"Doctor Strange said not to touch anything!" - January 2018 solo MDAS/WDW (FINISHED Sept. 4)

January 22, 2018 (Part 2)
No Time for Naptime


WHEN LAST WE LEFT OFF I had collapsed into a deck chair on Deck 4, presumably to pass out for the next three months if we go by update speeds. :duck: You'll recall that this was the first full non-travel day of the trip, and a day at sea. I was feeling pleasantly sauced -- or possibly bombed, plastered, or pickled, depending on one's preference. :drinking1 I snapped a few photos of the long deck stretching away on my right:

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So peaceful.


And the crew members hard at work to my left. It's really amazing how many people are at work all the time to keep the ship clean and bright and running smoothly.

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Like WDW, really.

The weather was glorious and my head was settling down as I sat there. I didn't exactly feel out of it, but I could definitely feel the drinks...and I had a bit of a problem. See, I'm a very sleepy drunk. I really didn't want to nod off, as I don't recover well from afternoon naps, so I started flipping through the Navigator on my phone to see what was going on, and wouldn't you know....

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Hi, Tim!

As I'd mentioned earlier, I had only budgeted for one Bingo session on this cruise. Since I hadn't won anything that morning, that probably should have been the end of it. But then...well, that SCUBA excursion in Cozumel got cancelled, and lo and behold I had money burning a hole in my pocket. This time around D and I spotted each other as we were getting settled with cards and drinks, and sequestered ourselves at one of the tables in back.

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Diet Coke and water this time, to try to wake back up!

You see that little square card in that image? That's the bonus card you get if you know the secret password from the previous session (they also say it on Good Morning Magic; it's not actually all that secret). It's tiny compared to the add-on pack you can get for $10, and tinier still compared to the ridiculous number of cards that are loaded into the electronic Bingo devices you can rent with larger packages. A teeny tiny insignificant Bingo card that can't possibly make any difference except oh wait I won the final blackout game of the session on that little sucker.

:hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper:

Tim seemed even more surprised about that than I was. Unfortunately, it came after too many numbers had been called, so I only got the regular win, not the big jackpot. Also, someone else got a bingo in the same round I did and it was only $84 to each of us after splitting the prize. Still, though! The session had paid for itself and for part of the next, which is really better than one can expect most of the time.

After Bingo I was feeling bright-eyed and awake and had more than an hour until the evening show. Coco (the one movie I'd promised myself I'd see on the ship, since I'd missed it in theaters back home) was showing twice that evening...during each of the dining periods. :rolleyes2 Without any activities particularly jumping out at me, I donned my swimsuit once more and headed to the top deck to try once again to summon the courage to ride the AquaDunk.

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This thing, in case anyone somehow forgot.

Once again, no photos owing to having left my phone in the stateroom while I was out and about in my swimsuit. I jumped in the pool at the Quiet Cove for a minute or two, questioning my life choices in general when I got back out and made my way up to Deck 10, and then up and up the staircase as Huey, Dewey, and Louie made all kinds of unencouraging remarks about test subjects and how the AquaDunk is probably safe. I'd expected to wait in line and thought it might help my nerves if I saw other people going down it...so of course I walked right up to an empty platform and was faced with an open coffin capsule waiting just for me.

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This was what I wanted, though, right? Right??

With great trepidation I stepped onto the trap door, afraid it would go out from me as I was getting in. It didn't, of course. Then the capsule closed and the operator asked for a thumbs-up to see if I was still ready (of course I wasn't, but I gave a thumbs-up anyway), and then --

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Okay, it wasn't quite this bad.

I don't normally like steep water slides, but I think part of it is having to commit myself to pushing off the edge. A trap door is both better and worse -- but having done it once, I was immediately ready to do it two or three more times in rapid succession. I only stopped because I was getting too much water up my nose, and because I needed to go shower and change to go to the theater. It was formal night, which meant a sundress because that's about as formal as I get.

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Something something never-ending recent arguments discussions on the cruise boards.
 
January 22, 2018 (Part 2)
No Time for Naptime (continued)

Tonight's show was Tangled. The show was a lot of fun with some great musical numbers, but I thought the script suffered a bit for how short of a run time it had in which to cover all the same ground as the full-length movie version. No pictures, as I am a gentle, law-abiding sort of nerd, apart from this one of our cruise director, Darren, greeting us all before the show and telling us what other goodies would be in store over the next days.

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He looks a bit angelic, doesn't he?

Afterward I made the mistake of attempting to browse the shops right outside the Walt Disney Theatre, right when half the people onboard were doing precisely the same thing. On this trip I found myself taking photos of things I was halfway thinking of buying so I could think it over before returning to the shop. I didn't end up buying most of it, though. I've mentioned on this board a few times that my housemate and I are using the KonMari approach to winnow down our possessions, and it's made me a lot more mindful about what stuff I bring home.

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Did not buy. I always think I want TsumTsums because they're adorable, but then I remember that I have no Earthly use for them.

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A close contender -- didn't expect to have any 5"x7" photos from the trip, though, so it was a no.


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Went back later and bought one! I've been sipping water out of it while I write this report. :D


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Okay, this was never a real contender since I don't have kids, but I was really surprised they even made
Dr. Strange costume shirts for children since I don't think of him as a kid-friendly character.


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I might have bought a throw if it hadn't been an add-on purchase; there just wasn't enough stuff in my order
to hit the minimum when I made my final choices near the end of the cruise.


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Cute patches; almost wish I'd bought a pack.
 

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January 22, 2018 (Part 2)
No Time for Naptime (continued)

After my stop in the shop, there was really only time to duck back into my stateroom and drop off my popcorn bucket before dinner. On my way to dinner I noticed that it felt like the movement of the ship had intensified. Another thing that had intensified: the crowds of families with loud children in the atrium. I arrived at the entrance to Lumiere's a few minutes earlier than I needed to, and very quickly decided that I needed to duck into Keys until my assigned seating time.

At dinner itself, I had beef wellington for the first time in my life. Also escargot, but that wasn't a first time for me (very tasty, though). My tablemate and I lingered over a long dinner once again, which I sort of regretted when I hurried over to O'Gill's The Snuggly Duckling afterward only to catch just the tail end of the thugs' pub takeover.

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There are thugs somewhere in this image.

I went ahead and had a drink while I was there, which I quickly regretted. I'd overeaten a bit at dinner, and the movement of the ship hadn't lessened at all. :crazy2:

I made a stop at my stateroom to get something to settle my stomach, and discovered a...bird?

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I mean I'm pretty sure it's a bird.

Then it was up to Deck 9 for some fresh air and the second half of one of my favorite Marvel movies. I never caught an entire film on FunnelVision during the entire cruise; I'd just hang out up there when something familiar was playing and I didn't feel a need to see the entire thing from beginning to end.

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"Okay. So, I'm at this art museum with my cousin Ignacio, right? And there was like, like, abstract, expressionism exhibit.
But you know me, I'm here like a Neo-Cubist kind of guy, right? But there was this one Rothko that was sublime, bro! Oh, my God!"


When the movie ended it was time to head bedways, with a few snapshots of the abandoned water areas on the way.

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It's so peaceful at night.

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It's the kind of place that doesn't seem like it should exist outside of daylight.

I finished out the night with a bit of paperwork :scared:. This was the first trip for which I'd built a complete, realistic budget, and the first time I printed and brought a table for tracking expenses as I went in order to see whether I was keeping my goals.

Yes, yes. NERD!! But this was also the first trip of mine that came in under budget, so a little bit of homework each evening resulted in a big win.


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Of course I took a picture of the most confusing table, with money from the
cancelled excursion going into other categories every which way.


With no set schedule for the following morning (I wasn't sure whether I'd even bother getting off the ship), I once again opted against setting an alarm when I slipped into bed sometime around midnight. It had been a much, much busier day than I'd anticipated. I'd come into the cruise expecting tons of downtime, but had spent the whole day rushing from one activity to another. I had a wonderful time, of course, but I was definitely pooped.

Next up: Cozumel I Am in You!
 
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I just found this! I'm loving your report. Keep it up!

While the cruise staff were trying and failing to get everyone to dance

The Adventures Away party was pretty cute, but it would have been more fun if people had danced along with the show

This is the advantage to sailing during school breaks. Kids always dance!

There was plenty of storage space for a solo, but if you had three people in that stateroom I don't know where you'd put everything.

I say this every time. DD and I for comfortably, but no way would it work with a family. There was even less storage on the Fantasy. That room had 1.5 closets instead of 2. Your location is a great one though. We were in 6135 on the Wonder and booked the same room on the Magic for our Med cruise this summer!

I usually ended up eating the turndown mints the next morning while I was getting ready to go to breakfast.

This is dd's favorite thing to do. I never eat mine, so she downs them both.

I have considered cruising solo

Um, I want to cruise solo and I have a family. :rotfl:

I made a stop at my stateroom to get something to settle my stomach, and discovered a...bird?

We call it a penguin. It's one of our favorites followed closely by the dinosaur.
 
Hello! I stumbled upon your trip report quite by accident, and am so glad I did!

You have a wonderful style of writing, and I can't wait to read more!
 
Heyo, stopping in to confirm that I do yet live. I know I said I wasn't going to make excuses, but--here are my excuses: April had me traveling twice (once for fun, once for work) and I'd set some pretty unrealistic expectations for myself re: monthly goals in light of that. I've got another weekend trip coming up this month of May (it's finally convention season!!), but it looks like things are a bit less crazy in general. Apart from, you know, also getting a new puppy last month, bringing us to a total of three doggos, plus still the rabbit and the snake. My housemate and I never seem to learn from experience when it comes to putting too much on our plates.

Hoping to get the Cozumel update done this weekend, as it should be a relatively short one. MDAS is probably going to be several separate updates because there was just So Much happening that day.

This is the advantage to sailing during school breaks. Kids always dance!

Ahh, but January is cheaper...and cooler. I'll make you a bet right now; I bet I never go on a summer cruise outside of Alaska or mmmmaybe northern Europe.

I say this every time. DD and I for comfortably, but no way would it work with a family. There was even less storage on the Fantasy. That room had 1.5 closets instead of 2. Your location is a great one though. We were in 6135 on the Wonder and booked the same room on the Magic for our Med cruise this summer!

Yeah, I think my housemate and I will be able to manage (though we might consider one of the staterooms with a split bath...such luxury! We only have one bathroom at home :p). Might push to do it with packing cubes or something to keep things more organized, though, and/or keep costumes in suitcases under the bed when they're not needed instead of letting them take up limited drawer and closet space.

We call it a penguin. It's one of our favorites followed closely by the dinosaur.

There's a dinosaur?? Dang...I didn't get that one on this trip.

Hello! I stumbled upon your trip report quite by accident, and am so glad I did!

You have a wonderful style of writing, and I can't wait to read more!

Thanks!
 


Following along, we are doing a very similar trip on the Magic Jan 2019, loving reading your experiences
 
January 23, 2018 (part 1)
Cozumel I Am in You!

When last we left off mumblemumble a month ago, I had gone to bed after a very full and happy (but not particularly Marvelous) day at sea. Once again I hadn't bothered setting an alarm. I didn't realize it until late in the trip, but by letting myself sleep in most mornings, I defaulted to letting my body remain on mountain time rather than ever making the adjustment. It was kind of nice; with late dining I was able to line up my entire eating and sleeping schedule to just more or less happen two hours later than usual according to the local time.


By the time I woke up at 8:00, the ship had already been docked for a while and the early birds had already been allowed off of it. It was already pretty warm, at least by Montana standards (especially by January Montana standards :cold:).

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Ah, yes, those ruins I did not go see.

I took my time getting ready with Good Morning Magic playing in the background once again. I'm glad I thought to get a few snapshots of the stateroom itself, as I was happy with how well-organized I was able to keep it once I'd unpacked everything. I'm a bit messy at home (less now than before we started KonMari), so it's nice to see that I'm capable of doing better when I have less stuff to deal with.

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Bird-thing from the night before keeping me company!

I loved that the door was magnetic, and I was really glad I'd brought some extra magnetic clips so I could keep all my tickets visible and organized.

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What's that long-sleeved blue shirt doing in there when this was a t-shirt kind of trip,
hmm hmm, wonder what that's about, wonder if that will come up during the Marvel Day at Sea


I headed up to Cabanas for breakfast again without really thinking about it. In hindsight this would have been a good morning to eat breakfast at Lumiere's, since this photo was taken at 8:36--this had been a much quicker morning than the previous one. Oh, well. The Cabanas breakfast wasn't bad overall, but I was consistently disappointed by the breakfast sausages.

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VEGETABLE AT 1:00!!

Afterward I stopped in at the Cove Cafe for my caffeine intake. This is...some kind of latte. I don't know. I ordered them pretty randomly and enjoyed all of the lattes I had, so I'm sure it was good.

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Spider Latte, Spider Latte, does whatever a spider oughta

I snapped a couple pictures of the port from the upper decks while I finished drinking my wake-up juice. It really was a gorgeous day despite the clouds; I don't think my iPhone did it justice.

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Hello Cozumel!

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A bit more Cozumel...and a bit more panorama distortion.

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And on the other side of the ship, a boat! Boats make me nervous; I was mostly glad I wasn't on that one.
Ships are clearly different.
 
January 23, 2018 (part 1)
Cozumel I Am in You! (continued)

As I mentioned in the last post, I wasn't really sure I wanted to get off the ship at all. With my port adventure cancelled I didn't have anything in particular planned for the day, and I was kind of feeling fine with that. I was in the mood for something a little slower and more relaxed. As I was thinking about it, though, I decided that I'd regret it if I didn't at least set foot in Mexico when it was right there, so I headed down to deck 2 and off the ship.

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I love those sunglasses except for how you can see my phone in this picture.

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And once again for those of you who want to look at the ship instead of my face....

As I reached land there was a security checkpoint, which wasn't any trouble at all.

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Still didn't really know what to expect at this point.

Once through there we went up an escalator, past a jewelry store (I can't actually remember what particular stone we were all told to buy in Cozumel...I don't really do jewelry) and across a pedestrian bridge.

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You can't see it in this photo but I recall that there was a Hooters a little further up this street. America's cultural exports, everyone!

The port terminal was a bit like an outdoor mall, and you had to walk all the way around the outer edge before you came to the escalator, then walk all the way through the bottom part before you came out onto the street.

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I see what you did there, Cozumel. Exit through the gift shop! :rolleyes2

I felt good about my decision to wear the reflective sunglasses because it made it easier to avoid making eye contact with the salespeople trying to hail me from the entrance of every shop I passed. I had read that the shops right there at the port terminal would be the most expensive, so I kept moving. I figured once I got down into the streets I could just take a stroll and look around, maybe find somewhere more interesting to do a little shopping.
 
January 23, 2018 (part 1)
Cozumel I Am in You! (continued)

And I was wrong. I initially stuck to the street that ran along the waterfront, partly just to see what was there and partly to avoid any chance of getting turned around. It was packed with colorful storefronts and the street was bustling with people...but the storefronts were almost all souvenir shops similar to what I'd already seen, and I continued to get hailed every ten or fifteen feet by someone actively trying to sell me something. :scared: I turned down a side street to try to get away from all that, and within half a block someone asked if I was lost and tried to get me to stop and talk to him about some tour he wanted to sell me. :headache: I don't really have pictures from that part of my walk because I didn't want to slow down at any point and risk getting engaged in conversation.

A few blocks back from the waterfront, it was a bit quieter, which was mostly a relief. By this point I didn't particularly feel like shopping anymore. I hate it when salespeople approach me; I just want to browse things on my own most of the time and it was pretty clear that I wasn't going to be able to do that in most shops, or even just walk down the streets near the port in peace. I took a brief wander now that I was away from the worst of it, just taking in the look of the place.

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I actually do this in my home city, too; I just like looking at houses sometimes.

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I feel like tattoo parlors are a solid step up from souvenir shops.

It wasn't too long, though, before I turned and headed back toward the ship. I did stop in a couple of shops and at one stand on the way back to pick up a couple things. I'd guessed about right re: how much I wanted to spend on tchotchkes and gifts, so I used about as much cash as I'd been expecting--that, friends, is the magic of budgeting!
pixiedust:

Soon I was back at the top of the escalator, looking toward the ship.

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Seems I myself was a bit of an early bird compared to a lot of others....

Back down and back through security....

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BEHOLD THE MAGIC

With a brief pause to take another selfie to create a record of how I felt about my stop in Cozumel before I hauled myself back to the ship. I'd only spent about an hour in port, but I was already kind of overheated and more than a little done with the experience.

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Yep, that face sums it up.

Also, a couple shots of the ship because I continued to find the scale of it fascinating whenever I was in a position to really take it in.

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Except the picture doesn't convey the sheer size of those ropes....

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But this one does make me feel afraid of falling in the water!

Back in my stateroom, I laid out my haul specifically so I could later tell you fine folks about it in this trip report. I'd kind of wanted a woven hoodie since I was in San Diego as a college student and a bunch of the people I was with went down to Tijuana without me and came back with them, and now here we are.

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Hoodie for me
Rum cakes for coworkers
Vanilla for my foodie housemate
Wrestling mask for another friend (he loved it when I gave it to him in April)


Now, I believe firmly in taking responsibility for one's own situation and enjoyment, which is why I'm going to say right here and now that it was my own fault I didn't really have a good time in Cozumel itself. At a minimum, I could have asked at the port adventures desk for restaurant recommendations, which would have at least given me a goal and directed my wanderings. Because my original plan had been to take an excursion and thereby abdicate responsibility for taking myself somewhere interesting, though, I hadn't done my research on the port and wasn't prepared with an alternate plan, and it showed in the results. My tablemate would later tell me that he'd had an amazing lunch in Cozumel...but then, he was there with a CM, and the CMs naturally have their favorite places to go.

On the other hand, I've sometimes had trouble letting go of things that clearly aren't working out, so I actually feel pretty good about the decision to just go back to the ship and let myself enjoy the day doing things that appealed to me more than pressing on in port. I want to stress that even though I'm ending the post here for now (there was a lot more to write about than I thought there would be!), this was actually a really good day for me. The next post will elaborate on the better parts of it!

Next up: My One and Only Chill Day
 
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Following along and reminiscing about my trip on the Magic in May 2016. Loving the report so far. In all honesty, I've been to Mexico multiple times now, and for our upcoming cruise aboard the Fantasy in October, we may actually just skip getting off the ship.

Can't wait to see more!
 
January 23 (part 2)
My One and Only Chill Day

I got a shower and changed into my swimsuit and cover-up...and only then remembered that the AquaDunk often opens late on port days. o_O

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Ah, well.

Not much was on the schedule that interested me, so I decided not to fuss with anything in particular. According to the timestamps on the photos, I spent the next four hours just hanging out on decks 9 and 10. Since I was in my swimsuit and was in and out of the pools, slides, etc., I didn't have my phone with me to take any pictures.

This was what I'd imagined cruising would be like. I found a lounger in the shade on deck 10, above the Quiet Cove, and turned it around to face the port instead of inwards. I caught up my travel journal, read the first couple chapters of Murder on the Orient Express, got some food and drinks now and then from the bars and counter service areas, caught the end of Moana on Funnelvision while I was eating, and went on the AquaDunk a bunch of times once it opened, as well as the Twist 'n' Spout. The Twist 'n' Spout is a pretty fun little waterslide itself. Between dips in the pool or trips down the slides, I'd just lay out on the lounger and air dry while I read more of my book. The weather had been too hot for me down in port, but it was absolutely perfect for what I wanted to do on the top decks.
:beach:

It was all gloriously relaxing. To be honest, I was surprised that I was able to just slow down and enjoy relatively inactive time like that for such a large chunk of the day. I'm pretty go-go-go and normally I can't sit still for more than a few minutes without reaching for my phone, but like I said, it was four hours before I got tired of just hanging around and went down to my stateroom to shower and change.

I came back up top, no particular goal in mind as I took a leisurely stroll around the ship. The few other people who'd stayed on board seemed to have had more or less the same idea as me.

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This would also be a nice place to hang out.

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And this.

I realized I had yet to do the full loop of deck 4, and figured now was as good a time as any. I dutifully followed the instructions and went counterclockwise, though I don't think there was anyone else out walking it, let alone running. I'd been interested to see what it looked like in the fore and aft.

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Answer: Industrial but nice.

I was surprised by how close the deck 4 guest walkway is to the machinery in the fore, with only that little railing to keep people where they're supposed to be. Seems like an awful lot of faith in people's good behavior!

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Again, this picture does not convey the size of everything.

As I was coming back up toward the open-air part of the walkway, I came upon the backside of a sign strung between the railings. It turns out maybe I shouldn't have been in there! :scared: Or maybe it was okay? :confused: I don't know! They had a 'do not enter' sign up on one side, but not on the other! I quickly let myself out and put it back up behind myself.

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It says:
"MOORING OPERATION IN PROGRESS
DO NOT ENTER"


That pretty well nixed the idea of doing more than one lap, but I decided to still finish out and end up where I'd started. Now I had a view of the port and of the trickle of people now coming in rather than heading out.

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One of the better shots I got of the port, I think.

A boat happened to go by as I reached this little barred window at the aft of the ship, and I challenged myself to get at least one decent photo of it.

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If I remember correctly, this is quite close to the official Service Animal Relief Area.

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Got it!
 
January 23 (part 2)
My One and Only Chill Day (continued)

Since it was still a bit warm for my taste, I headed inside to do a bit more lounging, this time in the air conditioning. I stationed myself in one of the portholes near Fathoms for maybe half an hour while I waited for Bingo pre-sales to open (gotta love that Bingo), playing around with my phone a little to see what was happening that night but mostly just watching out the window.

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I've all but decided that I want a category 8 stateroom on the Dream or Fantasy so I can have my own window seat like this.

I apparently had such a good time at Bingo that I forgot to get my phone out and take any photos while I was there. I sat with D again; this time we managed to snag one of the alcove tables along the back wall of the room. Those are fun little sitspaces, and it turns out the lighting changes to match the color of the Bingo cards with each round! The downside was that under the colored light it was sometimes hard to tell which card was which. I didn't win anything this time; I think this was the time when I bought a $10 paper add-on card as well as using the free bonus card, which turned out to be too much to keep track of. I was scrambling with every number Tim called, and still didn't get any prizes to show for it. :sad2:

With the evening stage show coming up, I headed back to my stateroom to change clothes yet again in preparation for...Pirate Night!!

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I'm a grown adult and I do what I want.

I'd commissioned my outfit (shirt, vest, and sash) from Etsy seller RebeccasRenaissance7. It didn't come out very well fitted, but for the price I paid I'm happy with it and I think it looks alright once I've got a belt on over it. You can barely see it in this picture, but I also wore a leather belt pouch that was made by Etsy seller HammerThreadLeather (it's their "Long Adventurer's Belt Pouch). Highly, highly recommend; it's big enough to fit my phone and have tons of space left over. I did end up buying a second belt pouch this last weekend at a convention that I think is a little nicer visual quality, but for the price the one I got on Etsy can't be beat.

The show that evening was a percussion/comedy act called Buckets N Boards. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it--think Stomp, but only two guys. I'd sat near the back because I (like many people, to judge by how many reassuring announcements I heard regarding the lack of a need to rush) was concerned about getting a good spot for the pirate deck party afterward. The show ended well in time for us to all head up there, though--if one wanted a spot right up on one of the railings or right in front of the stage one would need to skip the evening show (or skip out of dinner early, if on main dining) to stake out a spot, but I'm tall and it's no real trouble for me to see over most people's heads, so I was fine showing up with the mass of people exiting the variety show.

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Yeah, little far back from the stage, here.

It's a pretty fun show--definitely quite lively. Loud, too (check out the kid wearing ear protection in this next photo). I don't really remember much of the plot--something something Hook takes over, something something Mickey? It was mostly a lot of dancing and yelling. I'd watch it again on future cruises, but I don't think it's a make-or-break factor for me.

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Yeah! Pirates!!
 
January 23 (part 2)
My One and Only Chill Day (continued)

Afterward it was time to file down into the dining rooms. Tonight would be my only evening in Animator's Palate.

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And this is the only picture I got of the place.

My tablemate had abandoned me for the evening; his CM family member's schedule had allowed for them to have dinner together that night, so they were off in Palo. That threw our server for a little bit of a loop because he hadn't been told and it took me a little while to remember which night they'd said they'd be doing that. That was alright, though; it got cleared up pretty quickly and I didn't have too much of a delay in putting in my order. Since I was dining alone, I figured I might as well snap pictures of my food for the trip report this time.

I started with the purseittes, since A.) they've been recommended all over these boards and B.) they're just the kind of thing I like anyway. I was not disappointed.

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Om nom nom

Next was a squash soup, which was similarly satisfying.

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I forgot to take a picture before I started eating it

And I finished it out with this hunk of meat. I remember enjoying it but not being completely wowed, which isn't surprising...I'm not really a hunk-of-meat kind of eater. I usually followed my server's recommendations regardless of whether it was my usual thing, though; with the variety of the MDR menus available to me I wanted to push myself to try things I normally wouldn't.

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Yeah, pretty good.

Overall, with just one night when I ate alone, I was glad it was this one. I'm enough of a loner that I'm not terribly bothered by dining solo, but I did miss having company. AP is a really visually interesting dining room, though, so I had plenty to look at all around me between courses.

I was considering a sundae for dessert right around the time the servers all hurried around for last calls before they cleared out of the dining room for the last part of the evening show. The tables around me already had their desserts by then--I think the confusion and delay at the start had worked against me, along with the fact that my tablemate and I had typically lingered over dinner on previous nights. While I could have gotten the sundae after Sorcerer Mickey did his dance and the servers all came back into the room in their colorful finery, I had my eye on the time and decided to skip dessert because....

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I had places to be, okay

I'd just barely missed Jack Sparrow on my way into the evening show because I'd taken a little too long getting ready, and his last set of the night had a window of 9:30-9:45 for getting in line to meet him. I squeaked in at about 9:40, and didn't have to wait long in line. He was very personable and fun to talk to, and I was glad I'd made time to go see him. I really didn't do many character meets outside of MDAS, and I think I may change that on my next cruise.

Not ready to stop being a pirate and go to bed yet, I headed to Fathoms to see "The Physical Comedy of Max Winfrey."

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Max Winfrey

It was...pretty okay! It's about what I expected a variety performer on a cruise to be like. He was talented as far as the juggling went, and the jokes were fairly funny. I wasn't falling out of my seat laughing, but I didn't get up and leave, either.

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The glowing juggling clubs bit was pretty cool

Since I hadn't had dessert I got what looks like a pretty decadent drink. No idea what it was.

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Looks tasty, though

I had the 11:15 showing of Thor: Ragnarok highlighted on my Navigator, but decided to call it an early night instead since I'd already seen it a couple times and wanted to get up early the next morning and start the MDAS festivities right away. Tonight's blanket sculpture was a little bit Mexican ruins, a little bit pirate.

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Gotta love when there's an extra chocolate piece

I read over the navigator for the next day and set my alarm to get me up in time to have breakfast before the first thing on the schedule that sounded interesting. So, basically the first thing on the schedule. :rolleyes:

Next up: Good Morning, Marvel!
 
Really enjoying your review, keep up the great work! I love your writing style and I’m a solo cruiser as well :)
 
I definitely want a Cat 8 room on Dream/Fantasy too, for the exact same reason! Those window seats look amazing!

I felt the same about the pirate show - it was cute, I'd probably see it again, not a make-or-break thing. I actually took a creeper photo of the kiddos near me with the hearing protection because I'm a nerdy audiologist. If I had known how loud it would be, I would have brought my earplugs up too!

I was confused when you said you were rushing out of the show to get up to the deck in time, and then I remembered that the ships do the Pirate Night show at various times (it's weird, I wish they were consistent). Ours on the Wonder was at 10, with fireworks at 10:30. I thought that was a good time, but I could see how maybe kids might not be up that late.
 
I definitely want a Cat 8 room on Dream/Fantasy too, for the exact same reason! Those window seats look amazing!

I felt the same about the pirate show - it was cute, I'd probably see it again, not a make-or-break thing. I actually took a creeper photo of the kiddos near me with the hearing protection because I'm a nerdy audiologist. If I had known how loud it would be, I would have brought my earplugs up too!

I was confused when you said you were rushing out of the show to get up to the deck in time, and then I remembered that the ships do the Pirate Night show at various times (it's weird, I wish they were consistent). Ours on the Wonder was at 10, with fireworks at 10:30. I thought that was a good time, but I could see how maybe kids might not be up that late.

Yeah, I'd heard about the show being after both dinners on other cruises, but I'd also heard that sometimes it was different -- also, I'm not sure if the pirate buffet is something they don't do anymore, something they don't do on the smaller ships, or just something they don't do if they put the show between dining times like they did on my cruise. The MDAS show was later at night, though, so I don't know why do one earlier and one later. I kind of preferred the later show because it was a good end to the night; on pirate night it was a little weird to go to dinner afterward and then find other things to do with myself until bedtime.
 

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