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!
