was tough at times to compromise and agree. When it came time to do online check in and reserve things like Palo it was also hard because some members were Platinum, some gold and some silver (and I think we had 2 newbies). We all aimed for a specific time frame for Palo and were hoping that they would seat us all together or at least near each other. We also inquired about getting the private room and I believe we could not even put a request in for that till 30 days prior. Katie was in charge of that and at the right date she sent in our request and we were granted it! Yay! So now we all had the same time (obviously) and the private room so we could be a little louder without disturbing others.

Cass and I arrived a little early and found out half of the girls were already seated. (I took a few quick shots on the way back to our room.)

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