guineapiggie
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2012
- Messages
- 34
I got off the Disney Magic less than a week ago in Galveston, TX. This was my first Disney cruise and my first more than 7 day cruise. This cruise began in San Diego, went thru the Panama Canal and ended up in Galveston, TX.
Overall, I was very impressed with the Disney Magic and the cruise itself. The Magic was decked out in so much Christmas stuff, that it brought joy and happiness to my heart. I love Christmas stuff and always enjoyed going down to see Christmas decorations and stuff.
It was so nice to see all the Christmas decorations and the big gingerbread house that smelled SOOOO good.
After reading on here and a few other places about how chaotic boarding would be at the San Diego port, I was worried that it would take forever to board since I have no status and didn't have an early boarding time. Boarding was a pretty easy process, despite that when the Magic was pulling into port that morning, they had someone jump off the ship in order to try and evade CBP. The miscreant was caught and it only delayed boarding by an hour or so. I got to the port around my boarding time and it took me about 30 minutes to get onto the ship and up to Cabanas to eat lunch.
Staterooms were ready when I boarded so after I ate lunch, I went and checked out my stateroom. I had a navigator's verandah stateroom which was ok. I ended up spending most of my time up on the top deck, or wandering around the ship, so I didn't take advantage of the partial veranda enough. Next time I will get an inside or ocean view room. I should have listened to the people on here. My stateroom host was nice and very helpful. Stateroom was nice, and even though I traveled as a solo, I enjoyed having the double bathroom.
For a 14 day cruise, there was a variety of stuff to do, like game shows, trivia, learning how to draw, bingo, learning about the history of the Panama Canal, learning about the history of Disney, all different stuff to fit a variety of tastes. I really enjoyed it when we had a deck officer come and do a class about the what goes on, on the bridge (navigation etc), the engines, etc). That was very informative and I never knew that Disney Cruise Line is one of the first cruise lines to have a man overboard detection system. We had 4 full sea days in a row and that went by fast because of all the stuff there was to do on the ship. Disney has some really kick *** stage productions, like Twice Charmed, Tangled the Musical. and Enchanted Dreams. These productions were full stage productions and very fun to watch for folks young and old. There was also classes to learn how to fold towel animals, how to tie nautical ropes, and there even was a few nights of stargazing (too bad it was too cloudy to see many stars)
I loved that there were so many characters out for meet and greets, and the way they interacted with adults and kids was fun to watch. Nice to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Pluto, Chip and Dale, etc, do meet and greets separately and in groups, Since it was such a long cruise, everybody seemed more relaxed including the characters and they were playful with each other and with the guests. Even Santa and Mrs. Claus made appearances a few times I ended up buying a picture package onboard since I loved getting pics with them. When I go to the parks, it is so crowded and hectic that it is hard to wait in line to get character pictures. I also tend to get anxiety issues when I am around too many people.
One thing I was not fond of was the rotational dining. I asked for a solo table when I first booked my cruise but I was paired up with a guy. I was not comfortable with that, but I didn't know what to do about it. I would think that since Disney knew I was a female traveling solo, they would pair me up with another woman. I just found it odd that I got paired up with a solo guy. There were two nights I skipped the dinner rotation and I felt bad about it. I wish that DCL had other options for rotational dining (like having Cabanas open for dinner).
Food on the Magic was plentiful but I found most of the food to be bland, with the exception of Palo. I had Palo for dinner one night and for brunch for one of the days and that was soooo good. It seems that the food in Cabanas and also in the rotational dining, are not heavily seasoned and just bland.
One other thing deals with the tip stuff at the end of the cruise. I prepaid my tips but after I got the tip sheets to divide up for the servers and stuff, I wasn't sure if I should add more to the tips and how much more. The servers and the stateroom attendants do an excellent job in making the guests feel welcome and enjoy their trip, but I wasn't sure how to go about the tip situation. I did add more tip cash and also mentioned them in the guest survey.
Do any of you tip other crew that made your cruise a pleasant one? I made sure to tip the people at the Cove Cafe since I was there at least 2-3 daily for coffee and pastries and I enjoyed joking around with them.
I was very impressed by how spotless and clean the ship was. Also, the crew were always cleaning, washing, and even painting parts of the ship that needed touch up. Very hard working crew.
On the day that we went thru the Panama Canal, ship staff was out early with a table set up with hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and carafes of cold water, cold lemon water, etc, and also pastries so we could get food and drink and still watch outside.
I really enjoyed my Panama Canal cruise and I am hoping to cruise with DCL next summer to Alaska.
Overall, I was very impressed with the Disney Magic and the cruise itself. The Magic was decked out in so much Christmas stuff, that it brought joy and happiness to my heart. I love Christmas stuff and always enjoyed going down to see Christmas decorations and stuff.
It was so nice to see all the Christmas decorations and the big gingerbread house that smelled SOOOO good.
After reading on here and a few other places about how chaotic boarding would be at the San Diego port, I was worried that it would take forever to board since I have no status and didn't have an early boarding time. Boarding was a pretty easy process, despite that when the Magic was pulling into port that morning, they had someone jump off the ship in order to try and evade CBP. The miscreant was caught and it only delayed boarding by an hour or so. I got to the port around my boarding time and it took me about 30 minutes to get onto the ship and up to Cabanas to eat lunch.
Staterooms were ready when I boarded so after I ate lunch, I went and checked out my stateroom. I had a navigator's verandah stateroom which was ok. I ended up spending most of my time up on the top deck, or wandering around the ship, so I didn't take advantage of the partial veranda enough. Next time I will get an inside or ocean view room. I should have listened to the people on here. My stateroom host was nice and very helpful. Stateroom was nice, and even though I traveled as a solo, I enjoyed having the double bathroom.
For a 14 day cruise, there was a variety of stuff to do, like game shows, trivia, learning how to draw, bingo, learning about the history of the Panama Canal, learning about the history of Disney, all different stuff to fit a variety of tastes. I really enjoyed it when we had a deck officer come and do a class about the what goes on, on the bridge (navigation etc), the engines, etc). That was very informative and I never knew that Disney Cruise Line is one of the first cruise lines to have a man overboard detection system. We had 4 full sea days in a row and that went by fast because of all the stuff there was to do on the ship. Disney has some really kick *** stage productions, like Twice Charmed, Tangled the Musical. and Enchanted Dreams. These productions were full stage productions and very fun to watch for folks young and old. There was also classes to learn how to fold towel animals, how to tie nautical ropes, and there even was a few nights of stargazing (too bad it was too cloudy to see many stars)
I loved that there were so many characters out for meet and greets, and the way they interacted with adults and kids was fun to watch. Nice to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Pluto, Chip and Dale, etc, do meet and greets separately and in groups, Since it was such a long cruise, everybody seemed more relaxed including the characters and they were playful with each other and with the guests. Even Santa and Mrs. Claus made appearances a few times I ended up buying a picture package onboard since I loved getting pics with them. When I go to the parks, it is so crowded and hectic that it is hard to wait in line to get character pictures. I also tend to get anxiety issues when I am around too many people.
One thing I was not fond of was the rotational dining. I asked for a solo table when I first booked my cruise but I was paired up with a guy. I was not comfortable with that, but I didn't know what to do about it. I would think that since Disney knew I was a female traveling solo, they would pair me up with another woman. I just found it odd that I got paired up with a solo guy. There were two nights I skipped the dinner rotation and I felt bad about it. I wish that DCL had other options for rotational dining (like having Cabanas open for dinner).
Food on the Magic was plentiful but I found most of the food to be bland, with the exception of Palo. I had Palo for dinner one night and for brunch for one of the days and that was soooo good. It seems that the food in Cabanas and also in the rotational dining, are not heavily seasoned and just bland.
One other thing deals with the tip stuff at the end of the cruise. I prepaid my tips but after I got the tip sheets to divide up for the servers and stuff, I wasn't sure if I should add more to the tips and how much more. The servers and the stateroom attendants do an excellent job in making the guests feel welcome and enjoy their trip, but I wasn't sure how to go about the tip situation. I did add more tip cash and also mentioned them in the guest survey.
Do any of you tip other crew that made your cruise a pleasant one? I made sure to tip the people at the Cove Cafe since I was there at least 2-3 daily for coffee and pastries and I enjoyed joking around with them.
I was very impressed by how spotless and clean the ship was. Also, the crew were always cleaning, washing, and even painting parts of the ship that needed touch up. Very hard working crew.
On the day that we went thru the Panama Canal, ship staff was out early with a table set up with hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and carafes of cold water, cold lemon water, etc, and also pastries so we could get food and drink and still watch outside.
I really enjoyed my Panama Canal cruise and I am hoping to cruise with DCL next summer to Alaska.
