Justacruiser
Military Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2011
- Messages
- 2,742
This was my DW and I's 8th cruise with the DCL. We took my BIL and his wife, or my SIL with us on the cruise. It was their 2nd with DCL.
We left for our long drive on the afternoon of the 11th. Most of us had to work part of the day so we got off at around 1pm. We drove about 500 of the 1275 miles and arrived at the hotel at around 10:30 pm. Got up the next morning and enjoyed a full complimentary breakfast at the hotel before drving on. We drove approximately 700 miles and ended up staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Palm Coast, Fl. I on I-95 about and hour and a half from the port.
DAY 1:
On the 13th we decided to leave around 10 am. We backed at the last minute so our arrival time to port was not until 1 pm. But we like to ensure that we at the port early. We ended up arriving at the terminal around 11:45 and thru customs and the ticket counter by 12:15. We were given the boarding number 16, which was actually called at 12:40 ahead or our 1:00-1:30 time
.
We got the pictures taken upon boarding and were annouced on board. We headed up to Top-Siders for lunch. I actually stopped off to try to get us out of 2nd dining. We had never had 2nd dining but were forced to take it due to the late booking. I was not able to get a switch.
The buffet was not crowded and we were able to get through the line quickly. I wasn't overly impressed with the buffet like I had been in times passed. They didn't have the roast beef or steak like I am used too with the DCL buffet on departure day. Upon completion of our lunch we were able to check out or rooms located on deck 7 midship. We were fortunate to get room located next to each other, but were not connecting.
The staterooms we occupied were 7584 and 7586. Both of the room locations are about midship. I found 7584 in not so good of shape. The mirrors were all spotted, the balcony plexy glass was in need of cleaning (from the outside). The salt resedue was built up pretty bad, so bad that you could really see anything clear while seated on the balcony. Also, the bed in the stateroom is terrible. This is the second time in a row that the bed has been lousy on the Magic. I understand that they are remodeling while at sea but they need to hurry it up. We will not be saling on the Magic any time soon based on the bed situation alone. Rex was our room host that we saw but he never really ingaged in conversation like previous room hosts. Overall I was not really satified with the room or cleanliness of the room at all.
Anyway, after walking around with my in-laws for a while it was time to get ready for the 6:15 show and dinner, which starts at 8:15. The show was Let the Magic Begin show started promptly at 6:15. If you are a first time cruiser, you want to get to the shows about 10 minutes early. We got there around 15 minutes prior (as ussual) and were able to find seats. The show was about the expectations of being on a cruise and was well put together.
Between the show and dinner there is a good hour that you need to do something with, each night of the cruise. That is why we prefer the early dining, you still have time, but you can take your time with dinner and make the evening flow better IMO. We went and visited the gift shops and walked a little bit before dinner. The order for our dining was LAPLAPL so were went to Lumier's for Dinner.
The nickname of our Server was "Strawberry" and the Assistant Server was "Jennifer" who has been with DCL for 4 weeks. The one thing I had heard previously was to order a cheese tray with dinner. The first night I asked Strawberry to serve a cheese tray. They served two that night and before we left he asked if I would like to have one each night. I said YES!
Strawberry was a good server, probably not great. It wasn't that he was too busy, just that it is hard when assigned parties don't show up at the same time. It makes for a very tough night when people don't get the same menus at the same time. Jennifer was new and not well prepared. We were often waiting on drinks or drink refills.
Dinner was late that night so we did not finish till around 10 pm. We retired to our statements for the evening. Day 2 next.......
We left for our long drive on the afternoon of the 11th. Most of us had to work part of the day so we got off at around 1pm. We drove about 500 of the 1275 miles and arrived at the hotel at around 10:30 pm. Got up the next morning and enjoyed a full complimentary breakfast at the hotel before drving on. We drove approximately 700 miles and ended up staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Palm Coast, Fl. I on I-95 about and hour and a half from the port.
DAY 1:
On the 13th we decided to leave around 10 am. We backed at the last minute so our arrival time to port was not until 1 pm. But we like to ensure that we at the port early. We ended up arriving at the terminal around 11:45 and thru customs and the ticket counter by 12:15. We were given the boarding number 16, which was actually called at 12:40 ahead or our 1:00-1:30 time
. We got the pictures taken upon boarding and were annouced on board. We headed up to Top-Siders for lunch. I actually stopped off to try to get us out of 2nd dining. We had never had 2nd dining but were forced to take it due to the late booking. I was not able to get a switch.
The buffet was not crowded and we were able to get through the line quickly. I wasn't overly impressed with the buffet like I had been in times passed. They didn't have the roast beef or steak like I am used too with the DCL buffet on departure day. Upon completion of our lunch we were able to check out or rooms located on deck 7 midship. We were fortunate to get room located next to each other, but were not connecting. The staterooms we occupied were 7584 and 7586. Both of the room locations are about midship. I found 7584 in not so good of shape. The mirrors were all spotted, the balcony plexy glass was in need of cleaning (from the outside). The salt resedue was built up pretty bad, so bad that you could really see anything clear while seated on the balcony. Also, the bed in the stateroom is terrible. This is the second time in a row that the bed has been lousy on the Magic. I understand that they are remodeling while at sea but they need to hurry it up. We will not be saling on the Magic any time soon based on the bed situation alone. Rex was our room host that we saw but he never really ingaged in conversation like previous room hosts. Overall I was not really satified with the room or cleanliness of the room at all.
Anyway, after walking around with my in-laws for a while it was time to get ready for the 6:15 show and dinner, which starts at 8:15. The show was Let the Magic Begin show started promptly at 6:15. If you are a first time cruiser, you want to get to the shows about 10 minutes early. We got there around 15 minutes prior (as ussual) and were able to find seats. The show was about the expectations of being on a cruise and was well put together.
Between the show and dinner there is a good hour that you need to do something with, each night of the cruise. That is why we prefer the early dining, you still have time, but you can take your time with dinner and make the evening flow better IMO. We went and visited the gift shops and walked a little bit before dinner. The order for our dining was LAPLAPL so were went to Lumier's for Dinner.
The nickname of our Server was "Strawberry" and the Assistant Server was "Jennifer" who has been with DCL for 4 weeks. The one thing I had heard previously was to order a cheese tray with dinner. The first night I asked Strawberry to serve a cheese tray. They served two that night and before we left he asked if I would like to have one each night. I said YES!
Strawberry was a good server, probably not great. It wasn't that he was too busy, just that it is hard when assigned parties don't show up at the same time. It makes for a very tough night when people don't get the same menus at the same time. Jennifer was new and not well prepared. We were often waiting on drinks or drink refills.
Dinner was late that night so we did not finish till around 10 pm. We retired to our statements for the evening. Day 2 next.......
