The first port of call is Portland UK. We were unsure of what to do here. The marquee shore excursion is Stonehenge. The time onshore was short and Stonehenge is far from the port and the safest way to visit is through DCL cruise excursions. I didn’t see any glowing reviews; many people complain that you are too far away from the monument and that the time at the site is too short. We decided against going.
Portland is on the Jurassic Coast a Unesco World site known for fossils. If you are interested in learning more about the coast I recommend the book Remarkable Creatures. While it sounded interesting, we decided against the tour. Our plan was to go ashore to the town. Have some fish and chips, maybe an ice cream on the beach, and maybe visit Portland Castle.
The Port of Portland UK
When we attended the main show the evening before, the cruise director let us know that to leave the ship you needed to take a shuttle that left every 15-20 minutes. The shuttle itself took 20 minutes to get to the drop off point. The last shuttle was leaving the pick-up point at 2:15pm. If you missed the pick-up point you would have difficulty getting back to the ship. This information and our lack of enthusiasm for the port led us to decided to sleep in and spend the day enjoying a nearly empty ship.
Lunch
The Afternoon
After lunch, we headed to O’Gills and played some games. We spent a lot of time in O’Gills on this cruise. It is the spot to go if you want to take part in trivia, and a good spot if you want to play cards or a board game. Georgia headed off to the Edge and Jay and I went to the pool deck and took a few pictures off the port and the nearly empty ship. The weather was good around 20C and sunny.
As we were leaving port a group of singers performed as we sailed away. Deck four is our favourite spot for sailing away. Speaking to other cruisers those who went on the excursion they did have positive things to say about the Stonehenge excursion. However, I think had we really been interested in going to see the stones I would rather book a sunrise or sunset tour of the stone from London.
Boat Building Bash
Transatlantic cruises offer a number of different activities than regular cruises one of them is the Boat Building Bash. On both of our two previous transatlantic cruises, we had taken part in the Goofy and Max’s Boat-Building Bash. It is a fun event and in 2015 Georgia won the runner-up prize for her Brave boat.
DCL provides craft supplies, and you can use anything on the ship that is not attached. There are some serious boat builders (maybe some a little too serious) on these cruises. Sign-up is available a few times over the first couple of days since we had the time we signed up.
Before dinner, the show was Just John and Paul. It wasn’t something we were interested in so we decided to watch Solo: A Star Wars Story in the Buena Vista theatre. I liked the movie a lot. I am a fan of the original films and Ron Howard as a director, so I am probably the ideal audience for the film.
Thugs Dinner at Rapunzel’s Royal Table
After the movie we got ready for dinner. We were dining for the first time in the reimagined Rapunzel’s Royal Table. I was excited to eat there. None of us were fans of Carioca’s, the restaurant that was in this space before the last refurb. We really enjoyed Tiana’s on the Wonder and had high hopes for Rapunzel’s.
The menu for this night is the Thug menu. I really liked the new theming of the restaurant it is very well done. There is entertainment by the Thug’s from Tangled. If you are sailing on the Magic I recommend that you rewatch the movie if you have not watched it recently. The Magic has gone all in on the Tangled theming from the Rapunzel’s Royal Table, the Tangled show and the Snuggly Duckling. Our table was not in the best location to see the show. There were a couple of pillars between our table and the stage, but the Thug’s made their way around to visit the tables.
Starters
For the starters Georgia had the Royal Marinated Salmon, I had the Goat Cheese, Yellow and Red Beet Tower, and Jay had the Grilled Knockwurst Sausage and the Lentil soup. It was all good. N
Main Course
For our main course, Georgia and Jay had the Trio of Veal and both of them thought it was excellent. I had the Queen Arianna’s Grilled Filet of Turbot. It was cooked well tender and not overcooked. I find that I eat a lot of fish when I am on a cruise. They do a good job of cooking it and other than Salmon fish isn’t something I often think about cooking at home.
Dessert
For dessert Georgia had Attila’s Sublime Cupcake, I don’t think she thought it was sublime, I think she said it was little dry. Jay and I both had the White Chocolate Bread Pudding. It was very good. Disney is expert at bread puddings. If they have it on the menu I will order it.
Overall we were very happy with our meal at Rapunzel’s Royal Table. We dined there four nights on this cruise. After dinner, Georgia headed to the Edge, and Jay and I headed back to our room to watch a movie and get to bed a bit early.
We were docking at Cobh in the morning. We booked a walking tour of the Titanic Experience on our own instead of through DCL for a lot less money than DCL was charging. Would it be as good as what DCL was offering? Check here and find out. If you are just joining this trip report make sure to check out our time in London before the cruise. Don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list if you want to receive the next post in your email box.
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