Shanti
Momketeer
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
- Messages
- 9,102
Am suffering from post-cruise withdrawal as my 11 year-old son and I just disembarked from the Disney Magic yesterday, and I was back at work at 8am this morning. Here are my personal perceptions of different aspects of the cruise.
Itinerary/Ports:
3 night cruise on the Disney Magic, traveling from Miami to Castaway Cay and back again. We embarked on New Year's Eve, and disembarked on January 3. I did not feel like 3-nights was too short for our first cruise. The days were long and full, and we were exhausted at the end. Anything longer than this would have been too much for me this go round, but my son would have gladly stayed longer. Our favorite day was our day at sea.
Castaway Cay was absolutely gorgeous. In spite of it being January, it was very warm and humid, and extremely sunny. The water felt chilly at first (not ice-cold), probably around 68 degrees, but we got used to it as we swam. It was very refreshing to swim in after running/walking the challenging Castaway Cay 5K. The sand was white and soft. The bike path was shady and fun, and the observation deck offered a lovely view. The Pelican Plunge slides were also fun.
In the future, I probably will not sail from Miami again. The Fort Lauderdale airport (which we had to fly out of, since we flew our return flight via Southwest) was a severe cluster, and DCL doesn't operate any transfers to that airport, so I had to independently arrange transportation, which turned out to be a hassle.
More significant than the airport, though, was that the Miami port location resulted in the large majority of the cruise passengers (at least 70%- no exaggeration) being South American nationals. This made it harder to socialize, as only a minority of passengers were speaking English. During the New Year's Eve deck party, dancing to loud music in a crowd of wealthy Brazilians, I almost felt like I was ringing in the new year in Rio de Janiero.
Ship:
Wow. I really can't say enough about how impressive, pretty and well-maintained it was. I love how DCL has modeled their ships after classic ocean liners, and uses understated colors, carpets and wood accents in their decoration, rather than trying to look like Las Vegas at sea. There was a huge Christmas tree in the atrium, garlands, and a life-sized gingerbread house. The ship is beautiful from the outside as well- I got a lovely picture of my son on Castaway Cay with the Magic in the background. On our sea day, we spent a few hours sailing between the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy, and both of those ships were impressive, as well.
Service:
The service was good, as I had anticipated by reading other trip reports. It was a little too obtrusive for my taste, though. My idea of perfect service is competent and quiet: on DCL, your servers introduce themselves to you and chat you up. They're very polite, respectful and hardworking, so it's really just a stylistic preference in service that makes me less enthusiastic. They did a good job and I tipped them likewise.
Food:
This was an area of disappointment for me. The gluten-free selections were always edible, but rarely very tasty. It was bland, bland, bland, and not always well-prepared (my steak was supposed to be medium-well, for example, but it came out very well-done). In a normal restaurant I would have sent it back, but with other activities scheduled that evening, I didn't want to stretch dinner out any further. I also didn't try Palo, since it was just me and my son on this trip. I wish DCL would allow properly-dressed, well-behaved 10 year-olds & up at their specialty restaurants like Disney World does at Victoria & Albert's. My son would have been a perfect gentleman and I would have really appreciated some better food.
Fun:
We loved seeing the characters dressed up in different outfits on each day of the cruise. I got lots of good pictures of my son and I with characters, which the CM's were happy to take with my phone, so I was spared having to pay for overpriced photos. The Sail Away party and the Pirate Night deck party were both fun, the fun-for-all-ages games (such as Who Wants To Be a Mouseketeer? and Bingo) were fun, as well. My son liked playing on the computers at the Oceaneer's Club for about an hour each evening to wind down from the day's many activities. He also loved the Aqua Dunk thrill slide (a breakaway box drops you through the floor and into a slide, which goes in a loop off the deck of the ship.) I saw multiple children, including my son, start crying when they were at the top & it was almost their turn to go on this slide for the first time. I also saw both children and adults chicken out and walk back down the stairs. One slide operator in particular (I don't know his name but I think he was Jamaican) did a great job of helping kids (and me!) overcome their fears and get on the slide, which most riders enjoyed. (It's not really scary after they drop the hatch.)
Overall:
Immediately prior to this trip, my son had allergies turn into a nasty sinus infection, and it took a lot of vigilance (on my part) & rest (on his part) to get him healthy enough to go on the trip. Since he was non-contagious & antibiotics finally cleared him up, his doctor gave him the enthusiastic green light to go on the cruise the day before we sailed, but prior to that my son and I had both been very stressed about potentially having to cancel. So much so that I almost didn't want to cruise personally, as I was a bit worn-out by sick-bed caregiving and stress on top of my normal preparations to leave. My son's symptoms cleared away just in time, though, & once the cruise was underway, we both loved it & he humbly asked if maybe we could do this again sometime. It was nice to get away from the cold & stress of the school year (I'm a teacher & my son is a hard-working student) to the fun-filled warmth and luxury of the cruise. I hope to take my son again another time!
Itinerary/Ports:
3 night cruise on the Disney Magic, traveling from Miami to Castaway Cay and back again. We embarked on New Year's Eve, and disembarked on January 3. I did not feel like 3-nights was too short for our first cruise. The days were long and full, and we were exhausted at the end. Anything longer than this would have been too much for me this go round, but my son would have gladly stayed longer. Our favorite day was our day at sea.
Castaway Cay was absolutely gorgeous. In spite of it being January, it was very warm and humid, and extremely sunny. The water felt chilly at first (not ice-cold), probably around 68 degrees, but we got used to it as we swam. It was very refreshing to swim in after running/walking the challenging Castaway Cay 5K. The sand was white and soft. The bike path was shady and fun, and the observation deck offered a lovely view. The Pelican Plunge slides were also fun.
In the future, I probably will not sail from Miami again. The Fort Lauderdale airport (which we had to fly out of, since we flew our return flight via Southwest) was a severe cluster, and DCL doesn't operate any transfers to that airport, so I had to independently arrange transportation, which turned out to be a hassle.
More significant than the airport, though, was that the Miami port location resulted in the large majority of the cruise passengers (at least 70%- no exaggeration) being South American nationals. This made it harder to socialize, as only a minority of passengers were speaking English. During the New Year's Eve deck party, dancing to loud music in a crowd of wealthy Brazilians, I almost felt like I was ringing in the new year in Rio de Janiero.
Ship:
Wow. I really can't say enough about how impressive, pretty and well-maintained it was. I love how DCL has modeled their ships after classic ocean liners, and uses understated colors, carpets and wood accents in their decoration, rather than trying to look like Las Vegas at sea. There was a huge Christmas tree in the atrium, garlands, and a life-sized gingerbread house. The ship is beautiful from the outside as well- I got a lovely picture of my son on Castaway Cay with the Magic in the background. On our sea day, we spent a few hours sailing between the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy, and both of those ships were impressive, as well.
Service:
The service was good, as I had anticipated by reading other trip reports. It was a little too obtrusive for my taste, though. My idea of perfect service is competent and quiet: on DCL, your servers introduce themselves to you and chat you up. They're very polite, respectful and hardworking, so it's really just a stylistic preference in service that makes me less enthusiastic. They did a good job and I tipped them likewise.
Food:
This was an area of disappointment for me. The gluten-free selections were always edible, but rarely very tasty. It was bland, bland, bland, and not always well-prepared (my steak was supposed to be medium-well, for example, but it came out very well-done). In a normal restaurant I would have sent it back, but with other activities scheduled that evening, I didn't want to stretch dinner out any further. I also didn't try Palo, since it was just me and my son on this trip. I wish DCL would allow properly-dressed, well-behaved 10 year-olds & up at their specialty restaurants like Disney World does at Victoria & Albert's. My son would have been a perfect gentleman and I would have really appreciated some better food.
Fun:
We loved seeing the characters dressed up in different outfits on each day of the cruise. I got lots of good pictures of my son and I with characters, which the CM's were happy to take with my phone, so I was spared having to pay for overpriced photos. The Sail Away party and the Pirate Night deck party were both fun, the fun-for-all-ages games (such as Who Wants To Be a Mouseketeer? and Bingo) were fun, as well. My son liked playing on the computers at the Oceaneer's Club for about an hour each evening to wind down from the day's many activities. He also loved the Aqua Dunk thrill slide (a breakaway box drops you through the floor and into a slide, which goes in a loop off the deck of the ship.) I saw multiple children, including my son, start crying when they were at the top & it was almost their turn to go on this slide for the first time. I also saw both children and adults chicken out and walk back down the stairs. One slide operator in particular (I don't know his name but I think he was Jamaican) did a great job of helping kids (and me!) overcome their fears and get on the slide, which most riders enjoyed. (It's not really scary after they drop the hatch.)
Overall:
Immediately prior to this trip, my son had allergies turn into a nasty sinus infection, and it took a lot of vigilance (on my part) & rest (on his part) to get him healthy enough to go on the trip. Since he was non-contagious & antibiotics finally cleared him up, his doctor gave him the enthusiastic green light to go on the cruise the day before we sailed, but prior to that my son and I had both been very stressed about potentially having to cancel. So much so that I almost didn't want to cruise personally, as I was a bit worn-out by sick-bed caregiving and stress on top of my normal preparations to leave. My son's symptoms cleared away just in time, though, & once the cruise was underway, we both loved it & he humbly asked if maybe we could do this again sometime. It was nice to get away from the cold & stress of the school year (I'm a teacher & my son is a hard-working student) to the fun-filled warmth and luxury of the cruise. I hope to take my son again another time!
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