Trip Report Going for platinum, a Pro9het surf story.

Hello again! I debated a while if this TR would even happen but you see how that turned out. My TRs started having me feel like I was stuck in a strange version of Ground Hog Day. “Oh look there’s a DCL ship”, “Lets welcome the McGillicutty family”, “There’s Palo again”, “Castaway Cay”, and “#tonyfromspain”. All that said, I figured there were enough firsts on this trip to justify another TR. Some of those firsts include a new departure port, new port of call, and #tonyfromspain is on vacation so we have a new entertainment personality. If you need a small glimpse at some back story, here are a few: 20/40 Trip, Surf 'n' Turf 2018, and Bermuda,

So lets get some details out of the way first.
WHO: The cast includes my better half, @imahistorygeek, and myself.

WHAT: Disney Magic 5-night itinerary
WHEN: This trip took place between January 3-9
WHERE: Port of Miami with stops at Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay.
WHY: Why not?

As the title suggests, this was our 10th DCL trip pushing us into their "Platinum Castaway Club". All this really means is we get to book earlier and eat at Palo for free, but hey, free Palo is free Palo! The trip does include another beer exchange and dinner at Palo but also includes a new beverage seminar, new port, and a glimpse of Cuba.

So there are the details. Up next we will leave a cold and rainy Georgia for warm and sunny Florida.

 

[lostpro9het]

I’m late but I am here!!

Suhweeet! Welcome aboard

Just the different cans and bottles are really cool!

That's what I like about these exchanges. Some of the cans and bottles I've received I never wanted to open because of the artwork. But I know whats waiting on the inside and I have little restraint when it comes to trying new beer. The most restraint I've ever had came with our Bermuda trip. One of the exchange members was so excited that I pulled a couple of his beers (2nd and 4th from left) that he chatted me up after the exchange. He told me how he had been aging the bottles for a couple years and was excited for me to try them. I decided to age them another year before opening them and its taken all I have to not pop those tops and drink them.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2: Embarkation

Since our room was just a couple doors down from our Bermuda cruise we had our safety muster drill at the same location, Animator's Palate. The purpose of this drill was to inform us of where to go and what to do in the event of an emergency. These drills are happening all over the ship at the same time. Ill be honest, its nice having a mustering spot inside. Some locations have you standing huddled next to 40 of your not so closest friends in direct sunlight for 20ish minutes, not fun!

After our drill we went back to the pool to relax during the sail away party. I grabbed a plate of Shawarma to tide me over til dinner.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2: Embarkation

We relaxed at the pool until the sun went down. The weather was just great for it. When we lost daylight we returned to the room to cleaned up for the DVC members party. We met Janice, our stateroom hostess, along the way and introduced ourselves. She asked if we needed anything and we just requested a pair of wine glasses and let her know we had dry cleaning that needed to get picked up. She was a super happy individual and perhaps the most energetic hostess we've ever had, always smiling and laughing. We ventured out to the veranda when we got to the room to see there was another ship adjacent to us.

After a quick shower and change we made for Fathoms for the DVC party. Goofy was there to help entertain the crowd.

These DVC parties are pretty much a 30 minute no pressure sales pitch to add more points but do come with free booze, bottled water, and a chance for $250 OBC. This would also be our first encounter with Jo, our entertainment host for this cruise. I'll lovingly refer to her as #NOTtonyfromspain from here on out

Seriously, though, she was alright and seemed to be trying but maybe too hard. Anyway, after the DVC party we went back to our room to drop some things off before dinner and noticed Janice had been there and turned things down AND already had our wine glasses ready for us!

 

[RememberWhen]

After a quick shower and change we made for Fathoms for the DVC party. Goofy was there to help entertain the crowd.

View attachment 453020

DVC must have had some decent booze... Pretty sure that’s Pluto...

 

[lostpro9het]

DVC must have had some decent booze... Pretty sure that’s Pluto...

Bwahahahahhaha!
Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Pro9het. Don't imbibe while updating your TR!.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2: Embarkation

So after meeting Goofey...er..Pluto, we made our way to dinner. Our dinner rotation this trip was Lumiere's, Lumiere's, Animators Palate, Rapunzel's Royal Table ,and Lumiere's. We would be doing Palo on our second night so we would be skipping that Lumiere's dinner. As we were seated we met our table mates for the first time. We had the pleasure of meeting TeamIllinois and TeamMexico. We hit another jackpot with table mates this cruise. Both teams were repeat DCL travelers and provided great dinner conversation for the whole trip.

As we were seated we were provided with menus and bread.

I stuck to water tonight and my bride went with a glass of red.

For starters we went with the fried brie and duck confit, love me some duck!

For mains I went with the duck, again, its so good and my bride went with the wild mushroom stuffed pasta.

Both mains were excellent as usual. My bride passed on dessert but I went with the apple tart and ice cream.

 

[Zipadeelady]

DVC must have had some decent booze... Pretty sure that’s Pluto...

You beat me to it, I was going to say the exact same thing!

 

[lostpro9het]

You beat me to it, I was going to say the exact same thing!

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2: Embarkation

After dinner we returned to Fathoms for some adult entertainment with #NOTtonyfromspain. Tonight's game was based on Family Feud and pit the left side of the room against the right side.

We spent about 30 minutes feuding it up. Since points don't really mater in this game, winners don't really matter either. After The Feud we were then entertained by Peter Matthews, The Crazy Juggler. His comedy was on point as was his juggling. I don't know how these cats do this on a cruise ship with low ceilings but he was very good.

After Mathews finished we decided this had been a long enough day and decided to call it quits. Our embarkation day was excellent. Tomorrow is a day at sea so we figured we'd turn in so we can get up early for some pool chairs.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2, At Sea:

We slept great as usual last night. Since it was an at sea day we planned on doing breakfast by the pool. This meant we got to sleep in til 07:00! We checked out the veranda before heading up to Cabanas.

I'll be honest, I was very surprised to see land! I never gave much thought to the route we would take to get to Grand Cayman and was legitimately curious as to what I was looking at. I decided to head topside to see since I knew Funnelvision would be airing our path on the big screen.

Sure enough we were passing Cuba. I don't know why but I was kinda mesmerized getting to see the island, even from sea. We'd pass the island again in two days time but I couldn't pass on the sunrise of Cuba.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2, At Sea:

So after walking the deck from some sunrise pics we made for Cabanas for breakfast.

Cabanas is the buffet dining room that serves breakfast, lunch, and a limited dinner. They have just about anything you could want for breakfast.

Trying to prolong hitting the inevitable food wall we always meet on these cruises we went a little lite for break fast ;-) and enjoyed our food by the pool.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2, At Sea:

We spent our entire day at sea by the pool. I mean 9+ hours of sipping, snacking, sunning, swimming, and sleeping with ZERO regrets. The weather was perfect and we had a front row seat for it. At some point in the day my bride enjoyed a drink of the day.

Around lunch time my day's ration of rum had run dry and I made for the stateroom to grab an exchange beer to enjoy. I told my better half that I would scout out what Cabanas was offering for lunch along the way. Its here that I witnessed another first for us and DCL. Behold....The Churro Bar!

10 DCL trips and here was the first time we've ever been graced with churros! I fixed a small plate for L as she is the churro aficionado in our relationship. I also came back with some pizza and a beer.

I gave the beer a 3.5/5 and noted it was "Piney and hoppy with a little sweetness". It paired well with the pizza and heat. The great weather continued into the afternoon.

I ended up making another beer run to our stateroom.

The can art might have exceeded the brew as my Untappd notes read: 3/5 "All the flavors are there. A little cream soday and a little acidic"

We continued to relax the day away. We had the pleasure of some live entertainment too.

 

[RememberWhen]

Sounds like a perfect day at sea! Plus churros!

 

[krause]

Not that you would EVER drink a Corona , but just curious if virus concerns are affecting your travel plans at all in the coming months?

Don’t want to start a debate here, but you guys are the most avid cruisers that I “know” so I’m just wondering

 

[lostpro9het]

Sounds like a perfect day at sea! Plus churros!

It really was!

Not that you would EVER drink a Corona , but just curious if virus concerns are affecting your travel plans at all in the coming months?

Don’t want to start a debate here, but you guys are the most avid cruisers that I “know” so I’m just wondering

We set sail on The Magic out of Miami in 28 days and have ZERO plans of cancelling. In fact, earlier this week we were even trying to add a 2-day cruise on Celebrity that disembarks the same day we embark DCL. The airliners were pushing out some crazy good sales, #thanksCOVID-19, and we tried adjusting our current air tickets to accommodate it but just couldn't make it work.

Our FB cruise group for April is on tilt right now, though. There are a few Chicken Littles there about to take DCL's offer to cancel/move their cruise. I won't lie, we're hopeful more take the bait to increase our chances for an upgrade.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Not that you would EVER drink a Corona , but just curious if virus concerns are affecting your travel plans at all in the coming months?

Don’t want to start a debate here, but you guys are the most avid cruisers that I “know” so I’m just wondering

I'll echo what S said. We are definitely going and I tried to get the ticket changed to fly down earlier. Basic economy is tough, but . I'm hoping the airline, AA specifically, relaxes its policy a bit more and to allow changes. If it does, we are definitely booking the 2-night on Celebrity.

I don't expect our DCL cruise to be sold out, so fingers crossed on an upgrade. We are now in an 11C (standard inside) category, so anything above that would be great.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2, At Sea:

After a great day pool side we were coming up on our Palo time. We made our way for our stateroom to clean up and get dressed for dinner. Janice had turned the roomed down from this morning and left our pirate gear on the bed and our dry cleaning in the closet. 10 cruises in and we have NEVER experienced a Pirate dinner but we do enjoy the fireworks.

We checked out the veranda before cleaning up. Still beautiful out.

We cleaned up, suited up, and took our obligatory pre-Palo selfie on the veranda.

We made our way to the aft elevators, all 30 seconds away, and went all the way up to Palo.

The sun was setting and we walked out to the deck to grab a few more pics before dinner. FYI, selfies on deck 10 are harder than they look.

As I've referenced in the past, Palo sits atop deck 10 and overlooks a public area. This would probably be my only complaint about The Magic/Wonder and their placement of Palo.

This whole area is accessible by any guest at any time. Those windows are Palo. This means there is potential for Cousin Eddie and his kids to walk by in their leopard print bikini briefs while we enjoy our dinner experience. Thankfully we didn't experience that on this trip but I'd still like to see them limit deck access during dinner times. The Dream/Fantasy don't have this issue as their windows directly overlook the ocean, might even be an adjustment from missing it on these ships. Nitpicky, probably, but for as much attention to detail they put into these ships I'm surprised they missed that.

I did mention a sun setting, didn't I?

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2, At Sea:

We made our way inside for dinner but took a little pit stop before entering the restaurant. So fancy!

We entered Palo and were immediately greeted and seated. As much as I don't care for the deck right outside Palo, I love the open kitchen atmosphere of this setting compared to The Dream/Fantasy layout. Its pretty cool seeing the magic makers front and center.

 

[Tiggerish]

Ill be honest, its nice having a mustering spot inside. Some locations have you standing huddled next to 40 of your not so closest friends in direct sunlight for 20ish minutes, not fun!

Another great benefit to an aft staterooms!! Indoor musters definitely beat outdoors, although we've had the opposite problem—on the shady side of the ship, with a February breeze, you almost need to huddle with the masses.

This would also be our first encounter with Jo, our entertainment host for this cruise. I'll lovingly refer to her as #NOTtonyfromspain from here on out

Aw, I love Jo, I’ve sailed with her 3 times. I’ll agree tho that she’s not #tonyfromspain

10 cruises in and we have NEVER experienced a Pirate dinner but we do enjoy the fireworks.

I’d heard not-good things about MDR on Pirate Night and avoided it for years, but have done it twice and it’s really not as bad as it’s rap.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2, At Sea:

The day before I had swung by Palo to request David from Hungary for our server as we had such a great experience with him in October. They obliged us and we had the pleasure of dining with him again tonight. David brought us to a nice window front seat again, welcomed us back, and presented us with menus.

David remembered our "photo everything" obsession from last time and asked if we would like to have him take our picture of us. Sure! This is where the fun took off. David held my phone up and started pressing things and said he wasn't sure which button to hit and turned the phone around and asked "Do I hit this one?". Turns out, while attempting buttons he switched the camera view to selfie, then turned the phone around to us and accidentally took a couple selfies of us while asking what button he was to hit. It wasn't until later that we realized he took these candid pics while asking.

Eventually we got the camera facing forward and showed him the correct button to press.

Aw, I love Jo, I’ve sailed with her 3 times. I’ll agree tho that she’s not #tonyfromspain

She tried real hard it just took some getting use to.

I’d heard not-good things about MDR on Pirate Night and avoided it for years, but have done it twice and it’s really not as bad as it’s rap.

Good to know BUT it will be hard to break our Palo tradition. Did ya'll dress up for it?