The Slowhand`s Trip - Part 7

[Slowhand]

PLEASE NOTE :~ This really is Part 7 [I had omitted Part 6 in the sequence ! ]

Day 11 ~ Monday Sept.29th

We woke early this morning and for a change today, made our way down to Lumiere`s for breakfast where we were escorted to our table.
Before we had time to place our breakfast order, a CM brought along another couple to our table and they greeted us with “Do you mind if we join you for breakfast?” and we could hardly refuse now could we? Soon we got talking to these breakfast companions who turned out to be a lovely husband and wife from Alabama and we got along just fine. :thumbs_up:

Breakfast over, my DW went up on deck 10 to catch a few rays seeing as this was to be a very relaxing full day at sea while I [who doesn`t “do” sunbathing unless forced to do so ], went on a photographic mission around the ship.
My DW said that she was quite happy to be “toasting” on deck 10 thus leaving me to be the sole representative of our family at the Castaway Club Members “get together” in Rockin Bar “D” at 11.00am where I arrived at 10.45 am in order to grab a seat as I know that these meets are very well attended. There were so many folks there that the overspill were accommodated in the “Diversions” bar next door. We were all given a card on entry, having a tear off portion that would be used in the raffle at the end of the meeting and there was a sort of quiz designed to allow you to mingle with the other CC members to sort out the answers to the questions on the card. Some of the answers could also be found by watching a few short films projected on the screens that related to DCL in general.
Captain Thord made an appearance on stage and asked us to raise our hands if this was our 2nd or more cruise. This was followed by “Keep your hands up if you have done 3 cruises” etc. then 4, 5, 6 etc. until it was discovered that the “winner” was a guy on his 31st DCL cruise and this resulted in justifiable applause from all. ::
The Captain said a few words about the new ships due for 2010, he also told us that of the 2,500 passengers on board that 1,400 were CC members and thanked us all for our continued custom before leaving the entertainment CM`s to draw the raffle. There were 10 prizes of DCL table clocks and soon there was a bit of rivalry between Rockin Bar “D” and Dimensions as to where the most winners were located.

Meeting over, I called into the Internet Café next to the Promenade Lounge on deck 3 to check my emails and also to post a message on Secrets to say “Hi” to all. In fact at 75c a minute, and with the very slow internet access, I couldn`t afford to say much more!
Having found my DW on deck 10, we settled for a snack lunch [pizza for me and a chicken sandwich for DW], before we said our goodbyes to one another again [there was still some sunshine to be had! ] because I went up to Palo`s to meet the rest of the group who had to assemble there for an escorted “Art of the Theme Show Ship`s Tour at 3.00pm led by one of the entertainment CM`s.

There were around 20 or so other guests on the tour and our guide did a great job telling us all about the theming of the ship.
He started out explaining how Palo`s and the entrance foyer deliberately had an art deco look of the 30`s, stating that the name Palo in Italian means “pole”, as in the poles you see in Venice where the gondoliers moor their boats. If you look closely there are poles on either side of the elevator doorways in the foyer.
He also concentrated on the carpeting of the “Magic”, stating that there were over 100 different carpet patterns used throughout the ship, each of which was in that particular location for a specific reason. For example, as you exit an elevator and see dolphins on the carpet, then this deck is primarily a deck housing mainly staterooms whereas if there are anchors in the carpet, you can be sure that it is an entertainment deck.
He described in detail the building of the “Magic”. Unlike her sister ship [the Wonder], the Magic was constructed in 2 halves and he took us onto deck 4 and showed us where the vertical weld was located to join the two halves together.
The guide also mentioned that the huge glass chandelier in the atrium was designed and built by the US premier glass artist Dale Chihuly at a cost in 1998 of $800K !!
He also made us feel at ease by explaining that Disney put guest safety above all else. In fact the capacity of all the lifeboats and life rafts etc. on board exceeded the spaces needed for a full compliment of passengers and crew +1,000 spare places, stating that there were 1 crew member for every 2.5 guests on board [hence the excellent quality of service offered].
We went into Animator`s Palate where he told us that this restaurant was the most expensively built restaurant on board any ship built to date and that it was in fact the safest part of the ship, being surrounded by sealed bulkheads. A snippet regarding the detailing being that a number "6" appears on all of the support pillars, this being the size of the paintbrush most favoured by Walt Disney when he was an artist.
A very fascinating tour which lasted for well over an hour and brought home to us the extensive thought which has gone into the detailed theming of the ship.

After the tour I had a heck of a job finding my DW as she had taken refuge on deck 9 as it had started to rain quite heavily while I was doing the tour. We had a swift cup of coffee at Cove café on that deck before returning to our stateroom to get ready for dinner which would take longer than usual tonight at it was the formal night of the cruise.
I donned my tuxedo and my DW put on one of her “posh frocks” and we made our way down to the “Captain`s Welcome Reception” in the atrium where we had photos taken by the ship`s photographers with the captain and also in front of the “Mickey” statue in front of Lumiere`s.
I hate posing for photographs, much preferring that candid shots are taken of me [if at all! ] . Anyhow as I was trying to perfect a “toothy grin” in front of Lumieres, a lady in an evening gown appeared behind the photographer with one leg forward and her arms outstretched in a “da-dah” pose. It was the lady with whom we had breakfast with this morning and this definitely allowed me a natural smile on the photo!

The show at the Walt Disney Theatre tonight was “The Golden Mickeys” which is an excellent show, although again, as we had seen it before we decided to give it a miss this time. We did however go along to the entrance foyer of the theatre where we had a photo taken with Mickey who had donned his golden evening suit just for the occasion!
After this we headed down to Sessions where we had a drink [or two] with Tom & Carol before we made our way to Lumiere`s for dinner.
Mr & Mrs M apologised for their “no show” last night and explained about how they had left word with the CM`s that they wouldn`t be joining us for dinner on that occasion, blissfully unaware that their message hadn`t been relayed. [If you read this Muushka, then really it was no problem so don`t worry about it, as we said at the time. ]

On returning to our stateroom after a stroll around the decks we were greeted by another towel animal along with information about tomorrow`s port of call [Grand Cayman], in addition to chocolates and a card reminding us to turn our clocks back one hour before we retired. Woo hoo, an extra hour in bed!

Tomorrow would see us in Grand Cayman.

[Disneybumble]

Once again Sir Slowhand excellent.

[Slowhand]

Once again Sir Slowhand excellent.

Well thank you kind lady!

[uscwest]

Another excellent trip report Terry. I wish we were on a cruise right now.

[Slowhand]

Another excellent trip report Terry. I wish we were on a cruise right now.

Thanks John.
[Thanks also for spotting my numeric error!]

[Isafari]

Loved reading your latest installment Terry ::
Your reports are truly lacking in photos of...........you!

[wickesy]

The tour of the ship sounds great!

[piglet]

Another great trippie Terry, keep them coming

[Ilovesnowwhitej]

Wow your tour show how much thought goes into anything Disney.

Yes i must agree lacking in picutres.

[Beccaberry]

THIRTY ONE DCL Cruises!!!! WOW!!!

Another excellent report, sir!