Disney Magic Preview Cruise 10/21 sailing

[jrapps]

So....I just got back from the Oct 21-24 Disney Magic Preview Cruise. I wasn't allowed to talk about it or post ahead of time. I wish I had the chance to let you all ask questions beforehand but this post-sailing blog will have to do. Now that we are back, I think I'm safe to share the experience.

Let me know any questions you have about the Magic and her return to sailing here in the US, I will do my best to answer if I know.

Please don't ask about how I got on a Preview cruise, or any questions specific to Disney's testing and all that...I really don't feel like I can share that aspect of it, but I was very lucky and let's just leave it at that. Questions about the cruise itself (like it was any other cruise) are fine.

It was a 3 day Sailing leaving from Miami. Day 2 at Castaway, Day 3 a Sea Day.

Pre-Cruise: The same Safe Passage and Check in as other cruises to date. We were able to set up the Safe passage site at 15 days out and upload vaccination cards. Kids under 12 were Covid tested 3 days prior to sailing. For those who have the Walgreens IDNow NAAT testing near you, I highly recommend it. We got results back in 1 hour! We uploaded and were cleared to sail 3 days before the sailing. No stress about waiting for PCR test results and hoping they come in time. Process was perfect!

Just as the Dream and Fantasy, we had to pre-book 1.5hr or 2.5 time slots for the kid club in advance, but once we got onboard we were able to make more bookings.

 

[jrapps]

Day 1 - Boarding in Miami was slightly different that Canaveral. The ship was at terminal C but they are using Garage G ALL THE WAY at the end of the port for cars. We had an 11am PAT but nobody ever checked as we dropped off luggage and parked. At the garage you board a bus that drives you back over to terminal C.

After the bus dropped us off they checked our port arrival time upon entering the building and then security checkpoint. You then go to a table where they give everyone a bag with the covid test. You go to a testing area, swab, and then we went upstairs to wait. They told us it would be about 45 min. I kept refreshing safe passage and after 30 min, we were clear to board. It did seem like a large group of people all got cleared in a big batch. As soon as ours popped up so did about 100 other people, resulting in one big line of people all trying to board. For the most part people tried their best to keep socially distant. We checked in, took a photo, and boarded.

Total time from dropping off luggage to boarding the ship was about 1 hr.

The Magic was every bit as amazing as I remember. Been about 5 years since I was on this ship, just before her last dry dock to add the Tangled restaurant.

Once we boarded, they had the same welcome Mickey & Minnie dance party as on the Dream. Another small change from when I was on the Dream, they directed everyone to Fathoms and helped everyone get the app loaded and working. Then we went off to check-in at our muster station, and off to Cabanas for lunch. Again, very similar to the Dream. Every station had the same food. They assigned us to a specific station and asked us to go back to the same one for more food.

Dinner in Animators. Food was amazing as usual. A lot of the staff seems to have just joined the ship in Miami. I guess a lot of contracts ended at the transatlantic sailing. All the staff was superb as always. There were very few if any kinks along the way. Food came out quickly, cooked perfectly every time. Our wait staff was one of the more entertaining we have had across many sailings.

Protocols were very similar to the Dream. Some places were just as strict (tables in dining room were very spaced out but that could also be due to the reduced capacity.) Most everyone wore masks indoors. Only real change I noticed was the aren't enforcing one family in elevator but the Magic elevators are smaller and we only had one family at a time in them anyway. A few people took masks off in Fathoms, DLounge, and the Pub even if they didn't have drinks and nobody ever told them they had to put them back. Overall I never felt unsafe. But obviously that is a personal opinion.

Being a Preview Cruise in October, not a lot of people chose to pull their kids out of school. Only 91 kids (18 and under) on the whole ship. Total guests were 780. Things were almost too empty at times. Very few participants for game shows and trivia.

Night 1 they showed Dreams (2 showings), night 2 was a movie (Shang Chi) and fireworks, and night 3 was the Tangled show.

 

[jrapps]

Day 2

Arrived at Castaway, exact same process as the Dream, join the virtual queue to get off the ship. By the time we were done with breakfast, we were clear to walk off.

The weather has noticably cooled off from early September. It was a beautiful day. When we were here for Labor Day I was surprised at how much seaweed was in the water and all over the beach. Happy to see everything was back to normal now, as pristine and clean as ever.

Back on the ship, sadly the twist and spout slide was shut down for the first 2 days for technical issues. Kids spent a lot of time in the pools.

Dinner at Rapunzel's. This was our first time ever at this restaurant and we were blown away. Food was among the best on the ship. Between our whole group we literally tried one of everything. The show was great, and a bit more involved than we thought it would be. If you like fish, get the Sea Bass. Phenomenal.

 

[jrapps]

Day 3

Started the day with Palo brunch. Same as Dream but our server "hinted" as much as she was allowed to that they are strongly considering bringing the buffet back. Even with the plated option, the meal was great. I do feel that I over-eat less with no buffet.

The twist and spout finally opened today but the kids had enough of swimming. Did a lot of trivia, origami, photo ops, etc.

Dinner at Lumier's. Saw the Tangled show (really well done) and that was basically it.

 

[jrapps]

Deboarding, we got our luggage and then took the same buses back to the garage. Not sure how they plan to have porters helping in this scenario. If you want help all the way to your car, you are pretty much out of luck. Thankfully we cruise light.

And that's it... It was a nice last minute surprise trip. Let me know if they're are any questions, I will do my best to answer.

 

[raschmidt]

Do you have pictures of the activities on the app for each day?

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for the report!

 

[lorimay]

We are 20 days out from The Magic.
If you know, did they have blank luggage tags readily available at drop off? We switched our cabin on Friday and of course got our luggage tags for the old room same day.
Did they have live music at Keys in the evenings?

 

[lwilliam]

Thank you so much, sailing end of November…it would be my wish buffet comes back to PALO. So happy u were able to sail.

 

[SnowWhite2]

We were supposed to be boarding the Magic today in NY for a cruise to New England/Canada. I'm glad you had a good time.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

Once we boarded, they had the same welcome Mickey & Minnie dance party as on the Dream. Another small change from when I was on the Dream, they directed everyone to Fathoms and helped everyone get the app loaded and working. Then we went off to check-in at our muster station, and off to Cabanas for lunch. Again, very similar to the Dream. Every station had the same food. They assigned us to a specific station and asked us to go back to the same one for more food.

On the Fantasy they had Animators open for full service lunch on embark day. Any chance you noticed if one of the others was open on the Magic for embark or was it just cabanas?

 

[jrapps]

We are 20 days out from The Magic.
If you know, did they have blank luggage tags readily available at drop off? We switched our cabin on Friday and of course got our luggage tags for the old room same day.
Did they have live music at Keys in the evenings?

Yes they had blank tags. We only got our luggage tags the day before the cruise but others in our group never got them and used the blank one's.

There was a lot of live music in Keys. We only popped in once but they had various types of music several times a day.

 

[jrapps]

Do you have pictures of the activities on the app for each day?

Sorry I did not take pictures of the app, but I may remember the specific activity if you want to know about something in particular.

 

[jrapps]

On the Fantasy they had Animators open for full service lunch on embark day. Any chance you noticed if one of the others was open on the Magic for embark or was it just cabanas?

Yes , one restaurant was open for lunch embarkation day, but I don't recall which one

 

[Love2Cruise2015]

Do you know if they are doing PCR testing on board for international cruisers who need a PCR test to get back home before disembarkation and if there is a charge for the testing?

 

[Ngambill]

Can you tell us more about your servers in case we want to try and request them for our January cruise? I really love the entertaining servers and also need ones that are good with allergies and picky eaters. Trying to decide whether to request a certain one or roll the dice.

 

[HiStitch626]

I’m glad you enjoyed our cancelled cruise.

 

[jrapps]

Do you know if they are doing PCR testing on board for international cruisers who need a PCR test to get back home before disembarkation and if there is a charge for the testing?

Sorry I do not know if they were doing any testing onboard.

 

[jrapps]

Can you tell us more about your servers in case we want to try and request them for our January cruise? I really love the entertaining servers and also need ones that are good with allergies and picky eaters. Trying to decide whether to request a certain one or roll the dice.

We had Alvin and Angela. They really did a phenomenal job and if you decide to request them you will not be sorry. That said I'm sure all of the servers are special and for us part of the fun is meeting new people and seeing the different magic tricks jokes another activities they do to help keep children entertained.

 

[jrapps]

I’m glad you enjoyed our cancelled cruise.

I am so sorry. When I found out about the preview Cruise you were actually the first person I thought of cuz I remember you mentioning you were supposed to be on the sailing. I hope my review was not seen as rubbing salt in the wounds, and I apologize if it dug up bad memories. Were you able to reschedule?