Five Things to Know About the Disney Magic!

Disney’s first cruise ship, the 1,754-passenger Disney Magic caters to children and parents alike with a splashy water slides, adults-only areas, and lots of Disney-level entertainment.

There’s Plenty to Keep Kids Happy

Saying this ship is family-focused is an understatement. As on any Disney vessel, the kid-centric activities are almost too many to count: There’s Pirate’s Night, when kids head to costume shop and salon Bippity Boppity Boutique to dress up like buccaneers for a pool-deck party featuring a fireworks and a pirate show. There’s the Oceaneer Club, where kids 3-12 get to train in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters at the Marvel Avengers Academy. There’s also a Small World Nursery for infants, Edge lounge for tweens 11 to 14, and Vibe for teens. Bonus: even the inside staterooms have pullout couches and sleep up to four, and most cabins have an extra half bathroom, so you can shower while the kids brush their teeth.

It’s Parent-Friendly

When parents need a night alone, they head to Palo, the ship’s upscale adults-only Italian restaurant. After a dinner of butternut agnolotti and seared sea scallops, their next stop is After Hours, the adults-only district, home to O’Gills Pub, Keys piano bar, and Fathoms, an ocean-themed nightclub with a cocktail menu that include drinks like the Anenome and the Black Pearl.

Restaurants Are More Than a Meal

Most ships have one main dining room. The Disney Magic has three, which passengers rotate through during the voyage. (You’ll have the same table mates and waiter every night.)  At Animator’s Palate, shows are projected on screens and art turns from black and white to color on the walls; at the Three Caballeros-themed Carioca’s, passengers order Latin-inspired dishes like rum-marinated swordfish and black bean soup; and at upscale Lumiere’s, the menu is filled with French dishes named after Beauty and the Beast characters (“Mrs. Potts” French onion soup; “Gaston’s” escargots gratins). Or check out the buffet at Cabana’s, which has clamshell tables, Adirondack chairs, and a Finding Nemo mosaic on the wall.

There Are Water Slides

AquaDuck is no ordinary slide. After entering a chute behind the red smokestack, you’ll plunge through 212 feet of drops and curves, including a see-through stretch that extends over the side of the ship. After a few turns, kids can head to AquaLab to try the more sedate Twist ‘n’ Spout slide, splash in the Huey, Dewy, and Louie-themed pool, and play amid the water geysers and pouring paint cans. Goofy’s Family Pool is the main pool area, and Disney movies are broadcast on a 24-foot-wide screen there all day long. And when parents need a break from the clamor, they can retreat to the adults-only pool, Quiet Cove, which is flanked by two hot tubs, a bar, and a coffeehouse.

The Shows Are Spectacular

Disney knows how to put on a Broadway-caliber production. Choose between Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story and Disney Dreams, which features cameos from Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and Aladdin. Both happen at the huge Walt Disney Theater; the on-stage screen is also used for 3D movie showings.

Photos courtesy of Disney

Classic Ratatouille

Speaking of French food... here is a yummy recipe for you, courtesy of Oceania Cruises:

Classic Ratatouille
Serves 6

1/2 cup olive oil
1 medium eggplant, trimmed (not peeled) and diced
3 medium zucchini, trimmed (not peeled) and diced
3 red bell peppers, cored, seeded and diced
2 large onions, diced
5 to 6 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
1/4 cup white wine
4 to 5 fresh or canned tomatoes, diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 sprig each thyme and marjoram
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence


Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Saute eggplant for about 8 minutes, until cooked.  Remove eggplant from the pan, set aside, and carefully wipe out pan.

Heat 2 more tablespoons of oil in the same pan and saute zucchini until soft but not brown.  Remove from the pan, set aside and wipe out the pan.

Heat 2 more tablespoons of oil in the same pan and saute bell pepper until soft but not brown.  Remove from the pan, set aside and wipe out the pan.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the same pan and saute onion for about 10 minutes, until soft and translucent.  Add garlic and then immediately add the wine.  Cook until wine has mostly evaporated and mixture is nearly dry, or "sec".  Add tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until tomatoes are cooked.

Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste to enrich the sauce.  Add the remaining tablespoon if desired, but be careful not to add too much tomato paste as it can overpower the vegetables.  Add the eggplant, zucchini and bell pepper to the tomato mixture and incorporate well.  Top the mixture with thyme, marjoram, and herbes de Provence.

Cover and warm on low heat.  Do not cook the mixture; merely heat until the vegetables are warm.

Serve in a bowl with some crusty French bread for dipping!

At the Table with Jacques Pepin

Oceania Cruises has published their latest magazine, 

Savor France & The Mediterranean.  

They have interviewed their Executive Culinary Director, Jacques Pepin, on his French favorites, family culinary traditions, Julia Child and more... and since I love cruising and French food, I wanted to share with all of you!

If you aren't familiar with Jacques Pepin, he is a classically trained French chef who had a beloved PBS cooking series (that is still shown occasionally), and numerous cookbooks.  Oceania Cruises sat down with him recently for a fun interview:

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FRENCH CITY TO VISIT, PURELY FOR FOOD AND WINE?

It's difficult to decide, but if I had to pick one, I would pick Saint-Malo.  It is in Brittany and is an extraordinary, historic walled city to tour.  The big varied seafood plates you can enjoy right on the water are hard to beat - it's simply beautiful.

HOW DOES THE EMPHASIS ON CULINARY TECHNIQUE IN THE U.S. DIFFER FROM THAT IN FRANCE?

To start with, it used to be in France that you would spend 3 to 5 years as an unpaid apprentice, so you had a great deal of time to repeat and repeat and repeat, so that you refined the techniques.  In the U.S., there are so many other types of cuisine from around the world that are based on other techniques, so it's a different world than it would be if training in France.  Still in France, however, whenever I went somewhere to get a job, people would ask me or anyone, perhaps, to make an omelet.  That was a guideline to finding out if you knew your technique.

YOU HAD A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH JULIA CHILD - TELL US SOMETHING MANY MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT HER.

I met Julia in 1960, so I knew her for half a century.  Certainly many do not know that when we did our show together, we actually had no recipe.  Usually when you are doing a cooking show you have a recipe you will follow, but we would not and this made the cameraman kind of crazy.  It took two years to put on the air because they had to edit it and craft the show around what we did afterward.  Maybe that's why the show looked very natural, it was truly improvised.  We had a really good time.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CONCEPT BEHIND JACQUES BISTRO AT THE GRAND DINING ROOM AND THE CUISINE SERVED THERE?

Like a bistro in France, it is defined by being unpretentious, a neighborhood type of restaurant where people know one another.  It is usually small, kind of casual, serving old classic dishes, like a cassoulet, earthy and closer to home-style cooking than to haute cuisine.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DISH FROM JACQUES BISTRO?

One of the classic bistro dishes, like Escargots a la Bourguignonne (snails with Burgundy garlic butter) and a Salade Nicoise.

TELL US ABOUT A FAMILY CULINARY TRADITION THAT IS SPECIAL TO YOU.

We keep books filled with illustrated menus of big family dinners and special occasions.  We have done it for over 50 years now.  I have 12 large books of menus, a testimonial to our life in the last half century, I can look in those books and see what Claudine had when she was four - she's almost 50 now.  It's a great tradition to have because it creates a keepsake that keeps growing and evolving.  We just added another last week.

WHAT FRENCH DISH CAN YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?

A good onion soup gratinee, my favorite!

Happy 100th Birthday Denali!

Denali celebrates it's one hundredth birthday on February 26, 2017!

North America’s tallest mountain, formerly known as Mount McKinley, stands at an awesome 20,310-feet and looms over roughly 600,000 acres of protected park land. 

Denali, an Athabascan word meaning “Great One,” stands watch over the many wildlife species who make the park their home, including moose, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, caribou and wolves. 

Celebrate the true ideal of national parks in Denali, a place that has been set aside to connect people to America’s past, a place that protects present wildlife and amazing landscapes for your enjoyment and that of future generations, and a place that celebrates the individual’s opportunity to experience inspiration, reflection, awe, and wonder.  

A true national treasure!

You can experience Denali on an Alaska CruiseTour on several cruise lines.  May through September is the Alaska cruising season.  Add a land tour to a 7-night cruise to make a spectacular vacation experience.

“Blue Danube” Sailings with Viking River Cruises

Their 8-day Romantic Danube itinerary reveals the highlights of Budapest, Vienna and Nuremberg.

 

You can soak up the soothing steam at a Budapest thermal bath, learn to waltz at a tradition-steeped Viennese dance school and wander the cobblestone streets of Nuremberg's Old Town, where you may sample bratwurst paired with a local brew.

 

Or, if you choose their 8-day Danube Waltz cruise, you can visit the baroque St. Stephen's Cathedral in Passau, discover the 900-year-old Benedictine monastery at Melk and explore lesser-known Central European cities like Cesky Krumlov and Bratislava.

 

With medieval towns, grand cities and stunning scenery, you will be sure to love Viking's enriching journeys along the "Blue Danube."

Now, you can enjoy 2-for-1 cruise pricing with air from just $395 per person, plus their "Choice" Offer.

Don't delay—offer expires February 28, 2017.

 

Contact us for more details!