chrisn
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2000
- Messages
- 1,273
I know some of you are interested so I thought I would do a little side by side comparison of the two ships. Please keep in mind these are only my personal observations and opinions. I'd be glad to answer any questions you have.
Cabin:
Magic-Cat 10 Deluxe Inside Secret Porthole Stateroom 5020
We really liked this cabin. The Porthole had no or very little obstruction. I'm glad we booked this room because I felt that the decor and room would have been way too gloomy if we had had an inside. We did feel quite a lot of movement though. The split bathroom was a nice feature. I would recommend this cabin for those of you trying to save a little money but still want a view and natural light. Keep in mind that at times during our cruise a crewman was outside the porthole doing some type of maintenance so we had to close the curtain to get dressed when he was out there. Next time on Disney, I will book the Cat 6.
Voyager-Cat D7 Veranda Stateroom 7648. Like I said we really liked the Secret Porthole until we walked into this cabin. I loved this cabin! Of course you can't really compare a porthole with a veranda but I loved this stateroom so much better! It was bigger. I loved the bathroom. Much more room but no tub only a shower. The decor was bright and sunny. Very cheerful and happy. I loved being in this room. I will definitely book this catagory again. Loved it, loved it, loved it! Thumbs up to Voyager.
Crew:
Magic-I totally fell in love with our Assitant Server Julio. He is a very handsome and charming man. Our Server Toto was wonderful with my son. He spent a lot of time at our table but we did have a small table for four. I think it was table 22. Not the greatest location but it turned out fine. Our Head Server Sandra was great also. Our Stateroom Attendant Livingstone was so sweet. It was so bizarre but we found out that his brother Floyd works on Voyager as a bar tender so we gave him a note from Livingstone and let me just say that he was very appreciative! The maintenance crew on the Magic definitely has one up on Voyager. They are all so polite and courteous. I was very Impressed.
Voyager-Our Server Parminder was wonderful. I think he was just as good as Toto but had a larger table for eight so we were not quite as catered to here as on the Magic. He always let us know what not too miss and made sure we were having a great time not only in the dining room but also outside of it as well. Our Assistant Server Coman was nice but did not shine like the others did. The maintenance crew on this ship does not hold a candle to the crew on the Magic.
Dining Rooms:
Magic-Parrot Cay, Animator's Palate and Lumiere's. Loved the restaurants and loved to rotate. What an innovation in cruising. Disney has the market here. The restaurants were all beautiful. We loved them all.
Voyager-Magic Flute Deck 5. The dining room is beautiful and elegant. That half a million dollar chandalier is stunning but I much prefer the fun rotation restaurants on the Magic. Thumbs up for Disney.
Food:
Magic-We all liked the food in the dining rooms with the emphasis on LIKED. We all loved the junk food. Pizza from Pinnochio's was great. The chicken nuggets, burgers, chicken sandwhiches, fish fillets ect were very tasty. Kids loved the fruit station. I was very hard pressed to get my 4 year old to eat anything but freakin fruit the entire two weeks of cruising. Cheese and crackers before bedtime became quite the habit for me. The ice cream was just ok.
Palo-We did brunch and dinner and both were outstanding. I liked the dinner better and hubby liked the brunch. The mushroom appetizer thing was mouth watering. Our server Krisijian catered to our every whim
Voyager-Voyager's food was way better the Disney's in the main dining room. Everything I ate was tastier, yummier and I felt presented better than Disney's. However, the junk food on Voyager was not near as tasty nor were there as many choices. Pizza was blah. Ice Cream on Voyager was better than Disney. Yum and they had a Slurpee machine if you can believe that. I did not find out until the day before the last and I am the Coke Slurpee queen so if I would have known, I would have been down there every day.
Portofino-As much as we loved Palo, we loved Portofino more. Wow! every course was more mouth watering than the next. Even hubby who is a real meat and potato man agrees with me on this. The service was however was not as attentive but the night was worth every penny of the $20 charge and then some!
Kids Clubs:
Magic-I thought the kids club on Disney enchanting the moment I walked in although it was a little on the dark side. My 4 year old Nicholas loved the treehouse but never got attached to the club or counselors. There were also a couple instances where I had overheard some remarks being made to some of the children that I thought were inappropriate. Nothing really bad but just not in line with what I feel Disney should stand for. Nicholas was always more than ready to leave the club and paged me a couple of times to come and get him. The activities could have been better I felt. I think Disney can do a better job here.
Voyager-Magic has nothing on Voyager's Oceaneer Program. I cannot praise the counselors highly enough. They went above and beyond their jobs in every way. You can tell they truly love what they are doing and the children just feed off of them. I could not drag Nicholas out of there. It is the first thing he mentioned when waking, the first place he wanted to go after dinner and the last thing he spoke of before closing his sleepy eyes at night. The activities were exciting and loads of fun for the kids and the club itself is very cute. They gave all the kids nicknames and went by nicknames themselves. Scary Mary, Giant Jeff ect. My son was Nick N Nicholas and his best kids club friend (how cute is that?) was called Ham. I have no idea what that kid's real name was. A huge thumbs up for Voyager here.
Ports/Itinerary/Private Islands:
Magic: St. Martin/ST. Maarten, St. Thomas/St. John, Castaway Cay.
St Martin-Had by far the best shopping but was pretty run down. I know they have had a tough time trying to recover from several hurricanes in the past 5 years and it shows. Orient Beach though was wonderful!
St. Thomas/St. John-Loved St. Thomas but did not get to see a whole lot of the island since we decided to go to St. John. St. John is a paradise! What a beautiful island. Trunk Bay has got to be one of the prettiest places on this earth and I feel fortunate to have gotten to see it. We spent as much time there as we could. I will go back there someday. I will.
Voyager: Labadee, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel
Ocho Rios, Jamaica-I absolutely cannot believe that so many people hate Jamaica. It is so beautiful! These people must be the ones that just walk into town and shop in the flee market. The vendors are a little agressive but not near as scary as the ones in Haiti. If you a prepared for it a polite no thank you works just fine. I also think a really smart thing we did was to take a private tour with Peat Taylor. A Jamaican man who comes very highly recommended over on the cruise critic board. He took us to Dunn's Falls, the Fern Gully and Rain Forest, driving through the hills and neighborhoods and it was one of the highlights of our trip.
Grand Cayman-We took a private boat tour out to Stingray Sandbar and swam and snorkelled, swam with, touched, pet, held and fed the gentle stingrays in their natural ocean habitat. Then snorkelled at the Coral Gardens. I would have liked to have seen more of the island but a reservation catastrophy kept it from happening.
Cozumel-Hubby's fave port. A fun place to visit. Party Central. A Beautiful island. Snorkelled at Chankanaab National Park. Hubby shook hands with a 3 1/2 foot Barracuda. He got pictures! Awesome snorkelling, Nice park. Great shopping. This is so funny I have to tell you guys. This one guest on Voyager kept being paged over and over again. Then the captain gets on the loud speaker and tells us that a passenger spent way to much time at Carlos and Charlies and was so tore up that he went to the wrong dock and tried to board the Grand Princess. The passenger was coming along via pilot boat and could we all hang over the starboard side of the ship to welcome this passenger back on board and thank him for the delay in sailing out of Cozumel! Too Funny.
Labadee-A pretty place, especially sailing in. We took a wave runner tour along the coast. Saw a few haitian villages. Met some fishermen. They make their own small fishing boats and live off of fish and fruit from the trees. They are very poor. The marketplace was very intimidating. Kids had a fun day on the beach Bar-b-que was delicious!
Castaway Cay-Labadee simply cannot compare in any way shape or form! The highlight of the trip. Castaway Cay is stunning. What a beautiful little island! Hubby saw a 5 1/2 foot Nurse Shark. Scared the shiz out of him. This was in the netted off part! He did not get pictures though because my daughter had the camera. Bummer! This place was worth the cost of the cruise itself. Disney has a good thing here. Love the atmosphere. Everyone is happy. Crew members are dancing. A very fun place. The ship was having some technical difficulties trying to sail away and I could have cared less! A huge thumbs up for the Magic!
Ships:
Magic-She is a classic beauty. Sleek and smooth. Definitely a looker. The magic has style that the others cannot touch. The atmosphere of the ship on the Magic is just that. Magic. I love the cabins, the design, the pool deck (especially Mickey pool and slide), the atrium and theaters, the shops and especially the restaurants. Many more children than Voyager but they were never a probem because there are so many fun things for them to do.
Voyager-She is very grand indeed. A stunning beauty. A huge sailing city. The casino is unreal! The arcade is 2 to 3 times the size of Disney's. The Royal Promenade is great fun, good treats and shopping. The Solarium is beautiful and serene. The parades are a riot. Ice Skating in the Carribean is a must. Rock climbing, miniature golf and inline skating was too much fun. Loved our cabin! This is a toss up. Loved how being on the Magic made me feel. Atmosphere was wonderful. Voyager is a totally different feeling and experience.
Shows/Entertainment:
Magic-Loved all the shows. Hercules, Morty the Magnificent, Island Magic, Who wants to be a Mousekateer? Especially Disney Dreams but this is right up my alley so I am not hard to please. Saw the premier of Return to Neverland. My heart glows at Walt Disney World and I get that same feeling aboard their beautiful ship. Characters were plentiful. Never a dull moment.
Voyager-Again totally different. Dreamscape (sort of Cirque du Solielish) was great. We saw the Nelsons. They rocked. The ice show was a highlight. Fabulous! The parades were wonderful fun and the Gala buffet was unbelivable! Too much to do and see. Not enough time. I did not see the entire ship. King of the world at the bow of one of the biggest cruise ships on the seas was something special. I am totally torn here.
I truly loved each ship. I have nothing to complain about and I have no regrets what so ever. This was a dream come true. The trip of a lifetime and we will never ever forget it.
Cabin:
Magic-Cat 10 Deluxe Inside Secret Porthole Stateroom 5020
We really liked this cabin. The Porthole had no or very little obstruction. I'm glad we booked this room because I felt that the decor and room would have been way too gloomy if we had had an inside. We did feel quite a lot of movement though. The split bathroom was a nice feature. I would recommend this cabin for those of you trying to save a little money but still want a view and natural light. Keep in mind that at times during our cruise a crewman was outside the porthole doing some type of maintenance so we had to close the curtain to get dressed when he was out there. Next time on Disney, I will book the Cat 6.
Voyager-Cat D7 Veranda Stateroom 7648. Like I said we really liked the Secret Porthole until we walked into this cabin. I loved this cabin! Of course you can't really compare a porthole with a veranda but I loved this stateroom so much better! It was bigger. I loved the bathroom. Much more room but no tub only a shower. The decor was bright and sunny. Very cheerful and happy. I loved being in this room. I will definitely book this catagory again. Loved it, loved it, loved it! Thumbs up to Voyager.
Crew:
Magic-I totally fell in love with our Assitant Server Julio. He is a very handsome and charming man. Our Server Toto was wonderful with my son. He spent a lot of time at our table but we did have a small table for four. I think it was table 22. Not the greatest location but it turned out fine. Our Head Server Sandra was great also. Our Stateroom Attendant Livingstone was so sweet. It was so bizarre but we found out that his brother Floyd works on Voyager as a bar tender so we gave him a note from Livingstone and let me just say that he was very appreciative! The maintenance crew on the Magic definitely has one up on Voyager. They are all so polite and courteous. I was very Impressed.
Voyager-Our Server Parminder was wonderful. I think he was just as good as Toto but had a larger table for eight so we were not quite as catered to here as on the Magic. He always let us know what not too miss and made sure we were having a great time not only in the dining room but also outside of it as well. Our Assistant Server Coman was nice but did not shine like the others did. The maintenance crew on this ship does not hold a candle to the crew on the Magic.
Dining Rooms:
Magic-Parrot Cay, Animator's Palate and Lumiere's. Loved the restaurants and loved to rotate. What an innovation in cruising. Disney has the market here. The restaurants were all beautiful. We loved them all.
Voyager-Magic Flute Deck 5. The dining room is beautiful and elegant. That half a million dollar chandalier is stunning but I much prefer the fun rotation restaurants on the Magic. Thumbs up for Disney.
Food:
Magic-We all liked the food in the dining rooms with the emphasis on LIKED. We all loved the junk food. Pizza from Pinnochio's was great. The chicken nuggets, burgers, chicken sandwhiches, fish fillets ect were very tasty. Kids loved the fruit station. I was very hard pressed to get my 4 year old to eat anything but freakin fruit the entire two weeks of cruising. Cheese and crackers before bedtime became quite the habit for me. The ice cream was just ok.
Palo-We did brunch and dinner and both were outstanding. I liked the dinner better and hubby liked the brunch. The mushroom appetizer thing was mouth watering. Our server Krisijian catered to our every whim
Voyager-Voyager's food was way better the Disney's in the main dining room. Everything I ate was tastier, yummier and I felt presented better than Disney's. However, the junk food on Voyager was not near as tasty nor were there as many choices. Pizza was blah. Ice Cream on Voyager was better than Disney. Yum and they had a Slurpee machine if you can believe that. I did not find out until the day before the last and I am the Coke Slurpee queen so if I would have known, I would have been down there every day.
Portofino-As much as we loved Palo, we loved Portofino more. Wow! every course was more mouth watering than the next. Even hubby who is a real meat and potato man agrees with me on this. The service was however was not as attentive but the night was worth every penny of the $20 charge and then some!
Kids Clubs:
Magic-I thought the kids club on Disney enchanting the moment I walked in although it was a little on the dark side. My 4 year old Nicholas loved the treehouse but never got attached to the club or counselors. There were also a couple instances where I had overheard some remarks being made to some of the children that I thought were inappropriate. Nothing really bad but just not in line with what I feel Disney should stand for. Nicholas was always more than ready to leave the club and paged me a couple of times to come and get him. The activities could have been better I felt. I think Disney can do a better job here.
Voyager-Magic has nothing on Voyager's Oceaneer Program. I cannot praise the counselors highly enough. They went above and beyond their jobs in every way. You can tell they truly love what they are doing and the children just feed off of them. I could not drag Nicholas out of there. It is the first thing he mentioned when waking, the first place he wanted to go after dinner and the last thing he spoke of before closing his sleepy eyes at night. The activities were exciting and loads of fun for the kids and the club itself is very cute. They gave all the kids nicknames and went by nicknames themselves. Scary Mary, Giant Jeff ect. My son was Nick N Nicholas and his best kids club friend (how cute is that?) was called Ham. I have no idea what that kid's real name was. A huge thumbs up for Voyager here.
Ports/Itinerary/Private Islands:
Magic: St. Martin/ST. Maarten, St. Thomas/St. John, Castaway Cay.
St Martin-Had by far the best shopping but was pretty run down. I know they have had a tough time trying to recover from several hurricanes in the past 5 years and it shows. Orient Beach though was wonderful!
St. Thomas/St. John-Loved St. Thomas but did not get to see a whole lot of the island since we decided to go to St. John. St. John is a paradise! What a beautiful island. Trunk Bay has got to be one of the prettiest places on this earth and I feel fortunate to have gotten to see it. We spent as much time there as we could. I will go back there someday. I will.
Voyager: Labadee, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel
Ocho Rios, Jamaica-I absolutely cannot believe that so many people hate Jamaica. It is so beautiful! These people must be the ones that just walk into town and shop in the flee market. The vendors are a little agressive but not near as scary as the ones in Haiti. If you a prepared for it a polite no thank you works just fine. I also think a really smart thing we did was to take a private tour with Peat Taylor. A Jamaican man who comes very highly recommended over on the cruise critic board. He took us to Dunn's Falls, the Fern Gully and Rain Forest, driving through the hills and neighborhoods and it was one of the highlights of our trip.
Grand Cayman-We took a private boat tour out to Stingray Sandbar and swam and snorkelled, swam with, touched, pet, held and fed the gentle stingrays in their natural ocean habitat. Then snorkelled at the Coral Gardens. I would have liked to have seen more of the island but a reservation catastrophy kept it from happening.
Cozumel-Hubby's fave port. A fun place to visit. Party Central. A Beautiful island. Snorkelled at Chankanaab National Park. Hubby shook hands with a 3 1/2 foot Barracuda. He got pictures! Awesome snorkelling, Nice park. Great shopping. This is so funny I have to tell you guys. This one guest on Voyager kept being paged over and over again. Then the captain gets on the loud speaker and tells us that a passenger spent way to much time at Carlos and Charlies and was so tore up that he went to the wrong dock and tried to board the Grand Princess. The passenger was coming along via pilot boat and could we all hang over the starboard side of the ship to welcome this passenger back on board and thank him for the delay in sailing out of Cozumel! Too Funny.
Labadee-A pretty place, especially sailing in. We took a wave runner tour along the coast. Saw a few haitian villages. Met some fishermen. They make their own small fishing boats and live off of fish and fruit from the trees. They are very poor. The marketplace was very intimidating. Kids had a fun day on the beach Bar-b-que was delicious!
Castaway Cay-Labadee simply cannot compare in any way shape or form! The highlight of the trip. Castaway Cay is stunning. What a beautiful little island! Hubby saw a 5 1/2 foot Nurse Shark. Scared the shiz out of him. This was in the netted off part! He did not get pictures though because my daughter had the camera. Bummer! This place was worth the cost of the cruise itself. Disney has a good thing here. Love the atmosphere. Everyone is happy. Crew members are dancing. A very fun place. The ship was having some technical difficulties trying to sail away and I could have cared less! A huge thumbs up for the Magic!
Ships:
Magic-She is a classic beauty. Sleek and smooth. Definitely a looker. The magic has style that the others cannot touch. The atmosphere of the ship on the Magic is just that. Magic. I love the cabins, the design, the pool deck (especially Mickey pool and slide), the atrium and theaters, the shops and especially the restaurants. Many more children than Voyager but they were never a probem because there are so many fun things for them to do.
Voyager-She is very grand indeed. A stunning beauty. A huge sailing city. The casino is unreal! The arcade is 2 to 3 times the size of Disney's. The Royal Promenade is great fun, good treats and shopping. The Solarium is beautiful and serene. The parades are a riot. Ice Skating in the Carribean is a must. Rock climbing, miniature golf and inline skating was too much fun. Loved our cabin! This is a toss up. Loved how being on the Magic made me feel. Atmosphere was wonderful. Voyager is a totally different feeling and experience.
Shows/Entertainment:
Magic-Loved all the shows. Hercules, Morty the Magnificent, Island Magic, Who wants to be a Mousekateer? Especially Disney Dreams but this is right up my alley so I am not hard to please. Saw the premier of Return to Neverland. My heart glows at Walt Disney World and I get that same feeling aboard their beautiful ship. Characters were plentiful. Never a dull moment.
Voyager-Again totally different. Dreamscape (sort of Cirque du Solielish) was great. We saw the Nelsons. They rocked. The ice show was a highlight. Fabulous! The parades were wonderful fun and the Gala buffet was unbelivable! Too much to do and see. Not enough time. I did not see the entire ship. King of the world at the bow of one of the biggest cruise ships on the seas was something special. I am totally torn here.
I truly loved each ship. I have nothing to complain about and I have no regrets what so ever. This was a dream come true. The trip of a lifetime and we will never ever forget it.
I appreciate the honest opinion you gave on both Cruise lines, as a Disney fanatic, I don't know if I could have been quite as objective. Thanks again! Kathy 
