First Disney Cruise ended March 15th

[Moosysmom]

My first Disney cruise ended on the 15th and it was the best cruise ever. Seeing the Magic waiting for us as we came into Port Canaveral was awesome. We were on the first bus from the airport to port. Checkin went smoothly, as recommended, we immediately got in line to board the ship, and left 2 people with the carryon's at a time, the other 2 took pictures, then got drinks for all. We made our plans while waiting, (who to palo, who to spa). I believe we were able to start boarding around 12:30pm. (I was too excited to look at my watch.) Once onboard we split up, because we were on deck 2 me and my friend went to palo and took the carryon's with us to dump in our room. The luggage was starting to arrive. Then we met the rest of our party up at topsiders for lunch, and headed to the rooms to unpack. The deck party was the greatest. We brought bubbles and streamers and had a blast. A pod of dolphins led us out to sea passing the Florida coast.
Our first dinner was in Lumiere's and our server team of Rogerio and Dennis was wonderful. I am a picky eater and Rogerio kept me very happy with my food.
On Sunday: I did a spa treatment (Aroma therapy sea weed wrap which was very relaxing expensive but worth it).
I ate at Lumiere's for lunch very good, and did alot of the adult activities --art of entertaining, Behind the scenes and Navagator series, all very much worth it.
Palo was great and the Filet Mignon you could cut with a fork.
We checked out the dueling pianos and had a great time in all the clubs.
The crew -- John (Bingo Bunny), Brent, Ian, Luigi, She-She, Andrea, Sean, DJ Dan, Ellen, and all the rest were great. They were are very helpful and spent lots of time chatting with us. (There were 4 adults in our group.)
The final bingo total was the biggest ever and I wish I had gone to more bingo sessions.
There is another ship on the boards and they are thinking about 5 more years.
My only downside of the whole vacation, was I never found Mickey in his sailor costume (the reason I wanted a Disney cruise).
Now I have to go again.
The Johnny Danger band was excellent, and the other entertainers (the magician, the juggler and the parody singer were great too)
Will I be back--absolutely,
This cruise was the best

 

[minnesota kim]

Thanks for the great post! Glad you had such a memorable adventure.

We are going on the Magic 3-22. Have read lots of posts from the various cruises. This may seem like an odd question, but how was the coffee? Read lots of people talk about the quality of the coffee. Many thought it was not so good. Do you have any opinion on the quality of the coffee on the Magic?

Thanks again for your review.

 

[Moosysmom]

I'm used to my Minnesota Coffee (not as strong) But if you drink Starbucks or Caribou it is very good coffee. I just added a little cream and sugar to it. Have a great time.

 

[CRB#33]

Thanks for sharing your report!

So when are you going back?

 

[mmouse37]

Yeah....new reports...I love reading them. Thanks for sharing. The cruise staff is the BEST on DCL and glad to see all the familiar names still onboard. I know Robin and April are gone....did anyone say if it's for good or just vacation??? I know there were some different opinions lately!!!

MJ

 

[Moosysmom]

Didn't hear those names, and I keep reading about DJ LA, I don't know who that is unless they have made the rotation to the wonder. We had DJ Dan. I want to go on an Alaskan cruise in 4 years, but I think I'll be back on Disney before that. It was the best.

 

[hilltopfamily]

First of all--thanks so much for taking the time to post a report. I, and many others also, LOVE reading them. Did you go on the Eastern or Western? Would you please tell about the ports, what you did, what was good/bad about what you did? Recommendations? thanks!

 

[philalfred]

Hi Moosysmom,

Thanks for the trip report. We're going April 19-26. Quick question - where is the reservaions to Palo being made?

 

[Moosysmom]

Palo reservations are at the Rockin D Bar.

I was on the Eastern. On St. Maarten we took the Under 2 Flags tour. Our tour guide was very interesting. He told us the history of the islands and explained about the troubles with all the hurricanes in the 90's. St Maarten was hit 5 times and 1 was a category 5. At Marigot we went to a flea market and they had some really interesting things. I wandered around there and if you are dying for American food (hahaha) there is a Kentucky Fried Chicken across the street. On the way back to the Dutch side, we stopped at an overlook that was absolutely gorgeous.

When we returned, we went and had lunch at topsiders and then returned to Phillipsburg. We used the water taxi and it was great. My friends had gone to Clyde's gem class. We went to 2 of the recommended places and We did get a good deal on our jewelry purchases. The Belgium chocolate place was great (I truly love European chocolate).

On St Thomas, we took the St John's Island tour. Our tour driver (Dale) was the best. I enjoyed all the history and he gave us some good ideas if we wanted to return to St John's for a vacation. There were some beautiful houses on the opposite side that rented for $2,000 a week, but with a few people would be a good deal. He explained some of the fruit we passed, showed us a termite's nest and we saw a donkey. The Annaburg ruins were very interesting but a few more minutes would have been nice. I totally misunderstood the Disney information for this tour. It made it sound as if we got to get off the bus at Trunk Bay, not just see it from the overlook.

On Castaway, I bought the Big Package. We snorkled at Serenity Bay. Well my friends did, I waded out and got some nice pictures of the starfish and sea urchins. I found some really pretty shells too. My friends saw a Stingray. I don't know that I would buy a package again, but then I probably would because who know's and its definitely cheaper with the package. I did almost forget. When we were on Castaway, there were some very dark clouds coming our way at Serenity. Well it poured for about 5 minutes. But the other side (family, snorkling part) have just a few drops. I was very surprised when I heard that. It was the only rain we had the whole time.

I had read many posts on the board while researching our trip and saw that there were numerous people who had cruised Disney before. After this one, I understand it. The pixie dust they sprinkled at the "Til we meet again" was already on the ship when we got there. Truly a magical experience.

For a first time cruiser, I highly recommend getting ahold of a copy of the Passporter for the Disney Cruise Line. It can be found online at www.passporter.com. It was very informative. Also, the link to Disney Cruise Line from Deb's www.wdwig.com is very helpful. Dave's DCL Tribute has some wonderful pictures and information. I have been to Disney world 5 times but now I will be adding the Cruise line in my itineraries.

 

[Hopkins]

Loved your trip report. I love seeing what others do on their vacations! It's nice the dolphins saw you off. We've never had that happen, though we've only sailed 4 times. To bad about not seeing Mickey in his Captains outfit. He's a cutie! In the atrium, they post which characters will be appearing. This 40 year old loves the characters!

Tina