Anyone sailed on the Disney Magic in the past 5 months? Please look!

[sheldonlarson1246]

Could you share some stories about how the ship looks? How the crew was? The food? Entertainment? The characters? The cleanliness? The staterooms? Pretty much the whole experience and how it was!

THANKS!

 

[queenofeverything]

Could you share some stories about how the ship looks? How the crew was? The food? Entertainment? The characters? The cleanliness? The staterooms? Pretty much the whole experience and how it was!

THANKS!

I am sure you will get a number of responses on this! We were on the 9/29 sailing out of Galveston (the second one). The crew was phenomenal - absolutely the best part of the cruise. The food was great. We have been on Princess, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL and a couple of others and this food was definitely some of the best. Loved the entertainment (but you really have to LOVE Disney) The ship was spotless, extremely clean. With all that said, yes, the ship is what, 13 years old? No, it does not look old and worn but it does not look like a brand new ship either. It is extremely well taken care of. If you look for signs of aging, you might see a few, but why look for that? The cruise was one of my very favorites, such a lovely atmosphere. Overall experience was outstanding!

 

[Melissa S]

We sailed last June and September, 13 nights total. The ship looked great. Of course CMs were constantly working on the ship painting etc. The crew was great. We are not the type to become best friends with CMs. But we really got to know our head server Neno on our June cruise (his daughter is the same age as our daughter). He told us that after our cruise he was heading home to see his family. We ended up booking last minute and sailing a couple months later. To our delight it was Neno's first cruise back! We were very surprised and excited to see each other. We enjoy the food. However we don't have high expectations for it. Since we live in the NYC area and have amazing restaurants we don't compare it to food back home. We are pleased that we can always find something we like and that I don't have to cook it We found the lunch buffet desserts to be delicious! Not so much the dinner ones. We also liked them a lot better than what was on the Dream. The entertainment was nice. We enjoyed the shows and we luckily had different performers on each cruise. There were comedians. jugglers, and magicians. Staterooms were nice, although they need to replace the hair dryers ASAP. I am tired of packing my hairdryer! And regarding cleanliness Disney always pays attention to that detail. I remember years ago Oprah filmed at Disney and said they dropped garbage on the ground in the parks and timed how long it would be picked up and it was always with five seconds.

I hope you have a great time on the cruise ! Happy Sailing

 

[luv that cruise]

We were on it the week of Thanksgiving & I will be on it again on Tuesday We've sailed 2-3 times a year since she started sailing. I can see the wear & tear but she still looks great. I think the character experiences are wonderful. Cleanliness has never been a problem. I think the quality of food has remained the same over the years. The stage shows are wonderful - I will never get tired of Disney Dreams. I do miss Hercules tho. I have noticed some deterioration of the hotel services. It's not bad service, just not the "disney" quality of service I have seen in the past. We were in the Walt suite over thanksgiving and we didn't meet our room attendant until the second day. We asked for ice twice a day and rarely got it. I called room service and asked for an ice bucket and I was told they don't use them anymore. seriously?! We traveled with 5 other families and they had ice buckets! I ordered cheese & crackers to arrive at 6 one evening. about 6:10 I called and they said it was on it's way. about 6:30 they arrive with a plate of cheese but no crackers. They went to get them and they brought me a packaged roll of crackers, no plate. It was comical!

All & all, it is still my favorite vacation. So many happy memories of my kids thru the years. I tried the Dream and it just feel the same to me.

If there is anything specific you want to know about the ship let me know and I'll try to find your answer in a few days.

 

[Macmaro]

We were on it the week of Thanksgiving ...

We asked for ice twice a day and rarely got it. I called room service and asked for an ice bucket and I was told they don't use them anymore. seriously?...

That seems peculiar. We were on the same cruise and our stateroom host brought us bucket even though we didn't ask for it. He saw all the bottles of alcohol we brought on and figured we'd need it.

To the OP: I agree with what everyone says. The ship is still in great condition and the experience was as good (if not better) than the Dream cruise we took 3 months before that.

 

[sheldonlarson1246]

What was "old" or "dirty" about the cruise? Is is bad or nothing you really notice....?

 

[lorimay]

What was "old" or "dirty" about the cruise? Is is bad or nothing you really notice....?

On the Magic in September.

It looked great to us, can't say I saw anything that looked "old" or "dirty".
The ship is well maintained.
You will not be disappointed.

There are some patches of rust on the railings, but they are quick to paint it.
That can't be helped because of the saltwater.

 

[charminnie]

No worries. You will absolutely love it. My family's best vacation ever was our sailing on the Magic in May 2012. The ship was spotless, food was outstanding, great service. Enjoy !

 

[Macmaro]

What was "old" or "dirty" about the cruise? Is is bad or nothing you really notice....?

We saw nothing that was "old" or "dirty." They were doing a bit of maintenance for two days on the lights in the atrium near the kids clubs but that was it. It was surprising that they didn't use something like at the parks that said "pardon our dust" but it was short lived.

Terrific experience all around.

 

[violetmonarch]

Just off Magic day before yesterday, and yes they work on her constantly to maintain her. She looks good for her age! The staff is great and we enjoyed that everywhere we looked it was clean. Lots of fun and was not a disappointment for our first cruise ever. Cannot wait to see her after her dry dock.

 

[Imedley200]

We were on the 11/3 cruise and had a great time! It was our first cruise and we're ready to go again. I wouldn't hesitate going on a classic ship at all. We loved our room (deluxe ocean view on deck 2) and location, eating every day outside at Topsiders, and Palo brunch was yummy. Deck 4 was probably our favorite - either a morning run or peacefully relaxing in a lounger was great. Our room host and servers were wonderful - no complaints. There were always guys out doing maintenance but we saw nothing horribly dirty or worn. I know it sounds corny but we truly had a magical experience!

 

[pluto1974]

I agree with everyone. Just finished the 6-day Western Carribean (Jan 26- Feb 1). It may not be WDW picture perfect but everything was great. The staff is fantastic and nice. I think it's common to get wear and tear with the number of people occupying the space. The crew is contantly cleaning and maintaining the ship.

The Magic and Wonder are smaller and older ships so they may not have the amenities of the bigger/newer ships but that's to be expected. There is a good variety of healthy and not so healthy food. Lots of character appearances.

 

[QuiltTeddy]

We've been on all ships, except the Fantasy. The Magic is our favorite ship. When we were on the Dream last March, we saw many poor quality things...holes in curtains, curtains falling down in the dining area, lack of service, etc. The Magic has never had any of those issues. We would choose the Magic over another ship any time! Have fun!!

 

[sheldonlarson1246]

Any other information?

 

[Kim&Chris]

Relax!

The ship will look great. We sailed on the Magic last May and she was in beautiful condition. The crew was wonderful (many of them told us how happy there were to be working on the Magic instead of the larger ships) and I can't WAIT to sail her again next year!!

 

[Justacruiser]

we actually sailed on the Fantasy last September with a 1 day break at WDW and then got on the Magic. We didn't have a great cruise on the Fantasy and were really questioning whether to try another cruise line. And then we hit the Magic! We had actually cruised on the ship twice before, but after the Fantasy cruise, there was a great difference. The food was better, things appeared to be more organized, overalll our experience with CM was just alot better. So, much better that we cruised on the Magic (#4) again in November out of Galveston and are hititng the ship again in 10 days (#5) for the 8-day cruise from Galveston to Key West, Castaway Cay, and WDW.

Fantasy and Dream ships are both bigger, have fancier eye candy, but we love the care of the CM's aboard the Magic. I specifically look for CM's that are NOT on their first tour. My experience is that longer tenured CM's are vested in DCL.

 

[Menada1115]

We were on the Magic 12/1 out of Galveston and had an absolute blast! Are there parts of the ship that need a little updating? Yes. Did it look old or run down? No. The crew was FABULOUS!!! The only thing lacking a bit, in my opinion, was the food. It wasn't bad, but wasn't delicious by any means. There were a couple of items on the dining menus that were really good. Other than that, the food was just ok- to me. We had a wonderful time! Have a blast!!!

 

[nhgirl]

We sailed on Magic in July. She looked great. The only other cruise we were on before Magic was NCL's Spirit which had just been refurbished. I thought Magic looked just as good and just as clean. It really puzzles me when people say "she shows her age". I don't have any idea what they are talking about.

Have a wonderful cruise!!

 

[sheldonlarson1246]

Awesome! Any thing else?

 

[cateisgreat]

We had an inside stateroom on deck 7 on the January 4th cruise of the Magic. This was our very first cruise as well as our very first Disney Cruise. We had a fantastic time and rebooked on board.
I may be the only voice of dissent in one respect, and that is the worn down appearance of my stateroom. I found the interior walls to be pretty scuffed up and dirty looking, and the desk area was scratched up. The whole thing could have used a really good dusting. The bathroom was immaculate, as were the comforter, couch, and other fabric items. There was a strange smell in the room that would come and go, kind of smelled like sewer. Our room steward refused to bring us wineglasses for our wine and told us to call room service for them. Friends who were on the same cruise but in a different room had the wineglasses appear after the steward saw their wine bottles.
That being said, we never complained so they had no idea, and had decided early on not to be in the stateroom very much so we could enjoy what the ship had to offer. The rest of the ship was beautiful and well maintained. Not having been on a Disney Cruise before, I had no idea if other inside staterooms looked like ours. But I do have to say I was disappointed in the look (and smell) of ours. Our whole family had a wonderful time regardless. Our next cruise is on the Fantasy and I am looking forward to seeing what a new ship looks and feels like.