Ravagers don’t dance- but we do! A Marvel Day at Sea DCL TR Updated 11/21

I didn't know that there was a list of this. That would be an interesting list.
I can't remember which movie it's in, but at some point you see him pull out a small notebook with a list of pop culture stuff he needs to catch up on 😂
 
Holy character meets, Batman!! (oops, wrong franchise.) You got SUCH awesome pictures all day! This whole update has me missing Disney Cruising like crazy!!!!
 


Hero Hang Session

We made our way down into the atrium and witnessed one of my favorite moments of the whole day.

Picture it, we were just chilling in the atrium, looking out at the various goings-on and noticed that several of the heroes were just out and about. The Guardians were having a dance party, Hawkeye was chilling by himself at the rail until Captain Marvel came to chat, Spidey was being his normal happy self talking to people, and Thor and Black Widow wandered by at some point.



All of this within like 5 minutes.

Tell me where else in the world this happens? Nowhere. It was so cool to see the characters have so much freedom to just go out and be with the guests, talking, dancing, glaring, whatever. It was an absolute blast.



Unfortunately we couldn’t hang for much longer because we had to get to dinner, which was back at Animator’s Palate (although it got a fun Marvel overlay). All the screens had a MDAS sketch, and our napkins were folded into the Avengers A.





The menu itself was also themed, with different sections themed off different heroes.









When we got to the table we saw that one of the couples was at Palo for the night. Shortly after sitting, our waiter came by with a free bottle of prosecco for the table as an apology to the other couple. I guess they had requested a change to the early dining but weren’t able to switch. Since the Palo couple wasn’t there and Jon doesn’t drink, that meant I got two whole glasses.



We talked to the couple about why they requested the switch and they said they were visiting a friend who was a main stage performer on the ship and he said the second show was usually a little better than the first each night. And if you have the early seating, you can see the second show. So it wasn’t a big deal at all for them not to get switched and we were all happy with our bubbly.

Now onto the food! We started with purple and green marble bread (Hulk), which was fine but a little dry.



To start I got the Farmhouse Appetizer, which is super boring but sounded really good, and Jon got the Wakandan Piri Piri (I think). I don’t actually have any notes from dinner so I’m going based of pictures and fading memories at this point.





Our mains appeared to be the Mjolnir Meatballs & Pasta, and the rib eye steak.





Actually, now that I think about it, I think we both got the steak and ordered the pasta to split. Gotta love cruising.

In between courses our server started giving us riddles to solve, using crayons. He would lay the them down in a certain shape and then say something like move 2 crayons to make it some other shape.

Spoiler alert, he did this every night of our cruise and we only got one right.

For desert I got the Awesome Mixed Sundae and Jon tried the signature cheesecake. I’ve read reviews that the Marvel night menu isn’t amazing but I thought it was really good. Is there room to improve both quality and creativity? Absolutely. But we were perfectly pleased.





After dinner we went with our new table friends to find a spot to watch the final show – Marvel Heroes Unite. This was advertised as the crown jewel of MDAS and I had avidly avoided spoilers or videos so that we could see it all with new eyes.

We got a spot up on the top deck looking down, which turned out to be a pretty good spot. The early dinner crowd definitely beat us to the best spots but we could still see everything.



Holy freedom Captain, this show is spectacular. Truly amazing. My notes called it SO COOL and that’s only because I was too stunned to find more suitable praise.

There were stunts, there were special effects, there was a zip line, people rappelled down and climbed up the funnels, there were fireworks. It was just the coolest. The dialogue was all lip synched, which was fine, and I noticed some of the actors in the show were the same ones who were walking around all day (what a looong day for them).

One of the coolest parts was at the end, where all the heroes were on stage together. All of them, at once. It was like my own mini-Endgame Avengers Assemble moment. Did I cry? If you have to ask then you don’t know me very well.



Still high from the show, we went down to Fathoms for the last event of the night. The Awesome Mix was still going, which was a Guardians-themed dance party and we caught the end of that while we waited for the Ravagers to show up. At the door they were randomly handing out little desserts like panna cotta and tiramisu.





I think I also ordered another drink but by that time I had consumed more alcohol than I was used to so I definitely don’t remember if I did or not. It also means I took very few (read: none at all) photos so please accept my apologies as you endure the pictureless novel you are about to encounter.

Eventually the Ravagers started trickling in and I wrote in my notes “havoc and chaos.” They were just going around being loud and mischievous, doing things like stealing everyone’s spoons. We had to teach one of them what a high five was, since it’s only something Terrans do.

At one point Jon was talking to one about something I can’t remember and the Ravager was very confused then suddenly said, “Ohhh yeah we don’t call them feet. We call the slingblots.”

And every time someone urged them to dance we got a nice resounding chorus of “RAVAGERS DON’T DANCE.” However, the bald Ravager danced a little, much to the chagrin of his cohorts.

After a while some dancers came out and there was a little show, then they pulled folks up to dance. Our table mates and their main stage performer friend were with us and when they got pulled up to dance we went with them. We danced around in generic awkward white folks fashion and Jon had the idea to start a conga line.

I figured a few people would join and we would get a little ways then give up but NOPE we had the entire group in that line, including the dancers, some Ravagers, and Star Lord himself Peter Quill. Conga lines, who knew?

We didn’t dance for too long after that and the Ravagers began drifting away. We drifted as well, back up to our room to promptly pass the heck out after such an amazing and exhausting Marvel Day at Sea.
 
Picture it, we were just chilling in the atrium, looking out at the various goings-on and noticed that several of the heroes were just out and about.
I remember hearing about this. I wasn't there to experience it, but I heard it was really cool.
Unfortunately we couldn’t hang for much longer because we had to get to dinner, which was back at Animator’s Palate (although it got a fun Marvel overlay).
Did you hear the music that was playing in the background? It's different than in the other 2 restaurants.
Since the Palo couple wasn’t there and Jon doesn’t drink, that meant I got two whole glasses.
Such luck.
I don’t actually have any notes from dinner so I’m going based of pictures and fading memories at this point.
Always a smart move.
Actually, now that I think about it, I think we both got the steak and ordered the pasta to split. Gotta love cruising.
One of the greatest things about cruising: All the food is included!
Spoiler alert, he did this every night of our cruise and we only got one right.
Yeah, those are hard. We rarely get them right.
This was advertised as the crown jewel of MDAS and I had avidly avoided spoilers or videos so that we could see it all with new eyes.
Smart move. I did the same.
Holy freedom Captain, this show is spectacular. Truly amazing. My notes called it SO COOL and that’s only because I was too stunned to find more suitable praise.
There were 2 switches from when I saw it to when you saw it: Who the captain was, and Captain Marvel. The ship captain at the time was Christian Abbott, former Cruise Director and one of the heads of entertainment for the line.
Did I cry? If you have to ask then you don’t know me very well.
No need to ask. You definitely did lol.
 


Picture it, we were just chilling in the atrium, looking out at the various goings-on and noticed that several of the heroes were just out and about. The Guardians were having a dance party, Hawkeye was chilling by himself at the rail until Captain Marvel came to chat, Spidey was being his normal happy self talking to people, and Thor and Black Widow wandered by at some point.
Okay, that's a pretty cool sight!
Tell me where else in the world this happens?
I don't know!!
our napkins were folded into the Avengers A.
Nice touch. :)
The menu itself was also themed, with different sections themed off different heroes.
Very comic-booky. (It's a word.)
When we got to the table we saw that one of the couples was at Palo for the night. Shortly after sitting, our waiter came by with a free bottle of prosecco for the table as an apology to the other couple.
I don't understand this. They were at Palo, but they were at Animator's Palette? So they needed an apology? So lost.
Since the Palo couple wasn’t there and Jon doesn’t drink, that meant I got two whole glasses.
Yay! (hic!)
We started with purple and green marble bread (Hulk), which was fine but a little dry.
Creative, though.
Actually, now that I think about it, I think we both got the steak and ordered the pasta to split. Gotta love cruising.
:laughing: I can see that weight gain could be a bit of an issue on these things! (And I'd be totally okay with that.)
In between courses our server started giving us riddles to solve, using crayons. He would lay the them down in a certain shape and then say something like move 2 crayons to make it some other shape.

Spoiler alert, he did this every night of our cruise and we only got one right.
I didn't know you'd need a doctorate to have dinner.
Jon tried the signature cheesecake
That looked really pretty.
I’ve read reviews that the Marvel night menu isn’t amazing but I thought it was really good.
Good!
Holy freedom Captain, this show is spectacular. Truly amazing. My notes called it SO COOL and that’s only because I was too stunned to find more suitable praise.
Wow! High praise!
There were stunts, there were special effects, there was a zip line, people rappelled down and climbed up the funnels, there were fireworks. It was just the coolest.
Sounds absolutlely amazing! Not at all what I'd expect.
Did I cry? If you have to ask then you don’t know me very well.
:laughing:
Awwww.... :hug:
Eventually the Ravagers started trickling in and I wrote in my notes “havoc and chaos.” They were just going around being loud and mischievous, doing things like stealing everyone’s spoons.
:laughing: Sounds like fun!
And every time someone urged them to dance we got a nice resounding chorus of “RAVAGERS DON’T DANCE.” However, the bald Ravager danced a little, much to the chagrin of his cohorts.
I really think I need to watch those movies again and pay more attention to the Ravagers.
We danced around in generic awkward white folks fashion
:lmao:
Jon had the idea to start a conga line.

I figured a few people would join and we would get a little ways then give up but NOPE we had the entire group in that line, including the dancers, some Ravagers, and Star Lord himself Peter Quill. Conga lines, who knew?
Way to go Jon! Fun that everyone joined in. Including the cast!
We drifted as well, back up to our room to promptly pass the heck out after such an amazing and exhausting Marvel Day at Sea.
This sounds like such an amazing day!
 
Okay, that's a pretty cool sight!
So amazing! Sometimes I think back on it just to feel happy for a moment.

Very comic-booky. (It's a word.)
I believe you.

They were at Palo, but they were at Animator's Palette? So they needed an apology? So lost.
No, the couple that DCL was apologizing to was at the table, but the third couple from our table was at Palo. Since Jon doesn't drink that meant the bottle was split between 3 instead of 6. Come on, keep up now.

:laughing: I can see that weight gain could be a bit of an issue on these things! (And I'd be totally okay with that.)
521994

I didn't know you'd need a doctorate to have dinner.
APPARENTLY

Sounds absolutlely amazing! Not at all what I'd expect.
It was the coolest!!

I really think I need to watch those movies again and pay more attention to the Ravagers.
Any excuse to watch GotG again.

Way to go Jon! Fun that everyone joined in. Including the cast!
He's a pretty fun dude.

This sounds like such an amazing day!
Truly. This and our Castaway Cay days remain two of my favorite days of 2020 (although to be honest the bar is real low at this point)
 
So amazing! Sometimes I think back on it just to feel happy for a moment.
:goodvibes
No, the couple that DCL was apologizing to was at the table, but the third couple from our table was at Palo. Since Jon doesn't drink that meant the bottle was split between 3 instead of 6. Come on, keep up now.
Okay. And they were apologized to because they couldn't switch to the early dining.
APPARENTLY
:laughing:
Any excuse to watch GotG again.
Downloading now. ;)
This and our Castaway Cay days remain two of my favorite days of 2020 (although to be honest the bar is real low at this point)
Well... yeah...
 
loved reading about your marvel day. awesome trip report if they ever do this type of cruise in the future I'm doing this one
I really hope they bring it back and that you get a chance to experience it! It's incredible for any Marvel fan.
 
It was more like the Just Okay Cayman

The night passed way too quickly but even though we didn’t feel super well-rested we were still jazzed for the day ahead. We woke as the ship pulled into our port of call – Grand Cayman.

Grand Cayman was a major factor when we decided on this cruise. We both really wanted to visit the Cayman Islands! We needed to be in the first groups to get off the ship and since the all ashore time was 8:00am, that meant an early morning for us.

We got ready quickly and I popped in for a quick breakfast at Cabana’s. Jon’s not much of a breakfast guy so he was okay with me bringing him some fruit and a drink.



[It's currently Saturday morning and I haven't had breakfast yet and all I want in life is this exact plate of food]

Right at 7:45 (or whenever the approved time was), we went to the Buena Vista theatre to get our tender tickets. We had never been in a tendered port before so this was a whole new experience. A little before 8 they started boarding the tender boats, and we made it on the first one.





Our tour for the day was a Stingray City/Starfish Beach/snorkel tour through a third party. Unless we want to take an excursion that is exclusive to the cruise line, we find that we can save a lot of money by booking a third party. Yes, there is slightly more risk involved but as long as you do your research and make smart choices, there’s no reason to worry.

The meeting place was inside the main tourist/terminal area and was about a 5 minute walk from where we got off our boat. Grand Cayman has two areas for tendering, so make sure you pay attention to which side is the one you need to go back to!







After checking in we still had about 30 minutes to wait. We (liberally) applied sunscreen, used the restroom, and poked around some of the shops. At 9 we gathered with our group and went off to the bus. We had to stop at a few hotels to get the rest of the tour group, but on the bus we talked to some nice ladies who actually met on a cruise and became friends. Now they travel regularly together. I thought that was such a neat story.

There were probably about 25ish people in our group and when we got on the boat our guides went over the safety spiel.





The first stop was snorkeling, which was near a reef. We saw plenty of fish, lots of really colorful coral, and even a few stingrays! Our guides told us we had 25 minutes to snorkel but really we had about 15.







From there we went to Stingray City, which is the part I was most excited for and coincidentally the part that most disappointed me.

Stingray City is really neat. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a sandbar near the island where a long time ago the fishermen used to clean their fish. They didn’t want to do it closer to shore because of the bugs. Over time, the local stingray population got comfortable with the humans and eventually became quasi-domesticated. So it’s a completely natural, non-captive group of stingrays that just really like people.

When we got to the area there were already a lot of boats, kind of circled up around the sandbar. The gist of that stop was our group got off, our guide wrangled a stingray, and we just waited around waiting to get photos with it (which weren’t included in the tour cost). Looking around, that’s pretty much what every other group was doing too.



Because of how the boats were circled up and how many people there were, there wasn’t much else to do except stand around in the water and wait. Then when it was finally our turn the guide had a very set routine of poses that he walked you through really fast.





After that you could feed some stingrays. Jon tried it but accidentally dropped his bait. Then we all got back on the boat and went to the next stop, which was Starfish Beach.

As you can probably guess, Starfish Beach is a beach with lots of starfish. It was less crowded than Stingray City but there weren’t as many starfish as the name might suggest. We finally found one, grabbed some pictures, and it started to sprinkle. In all we probably only had about 15 minutes before we were herded onto the boat and made our way back.







On the way the sun finally popped out from behind the clouds that were hiding it all morning. It was nice to soak up the warmth. They also went through the picture purchasing processes and I ended up getting the photo package for us, even though I looked like an absolute swamp rat in all of them.



Then it was back to the bus and we made our route in reverse on the way back to the terminal, about a 30 minute ride including the stops. In the terminal we looked at the shops some more before deciding to call it a day and just go back to the ship.



So I know I just had a spiel about it being okay to book third party excursions (and I still totally stand by that if you want to save some money) but for us this one was a bust. The added stops to and from the boat took up precious time on the water, so every part of the tour seemed really rushed. My favorite part was where we were snorkeling on our own, and that’s because the guides were constantly shouting at who’s turn it was next and how we needed to hold the animal and blah blah blah.

Plus we were honestly just really tired, which never helps.

Some of our unfortunate experiences weren’t unique to our tour, especially at Stingray City itself. Like I said, pretty much every group was doing the same thing. It’s just an insanely popular area and unless you have more flexibility to go when there are fewer crowds, that’s just the kind of thing you’re going to experience. I would love to try it again if we ever stay on Grand Cayman and can go out like super early in the morning or something.





Others, like stopping at all the hotels on the way, are one of the downsides of the third party deal. So just weigh what’s more important to you – saving money or more convenience.



Anyway, I don’t want to sound like we had a bad time because truly we didn’t. It just didn’t quite live up to expectations and we were ready to go chill by the pool in the sunshine and relax.
 
“Aren’t you glad to be on this ship?”

Before all that chilling and relaxing we had something much more important to do – eat lunch. So we changed out of our beach wear and went up to Cabana’s. We had to hurry a little since we got there about 20 minutes before closing.








[Lunch views]

I filled my plate with all of my favorite foods and settled in to eat.

Yes, my favorite foods generally come from the kids menu.



Sufficiently fueled we changed yet again and went back to the adults-only area. A Carnival ship was blocking our view of the wonder, but it left soon after we got up to the pool deck.

We went through several rotations of pool-hot tub-lounge chairs, just enjoying the beautiful weather and peaceful quiet. I read a bit while Jon listened to music and rested and it was amazing. I ended up enjoying this part of the day more than the excursion.





Right before we pulled out of port the three bit ships (us, the Wonder, and a Princess ship) that were docked all sounded their horns, which was really fun like we were saying goodbye to one another. I also noticed a teeny tiny ship in the mix. Honestly I feel weird even calling it a ship. It was a boat. A fancy boat.



We decided to take one last dip in the hot tub before getting ready for the evening and some of our dinner friends were in there, but they were talking with their performer friend so we didn’t really interact with them much.

As we got ready in the room we ordered a snack from room service because HELLO it’s included. We shared a Mickey bar and a fruit platter and I recreated the Grand Cayman version of one of my favorite Disney pictures, taken on our first cruise in Nassau.



That night’s show was Tangled and it was the one I was most excited for. We got to the theatre plenty early so we could have good seats, and we were center and fairly close.



When the cruise director came out for his pre-show announcements he made a nice dig at Carnival. He said something along the lines of, “when you got back on the ship and looked over to the right, weren’t you glad to be getting back on this ship.” Cruise line shade and I am here for it.

The show started off strong but there were some technical issues again so they had to stop. There was a big aww from the crowd when the lights went down but this time the break didn’t last very long (only a few minutes). Then it restarted and finished without any more issues.

The Tangled show is really cute and I loved the big musical/dance numbers but I’ll admit I wasn’t as in love with it as I thought I would be. Definitely still a good show, though.





In the time between dinner we went to Keys, the piano bar, to listen to someone do a Music of Alan Menken show. Keys is super classy and posh and really digs into the art deco vibe. I got a glass of rose and they brought out a little tray of bar snacks and these fancy expandable towelettes we could use to wash up.

The pianist was really good and played several of my favorites and we had a nice time just kind of ~vibing~ before dinner.

My vibe was slightly thrown off by an incident involving a bathroom door lock issue on the way to dinner, though. I stopped to use the facilities before dinner in a single-use bathroom (all that rose, you know?) and as I checked to make sure the shorts under my dress were in place (fully covered but still in an awkward position) and someone walked into the bathroom. She promptly turned around left but still, the damage was done.

I investigated the lock - since I knew for sure that I had locked it – and realized that I didn’t actually lock it. This lock was weird in that to unlock it you turn it once to the right, but in order to lock it you had to turn it twice to the left. I only turned it once and what I thought was the click of a lock sliding into place was just the sound of the lock switch turning.

Thank goodness she hadn’t walked in any sooner.

I washed my hands (for 20 seconds) and when I walked out she was no longer in the vicinity and I grabbed Jon and told him we gotsa go.

I’m pleased to report that we made it to dinner with no further incidents.



By happy coincidence dinner that evening was at Rapunzel’s Royal Table and the love that I didn’t feel for the show I now hold for this restaurant.









It is amazing. Every part of it. It’s beautifully decorated, the food is really good, and the entertainment is top notch.






Shortly before the cruise I realized my love of Riesling and since it’s a German wine and the restaurant has loosely German theming, I started my meal with the Riesling experience, which is basically a flight of 3 different types of Rieslings.



Throughout dinner was a show featuring Rapunzel, the ruffians, and eventually Flynn Rider. Everyone came around and interacted with the tables and the ruffians were by far the best part. I wish I made more notes about the specific things they did but I didn’t. Just know that they were chaotic and hilarious. I did make a note that Vladimir was the best ruffian, but again, I don’t remember why.









For food we started off with pretzels, which were really yummy.



Throughout the meal there was kind of a minstrel music group on stage performing songs. At one point they played The Wild Rover, which was out of theme since it’s an Irish call song, but myself and one of our table mates have Irish-ish families so we had a good time singing along.



To start I had the asparagus and broccoli soup and Jon tried the ravioli.





For mains I got the Flynn Rider Platter, which was pretty much a celebration of MEAT, and Jon did the prime rib. Both were incredible. And full of MEAT.





Our server did some more crayon riddles, which means we got some more crayon riddles really wrong.



To finish off I got the fry pan sweet bread and Jon go the Black Forest tower. We were super full at that point so while both were really good, I don’t think we finished either.





After dinner we went down to O’Gills, which was transformed into the Snuggly Duckling for the evening. We got there right as a show with the ruffians was ending and it looked like it was a good time. The decorations were also pretty great. We didn’t stick around since not much happened when the show ended.



The evening entertainment for adults in Fathoms was a stunt comedian named Matt Baker. We sat with one of the couples from dinner and laughed so hard. He was seriously so hilarious but also really talented with his stunts. He did some cool juggling, hacky sack tricks, stuff like that but just really funny when he did them.



When the show was over we went back to our stateroom and ended the night with The Good Dinosaur, a few minutes into which I promptly fell asleep.


 
[It's currently Saturday morning and I haven't had breakfast yet and all I want in life is this exact plate of food]
Don't we all right now.
A little before 8 they started boarding the tender boats, and we made it on the first one.
Great luck!
Unless we want to take an excursion that is exclusive to the cruise line, we find that we can save a lot of money by booking a third party.
That is the way.
Grand Cayman has two areas for tendering, so make sure you pay attention to which side is the one you need to go back to!
Correct. Same with many other tendering ports.
From there we went to Stingray City, which is the part I was most excited for and coincidentally the part that most disappointed me.
Oof. Not looking too good.
it’s a sandbar near the island where a long time ago the fishermen used to clean their fish. They didn’t want to do it closer to shore because of the bugs. Over time, the local stingray population got comfortable with the humans and eventually became quasi-domesticated. So it’s a completely natural, non-captive group of stingrays that just really like people.
I never knew the history. That's really interesting.
As you can probably guess, Starfish Beach is a beach with lots of starfish.
WHAT? NOOO! (Said in my best Forky voice from Forky Asks A Question: What is a Friend?)
So I know I just had a spiel about it being okay to book third party excursions (and I still totally stand by that if you want to save some money) but for us this one was a bust. The added stops to and from the boat took up precious time on the water, so every part of the tour seemed really rushed.
That is one thing that many people learn. One big thing you need to remember: Look at reviews.
Before all that chilling and relaxing we had something much more important to do – eat lunch.
The most important thing one can do on a cruise!
I filled my plate with all of my favorite foods and settled in to eat.

Yes, my favorite foods generally come from the kids menu.

No judgement!
Right before we pulled out of port the three bit ships (us, the Wonder, and a Princess ship) that were docked all sounded their horns, which was really fun like we were saying goodbye to one another.
Also known as a Horn Battle. The best horn battles are those between the Dream and Fantasy or them vs. another because they will always win.
As we got ready in the room we ordered a snack from room service because HELLO it’s included. We shared a Mickey bar and a fruit platter and I recreated the Grand Cayman version of one of my favorite Disney pictures, taken on our first cruise in Nassau.
That is an excellent picture.
That night’s show was Tangled and it was the one I was most excited for.
A very good show at that as well. Did you know that the song that Flynn sings solo was written just for the ship by Alan Menken?
Cruise line shade and I am here for it.
Still better than RCI though. If we can't do Disney, we do Carnival. But shade is quite fun.
By happy coincidence dinner that evening was at Rapunzel’s Royal Table and the love that I didn’t feel for the show I now hold for this restaurant.
That is good. Best restaurant of all DCL.
It is amazing. Every part of it. It’s beautifully decorated, the food is really good, and the entertainment is top notch.

Agreed.

I did make a note that Vladimir was the best ruffian, but again, I don’t remember why.
Is it because he collects ceramic unicorns?

Great to read from you again. Hope all is well!
 

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