July 5 2014 Venice

July 5 2014

Today we are in Venice and most guests are disembarking the ship.  That’s not me!  Yippee. Cruise #2 will begin this afternoon.  Yesterday after we arrived the duty officer announced that “refueling operations had begun”.  So this morning, I thought it was quite funny when the duty officer came on about 9 a.m. and said “refueling operations have begun.”  I immediately thought “Oh, did we go somewhere overnight?” LOL.  I headed to breakfast and Michael and I laughed about it because he thought the same thing….where did we go since yesterday?

Anyway, had our farewell breakfast at 8:15 in Carioca’s and then my stateroom host helped me move my stuff over to my new stateroom #2046.  Same room just opposite of the other side of the ship, same deck.  By the way, for this last cruise there were 2541 passengers on board. So the ship was full.  Tweens seems to be the most obvious and run around the ship doing whatever they want.  The teenagers were well behaved and didn’t see much of them.

After breakfast, I got off the ship to get my new Key to the World card and then headed off into Venice for the morning.  By the way, when getting on and off in Venice you must have your passport. That is the only port the whole cruise we needed our passport.

I walked from the ship to Plaza Roma, passing new guests as they were walking over the cobblestones and uneven walkways attempting to haul their own luggage to the ship. There was this one family of 4 that I just was laughing to myself about. Dad was dragging along 2 bags and a backpack. The kids had one backpack each and mom had her purse, a backpack and one suitcase.  The dad was dripping with perspiration as it was a hot day and the sun was beating down on everyone.  He was complaining to his wife that they should have just gotten a taxi from Plaza Roma to the ship.  Now, I am in 100% agreement with this guy.  I can’t imagine carrying or wheeling your luggage all the way from Plaza Roma to the ship and it is not that far, just get a taxi.  When you get to the port, you have to then go all the way to the end of the second building to deposit your luggage and enter the terminal. There is an option for 1.30 euro each to ride the people mover from Plaza Roma to the outside of the port, but then you still have to walk a long ways to the ship.  The other option is Disney does have a shuttle bus from the people mover to the ship, but there was a line with about 50 people and luggage waiting.  I only saw one bus shuttling back and forth to the terminal.  Anyway, like I said….if you don’t want to have to take a shower when you get on the ship, just buck up and get a taxi.  Here’s a picture of one guy rolling his luggage over the Plaza Roma bridge.

Once I walked to Plaza Roma I found this really unique jewelry store with all beaded items which were quite inexpensive.  I bought me a new tiny handbag that will hold my camera and key to the world card for 13.00 euro.  Now, these are not venetian made, they come from Indonesia.

Went by the fruit and fish market. The fish market stinks, to say it politely. Interesting to see the local fishermen selling their catch for the day.

Walked all the way to St. Mark’s Square and took some pictures there

Then decided to walk a different way back.  There are so many little tiny walkways and streets that it is fun to see what kind of treasures lie in all those tiny little areas.  I happened to stumble upon Alfredo’s Pasta to Go again on Casseleria Street, so this week I got Pasta Alfredo for 6 euro.  You can Facebook the name, and there is a map on how to find them. They do not have any outdoor signage, so you kinda just keep looking until you stumble across them.  I mentioned I had been there the week before and how awesome it was. They gave me a mini bottle of Romagna wine from Italy to go with my lunch (I will be re-gifting since I don’t drink), but I didn’t let them know that!

Now, yesterday when we arrived in Venice, we noticed as we approached St. Mark’s Square that they were setting up a finish line for what looked like a marathon race.  Well today as I was maneuvering the streets, I came across the runners and the funny thing was is they are carrying maps with them to try to figure out the race course.  I noticed many runners making wrong turns and then coming back running the opposite way to try to get back on the course.  There are no markings up for the course, I think they just follow the map. I bet no world records are set in this race. Can’t imagine trying to get through this course on the streets of Venice.

Stopped and got some Lemon Gelato! My favorite place is still in Mykonos.  Ate  my gelato while I took a picture of the Grand Canal.

All aboard time was 4 p.m.  I got back around 2:30 p.m.  Ran into Andrea in one of her favorite costumes (not), all Venetian attire and she told me not to post on facebook. So I will keep my word and not post on facebook, but she didn’t say I couldn’t put on my blog.  

Found Alvin handing out sanitizer wipes at Cabanas.  He said he won’t wear that venetian costume, so he traded to move upstairs.  He said he would rather work an hour longer than wear the venetian hat and striped shirt!

Now is the perfect time to sign up for your free 50 mb of internet.  Remember it must be done by midnight on the day you get on the ship.  Got my free internet package taken care of before lifeboat drill.

 

The ship was scheduled to leave at 5 p.m., but we didn’t get a pilot until 5:30 p.m. so we were 30 minutes late leaving Venice.  That put us at St. Mark’s 30 minutes later than originally scheduled.  But Michael, Keith and Rusty were there. Michael was waving his streamers at the ship and I was waving them back.  We got pictures both ways.  I met a really nice family (Debbie) who recognized me from my blog that they have been following.  We visited while leaving Venice.  Also met another family who is going to follow my blog.  Guess I should write out the actual blog link so people can find it. HA

I have a beautiful view from my room 

I am at the same dinner table for this cruise as last.  Missed the boys playing word games and puzzle from the children’s menu while waiting for dinner. But, good news was we are on rotational menu!  I was in Carioca’s to start, but got my favorite, butternut squash soup from Animator’s tonight!

Went to the Welcome Aboard Show.  Saw the show and a small snipet of the Ventriloquist whom they brought on board.  He was pretty good.

Then I headed off to complete my first activity on my bucket list of things I have never done on the Disney Magic.  I decided to go check out the Arcade. There were 3 boys in there at 11 p.m. at night.  Boy,  it is noisy in that place.  Most of the games all have to do with car racing and are making all sorts of noises whether they are being used or not.  I did find one arcade game that I was familiar with—Donkey Kong. So I played a game of Donkey Kong.  I need to go back and get a picture of that game.  Anyway, Disney charges so much per play point. Cards cost as follows:  $10 for 500 play points; $20 for 1500 play points; $30 for 2500 play points or $50 for 5000 play points. I am curious to know if you can carry your card forward from one cruise to another.  I don’t know why you couldn’t.  So I am going to do some more research in this area.

There are a couple of DCL executives on board this cruise.  I have already had a couple of conversations with Brent’s boss, Jim and his wife who are on the cruise. We are going to get together later on in the cruise to talk about the third party entertainment that has been brought on board and catch up.

Ozer and his family is also on board.  He is the Vice President of Hotel Operations.  Mats is also on board, he is a Hotel Director I, but not acting in that capacity on the ship this cruise.  I think he is going from one ship to another right now overseeing operations because Thomas is the Hotel Director on the Magic right now.

I heard a rumor that Karl will be on the next cruise. Will wait and see.

That’s about it for day one of cruise #2.

Goodnight from the Magic!