Trip Report DCL: Collect the whole set! A Pro9het Turf’less Surf story.

So the Cliff’s Notes version of trip details can be had here:

Pre-Trip - It’s not about Ryan Gosling, but there is a Gosling involved – A DCL Bermuda PTR

As professor Matthew McConaughey states, “alright, alright, alright,” let’s get this Bermuda PTR party started! Your eyes do not deceive you. Yes, it is I (or me – lol grammar) who will write or at least begin this PTR. Here are the basics: Who’s going on this cruise? Yes, you guessed it…me...

forums.wdwmagic.com

As is usual we are celebrating our anniversary at sea with DCL. What is not usual is we are doing it from a port that is not Port Canaveral. Our departure port would be New York City. This meant a first time trip to NYC for the both of us. This also meant there would be no WDW turf side to this story as is typical for us. Another first for us was our journey taking place on the Disney Magic. We’ve been on every other DCL ship to this point and we were excited to complete the set with our first Magic voyage. If that wasn’t enough “new” for us we added a new port of call, 2 days at Bermuda. So there ya have it, a series of firsts now lets get this party started.

Tuesday, day before we fly to NYC:
Word on the weather street was that a nor'easter was heading straight for NYC. Worse yet is was supposed to hit NYC while we were flying in that evening. We scrambled tonight to see if we could fly out earlier. Thankfully we found a flight leaving several hours earlier and better yet the seats were together. This would ease some of my bride’s fears of flying but only temporarily. It’s strange how life’s highs and lows can come at you. While we were scrambling to avoid a nor'easter we received a notification of a DVC resale contact that just hit the market. We’d been looking for a small VGC contract for a while and sure enough one popped up. We tossed our hat in the ring with an offer and the caveat that we were about to set sail and couldn’t sign anything until we returned. Fingers crossed!

Wednesday, travel day:
I was scheduled to work today but since we shifted our flight I took an additional vaca day. We left the house a little before 9am and since it was raining out this meant Georgia drivers just took a dump on Ga400. Seriously, this state may have the worst drivers. What should have been an easy, “post rush hour”, trip to the Marta station turned into a gridlock nightmare. It was so bad the usual Marta station we use was at capacity and we had to drive to the next station to catch a train. Thankfully that only incurred another 10 minutes on the road. We navigated the station, and soon were arriving at the airport. Hooray for TSA PreCheck! We passed through security in no time and settled into the terminal, only slightly frazzled.

Speaking of highs and lows, while we sat at the gate we received a notice from the DVC resale agent:

Our offer was accepted! This high was temporary, though, as it was time to board and my Bride’s nerves would be tested. As we boarded we did find things to distract us. For me it was:

For my bride it was:

Up next: Flying & Storms don't mix!

 

[lostpro9het]

Ok, listen. This is my first cruise. Rules state you can have two bottles of wine per room and you have to carry them on. Tell me Mr. Prophet, what do I do?.

Trip Report - ***BOOM, DONE***No, Its not Déjà vu. It’s just that time of year again…the 20th surf ’n turf part deux. And we’re live now!

You were with us for the 16th, 17th, the epic bungalow 18th, the 19th, and the 20/40 so why not...do it again. I went back and forth on covering this one, TR fatigue has been biting me in the butt lately. I figured, though, that with the amount of new things we are considering for this trip it...

forums.wdwmagic.com

Whats really sad is you even commented on it.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Trip Report - ***BOOM, DONE***No, Its not Déjà vu. It’s just that time of year again…the 20th surf ’n turf part deux. And we’re live now!

You were with us for the 16th, 17th, the epic bungalow 18th, the 19th, and the 20/40 so why not...do it again. I went back and forth on covering this one, TR fatigue has been biting me in the butt lately. I figured, though, that with the amount of new things we are considering for this trip it...

forums.wdwmagic.com

Whats really sad is you even commented on it.

Well crap, that was over a year ago. I can barely remember last week. You're still a goob.

 

[lostpro9het]

Friday, day at sea, con't:

After a few hours of sipping and soaking our bellies were telling us it was lunch time. My bride decided to hit up Cabanas for lunch.

True story, my side hustle is proofreading Cabanas food cards. I approved this one earlier in the day.

 

[lostpro9het]

Friday, day at sea, con't:

So while my bride was getting her Cabanas on I was getting my gyro on! IMO this was one of the best additions to The Wonder and Magic. You can choose from chicken or lamb and they have a ton of sides to accompany it as well as serve naan. Its like having Tangierine Café at sea!

We returned to our chairs and enjoyed our lunches by the pool. My DW enjoyed her mexican station food sans the chiken.

I loaded up on the gyro, sooo good

After another hour or so we were coming up on another trivia time so we decide to head back to the room to clean up before the game. We still had a few minutes and relaxed on the veranda for a bit. The weather was beautiful.

It was also a good time to sample another beer. This was the Leaf Pile Ale by Greenport Harbor Brewing Company. This was beer was like drinking Fall, lots of spice and pumpkin notes. I gave it a 3.5 out of 5.

 

[lostpro9het]

Friday, day at sea, con't:

Today's trivia was TV music trivia with #tonyfromspain. We had a respectable showing but didn't bring home the plastic luggage tags today.

After the trivia we had an hour or so to kill before our next activity so we did a little shopping. My DW had to get her pin fix on. We passed the theater along the way and noticed they had some cool popcorn buckets here like in the parks.

We picked up our pins and were on our way. I liked the Bermuda pin.

So we made our back to OGills for a drawing class. It should be no surprise based on previous drawing attempts that I flat suck at these. I tried easing today's pain with a Kronenbourg 1664.

Our instructor today was Gus. He had some skills, I did not.

When we walked in he was just finishing Mickey so joined in on Stitch and Cruella. Brace yourselves. My nightmare creations are on the left, my bride's work is on the right.

I truly don't know where I went wrong with Stitch but at least the beer was decent.

 

[Rista1313]

I can't believe the pile of stone crab claws on the buffet! They are usually super $$$ and I would not expect to see them there!

 

[Zipadeelady]

That Stitch!

 

[PacNWTigger]

Your poor Stitch looked more like a gremlin...hehe.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Your poor Stitch looked more like a gremlin...hehe.

I thought the same thing!!

 

[lostpro9het]

I can't believe the pile of stone crab claws on the buffet! They are usually super $$$ and I would not expect to see them there!

Its there every day! Sadly that stuff is not in my wheelhouse and that picture is about as close to them as I get.

That Stitch!

atodaso!

Your poor Stitch looked more like a gremlin...hehe.

The likeness is there. I think you nailed it. I really butchered poor Stitch.

 

[imahistorygeek]

I can't believe the pile of stone crab claws on the buffet! They are usually super $$$ and I would not expect to see them there!

This was one of major differences we noticed between Norwegian and DCL. DCL, wins with food in both quality and variety.

I believe it's a Jonah crab claw on the buffet. The shrimp is also delicious.

 

[lostpro9het]

Friday, day at sea, con't:

After our drawing class we made our way back to our stateroom. A little later we were going to try something else new, trick or treating on the ship and watching the Halloween party. We needed to fuel up for all this excitement and ordered some room service. Folks, I've said it before and I'll say it again ALL YOU CAN EAT MICKEY BARS DELIVERED TO YOUR ROOM FOR FREE!

You'll also notice a carafe of hot water. Yeah...that was supposed to be a carafe of coffee but they sent us water by mistake. Talk about a rude surprise as you pour hot water into a cup of sugar and cream. Anyway, Mickey Bars and chocolate chip cookies made it better.

We suited up and made for the atrium. We rehashed the 80's again this year, maybe next year we'll try something new.

We wrangled with the mob waiting for #tonyfromspain to announce the start of trick or treating.

Trick or treating was fun. They had multiple stations on multiple decks and it did a decent job of spreading the mob around. Nothing was keeping anyone from going back for seconds or even thirds but one round was enough for us. Plus, we wanted to catch the start of the party before breaking for trivia. We got situated on the deck above the stage before the stars of the show arrived.

 

[lostpro9het]

Friday, day at sea, con't:

The stars kept flowing in.

The crowd was enjoying it and so were we.

They did a real good job with the party and I would happily watch it again. As for the trick or treating, it too was fun but we're not big candy eaters and it may be a one and done for us. I guess it all depends what else is scheduled at that time. Anyhow, here was our take from visiting four stations, not bad.

 

[lostpro9het]

Friday, day at sea, con't:

After dropping off our candy we made for O'Gills again for trivia. We played a little checkers before the game kicked off.

Tonight's trivia was 70's music trivia and I'm not ashamed to say that the geris kicked our tonight. We still had fun and the drunk jack o lantern dude added a lot of humor to the game.

After trivia we went back to the stateroom to see if the room had been turned down, it had with some towel art.

 

[lostpro9het]

Friday, day at sea, con't:

Tonight's rotational dining was at Lumiere's

This is place is a favorite of mine as I'm kinda a duck junkie and I get to double dip here. I went with the duck confit and the roasted duck. My bride went with the french onion soup and salad(neglected to get a pic of the soup)

We caught up with TeamLI and TeamV. TeamLI were dressed in some impressive Harry Potter costumes. We shared stories of the day and talked about our plans for Burmuda tomorrow. It was a good dinner but we still had to deal with dessert.

Everyone usually gets the souffle here but we had Palo tomorrow night and that is where the souffle is at! I opted for the gateau which is lite and tasty.

My DW was tapped out and told our server she wanted "nothing" for dessert. Lets just say he obliged her, another first for us.

We closed out our night with some adult games with #tonyfromspain.

Honestly we were TIRED tonight and both pretty excited to reach Burmuda in the morning. We crashed pretty quickly after returning to our room.

Tomorrow, BERMUDA!

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday, Bermuda Day 1:

Finally the day had come, Bermuda! Seemed like so long ago that my bride floated the idea of this island past me. Like other things she suggested in the past, i.e. DVC and DCL, I was all like "Ehhh I don't know". I fully admit it, I like what I know and Bermuda was an unknown. I'm getting ahead of myself. First things first, what a beautiful morning we woke up to. The skies were clearing and the temperature was warm.

We enjoyed this view from our veranda with breakfast, of course. Stuck to our routine and I hit up Cabanas while room service delivered our coffee.

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday, Bermuda Day 1, con't:

We enjoyed breakfast while pulling into King's Wharf. Today's plan was very relaxed. We had no excursions planned until later this evening. We went a little rouge and decided to just catch a ride to Horseshoe Bay for the day. After breakfast we put on our bathing suits and went topside to watch us dock while waiting for the all ashore call.

Currently we were the only ship docked at the wharf and it would stay like this for at least a day.

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday, Bermuda Day 1, con't:

So while we were on the top deck taking pictures we noticed just a couple of people walking off ship and they looked like guests. I asked L if she heard the ashore announcement and she hadn't. I saw one more family exit and decided we should head down to the lower deck to try an disembark. She hesitantly obliged me and down we went. Sure enough they were letting folks off! So we disembarked and headed for the wharf.

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday, Bermuda Day 1, con't:

So now here is where the unknown uneasiness starts settling in for me. I had visions of the Nassau harassment hoards hitting us in waves as we exited the pier. What happened, in fact, was the polar opposite! Bermuda could not be any more different than Nassau in all the best ways and it started here at the pier. As we exited there were a couple of locals walking around with signs. They just floated around the pier, said good morning, and left you alone. In fact we ended up walking up to one of them and asked the best way to get to Horseshoe Bay. She was most polite and directed us to a taxi line where another local asked us if we would like to take a taxi or a shuttle van. We planned on taking a van prior to the trip so we asked about a van. He called over to another individual who escorted us to his van and there was another Bermuda difference. Our van driver was dressed like he was about to head to dinner at Palo, before they dumbed down the dressing restrictions. As I looked around I realized he wasn't alone. Virtually every other taxi and van driver was dressed like they were about to go to a fancy dinner and everyone had gold watches! My Nassau visions were fading away BUT we had yet to leave port. So we hopped in the van waited another 10ish minutes for the fan to fill up with other guests and we were on our way.

Another difference was how clean the roads and landscapes were no trash anywhere. We were in the van about 20 minutes to Horseshoe Bay. Along the way it occurred to me we never paid for the van ride. Turns out they collect when you get there, which just seemed odd to me but no worries as they take dollars as a 1-to-1 exchange for Bermuda dollars. So when we arrived we paid with American and received change in Bermudan. I gotta say, their money is BEAUTIFUL!

We continued on to the beach for a long day of relaxing!

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday, Bermuda Day 1, con't:

As we made our way to the beach I was distracted by the "beer of the day" sign and made a b-line to the bar to investigate.

The BotD was a Desperados lager. I had never had it before so I figured what the heck. I struck up a conversation with the bartender and learned he was an Aussie who had been in Bermuda for only a short time. He was cool enough and and informed of the ins and outs of the beach, bar, and food. My wife went with a margarita for her first round. With that I bid him a "see ya real soon", paid him in American, and took my larger and fancy new money to the beach.

About 20 steps later and we had arrived. Now, Horseshoe Bay is a public beach but judging by the cleanliness of it you'd never guess it. We promptly made our way to the chair/umbrella rental stand to get some beach furniture. Prices varied by chair type and umbrellas but they had a "combo" that we wanted for $50 that included 2 loungers and umbrella which included delivery, setup, and cleanup. We settled up and followed our beach technician to a spot that was far enough away from the entrance but close enough to be convenient to the bar ;-). We had a great view to the left and the right of us.