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]

Day 2, At Sea:

We reviewed the menu and the wine list. We decided to go with a white tonight. I didn't get a pic of it but maybe @imahistorygeek did. It was a nice semi-sweet wine that went well with dinner.

Like our October trip, David brought out a chef's sample for us to try. IIRC, it was a creamy mushroom soup with a baked piece of cheese accompanying it. It was very good and I could have eaten a bowl of it.

Bread service quickly followed the chef's sample.

Something new they started was how they handle their antipasto cart. Previously they would just wheel it up to you and ask if you would like a sample from the offerings. Now they no longer do this. Instead they moved the antipasto to menu as an item under the appetizer menu. David advised us of the change and we do what we do and went full on antipasto.

The antipasto was excellent as usual. The only difference was my riffraff upbringing shone itself pretty hard tonight and I made a decent mess on the table from the vinegar and oil from the antipasto. David noticed this and made an attempt to correct it with a clean napkin. Another reason why David is awesome and why I should probably turn in my blue card.

 

[krause]

It really was!


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.

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.

Nice! Good for you guys! I’m sure you’ll be able to score some upgrades

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2, At Sea:

We shared two other appetizers this evening. We also enjoyed the baby arugula and the heirloom tomato buffalo mozzarella caprese.

After the apps we were given a palette cleanser.

For mains my bride went with the soft potato gnocchi. She enjoyed it once before and enjoyed it again tonight.

Brace yourselves...I didn't get the Palo Tenderloin!!! Eight straight visits enjoying the tenderloin and I break tradition and give the Osso Buco with risotto a go as a main. NO REGRETS! The beef was so tender and the sauce so good.

While enjoying dinner David reminded us of dessert and the timing of the souffle. Two please! In addition to the souffles, we asked David if we could also sample their cheese plate. Absolutely, he said.

The cheese plate was excellent. The fig and honey really enhanced the plate. We still had a few minutes until the souffles came out and David brought a round of coffees to enjoy with our final dessert.

Soon there after our souffles arrived. These are so amazing and something I don't think I would ever not get.

While enjoying dessert we struck up a conversation with David about his future contracts. When we last spoke in October he would be taking a small break before re-signing. He informed us he decided to re-sign another contract so a coworker could take a break first and that he would be on the Magic in April. WOOT! We told him so would we! After that, David brought out our bill and our closing drink, a chilled prosecco and apple brandy concoction.

Another fantastic evening at Palo and excellent service provided by David. Can't wait to see him in April!

 

[Tiggerish]

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.

Agreed. That was quite the adjustment on our first Magic cruise, after several on the Dream. We haven't seen Cousin Eddie-levels yet, but I have raised an eyebrow during classic Palo dining, for sure.

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

Yes, indeed.

We've taken to booking Palo on our first night, which would make for a very exclusive experience, because very few people would book the first night. Even our MDR servers appreciated it, because it gave them one less table to get to know quickly on embarkation day.

Of course, DCL changed the rules last year to allow two Palo dinners, as long as one of them is on the first night, so I'm sure it's more crowded now

Oh, and that cheese plate looks all kinds of awesome.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 2, At Sea:

Dinner lasted over two hours but didn't feel any longer than an hour. With that, we had some time to kill prior to tonight's entertainment in Fathoms. There was a live pianist playing in Keys tonight covering Neil Diamond songs and I'm all about some Neil. After his time slot was up he spent more time walking around talking to us and the other couples enjoying the music in Keys.

After Keys we made for Fathoms where #NOTtonyfromspain was warming the crowd up for tonight's magic/comedy act. I forget his name but he was very good and did a great job with the crowd tonight.

After the entertainment was a live DJ that we decided to skip. We had a big day planned tomorrow including a six hour excursion at Grand Cayman. With that we made our way aft for some shuteye. Janice was busy tonight as well.

 

[MinnieM123]

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

I thought I'd seen everything, but they even included a shoe buffer machine!!!

(Note to @Tuvalu , check out the rest room photos near Palo!!) (See his post # 78, on previous page)

 

[amjt660]

I mean 9+ hours of sipping, snacking, sunning, swimming, and sleeping with ZERO regrets.

Sounds like a great day at sea!!

Max

 

[RememberWhen]

Day 2, At Sea:

We shared two other appetizers this evening. We also enjoyed the baby arugula and the heirloom tomato buffalo mozzarella caprese.
View attachment 454765
View attachment 454766

After the apps we were given a palette cleanser.
View attachment 454767

For mains my bride went with the soft potato gnocchi. She enjoyed it once before and enjoyed it again tonight.
View attachment 454768

Brace yourselves...I didn't get the Palo Tenderloin!!! Eight straight visits enjoying the tenderloin and I break tradition and give the Osso Buco with risotto a go as a main. NO REGRETS! The beef was so tender and the sauce so good.
View attachment 454769

While enjoying dinner David reminded us of dessert and the timing of the souffle. Two please! In addition to the souffles, we asked David if we could also sample their cheese plate. Absolutely, he said.
View attachment 454770
View attachment 454771

The cheese plate was excellent. The fig and honey really enhanced the plate. We still had a few minutes until the souffles came out and David brought a round of coffees to enjoy with our final dessert.
View attachment 454772

Soon there after our souffles arrived. These are so amazing and something I don't think I would ever not get.
View attachment 454773

While enjoying dessert we struck up a conversation with David about his future contracts. When we last spoke in October he would be taking a small break before re-signing. He informed us he decided to re-sign another contract so a coworker could take a break first and that he would be on the Magic in April. WOOT! We told him so would we! After that, David brought out our bill and our closing drink, a chilled prosecco and apple brandy concoction.
View attachment 454774

Another fantastic evening at Palo and excellent service provided by David. Can't wait to see him in April!

Ballpark, how long does your Palo dinner usually take?

 

[lostpro9het]

Ballpark, how long does your Palo dinner usually take?

2-2.5 hours. You can rush things and get out closer to an hour but we really enjoy the experience and just let it flow. There has never been a “we need this table free so lets wrap this up” vibe when dining here. To be honest, the time flies and never feels like we were in there as long as we are.

 

[coachwnh]

Sounds like a great day at sea!!

Max

Sounds like a great day anywhere!

 

[lostpro9het]

So we've pretty much reached the end of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+. Might as we finish this thing off.

Day 3, Grand Cayman:

Another night of great sleep and we awoke to what seemed like would be a beautiful day. The water was a little choppy but the skies looked great as we pulled towards Grand Cayman.

As we were pulling in another ship was pulling out.

We opted to dine on the veranda this morning as the weather was perfect. Went with straight room service rather than getting to-go plates from Cabanas.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

So today was going to be full day for us. We had a port adventure planned on the island as well as a beverage seminar for when we returned to the ship. An added benefit of early port adventures is you get to be one of the first folks off the ship. After breakfast we suited up, packed some beverages, and made for Fathoms. Fathoms was the staging area for all excursions today. We checked in, got our group number, grabbed a few towels and watched The Emperor's New Groove while we waited...

...and waited.

If I hadn't mentioned it yet The Magic doesn't dock at Grand Cayman but rather drops anchor and tenders folks to and from the island. This was a DCL first for us. It also seemed that choppy water I mentioned earlier was delaying access to the island by about 30 minutes. Thankfully, though, we were able to experience our excursion as some of the others had been canceled or modified because of water. Soon enough we were heading down to board the tender boat and it was a bit rocky.

The perspective of the ship from this view was nothing short of exciting. You feel so small and its pretty cool seeing things this close up while in the water.

We motored our way to the island cutting through the waves.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

As we approached the dock things got a bit choppier. The driver took two tries to get us close enough for them to toss ropes and pull us in.

As we disembarked it was a straight up cluster. We eventually found our CM who queued us up with our group and lead us about a quarter mile away to our buses. from what we viewed of the port it was clean and very touristy. And of course there were plenty of free ranged chickens to entertain us.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

Our bus ride was comfortable, air conditioned, and far less scary than the St. Thomas and St. Maarten cliff drives we've experienced. Still, from what we viewed the island was very clean.

About 20ish minutes of bus riding later and we arrived at our next staging area. Today's excursion was a catamaran ride to and from Rum Point Beach with a few hours of beach time and lunch. We started things off by signing all our rights away before boarding our next ride.

 

[imahistorygeek]

There's a little bit of foreshadowing in the previous post with the not-Disney blurry ship picture.

That looks like a Celebrity ship. We've booked two cruises on Celebrity Cruises. One is scheduled for April 2021 (Key West and Cozumel) and October 2121 (ABC islands out of San Juan). The one of out of San Juan is concierge with pretty much the same benefits as DCL concierge, but at least $10k less for DCL's ABC islands cruise. We also looked at RCCL, but Celebrity seems to be move of our groove.

We've also rescheduled our April 2020 DCL Spring Break cruise to a 5-night Baja in March 2021.

 

[LadyBelle]

My only cruise sailed to Grand Cayman & Cozumel. We, too, had to take a boat into the island. Totally loved The butterfly farm & Seven-mile beach at GC, but wouldn’t touch Cozumel again.

 

[imahistorygeek]

My only cruise sailed to Grand Cayman & Cozumel. We, too, had to take a boat into the island. Totally loved The butterfly farm & Seven-mile beach at GC, but wouldn’t touch Cozumel again.

Grand Cayman was fine. It's like Nassau. We saw it and have a specific thing we do on the island, but mostly we just stay on the ship. I've heard mixed reviews about Cozumel, but for our first trip, we will find something to do just for the experience. I'm still trying to get back to Bermuda.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

So we boarded our catamaran and were off to Rum Point. The water was still pretty choppy but our trip was very nice. The bar on board allowed for some pregaming before we hit land. My Untappd notes read 2.25/5 "Cayman Budweiser, almost has a plastic taste".

We probably sailed for about 30 minutes before reaching the beach.

My only cruise sailed to Grand Cayman & Cozumel. We, too, had to take a boat into the island. Totally loved The butterfly farm & Seven-mile beach at GC, but wouldn’t touch Cozumel again.

While GC wasn't Nassau bad, I'm in no rush to return. As for Cozumel, all I'm hoping for is a decent beach to relax on for a few hours.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

After disembarking we looked around a bit before grabbing a pair of beach chairs.

Gosh, it had to have been a least 10, 15, minutes since last hydrating. Only one solution for that!

I don't remember what fruity rum concoction my bride went with but I had a White Tip lager by Cayman Islands brewing. I gave it a 3.0/5 and noted it was smooth and buttery, good for the warm weather.

 

[MinnieM123]

After disembarking we looked around a bit before grabbing a pair of beach chairs.

I love how they painted the picnic tables in different colors. Small details can make all the difference!