Lisa Lisa
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2011
We disembarked today from the 11/25 4-night sailing on the Magic. We stopped at Key West, Nassau, and Castaway Cay. The weather report in the days leading up to embarkation was abysmal -- rain and wind in every port. The wind part was mostly accurate, but we lucked out and had lots of sunshine. Unfortunately, in addition to the wind, we encountered some rough seas. I felt more movement, consistently, on this cruise than on any other cruise I've been on. On a positive note, the ship looked great all decked out for the holidays! The tree and garland in the atrium were beautiful. We also loved the tree at Castaway Cay and got some nice photos in front of it.
I wasn't sure what to expect on embarkation day since we've only sailed out of Port Canaveral, but it was pretty easy. We stayed at the Intercontinental the night before and took a very short cab ride to Port of Miami on Wednesday morning. The porters took our bags at the curb and we joined the line to enter the terminal. We had only been waiting about 10 minutes when the line started to move. We got through security quickly and were then pointed toward the Castaway Club check-in line (which was quite a bit longer than the first-time cruiser line!). I know we could have moved to the other line, but we decided to stick it out. Once we were checked in, we moved to the other end of the terminal to wait for boarding to start. We had an 11:00 PAT and were assigned to boarding group 5. I think it was about 11:45 when boarding started, and we were onboard 10-15 minutes later. The CMs we walked past after we boarded were trying to direct everyone to Carioca's for lunch, but we headed straight up to Cabanas. It wasn't crowded at all when we got there, but by the time we left it was packed.
It had been raining lightly on and off, and we were worried that the sailaway party might be moved inside. The weather held, though -- yay! We were in Animator's Palate for dinner the first night. I liked it, but I must say that I prefer AP on the new ships. Our server was Beethoven and our assistant server was Marco. Beethoven was just okay, but we loved Marco. Best assistant server we've had. Our head server was also around more than any head server we've had in the past. The show the first night was Twice Charmed, and we all enjoyed it.
The next day we woke up in Key West. It was a bit breezy but sunny and just the right temperature (mid 70s). We docked at Outer Mole and had to take trolleys off the naval base. I had worried about this ahead of time, but the process was quick and painless. We were dropped off in town near Mallory Square and then walked about two blocks to the Old Town Trolley Tours depot, bought our tickets, and were off. We stopped at Hemingway's House and at the Southernmost Point, and then we walked back up Duval Street, stopping for key lime pie at Kermit's on the way. I headed back to the ship at that point for my appointment in the spa, while DH and DD stopped at the aquarium. I had booked Alone Time when our booking window opened and it was amazing. I'll post some pics of the spa villa later. Dinner that night was at Carioca's. It was Thanksgiving, and turkey was one of the menu choices. It was pretty good! The show was Tangled and we all loved it. Great music and really cool costumes and props. Definitely a must see!
Friday was Nassau day. All ashore time was supposed to be 9:15, but there was an announcement in the morning saying that we were running late due to heavy winds and a strong current, and I think we ended up getting the all clear at around 10:00. We had made a reservation at the Comfort Suites and hightailed it over there. Once we got checked in, we walked over to Atlantis, got our wristbands, put our stuff in a locker, and made our way to the not-so-lazy river. Where we waited for tubes. And waited. And waited some more. Man, was it crowded! We finally got two tubes, so DD and I started down the river, hoping that DH would catch up at some point. He finally got tired of trying to get a tube and rode the Abyss instead. Once again, it was a breezy but sunny day. We spent a few hours swimming and riding the waterslides, hung out in lounge chairs for awhile, and then went back to the aquarium since we had breezed through the first time. We left Atlantis at about 3:30 to head back to the ship and were up on the pool deck by 3:55. We were back at Carioca's for dinner and then saw the magician Michael Barron in the Walt Disney Theater. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but he was pretty entertaining! Despite the wind, the pirate deck party and fireworks went off as planned.
Saturday we were at Castaway Cay. It was a gorgeous day -- sunny and just a bit breezy. We took our time eating breakfast at Cabanas and headed down to Deck 1 as soon as the all clear was given. Based on past experience (on the Dream class ships), we expected a long wait to disembark, but we were pleasantly surprised. We pretty much walked right off, and it became clear right away that we were among the first to disembark. We used our normal strategy of getting off at the second tram stop and backtracking a bit and had no trouble getting a great front-row spot. We looked down the beach toward the ship and saw tons of empty lounge chairs. People continued to arrive over the next couple of hours, but it never seemed overly crowded. This was the only time I really noticed the difference in size/crowds between the two classes of ships, and it was a very pleasant change! DH and DD did the stingray adventure at Castaway Ray's and loved it.
DH and I each rode the Aquadunk once when we returned to the ship from CC. It was fun and scary! I'm glad I did it, but I think it'll be a one-and-done for me. Dinner was at Lumiere's and the show was Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic. Unfortunately we missed the show because it took us forever to pack! The whole packing on the last night thing is one of my least favorite parts of cruising.
All in all, we had a fantastic time. I wasn't sure what we would think of the Magic after four cruises on the Dream class ships, but we enjoyed it. We all agreed that we prefer the newer ships, but we wouldn't hesitate to sail the classics if the timing and itinerary are right. We booked a placeholder while we were onboard and are hoping to use it for Alaska in 2017.
I'm happy to answer questions!
I wasn't sure what to expect on embarkation day since we've only sailed out of Port Canaveral, but it was pretty easy. We stayed at the Intercontinental the night before and took a very short cab ride to Port of Miami on Wednesday morning. The porters took our bags at the curb and we joined the line to enter the terminal. We had only been waiting about 10 minutes when the line started to move. We got through security quickly and were then pointed toward the Castaway Club check-in line (which was quite a bit longer than the first-time cruiser line!). I know we could have moved to the other line, but we decided to stick it out. Once we were checked in, we moved to the other end of the terminal to wait for boarding to start. We had an 11:00 PAT and were assigned to boarding group 5. I think it was about 11:45 when boarding started, and we were onboard 10-15 minutes later. The CMs we walked past after we boarded were trying to direct everyone to Carioca's for lunch, but we headed straight up to Cabanas. It wasn't crowded at all when we got there, but by the time we left it was packed.
It had been raining lightly on and off, and we were worried that the sailaway party might be moved inside. The weather held, though -- yay! We were in Animator's Palate for dinner the first night. I liked it, but I must say that I prefer AP on the new ships. Our server was Beethoven and our assistant server was Marco. Beethoven was just okay, but we loved Marco. Best assistant server we've had. Our head server was also around more than any head server we've had in the past. The show the first night was Twice Charmed, and we all enjoyed it.
The next day we woke up in Key West. It was a bit breezy but sunny and just the right temperature (mid 70s). We docked at Outer Mole and had to take trolleys off the naval base. I had worried about this ahead of time, but the process was quick and painless. We were dropped off in town near Mallory Square and then walked about two blocks to the Old Town Trolley Tours depot, bought our tickets, and were off. We stopped at Hemingway's House and at the Southernmost Point, and then we walked back up Duval Street, stopping for key lime pie at Kermit's on the way. I headed back to the ship at that point for my appointment in the spa, while DH and DD stopped at the aquarium. I had booked Alone Time when our booking window opened and it was amazing. I'll post some pics of the spa villa later. Dinner that night was at Carioca's. It was Thanksgiving, and turkey was one of the menu choices. It was pretty good! The show was Tangled and we all loved it. Great music and really cool costumes and props. Definitely a must see!
Friday was Nassau day. All ashore time was supposed to be 9:15, but there was an announcement in the morning saying that we were running late due to heavy winds and a strong current, and I think we ended up getting the all clear at around 10:00. We had made a reservation at the Comfort Suites and hightailed it over there. Once we got checked in, we walked over to Atlantis, got our wristbands, put our stuff in a locker, and made our way to the not-so-lazy river. Where we waited for tubes. And waited. And waited some more. Man, was it crowded! We finally got two tubes, so DD and I started down the river, hoping that DH would catch up at some point. He finally got tired of trying to get a tube and rode the Abyss instead. Once again, it was a breezy but sunny day. We spent a few hours swimming and riding the waterslides, hung out in lounge chairs for awhile, and then went back to the aquarium since we had breezed through the first time. We left Atlantis at about 3:30 to head back to the ship and were up on the pool deck by 3:55. We were back at Carioca's for dinner and then saw the magician Michael Barron in the Walt Disney Theater. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but he was pretty entertaining! Despite the wind, the pirate deck party and fireworks went off as planned.
Saturday we were at Castaway Cay. It was a gorgeous day -- sunny and just a bit breezy. We took our time eating breakfast at Cabanas and headed down to Deck 1 as soon as the all clear was given. Based on past experience (on the Dream class ships), we expected a long wait to disembark, but we were pleasantly surprised. We pretty much walked right off, and it became clear right away that we were among the first to disembark. We used our normal strategy of getting off at the second tram stop and backtracking a bit and had no trouble getting a great front-row spot. We looked down the beach toward the ship and saw tons of empty lounge chairs. People continued to arrive over the next couple of hours, but it never seemed overly crowded. This was the only time I really noticed the difference in size/crowds between the two classes of ships, and it was a very pleasant change! DH and DD did the stingray adventure at Castaway Ray's and loved it.
DH and I each rode the Aquadunk once when we returned to the ship from CC. It was fun and scary! I'm glad I did it, but I think it'll be a one-and-done for me. Dinner was at Lumiere's and the show was Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic. Unfortunately we missed the show because it took us forever to pack! The whole packing on the last night thing is one of my least favorite parts of cruising.
All in all, we had a fantastic time. I wasn't sure what we would think of the Magic after four cruises on the Dream class ships, but we enjoyed it. We all agreed that we prefer the newer ships, but we wouldn't hesitate to sail the classics if the timing and itinerary are right. We booked a placeholder while we were onboard and are hoping to use it for Alaska in 2017.
I'm happy to answer questions!
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Several others had posted from the Dream and Fantasy that returned this past weekend they also experienced "rough seas" and apparently it was unexpected. Glad you are back safely and I'll have to check in with you. 
