Day 6
This was our second day at sea and another busy old day. I had set a wake up call for 7:00 AM and only woke up minutes before. We got changed and headed up to the gym for the stretching class. This time round we went to the Wide World of Sports area on deck 10. It was nice to be outside again, but it was quite noisy and as there are airconditioning units right in front of this, the yoga mats were blown about a bit. It was still a very enjoyable class.
When the class finished, the decks still looked positively deserted. So we decided to chance having breakfast at Topsiders. Normally we give this a wide birth on a sea day as this tends to be a zoo when everybody is on board. For those of you, who have never been on the Magic, this must be the worst designed space on the ship. The way the buffet lines are positioned, it creates a terrible bottle neck. Still, that morning the line was minimal and we found a table straightaway. We had some fruit and then various hot breakfast foods.
Once we finished breakfast, it was time to go down to deck 4 to meet up for Walk A Mile. This time another couple was joining us and it was another member of cruise staff doing it.
With the exercise taken care of for the day, we both went our separate ways. I headed back to Treasure Ketch to see if I could get another Med scrapbook. They had replenished their stocks over night and there were plenty of them there. I also got two packs with paper and stickers for the Med cruise for less than $1.50 each. So I ended up with two scrapbooks and two kits with paper and stickers for less than $10. I was very pleased.
I took my treasures back to the cabin and picked up my bag with the jewellery making stuff and my E Reader.
With not long to go before the cruise, I had a number of people who had either only just realized that I was offering the jewellery workshops or had sent a message to the wrong person initially. I also had two people, who were in the first wave of signing up, that suddenly had a time clash with the workshop that they originally been allocated. One of them was having a vow renewal and Disney changed the timings for this at the 11th hour. So I decided to run a smaller workshop for those people. As everybody in this group was over 18, I decided the best spot for this would be outside the Cove Cafe.
So I got there nice and early to stake out a spot and settled down to read. Unfortunately this plan did not work as soon I was joined by another couple. About half an hour before the class started, I was joined by one of the people participating in the workshop and her husband. I could at least go and get myself a coffee without risking to lose my spot completely.
Soon the others arrived and it became clear that doing the class outside would not work as the other couple was still there. So we decided to check if there was space inside the Cove Cafe. Fortunately there was a perfect table available. We had to pull up a couple of extra chairs, but that was fine. This was probably my favourite workshop of the 4 I did. The venue just made this feel a lot more relaxed and the smaller group (6 compared with 11) meant that everybody could chat while working. If I do this again, which is likely, then I will do this in smaller groups.
Time does fly when you are having fun. The workshop was supposed to last from 11:00 to 12:00, but suddenly it was 12:30. I had arranged to meet Graham outside the Buena Vista Theatre just before 13:00. So I quickly grabbed something to eat at Topsiders and then headed down to deck 5.
One of the activities that were special for this cruise was Desperate Shipmates, a multi-day crime mystery. The first installment of this took place at 13:00 at the Buena Vista Theatre. I did not really know what to expect, but decided to give it a go. Well, over the course of the cruise, I was blown away by how ellaborate this whole thing was.
Before we were let into the theatre, we had to sign in with our name and cabin number. This seemed a bit odd as I never had to sign in for any of the free activities before. However, by the end of the day it had become clear why this was necessary.
Once we had signed in, we were given some note paper and a pencil each. We went inside to find a seat. The backstory was that we were attending the launch of a navigational device, which would revolutionize the cruise industry. Outside the theater was a "reporter" who was interviewing some of "public" (really some of the characters). This footage was shown on the screen in the theatre. This is were I took a bit of a double-take and realized just to what length Disney goes in the name of entertainment. We had a very active cruise meet thread on the DISboards. There were always new people joining so it did not really surprise me that with about a week to go until the cruise, we had a new person joining. He introduced himself as Rudy Finkus and posted a few times. I nearly fell of the chair when I realized that Rudy Finkus ended up being a character in Desperate Shipmates. He was introduced as a fanatical Disney fan, many time cruiser and member of the DISboards. They even somehow had managed to get one of the lanyards that a group of people had bought and given as a gift to the people on our cruise meet thread. I was never quite sure if the inclusion of Rudy Finkus was an honour and a mark of respect or if
DCL was poking fun at us. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Still, full marks go to them for coming up with the idea to plant a character on our thread.
Apart from Rudy Finkus and the reporter Casey Close, the characters were Dr Shadowsky, inventor of the navigational device; Wanda, his estranged wife; Dimitri Bloom, fellow inventor and rival of Dr Shadowsky; Philbert and Maximillion Creepier, twins who have financed the project; Ennid Dinyse, cartographer who worked on the maps for the navigational device and Officer Curt, officer of the watch. The purpose of this first session was to introduce the characters and the plot. Apart from the launch of the navigational device, this was also supposed to be the first part of a lecture series to celebrate the launch. Dr Shadowsky was introducing the navigational device and running through the schedule for the lecture series, when the lights flickered and went off. When the lights came back on, the navigational device and Dr Shadowsky had disappeared. The whole session lasted about half an hour, but it was absolutely hillarious. Graham was not too sure about coming at first, but he enjoyed it as well. The session ended with a summary about each of the characters and we were encouraged to check out DNN for updates and further clues. Yes, Desperate Shipmates even had its own dedicated TV channel. The scene had been beautifully set.
Once we were dismissed, I headed down to the Promenade Lounge for my next jewellery workshops. Before the next workshop started, I had arranged for one of the girls in our group and her mother to meet me. Her mother had contacted me to see if they could join, but they only wanted to do one of the projects, the Tinkerbell mobile phone charm. When her mother contacted me, she mentioned that it was the girls birthday. So I also had a card signed by the characters and had made her a set of jewellery. I also modified the project a little and instead of the mobile phone charm, they made a bag charm and a keyring.
My next group had all the teenagers that signed up in it and I was a little concerned about this. There was no need for this. They really got into this and there were absolutely no problems. In fact, they were probably the most polite group of teenagers that I have ever encountered. Unfortunately I had to move them on as soon as the hour was over as the next group was already waiting.
The last group probably got the best deal. Everybody was there on time and for once I had no other commitments afterwards. So I could afford to just hang around until everybody was done. Even though the group was full with 11 people, this felt more relaxed and I think everybody had fun.
Throughout all the workshop, I had staff coming by to check out what we were doing and watching us for a while. I was always a little worried that we would be asked to move on. We had not organized this with DCL, but just took over a small area of the Cove Cafe or the Promenade Lounge. There was no problem and some of them came over and asked questions. They were just genuinely interested. Maybe they took note that this was an activity that was of interest to people. In the end I had nearly 10% of our group in my workshops.
We had rearranged tables and chairs so that we could all sit together and after the last workshop of the day was over, I was starting to put everything back how it was, which was the least I could do. I was suddenly surrounded by bartenders telling me to just leave it and that they would take card of this. It was most certainly not what I had expected, but I was very grateful.
I went back to the cabin and checked out the Desperate Shipmates channel. At that time, there was just a recording of this afternoons installment. Soon it was time for more character photos. Daisy and Donald, Chip and Dale, Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Pluto were out in their Spanish costumes. So I was busy for a while.
After the photos, I met up at the adult pool with Graham and there was nobody around. We had our swim and I went into one of the hot tubs for a bit and then we headed for the Rainforest Room.
When we got back to the cabin, the message light on our phone was blinking. I listened to out message. It was a message from the Creepier twins letting us know the time and venue for the next installment of Desperate Shipmates. That was the reason why they needed our cabin numbers. We got changed for dinner and headed downstairs.
Dinner that night was at Animator's Palate and it was the rotational menu for this restaurant. Animator's Palate is our least favourite restaurant, but I love the menu there. Graham was presented with Ahi Tuna Tatare, Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Soup and Grilled Veal Chop with Roasted Red Bliss Potatoes , Sweet Onions and Morel Mushroom Sauce. I don't think that he would have chosen any of this himself. He was particularly unsure about the raw fish, but he enjoyed everything. I had Polenta Cake with Roma Tomato and Portobello Mushroom followed by Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Soup. For my main course, I had chosen Fire Roasted Tenderloin with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes, Bok Choy and Tamarind Barbecue Sauce. We treated ourselves to a bottle of Rosa Regale with dinner. I had heard so much about this Italian sparkling wine, that I finally wanted to try it. It was rather yummy. Graham had some Apple Crumble for dessert, but I passed on dessert. There was just nothing that I fancied. They used to have Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie on this menu and I am still missing this.
After dinner, we headed back to the cabin and went to bed. We would have a busy day ahead of us and wanted to get a reasonably early night. We had to put our clocks back for an hour, which was the first of 6 times that we had to do this. I took a quick photo of our latest towel animal, which was a huge turtle made out of towels and a blanket and then headed for bed.
I especially like the ones of you and Graham with the Magic backdrop
