Eastern Caribbean Magic 3/26/11 - 4/2/11 COMPLETE

[KristiMc]

I have always loved reading everyone else's trip reports, so I thought I would venture into the TR world and write one of my own.

We had a Magical vacation aboard the Magic on the 3/26 - 4/2 Eastern Cruise.

Who we are:
Kristi - AKA Mom - AKA CVO (Chief Vacation Officer) - stole this from another DISboard member and awesome trip report author - brookelizabeth. This was my second Disney cruise. First was a 3 night on the Wonder in 2000 with my husband.

Steve - AKA Dad. He is wonderful and puts up with all of my neurotic, obsessive vacation planning.

Matt - Oldest child - (9 turning 10 in a few weeks). This was actually his second Disney cruise - though this is the only one he remembers. I was pregnant with him on my first cruise back in 2000.

Shawn - Youngest child - (just turned 7 in March). He was a little worried about going on a ship. We had visited Niagara Falls last summer and he was terrified being on the Maid of the Mist. We explained that the cruise ship was nothing like that boat and he ended up being fine.

I have been planning this trip since February 2010. We went to Disney World at the beginning of the month and had a great time. Within a week of being home I was planning our next trip. Luckily the 2010-2011 school calendar was out and I noticed that Spring Break was not the week after Easter (I refuse to go during a holiday). I told Steve we could go to the Parks without taking the kids out of school! He said, why don't we do a cruise. He didn't have to say that twice - I was heading into full planning mode!

When Steve and I had done the 3-night cruise on the Wonder we had said that someday when we were done having kids and they were older we would love to do a week long cruise. Well the time was right.

I started looking at all of the info and booked the cruise on February 24th!

Next up: It is finally time to leave for the CRUISE!!

 

[karajeboo]

Yea!!!! for another TR!!!!

And tell Shawn that I have been on Maid of the Mist 3 times and each time I swear I'll be okay, but I'm shivering, terrified in my seat the whole time. And I only shivered, terrified for a couple hours on the Magic!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Hi there, I followed you over from Brook's TR (kinda makes me sound like a stalker doesn't it ).

We're going on our first cruise in June so I'm really looking forward to reading all about yours!

 

[Lauralooneyfordisney]

subbing, I love first time reports.

 

[MellieluvsDisney]

I cannot wait for the rest. We are leaving for our first cruise in September aboard the Magic for the Eastern Caribbean.

 

[KristiMc]

Since I had booked the cruise 13 months out - my countdown was huge. I think my family/friends were getting sick of me reporting how many days left I had to go.

March 25th finally came - the day we were leaving. We live in the Cleveland, OH area, but it was cheaper to fly out of Pittsburgh, PA so we had a 1.5 hour ride to get to the airport. We picked the boys up early from school and headed out.

Our flight was at 6:00 so we had time to have some dinner at TGI Friday's.

We ended up getting into MCO a little after 8:00 pm. I had booked a one-way rental with Budget for both ends of the trip. Steve went to get the car while the boys and I waited for the luggage.

When we exited the airport, the warm air felt so good. It has been a long cold winter in Northeast Ohio.

We had all the windows down and the sunroof open on our ride to Port Canaveral. We stayed the night at the Country Inn & Suites. I got an awesome deal on the kids bunk suite for $70.

After a quick stop at the liquor store we arrived at the hotel.

The next morning I was up early. Way too excited to sleep.

We decided that we didn't want to deal with the crowds for the hotel breakfast so it was off to McDonald's for us. But as we got in the car I suggested that we drive by the port first to see the Magic.

We then headed to Mickey D's for breakfast.

Steve dropped Shawn and I off at the terminal around 9:50 or so. We had the porters take our bags and then we headed to wait in line. There were not many people in line yet and after about 10 minutes they started letting us in. By 10:10 we were upstairs and checking in!

We received boarding number 4. We checked out the terminal and got the kids wrist bands for the clubs. The time flew by and before we knew it they were starting to board. They called our number around 12:00.

Next up: Will I be able to book a cabana???

 

[KristiMc]

Yea!!!! for another TR!!!!

And tell Shawn that I have been on Maid of the Mist 3 times and each time I swear I'll be okay, but I'm shivering, terrified in my seat the whole time. And I only shivered, terrified for a couple hours on the Magic!

I will have to tell him. I don't think we will ever get him on the Maid of the Mist again.

Hi there, I followed you over from Brook's TR (kinda makes me sound like a stalker doesn't it ).

We're going on our first cruise in June so I'm really looking forward to reading all about yours!

Thanks for joining in. I hope my report can be as entertaining as Brook's.

subbing, I love first time reports.

Thanks for joining in.

I cannot wait for the rest. We are leaving for our first cruise in September aboard the Magic for the Eastern Caribbean.

You will love it!! We had such a great time - I can't wait to go again.

 

[karajeboo]

Hey that guy standing next to Shawn in the blue/white striped shirt is my neighbor!!!!! Ooops, don't tell, I gave away a secret in my TR......

OK, so you go to the port BEFORE us, but we got boarding group 3...... I'm wondering if this answers some of the questions about the time that is selected.... We got there about 10:10 but I had chosen the 10-10:30 timeslot??? Or was it the McSparkleson charm????

 

[KristiMc]

Hey that guy standing next to Shawn in the blue/white striped shirt is my neighbor!!!!! Ooops, don't tell, I gave away a secret in my TR......

OK, so you go to the port BEFORE us, but we got boarding group 3...... I'm wondering if this answers some of the questions about the time that is selected.... We got there about 10:10 but I had chosen the 10-10:30 timeslot??? Or was it the McSparkleson charm????

The earliest time that I could select was 10:30-11:00 so that must be it - though it could have been that charm.

 

[kdwebb]

Subbing - more, more, I wnt more!

 

[jodie3134]

Can't wait to read your trip report Kristi! We leave this Saturday for our 7 day EC on the Magic! Its our first cruise and we are over the moon with excitement!

We too are from Northeast Ohio - Brunswick and I can so relate to the terrible winter and excitement for warmth

Jodie

 

[mandymouse]

Great start Kristi, I'm looking forward to reading your trip report as I will be taking an Eastern cruise next month

Btw, lovely photos

 

[KristiMc]

Subbing - more, more, I wnt more!

Thanks for joining in.

Can't wait to read your trip report Kristi! We leave this Saturday for our 7 day EC on the Magic! Its our first cruise and we are over the moon with excitement!

We too are from Northeast Ohio - Brunswick and I can so relate to the terrible winter and excitement for warmth

Jodie

Twinsburg here. It has been nasty - still is. It is hard being here with the cold and rain when I just was where it was sunny last week.

You will have a great time on your trip. If you happen to go to Sessions tell the bartender Nur that Steve & Kristi said hello. He was the greatest.

Great start Kristi, I'm looking forward to reading your trip report as I will be taking an Eastern cruise next month

Btw, lovely photos

Thanks - you will love the Eastern. I loved the 3 at sea days - so relaxing.

 

[KristiMc]

I left off as we were boarding the ship. We stopped to get our embarkation picture taken. Not my favorite picture - but I had to buy it.

Since I had heard about the cabana's back in the fall I was wanting to get one. Once I saw the price though - I decided that it just was not going to happen. Well my wonderful husband surprised me at Christmas with the gift of a cabana.

The problem was that we were not staying concierge and would not be able to book it ahead of time.

So my mission once we boarded was to head to the excursion desk to see if we could book one. We got cabana 10! Mission complete! More on the cabana to come....

We then headed to Parrot Cay for lunch. It was a very nice lunch - nice selection - not too crowded yet.

If anyone was in Parrot Cay around 12:30 and heard a crash and plates breaking that would have been us. On our way back to the table after getting our desserts, Shawn caught a toe and fell to the ground. I heard the crash and looked behind me to see him on his stomach, arms out looking up with such a look on his face. The crew members checked to see if he was ok and then quickly cleaned the mess up. I wish I would have had the camera out.

After we finished eating it was not quite time to head to our room so we walked around a bit and explored. I did not take that many pics - don't know why.

At 1:30 we headed to our room - 6608.

view of the port from the verandah

We loved the location of our room. We were on the starboard side, just a few rooms down from the aft stairway/elevators.

Our bags started arriving a few minutes after we got to the room and within 15 minutes I had all of them, so I did all of the unpacking.

Next up - My first DISmeet!

 

[kdwebb]

Oooooo ... Cabana - can't wait to hear about how you liked it and if it was worth it!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I've been kicking around the idea of getting a cabana too, can't wait to hear what you thought of it! Did you book it at the excursions desk?

Your poor DS, I hope he wasn't hurt! My youngest would be absolutely mortified if he did that, my oldest would have just laughed at himself.

 

[1stDisneyCruiseForUs]

Great trip review so far! Cannot wait for more installments. We are heading out on the Magic in September and I am really hopeful we can get a cabana as well. Any tricks? Did you just head right to the excursion desk? Was there a mad dash? Did you get waitlisted or did they let you know right away? Anything your boys loved in particular? We'll be traveling w/ our 3 sons (6, 6, 9) and they are big into disney but fearful that there will be too many "dumb princesses"

Thanks and glad you had such a magical vacation!!!!
Steph

 

[karajeboo]

Poor Shawn!!! But, like you, I would have been madder at myself for not "capturing the moment."

 

[cyndi-rella]

I'm so excited to hear more about your trip. You have a lovely family! We were just on the Magic for a Western(3-5) and booked an Eastern for next Feb. 25. I am really lookong forward to any details that you may have that made your trip a little more Magical.

 

[KristiMc]

Oooooo ... Cabana - can't wait to hear about how you liked it and if it was worth it!

Stay tuned... I took lots of pictures of the cabana.

I've been kicking around the idea of getting a cabana too, can't wait to hear what you thought of it! Did you book it at the excursions desk?

Your poor DS, I hope he wasn't hurt! My youngest would be absolutely mortified if he did that, my oldest would have just laughed at himself.

He was not hurt - other than his ego maybe. I did book the cabana at the excursions desk.

Great trip review so far! Cannot wait for more installments. We are heading out on the Magic in September and I am really hopeful we can get a cabana as well. Any tricks? Did you just head right to the excursion desk? Was there a mad dash? Did you get waitlisted or did they let you know right away? Anything your boys loved in particular? We'll be traveling w/ our 3 sons (6, 6, 9) and they are big into disney but fearful that there will be too many "dumb princesses"

Thanks and glad you had such a magical vacation!!!!
Steph

When we walked up to the excursion desk we were the only ones there. We were able to book one right away. I heard that on the Dream they waitlist you to make sure that no one in concierge wants to book one. On the Magic it seems to be first come first serve.

Our boys loved the Oceaneer Lab. My younger one checked out the Club but thought it was too young for him.

Poor Shawn!!! But, like you, I would have been madder at myself for not "capturing the moment."

I know. I should have him relive the moment to get it on camera.

I'm so excited to hear more about your trip. You have a lovely family! We were just on the Magic for a Western(3-5) and booked an Eastern for next Feb. 25. I am really lookong forward to any details that you may have that made your trip a little more Magical.

Thank you. We are wanting to try out the Western. Did you like it?