Disney Magic Nov 6-10 review

[purplethorn]

Hello!

Pleas bear with me , it is my first review and I wanted to do a thorough job. I hope it's not too much, but I will do a day per post. (edit: that didn't work as the forum only allows 6 pics per post lol)

 

 

This is our first DCL cruise so I am sure I've missed a lot of imported details but this is how it went

 

Itinerary for our cruise:

 

 

 

 

Day 1 – Embarkation

It was a bit hectic at home in the morning trying to pack the suitcase and also does some last minute stuff for work. We left at around noon and drove from Fort Lauderdale to Miami – very nice drive traffic free drive (whew).

 

As soon as we turned left from Biscayne onto the bridge towards the Port I could see her Mickey ears :D

 

We opted to park at the Port Garage at $20/day – yes I know terrible, but it was just more convenient with the toddler and it was our first time we did not know our way around.

 

We had one suitcase and I had put the luggage tag on it , but if you didn’t have your luggage tags there were some very nice people checking bags curb side and they had plenty of luggage tags. We also had our stroller with us and my daughter was dozing off it , which was bad because as soon as we walked in there was a security check point and we had to wake her up – I was not happy about that.

 

The lines for the embarkation were long but moving fast. We probably waited around 30 minutes before we got to the counter. They had us fill out some paperwork (which I didn’t do online) and then took our pictures, gave us our room keys and we were on our way.

Since it was past 1:30 PM our stateroom was ready so we were able to go upstairs and unload before we start exploring.

 

The ship is stunning. I do not know what it looked like before the refurb but it looked sparkly and shiny

 

We went up to deck 9 and had lunch at Cabanas then rested a bit in our room before we pushed away. The pack and play for the baby was ready in the room. I had requested that the put two blankets on bottom , because there is really no mattress and they had done that – very nice and soft

 

It was quite windy and once we got out of the channel and to the open seas were rocking quite a bit. We did not feel so much it in our cabin but once we got downstairs to dinner at Animators Palate it was almost unpleasant. There was couple of accidents where food plates fell off the trays on the floor it was that rocky.

But the dinner was amazing as you can imagine … that show they put on …a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Food was great , but since we had eaten at Cabanas earlier I was not very hungry so I did not get an appetizer or entrée I chose a lighter dish but honestly I didn’t take a photo because I was feeling queasy. My husband got the beef tenderloin and that was very good. They had also honored our request to sit on a table by ourselves. Our servers were Conrad and Surya they were great. I had read some reports that servers in the dining room would cut up the kid’s food and they did that for us. I thought it was so sweet.

 

After dinner we walked around a bit and went to our suite. My daughter was exhausted, because she did not sleep during the day so she passed out.

 

My husband and I ordered cocktails from room service (two a piece lol) and drank them at the veranda. I had a mai tai and a lemon vodka martini and my husband had two caiprinas. The drinks were very strong .. we could have done with one each.

I think the Captain has put on the stabilizers at some point because we did not feel the waves anymore and I looking straight down from the balcony I could see these white things sticking out from the ship . Alter we got properly tipsy we went to bed and slept right through the next day.

 

Here are some pics from the first day

 

I think this is Deck 4 Lobby ... veeeery impressive

 

 

 

 

We were in room 6586 - It was great! It is close to the laundry but and I read reviews that it gets noisy , but the laundry room was out of order on our cruise and we did not hear any noise... I will go a little bit more in detail about the room at the end of my review.

 

 

Food from Cabanas .. it was good!

 

 

.................

Edited November 14, 2013 by purplethorn

[purplethorn]

Day 1 Cont'd ....

 

DD and DH by the "Mickey ears" as my DD calls them

 

 

This thing ... We didn't get to experience :(

 

 

Fwd adult area

 

 

What is this small pool in the front? Who uses it ? Is it for the staff?

 

 

Lumiere's

 

 

 

.............................

[purplethorn]

Day 1 cont'd

 

Oh looky its Daisy

 

 

The front room of Nursery ... we left DD one day for one hour she cried her lungs out and the next day for 4 hours and she seemed to like it. More in detail about the nursery later

 

 

 

There are couple of more pictures I wanted to add but they are from Miami and the surrounding areas ... but this is pretty much Day 1 ... Day 2 to follow

[metairiegal]

Great review and pics! Can't wait to read more. We will be on the Magic for Thanksgiving.

[mkdreams]

This review rocks! Love the pics can not wait to see more. :)

[JesusuUK]

This is a lot of fun. We are doing the same itinerary next week, with an infant. Your review couldn't be more timely and helpful. Can't wait to read Day 2.

 

Thanks!

[purplethorn]

Day 2 – Castaway Cay

 

We woke up at around 7am and the ship was already docked. I was a bit worried that the overcast weather might ruin our beach day , but soon the sun was out and the island looked lovely green surrounded by mesmerizing turquoise (my favorite color).

 

 

 

 

 

I ran upstairs to Cabanas and got some food for DD (because it is very hard to explain to a hungry toddler she has to dress up, go upstairs, wait in line and then get her food) . I also got some espressos from the Cove. They have this stamp card that if you buy 4 espresso the 5th is free – awesome! We drink espressos every day.

 

Once we were finished with breakfast and ready we proceeded downstairs to exit the ship. We got lost (and we were not alone!) because we thought we disembark at Deck 3 or 4 , but disembarkation at Castaway is from Deck 1. I don’t know if they announced it or not maybe it was on the navigators, but a sign would have been helpful.

We decided to walk to the beach, instead of taking the tram, and take pics along the way. We saw Donald !

 

 

 

And the ship looks amazing from the island. So majestic … I love the colors on the DCL ships.

 

 

DD had a melt down on the way. I think the sun was too much, but

we had to stop and wait on a short line to take a pic with Mickey. DD continued to have a meltdown and wanted to cut in front of everybody to hug Mickey LOL.

 

 

Finally at the beach! The beach was great. We had a lot of fun. We could not get DD out of water she enjoyed it very much.

 

 

 

The food at the buffet was great as well. DH was not feeling so well maybe due to those drinks we had previous night so he didn’t eat much. After a few hours we headed back to the ship, but took the tram on the way back. Once we got to our state room we relaxed before dinner and DD took a nap. I tell you room with a balcony is a must with a small child. It is lovely to sit outside and observe while the little one is napping.

I noticed that the life boats were extended out and workers were cleaning or greasing the ropes … I couldn’t tell very well, but them moving the boats in and out was very-very loud because we were directly above them. DD napped through though … mommy not so much

 

 

Later on, right before dinner, we decided to go and explore ship. We stopped by the Nursery and DD saw trucks and cars (she is fascinated by trucks and cars and anything on wheels, no princesses ) so she wanted to stay and play. We asked if it’s possible to leave her for an hour and they said yes they had plenty of room. We registered her and she stayed playing with the toys.

DH and I went exploring the adult areas and I was very impressed with Keys and the Irish pub. We sat down and got a drink at the Irish pub and it was lovely. Then I had to go upstairs to the room to get another card for the camera and on the way back I peeked to see how DD is doing in the Nursery. Right from the door I could hear her crying loudly so I went inside and got her. The ladies there told me she just started crying because she thought some other woman was me and she started crying. Well that was cut short. From there until dinner was running around trying to catch DD before she photo bombs peoples’ pictures.

 

 

Then we went to Animators Palate (second night was in the same restaurant). It was Pirate night on the ship and they had our pirate bandanas on the table. Surya was so nice he helped me and DH with the bandanas and he tried to put it on DD… that ended up in another melt down …. poor guy … our brat is just merciless . I had a bib lettuce salad and DH had the seafood pasta Conrad recommended. He is so funny- he would explain the menu and then he would suggest some choices and end with “But your choice is always the most excellent choice” (in heavy Jamaican accent) LOL. Cracked me up every night.

Everybody was dressed up for Pirate night, characters were running around in Pirate gear it was great! We attempted to watch Planes in the Buena Vista Theater, but I was in 3D and DD did not get the concept of the glasses so we left. At that point it was getting late for DD so I knew she won’t make it for the Pirate Party so we went in the room. I put her to sleep and DH stayed with her while I went up on Deck 11 to watch the Pirate Party. It was great, but the best part is at the end … so make sure you stay put. I kind of got bored at some point and left my nice spot and all of a sudden Mickey was flying and there were fireworks LOL.

 

 

Ahhh time to catch some ZzzzZZz’s before Day 3 “At Sea” tomorrow. What an awesome day at Castaway Cay

Edited November 15, 2013 by purplethorn

[Seattle@heart]

Great review ~ love the photos! Thanks so much for posting. We are on the Magic the day after Thanksgiving and am so glad to read a happy review after reading so many negative things on the 'other boards'. Looking forward to the rest .....

[Gatrcruzer]

So glad you had a good trip!! It's funny, we were on this cruise and felt NO movement on the first day. We were 2nd floor center, so maybe that is why? We ate in Carioca's that night. I got ill when eating in Animator's on the last night - the animation is a nice concept, but I think the lack of windows and heavy vibration/movement makes it less enjoyable. :( We generally felt little to no movement on our cruise until we started hightailing it back to Miami on the sea day, and even then only for a short time. We did have ridiculous plumbing issues in our cabin (2578), including multiple floods and non-flushing toilet, and needed to call guest services repeatedly to get things "fixed." Still non-working when we debarked.

[purplethorn]

Sorry to hear about the plumbing issues Gatrcruzer. We actually had A/C issues in our room it was too cold the first two days and it turned out they had cranked it up because the aft cabins did not have any A/C. When they loaded up the freon in Miami they "fixed" (came in and re-programmed it) our A/C. I was going to expand on that a little later in the review.

 

We only felt heavy movement the first night when we left Miami and only when we were at the Animators Palate. I think the weather throughout the cruise was windy and seas were a bit rough but the Captain would position the ship in such way that we barely felt anything. I think first night until he got the right course was a bit rough and then of course when he changed course to go back to Miami. It got so windy at the pool we had to pack up and leave

 

 

If we looked really hard yes there were issues with the ship overall. The whole ship has new carpets , in the rooms in the common areas, and on some decks there was a drip from the ceiling right onto the new carpets, which I thought was a shame :( . This also was happening in our room , but only in one very small spot so it was barely noticeable

 

And there are also crews working all the time around the ship, which is fine , but I think that work should be done "off sailing" days. Prime example the life boats they were fixing ... for a few hours right around lunch time on day 2 it was very loud in our cabin and I assume in the whole deck 6

 

All of that though will not deter me from cruising the Magic again!

 

Day 3 to follow soon ;)

[petlover]

I LOVE reading your review and seeing your pictures....great job!! Keep up the good work.

[Island_Chica]

I'm glad to see this review. We will be on this ship in April with our 2 and 4 year olds.

 

Question - what type of stateroom? Were you in the larger or smaller balcony cabin? We are booked into one that is 250 sq ft instead of 299 sq ft. I'm wondering if you found it sufficient for your family?

[Talex831]

Ummm, there are no off sailing days on cruise ships. You disembark and a new group board a few hours later. They sail 365 days a year with guests. Maintenance has to be done continuously. Working in things like lifeboats has to occur when the ship is docked. They generally don't worry too much about disturbing guests mid afternoon on CC day because most are off the ship.

 

 

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[Talex831]

The first night is always rocky when heading to the Bahamas from Florida because you have to cross the Gulf Stream. I have found that AP is always the worst for that first night motion.

 

 

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[Host Mick]

Sorry to hear about the plumbing issues Gatrcruzer. We actually had A/C issues in our room it was too cold the first two days and it turned out they had cranked it up because the aft cabins did not have any A/C. When they loaded up the freon in Miami they "fixed" (came in and re-programmed it) our A/C. I was going to expand on that a little later in the review.

 

We only felt heavy movement the first night when we left Miami and only when we were at the Animators Palate. I think the weather throughout the cruise was windy and seas were a bit rough but the Captain would position the ship in such way that we barely felt anything. I think first night until he got the right course was a bit rough and then of course when he changed course to go back to Miami. It got so windy at the pool we had to pack up and leave

 

 

If we looked really hard yes there were issues with the ship overall. The whole ship has new carpets , in the rooms in the common areas, and on some decks there was a drip from the ceiling right onto the new carpets, which I thought was a shame :( . This also was happening in our room , but only in one very small spot so it was barely noticeable

 

And there are also crews working all the time around the ship, which is fine , but I think that work should be done "off sailing" days. Prime example the life boats they were fixing ... for a few hours right around lunch time on day 2 it was very loud in our cabin and I assume in the whole deck 6

 

All of that though will not deter me from cruising the Magic again!

 

Day 3 to follow soon ;)

 

What's an off-sailing day?

The ships are underway every single day except when in the shipyard. They have to maintain them year 'round so unfortunately someone, sometime is going to be inconvenienced.

[purplethorn]

I know there isn't an 'off sailing' day ... I was just trying to imply that maybe she should have stayed dry docked just a tad longer

[purplethorn]

I'm glad to see this review. We will be on this ship in April with our 2 and 4 year olds.

 

Question - what type of stateroom? Were you in the larger or smaller balcony cabin? We are booked into one that is 250 sq ft instead of 299 sq ft. I'm wondering if you found it sufficient for your family?

 

 

It was three of us and we were in 6586 which is diagonally opposite of the Laundry room on Deck 6 - mid ship.

The stateroom category is 5B I believe - Deluxe Ocean view Stateroom with Verandah. I believe its 268sq ft and has a normal size verandah unobstructed.

What I liked about the verandah was that one side (fwd site) was a solid white metal wall -very private , on the aft side though it was the normal movable (stall i call it) wall .

The room was OK size. With the Pack n play always in the middle of the room it was hard to maneuver, but it was just fine. I had requested that they don't remove the pack n play during the day because DD takes naps. There is plenty of storage and the storage is high up very helpful with DD who wants to touch and destroy everything. lol

The room was very clean , brand new carpets , the bed was soooo comfy and having everything tidied up every day - priceless lol

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith

[purplethorn]

Day 3 – At Sea

 

Well today was an interesting day in a good way.

We woke up and I ran upstairs got food for DD and some oranges, because she likes fresh OJ every morning. Then we ran downstairs to D lounge to participate in the Wake Up Disney Junior fun for all ages. Lara (the blond girl in the picture) is the hardest working woman I saw. She lead the Pirate show the night before (which was very high energy) , then she sang and danced at the Wake up show , then I saw her an hours later doing a tour around the ship!!

 

 

 

We had reserved nursery hours for DD from 10:30 until 2 pm so at around 10 we headed to the nursery. DD usually naps between 12-2 so I let the staff know that I would like them to put her down around that time so we don’t break the routine. They said they will do. DD cried a little bit when we were leaving but as soon as we went outside I could see her through the window (there is a window in the front where parent can see but children can’t on the other side) she was playing already.

 

Then we walked around and in about 20 min checked up on her again she was having fun playing around DH and I decided to go upstairs in the adult pool area and relax. They had crab legs at Cabanas so I loaded a plate as well yum. Then got a mimosa and lounged by the pool when it dawned on me that I didn’t ask if I should bring for DD for lunch. We had our phones with us so I called the nursery (This was already around noon). I called and they said we going to feed them lunch in a few minutes (or I can bring some), but I decided to let hear eat whatever the other kids are eating.

 

Then I hung up the phone and I must have missed the announcement to cover our ears because they will sound the horns. I think I suffered a concussion without hitting my head anywhere when the horns sounded LOL.

Later on Minnie was in the vicinity and she wanted to take a pic with me but … I will just show you one of Minnie instead

 

 

It must have been around that time (the exact times are fuzzy now) when the Captain announced we have to head back to Miami , but in the original announcement I missed the reason. So while we were cruising nice and calm all of a sudden the ship started turning, became rocky and the wind at the pool area increased significantly so much so that we had to pack up and leave because it was unpleasant. I guess we were hauling butt to get to Miami.

I asked one of the waiters why we are going back and he said ‘oh I didn’t hear the announcement, but I think we need to load Freon” . I didn’t know that meant Freon for the A/C because our room has been freezing cold since we embarked and they have not been able to fix it.

 

Since we left the pool area I decided to check up on DD in the nursery to see if she is asleep yet (this was past 1 pm). We go downstairs and I see her playing so I thought maybe she is not tired so I asked the ladies there what they had for lunch and they tell me “oh they haven’t had lunch yet it’s on its way” … I was like WTH!!! Poor child has not had anything to eat since like 8 am. She did not seem cranky, but I knew she was tired already. I was not happy about all of this. We picked her up (even though it was not nearly 2 pm) and took her upstairs to eat and then back to the state room where she passed out. The daycare is absolutely packed on sea days .. just fyi

 

I am glad we went back to Miami because it made for an interesting day at sea. We probably would have never seen how the ship turns in that tight spot at the port, because usually that happens very early on the last day while we are asleep. Then we got to see the other ships that were at the port up close. We sat on the balcony and watched as the Magic sailed back through the Miami channel and turned around at the end to “park” in the spot.

Since we were on the port side I saw them loading the freon and then we had to wait about 35 min until we depart because there were other ships before us.

After we were on our way we just sat on the balcony and watched Miami disappearing in the distance. The pilot boat was next to us until we started turning south then they waved and turned around.

 

 

Then it was time for dinner at Cariocas and I was excited. The food was absolutely yummo! I made sure I didn’t eat anything before that so I was hungry. My poor DH however still had the upset stomach and didn’t get to enjoy his wonderful meal, but I did

Here are some pics, but sorry about the quality they are from the phone:

My tri color potato cake thing .. absolutely delish

 

 

My entree.. forgot the name … it was Brazilian style mixed grill with Mexican tomato rice .. excellent

 

 

After dinner we walked around the ship and watched the characters and I am not only talking about Disney ones.. jokin of course. Nobody told me its formal night so everybody was nicely dressed up and taking pictures. I loved seeing that. Here is Chip and Dale in tuxes

 

 

Every night at the Promenade lounge there was live music. The singer was wonderful and DD would stop every night and dance to the music along with other kids. Tonight was no exception she had a lot of fun with the other kids dancing and running around. I hope the artists didn’t mind .. they didn’t seem distracted by it.

 

Later on DH and DD went to room to get ready DD for bed and I got a free pass to go see Twice Charmed in the Walt Disney Theater because DH was going to go to the midnight premiere of the movie Thor – not my cup of tea. All I can say about Twice Charmed musical is WOW I loved it! DH said he liked Thor as well.

 

Next…..

[purplethorn]

Day 4 – Key West

 

We’ve been to Key West many times and it is our favorite place to go and unwind, but we have never been there with DD. I was not sure how to plan the day so we just decided to play it by ear.

 

 

All we knew is that we wanted to rent bikes with a child seat so we can move around the island. I wanted to try and go to the beach – DH was not too excited about that, but it was a hot day so beach sounded good.

Since we are going back to US soil we had to clear immigration and they do that right on the ship. It is mandatory regardless if you are getting off the ship or not. US citizens were to go with all their documents at 8 am to D – lounge and non US citizens to Fathoms. Since we were mixed (DD and I are US citizens DH is not) we were supposed to go to the non US citizens in Fathoms. We thought it would be unpleasant and crowed, but it actually was just a breeze going in and out.

 

 

Then we decided to go out on the island look for a bike shop that has bikes with child seats. IT wasn’t long before we found it – Island Safari and Tours http://www.islandsafarirentals.com/ . It very close to the where the ship docks if the ship is docked my Malory square.

 

 

 

 

They provided helmet for DD as well.

Then we went on riding around, but DD seemed very cranky and finally she fell asleep in the seat. We decided to go to Fort Zachary Taylor state park where they have a very nice, but very rocky beach. We rented an umbrella and a lounge chair and let DD sleep while I went in the water. There was a speed boat show there as well and we got to see all these neat looking speed boats and helicopters- it was great.

 

 

DD did not sleep long and she woke up around noon and was hungry so we decided to not spend any money on lunch on the island and go back to the ship where I know what I can give her for lunch (and she’ll eat it). So tied the bikes in front of the ship thinking we’ll eat and then ride around some more.

 

 

 

Bad planning on our part because seems like everybody else was also coming back to the ship and the lines to get back on the ship were a mile long. We waited probably around 20 minutes and were half way in on the line where they opened a second line and waved us to go over there. So we rushed over there and went thru the security scanner but I don’t think they swiped out cards … oh well.

 

 

We went upstairs , ate and DD fell asleep again so we decided to take a shower and just stay in and DH will go return the bikes later on.

After an hour he went out to return the bikes and stayed with DD. As soon as he gets off the ship I get a phone call … its DH – “THE BIKES ARE NOT THERE!?!?!” I am like “WHAT?! Are you sure you are looking in the right spot?” - I go outside on the verandah and I can clearly see they are not there the bike rack is clearly visible from the ship. I told DH to just go to the shop and see what we have to pay .. somebody must have stolen the bikes which was unheard of in Key West. I really thought that maybe they have a pickup service and they came and picked them up , but then again the key for the chain was with us and kids helmet.

It turns out somebody called the shop because the bikes were not locked properly (DH!!!) and they came and picked them up. Thankfully they didn’t charge us a "being stupid" fee or anything :P

 

 

Then at some point the phone in the room rang. DH was back and we were out on the balcony looking at the awesome yachts right in front of the ship so and didn’t pick up. I thought omg now what. Then the portable phone rings I pick up. It was clearance department they wanted to make sure that DD and I are on the ship because they don’t have a record of us coming back on the ship .. yes we are here whew.

 

 

 

Here are some pics of the boats during the day and at night

 

 

 

Later on in the evening we went to deck 10 to watch the last of the sunset before we headed to Lumiere’s for dinner. On the way there I can hear the clearance people over the intercom calling some of these people that embarked the ship at that second line with us. They must have not swiped their cards either.

 

 

 

At Lumiere’s I only had two appetizers the escargot and the shrimp and lobster combo … this is a pic of the shrimp and lobster

 

 

 

 

The views of Key West at dusk from the ship were lovely .. here are some pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we went to the room so that I can finish packing and placed the suitcase in front of the door for tomorrow.

After seeing Twice Charmed last night I told DH that I must see tonight’s show – Dreams … so again we stopped by the Promenade Lounge so that DD can listen to the music and dance and then stopped by the picture station to order some of our pictures – it was mayhem.

Let me tell you Dreams was fantastic. All of these shows and new movie premieres were justifying the higher price on Disney for me. Well done Disney

 

Next …

Edited November 20, 2013 by purplethorn

[purplethorn]

Day 5.. back to Miami disembarkation.

The night before we got specific tags and that is how they called us for disembarkation – ours were “Gray Minnie” :D

 

 

After picking up the photos we sat and waited our turn in D lounge. Maybe 20 minutes later they called our tags so we proceeded to disembark. It was a breeze , before long we were in the car and headed home – relaxed , refreshed , re-charged … ahh I cannot wait for our next adventure on a Disney Cruise!

 

The end.

 

 

If you have questions I will try to answer as best I can.

 

 

Thank you for reading:D

[trixiegal]

Thanks for your detailed review. We leave this Friday on a different itinerary. We're going to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The ship looks gorgeous. I can't wait to experience it all, especially the shows.