How The Western Caribbean Was Won! Completed 8/10/2016 About This Page:

[chezp]

Now that sounds like my idea of a perfect day relaxing!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by chezp

Now that sounds like my idea of a perfect day relaxing!

Glad we think alike!

[SharonK0527]

Oh that spa treatment sounds nice! What a relaxing day you're having!!

[wheezie]

Oh my, that facial sounds heavenly! And your photos of the ocean are just gorgeous.

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by SharonK0527

Oh that spa treatment sounds nice! What a relaxing day you're having!!

It was quite enjoyable and having a great day!

Originally Posted by wheezie

Oh my, that facial sounds heavenly! And your photos of the ocean are just gorgeous.

I really enjoyed it and such a great experience! Glad you are enjoying the photos!

[SuperDave]

This Is Definitely Not My Thing!


Friday, April 17th (Part II)

I spent a good hour or so in my room just relaxing and watching tv for the most part. I actually even nodded of for about thirty minutes and felt good, when I woke up around 6:45 pm. Still had quite a bit of time until dinner, so I got ready for that as well.

It was about 7:15 and I went back upstairs to Signals to have another strawberry margarita as the one I had a couple of hours ago was just so good! What is it about cruises that makes you want to drink and eat more? When I’m on one of my Disney World trips, I certainly don’t do this to the extent here! It’s a rare occasion if I have a drink before 5 pm and on the Magic, it’s a daily occurrence. I think the atmosphere is just present to indulge! Welcome to cruising!!

So, I hung out in Quiet Cove for a while, enjoying my margarita and talking to a few fellow travelers here about their day and the cruise and how much we have enjoyed it as we only have one full day left in Castaway Cay tomorrow.

It was closing in on 8 pm, but I needed to head back to my room for a few minutes and this is what I discovered, when I opened my door....


Love the lobster and I think this is one of the better towel animals during my cruise!



After finishing up in my room, I took the stairs down to deck four and Animator’s Palate for dinner. It was a sparse scene at my table tonight as it was just Bob and I for now as the women who were all sailing together, went to Palo tonight. Although, they would join us for dessert a little bit later. Our serving team of Marcus and Amp had it easy at our table with just Bob and I for most of the meal. Marcus, commented that he wished it was like this every night to make his job a lot easier!

I ordered a glass of wine for my meal and can’t remember what kind, but I’m quite sure it was a red wine. Marcus went over the different courses with Bob and I and shortly we made our selections. At every meal, I think Bob only went with an entree and nothing else. Don’t think he even had dessert on any night, but not certain. Kind of odd, I guess but he didn’t seem as much into the food as I was!

After this Marcus gave us an activity we were to be involved in tonight. He gave us a sheet of paper with various boxes and we were to draw a cartoon, which would be displayed during the show after dinner. I am not an artist and this is definitely not my thing! I thought for a while and came up with something. It looked ok, but nothing great

After having a bit of bread and talking with Bob for a bit, my first appetizer arrived.


This course had quite a lot of variety and was a good one. Clockwise from top we have lobster and shrimp, smoked duck breast with confit and fresh mozzarella with tomato. This was a good one and probably enjoyed the smoked duck most of all!

A few minutes later, my next course arrived and unfortunately I forgot to write it down in my trip notes. That’s when Google comes into play! I did some searching from various AP menus and looks like I found out what I had!


The Macaroni and Cheese with Loaded Potato Soup. This was quite good and didn’t feel they over did it with the cheese as these cheese soups tend to be.

Before our entrees arrived, there was a bit of a show on the walls in Animator’s with a number of clips from various Disney movies.





Up next it was the main course. This did not disappoint at all.


Venison medallions with a red wine reduction served with pickled cabbage and potato croquettes.

While, Bob and I were enjoying our courses the women from our table arrived and join us for dessert. They enjoyed their meal and experience at Palo quite a bit as I had a few nights ago.

Before dessert arrived, a few more cartoons were shown in Animator’s.




Sorry, if they’re a bit blurry as the lights were turned off in here.


It was dessert time and another winner in my book! Chocolate lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream. Also, had my usual espresso to accompany it!


My vanilla ice cream being served to me. Nice touch by Marcus!

It was time for the cartoon show and our drawings. I wasn’t quick enough with my camera to catch this, but I did get my name on the screen, even if a bit blurry. It was well done by Disney and quite enjoyable with some funny drawings displayed. Some were quite good.






Here’s my original drawing. It’s suppose to be some kind of monster or dinosaur. You were sort of limited of what you could draw by this type of box, but no big deal!

After the show ended we went our separate ways and I went back to my room for a while, before going downstairs to Keys in the After Hours area. I arrived at about 10:30 pm a bit later than normal as dinner didn’t end until about 10 pm with the various cartoon shows. I took my spot in one of the comfy chairs on the left with the big port hole windows overlooking the Caribbean. Even though, it was dark out you can see the waves crashing against the Magicr below as well as some of the lights in the distance for some of the Bahama Islands.

I stayed here until about 12:30 am or so as Nick Messina was back playing tonight after a day off yesterday. There was a good size crowd in here tonight. I talked with Nick for a while between his shows and enjoyed another espresso as well as a Grand Marnier. I may have had two with the latter.

After heading back to my room, I went on my deck for a few minutes to check out the view and could see the lights of the Bahamas more clearly now as we were getting much closer and be in Castaway Cay in about eight hours or so. I watched tv for a while before falling asleep to it and then turning it off a few hours later.


NEXT: I’m Quite Certain What This Was Used For!

[xwewhisper]

What a lovely evening! I love the AP show and love your creativity with your drawing!!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by xwewhisper

What a lovely evening! I love the AP show and love your creativity with your drawing!!

It was definitely a fun night as it was a great meal and more fun with the drawing once I got into it and not make it a dilemma! My drawing was better than I thought it would be....as when I was in grade school I could actually draw dinosaurs rather well, but was rather limited by the drawing box (At AP) as side views (panoramic) work best, I think for dinosaur drawings as that is always how I did them and came out rather well! But enough of that!

One of my teachers in 4th grade loved these drawings and actually displayed them on the walls of the classroom! But, I really haven't drawn in years!

[chezp]

Oh my goodness, your drawing was 100 times better than my attempt. I really did not know what to draw and, like you, it was definitely not my thing either.

[SharonK0527]

Nice dinner and nice relaxing evening

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by chezp

Oh my goodness, your drawing was 100 times better than my attempt. I really did not know what to draw and, like you, it was definitely not my thing either.

Yes, mine came out better than I thought and looks rather funny! Haven't done much drawing since my grade school years, when I was pretty good, but mostly dinosaurs back then. I know how you feel as this does throw you off a bit, but expecting it from the various experiences I heard in the TRs!

I'm very slow to respond this week and haven't been on here since probably Thursday as my 11 year old Dell bought the farm! So last weekend got another Dell desktop an Inspiron and loving it. Setting it up little by little and the store did a lot of setting up as well and the costs add up with plenty of add ons.

I'm just getting familiar with it now as I picked it up yesterday and customizing it. Will take me a while to catch up in this forum!

Originally Posted by SharonK0527

Nice dinner and nice relaxing evening

Yes it certainly was and one of the most on this trip as it is now winding down with only one night left on The Magic!

[SuperDave]

I’m Quite Certain What This Was Used For!


Saturday, April 18th (Part I)

It's been a while since an update as I can't seem to get around to it! I’m hoping to finish this up shortly and put an end to it. There are only a few updates left. I also want to get going on a PTR for my October trip to WDW!

I got up around 9:30 am to yet another beautiful, sunny and warm day. The weather on my cruise has been nearly perfect with only a shower in Grand Cayman Island three days ago. We were just arriving in Castaway Cay, when I got up. The on shore announcement was made shortly after.

After getting ready for the day, I headed upstairs to Cabana’s for breakfast at about 10:15. It was quite crowded as many on board decided to sleep in and head to Castaway Cay a little later as they, like me didn’t have any excursions booked and would just take it at a leisurely pace.

I pretty much had the same breakfast the last few days with orange juice, coffee, corned beef hash, scrambled eggs, hash brown potatoes and bacon. I was not disappointed with breakfast and found it quite good each day. I found the quality of offerings here to be much better than at the various food courts in Walt Disney World!

I returned to my room around 11 am and did some packing and arranging of my things as I would be disembarking the Magic in less than 24 hours. I can’t believe my first cruise is coming to an end already as it feels, I just boarded! I’ve really enjoyed my first cruise experience so much!

I hung out on my veranda for a while and got some photos of Castaway Cay.










Views of Castaway Key from my veranda.




A relaxing boat excursion in Castaway Cay!

After some time on my veranda, I went downstairs to disembark the Magic and explore Castaway Cay on my own for a while. It was probably around 11:30 am about now. I disembarked rather quickly after scanning my DCL ID as the line wasn’t that long.


On the dock in Castaway Cay. Like the look of this sign!






Goofy suspended from the keel of the Magic!


Map of Castaway Cay on the dock

I walked just a little bit farther and waited for a tram to take us to the main part of Castaway Cay. I got off at the first stop, which was just a few minutes. I just walked around for a while and do some exploring for a while. I went in a few shops, but didn’t see anything I really liked. I was especially looking for a tee shirt of Castaway Cay, which for some reason they don’t sell in any of the shops on the island!





Next, I got on another tram and took it over to Pelican Cove, which was just one stop. In the meantime, I just explored and took some photos.




Some of our faves on the beach!


Another view of the Magic




Interesting details with the cannons on the beach


Relaxing in Castaway Cay

I was getting a bit hungry now and went over to Cookie’s BBQ and get some lunch. It was quite crowded in here as there aren’t many food options on the island. It was buffet style and there are quite a few selections, although most looked just ok and nothing really great. I didn’t get a big lunch as I only had been at Cabana’s a few hours ago as it was only about 1 pm. I had a coke, water, hot dog, coleslaw and German potato salad. The potato salad was the best of all and quite good.

After lunch, I walked a bit to get the tram to Serenity Bay, which is the adults only section of the island and also the area in which the cabanas are located and can be rented for the day. They don’t come cheap, by any means, but would be a great way to spend a nice relaxing day on the island.


This is the view you get, once departing the tram in Serenity Bay.

After taking a look at this old landing strip, I was quite sure what this was used for. I asked our tram driver and my suspicions were correct. Small planes used to run drugs in from various islands in the Caribbean and South America before Disney took ownership of the island! I think I had probably seen too many episodes of Miami Vice back in the 80’s!

After departing the tram, I began exploring the Serenity Bay area.


I like these details that Disney does from areas like this to the Magic, resorts, and attractions among other things!

After exploring for a little while, I found a bar overlooking the beach and get a refreshment as well as get out of the sun for a while as it was getting pretty hot.





I had a strawberry margarita and it was quite good. It was very reasonable and more so than the beverages on the Magic. I recognized one of the bartenders here from Fathom’s on the Magic. I relaxed here for a while and they had cool air pumping in at the bar, which felt quite good, so I just took my time.

I explored for a little while longer, getting some photos before taking the tram back to Pelican Cove.



I walked over to the landing strip to pick up the tram back to Pelican Cove. There were probably about a dozen others waiting here as well. I waited for about ten minutes and was quite hot out here as there is very little cover from the sun.

When I arrived back, I did a bit more walking around before going to the Sand Bar for another beverage.






I had another strawberry margarita and this one was even better than the one in Serenity Bay at the Air Bar. This bar was also covered and was very relaxing and cool inside.

After enjoying my time here, I walked over to the tram stop and wait to take the tram back to the Magic. I only had to wait five minutes, which was fine. There were quite a few people taking the ride back to the Magic as it was nearly 3:30 and the all aboard is 4:45 pm. I was back on the Magic at 3:40 pm after scanning my DCL ID and the usual security procedures.

I returned to my room and finished up the rest of my packing for departure tomorrow. I watched some TV programming for a while as well. I think, just some news programming. At around 5 pm I heard a few loud blasts from the Magic, which meant we were about to leave Castaway Cay and return to Port Canaveral. I went on my veranda to watch this.




Pulling away from Castaway Cay to the mainland of the Central Florida coast






Entering the open seas of the Atlantic Ocean

After spending some time on my veranda I went downstairs to Mickey’s Mainsail and purchased a DCL coffee mug which I really liked. I like the lopsided design and colors of it. After this I returned to my room and pack my mug in my luggage. I then went down to guest services and get a copy of my on board charges statement. I wasn’t looking forward to this, but I knew what to expect. It’s amazing how quickly it adds up. After this, I went to the Promenade Café and use the internet to check on my emails. One of them was a confirmation of my pickup service on my return to LaGuardia Airport in New York tomorrow afternoon. It said that my driver would plan to arrive at my terminal five minutes early. We’ll see about this judging from my previous experience, earlier in this trip when I was picked up at home from this company! It also said to call them on your arrival, that you are ready to be picked up.

I returned to my room for a while and watched some TV and just relaxed for a while as I still have nearly two hours until dinner at 8:10 pm.

EDIT: I had to re-post some of these photos again as they didn't work the first time. All done at 6:27 pm ET!


NEXT: I Am Not Looking Forward To Doing This Tomorrow!

[jandsdennis]

Great pictures of Castaway Cay! Seems like you really enjoyed your cruise. Will there be another down the road do you think?

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by jandsdennis

Great pictures of Castaway Cay! Seems like you really enjoyed your cruise. Will there be another down the road do you think?

Glad you enjoyed the photos! I will definitely do another cruise, but just don't know when yet. I still have my October WDW trip on tap and enjoy my first experience at the F&W Fest, which I'm really looking forward to!

[xwewhisper]

What a lovely day of relaxation and enjoying castaway cay!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk