A vent about our recent Disney Magic sailing experience.

[TikiThunderPirates]

I am less shocked about the condition of the chandelier but just more shocked that to start with DCL would be so cheap to buy a chandelier that wasn’t made out of true colored glass? How cheap is that. Most colored chandeliers or lamps I have seen glass itself is actually colored glass not clear with some plastic color film.

The state of the chandelier is embarrassing no doubt. I thought of a reason it may not be true colored glass; could be a weight issue. Since that is a boarder piece, I wonder if it is actually a lightweight plastic with high quality colored film? I know weight is super important when building/decorating a ship and every area has to balance out. Maybe this was a way to get the large actual glass that hangs down, but save on weight in a place far enough away from close inspection wouldn't matter much to use non-glass?

I kept thinking well maybe they haven't been able to get the new film installed. Maybe they are so understaffed and busy that no one has noticed the state of it. Maybe it suddenly started peeling 3 days ago and they just haven't fixed it yet. But regardless of the reason, the fact that it looks that bad and has pieces hanging down like wet laundry..... it's hare to find a valid excuse. Do better Disney.

 

[whatlevelisthis]

I'm sorry to hear about your lackluster experience on the Magic.

I was on the Magic this June in the Mediterranean (my first time on any DCL ship ever), and I also felt there was a lack of attention to detail and lack of proactiveness among the staff, considering DCL was charging $7K - $15K per cabin for that voyage. Nothing as bad as the peeling chandelier in your photo, but I also noticed little maintenance issues all around the ship. Now it's possible the chandelier peeling only happened a few days ago and they didn't have a chance to fix it, but nevertheless it is glaringly "not* "show ready", and Disney supposedly prides itself on empowering any employee to speak up and do something when they see little issues pop up. And so it worries me that DCL staff aren't being proactive. Another example of this was on my voyage the water dispensers in the gym had run out of water and were not refilled at all, even though a staff member had come in to replenish the towels right next to the water dispenser. He must have noticed the water dispenser was empty, but he probably thought it wasn't his job to fix it. Basically, I felt that if I was Walt himself, I saw too many things on the voyage that were subpar and I would have been furious that DCL is letting down the Disney name.

I had a good time on the Magic, but I left it feeling kind of disheartened that Disney didn't seem to be putting in their best effort, and that DCL isn't standing head and shoulders above the competition. Yes, COVID affected staffing, but at this point DCL should really be straightening all that out.

I'd recommend you write an email or letter to DCL with your photos. Hopefully someone there will be embarrassed and will start getting the message.

 

[Cheburashka]

I have a 3 night getaway cruise scheduled on the Magic for next Labor Day. Since it's before the dry dock, now I'm reconsidering my choice.

I sailed the Magic last October and didn't notice any problems. Maybe she hasn't been properly maintained in the past year due to low staffing and cutbacks.

 

[Kwami]

I kept thinking well maybe they haven't been able to get the new film installed. Maybe they are so understaffed and busy that no one has noticed the state of it. Maybe it suddenly started peeling 3 days ago and they just haven't fixed it yet.

I think you're right about them being understaffed. Everyone is. That's clear at WDW and it's clear on the ships. We have similar problems where I work. Lots to do, not enough people to do it. Every business around here is hiring and none of them can find enough workers.

These sorts of things don't require a drydock to be fixed. They just require enough crew, supplies, and time.

 

[Cheburashka]

These sorts of things don't require a drydock to be fixed. They just require enough crew, supplies, and time.

Which in practical terms means that they probably won't be fixed before drydock, if then.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

We both commented how great the ship looks for its age I didn’t notice any of this.

 

[tee11]

I agree with you. We were on the Oct. 5th sailing out of NYC. This was our 9th Disney cruise and 5th on the Magic. I posted a review as well. This cruise was as different as our cruise Nov 2019 out of NYC as it could possibly be. Everything from our harried dining team to the food, which was really subpar (didn't have a hot meal in MDR the entire cruise) was a disappointment. So many things were...off. The little touches Disney is known for just seemed to be missing.

This might be a silly thing (and it could have just happened) but seeing the Mickey statue in the atrium missing the "C" in Magic just summed up this cruise for us.

We were considering the NYC-PR cruise for 2023 but after this experience, we're taking a break from DCL (this likely was our last).

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5 times on the Magic really shows how much you actually loved the Magic, so I'm taking your account seriously. And also noting the difference to NOv 2019... how odd. The Magic is the one ship we've never experienced.

 

[NAB]

We were thinking of doing Magic in January not sure now . Haven’t been on this one in a long time through.

Was on the Wish a few weeks ago so I might notice the age more. Oh and those eggs you mentioned….they were the same on the Wish very watery and wet looking so stayed away from them.

 

[lwilliam]

I have a long rant on our recent experience. We sailed on the Disney Magic out of NYC on Oct 16th. I have sailed with Disney 8 times including this sailing and have been on all the ships lack there of the newest Wish. We have always had wonderful trips and I have to say this was my worst experience I have had on Disney.

First the Magic is really showing her age. Her exterior areas are all rusted in many areas and the flooring on deck 4 and deck 9 all have areas where the rubber is peeling out and don’t even have a coating on them anymore, very faded. They do try and keep the areas around the pool nice but leave the immediate pool area and they look very bad. Quite a few areas had various missing or broken pieces to them. Plenty of lights around the ship were out and not replaced. The carpet around the ship was shredded and showing the flooring underneath. Many areas of carpeting also could have used a good shampooing cause of the noticeable dirt and stains. The really sad thing I saw was that the main lobby chandelier has large sections peeling off of it. We didn’t go looking for things just everywhere you looked something just stuck out. There were plenty of things around this is just some of the things and happen to photograph.
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The dining experience wasn’t good. This was something we were really looking forward to. We sailed on the Dream just last year and we thought everything was great with the food. This sailing we had so many issues with the food. To start it off at the breakfast buffet the scrambled eggs which was boxed eggs which we are fine with was undercooked. They were egg soups, very watery in the dish pans you served yourself from and this was for all the egg dishes that had scrambled eggs in them even ones with toppings added in. Not even firm at all. Even the MDR had this egg issue. The bacon was flavorless and limp and we love bacon. The Mickey waffles were soggy also from them steaming each other in the serving pan. They had the churro Mickey waffles one day and those were good but they didn’t come back. I did find a dish called Chicken Congee at breakfast I tried which turned out to be good tho it looked terrible like a yellow mush. It became my go to item at the breakfast buffet. Sadly the last morning they over salted it so it was inedible. The lunch buffet also had issues with food being over cooked or bland lacking flavor. I found if you kept to the premade foods that they only had to heat up to serve they were fine. Room service was some of the better food we had but they served us a side of chips with our grilled cheese that was the crumbs from the bottom of the bag and didn’t give us our coleslaw. They also gave us honey mustard to go with our hot wings which was strange we asked for blue cheese and they gave us Honey Mustard and Ranch. The Duck in Diner was where I had my biggest issue happen. I ordered the impossible burger and they told me it would take a while to make to make sure it was cooked correctly. Told them it was fine I was in no rush. When they finally gave me the burger I sat down with it but it looked off. So I cut it in half and it was raw inside. Poked my finger in it and it was cold and mushy. So I had stood there waiting for my food cause they said they wanted to make it cooked correctly and they still served me a raw meal. The Pinocchio pizza window was passable but the more specialty pizzas went quick and they hardly made them. They only usually had cheese, pepperoni or sausage. My DH big issue was the roast beef sandwich from Daisy’s Delights. He got the sandwich shortly after they opened so the food should have been it’s freshest. Well when he bit into it he immediately spit out. It was all mush like it had sat out all night. I went and got one to see if it was just one bad sandwich. It wasn’t it also was mush.
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The main dining was ok. I am disappointed that dishes I have ordered many times have changed and not for the better. Our server kept asking me and my DH if our meal was ok and if we wanted anything else but had to keep telling him that we didn’t care for something and no thank you to picking something else. They seem to have changed the recipes or the new crew are not making them the same anymore. I miss them having Cabanas open for table service. That was one place you could get a good and hot meal every time cause they made it fresh just for you not a whole dining room.

I am so happy that the Dream will be the ship we get out of NYC next year cause this sailing made me really sad about how Disney has slipped so far from trying to make sure you have a a good vacation. I did see plenty of Earning my Ears name tags on this sailing but I don’t believe this should have affected the sailing as much as it probably did. I did fill out the questionnaire at the end of the sailing and made sure we noted all the problems. I am sure there will be many here ready to argue in defense of Disney but seeing and experiencing the decline at WDW and now Cruise Line I find it hard to give Disney a pass anymore. I hope Disney redeems itself when we sail on the Dream next year but if we experience what we did this sailing we will sadly have to give Disney time to get their act together.

My thoughts, too much time and energy on the Wish…and not all reviews have been positive on there. We have sailed 27 times on Disney and Im not anxious to sail Wish. I did notice rust stains on Magic last time we sailed on her but, fortunately, had a good experience.

 

[ichoose2believe]

Thanks for your review. I was thinking about booking a cruise at the end of 2023 from the West coast when the Magic will be here. I will have to look at more trip reports since the cost during that time is increasing.

 

[KashasMom]

If you look at the sailing schedule it does not seem to be scheduled for drydock anytime before the end of 2023. But all of the issues pointed out could be fixed regardless....

One of the concierge hosts told us Magic was going in sometime in the spring. One of the things they're doing is widening the concierge lounge to be similar to the Wonder's. Of course, we all always hear inside info so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[KashasMom]

Thank you for sharing and appreciate the pictures -

Our last cruise was a few years ago out of NYC too. Does the Magic still have the comment card to fill out? I hope you shared your thoughts with them.

Even if it's going into dry dock - no excuse for so so food

Comment card was still there. One thing I never liked is that the dining team is combined with the food. I've never thought that was fair. I did read that on the Wish they've now split it into separate categories. As far as the comment card overall, there is not enough space to actually leave any feedback and it's likely, based on the fill-in-the-circle grading, that they are all computer read.

 

[KashasMom]

I'm sorry to hear about your lackluster experience on the Magic.

I was on the Magic this June in the Mediterranean (my first time on any DCL ship ever), and I also felt there was a lack of attention to detail and lack of proactiveness among the staff, considering DCL was charging $7K - $15K per cabin for that voyage. Nothing as bad as the peeling chandelier in your photo, but I also noticed little maintenance issues all around the ship. Now it's possible the chandelier peeling only happened a few days ago and they didn't have a chance to fix it, but nevertheless it is glaringly "not* "show ready", and Disney supposedly prides itself on empowering any employee to speak up and do something when they see little issues pop up. And so it worries me that DCL staff aren't being proactive. Another example of this was on my voyage the water dispensers in the gym had run out of water and were not refilled at all, even though a staff member had come in to replenish the towels right next to the water dispenser. He must have noticed the water dispenser was empty, but he probably thought it wasn't his job to fix it. Basically, I felt that if I was Walt himself, I saw too many things on the voyage that were subpar and I would have been furious that DCL is letting down the Disney name.

I had a good time on the Magic, but I left it feeling kind of disheartened that Disney didn't seem to be putting in their best effort, and that DCL isn't standing head and shoulders above the competition. Yes, COVID affected staffing, but at this point DCL should really be straightening all that out.

I'd recommend you write an email or letter to DCL with your photos. Hopefully someone there will be embarrassed and will start getting the message.

The comment about the staff is spot on. We met so many crew members that really just didn't seem to care (not everyone, of course - concierge hosts/team were wonderful as were our stateroom team). It happened many times - with things that were so odd (such as getting soup AFTER our entrees) - that I found myself constantly wondering if they took all the "good" crew members and put them on the Wish and hired newbies for the Magic.

 

[Kwami]

One of the concierge hosts told us Magic was going in sometime in the spring. One of the things they're doing is widening the concierge lounge to be similar to the Wonder's. Of course, we all always hear inside info so take it with a grain of salt.

Looking at the schedule here, there's a gap between April 13 and May 5. At the same time, the Magic moves from New Orleans to Puerto Rico. So, it looks like there might indeed be a dry dock this spring.

 

[NAB]

The comment about the staff is spot on. We met so many crew members that really just didn't seem to care (not everyone, of course - concierge hosts/team were wonderful as were our stateroom team). It happened many times - with things that were so odd (such as getting soup AFTER our entrees) - that I found myself constantly wondering if they took all the "good" crew members and put them on the Wish and hired newbies for the Magic.

This happened on the Wish too , having soup after our entree and the server was not new we had him on the Fantasy. Makes me think something is going on in the kitchen.

 

[Justacruiser]

So getting ready to do a b2b October 31 - November 14. This will number 14 & 15 on the Magic. Will do my best to give a good report when I get back. By the way, I hate watered eggs. I will try to get my omelets and crispy bacon.

 

[mmouse37]

Wow....I was on the Magic for the 10-10-22 NYC to Canada cruise and didn't notice any of this. Your pics are the reality though. We had a wonderful time and I did notice a mold stain in our bathroom grout and I never remember seeing that before. This was our 29th time on the Magic (52nd DCL in total). We were on her Maiden Voyage back on July 30, 1998 and have watched her evolve over the years. I honestly didn't notice any of the pics you posted but we were with first time DCL cruisers and we were busy making sure they were having a good time (which they did!). My husband did comment in Halifax as we were walking back to the ship that he never saw the hull so rusted.

As far as the comment card I do not like that the servers are grouped in with the food quality. It is not fair to the servers. I always bring lined paper with me (in a pinch I'll take an extra Trivia paper to use) and write out any concerns and to list by name the many crew who may have gone above and beyond. Then I fold and staple the extra page to the comment card. I have teeny, tiny stapler in my gadget bag at all times.

I am happy to report that the "C" is back on the statue. I had to check my pics to make sure and low and behold in the pic I took on the 10th, the day we boarded, the C is indeed missing but the pic I took later in the week the C is there....right? I am not seeing things am I? So, they must have fixed it during the week.

We had great servers and no issue at all with any staff. Our food was good except one time my soup came out lukewarm. But, people on our FB Group were complaining a lot about the food quality. They were also very upset that the ship ran out of popcorn during our sailing so there was no popcorn outside the WDT (latter part of cruise) or the BVT (at all). People who bought the refillable popcorn buckets were really upset, as well they should be.

Sorry your cruise was not up to par.

Mickey without the C in Magic



Helmsman Mickey with the C (I think LOL)



Edited to add: I was just telling my husband about the C on the statue and he said he saw them working on the statue one day. I did not see it but he did.


MJ

 

[Budzooka]

The pictures are what they are, but I was on the Magic in July and didn’t notice any of that. Maybe it was there and I didn’t pay attention…certainly possible.

I didn’t have any issues with the food. We did comment the scrambled eggs were not as good as we remembered, but not egg soup.

I thought the staff was great and didn’t have any issues. Very helpful and engaging as expected.

I wouldn’t hesitate to sail the Magic again.

 

[SamFaniam]

The state of the chandelier is embarrassing no doubt. I thought of a reason it may not be true colored glass; could be a weight issue. Since that is a boarder piece, I wonder if it is actually a lightweight plastic with high quality colored film? I know weight is super important when building/decorating a ship and every area has to balance out. Maybe this was a way to get the large actual glass that hangs down, but save on weight in a place far enough away from close inspection wouldn't matter much to use non-glass?

I kept thinking well maybe they haven't been able to get the new film installed. Maybe they are so understaffed and busy that no one has noticed the state of it. Maybe it suddenly started peeling 3 days ago and they just haven't fixed it yet. But regardless of the reason, the fact that it looks that bad and has pieces hanging down like wet laundry..... it's hare to find a valid excuse. Do better Disney.

They should never have replaced the beautiful Chihuly chandelier. I wonder what happened to it.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

My thoughts, too much time and energy on the Wish…and not all reviews have been positive on there. We have sailed 27 times on Disney and Im not anxious to sail Wish. I did notice rust stains on Magic last time we sailed on her but, fortunately, had a good experience.

Don't let other people's reviews of the Wish stop you. I, too, am platinum and sailed on it during the hurricane. I read the reviews and went with an open mind. We've sailed on all ships. The Wish did not disappoint us in the least and would not hesitate to cruise on it at all. People take the time to complain but they seldom praise. Some look for negative and not positives. Nothing. Absolutely nothing was worth complaining about including runny eggs, touchy elevator buttons and dead ends. Silly to let small things ruin a vacation.