imlazar
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2005
- Messages
- 584
We just got back tonight, here's a really quick recap. This was our third time on the Magic, and our first Eastern itinerary. It was me, my wife, and our DSs (7/5).
- We stayed at the Residence Inn on Friday night, which was a wonderful hotel, much quieter, more spacious rooms, and better breakfast than the Radisson up the street. We ate at Zachary's and had another wonderful dinner there. We used the Radisson shuttle to get to the Port on Saturday morning.
- We had a Cat-8 room (7014), it was as nice as all the other Cat 8's we've had, but the area near our room had a funky smell, I'm not sure what it was.
- Not much to say about sea days, dining, and entertainment, they were all wonderful as usual. Mike Super was the magician. Other on-board entertainers included an improv troupe called "Mission Improvable," Heath Hyche and Freddy Fusion. Super and Fusion were phenomenal.
- At St. Martin we did the 5 hr. French Riviera excursion to Orient Beach, there were about 100 other people with us, which made us feel as if we were part of a large Disney group (it took 3 buses to get everyone there/back). The beach was amazing, there were a few topless people walking around, but it was no big deal to anyone. Waves were great, we had our own chairs and the excursion included a decent lunch and two rum-punches (or no rum for the kids). We would HIGHLY recommend this excursion to families looking for a nice, no-hassles beach trip with the kids.
- On St. Thomas we took our own cab to Coral World for the day. It was almost $140 for the four of us (including cab fare) we forgot to bring discount tickets and none of the info booths had them, but you can print them on-line. The kids had a blast and got to feed sting-rays. Coki beach was very nice as well but crowded. This is definitely worth doing on your own at your own pace rather than booking an excursion. St. Thomas day was rough on the kids due to having to go to the WD theater at 6:45 AM to clear customs.
- Castaway Cay weather was mixed, it was very cold when we got off the ship, around 60 degrees, but warmed up throughout the day though it was very windy and the water temperature was around 74. The kids got cold and didn't want to stay very long so we went back and watched a movie on the big screen.
- We took advantage of the Disney airline check-in service for our return trip and I can't recommend it highly enough. We put the tags on our bags on Friday, had them out by 11:00 PM, and next saw them at our home airport. We avoided ticket counters, lugging bags, and car rentals and left all the details to Disney. The Disney bus was the easiest, most relaxing way to get back to the airport after the cruise.
We booked on-board again for January of '09, but we may push it out to March or April to allow for a warmer trip. We had great weather in St. Thomas and St. Martin, but it was too cold in Castaway Cay (and in Orlando).
Please feel free to ask us any questions!
- We stayed at the Residence Inn on Friday night, which was a wonderful hotel, much quieter, more spacious rooms, and better breakfast than the Radisson up the street. We ate at Zachary's and had another wonderful dinner there. We used the Radisson shuttle to get to the Port on Saturday morning.
- We had a Cat-8 room (7014), it was as nice as all the other Cat 8's we've had, but the area near our room had a funky smell, I'm not sure what it was.
- Not much to say about sea days, dining, and entertainment, they were all wonderful as usual. Mike Super was the magician. Other on-board entertainers included an improv troupe called "Mission Improvable," Heath Hyche and Freddy Fusion. Super and Fusion were phenomenal.
- At St. Martin we did the 5 hr. French Riviera excursion to Orient Beach, there were about 100 other people with us, which made us feel as if we were part of a large Disney group (it took 3 buses to get everyone there/back). The beach was amazing, there were a few topless people walking around, but it was no big deal to anyone. Waves were great, we had our own chairs and the excursion included a decent lunch and two rum-punches (or no rum for the kids). We would HIGHLY recommend this excursion to families looking for a nice, no-hassles beach trip with the kids.
- On St. Thomas we took our own cab to Coral World for the day. It was almost $140 for the four of us (including cab fare) we forgot to bring discount tickets and none of the info booths had them, but you can print them on-line. The kids had a blast and got to feed sting-rays. Coki beach was very nice as well but crowded. This is definitely worth doing on your own at your own pace rather than booking an excursion. St. Thomas day was rough on the kids due to having to go to the WD theater at 6:45 AM to clear customs.
- Castaway Cay weather was mixed, it was very cold when we got off the ship, around 60 degrees, but warmed up throughout the day though it was very windy and the water temperature was around 74. The kids got cold and didn't want to stay very long so we went back and watched a movie on the big screen.
- We took advantage of the Disney airline check-in service for our return trip and I can't recommend it highly enough. We put the tags on our bags on Friday, had them out by 11:00 PM, and next saw them at our home airport. We avoided ticket counters, lugging bags, and car rentals and left all the details to Disney. The Disney bus was the easiest, most relaxing way to get back to the airport after the cruise.
We booked on-board again for January of '09, but we may push it out to March or April to allow for a warmer trip. We had great weather in St. Thomas and St. Martin, but it was too cold in Castaway Cay (and in Orlando).
Please feel free to ask us any questions!
