I'd like to 1st start out by thanking everyone for their advice and sharing their experiences. Knowing some things first hand really helped, as you still walk away thinking next time we'll do this or that differently...We sailed Dec 8th on the Magic with myself, husband, 1 year old son, and 5 and 8 year old son, and mother in law and father in law.
Prior to our trip I had the most awful virus; my cough was so bad I could barely talk. Wednesday and Thursday night I o'd on cough medicine and still couldn't stop coughing to even sleep. My husband made some disgusting concoction of honey, lemon, and cayenne pepper. His home remedy did not help! Thursday night we almost didn't go. We also didn't have trip insurance! But that wasn't the point. I'd been planning and looking forward to this trip possibly more than the rest of my family. Friday morning I was still sick but ultimately I wanted to go.
Our flight from Minneapolis started off on the wrong foot. Apparently there was a frozen water line on the plane and we sat on the runway for 1 hour. The flight to Orlando is already over 3 hours, so we spent 4 hours with a 1 year old on our lap. It was tough, but it could have been worse. Luckily he didn't get too affected by the change in air pressure; he slept a little and tried to visit with as many people that would pay attention to him.
After arriving in Orlando we used Ace Luxury driving service to get to Port Canaveral. It was around $315 for a 10 passenger including all tax and tip. Luxury the van was not, but it got us there. The driver was waiting for us when we got off the plane, even though we were over an hour late. Based on recommendations we stayed at Ron Jon's. I would recommend the hotel. It was very nice and clean with a sitting area and bedroom, about 15 minutes from the port in Cocoa Beach. It was also much cheaper then the Radison at the port. We called whichever driving service the hotel allows to leave a flyer in our room to schedule for AM pickup. It was $30 for 7 of us. Late afternoon I wanted to venture out to the ocean as it had been 9 years since I was in CA. After about 10 minutes my cough went crazy. It started burning in my lungs and I couldn't breathe. It felt like I was breathing salt. That's when I remembered about the Red tide. We went to a Walgreens across the street and the pharmacist suggested Mucinex. It worked! The next morning the cough was cured.
After an unsuccessful trip to the beach we left the kids in the room with Grandma after dinner and went searching for cheap souvenirs. The best thing we found was a $6 sand play set. It came in very handy on the cruise. We then left it upon departing with our room steward to share with the next family he took care of. I forgot to bring my 1 year old a hoodie and knew there would be chilly nights. I'm kind of a name brand snob, but Ron Jon's didn't have any infant sizes. We ventured into Beal's and I lucked out with a Disney Tigger jeans/shirt/and jacket set for $12. I was very happy with my bargain find.
The next morning our driver to the port was there right on time. We arrived at the port around 10:15am. There was absolutely no line to check in or to check in the boys for the kids clubs. Then we sat around until they started boarding around 11:45am. Thank you to DIS for the advice regarding early boarding. My mother in law was incredulous that we could board that early and almost didn't believe me! She's cruised many other lines and was never able to board that early. We were in the 2nd group to board. The picture taking upon boarding was annoying with backpacks and kids. I really wanted to skip it but I humored everyone and agreed to the picture. After boarding we went straight to Topsiders for lunch. Even though I'd read numerous times to go to register for Flounders and Palo I forgot! We had just sat down with our food, and I jumped up omg I'm supposed to be making reservations! Well I was too late for Palo reservations, but Flounders was no problem. I actually got about 7 hours over the 10 hour normal maximum. I think I changed my reservations 3 times as the cruise progressed and we started to know more about how the days went and what worked best.
All of our suitcases were ready at around 2pm. Thanks to DIS my 3 sons had decorated 8x10 magnets for our doors. It was great because no one else did in our hall area so it was easy to find our door. 2 nights before we left I found printable magnetic paper at Wal-Mart but it was too late we didn't have time to try and design something. I'd checked target, office depot, office max, Jo Anns, and Michaels with no luck. I found the regular magnet craft paper but it wasn't inkjet friendly.
I was very surprised at the size of our room with the double bath. The closet and under the bed stored our suitcases completely away. There was enough drawer space for the 4 of us even with my excessive packing. We had officially booked our 1 year old in my mother in law's cabin as you can't have 5. However he stayed with us the entire time and I felt it wasn't anymore crowded then if it had just been the 4 of us. Our room steward set up a pack and play each evening for him and he slept in the partition with the bunks. Our steward changed the bunk beds back to a couch each morning. I tried to tell him he didn't need to save him some time as we never sat on the couch but he did it anyways. Made me feel a little guilty.
We unpacked and began exploring the ship. Our first impression of the ship was mere awe. It was so beautiful. It was decorated for Christmas and took our breath away everywhere we looked! The details were amazing and each new part of the ship was so unique.
The mandatory life boat drill was not fun.. But I understand the importance of it. It was HOT and I think it was only around 80. I can't imagine standing packed in like that with strangers on top of you in 100 degree weather. My 1year old was sooo cute in his infant life jacket. We then headed up to deck 9for the sail away party. Very fun, great way to kick off the cruise but we had to hurry to our stateroom to get ready for dinner shortly after.
We had early dinner and I will have to say mandatory dining times are not for us. We were late every single night without fail. Try to get 3 children and ourselves dressed and ready in an hour not possible. Primarily because the children our not cooperative when it comes to dressing up. It was also tough to rush back each afternoon from whatever we were doing to dress for dinner.
Our first night was in Parrot Cay with Leroy and Joseph our serving team. I have to say many of the reviews for Parrot Cay were not positive but I found it to be my favorite restaurant. My 5 year old had a mickey bar every night for desert and macaroni and cheese. The Jamaican Jerk wings were excellent. I was disappointed to find the next time we dined there the menu changed. This was our first time having unlimited food that I didn't have to cook and it was wonderful. Please forgive me but I do not know what we did the rest of the evening. I know we didn't go to the show. I almost want to say we explored a bit more and retired early.
1 more thing to add is that I brought 3 pillow cases with colored sharpies for the characters to sign. I left it out for the 1st 2 days thinking our room steward was going to turn them in. When he didn't I went down to the front desk. They were then waiting in our stateroom the last night. 1 of the best souvenirs thanks to DIS!
More to come.
Prior to our trip I had the most awful virus; my cough was so bad I could barely talk. Wednesday and Thursday night I o'd on cough medicine and still couldn't stop coughing to even sleep. My husband made some disgusting concoction of honey, lemon, and cayenne pepper. His home remedy did not help! Thursday night we almost didn't go. We also didn't have trip insurance! But that wasn't the point. I'd been planning and looking forward to this trip possibly more than the rest of my family. Friday morning I was still sick but ultimately I wanted to go.
Our flight from Minneapolis started off on the wrong foot. Apparently there was a frozen water line on the plane and we sat on the runway for 1 hour. The flight to Orlando is already over 3 hours, so we spent 4 hours with a 1 year old on our lap. It was tough, but it could have been worse. Luckily he didn't get too affected by the change in air pressure; he slept a little and tried to visit with as many people that would pay attention to him.
After arriving in Orlando we used Ace Luxury driving service to get to Port Canaveral. It was around $315 for a 10 passenger including all tax and tip. Luxury the van was not, but it got us there. The driver was waiting for us when we got off the plane, even though we were over an hour late. Based on recommendations we stayed at Ron Jon's. I would recommend the hotel. It was very nice and clean with a sitting area and bedroom, about 15 minutes from the port in Cocoa Beach. It was also much cheaper then the Radison at the port. We called whichever driving service the hotel allows to leave a flyer in our room to schedule for AM pickup. It was $30 for 7 of us. Late afternoon I wanted to venture out to the ocean as it had been 9 years since I was in CA. After about 10 minutes my cough went crazy. It started burning in my lungs and I couldn't breathe. It felt like I was breathing salt. That's when I remembered about the Red tide. We went to a Walgreens across the street and the pharmacist suggested Mucinex. It worked! The next morning the cough was cured.
After an unsuccessful trip to the beach we left the kids in the room with Grandma after dinner and went searching for cheap souvenirs. The best thing we found was a $6 sand play set. It came in very handy on the cruise. We then left it upon departing with our room steward to share with the next family he took care of. I forgot to bring my 1 year old a hoodie and knew there would be chilly nights. I'm kind of a name brand snob, but Ron Jon's didn't have any infant sizes. We ventured into Beal's and I lucked out with a Disney Tigger jeans/shirt/and jacket set for $12. I was very happy with my bargain find.
The next morning our driver to the port was there right on time. We arrived at the port around 10:15am. There was absolutely no line to check in or to check in the boys for the kids clubs. Then we sat around until they started boarding around 11:45am. Thank you to DIS for the advice regarding early boarding. My mother in law was incredulous that we could board that early and almost didn't believe me! She's cruised many other lines and was never able to board that early. We were in the 2nd group to board. The picture taking upon boarding was annoying with backpacks and kids. I really wanted to skip it but I humored everyone and agreed to the picture. After boarding we went straight to Topsiders for lunch. Even though I'd read numerous times to go to register for Flounders and Palo I forgot! We had just sat down with our food, and I jumped up omg I'm supposed to be making reservations! Well I was too late for Palo reservations, but Flounders was no problem. I actually got about 7 hours over the 10 hour normal maximum. I think I changed my reservations 3 times as the cruise progressed and we started to know more about how the days went and what worked best.
All of our suitcases were ready at around 2pm. Thanks to DIS my 3 sons had decorated 8x10 magnets for our doors. It was great because no one else did in our hall area so it was easy to find our door. 2 nights before we left I found printable magnetic paper at Wal-Mart but it was too late we didn't have time to try and design something. I'd checked target, office depot, office max, Jo Anns, and Michaels with no luck. I found the regular magnet craft paper but it wasn't inkjet friendly.
I was very surprised at the size of our room with the double bath. The closet and under the bed stored our suitcases completely away. There was enough drawer space for the 4 of us even with my excessive packing. We had officially booked our 1 year old in my mother in law's cabin as you can't have 5. However he stayed with us the entire time and I felt it wasn't anymore crowded then if it had just been the 4 of us. Our room steward set up a pack and play each evening for him and he slept in the partition with the bunks. Our steward changed the bunk beds back to a couch each morning. I tried to tell him he didn't need to save him some time as we never sat on the couch but he did it anyways. Made me feel a little guilty.
We unpacked and began exploring the ship. Our first impression of the ship was mere awe. It was so beautiful. It was decorated for Christmas and took our breath away everywhere we looked! The details were amazing and each new part of the ship was so unique.
The mandatory life boat drill was not fun.. But I understand the importance of it. It was HOT and I think it was only around 80. I can't imagine standing packed in like that with strangers on top of you in 100 degree weather. My 1year old was sooo cute in his infant life jacket. We then headed up to deck 9for the sail away party. Very fun, great way to kick off the cruise but we had to hurry to our stateroom to get ready for dinner shortly after.
We had early dinner and I will have to say mandatory dining times are not for us. We were late every single night without fail. Try to get 3 children and ourselves dressed and ready in an hour not possible. Primarily because the children our not cooperative when it comes to dressing up. It was also tough to rush back each afternoon from whatever we were doing to dress for dinner.
Our first night was in Parrot Cay with Leroy and Joseph our serving team. I have to say many of the reviews for Parrot Cay were not positive but I found it to be my favorite restaurant. My 5 year old had a mickey bar every night for desert and macaroni and cheese. The Jamaican Jerk wings were excellent. I was disappointed to find the next time we dined there the menu changed. This was our first time having unlimited food that I didn't have to cook and it was wonderful. Please forgive me but I do not know what we did the rest of the evening. I know we didn't go to the show. I almost want to say we explored a bit more and retired early.
1 more thing to add is that I brought 3 pillow cases with colored sharpies for the characters to sign. I left it out for the 1st 2 days thinking our room steward was going to turn them in. When he didn't I went down to the front desk. They were then waiting in our stateroom the last night. 1 of the best souvenirs thanks to DIS!
More to come.
