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:

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.
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Speaking of highs and lows, while we sat at the gate we received a notice from the DVC resale agent:
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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:
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For my bride it was:
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Up next: Flying & Storms don't mix!
 
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
LOVED the snorkeling pictures! Undersea magic and intrigue! What a fun activity you had.

Completely unrelated to the above, but I've always really liked all of your breakfast photos, looking out at the water, in the peace of mornings. I kinda escape into those pictures! (My breakfast this morning -- munching on gingerbread cookies that I made for Christmas, and my dog just stole one off my plate, while I stepped away momentarily!) :banghead: :hilarious:

There he is below -- and no, he's not innocent -- don't let the expression fool you!! (Click for larger image.)

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Thank you! Breakfast on the veranda is a favorite part of cruising for us. It really is a nice escape from an otherwise captivated chaos that Cabanas can be when all the diaper goblins start waking for their morning feeding.

Also, I know all about the four legged furies that nose around for food. This one right here has been all up in our business this morning trying to get in on our oatmeal. Id like to think he wouldn’t want anything to do with it but he also fancies broccoli and popcorn so it’s entirely possible he'd like oatmeal too.
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

After a short while later the all aboard call was made and folks started trickling back onto the boat. The rum swizzles and cookies kept coming and we eventually pulled up the anchor and made our way back to the ship. We took a different route back to the boat and the crew pointed out some noteworthy houses along the way. We also got a few lessons on how Bermudan houses are built to withstand hurricanes and how their roofs are meant to maximize rainwater collection. The blue house below actually violates the building code according to are boat crew, something having to do with the window that spans multiple floors. They made mention that the wealth of the owner played a roll in it being allowed.
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

So as we disembarked the catamaran we had a decision to make. Go back to the ship for lunch and relaxation or search out Bermuda's oldest brewery for lunch...did we really have a decision to make?
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The pub was literally a stones throw away from the ship and were quickly being seated. The themeing here was well done, right down to the restrooms.
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For our starters we went with a few drafts. The Oktoberfest(3.25/5) for my bride and the Black Anchor Porter(3.75/5) for me.
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The menu here was HUGE and making this decision was actually tough. I went with the Derek's Burger which came topped with beer cheese, fried red onion rings, and bacon. The DW had the dish of the afternoon with the Beef Brisket & Black Anchor Porter Pot Pie.
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Food and atmosphere were excellent and service was decent. No regrets here and we'd absolutely go back.
 
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

After lunch we decided to still make good on the relaxation part of the decision. We took a leisurely walk back to the ship and did see it was the Norwegian Gem that pulled up in front of us.
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Back on board we swung by the stateroom to grab an exchange beer and made for quite cove.
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My bride went for the drink of the day while I opened up the Exbeerimental 15 (3.0/5) by Willow Rock. The beer was on the high end of my hoppy threshold.
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As we relaxed the skies really cleared up and the captain kicked off the horn again.
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

After a few hours of pool time the "all aboard" time had come. The wharf crew had set us free and we began to pull away. We went back to our room to watch us set sail.
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We went back to our room because we had an early dinner tonight. It was pirate night which meant it was Palo night! This is our DCL 9th cruise and we have never eaten rotational dining during pirate night so we figured why start now? Besides, we've never had Palo on The Magic so...another first!
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

We got fancied up and made our way aft and up to the top deck. We were immediately greeted and quickly seated. The Magic's version of Palo is laid out a bit different than The Dream and Fantasy. I'll say its more open and a it brighter. The decor is a bit different too.
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Another difference here is the open kitchen. You get to see the magic makers in the back do their thing.
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

We were seated in the center of the venue near the window and had a great view. You'll notice a large deck area in front of the restaurant, this was probably my only concern about this venue. This deck was open to all guests all the time so at any moment Cousin Eddie could stroll by in his busted t-shirt and leopard print bikini negating the view we had. Thankfully that never happened tonight.
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We were introduced to our server, David from Hungry, who immediately welcomed us back and thanked us for dressing appropriately. This caught us off guard a bit but there were a couple folks in the venue that were rolling in jeans and less than collared shirts. While Disney neutered the dress code a while back opening the way for jeans to be worn it seems David Didn't care for it, and I agree with him. White card holders aside, we struck up a conversation with David about where he was from and how long he was with DCL. He gave us our menus and wine lists and left to decide how we would like to move forward. Speaking of menu, this is the first time I noticed the Disney stamping in the menus.

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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

David came back and asked if we had any questions about the menu and if we would like any wine for dinner. @imahistorygeek chose a bottle of white tonight, maybe she remembers what it was because I sure don't.
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For starters David brought over the antipasto cart and made us nice selection as well as a basket of bread.
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In addition to the antipasto David brought by a "Chef's selection" for us to try. It was a veggie based soup and was excellent.
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We added a few other tapas to go along with the above. WE picked the heirloom tomato and mozzarella as well as the seasonal salad.
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The last thing we requested in the appetizer round was to see if the chef would make a small portion of the veal ravioli entree for us to sample. Thankfully he obliged us and it was delish!
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

After we settled up with our appetizers David brought out a palate cleanser before moving into the main course.
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For mains my bride tried something new and went with the Piquant Dover Sole which is finished table side by David.
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I didn't break habit and stuck with the Palo tenderloin.
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, Bermuda Day 2, con't:

During our mains David had asked if we had any inclination for dessert choices. Because the souffles are made to order and take a while to make he didn't want us to have a large wait for dessert. We ordered two! We also ordered a round of coffee to go with dessert.
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And right on cue our souffles arrived with the coffee and, as usual, were amazing! Its so hard to deviate from these dishes.
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David also brought out a new dessert that they had to see if we may like it. IIRC, it was some sort of orange rum cake? It was good but had no chance of knocking the souffle off the Palo top dessert list.
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During dessert we decided that David was probably the best Palo server we had ever had. We asked him if his contract ran through January because we were on another Magic itinerary and would like to have him again as our server. He confirmed he would be on the cruise and said to be sure request him when we boarded in January. So we are looking forward to meeting David again in about a week.

To close out our Palo experience we were given our apple brandy after dinner drinks (these guys are super sweet) as well as a little congratulatory plate art.
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We rolled out of Palo and back to our room to change for the pirate fireworks. Victor had been busy again.
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We changed and went topside to watch the festivities. The fireworks were good and I think they had a couple misfires and almost set the deck on fire!

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After the fireworks we were done for the day. We called it a night and headed for the stateroom.
 
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imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
Are you referring to the lovely "painted" plate, with the 21st anniversary celebration wishes?

Nope.

Your trip reports are *almost* making me consider a cruise....
small issue of major seasickness but it looks so good!

If you've not tried the patch, it make make the difference. I probably would have lost it coming back into NYC without it. It's really a life-saver.
 

Oh bother!

Well-Known Member
Nope.



If you've not tried the patch, it make make the difference. I probably would have lost it coming back into NYC without it. It's really a life-saver.
Thanks, I haven’t but will look into it! Unfortunately I start getting sea sick whilst boats are still moored or my particular favourite was on a jetty when queuing 🤦‍♀️
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday, at sea:

We slept great the night before and today was a at sea day. On at sea days we will typically head topside for lunch to secure some seating by the pool. Today was no different. We checked out the veranda and it was a little intimidating out. It wasn't raining but the skies were on the darker side and the water was the rougher than our first day at sea.
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Still feeling the effects of the DCL food wall we ate a little lite today as well.
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Seems like the staff were expecting some far rougher waters ahead of us.
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