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 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

We relaxed at the beach for a few hours until it neared lunchtime. Our excursion to the included a lunch, we just had to locate the venue. We used this time to explore a little bit while we searched out lunch.

While exploring we came across this fella. See him?

How about now?

He wasn't having anything to do with anyone and hunkered down pretty good.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

We eventually found our lunch location. We had no idea going in what was going to be served and how. We entered and were told it was a buffet and we could sit anywhere we wanted and start enjoying at our leisure. With no expectations going in we were not disappointed. It was a decent enough spread. The jerk chicken and fried plantains were easily my favorite. They even had something for the kiddos, or adults with less adventurous palate.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

After lunch we made back to our beach chairs for a little siesta before heading out into the water. Popped open another exchange beer. The brew was called Cowcatcher by Smartmouth Brewing. My Untappd notes read 3.75/5, Smooth and subtly sweet and teh Samoa flavors are there.

When we ventured out it became quickly apparent that the water today would not be clear. The currents were pretty aggressive under the surface and that stirred up a lot of sand making underwater shots difficult. I still tried and the birds enjoyed watching me.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

After a while we decided to head over to the other side of the island. I'm not entirely sure we were supposed to be over here but there were not enough signs telling us not to so we went for it. The rock formations here were scary cool. They looked like they wouldn't think twice about cutting you but were nice enough to play host to all sorts of wildlife. Tons of hermit crab action over here. We speny a good while exploring here before heading back to the main beach.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

We continued to explore the new beach until it was time to head back to catch the catamaran back. They raised the sails and we actually sailed the entire way back. This was quite relaxing and everyone took to napping on the journey back.

I wont lie, looking up and seeing the plane fly by as I was napping I had flashbacks from the LOST finale.

So far this day had been GREAT. Smooth sailings to and from our excursion and we arrived back at the catamaran dock with an hour and a half to spare before our beverage seminar back on the ship. It only took us about 20 minutes to get here from the port so we were sitting good on time, or so we thought. Turned out there was a series of accidents that caused us and a couple other excursions to get caught in some heavy traffic. This also meant we all arrived at the tender dock at the same time. When we left the buses we were faced with this and about 40 minutes until out beverage seminar started!

Panic was really starting to set in as this line didn't seem to be moving. Thankfully when it did move they packed us all on the boats back and we were pulling up to The Magic with 20 minutes to spare!

 

[MinnieM123]

When we ventured out it became quickly apparent that the water today would not be clear. The currents were pretty aggressive under the surface and that stirred up a lot of sand making underwater shots difficult. I still tried and the birds enjoyed watching me.

I was amazed by how clean the water looked -- sand and all. I like the photo of you and your wife standing there in the ocean.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

After getting on board we still had enough time to head back to our room to drop some gear off before making our way to Keys. All that worry about missing the seminar and we ended up being the first folks to arrive, figures.

Today's seminar was the Mojitos & Caipirinhas. What's a Caipirinha you ask? It's basically a Brazillain Mojito made with cachaça(Brazilian rum), sugar cane, and lime. As we entered, the CMs were just finishing the setup of all stations for the guests. We were invited to sit wherever we wanted, so we did.

Each station had four glasses with ingredients, portioned alcohol shots, ice, soda, and a muddler for each guest. Before we got started we were given a lesson on all the ingredients, the significance of the different alcohols we would be using today, and how they are produced.

The first drink we mixed was an authentic Caipirinha made with the Brazilian rum, lime, and sugar cane. This guy was very sweet and really hid the high octane cachaça. So good but so dangerous.

We followed the caipirinha with a traditional mojito of rum, lime, mint, and some club soda.

Our next mix was a mango mojito made with Bacardi lemon infused rum, mint, lime, and of course mango. Another dangerously good drink.

Our fourth mix was a pineapple ginger mojito made with ginger, pineapple, and 100 proof dark rum. This was my least favorite as it was very tart.

We finished our experience off with a Chambord mojito made with Bacardi silver and Chambord liqueur. Another super sweet and dangerous drink.

This was easily one of our best beverage experiences we have ever done on DCL and we've done our fair share of them. We were in Keys well over an hour drinking and chatting up others who took part. It certainly helped that we had a great couple from sitting across from us during the experience. Cali residents Larry and Rosie were both retired and their with their kids and their families. This was a nice "Adulting Break" for them and they shared some great stories. The booze really loosened them up too only making the discussion that much more fun ;-). We stayed in keys right up to the first dining rotation before venturing out.

 

[imahistorygeek]

I think Keys is one of my favorite places to sit and relax. We have ventured there quite a few times during our voyages on the Magic. It's very quiet and the seating is comfortable. The drink menu also has some interesting choices. So, if you want a quiet place to relax with a drink, this is the place to go. I look forward to trying out the Cadillac Lounge on the Wonder in September.

 

[myhappyplace]

OOoh that Chambourd drink looks tasty!

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

I like the Cadillac Lounge over Keys but I’m not sure that it fits the current Wonder “club” theming. Still, even though it’s more Route 66 appropriate, it’s a very comfortable and well themed spot. I think it’s a little strange that it didnt get upgraded, but I’m glad they kept it. I couldnt imagine ripping out all of that wood and chrome!
One memorable trip, my wife and I walked in to take pics and stocked liquor cabinet style cart complete with a 1/3 full decanter of Louis XIII was sitting open with no CMs to be found! And no we didnt

Pics of the cadi lounge and the old Route 66 theming and the most amazing bathroom in all of Disney!

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

Whoa, sorry about this. A recipe of COVID, work, and uncertainty of future trips has left me less than motivated to put in the time on this one. While I am a hardcore procrastinator I'm no quitter so lets git-r-done and start wrapping this one up. We last left off with a great beverage seminar in Keys while making some new friends who were heading to their rotational dining. We had late dining so we still had some time to kill before then. The day's activities and an hour of drinking left us a little hungry so went topside to Pinocchio's Pizzeria to grab a slice on the way to our room to clean up.

We cleaned up and changed for dinner, which was still an hour away. Fathoms was hosting the 90's music trivia in a few minutes so we hit up O 'Gills to grab a couple beers for trivia. My bride went with a Blue Point Lager and I, of course, had another La Fin.

We made it in plenty of time for #nottonyfromspain, Jo, to kickoff the trivia. Typically we rock this game but tonight missed first by a point, boo. No worries, we still had fun and enough DCL luggage tags for the Brady Bunch.

By the time trivia ended it was our time for rotational dining. Tonight we would head to Animator's Palate.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

Tonight's dining had us in Animator's. This is a pretty cool venue that is a bit different from it's counterpart on The Fantasy and Dream but identical to The Wonder. When you walk in everything is black and white which is the first difference you notice from The Fantasy and Dream. The walls are covered with sketches of all things Disney. You'll notice even the CM's are covered in black and white sketches to fit the theme, again in contrast to the bright colored theming found on the larger ships. Additionally, there is no Crush interaction like on the larger ships but they do a good job of keeping you entertained during the dinner as the walls are always changing with new sketches building up to climax that will come a little later.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

So we made our way to table 44 and caught up with TeamIllinois and TeamMexico who had a busy day at Grand Cayman too. Unlike the theming, the menu here is pretty much the same as the other ships. We each went with the black truffle pasta purseittes as apps and beef tenderloin as mains.

The food was good but I wouldn't mind if they revamped this menu a bit.

While we were enjoying our main dishes the climax of the evening began. When the main event starts the room goes dark and the walls light up with color and transform the black and white images into moving color images. Rather than post a ton of images, I literally took over 100, I went ahead and made a gif of the transformations the wall was going through.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

To close out the main event the big cheese makes his appearance, says a few words, and makes everything colorful, including the CMs.

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

After the main event we were presented with dessert menus and closed out our dinner with a coffee, the crunchy walnut cake, and the chocolate fudge cheesecake.

After dessert it was coming up on time for Match Your Mate at Fathoms. We bid a goodnight to our tablemates and made our way forward for the night's entertainment. MYM is essentially DCL's version of the newlywed show and is typically the highlight of the adult entertainment, tonight was no exception. Its always great learning about other people's "magic".

It was a pretty full day for us so we skipped the late night entertainment and made for our room. We have a day at sea tomorrow and wanted to be able to get up early enough to get our pool chairs. We had some towel art waiting for us when we returned.

 

[MinnieM123]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, con't:

Tonight's dining had us in Animator's. This is a pretty cool venue that is a bit different from it's counterpart on The Fantasy and Dream but identical to The Wonder. When you walk in everything is black and white which is the first difference you notice from The Fantasy and Dream. The walls are covered with sketches of all things Disney. You'll notice even the CM's are covered in black and white sketches to fit the theme, again in contrast to the bright colored theming found on the larger ships. Additionally, there is no Crush interaction like on the larger ships but they do a good job of keeping you entertained during the dinner as the walls are always changing with new sketches building up to climax that will come a little later.

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Love, love, LOVE the animation design for this restaurant. The use of black and white, with the subtle hues of a few colors in the lighting, is so creative and fun!!

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 4, at sea.

It was another great night of rest on our journey to Castaway Cay. Today was another day at sea which meant another day at the pool! Mother nature was playing nice today and gave us another beautiful day. You could see Cuba again from the ship.

We grabbed some chairs by the pool and then grabbed some breakfast. Today a "new to us" item was being served in Cabanas, Churro Mickey Waffles!

Like I said, first time trying churro waffles and they were good, no need for syrup either. I'd get them again. With that, our day was set! This was my view pretty much the entire day between trips to the room for beer and rum.

 

[Loco_driver]

Churro waffles, beer, and rum. Sounds like a good day to me!

 

[lostpro9het]

Day 4, at sea, con't.

So as I said, whole day by the pool with our only break coming for some grub at lunch. Surprise surprise, more shawarma for me!

We had plans on watching Star Wars tonight before dinner so we made to our stateroom around 4:30 to clean up and change. As we left our room to make for the Buena Vista Theater we bumped into a few friends.

We still had a few minutes so we decided to see what was going down in the atrium and it was hopping!

We mingled for a bit then made for the movie.

 

[LF85]

Great trip report!