Trip log, day nine. At Sea.
3-Night San Juan to Port Canaveral Cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico
October 19, 2014
Our relaxing day at sea started with Emily hitting the gym. Isabelle and I slept much later than usual, but it was a nice treat from the early mornings we had been having as well as those we will be returning to in a few days. During breakfast at Cabanas, Isabelle and I worked on our napkin folding skills. My favorite has always been the candle. It is one I learned years ago on the Magic, but have seen used in the main dining rooms.
The plan for the day was stay away from the pool deck which turned out to be a good decision after seeing the crowd that had assembled by mid-morning. We headed over to Mickey’s MainSail for Isabelle to check out the two pin trading books at the register. The Halloween on the High Seas t-shirts were still in stock. It is hard to say if supply is up, or demand is down. I will say we have not noticed the mad rush to the halloween merchandise like we witnessed last week when the shelves were cleared in a few hours.
There are a handful of exclusive Disney Cruise Line iPhone cases available for the 4/4S and 5/5S models.
The Disney Cruise Line Wave logo MagicBand Bandits are still out of stock, but a plentiful supply of the DCL Character MagicBand Bandits remains available.
Soon after Isabelle finished pin trading we checked her into the Oceaneer Lab where she made Flubber while we enjoyed Palo Brunch.
There were a few recently added items to brunch offerings including a Peach Almond Soufflé. I did not try it, but it looked promising.
After brunch we grabbed Isabelle a turkey panni from Daisy’s Delights, checked her out of the Oceaneer Lab and proceed to the Nightmare Before Christmas Sing & Scream in the Walt Disney Theatre.
The show was quite enjoyable in 3D with the addition of theatrical lighting and various stage effect added for a 4D experience. Following the film, Jack and Sally appeared and held a meet and greet with guests outside the Walt Disney Theatre which allowed us to meed the couple for the first time.
The afternoon was fairly wide open so we did a little trick or treating in the Atrium during Mickey’s Mouse-Querade Party. At this time of the day, the sun was at a great angle to allow for the pumpkins to cast a shadow on the floor almost lining up perfectly in he triangle.
There was an open house in the Oceaneer Lab with Halloween paper crafts. Isabelle created a witch hat before we moved along to the ship simulators. I had a lot of fun, but I crashed the Fantasy while maneuvering in Nassau. Note to self, the simulators, even on the Captain level do not require you to back the ship into her berth. This could explain why I failed. I did however, take some lessons from Isabelle and successfully maneuver the Fantasy out of Nassau. If you are not familiar with the simulators, you can select your ship and either Castaway Cay, Port Canaveral or Nassau to sail from or dock. Additional vessels such as cargo ships are available, but I much rather stick with the cruise ships. By the way the Disney Magic is not updated in the simulator and looks identical to the Wonder.
Open house was over, but Isabelle really wanted to stay and play with one of her new friends she has met over the course of both sailings. In fact, he has been our table mate for both sailings and beginning with turnaround day they have been almost inseparable.
So, we checked her back into the lab while we headed down to O’Gills to watch a few minutes of football and edit some photos for the trip log.
Dinner was in Lumiere’s but since we ate at Palo Brunch both Emily and I were not really that hungry for a full dinner. Emily just had a salad and baked potato while I ordered something I’ve never tried before… The chicken breast with mixed vegetables and a baked potato. Isabelle on the other hand enjoyed the Lobster Macaroni.
After dinner, Isabelle wanted to head back to the club to play with her friend before Villains Tonight! This left some time for us to stop into Keys for a drink and head to O’Gills for Villains Trivia. The trivia was much harder than we expected and included a question related to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the point was driven home that this is a Disney movie so it counts. Well if we are now officially considering Touchstone Pictures movies with Walt Disney Pictures then it is time for Captain Ron to have meet and greets at at Serenity Bay on Castaway Cay! Ok, enough of my rambling… moving on.
After Villains Tonight we called it a night and headed to bed.
Complete Trip Log Index
First Leg – 7-night Southern Caribbean Cruise
- Day 1 – San Juan
- Day 2 – At Sea
- Day 3 – Grenada
- Day 4 – Barbados
- Day 5 – St. Lucia
- Day 6 – Antigua
- Day 7 – St. Kitts
Second Leg – 3-Night San Juan to Port Canaveral Cruise
We embarked on the 3 day repostion back to Port Canaveral. We were excited to celebrate with brunch at Palos as this was our 10th Disney cruise and we have now made the jump to Platnium!! We were disappointed to say the least though to find out that all the brunch reservations had already been claimed by the B2B crusiers. Too bad Disney didn’t take us into consideration as well. I know there were 75 people on the waiting list. Other than that…great cruise as always.
We also sailed only the 3-day reposition and were extremely disappointed not to get Palo brunch. The manager said he held back 20% of the reservations but there was nothing available when we boarded (group 1). We were 3rd on the list. This has never happened in 18 cruises. Also, no truffles offered for the Platinum gift and no magnetic dry erase board in tote bag.
On a positive note- Castaway Cay day could not have been more perfect!
While they may have held back 20%, there were about 500 passengers sailing back to back who may have taken those open spots well before Group 1 boarded the Magic.
Andrew says “hi”. He picked up phone numbers from Isabelle. <3
Isabelle also brought home phone numbers!!!! Nice to have a friend while cruising 🙂