lolMy little trip report...
I've tried to keep it brief but I'm long winded by nature. Sorry.
Day 1
As I said previously, we got to the port too early and waited outside with DD's friend. Once inside it was pretty quick to get through check in and security. They were boarding group 12 and we were 14. DD wanted to take a bit of time and look around the terminal, she had only been in there one time before and they rushed through. We went out on the balcony, then took some pics with the backdrops inside and of course DD discovers one of her favourite photographers. They were both happy to see each other. We saw him everywhere on the ship and he very kindly took pics for us with DD's phone every time. When we finished with pics they were already calling group 20 and DD texted her friend to say we were on the gangway. He was in the atrium waiting for us to come through. It was so cute, they took video of each other as we walked in. He was jumping up and down cheering as our name was announced. He gave us a quick tutorial on where everything is but it's pretty much the same as the Fantasy. We then head off to lunch at Rapunzel's Royal Table which is a gorgeous dining room. The theming is incredible....flickering lamps, wood beams and glowing lanterns all though the room. Next up was checking out our room. Deck 2 midship, ocean view. This brings us to the dreaded the muster drill. Standing outside in a line, shoulder to shoulder with people in the heat for a half hour is not a fun time. They are now doing it with a recorded message that they start at a set time. So it takes longer and then everyone is trying to leave at the exact same time. Now let the fun begin....the Sail A Wave party. We actually left the dock before the show even started so by the time it ended we were more than half way out of the channel. We grabbed a fancy cocktail and found a spot at the rail to watch the land slip away and hoped to see some dolphins. We had late dinner/early show so we headed down to our room to unpack and get ready for the evening. Poured a glass of wine and went out to wander until it was show time. The show that night was Tangled and it was fabulous. The singing voices in this cast are outstanding. After the show we decided to take a stab at some trivia. We actually did ok at it and were only 2 off from the winner. This took us right to dinner time. We started out in Lumiere's which is a nice room but just a basic formal dining room. The theme decor is very subtle, other than a mural on the back wall. One thing that I noticed right away was that the vast majority of tables were for four but a lot of them only had two people. It made me wonder if they normally set up the dining room that way or had everyone requested a private table. Our service team was really nice and they did in fact work as a team which I really had not seen previously. First night dinner always seems to be a long one so afterwards we just went for a walk on deck and then off to bed.
Day 2
We had not yet arrived in Nassau which was going to be around 10am. After breakfast we were going to hang out with Captain America as he was out on a stroll. Oddly, there was no one around and we pretty much had him all to ourselves. Thor and Black Panther also came along briefly. DD being a little wicked tried her best to get him to break character....there were a lot of, what I figured, were inside jokes but had no understanding of. When Captain America had to go we headed down to the gangway to get off the ship. DD had warned me that Nassau was not a good port. I have to say that I now totally agree. The inner part of the port is good with nice shops but once you leave the gates it's a whole different world. The locals are very aggressive, some are a little scary and others just plain rude. They approach you and come right into your personal space. The plan was for us to go walk around a little and then go to DD's favourite place for lunch. It turned out that we walked around the streets for a while, looked in a few stores, went to the Straw Market for all of 3 minutes and then to Starbucks. We got a cold drink and jumped on the Wifi for about a half hour. At that point DD decided that she wasn't hungry and didn't want to walk the rest of the way to the restaurant. So we just went back to the ship. We spent less than 2 hours there. The rest of our day was spent lounging at the adult pool with drinks. At some point around 4pm a storm came through so we headed down to our room to shower and get ready for the evening. The show that night was Twice Charmed which is a twist on Cinderella. Again, the cast fabulous but the show itself is not one of their best. DD has seen all shows and she said to me, you will probably zone out at some point. Again, we went to trivia in between the show and dinner. Didn't even come close this time. Dinner was in Animator's Palate. It is very different than on the Fantasy. The whole room is black and white but it gradually turns colours and there are frames on the wall that sketches come to life. Our server said to us that we had the perfect table for the show. Um, what show? DD just smiled, she knew what was going to happen but wouldn't tell me. After dinner Sorcerer Mickey comes through the aisles and does something similar to the Fantasmic opening. We had a chat with our server before leaving about our plans for the rest of the cruise. The next night we would not be in the dining room as we were going to Palo and the night after that DD's friend would be joining us. She was really great about my food allergy, she started out service that night by telling me that everything on the menu was safe for me. She then asked us if we were planning to have lunch on Lookout the next day and told me about two dishes that I could not eat. I was so surprised by the care she took to inform me.
Day 3
Lookout Cay....I was so excited to get to see it for the first time but sadly the day was a rainout. We woke up that morning to very thick, black clouds and rain. I imagine the beach is really beautiful when the weather is nice. The sand is actually pink and the water was so warm. We were there 2ish hours when we could hear the calls to the lifeguard tower mentioning lightning, which we had been seeing. DD said I think they are preparing to clear the beach. She had texted her friend to see if they had made any decisions on canceling the Junkanoo and he said they were still waiting but it seemed likely. So we decided to go back to the ship. Just as we got near the food area it started pouring rain so we took cover and waited. When there was a break in the rain we headed to the tram stop. The tram was sitting there, loaded but not moving. Someone behind us in the line calls over a CM and asks why. The CM says that it's not safe to run the tram in this weather. The guy then says 'so it's safer to leave all these people standing out in the open?'. After getting back to the ship I have no idea what we did for the afternoon but it was pirate night and we were going to Palo for dinner. We also had a special appointment with Captain Jack Sparrow. DD insisted that we bring Paco the parrot (he's a fake parrot that I brought in December and Captain Jack had to turn around and compose himself). Well, she spilled the beans about Paco to her friend earlier that day. This time I got pranked when Captain Jack started yelling at me about smuggling a parrot. We had a really nice diner at Palo with an amazing server who went through every item on the menu with us. The food there is so good. After dinner we had just enough time to get out on deck and find a good spot for the pirate show. Turned out that it really isn't a show, it's a dance party that ends with Mickey on a zipline and then the fireworks.
Day 4
Castaway Cay is always a great day but once again we woke up to black clouds and rain. I watched the ship dock and in the time it took I thought the sky was clearing up a bit. We took our time getting breakfast and getting ready. DD was very unhappy about a second day of crappy weather so instead of heading off the ship we went to have a visit with Goofy. By the time that was done the sun was out and the clouds were moving off. We headed off the ship quickly and found a great spot on the beach. Spent the rest of the day either in the water or with my feet in the sand....had a nice BBQ lunch too. CC is just so nice I never want to leave. I think they really need to make that stop longer. There was no show this night, but it was the first bingo session and the big prize was $2500. Didn't win anything and didn't even come close. After bingo we headed to Rapunzel's Royal Table for dinner and DD's friend was joining us. Again I had no idea what was going to happen. They have a show with characters that come through and chat with the guests. Later they get people up to dance in a parade through the room. Don't I get grabbed by Flynn Rider and dragged through the whole dining room. In the midst of this DD's friend jumps up on the stage to dance with Rapunzel and I'm laughing so hard I can hardly move. When we sit back down he leans over and says I bet you didn't think you'd be dancing with Flynn Rider. He then laughs and says I knew. Flynn is his roommate and I think he was still getting me for the parrot. Our night was finished with a stroll on deck and discover that we were back in Nassau and docked. Turned out a crew member was being medically debarked. There was an ambulance on the pier.
Day 5
Our one and only sea day. DD had already decided that we would not be going to the pool or anywhere up on that deck. She said it would be wall to wall people and that I would hate it. We went up there only at lunch but never went near the pool. The ship in general does not have enough places to just sit and hang out so it did feel crowded all day. We did a couple of trivia sessions and went to learn to draw Hei Hei. I went to the DVC intro, they were giving away some prizes. I ended up with one of those little plushies that sit on your shoulder. After that is was back to bingo session #2, this time $5000. Again, didn't win or even come close but a man won 2 of the 4 games. Later I went back to the last session which was $10K and sat beside that man. Turned out not to be a lucky seat. I needed 2 numbers on 4 cards to win $3700. Dinner was back were we started at Lumiere's. TBH, we didn't even want to go to dinner. The menus are so repetitive that after a couple of nights I'm done with it and it was the same on previous cruises. I don't know why we didn't just order room service. The food is good and nothing to complain about but everything is so similar. It was a really fast dinner that night for some reason, 35 minutes. We had a bit of time too kill so we went back to our room to relax. We had been invited to the private gathering that happens right before the Till We Meet Again goodbye in the atrium. It's an invitation only gathering with all the characters for 10 minutes before they go to the atrium. It's fun you mingle and take pics. The cast chooses a couple of families that they had enjoyable interactions with over the cruise to invite. LOL....I'm 3/3 on this one. The difference on the Magic is that all the princesses are there along with the mainstage cast and they all go out to the atrium after.
Day 5
Debark day. We had a 12:30 flight so we did express walk off which was called at 7:10am. We left our room a few minutes later, went up to the atrium and it was empty. There was one other family leaving. I was surprised as previous experience was that the atrium was packed with people waiting to go. We walked right through immigration and right onto a bus. The bus was already half filled so it only took another 5-10 minutes to fill up and depart. Of course we have a screaming kid right beside us...he screamed the entire drive to the airport. Never once did his parents try to quiet him. It looked like they thought it was cute. Anyway, from the time we left our room to getting off the bus was 65 minutes.
Overall, I liked this experience much better. I really liked the smaller ship. You can get anywhere is 2-3 minutes. I think we had a very well located room which helped make it easy to get around. We were able to use the stairs most of the time, only used the elevator to go up to deck 9. Our stateroom host was constantly checking in on us and offering to do things. The crew in general seemed to be a very happy lot. Nearly all that I spoke with had been on the Magic for many years. To some degree it felt like the best were all on that ship. The negatives were few. The elevators are sooooo tiny and slow. Realistically they fit 5-6 people, and that is tight. People would use the elevator to go up/down only one floor. The food, I've already said it's repetitive. The menus haven't changed in years and it's exactly the same across a few ships. The pool deck food was really basic too. The buffet, it's a buffet. I hate all buffets equally. The adult pool is weird. There are not nearly enough chairs and the pool water was like a very warm bath.
So, I think I'm still on the fence about cruising. I didn't mind all the activities but at the same time I just wanted to be doing nothing. My germophobe side was on high alert all the time. I spent the whole time being paranoid about getting sick again. Yet, my obsessive side wants to make gold status and that requires 2 more cruises. I will cruise again? Probably. I do really want to go to Alaska.
I guess there's still a week to earn back the 15% so I'll be patient. Maybe 
