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.
IMG_7437.JPG


Speaking of highs and lows, while we sat at the gate we received a notice from the DVC resale agent:
IMG_7438.jpg


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:
IMG_7439.JPG


For my bride it was:
IMG_7442.JPG


Up next: Flying & Storms don't mix!
 
Last edited:

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, travel day con’t:
So it was raining in the Peach State and we were heading for much more rain in the Empire State. The captain was pretty adamant that we stay buckled up the whole trip and eventually said there would be no drink & snack service this trip out of safety concerns for passengers and service team. This ended up being a great plan as our flight took a Twilight Zone twist. The amount of zero g’s and nose dives we took during the flight was so unreal. I was waiting for the gremlin on the wing to make an appearance any minute now. My real concern, though, was with my Bride. If I was getting rattled by the extreme turbulence I could only imagine how she was taking them. Turns out the front edge of the nor’easter had come in early and we were navigating that and even had to circle NYC a while before finally landing. Again, first time in NYC and we were pretty amazed by how small LaGuardia was. From gate, to baggage claim, to shuttle pickup was less than 10 minutes. We called the hotel shuttle and the wait began. It was the better part of 40 minutes for the shuttle to arrive and it wasn’t hard to see why. Construction at LGA was ridiculous. The rain and traffic didn’t make things any easier. Our destination was the Fairfield inn Marriott Astoria and our shuttle driver was all business and had no qualms about taking charge on the road. If you’re in the neighborhood needing a place to stay this place is decent with a free breakfast. We settled into our room and I made sure my beer exchange survived the turbulence, it had!
IMG_7443.JPG


We checked in with the kiddo back home and searched yelp for food options. We figured you can’t come to NYC and not get pizza so pizza it was. We found a highly rated place .3 miles away. The torrential downpour outside meant we would not be walking this. We ordered up an uber and soon were at Nonnas 1977
IMG_7444.JPG


Apparently this place had other locations but this one was new. It’s a cute place and the theme is alt music which I liked. The food and service was excellent. We went with a salad and shared some slices. We had the Gloria , Rosalita, and the Angie:
IMG_7446.JPG

IMG_7445.JPG


The only thing that could make this place perfect was beer. Being new they were only equipped with bottled sodas and water and had no taps up and running. No worries, we rectified this on our way back to the room. There was a beer distributor adjacent to the restaurant we popped into before making the damp walk to the room. On our way back I saw a technological dinosaur:
IMG_7447.JPG


Back at our room we dried off, cleaned up, and relaxed with our nightcaps:
NYCBrews.jpg


Beer on the left is 13% Stout and brewed with Ancho Chilies. Beer on the right is a 4.5% Pilsner. Both were good and a fine end to our crazy journey to NYC. We ended up going to bed before our original flight ever took off due to storm delays. We were pretty thankful we scored an earlier flight.

Up Next: WDWMagic Meet Up and The Magic.
 

PeoplemoverTTA

Well-Known Member
How fun! We’ve been thinking about a shorter cruise to try it out; maybe next year. We live in Buffalo, so NYC may work for us. Excited to see the rest of your TR.

I feel for you on the flight. Can you imagine how William Shatner feels whenever he flies and there’s turbulence 🤣
 

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
All the sweat by body could produce came out of my hands during that flight. It was nerve wracking. I’m usually pretty quiet when I’m scared or nervous, but that turbulence brought out a few squeaks. There was a person beside us with a small dog in a carrier under the seat. He was terrified the entire time. He didn’t make a noise, but the passenger would check on him occasionally and he was always shaking like a leaf.

Back to extreme turbulence...the book I had read and have mentioned several times really helped with that, so while it was bad, I knew the plane was built to handle turbulence. Honestly, the scariest part is hearing the engines cut back on power. Doesn’t mean we are flying any slower, but it’s hard for my brain to figure that out.

Flying is the price I have to pay to visit far away places, so the anxiety was worth it. Bermuda was 100% worth it.

I’m going to go ahead and put this out there. Horseshoe Bay in Bermuda > Castaway Cay.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, embarkation day:
We slept great last night. Despite being almost adjacent to the lobby our room was very quiet. We were up before 7:00 and got dressed enough to grab some breakfast. Breakfast was good, especially for being a free hotel breakfast. The rain had stopped but you could see it was still very windy out. We made our way back to the room to change and ready for our ride to the port.
Leading up to this trip we had been investigating transportation options between the hotel and port. We were jockeying between taxi and Uber. The big unknown was traffic. I mean we knew there would be traffic but we had no experience with NYC traffic. During our planning a WDWMagic member reached out and offered a lift. It was hard to pass on given we would get to meet another board member and get to have some great conversation during the trip. We messaged back and forth up to the trip and arranged a time to meet the night before. So at about 9:45 we had the great fortune to meet @Tiggerish .
IMG_7450.JPG


We spent the next 45 minutes talking cruising, Disney, and how she would be glad to take me by Yankee stadium on the way if I really wanted to. She knew where my loyalties were and the Yankees know what they can do to themselves! Anyway, an amazing trip with great conversation made the traffic filled journey unfortunately short. We could have chatted with her for hours, even longer if we were in a pub and not a car ;-). Soon we arrived at the port and The Magic was ridiculously close!
IMG_7451.JPG


We grabbed a quick pic before saying goodbyes to our WDWMagic friend. I can’t say enough great things about @Tiggerish. I hope one day I get to return the great favor and maybe even spend some time chatting over some brews.
IMG_7455.JPG


We grabbed a few more pics before dropping our luggage off and heading into the terminal.
IMG_7452.JPG

IMG_7453.JPG

IMG_7456.JPG


Up Next: This is a little weird and boarding The Magic.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, embarkation day con’t:

So the front of the terminal was not very busy at all and the DCL porters were just as prompt and polite as PC. It was about 10:30-10:45 and I figured folks would have been packed in. Turns out this was a popular cruise for “locals” from NY, NJ, and the other surrounding states so folks were still driving in but getting stuck in traffic, at least that’s what our FB group led me to believe. So first up was security. For whatever reason I thought security here was going to be hardcore and militant. I couldn’t believe it when they ended up being more nonchalant than the team at PC! They were so relaxed to the point that they were just allowing kids to run back an fourth through security without paying them any mind. Anyway, we were quickly through and faced with a very weak attempt to Disneyfy the terminal.
IMG_7457.JPG


There were a few banners up but the terminal was still quite plain and small feeling. It was weird about to board but not feel like we were getting on a DCL ship, at least from the terminal. We hopped in the check in line and met Fantasia who was quite pleasant and quickly had us on our way with today’s navigator and our room/boarding group.
IMG_7458.JPG

IMG_7459.JPG

IMG_7460.JPG

IMG_7461.JPG


After checking in we roamed around the terminal for a bit with nothing really to do or see. This was a great opportunity for me to connect with another WDWMagic member(also a coworker) who was boarding The Dream today. I sent her the press release about the new ship specific Pandora charms and she was more than happy to pick one up for us! Since our next few cruises are on the Magic and Wonder we didn’t know when we’d get back to The Dream. With that situated we waited another 20-30 minutes before the announcement was made to start boarding. Again, the terminal felt cramped and there seemed to be a bad bottleneck at the entry point but no bother, we were boarding:


IMG_7462.JPG


We were quickly through the catwalk and promptly “announced” as we entered the lobby. You guessed it:


Finally, we were on The Magic! A quick selfie with The Mouse before checking this ship out.
IMG_7463.JPG


Up next: Lunch, coffee, and our room.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dibs winner!

Eager to read along. I highly agree about GA drivers!!
They are a special breed of bad!

How fun! We’ve been thinking about a shorter cruise to try it out; maybe next year. We live in Buffalo, so NYC may work for us. Excited to see the rest of your TR.
Having done 3,4,5, and 7 night DCL itineraries, I prefer the 5-nighter right now. My problem, 1st world and all, is my inability to not eat all the foods! Around night 5 I really start to get burnt out on all the great food.

I'm looking forward to reading more about your trip. How nice of @Tiggerish to give your two a ride!
She is pretty awesome AND knows her beers!

I love a @lostpro9het / @imahistorygeek report! No turf needed!
Woot! I like being consistent and this trip has us all kinds of wonky. It was very weird going an October without visiting The Mouse House.

Enjoying following along, and that picture is amazing! Almost looks like you are standing in front of a backdrop!
It was pretty cool being that close. PC keeps you pretty far away.
 

Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
Seriously, this state may have the worst drivers.
I highly agree about GA drivers!!
They are a special breed of bad!
Add me to the list of people who think GA drivers are the worst! I literally don't understand how anyone can drive that bad. It's insane. If I ever get behind one, my general rule of thumb is to stay at least 5 car lengths back (you don't know what the hell they're doing and they don't either) and don't take their turn signals seriously. Oh, and don't expect them to know how to approach any type of stop sign, yield sign, traffic circle, or traffic light.

To any Georgian who I might've offended, sorry not sorry.
 

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
Wow, that looks scary, and full of potential for accidents. Is that just north of the North Georgia Premium Outlets? We sometimes venture over that way. Sometimes we come over from the Gainesville area, sometime from Dahlonega. Might rethink that.

Yes, it's before the outlets. It's been in place for a little bit now and people are using it correctly. It has done its job of relieving congestion, but just barely. They use this better than traffic circles.
 

Zipadeelady

Well-Known Member
Yes, it's before the outlets. It's been in place for a little bit now and people are using it correctly. It has done its job of relieving congestion, but just barely. They use this better than traffic circles.
That looks crazy! We have a lot of traffic circles/roundabouts/mounds in our area and you can tell when someone new to them is there, drives me nuts. They actually took an overpass at a Fort Wayne exit and crisscrossed the traffic. It freaks me out just a little bit every time I travel it.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom