A live trip report - DCL Magic Western 8-12 Updated through End of Cruise

[jd99]

Ok, so it's a little early but we're at the airport so I think that means vacation officially begins.

The players: me: Jeff, DW and DD7 and DD2

What a week. I have been traveling constantly the past three weeks and have had some tough airport delays to boot. Barely time to think about packing for our first-ever DCL adventure but it all came together after about 24 straight hours of packing -- or so it seemed. Then we have the new airline restrictions to worry about and the frenzied media telling us to get to the airport yesterday in order to make our flight.

With a 7:30 a.m. flight from Pittsburgh, we woke up promptly at 3:30 a.m. left by 4:40 for the airport, arrived by 5:10 a.m., stood in about a 7 minute line for curbside luggage check in and in a zero minute (that's right zero) line for security. Now I cheated a little because I do travel a lot, I am able to stand in the "preferred/first class" line, but even the other line looked like it was at about the 15 minute wait level.

Talking to an airport employee, EVERYONE got here much earlier than ever before. She said she had a long security wait because when she got in at some unGodly hour, they only had 2 lines open and employees were mingled with passengers, so some folks outsmarted themselves by getting here so early that the screeners weren't fully staffed. I was hoping to offer next week's cruisers lots of advice on airport traffic, but I think it's a complete crapshoot. What's a traveler to do?

Anyway, I'm just hanging in the USAirways Club while the family forages for food that we can actually take onto the plane. Chugging my second coffee of the day in an effort to wake up.

Methinks the Day One trip report is going to be a short one because we are all going to pass out early tonight. But who knows? First cruise. Lots of excitement and overstimulation may keep us going longer than we expect. The girls are beside themselves with excitement. I'm my usual cautiously optimistic self.

More to come after we're on the ship. I may not keep up with this daily if it starts feeling like "work" but promise a full trip report will be filed. Whether live or after the fact. Thanks to all DIS folks for telling us everything we needed to know.

 

[debster]

Yeah!!! Another Live Report! Can't wait to hear more

 

[michelle9343]

I love live reports!!! Have a wonderful cruise

 

[wltdsnyfan]

Safe travels. I miss the Magice already and I just got off on the 5th. Looking forward to more reports.

 

[Verandah Man]

Have a MAGICal time, we get on as you get off, but don't think about that right now. Just enjoy your time aboard the ship!!!

I don't have a pic to post as the port cam has been facing out the port channel all day, will try and capture a pic or two later as the Magic sails away!!!

 

[suzannef]

I hope you and your family have a "magic"al week at sea

Suzanne

 

[Verandah Man]

Here you go..................have a BLAST!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dixielady908]

Have a sunny, MAGICAL, and safe voyage.....

Keep the reports coming...


Denise

 

[Tarabra]

Oh no....I'm so jealous...we just got off the ship this morning! Have a ball!

 

[Babs417]

Mr VMan great pics of the ship

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Have a great trip! Can't wait to hear about your travels!

Thank you for sharing!

 

[Jillpie]

Fantastic. I can tell I love your writing style already and can't wait to read more. Have a ball and we'll be waiting!!!

 

[jd99]

Day One – Part One – In a word Overwhelming

The Players: Jeff, DW, DD7 and DD2

Let me first apologize for taking so long to get to this but after you read the bottom of this report, you’ll understand why. Let me also offer a caveat to those who think cruising is the only way to travel and that Disney can do no wrong, my report will have its share of constructive criticism and the like.

As mentioned above, in a word…it’s all TOO much. If you think you’ve read everything you need to know and asked and have had answered every question you need to know, think again. I can’t imagine being on this ship not having been on the DIS for the past six months. Even still, I felt completely overwhelmed on Day One. I am writing this on Day three and can only say I feel better, but still not completely prepared.

On to the day. After a smooth flight from Pittsburgh and a easy process at MCO we were on the DCL bus bound for the port. Yes, it is magnificent to see the ship when you crest that hill. I truly thought that was overstated in past reports, but it’s not. It’s everything everyone says it is.

Got off the bus and got in line for security, chatting excitedly with my family when a DCL employee was asking “is this anyone’s stuff.” Yep it was mine. Yep it fell out of my bag on the plane. And yep, it was our passports and cruise vouchers. Yikes. A sign of things to come? Maybe.

The terminal was very nice and what struck me was that it was much less chaotic than I had imagined it would be. Not as loud, not as crazy, just calmer than expected. Now check in took longer than I had imagined - probably about 40 minutes – but it was okay as our number (8) was called just about 2 minutes after I finished up.

We entered the gangway and our little one immediately had a bit of a diaper emergency. Needless to say the photo of us is hilarious as we all look in shock, scared or (in the case of DD2), the cat who swallowed the canary).

Had lunch in Parrot Cay and it was a nice break. Food was outstanding and service good. We changed around some Palo (hopeful) reservations and by now our room was ready. Stateroom 7084 – a nice location, in good shape, nice verandah.

Then off to visit the kids’ clubs in hopes that DD2 would give us a bit of a break and go to Flounders one time (pleeeezzzee). She liked it but didn’t seem to want to give in on the “go to” the place. More on that later. We then went to our DIS board meet about 15 minutes early but had to leave before it even started so we’re sorry we missed Beckie, Laura and everyone else.

Back to the room, desperately awaiting luggage to pile up in front of our room. Nothing.

So it was off to the Sail Away Party. We were late (this becomes a theme) but did get to meet some of our fellow DIS friends. And I have to say that between the great magnets from Marco & Laura and the great giftbags including anniversary greetings from Beckie, it was an incredible welcome to the ship and to the world of cruising. And thanks to ReggieB for the card too!

Now, let me tell you, the luggage thing is one area that I would like to see DCL improve. As first time cruisers, the craziness of luggage arriving one at a time between about 3 and 5 and the bag containing shoes coming last and us, with a 5:30 p.m. dinner seating. Yikes. We were frantically unpacking and trying to store the bags, the kids were running around in a bit of a frenzy: we were the crazed family. We finally made it to dinner at about 6 p.m. but no one seemed to mind which was great.

Our servers are Jesse and Walter. So far, it’s okay, not great. We like Walter (the assistant) a lot, but the jury is still out on Jesse. My first impression is that we are being VERY rushed for dinner. We arrive and they immediately want to take our order. I know that some people like that, but we like to peruse the menu, chat a bit and take our time getting started. Having the very first seating, this has been the biggest surprise as I remember hearing others complain that dinner takes so long. If we followed the servers’ cues, we’d be out of there in less than an hour. Not a fine dining experience by any means.

The food this first night (in Animator’s) was very good. DW and I both had steaks. DD7 had kids food and enjoyed it. DW took DD2 off to bed as she fell asleep before dinner was really served. We walked around the ship a bit (still overwhelming) visiting Shutters and Studio Sea where DD7 and I watched the end of Who wants to be a mousketeer. We had fun, but were exhausted and went to bed pretty early. I never really felt like I got my “sea legs” and so far as I wind up the end of Day 3, I’m not sure that I ever will. This from the one in the family who does all the motion sickness stuff (parasailing, roller coasters, catamaran trips, etc) but I’ve been having a tough time of it – thus the lateness of my allegedly live trip reports.

 

[Jillpie]

Thanks a million for taking the time to come back to us. And thanks so much for your complete honesty, its appreciated. I understand your feeling overwhelmed, its alot to take in. I hope you enjoy the rest of the cruise, but if you don't, don't feel bad about it. Its really not for everybody. See you soon!

 

[jd99]

Day Two – Do I like Cruising? Not so much today

I’m only going to say that this was a TOUGH day for me. I was not feeling up to snuff all day. Never got what I would consider to be “seasick” – just a little disoriented and feeling not quite “right.” Took Bonine but it just made me sleepy so I don’t have a lot to report today.

Character breakfast was fine – more rushed than at the parks/hotels as others have said, but all in all it was okay. We swam a bit after docking in Key West – the pools were reasonable and we had a nice time. DD7 loved the water slide and we also hit the Goofy pool for a bit. Went into Key West briefly but the kids and I were not really up for it. I felt awful and DD2 fell asleep. DD7 was hot and not in the mood to shop, so we packed it up quickly.

Dinner was at Parrot Cay and it was fine – nothing special or spectacular but fine. DD7 went to the kids club for a bit and baked choco chip cookies. She had a good time. DD2 wanted nothing to do with Flounders (uh-oh) and it was okay for now since we didn’t have time scheduled.

Honestly I don’t remember much about this day as I slept a lot. Wife and Dds went to the DVC member event and won a beach towel – a very blue beach towel. Night time we hit the hay very early – DD7 was exhausted and conked out at 8. DD2 was buzzed by her Mickey Bar dessert and kept DW occupied until close to 11.

Not much for me to say on this day as it was not a good day. I was extremely worried that I was going to feel like this the whole trip and I could just see money flushing down the toilet and daddy not being part of the vacation we so looked forward to.

For those feeling sorry for me, never fear. Day three was much better and I hope that the days ahead follow suit!

 

[jd99]

Reminder: Jeff, DW, DD7 and DD2

Going to bed early last night and laying off the Bonine were both good ideas. Day three was a hit and gave me hope for the days ahead.

Woke up early since we all went to bed early. DW took both Dds to the 9th deck to play, get some breakfast and just hang out. They had a good time while I snoozed a bit more. I awoke in time to head to the spa for my 8 a.m. massage. It was a VERY good massage. I have heard mixed reviews here and I get massages a lot, and this time had a great treatment. Bravo Gareth.

After the massage, I had enough time to get ready to try to spend some quality time with DW at Palo for brunch. Both the massage and Palo brunch were waitlisted as of yesterday so we were thrilled to have confirmation today. Took DD7 to Oceaneer’s Club for “Free time and lunch” and then attempted Flounders with DD2. She cried, no wailed, while walking down the hall and in…then cried when my DW dropped her off…then she went to a counselor and…… PLAYED. She is so much about the drama – she does this at Daycare too. Lotsa drama for DW then she has fun!

Palo brunch was outstanding. I didn’t want to necessarily go to Palo. We go out to great restaurants a lot – both at home and traveling and I couldn’t imagine that a restaurant on a ship could be so special. But it is. We’re not huge eaters (not the “get your money’s worth” types. But we really found a great variety of great food at Palo. Service was great and we just had a wonderful few hours to ourselves.

Picked up the kids and then went to the matinee of the Golden Mickey’s since we know we are likely never going to make an 8:30 show. Really nice program, nice show. We all had fun. Even DD2 before she fell asleep.

By the time the show was done, it was time to get all gussied up for dinner. I brought my tux and DW a cute little black dress, with both DD7 and DD2 in pretty little girl dresses. I was on the “no tux” fence for a while but it was fun to get dressed up and have a special dinner and hopefully some nice photos.

We got photos taken and then hit dinner at Lumiere’s. So glad we had this rotation so we were in Lumiere’s for formal night. Again, felt like we were being rushed, but just told Jesse to back off as we weren’t ready to order. Thus, we had a much more relaxing meal. I forgot to mention earlier that we got a table for just the four of us – not sharing with anyone. We think it’s a good news bad news thing. We’d actually like to share with others as we are pretty friendly in meeting new folks. But we also know that not everyone is ready to put up with an impish 2 year old at dinner. The other good news (and please no flames for this it’s just my opinion) is that we didn’t have to share our table with folks in t-shirts and jeans while we were in tuxes and dressy dresses. I honestly couldn’t believe how some people came to formal night. If you don’t want to get formal and don’t want to hit an alternative restaurant, just put on a pair of khaki’s and a golf shirt, for goodness sakes. A t-shirt and jeans – no lie – on a husband and wife at the table next to us…and their kids in shorts and tank tops. As someone who took the “formal” of formal night seriously, I was offended by it.

After dinner, we changed, went to Studio Sea, saw some of the scavenger hunt and danced to some old disco music. The girls had a blast.

That takes us to where you find me now – in the Promenade Lounge with a glass of champagne ready to shut down and call it a night.

Tomorrow, on to Grand Cayman.

Until then…

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Sorry to hear about the first couple of days and glad things are better....The "rush" tends to be a little less at dinner for late seating....we had early on our first and late on the next 4 and prefer the late....DW gets a little queezy on the first night but is usually better the rest of the sailing....she takes a non drowy thing at 1 or so now before we sail and is fine.....me, I drink too much and always have "sea legs"! LOL

Hey, if you see Pikey around....ya can't miss him....tell him Tink from the Thanksgiving Western wants to know if he plans on being on the Magic for the Eastern after Thanksgiving........Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Tarabra]

Yes, we noticed quite a few shorts at dinner too last week. One lady looked like she was going golfing w/ her pleated khaki shorts and polo shirt on semi-formal night. A little disappointing.

 

[Jillpie]

Sorry to hear about the first couple of days and glad things are better....The "rush" tends to be a little less at dinner for late seating....we had early on our first and late on the next 4 and prefer the late....DW gets a little queezy on the first night but is usually better the rest of the sailing....she takes a non drowy thing at 1 or so now before we sail and is fine.....me, I drink too much and always have "sea legs"! LOL

Hey, if you see Pikey around....ya can't miss him....tell him Tink from the Thanksgiving Western wants to know if he plans on being on the Magic for the Eastern after Thanksgiving........Thanks in advance!!!

Pikey told me after our fun time in the Pub the last night, he is switching over to the Wonder in November.

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Great report! Really enjoying it. Glad to hear things are better. When I started reading it though, I have to be honest, I thought you might be coming down with that norovirus, but I am so GLAD that you are well now.

Have a great trip and can't wait to hear more!