7 Night MAGIC Western Caribbean Cruise (10/15/11) lots of pics - COMPLETED 2/13

[rk33l4n]

I have always loved reading everyone else's trip reports, so I thought I would venture into the TR world and write one of my own.

There's only 2 in this cast of characters - me (Ryan) & my DW (Sayra).

First a little back story:

We live in York , PA & have been married for 6 six years. We actually went to WDW for our honeymoon and have gone back twice since.

While I consider myself a Disney fan, I'm an even bigger Baltimore Ravens fan. Each year I'm able to talk Sayra into going to at least one road game. Here's a picture of the two of us at the Monday Night Football game in Houston last December.

It seems to be getting harder and harder each year to convince her to go & use vacation time for football games. As soon as the Ravens 2011 schedule was released, I started looking over the different road games and how I would "sell" the trip to my wife.

me: We can go to the 12/18 game in San Diego & then take a trip up the CA coast.
DW: You know my mother is flying in for Christmas that week. ಠ_ಠ

me: How about the 9/18 game against the Titans in Nashville?
DW: I don't like country music ... plus we just went to Pigeon Forge a few years ago.

me: There's the 11/20 game in Cincinnati ...
DW: Really?

me: I have an idea ... let's just go on that Caribbean cruise that you've been wanting to go on. We can even sail on the Disney Cruise Line out of FL.
DW: OMG!!! That sounds amazing!!!

me: We can even add on a few days post cruise and spend some time in Orlando.
DW: That's perfect. Let's do it!!

me: Hey, you know what I just realized?? The Ravens are playing in Jacksonville on 10/24. That's not too far of a drive from Orlando.
DW: (shaking her head & smiling) Fine.

And that's how we decided to book the 10/15 Western Caribbean Cruise on the Magic.

I've heard discussions about whether or not the Florida sports teams actually bring any "tourism dollars" into Orlando. I can confirm that the Jaguars brought at least 2 people into Orlando this year.

This trip was the 1st time that either of us have been on a cruise, so some planning was definitely necessary. The next part will be the research & planning portion.

(I will update this 1st post with links for the following chapters each time I add to the report)

Chapter 2 - Thank Goodness for Southwest Airlines.
Chapter 3 - In France we have crêpes.
Chapter 4 - Who's Jennifer & Matt?
Chapter 5 - A Change of Plans.
Chapter 6 - Bienvenido a Cozumel Mexico (Part One)
Chapter 7 - Bienvenido a Cozumel Mexico (Part Two)
Chapter 8 - Costa Maya Jungle Beach Break (Part One)
Chapter 9 - Costa Maya Jungle Beach Break (Part Two)
Chapter 10 - Sea (Sickness) Day
Chapter 11 - Down in the Florida Keys (Part One)
Chapter 12 - Down in the Florida Keys (Part Two)
Chapter 13 - Our final day at Castaway Cay

 

[bigglesworth003]

Nice way to get what you both want!

Will be reading!

 

[LuvEeyore]

Signing on to hear more!!

 

[devonsmommy]

Hello from a neighbor! (Reading, PA)
Can't wait to read your report! We're heading there in March.

 

[jasec2]

Read this to my husband who is a HUGE Bills fan. Sounds familar!! Can't wait to read the TR. Going on the Magic in Feb....

 

[Ajsmom22]

I was born at the York Hospital! My family lives in RedLion and Mt. Wolf! I lived in Baltimore for 11 years, when I got married, and we just relocated to Charleston SC 1 and a 1/2 years ago! We are big Ravens fans and still own our PSL's...lol!

We are going on our first cruise ever in April, on the Magic! (eastern caribbean) I have no idea what to expect or a clue about what to o! We aren't big planners, so we just wing it. I'm anxious to hear your report!

Amber

 

[MrsKP]

this is what happens with my DH and baseball. I loathe baseball but DH has the dream to go to every major league stadium. Every summer our trips have to include a new baseball stadium. New York Yankees is up next.

On a side note, Ray Lewis is my FAVORITE football player!

 

[rk33l4n]

Now that we've decided on where & when to go, the fun part is here - planning. Call me crazy, but planning is one of my favorite parts of vacation. On all of our past Disney trips I did 99% of the planning and this one was no different.

The 1st step was to contact Dream Unlimited Travel and get a quote. We had decided to go with a Cat 9 Ocean-view Stateroom. We had a ballpark number of the cost from the DCL website, but if we booked through Dreams, I'd get a shipboard credit. I ended up getting a $125 credit from Dreams and an additional $50 because I used my Disney VISA.

I also booked our post cruise stay with Dreams as well. We wanted to go to Universal this trip, since we'd done WDW 3 times over the past 6 years. After a little research, we choose the Doubletree. It was a really good price and within walking distance to the parks.

I booked our flights with Southwest & found a really good coupon code on MouseSavers for Budget Rental Car and reserved a car through them. Last but certainly not least, I bought 2 tickets for the Ravens/Jags game on Stub Hub.

The original plan was to fly into Orlando the morning of the cruise, rent a car and drive to Port Canaveral - stopping along the way to stock up on some soda & snacks for the stateroom. After the cruise, we would once again rent a car and keep it until leaving the following Wednesday.

Now that everything was booked and ready to go, I would spend some time on the boards every few days looking for some tips for 1st time cruisers. That was when I read a thread about NOT flying in the same morning of the cruise. They talked about stories of delayed/missed flights and people not getting to the port on time.

Needless to say, paranoia started to settle in and I frantically started to come up with a new plan. The new plan is to fly in the evening before, spend the night in a hotel by the airport and then drive to the port the next morning. The extra $$$ we spent on the hotel was well worth the peace-of-mind knowing that we wouldn't miss the cruise.

This the part where I was sooooo glad that I choose to fly with Southwest. The price to change our flights was ZERO!!! I actually got a few dollars back since the Friday evening flight was cheaper than the Saturday morning flight.

The next portion of the trip report will be about our evening in the lovely MCO La Quinta & our check-in @ Port Canaveral. There's also plenty of pics in the upcoming chapters.

 

[AnnaS]

Waiting for more patiently.

 

[Ajsmom22]

I'm waiting too!

Amber

 

[rk33l4n]

After weeks of planning & waiting, the time was finally here. 24 hours before the flight I did the online check-in for Southwest and got us in boarding group "B". I'm not really sure how 38 other people got checked in any faster??

Our flight out of BWI didn't leave until 8:30pm, so both Sayra & I worked that Friday. We left York around 5:30 and got to the airport around 6:30. Check-in took only a few minutes, so we now had 2 hours to kill in BWI.

Quick tip - Even though SWA doesn't charge fees to check bags, they will charge you $50 per bag if it weighs more than 50 pounds. We weighed all of our bags before leaving home and knew that we would be alright, although we did get close (49.5) on one.

Neither of us had eaten dinner yet, so we decided to eat at the DuClaw Brewing Company which was right by the SWA terminal.

After dinner we breezed through security and got on the plane. By 11:15pm we were in Orlando!!! Once we collected our bags, it was almost midnight.

We then headed downstairs to the Budget Rental Car desk and picked up a Ford Fusion. The plan was to drive to a hotel for the evening & then on Saturday morning we would drop the car off at the Budget office at Port Canaveral.

Another Quick Tip - Since we would only have the car for less than 9 hours, combined with the coupon code I found, the rental cost less than $35 - much cheaper than any other transfers that I priced.

I had made reservations on Travelocity at the LaQunita right by the airport. Not exactly luxury accommodations, but it was clean, cheap & convenient. We were only there for a few hours anyway, so it actually worked out perfectly. We were up and on the road by 8:00am Saturday morning.

This LaQuinta also offered a complimentary continental breakfast. I saw it when I was checking out & it looked pretty nice. I asked Sayra if she wanted to grab anything before hitting the road and she said that she was fine.

Our next stop was a Walmart to get some last minute things to take on the cruise. My iPhone found one not more than a few minutes away from the hotel. My only real gripe about Disney is that they serve Coca-Cola products, meaning no Diet Mt. Dew. I grabbed 2 cases of Dew & a bottle of wine (TIL- FL Walmarts sell alcohol) and Sayra bought some sunscreen.

After Walmart, Sayra was now hungry & wanted to stop somewhere for coffee & a bagel. Didn't we just turn up a free continental breakfast like 30 minutes ago??? I drove around aimlessly for a few minutes looking for a Starbucks or a Dunkin. We ended up finding one of the gems of our trip.

It was a little place called the Benjamin French Bakery. OMG ... so good!!!

Sayra asked the lady there if they had pancakes. In the most wonderfully authentic french accent she responded, "In France we have crêpes". The selection of different pastries they had was awesome.

We both ordered cappuccinos and shared a variety of different pastries and croissants. The vanilla cream croissant was amazing!!!

After breakfast, we finally started to make our way to Port Canaveral. It was about a 50 minute drive. We drove directly to the terminal first to drop off our luggage. Seeing the Magic for the 1st time was really exciting!!

After dropping off the bags, we headed over to the Budget Rental Car location to drop off the car. I saw the coolest sign in the parking lot there. How do you know you're in Florida?? When you see this ...

One of my plans was to get to the terminal a little early because I wanted to surprise Sayra with an upgrade to a verandah stateroom. I had read on the boards that if rooms were available, it was possible to upgrade at port for about half the cost. That's why I started to become really fidgety because the shuttles for Budget took FOREVER!!!

We must have seen about 5 different Enterprise and Thrifty shuttles pass by before the Budget shuttle finally got there. Of course we had to drop off the Carnival & NCL crusiers first. I was starting to stress about not getting the upgrade. Finally by 11:00am we had arrived at the DCL terminal.

When we first walked in, we went through a security check point. We then headed up an escalator where we were greeted by a cast member. He asked if this was our first cruise and we chit chatted for a few minutes. He then walked us over to the line where we would officially check in. There had to be about 30 people in front of us - starting to stress about that upgrade again.

That's when I noticed that we were in the line for US citizens. Sayra is originally from Honduras and at the time she was a resident alien, not a US citizen (she was sworn in as a citizen 3 weeks after we returned from the trip). We had to change lines & the "non-citizen" line was completely empty. Score!!

After giving the cast member all of our paperwork and checking in, I asked about the stateroom upgrade. He pointed me down to the far end of the terminal to the manager's desk. He said that they would help me down there with any changes. You can see in the picture below that we were at station 5 and we had to go all the way down about 20 stations.

Once down there, I gave the manager all of the paperwork I just received and told her that were interested in upgrading from our Cat 9 (Ocean View) Stateroom. She pulled out some chart or graph & quoted me an additional $300 to upgrade to a Cat 7 (Navigator's Verandah) or $450 to upgrade to a Cat 5 (Regular Verandah). We went with the Cat 5. This ended up being one of the best decisions we made the entire trip.

We received a new set of cards & then roamed around the terminal for a while, waiting for our boarding group to be called.

The next chapter will be our first impressions of the ship, the guided tour & our first evening at sea.

 

[AnnaS]

Thank you for taking the time and sharing. Great pictures!

 

[MrsKP]

Congrats on the upgrade!!!! Sounds like you are off to a great start!!!!

 

[LuvEeyore]

Lovin the report so far. Glad you liked the upgrade.

 

[golfermike35]

Hurry back!!!

 

[Bytor01]

Bumping...nice negotiation skills my friend, you'll have a long marriage...a cruise and a football game a win on both counts

 

[Ajsmom22]

Waiting...lol!

And thank goodness for the 49ers or this might have been the worst week ever...

Amber

 

[rk33l4n]

After about 30 minutes of waiting in the terminal, our boarding group was called and we got in line to go thru the "Mickey Tunnel". A quick swipe of our cards & a few photos later and we were on the landing ready to board the Magic for the 1st time.

We were asked our names before entering and were then announced: "Disney Magic please welcome aboard ... Sayra & Ryan!!". We entered to a round of applause and were greeted by a cast member who asked if this was our 1st cruise. She walked us through what would happen over the next few hours (places for lunch, when our room would be ready, the muster drill & the Sail Away Party).

We decided to go to lunch first, so we headed up to Topsiders. The buffet was surprisingly really good. Check out the cut on the carving station.

It was a beautiful day out, so we found a table on the deck and ate outside.

I love Disney's attention to the little details, like the hidden Mickey on each tumbler.

After a leisurely lunch we explored the top decks for a while. We didn't even realize at the time that the window that we took this "reflection" pic on was Palo.

We eventually headed down to Deck 6 to see our stateroom. We got there a few minutes early and the hallways were not yet open. The elevator foyers were starting to fill up.

Our stateroom was 6528, which we discovered was right next to the elevators!!!! First impression of the room was that it was bigger than I expected. Sayra went right for the verandah.

On the coffee table was the strangest thing. A bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates.

Now I have no idea who Jennifer & Matt are and Sayra & I definitely aren't anyone's "Mom & Dad". Obviously there was some mistake and this was delivered to the wrong room.

We walked out in the hallway and found one of our stateroom hosts. We explained to him that this wasn't ours and it must have been delivered to the wrong room. He looked at it and said "No. This is 6528 .. It is for you ... Enjoy!!!".

Again we tried to explain to him that we don't know anyone named Jennifer & Matt and that it is meant for somebody else. There was obviously some type of communication barrier because he told us just to keep it?? After a few minutes of discussion, we decided to just call and report the mistake. I had also forgotton to check on our shipboard credit at the port.

Within a few minutes of calling somebody was at our stateroom to pick up the champagne. It turns out that there was another couple originally booked in that stateroom who also upgraded at port, but the delivery had already been made.

Now that the champagne drama was behind us, it was time to get on with the fun. Reading over that day's navigator, we saw that there was a tour of the ship starting in just a few minutes. We hustled up a few flights of stairs, just in time for a tour of the Magic with Carly.

I would highly recommend this for any first time cruisers. It made the rest of the week a whole lot easier and relaxing knowing where everything was ahead of time. The tour lasted about 30-40 minutes. Afterwards we went back to the stateroom to see if our luggage had arrived yet. Nope

After heading back to check, it was already time for the the muster drill. We went down to Deck 4 and found our correct spot with the rest of the "F's".

Next .. our plan was to watch the Sail Away Party from Deck 11. We figured that it wouldn't be as crowded up there. After we were released from the drill, we headed directly upstairs and found some chairs right along the rail overlooking the party area.

The Sail Away Party was actually kinda of boring for us. Maybe it's because we don't have kids yet?? It also looked like the people on Deck 10 were having a much better time than the people with us up on Deck 11. This was something we would not repeat with the Pirate Party a few nights later.

After the festivities, we still had some time to kill until our dinner seating at 8:15, so we went down to Pinocchio's and got a slice of pizza to hold us over until then.

Plus now that we were officially "at sea", the stores were open so Sayra could do some shopping.

When we got back to our room, our luggage had finally arrived. We did some unpacking and then watched one of the most beautiful sunsets from our verandah.

Our rotation was APLLAPL, which meant that we were eating in Animator's Palate that night. I had requested beforehand to have a table to ourselves. It wasn't a big deal and we wouldn't have minded sitting with others, but we just prefer to dine alone - which ended up happening.

Our servers for the week were Hart and Ionna. Hart was from Bali & Ionna was from Croatia. Both were wonderful!!! I couldn't say enough great things about the service at all of our meals.

The food at Animator's was really good. My steak was cooked correctly and was very tender. I forgot what Sayra ordered, but she obviously enjoyed it.

The show was cute I guess. I'm sure once we have kids, we will enjoy things like this more - seeing it through their eyes.

After dinner we headed up to Deck 11 to stroll around and enjoy the sea breeze.

When we got back to our room, 2 things were waiting for us.

We don't belong to DVC, so I'm assuming that the box was supposed to go to "Mom & Dad".

We'd worry about that in the morning because by this time we were both exhausted. Plus we had a big day ahead of us tomorrow in Key West ... or so we thought.

Click here for a video recap of our 1st night on The Magic.

 

[Wadekind]

Great Report so far

 

[AnnaS]

I agree - great report. Enjoying it all. Thank you.