Just got off Magic 7 day...+s and -s

[Kimer]

We (all 22 of us) just got off the Magic. Since there are so many great trip reports - I will just tell you the things that were great and not-so great in my opinion!.... If anyone would like to ask me something directly - just post a message to Kimer and I will be happy to answer! Overall - a WONDERFUL trip - booked another!

Pleasantly surprised:

1. The quality of the shows...they were fantastic...I am a theatre snob and I have to say I was impressed with the talent! Do not miss out on the nighttime entertainment - kids and adults will LOVE it! The look on my kid's faces (5 and 8yrs) was PRICELESS!

2. I won $600 playing bingo with my daughter!

3. Characters were plentiful and were FANTASTIC with the kids.

4. The creme brulee - YUMMY!!!!

5. Deck 4 at night...cushioned seat - pleasant breeze!

6. Cozumel was my fav port! Awesome beach, good shopping, etc.

7. The amount of storage space in our stateroom (8054) The shoe rack was great too - thanks for the advice!

8. Being completely catered to all week...we booked another while on board!


Not happy with:

1. The pools were TINY! Kids jumping on other's heads, etc.

2. My kids were not thrilled with the kid's programs....there were just a TON of kids. They were friendly and enthusiastic - but I thought they would be more entertaining. My kids got bored...

3. KEY WEST - YUCK! This should not be a stop for a family boat! I had to hide my child's eyes going down the streets so they did not get a raunchy education.

4. Photographer on ship had an attitude about taking our group's pix because we were so large.

5. Okay - whoever said that you can not feel the ship move is full of baloney! I was green the first night! From then on I took a bonine every day and was fine - but STILL felt it...especially in the shower!

 

[Muushka]

Originally posted by Kimer
5. Okay - whoever said that you can not feel the ship move is full of baloney! I was green the first night! From then on I took a bonine every day and was fine - but STILL felt it...especially in the shower!

AMEN TO THAT!!!!

I thought about all the times I read that you can't feel the ship move and while we did have very rough seas, there were a few days that they were not that horrible and I still felt the ship move-the only time the thing was still was when we were docked!

 

[mrsfuzzmo]

Hi Kimer welcome back. Sorry we did not get to meet onboard. I can't belive you felt the ship moving. That was the smoothest cruise (out of 12) that we've ever been on. If that made you woozy, you'd better use Super Strangth bonine if you ever go again. Did you know the biggest seas we had last week were 8 ft. MAjority of the week we were at 4 ft. The week before us they had 30ft. swells! WHOOOOO, that's rockin & rollin.

Anyhow, We agree on the fact there there were TONS of kids everywhere. Did you see how gross the family pool was by the end of the first day at sea? YIKES, you couln't eve see goofy on the bottom.

How did you like the food? We found it very mediocre. The first few nights in the dining rooms were just very bland and the last couple improved quite a bit, but we are seafood lovers and the last two nights there were a lot of seafood choices. We had PLAPLAP as our rotation and our servers were very boring. Always seemed rushed and didn't talk to us at all. Maybe they were new, but we got very average service.

We did though love Plutos and Pinoccios! Glad they were there mid afternoon and late evening for pizza! That was cool.

We too loved Cozumel (been there before, but it has improved a great deal).
We really liked Key West, though we are kidless and enjoy the bar scene. Had an absolute blast at "Irish Kevins" (though there was a gal onstage with her top off when we arrived). It was the closest thing to a "Sing-a-long" type atmosphere that I thought we'd find on the ship somewhere.(No Luck there).
We also enjoyed Sloppy Joes.
Grand Cayman we did the Buccanner catamaran and thought we'd be safe considering it is the only boat in Cayman with a liquor license.....Nope....out of the 40 or so people on board, about 20 of them were between the ages of 7 & 12. Can you say UNDERFOOT?????? We did enjoy the day though.
Stingray City was a madhouse as well. I have been there before and really really enjoyed it. This time is seemed there were so many kids "throwing" each other around and chasing each other on the sand bar that the rays were quite a bit more scarce than other years when they came by the hundreds and floated so effortlessly past you. Gorgeous. But this time it just seemed that they were running scared from all the commotion. It was a bit disheartening. Not at all the casual relaxing sailing day we had anticipated.

Loved the shows, loved the ship. Loved the adult pool (even though the music was awful!!). LOVED, LOVED, the Cabana Massages and the little peninsula point bar with the pelican on it. Really enjoyed the day there.

Mrsfuzzmo

 

[plutojudy]

I agree, you can feel the movement. Those stabilzers are not big enough as far as I am concerned.

 

[***tink386]

Thanks for the mini report. How old were the kids? Did they go to the Kid programs at all? What did they do instead?

 

[ldb1030]

QUESTION!!!

What beach did you go to in Cozumel? What did you like about it?

Thanks!

 

[mobetsy]

On the Magic the week with the giant swells...we had an occasional problem with the photographers because they wanted to do 2 photos where 1 would work fine (separate of kids and parents, for example, not just for formals but in the dining rooms). I'm sure that was an attempt to sell more photos!

 

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by mrsfuzzmo
How did you like the food? We found it very mediocre. The first few nights in the dining rooms were just very bland and the last couple improved quite a bit, but we are seafood lovers and the last two nights there were a lot of seafood choices.

We were on the 7-night Disney Magic last week too. My wife and I thought the food has improved, compared to our 7-night Disney Magic cruise two years ago.

The food had more flavor (although DCL still avoids heavy seasoning). The menu is now a 4-course menu, rather than a 3-course menu. There were more choices, and more imagination in the preparation and presentation.

It's cruise ship food, not cooked-to-order fine dining restaurant food (except at Palo). Considering that each of the three kitchens must feed over 400 people at the same time, the results were impressive.

We didn't have a single disappointing meal, and some some of the items were very, very good.

 

[tkrules]

I also was on the 3/27 Magic....i had a wonderful time. I think Kimer was with the group that yelled "whoo-hoo" to each other each time the met. I also think I saw quite a few buckets of beer in that group. Would love to see their beverage tab! LOL
About feeling the ship moving...I had no problem with it, so I guess it just depends on how sensitive you are. My husband did feel it on the day we left and the day we returned. Other than that he was fine. We also did not enjoy Key West like we thought we would. For the same reason as Kimer. Raunchy...with kids it was hard. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more without the kids.
Overall...an awesome time!!!!
Oh, my kids (11,7,6) didn't enjoy the clubs as much as I thought either. No big deal though, we still had fun.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

What happened to Key West, we were there several years ago actually twice once just adults and 2nd with our DD probably 5-6 at the time. We did the pirate/sailing museum, walked all the way up the lookout tower. Went to the 1 mile marker for US 1, checked out Hemingways house, went to a kind of aquarium place for kids. Did see the bar area, but it was daytime, check out some shops. What did I miss!!

 

[rae519]

The higher up you are (Deck wise) the more you feel the motion of the ship. I also use bonine and we are always Deck 5, AFT.

We didn't care much for Key West either - we opt for Eastern for that extra sea day. I think DCL needs to rethink Key West for families.

Rae

 

[aliwas]

Also wondering what beach you liked so much on Cozumel, I want one very family oriented.

 

[jerry112]

mrsfuzzmo-just wondering who your servers were? We also had plapla rotation a few months ago and hope to get it again.

Kimer-I agree about the ship movement, too. I wore the patch and kept thinking how I would have felt without it. You definately feel everything! Thanks for the report.

 

[gottaluvdis]

Originally posted by rae519
The higher up you are (Deck wise) the more you feel the motion of the ship. I also use bonine and we are always Deck 5, AFT.

We didn't care much for Key West either - we opt for Eastern for that extra sea day. I think DCL needs to rethink Key West for families.

Rae

I haven't cruised yet (1st one is 4/29 Wonder), but I've been to Key West several times. We even honeymooned in the Keys. That being said, we have yet to take our daughter (age 7) to the Keys, and particularly to Key West. KW is just not a kids place - there isn't much for them to do. I wouldn't hesitate taking her to some of the other Keys, but KW is a world unto itself. My husband and I always have a blast there, but it's not really a family place, especially after dark. I am surprised Disney stops there as well. I wouldn't take the Western cruise for that reason - would much rather see Eastern Carribean since I haven't been to any islands other than the Bahamas. Whoever said they loved Irish Kevins, I definitely agree - wild place, wild time! We had a blast there. Garden of Eden is even wilder (clothing optional). I view Key West kind of like Vegas - fun place for adults to let loose for 2-3 days.

 

[Kimer]

Yes - we were the whoo hoo group on the ship - I am sure a few of you heard us! We had a very good time and drank just a FEW buckets-o-beer. For those of you who wanted Coronas on Castaway Cay - we are sorry! To answer some questions - my kids are 5 and 8. We spent time doing all kinds of stuff - there is no lack of activities on the boat. This was my first cruise - so I don't have a lot to compare it to - but I thought the food was good. I was not impressed with Palos - Lumiere's was my fav....could have just been the menus that night. Our servers were great - magic tricks, hats out of napkins, etc. We went to Paradise beach in Cozumel - it was great - definately kid-friendly - clean - a ways from the dock but well worth the trip. If you go - give my regards to Chi - he rocks! Was TKRULES the one with the Mickey bar in one hand and a corona in the other the whole cruise?...just curious!

 

[tkrules]

as to the question about the beach in Coz....
we went to a great family beach called Paradise Beach. It was family friendly, with clean bathrooms and things for the kids to do. We had a great time there and the nachos were wonderful.

 

[tkrules]

You found me out!!!!!
Yep, that was me....
wait, no .....
i have no idea what you're talking about...

 

[WMILLER86]

then you should be sailing the Western Magic with us for Thanksgiving. We will be skipping Key West due to power boat races in the harbor. We get TWO days at Castaway Cay instead.
My daughters will be 14 and 9 when we sail, so I was not looking forward to Key West. We were going to take a Fury Catamaran snorkel tour instead of walking around the town. But now we don't have to worry about it. We will just chill out on CC!

Willie

 

[tkrules]

SO JEALOUS!!!!! Castaway was the best! Enjoy your extra day there. We had all thought it would be a great idea to just dock there, sleep on the boat and have wake up again at Castaway. Key West is a great port to "skip", if you have kids. I would have absolutely taken an extra day at Castaway over Key West!
For those of you traveling without kids...Key West isn't horrible, it would be entertaining for adults. I'm not against Key West at all, I just wish I didn't have my kids with me...lots of things they shouldn't see. Even the t-shirts in the store windows were "rated R"... my 11 year old DS was getting an education!
Anyway, Castaway was perfect....the service of Disney, the beauty of the Bahamas...enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! Did I mention that I was jealous??????

 

[Kimer]

We were even thinking about hiding out in the trees of castaway so we would miss the boat back!!!!! I think I could live on that island for a little while! Oh - to whomever asked - our servers were Raj and Michael....they were great - especially Michael! Did I mention I wanna go back?!? I am having vacation let-down big time!!!!!!