A Magic Shake

[SkyKnight]

I need to ask those who have travelled the Disney Magic in the past if the travel was smooth? I don't mean wave action I mean the ship.

We took last weeks Magic cruise Feb 14-20 2010 (the special six night cruise) It was after the ship hit the pilon at Castaway Cay. It was my first cruise and I was amazed at the constant rythmnic shaking from side to side. It was real obvious and throughout the cruise except when the ship wasn't moving.

Coffee wanted to jump right out of it's mug at Palo. The crew tried to put their best face on but through their smiles and reassuring words you could tell that the ship didn't usually shake like this.

It felt to me that some of the shafts or props may have been damaged when the ship was at Castaway Cay on the 12th or 13th of February. We saw divers with their equipment waiting for us at the dock in St Thomas when we tied up.

If it turns out the ship normally shakes like this and it's not the shaft or props I don't know if I would try another cruise. I felt sick often especially after eating in Animators Palate or in Parrot Cay. The shaking seemed to be worse in the aft of the ship.

 

[pugmom626]

We were onboard the week before you. Yes, something was damaged that resulted in the bumpy feeling. I don't think it happened when we hit the pilon, but sometime during the time that we had run aground on the sandbar. The thrusters were running for over 45minutes and the props were churning up alot of the ocean bottom (a darker muck than just the top sand). We noticed the difference in the ride in Palo that night and, yes, it was more noticable aft.

 

[ontariomonkey]

I have been on 2 magic cruises and never noticed a side to side rhythmic shaking. I noticed strong vibration in the aft of the ship (Palo) on the first cruise but not on the second.

If the Magic was damaged, I'm sure that they will fix her asap.

 

[hockeymom98]

I was also on last week's "6" day cruise on the Magic and I'm still rocking! My daughter got sick the first night and spend the entire cruise lying down in the cabin. Thursday at dinner I was bumping into walls and chairs just trying to walk across the restaurant. The pool was closed Thursday night because of the "waves" in the pool. My son has video of the waves crashing 5 feet out of the pool. Friday night was the most gentle of the entire week, just in time to go home. Needless to say my daughter will never cruise again.

 

[KimMS]

I went on the Magic last year and also was on the 6 night cruise last week. I felt the movement last week MUCH more than I felt it last year. I didn't think about anything being damaged. I know that several times it said we were in very rough seas, so I just assumed that was the difference.

 

[Sinderelli]

I was on this cruise also and felt the movement MUCH more than I did in our Nov 2008 cruise. I think the time of year makes a difference too. In Nov 08 my DD got seasick and threw up on the first night, but luckily I started both kids on Bonine the night before getting on the boat, so no sickness for any of us.

 

[Talray]

I was on this cruise also and felt the movement MUCH more than I did in our Nov 2008 cruise. I think the time of year makes a difference too. In Nov 08 my DD got seasick and threw up on the first night, but luckily I started both kids on Bonine the night before getting on the boat, so no sickness for any of us.

Hi Kim: A question for you - the only Bonine I've found says it cannot be given to children under 12. Have you found a version for children out there?

Thanks!

 

[truck1]

Side to side sway or rocking is not usually associated with damage to the running gear.(Props struts etc)If its anything mechanical its usually with the computer damper on the side stabilizers.Keep in mind that depending on the weather, at some point the stabilizers may not be able to keep up with the wave action.The higher you go in a ship, the more noticable the sway is also.Also, the thrusters are buried in the ships hull. The muck that is seen is from the action of the force of the water being pushed out of a tunnel.The props are buried under the hull of the ship, probably at least 25 feet under the hull for protection, amongst other reasons. For her to do damage to either prop, she would have had to hit something solid, and chances are if they thought for a second, that she did, the ship would have had divers looking at the hull as theres other things to worry about at that point, besides damage to the ships wheels.The ship pretty much would have had to end up in the snorkel lagoon to damage either prop.

If there was a problem with the running gear on either ship the way to tell is this. There is a very and I mean very noticable vibration, that is constant, and the ship is not doing her normal speeds.Along with this is canceled or modified itineraries.The other way is that the vibration was rythmic, and you could tell after 5 minutes that every 30 seconds or theres a noticable vibration in the aft part of the ship.If your good you can tell which side.The first would indicate an issue with the bearings or badly damaged prop, the second, there is something out of alignment.(Ive been around boats and worked in boat yards most of my adolescent life.Ive been on several boats that grounded and damaged the props to the point that anything over idle threatened to shake the boat apart.)

Out of curisousity, anyone onboard that 6day Magic Modified, or come off the 8 day trip, see divers in the water near the ship in PC?Havent seen any reports, and Im curios.

 

[SkyKnight]

The vibration was rhythmic and way worse in the aft. Drinks at Palo couldn't be filled as the side to side vibration would cause the drink to spill right out. It was fun to watch.

There were four divers awaiting the ship at ST Thomas on the pier with their dive gear in pelican cases when the ship docked up. They were from some Ship Survey company from Maimi. Looked like they flew in for an inspection. The rhythmic vibration or shake was constant when underway and it was side to side.

Laying in bed you could describe it like one of those beds you see in the movies where you put the quarter in and it shakes. Someone put a ton of quarters in the machine on this cruise.

 

[Sinderelli]

Hi Kim: A question for you - the only Bonine I've found says it cannot be given to children under 12. Have you found a version for children out there?

Thanks!

There is a Bonine Kids version, but it's very hard to find. A pharmacist told me to give my DS10 half of the adult's pill if I could not find the kids' version. I would check before doing this, though.

 

[bfaber]

If anyone else has more info on this, please post. I'm hoping it is fixed soon. We are on the Mar. 6 cruise.

 

[jessica52877]

Interested in following this thread. We were on the 8 night cruise. I have heard that there were divers at PC when we docked but I did not see them.

The night we left in the dining room the banging was horrible. It was just like something was pounding the ship every 30 seconds. I don't know how long it lasted because we went to our cabin afterward and to bed and never felt it like that again. We were Deck 2 midship though. Ate in Parrot Cay that night.

 

[ferastu]

This (the six night, Feb 14-20) was our third trip on the Magic. On our first in Oct 2005 a Tropical Storm passed a few hundred miles to the south. That was the worse shaking we've experienced.

Our second cruise was in Nov 2007 and was completely smooth.

This cruise was not as smooth as 2007, but not as shaky as 2005. I thought that the additional 'shake' on Thursday night was due to fighting the 25 knot winds.

 

[queenofeverything]

We were on the 6 day as well. We had a balcony cabin aft on the starboard side. We did not see divers in the water at PC, but noticed a truck alongside the ship that said "Miami Divers" and something about ship hull inspection and repair. We made the comment that that did not look like anything good! We were just happy to be on the ship at that point, and did not think much more about it.

 

[inkkognito]

Yikes, kinda scary! We are on the 3/6 sailing and I will definitely notice if something is out of whack. We almost always stay in stateroom 5650, all the way aft, and I know the usual noise and vibration very well. I can always tell when they are having trouble docking at CC without every getting out of bed so I'll know if the sound and motion is weird. Hopefully not tho'!

 

[gallaj0]

My wife and I were on the 14-20th Magic cruise, and were on a previous 7 day back in 2008. We had dinner at Palo on the 14th, and both of us noticed a constant "bump" or shudder in the normal background vibration of the ship/engines/prop.
We're both marine engineers by training, having been on some very large ships (oil tankers, car carriers, etc) and there is definitely something wrong on the Magic.
It occurs about once a second or 2, and you can fell it more the higher you go in the ship; Palo's was the worst, but you can feel it in the aft end of the ship on every deck; we were in cabin 2142 and could feel it there. It doesn't add to the rocking motion of the ship, and didn't add to any kind of seasickness; it's more annoying that anything else.

 

[love2driveinct]

Interested in following this thread. We were on the 8 night cruise. I have heard that there were divers at PC when we docked but I did not see them.

I saw the divers the morning of debarkation (from the 8-day). I didn't think anything of it, figured it was standard procedure. Guess I was wrong.

 

[love2driveinct]

My wife and I were on the 14-20th Magic cruise, and were on a previous 7 day back in 2008. We had dinner at Palo on the 14th, and both of us noticed a constant "bump" or shudder in the normal background vibration of the ship/engines/prop.
We're both marine engineers by training, having been on some very large ships (oil tankers, car carriers, etc) and there is definitely something wrong on the Magic.
It occurs about once a second or 2, and you can fell it more the higher you go in the ship; Palo's was the worst, but you can feel it in the aft end of the ship on every deck; we were in cabin 2142 and could feel it there. It doesn't add to the rocking motion of the ship, and didn't add to any kind of seasickness; it's more annoying that anything else.

We felt that, too... we had a Deck 8 cabin in the aft, and every vibration or shudder made something in the room creak or rattle. This was not happening in the days preceding our stop at CC, only afterward.

 

[5lilfish]

Yikes, kinda scary! We are on the 3/6 sailing and I will definitely notice if something is out of whack. We almost always stay in stateroom 5650, all the way aft, and I know the usual noise and vibration very well. I can always tell when they are having trouble docking at CC without every getting out of bed so I'll know if the sound and motion is weird. Hopefully not tho'!

We were also on the shortened 6 day cruise. This was lucky number 13 for us...lol. I really didn't notice anything out of whack with what we've experienced on some of our previous trips. There were a couple days with rougher seas....the kind that make it hard to walk straight, but nothing too bad. Nobody in our family complained of feeling sick and nobody took any meds. The Mickey pool was rocking and rolling one night though, but there were strong winds and rougher seas that night.

I did feel the vibration....but I know, especially sleeping on deck 2, I've felt that before.

Jess

 

[DMMarla07860]

Well I wasn't on the Magic, I'll be going on it March 6th and I can tell you unless something is really out of whack on the Magic I would prob not notice at all. That means we would prob have to be sinking for me to notice