Europe - Days 18 and 19 (Transatlantic Days 5 & 6)

We are on our third sea day in a row.... in the middle of the Atlantic...which for the record, is HUGE
It's a bit surreal to look out and see sooo much water. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity.

Kids fell asleep a bit earlier last night and we kind of woke up a little earlier this morning. We had breakfast at Cabanas, which has been our tradition. Then I went to see a movie, Solo. Hubby saw it with his office when it first came out, so I enjoyed the movie on my own today... although the theater was packed so I wasn't anywhere close to being alone. When the movie was over it was close to lunch time. Being such a beautiful day we ate out on deck.

Our view at lunch

After lunch it was hubby's turn to see a movie. [Editor's note: Incredibles 2]  Actually while he was at the show our young man and I watched a movie in the room and the young lady enjoyed time in the club with her new friends.
We have been doing the Photo Challenge each day... it's a photo scavenger hunt around the ship... I think we missed the first day. We did the art one, and the flooring one. Today's is tables around the ship.... And it's not easy.

Today's photo challenge

We also enjoyed another lecture from the imagineer.  The evening show is a Ukulele band called Ukebox. They were really great. We laughed, we clapped, it was fun all around. It is also Pirate Night tonight, which means lots of people dressed up like pirates. My vague attempt to accessorize with the provided bandanas had me looking much more like Rosie the Riveter than any pirate. But hey, I tried. They do a Caribbean themed menu, which our head server told us they don't use in Europe... apparently Americans like the Caribbean flavors but typical European families don't. The night ended with fireworks and a late night buffet in classic cruise style.
The adventurous ones attended those.... we lazier ones, chilled/slept through it all.

Ukebox: the Ukulele Band

Towel octopus, we think

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Woke up feeling odd today. Not ill, but let's keep things mellow today folks. Doesn't look like the ocean is going to play ball - lots of swells today, which are still amusing to me, despite feeling more sensitive. We breakfasted up on deck (well three of us did). It is cooler today than yesterday, but still I was ok in short sleeves. We took a few items back to the lazy one.
Today we are spending the day as a family - wish us luck, Just Kidding.
They have another scavenger hunt for us, as well as lots or crafts throughout the day. We also brought some card games. I am secretly hoping to sneak a nap in - we will see how that goes for me.

playing some trivia

The Scavenger Hunt was fun, we found all the items in less than an hour. Today it doesn't appear you turn it in, so we kept them. We joined a Disney Cruise Line Trivia Game - we got 19 out of the 24 questions.. not bad. After lunch we tried our hands at a 3D Craft and some Postcards. Plus we broke out the games - Our youngest picked up a strategy game when we were in Stonehenge... it's kind of fun. Plus we have some card games.  Somewhere along the line our young lady and I saw some dolphins! That was super cool.

We switched our meal and show around today... so we couldn't dine with our usual server team. We tried dinner at Cabanas. Which is table service for dinner. Our impression is it is in part a training ground for servers... we could be totally wrong, but that was our feeling. We had a nice dinner, not on par with the main dining room, but certainly as good an most mid-range restaurants on land.
After dinner we had some down time before the show... Tangled! Can't wait.

Some additional pictures from our last sea day (in a row... one left in a few days)....

Several things had a Tangled overlay today.... very fun! 

I had a fancy drink with lunch... it was called a Salted Stitch! Coconut, Pineapple, Lime, and salted caramel.... Oh dear me. 

We are almost there! 

Europe - Day 16 and 17 (Transatlantic days 3 & 4)

We are bundling our sea days - because there isn't as much to report. They are delightfully relaxing days with very few pictures so we will do a few posts with the highlights.

First off, I will say we noticed a significant increase in ship movement when we left Cobh. It has mellowed out a bit but we are still walking into walls. [Editor's note: Using the accelerometer on my phone, I determined that the up and down motion of the ship is like gaining 20 lbs, going back to normal, then losing 20 lbs, going back to normal and then starting the cycle again.]

We have been using the paper navigator and the app a lot. The app has been working pretty well for communicating with each other. Highlights from the first sea day included family meals, a cheese seminar, seeing a whale blowhole, family Disney trivia, a photo scavenger hunt and seeing Twice Charmed, the musical on board.
Hubby napped a little and I treated myself to a salon appointment before Formal night.
Oh, and we saw a LOT of water ;)
The waves or ship rolling, faded a bit. Apparently this was expected. But we will see what future days hold in regard to the weather and rolling waves. So far we've had beautiful days.

Sunset and the moon from deck 4

We are now into our second sea day. We got up earlier today to see Christopher Robin at the movie theater. We have been saving it for the ship and today it was shown with open captions, which is a preference for our young man.
The movie was very enjoyable. We hope to see it again at some point. After the movie we were able to see a talk from Imagineer Gary Landrum. It sounds like he will be doing a couple of presentations this trip. So hopefully we can catch them all.

Formal night selfie

Meeting one of my favorite Princesses

Europe - Day 15 (Transatlantic Day 2)

Cobh, Ireland.
I have been pronouncing this wrong for months, so hopefully I can get it right today... it is pronounced "cove".

We pulled in before we were all awake. I noticed in my sleepy state because last night we had a fair amount of movement on the ship. It wasn't rough seas, but it was definitely noticeable and probably had some people a bit uncomfortable. So when we were suddenly still, I figured we were in port.

We had found a simple tour we thought we might do in town this morning, then we had tickets to the Titanic Museum in the afternoon. But, we were moving slow. The guys ended up going to breakfast without us girls. And they closed breakfast as the boys put a plate together for us. So we were all able to munch a bit before we left the ship.

walking around the town

Ooooo! another coffee machine. 

view back to the ship

In the end, we left the ship more than an hour later than we thought we would...chalk it up to being day 15 of the trip. We got off the ship and started walking around town. We saw the Titanic Museum and decided to look for the tour we were thinking of. But after a few minutes of looking in the location where it was supposed to be and seeing no sign of anything resembling something tour related, we decided to move on. [Editor's Note: We learned later that they stop doing the tour on weekdays in September.] We wandered the town and popped into a few shops along the way. We were able to pick up a much needed glasses repair kit and a few souvenirs. Then we decided to walk through the Cobh Heritage Center. They gave us each a card representing someone who was on the Titanic or other ships of that era and we could find the story of that person in the exhibits. It was a nicely put together exhibit. Only two of the four of our persons from the past survived... but we all enjoyed the information.

Model that was made for the movie "Far and Away"

By the time we finished here it was time for the Titanic Experience. We had a set time for this, as it's more tour than museum. Again we were each given the name of a passenger from the Titanic. This time, each person actually boarded the Titanic here in Cobh (then Queenstown) for that "fateful journey" (as our history buff young man would say). Our guide took us and a dozen or so others through the whole process that our characters went through. The Experience is actually housed in the same building - the old White Star Line building. So we literally walked in their footsteps. We stood on the balcony where the 2nd and 1st class passengers stood while they waited for the tender to the ship. Saw the old pier... which is now just supports, not usable, but also clearly they don't want to restore it... showing it as is, helps put the timeline together - I think.
The whole thing was good. And it ends with some exhibits to see artifacts etc. And lastly, a look at the roster and see if your historic person survived. All but one of us made it onto the lifeboats. In general I think this gave a nice mix of history and emotion to the basic story we all know.

fun with mirrors

We headed back to our floating home for a late lunch (I know... it's just how we roll now). And the timing of seeing this exhibit literally the day we set sail across the Atlantic has floated about in my brain a few times today. My mom texted me with info about current hurricanes, but ultimately we aren't going that far south and just last night the captain said he is keeping an eye on things and isn't concerned about any of the current storms. Ok... enough of that!

in line to get back on the ship

sights from our balcony

Mural for the anniversary

Lunch from Room Service was just what we all needed. I had some time to hit the coffee bar and blog before an early evening Mom and Daughter Pedicure.  Hubby enjoyed the evening show and we enjoyed dinner at Lumiere's and relaxed until bedtime.

Looking forward to a few days at sea.

Europe - Day 14 (Transatlantic Day 1)

Portland England

Oh man 7:15 am is an early tour departure time. Today we head to Stonehenge, along with about 500 of our other cruise passengers. We were on bus 5 of at least 11. It was busy. But with a two hour drive to and from.... it was an odd mix of sitting and then crowds.

Just some of the buses for our Stonehenge tour

Our floating home away from home

Our tour guide was great... apparently he has retired a few times, but keeps coming back. He clearly knows his stuff and shared it all with ease - it didn't feel memorized.

Great clock along the way

love the weathervanes around here

The drive was lovely and it went as fast as two hours can. We had two hours at the site. I think we split that time between the stones and the shop/cafe. With a bit of left for the mini museum. But the audio guides they give you have soo much info, its hard to get it all.

Sheep around the stones

pulling the stones.... or not

The return drive had less narration and more napping (shhhh, it wasn't just us).

Sights on the way back to the ship

At the ship we were greeted by the local rock choir... a huge group of adults singing pop songs. That was fun.
We had a snack at the stones, but wanted something more substantial (I know it's 3 pm... we have a problem) so we popped up to deck 9 for something quick. Oops. Apparently the other 500 people from the stones had the same idea. But we found the short lines, pizza and Shawarma (turns out it's tasty).
And we choose to take it back to the room to have a quieter space. Departure was the most exciting we have experienced so far... with cannon fire and all. A local group rolled out a historic cannon to send us off. LOUD.. is really what I have to say about that.

Bye Portland

With our young lady at the clubs the rest of us just enjoyed a lazy afternoon. Hubby and I window shopped - lots in the ship shops that looks cool, but I can't seem to commit. The adventous ones (if you follow us you know that's Hubby and our young lady) went to the family variety show of the percussion group from UK, known as JunNk. The preview I saw of them a few days ago was funny and showed they had skill. They also went to the evening show (not necessarily in that order). The young man and I explored the ship, found some fun artwork and stayed away long enough for our room to be turned down - our stateroom host has amazing timing so far.

Towel animal of the day!

fun art around the ship... with fun facts

Dinner is at Rapunzel's Royal Table, formerly Carioca's, formerly Parrot Cay. We haven't been on this ship for a handful of years... specifically we missed all the Carioca years. And Tangled is quite possibly my favorite Disney Princess movie... yeah.. it is my Favorite. I was thrilled with the transformation. We had heard only good things about the change and it's all true. Complete with the delightful cast of characters.
We were seated at our table set for 8 and wondered... table mates? But nope. Our server told us that it would be just the four of us for the rest of the cruise.... some of us were sad at that information, some were pleased.

Dinner and the entertainment were great. We ate... I got full for perhaps the first time in... I can't remember the last time I was uncomfortably full. White Chocolate Bread Pudding... that is all I am going to say.
After dinner hubby started a load of laundry... so good to us. Our young lady returned to her friends at the club and the young man and I retired to some tv for the evening.
We all stayed up a bit later this evening... more time for food to digest. And tomorrow isn't quite so insanely early.

Europe - Day 13 (Transatlantic Day 0)

Cheers and Bon Voyage

We start our trip home today... well, we board the Disney Magic for an 11-night Transatlantic Cruise... which will ultimately get us back to the US.. so "home".

But first we breakfasted at the hotel buffet and packed up. Our check-in boarding time was 11:30 am, but we can't return the rental car until noon. Meaning the car rental place isn't even open until noon. So we have some time to explore or not.

The Magic in the Distance

Scenes from our drive around Dover

Once we had driven around enough to know where the cruise ship terminal was and how to get to it, we drove for a bit. And by about 11:30 we gave in and hubby dropped us off at the port. The kids and I went through security and took a seat to wait for hubby. My impression is that it was a busy day for Enterprise in Dover, and perhaps they aren't used to that kind of traffic. But he got back to us at the cruise terminal and we proceeded to check-in and board the ship! [Editor's note: Dropping off your family then going to return the car was a popular option. I shared a cab from the the Enterprise office back to the port with two other people who had done the same thing.]
It's been a handful of years since we have been on the Magic.

In attempt to eat lunch at a close to normal time, we went to lunch at Cabanas. Then I ran to the spa to make pedicure appointments for the young lady and I. And at this point our room was ready for us and we even had two suitcases eager to be unpacked (yes, I might be excited to unpack for a while).

The afternoon was relaxed and familiar, which was very nice. We have late seating for dinner on this cruise.... I know, LATE seating... are you crazy? Quite possibly, but we have this as our logic: We are making a 5 hour time change over the course of this voyage. Other than tomorrow and the day we leave the ship :(, we will be keeping a later schedule. And when we get off the ship, we will be on New York time, so eating at 8pm in New York is like eating at 5pm at home.... so we feel justified, I hope that makes sense.

First coffee on the Ship - Salted Carmel Coconut Mocha, Ymmmmm

Cliffs of Dover in the distance

Our Stateroom

The boys caught all of the Welcome Aboard show. I joined in the final minutes, while our young lady was in the club for a fair amount of the evening.
Dinner was funny. Our serving team seems great, but our tablemates ditched us. Half of the group wasn't at the table and had apparently decided they wanted a table to themselves. The half of the group we met apologized and assured us they would have been good tablemates...too funny. Then before our server had time to catch up with what was going on... three new ladies joined us. They missed the first seating dinner and just needed to eat, so they joined us for tonight only.
It worked out and we would be fine if they joined us again.  Tomorrow we will see what we end up with, if we are by ourselves...or get rotating guests.

Not a bad view

After dinner we settled in. Tomrrow will be early.