Wow. There is NOTHING like being on a
DCL cruise. I have popped into the cruise line forum and quickly glimpsed some posts between unpacking, catching up on Survivor and tending to my virus that I came down with on the last night of the cruise(head cold thingy) So, not having read ALL of the posts, I'll just give you my take on a few things....
Kids clubs. WONDERFUL! This was our first Magic cruise and dd was extremely dissapointed as she had made a few very special friend on the Wonder. She was worried that no one there would be as nice. How wrong! She made some very dear counselor friends who are now dear to her heart (maybe partly b/c she faked a British accent for a whole day and told everyone she was from London---we're from London, Ohio---so once she revealed herself they just thought she was the cleverest thing. The counselor MOST fooled actually was FROM England and was SOOOO impressed with her accent!) Mother's Day my kids checked into the clubs at 9:00 am and didn't come out until nearly midnight. So the clubs must have been FANTASTIC!
Food...ha. Ok, stay home and eat the stuff I cook or eat on DCL? I'm not into fancy dining or expensive restaurants, so *to me* the food on DCL is the best. Maybe if I was used to dining at high class restaurants with world renouned (sp?) chefs, then I'd have something to complain about! I'm a pretty good cook, but even having said that, DCL blows my cooking away. And besides, I dont' have to cook it OR clean up after it...that ALWAYS makes food taste better. This was our first time doing Palo. Food there was excellent, but I did feel out of my league there. Everyone had such good manners and seemed to know what fork to use and where to sit. Apparently, simple me, missed the cue when the server pulled the chair out (for me) and I sat on the cushy bench. Oops. Not until after I sat down did dh say "he was pulling the chair out for YOU, not ME!" OOPS! Saw a post about Pinocchio's pizza not being good. Funny because we ate there several times and loved it. Again, guess it depends on what you're used to.
Weather was great (always cracks me up that Disney asks what you thought of the weather on the comment card--like they can control it) Rained in the afternoon of Grand Cayman day and rained at CC for about 3 minutes. Otherwise sun and more sun. Had "fresh gale" force winds on our sea day with 15 ft waves but no one was any worse for the wear for it.
Interesting things to note....we left Grand Cayman, went to dinner. Then going into the show the ship was lurching a bit. It was almost difficult going down the stairs. Found out after the show that the Magic had left Grand Cayman, but due to a medical emergency had turned back around, dropped off a passenger in Grand Cayman, and was again setting out. They hoped to get us to Cozumel on time. We went at full throttle and made it to Cozumel on schedule.
Mickey pool is ONLY worth going to on embarkation day. Otherwise too crowded and slide line too long. Goofy pool was downright dangerous as kids kept jumping in off of the sides (where it clearly says "NO JUMPING") and weren't looking where they were jumping. Several times my kids were almost taken out by jumping children.
Deck parties are WAY TOO LOUD as are "family dance parties" in Studio Sea." Walked into a family dance party and my 7 yr old clamped his hands over his ears and said "I can't stand it, let's go!"
Got pretty sick of hearing the "excellent speech." Seemed to hear it a lot from our server who was less than excellent. If it wasn't for our assistant server things never would have gotten done. She did 3/4 of his work and we tipped her more than him.
Got an upgrade at the port...from a 6 to a 4. Deck 8 is noisy. Sitting on my verandah there was lots of noise from Deck 9. I missed my cat 6 which was only one floor up from the Lab and Club.
Jackpot Bingo is too addicting and I never won!
Watching passengers come back on board in Cozumel I noticed something. The ppl going into the DCL line were all happy and with families and looking good. I saw many (probably more than 10 ppl) being supported by two or more ppl getting into the line for the Carnival Elation docked next to us. I guess it just shows the kind of ppl who are more likely to sail with Carnival vs. DCL.
Encountered a nasty cruiser on DCL who humiliated a mom on an excursion. The mom had a 1 1/2 yr old who was a bit fussy in the taxi bus and the nasty mom made several comments to her and told her she shouldn't be there b/c the child was too disruptive. Also said things like "I guess that's why this excursion has a lower age limit of 3 yrs." Finally the mom got off with her fussy baby and WALKED back to the ship. Bumped into her later and she said it took 1 1/2 hours to get back!! Upon our return to the ship I checked and the excursion info said "All ages." Just thought that was rather rude for someone to say.
All in all I had a WONDERFUL (or rather MAGICal) time! I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!
HTH. If you have any more specific questions, let me know.
Perhaps one day we will all cruise together. I just can't possibly afford to do two cruises in one year, especially with the cost of the FL to CA cruise! Needless to say I am so excited I could burst!
We have several generations of U of M alumni--including my DH! She's used to defending herself, though. Her school is split between U of M loyalty and Michigan State loyalty. Now, THAT gets ugly! I hope they can hook up. I'd be glad to have them e-mail, if it's OK with you....Rhonda
My daughter loves U of M, but she isn't really aware of any of the other rivalries, except the one with Michigan state! Did I mention she'll be 11 when we cruise? She would be totally oblivious to the whole Michigan/Ohio state thing. 
