Day 4: The Disney Magic

Cruising day had arrived and we woke up early to pack our suitcases. We had to have our bags ready by 8 with the cruise tags on them so that the bellmen could pick them up from our room and have them sent to the ship. Once our bags were packed we left them in the room and headed upstairs to grab breakfast. For the first time since we arrived on Barcelona, the sun was starting to break through the clouds. We were hopeful that we might get one sunny day in Barcelona. As we headed out of the lounge we pretended to say goodbye to the family that was cruising with us to keep up the surprise for the kids. We headed across the street to try and use the wifi at McDonalds, but for some reason it was not agreeing with my iTouch.

We headed back to the hotel, and grabbed the rest of our stuff. We had been told to meet in the lobby at 11:15 and that the bus to the port would be leaving at 11:30. On the way down to the lobby to check out the pool and terrace, since it was finally dry outside. We arrived in the lobby and started chatting with several of the people we had met over the past few days (Susan and Mike; Shelley, Dennis, and the kids), still keeping up the secrecy act for the kids.

Shortly after 11:30 we were on the bus with giant Mickey hands waving goodbye. During the ride, the kids found out that they were going on a cruise. Thank goodness. It was so hard not to slip. The ride to the port took about 15 minutes. As we came over the bridge, we got our first sight of the Magic, she looked beautiful sitting in the Barcelona harbour.

We arrived in to the terminal and were brought right past all of the check-in lines straight to the boarding line for the ship. The line was pretty long, but someone came and grabbed all of the Disney hotel guests and escorted us past the boarding line straight to the ship. Talk about VIP service. A quick family photo was taken and we were walking across the gangway. Katrina, one of my friends on the entertainment staff was working the door, and she announced our arrival after a round of greetings. Oscar was standing just across the atrium, and asked "weren't you just here?" Pretty much :). It is always so wonderful to see the Magic and so many familiar faces. It's just like coming home.

Susan and Mike were right behind us as we boarded, but they needed to make a stop at Guest Services, so we headed up to Topsiders and grabbed seats for the five of us. A funny thing happened well Mom and I were in the buffet line. I was mentioning how our favorite head server Roberto had mentioned that he would be on vacation during our cruise. As I was saying this, Roberto walked around the corner. Craziness. We had a great lunch with Mike and Susan, it was great to get to know them better. Around 2 we headed down to our stateroom. We are in stateroom 7032, a beautiful midship verandah room (cat 5). Mom and Dads suitcases had arrived, but mine was mysteriously absent.

We headed off to walk around the ship and enjoy the beautiful view of Barcelona. The sun was shining and it was finally starting to warm up. After a while we headed back to the room. About 15 minutes before the safety drill, my bag finally arrived. I was starting to get worried. I quickly unpacked all of my stuff so I wouldn't have to worry about it later. That is one of the best parts of cruising, you only have to unpack once.

Shortly before 4 we headed down to our muster station. Oscar was our assembly leader, I told him that we were doomed, lol. After the drill I headed up to deck 10 to gran a table for the sail-away party. I didn't have a lot of competition. The ship is full of new cruisers/tired people, so the sail-away party was one of the quietest I have ever seen. We also didn't sail-away afterwards, since the party was at 4:30 and all aboard time was 9:30.

After the party we walked around the top deck for a while and then ran into Mike and Susan. We talked with them for a while, while several ships and ferries sailed past us. One ship engaged us in a horn battle. Captain Thord started off by sounding the boring navigational horn, but then destroyed the competition with the real Disney horn. Everyone on the other ship cheered for us. Captain Thord walked out to wave at the other ship and Dad called out to him. The Captain seemed very surprised that someone was calling him by name on the first afternoon of the cruise.

I grabbed the first ice cream of the cruise, and then headed to the stateroom to get ready for the show. The welcome aboard show was great. We had Paul Zerdin, a British ventriloquist, and Phil Keller, a French Magician. I headed to the promenade lounge afterwards to write and listen to the band play. They have the same band that was inboard in March, and they are fantastic.

I met Mom and Dad in Parrot Cay. Our tablemates had been slipped in to early seating that night, so we wouldn't be meeting them until the next day. We did find out that one of them was an imagineer, so I was very excited. Our server was Summer from Australia and our assistant server was Igor from Montenegro. We had the Let the Magic Begin menu, and it was delicious. Our serving team wad awesome, very quick service. We realized that our friend Willy was back from vacation, and I went running over to say. Willy is like part of the family, and it is always awesome to see him.

I headed down to Diversions for the college club. Dave was running it, so I talked with him and my good friend Hilda for a while. The cruise staff on this cruise is awesome, so many people I have met before. I headed over to Magic Quest, a hilarious game show that I won in March. I sat and talked with DJ Matt who I had met earlier in the day. David does an awesome job of running Magic Quest and it was hilarious. After the game it was bed time.

Up next: our first day at sea.


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