Fjords and Kilts and Hot Springs, Day 2 -- All aboard!!

Day 2 -- Copenhagen

Cloudy, early drizzle. About 70 degrees.

After going to bed pretty early, we were up at a pretty decent hour. I was hoping to climb the spiral staircase of the steeple at the Church of Our Savior. However, since I was the only one who really wanted to do this, and there was a good chance that it was closed anyway due to the drizzle, I decided not to try it. Here's the steeple. Not sure why I couldn't take a straight picture of it. . .

Instead, we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast buffet, which was actually excellent. I was very impressed with the eggs (not wet, blech) and the selection of breads. One of the better hotel breakfasts I've had. We debated walking around the city a little bit more, but we all agreed that at that point, we were all just really excited to get to the ship. So we finished packing up around 11, grabbed a cab at 11:30 and arrived at the terminal about 20 minutes later. There was nothing particularly exciting about the ship terminal, certainly not nearly as beautiful as Port Canaveral; but there was live music and of course, Minnie was there to pose for pictures. But we didn't get any pictures with her in the terminal, because after arriving at 11:50, we were on board at 12:10. It was a very quick process, even though there were some minor technical difficulties in processing our passports at check-in. But that didn't take too long (obviously). We boarded on Deck 1 Forward, with no family introduction.

But as we crammed into the elevator, a crew member leaned in and swiped her card; and we got an "express" to Deck 9, where we headed straight to the buffet at Topsider's; er, I mean Cabanas.

Our ride for the next few days:

Our traditional first lunch picture:

I like Cabanas on the Magic even more than on the new ships. On the Dream and Fantasy, people wander aimlessly around Cabanas, because they're not sure where to get into line. On the Magic, it's still similar to the old single-file line for the most part. So you're not bumping into people who are lost. The lunch itself was pretty normal for Embarkation at Cabanas: shrimp, crab legs, lamb chops, kid food (chicken tenders and mac & cheese), etc. But there were some items that I don't remember seeing before, like ham-wrapped salmon (which was good) and baked swordfish. Dessert for me was a brownie with coconut/pineapple ice cream on top. Another nice addition was that Coke Zero was available at the drink station.

After lunch, we headed to our staterooms. We had connecting rooms on Deck 8 Forward. Our verandahs also connected, and we had them open the divider to make it bigger. We unpacked, took some pictures and relaxed a bit until the lifeboat drill.

Our room:

A picture of the terminal from our verandah. Grass and flowers on the roof:

After the Sail Away Party, I walked around the ship, just to see some of the changes since the re-imagineering. Most of the changes, I liked. But there are a few that were very disappointing. The Mickey Pool is no longer Mickey's head. Boo. Pluto's Dog House is now Pete's Boiler Bites. Boo. And the gorgeous floor on Deck 4 midships (at the shops) is now carpeted. HORRIBLE!

Outside the shops on Deck 4:

Pete's on Deck 9:

The Not-So-Mickey Pool:

After walking the ship for a while, I worked up quite an appetite, so I naturally headed to Deck 9 for some chicken fingers and fries before dinner. No honey-mustard sauce for dipping on this cruise, for some reason. I had to settle for BBQ sauce all week. While enjoying my appetizers, The Dreamers were performing next to the Goofy pool. I really enjoyed these guys a lot. I liked their song selections, and most of the time, it was just the guitar with no electronic soundtrack in the background. We sought them out before dinners throughout the cruise.