Cass, Rob & Kira - Our MAGICal Christmas Cruise 2023

[Timon]

Welcome to my latest trippie, peeps!

We are now back and recovered/caught up from our 6-night Christmas cruise on the Disney Magic that sailed on December 21st, 2023 out of Galveston, Texas.

This was our sixth DCL cruise over Christmas so we are very blessed but this one was particularly magical because we got to spend it with my friend Jen and her family.

If you've read my trip reports, then welcome back, you know what you are in for.

If you're new to my trippies and need some background info, feel free to peruse any of my numerous previous reports I have written.

Most of them are still in tact here on the DIS:


2005 Live WDW & DCL
2009 WDW & DCL
2011 DCL Second sailing of the Dream
2013 October WDW & DCL Fantasy
2015 Disneyland

2016 Christmas on the Wonder
2017 Universal & DCL 10-Night Southern Caribbean Fantasy

2017 Christmas on the Wonder
2018 Summer WDW & Universal

2018 Christmas on the Wonder
2019 Disneyland
2019 Universal Orlando
2019 Christmas on the Wonder
2020 Galaxy's Edge

2021 Christmas on the Wonder
2022 UO & DCL Fantasy
2022 Alaska Wonder July Cruise
2022 Alaska Wonder September Cruise
2023 WDW Spring Break
2023 Disneyland

Let's get started then, shall we?

 

[Timon]

Chapter Links

December 20th, 2023
Part 1 - To Houston or bust
Part 2 - Pool Heaven

December 21st, 2023
Part 1 - All aboard the Magic
Part 2 - Doors and balls
Part 3 - Look who I found

December 22nd, 2023
Part 1 - A classy brunch
Part 2 - A nice little tour
Part 3 - All downhill from here
Part 4 - Floating lanterns gleam

December 23rd, 2023
Part 1 - Mega
Part 2 - Three meals and no fireworks

December 24th, 2023
Part 1 - Lessons in money and chemistry
Part 2 - Blessed and Spoiled

December 25th, 2023
Part 1 - Ho ho ho
Part 2 - A little bit of trivia
Part 3 - Merry Christmas to All and to All a good night

December 26th, 2023
Part 1 - Last sea day

December 27th, 2023
Part 1 - Photos and documentaries
Part 2 - Shopping and dinner

December 28th, 2023
Part 1 - Houston, I am the problem


Vacation Videos


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

 

[juniorbugman]

I am here and following along. I was hoping you would write a report.

 

[Timon]

.

**WARNING: If you can't see the photos, please refresh and allow time for them to load!**

It seems like the Disboards are having a tough time loading some of my photos. Sorry, I will try to fix this ASAP!

Part 1

We started out the morning of December 20th not as early as we normally do when we travel since our flight didn't leave Calgary until 12:15pm. Thankfully, we were on the direct flight to Houston on Westjet.

We had dropped off the doggos at Uncle Ken's the evening before so we just had to pack some last minute items before we left for the airport.

It was weird and very lovely to be leaving while the sun was up.

We all decided to wear something Star Wars-y today.

Our weather had been amazing in November and December, all thanks to our Chinooks (warm winds over the Rockies) which can be spotted in this lovely Chinook arch.

We did our thing, unloaded bags, took pics and then Rob parked the car while Kira and I got us checked in and bags dropped.

We had decided that we would take advantage of the later drop off and head to the Nexus office to see if we could update Kira's Nexus photo since her current photo is of a 7-year old Kira.

Nexus doesn't update photos, so although she renewed it a few years ago, she doesn't look anything like her photo anymore and that could be an issue if she ever needed to fly with just her Nexus.

On the way to the office, we spotted the Westjet Magic Plane. Sadly, it was not our plane but it was nice to see it again.

The Nexus guy told us to ask the US Customs officer about updating the photo when we go through US Customs for pre-clear, so we headed to security and sailed through nicely! After using the updated Nexus kiosk, we asked the customs officer about her photo. He said he could take a new photo of her now and then when we got home, we would have to report it lost or stolen and then order a new card for $50. Well, we ended up ordering a new card for $25 based on a biographical change.

We were now in the USA!

We were excited to be in pre-clear instead of connecting in Toronto because it means that we get to eat breakfast at Wolfgang Puck's The Kitchen!

Kira's not a huge fan but Rob and I love it! I especially love their multigrain toast! YUM!

Kira had eaten at home before we left so she just got a lemonade while we devoured our delicious meals. This is one of the best parts of any trip for me, sitting there at our favourite restaurant in the airport, all the planning, the work, the preparations for the trip were all done (you mommas know what I mean!) and you have all of the fun ahead of you. We are through security, through customs. It's just such a good feeling!

Kira had to get some homework done as she would be missing the last two days of class before Christmas break, so we found a spot to chill for a bit before our flight was ready to board. I went and got Rob and Kira some chocolate croissants with a Starbucks gift card that I've had forever.

Eventually it was time to board our flight to IAH! Here's our traditional family selfie.

We didn't have much snow and the weather had been nice but I was glad to be going to a warmer climate and somewhere closer to sea level! Calgary is at roughly 3500 feet above sea level and it is very dry and really bad for our allergies. We always seem to vacation somewhere close to sea level and that is no coincidence! Our allergies and skin improve greatly on vacation!

I had some very pretty views heading down to Houston!

Kira watched part of a movie then read, Rob read his book and I started a new series on Apple TV called "Lessons in Chemistry", which I absolutely fell in love with! Although I was a bit of a wreck and sobbing throughout, I managed to get through 3 amazing episodes and was totally hooked!

I spotted what I think was the Katy Freeway, just west of Houston and we began our descent.

We posed in front of the sign...

Said hello to Moonwalker...

Laughed when we spotted door A113. IYKYK

And then we waited quite a long time before bags arrived on the carousel. Thankfully, no lost bags this trip! Some of you may remember that on our last Christmas cruise Westjet lost one of our bags for 19 days!

Once we got all three bags, we hopped on the rental car shuttle and headed for the Alamo section. We spotted a nice red Jeep that Kira absolutely fell in love with but sadly, it did not count as a Standard SUV.

I spotted a Toyota 4Runner in our row and double checked with the attendant that we could take it. I thought this was way better than the Jeep! It was huge and fit all of our luggage with ease!

Once we got settled in, we then headed for Galveston.

We were all starving so we debated on where to eat. Our initial plan was to stop in our old stomping ground, Webster, but we were all very keen on trying to make it to Galveston ASAP. We all really wanted to eat at Miller's Seawall Grill but they close at 8pm and it was almost 8pm now. Kira really had a hankering for that amazing brownie but it was sadly not in the cards this trip. Since we now have two dogs and my brother has a dog, and it can be stressful for all parties, we try to minimize our time away so on this trip we only had one day pre-cruise and one day post-cruise, so we didn't get to many of our faves.

Rob mentioned that he could REALLY go for a pecan waffle while we were on the rental car shuttle so that's where we ended up!

And we even got "our" table.

I texted Jen to tell her that we were stopping for sustenance. Her and Claire were eagerly awaiting our arrival at the hotel.

Once we were done filling our bellies, we made our way around the corner to the hotel to meet up with Jen, Claire and Skip!

I have been friends with Jen for a decade now and I still hadn't met her hubby. I was looking forward to meeting him.

Stay tuned for the next chapter. Do we finally meet the infamous Skip?

 

[Sujo1214]

Yay! A new trip report. Hi Cass, we met at Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure in November!

 

[Timon]

*deleted*

 

[Timon]

I am here and following along. I was hoping you would write a report.

Yay! I am glad you are here!

Yay! A new trip report. Hi Cass, we met at Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure in November!

Hahaha, I was hoping you would post on here! That's is still so funny to me that you recognized me just strolling by in DCA!

You have a very good eye!

Glad you're here for another report, thanks for posting!

 

[bcwife76]

Woohoo another fab report has started

 

[DMMarla07860]

Another trip report I know will be great

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Following along! Love your trippies, especially your Christmas cruises

 

[4 mickey]

Hi cass
yeah another trop report
I’ve always been scare of trying a departure from Galveston
if not renting a car
what airport is closest to dcl port departure ?
got to say all those Xmas trips your doing are really making me rethink my fear of Galveston
thanks
cannot wait yo read that TR

 

[NAB]

I’m in…Happy Healthy New Year!

Curious if you saw any rubber ducks….lol

 

[Kanga2Roo]

I'm here! Glad those dang pics are finally loading.
I can't wait to relive this fun adventure!

Yay! A new trip report. Hi Cass, we met at Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure in November!

Claire and I were with her too. We totally were amazed how you spotted her so easily.

 

[JenLovesMM]

Yay to another wonderful trip report! Can`t wait to hear about all the things Happy new year!

 

[ukintheus]

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures, your trip reports are always great!

 

[Timon]

Part 2

I booked us one night at the Hilton Galveston Island, which some of you may remember from our first two Christmas cruises. Back then they had double beds, which just didn't work for us. I loved the hotel, the staff, the location, the pools and the rooms but Rob and I just cannot fit in a double bed so I vowed I wouldn't return until they had queen-sized beds. Well, guess whaaaaat?

When I was looking at hotel options, I noticed that they now had queen beds, so that's where we went! The price was great too and Jen decided to book there as well but they flew in the night before us so they were already settled in at the hotel.

I texted Jen that we would be there in just a few short minutes!

We noticed that the surf was really rough tonight!

A few short minutes later, we pulled into the valet parking, unbeknownst to us. We didn't notice the valet sign until much later, whoops! We did get a parking pass that we put in the vehicle but thankfully we didn't have any issue parking there overnight.

Jen and Claire were in the lobby waiting for us. I wish someone was recording our meet up because it was hilarious! We were all very happy to see each other (and quite vocal about it too LOL) and then Kira and Claire noticed each other's fancy nails and put them together and started waving their fingers around.

I heard them all laughing but I missed seeing it because I had headed straight over to the front desk to get us our keys (I had done the mobile check-in online already but wanted physical keys) so I made them recreate it while Rob got video of it. I got a screenshot of that video for your viewing pleasure.

The awesome thing about doing mobile check-in for Hilton is that you get to choose your own room so once Jen had chosen her room, I went and chose the one right across from hers.

They helped us to our room with our luggage and Jen had warned us that the "queen" beds weren't exactly true queen beds and then when she saw our beds, she said she ours looked bigger than hers and she quite hilariously starting measuring the beds with her arms and her body. It was so funny!

Jen and Claire left us to get settled in and then I took pics of the room.

I love that they have make-up mirrors AND a vanity area! So many hotels don't have either!

They even had two robes in the closet!

Jen had made a stop at Walmart earlier and graciously grabbed us some drinks and batteries, which saved me some time getting them myself so once we grabbed those from her and unpacked a little, we made use of that extra time and headed for the pool and hot tub!

While us ladies enjoyed chatting in the hot tub, Rob actually made a quick run to Walmart for extra batteries as it seemed I had underestimated how many batteries we actually needed. I forgot that I had taken out ALL of the batteries from our Christmas lights so they all needed new ones. The Walmart is super close by so he made it back with plenty of time to enjoy his book by the pool.

Sadly, Skip did not make it to the pool that night as he was already comfortably tucked into bed with his jammies on. I guess we will have to wait until morning to finally meet the infamous Skip.

Jen, Claire and Kira headed back to the rooms around 10:30pm.

Rob and I stayed right until the pool closed at 11pm. I really love this pool! It goes around the pool bar, which has always been closed when we stayed here so it's nice and quiet and fun to go explore.

Since I was so excited and had my hands full when I first saw the lobby and didn't take any pics, I took a few before heading back to our room.

New to us was this neat towel tracker, where you pick up and drop off your pool towels. How clever!

Rob enjoyed the pillows that were on the couch.

We got ready for bed and then we all passed out, exhausted from the long but fun travel day.

Tomorrow we board the Disney Magic and inevitably we will have to meet Skip finally.

 

[Timon]

Woohoo another fab report has started

So glad you're here for another adventure.

Another trip report I know will be great

Thanks for being here!

Following along! Love your trippies, especially your Christmas cruises

Aww, thanks so showing up!

Hi cass
yeah another trop report
I’ve always been scare of trying a departure from Galveston
if not renting a car
what airport is closest to dcl port departure ?
got to say all those Xmas trips your doing are really making me rethink my fear of Galveston
thanks
cannot wait yo read that TR

The closest airport is Lobby but we can't a flight into there so we always fly into Houston, which is 60-90 minutes from Galveston, depending on traffic. We always rent a car so that we can drive around and do our stuff we like to do but you can also just Uber/Lyft from either airport if you don't need a car, easy peasy!

I’m in…Happy Healthy New Year!

Curious if you saw any rubber ducks….lol

Glad you're here! We saw zero ducks but that's because we weren't looking for them as it's not really our thing. I did see many people on our FB group say they hid and found lots though!

I'm here! Glad those dang pics are finally loading.
I can't wait to relive this fun adventure!



Claire and I were with her too. We totally were amazed how you spotted her so easily.

Yes, they all seem to be working now, so yay!! I can't wait to relive all of the fun!

Yay to another wonderful trip report! Can`t wait to hear about all the things Happy new year!

Happy New Year! SO glad you're back for another report!

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures, your trip reports are always great!

Thanks for the kind words and I am so glad you're here.

 

[Kanga2Roo]

I wondered where you had parked since I never saw you go to the back like we were. LOL!

To add to Cass's report ..Claire and I were texting back in forth with them to see what drinks and other needs they needed. It was funny, because she would say like....6 pack and I would say 8 pack ok? 24 pack...18 pack ok?

 

[Sujo1214]

Yay! I am glad you are here!



Hahaha, I was hoping you would post on here! That's is still so funny to me that you recognized me just strolling by in DCA!

You have a very good eye!

Glad you're here for another report, thanks for posting!

I think I have read all your trip reports so of course I would recognize you! I had to go over and say Hi when I saw you.

 

[Timon]

Part 1

Today is cruise day!!!

So I didn't sleep too great, the bed was definitely NOT a queen because by the time my alarm went off, I felt like I wanted to murder my husband for being so close to me.

And speaking of murder, this picture, in dim light, from my perspective, looked an awful lot like the Grim Reaper hovering over my husband.

Rob and Kira showered and got ready and headed to Waffle House. I showered, got ready and then packed us all up! We were all wearing matching shirts that we got when Rob and I visited Aulani for our 25th Anniversary in October. Although you can never see Rob's because he's always cold and he needs a hoodie.

At least the packing up was less overwhelming than the unpacking.

Ever since we lost that one bag, we now travel with 3 days' worth of clothing for each of us in our two carry-ons but then once we get to our first stop, I re-pack so that our drinks are in one of the small roller bags and our lights and door decorations are in the other and all of our clothes are in the large suitcases. It can be overwhelming when you're tired and your brain is not functioning so well.

These bags look best when they have DCL luggage tags attached to them.

I also got our Magic Bands ready just in case we wanted to use them. I wasn't sure if we would prefer the bands over the cards but they were charged and ready just in case! Rob and I actually wore ours all day long (for no reason, it turned out) but Kira opted out.

I'm also showing off my brand new Hoka's here because I absolutely love them and I knew I would get them dirty soon.

Rob and Kira got back from breakfast and we just chilled for a bit until Jen texted me to let me know that she was about to pack up her car and head to the terminal. I figured we would see them in the hallway but we never did so we packed up our 4Runner and headed out.

We followed the trolley up Rosenberg/25th street and then spotted the Carnival Jubilee at Terminal 1 in the background. She was, I believe, doing invitation-only cruises until her big inaugural public sailing out of Galveston on Saturday.

As we approached Harborside Drive, we spotted our beautiful ship, the Disney Magic!

This was the first Disney ship we all sailed on, Rob and I in 2002 and Kira in 2007. In fact, it was on this ship in 2007, at the tender age of 10 months that Kira decided to start walking, in the bath tub, of all places! A memory we will never forget!

I had the pleasure of doing back to back cruises on the Magic with Jen about a year ago but Rob and Kira hadn't been on the Magic since 2009! They haven't seen Rapunzel's Royal Table or the Tangled musical show or experienced the AquaDunk! Our previous Christmas sailings have all been on the Disney Wonder, so we were all very excited about this cruise.

We pulled up to the terminal, dropped our 3 checked bags with the porter, tipped him and then went around the bend and into the Express Parking Lot. We did this in 2021 and we loved it!

Just as we parked, I got a text from Jen saying that Skip just dropped her and Claire off at the terminal and went to park the car in Lot A. We grabbed our carry-ons and headed over. It took us about 30 seconds to get there.

Rob and Kira managed all of our bags so that I could have my hands free to document our journey.

We headed down a bit and found them!

I joked to Jen about still not having met Skip yet.

I said something like "Okay, you're not really married are you? Skip is just a figment of your imagination and you've been pulling my leg for a decade now, haven't you?"

However, about 10 minutes later, the mysterious Skip finally showed up and the joke was over and it was now our turn to get in line!

Look at Claire's cute Mickey Ears!

Rob took a pic...

Then I took one.

We got through security and then headed into the check-in area.

We got a CM who was "earning her ears" so it took a little extra time. She also didn't mention anything about our Magic Bands but we found out the next day that even though they were all linked via the website, you still had to activate them and the only two places to do that was at check-in or at Guest Services.

Once we were all set, we headed up the escalator to wait until they started boarding.

I think we only waited about 10 minutes, just enough time to connect to the ship's WIFI and get our accounts working through the Navigator app, before we boarded with group 5.

Hello, old girl. How we have missed you!

This Cast Member, the lovely Hanah, was amazing!! When you think of the perfect, bubbly, enthusiastic, fun person to be a CM, that was her! We saw her around a lot and just fell in love with her! Disney, if you're listening (or reading!) please hold onto Hanah dearly!

We got a quick glimpse of the Gingerbread House, which was oddly over by Guest Services instead of in the left corner as you face Lumiere's. More pics to come tomorrow when I explore the ship!

We headed down to the aft elevators so we could head up to Cabana's for lunch.

Loving that they continue the Rapunzel theme down past the restaurant into the elevator area. I just wish that instead of the Soul Cat Lounge, they turned that into the Snuggly Duckling to continue the theme all the way down like they did with Tiana's & French Quarter Lounge on the Wonder.

Cabana's was actually not open yet so we waited a bit and then headed in and grabbed a nice corner spot so we could stow all of our crap while we ate.

I just wanted some chicken tenders and for tradition's sake, I got some mac and cheese and a cookie for Kira. I think she ended up with just fries and Rob only got a few things as they were both still a little full from Waffle House.

We camped out for awhile, chatted and then eventually headed down to our room just before 1:30pm.

Stay tuned to see what kind of room we got and to see the new (to us) Castaway Club goodies!