Just back...any questions?

[ratfam]

Just back from the March 19 Eastern cruise on the Magic. Everything was fabulous, including the weather, we were very lucky. If anyone has any questions I'd be glad to answer.

 

[mommasita]

Heres One!!

When are you going again?????

 

[keishashadow]

Did you get to enjoy Castaway Cay? Also, what did you did in Nassau?

 

[jrabbit]

Did you get to enjoy Castaway Cay? Also, what did you did in Nassau?

My guess is that they didn't do anything in Nassau since it is NOT a scheduled stop on the 7 night cruises (eastern or western). Nassau is only on the 3 and 4 night cruises.

 

[spoon2003]

How was the weather, was it HOT? It's been such a long New England winter for us that I'm looking for some HOT, HOT caribbean sun. We are leaving in 3 weeks!

What excursions did you do on St. Thomas and St. Maarten?

Did you tender in St. Thomas?

Thanks

Sue

 

[ratfam]

Whenever we cruise again (and we don't have anything even in the planning stages now) it will be waaay too long. We were three years between our first cruise on the Magic and this one, this time we cruised on DVC points, so I guess we need to either save a bunch more points or money! To answer other questions, it is true that the 7 night cruises do not stop in Nassau, but we did make it into Castaway Cay with no problems. There was evidently some lightning as we were arriving, but the day cleared up beautifully early on. The weather was sunny but a little cool when we were in Port Canaveral but very warm thereafter, especially in St. Maarten. It was even better than when we cruised three years ago in March, and although who knows if its really true but the cruise director said we had the best weather they had in two months, so maybe its a warming trend as we get further into spring.

We docked in St. Thomas, but it sounded like it was originally anticipated that we would need to tender. As a result, we were at what I understand is the newer dock, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere as they haven't really developed the area yet, but I still thought that was preferable to needing to tender. We have younger kids who really just like the beach so we didn't think that the cost of the DCL shore excursions would be justified. In St. Thomas we did take a cab to Coral World, which is a kind of aquarium/marine life park. They have a web site you can check out and also get an admission coupon. We enjoyed that for about two hours and then went to Coki Beach, which is adjacent to Coral World. It was much more crowded that Magen's Bay, where we had gone on our last cruise, but the day overall worked out really well and I would recommend it for families. I think the DCL excursion that goes to Coral World is about 4 hours total and includes another stop that we didn't think would interest our kids, and we spent a little more than four hours between Coral World and the beach and probably could have stayed a little longer if we hadn't gotten too much sun the day before in St. Maarten.

In St. Maarten we wanted to keep it simple, so we just took the water taxi and went to the beach right there, knowing we could get back to the boat easily when we'd had enough. I think that the beaches on the other side of the island are more scenic, but for us it wasn't worth the transportation hassle, we really enjoyed the beach at the water taxi stop just fine.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[tecdavidt]

I am glad to hear you had a great cruise. We were suppose to be on that cruise for our Spring Break but changed it due to the high prices because of Easter. We went over New Year's Eve ( it was a lot cheaper-we had a cat. 3 and for what we paid for it all we could get for the same money SB week was a cat. 6 ouch) I was thinking of your cruise all last week thinking of our last year's SB cruise, the one with the 30' waves (seas were angry for some reason last year.) I was hoping the seas were calmer for all on board.

Now back to reality. If you go next March we are booked for Spring Break (Easter Is April 16th next year) so prices are more reasonable. Kathy

 

[ratfam]

Sounds like we had better sea conditions than you did, Kathy. The Easter timing was bad for us too, we had to use many more DVC points than we would have if our break was the week earlier, and as a result I think it will be a little while before we cruise again. I was surprised to hear that the New Year's Eve cruise was cheaper, I would have expected that to be about as popular as Easter, I'll need to keep that in mind.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I wasn't on the same cruise but DID hear the Disney horn on your ship as we were next door on Carnival Glory. We so BAD wanted to be on the Magic but ended up having a great time on Carnival.

So you sailed three years ago in March? We might have been on the same Magic cruise. :

 

[crhenderson]

Did you happen to eat dinner at Topsiders or see a dinner menu?

 

[Tylerandalliesmom]

If so did you bring back any Navigators for the 5-7 year old group?

 

[ratfam]

Sorry, we did not eat at Topsiders or see a dinner menu. I do have a 6 year old so I have a copy of the 5-7 navigator. I don't have a scanner, but I can answer questions, or if you pm me your address I can send you a copy!

 

[stulaurie]

What time was Goofy's PJ Party? Is it still on Wednesday Night? Did your child go, and was there snacks served?

Thanks

 

[jhorstma]

Did you happen to eat dinner at Topsiders or see a dinner menu?

I was on the same cruise as ratfam (hi ratfam! ) - trip report will be forthcoming. In answer to your question Topsiders has a sit-down dinner with wait service that features much the same menu as being served in the rotational restaurants. After mediocre breakfast and lunch buffets (good made-to-order omelets though) I was very pleasantly surprised by how good the food and service were at dinner. Very quiet and you can get an inside table with a wonderful view of the ocean. A very nice change of pace from the regular dining rooms without the fuss and bother of Palo (not that getting ressies, dressing up, and spending a leisurely amount of time at Palo isn't well worth it). I recommend the tilapia if it is offered.

 

[jhorstma]

although who knows if its really true but the cruise director said we had the best weather they had in two months

That was a pretty cool thing for Julie (er, Rachel), your ship's cruise director, to say at the debarkation talk. I also liked her reference to the bar tab report - "you guys really know how to party". CC was an amazing day, after a week of uninterrupted sun, warmth, and calm seas.

 

[ratfam]

So true John, I will look forward to reading your trip report! In response to the Goofy PJ Party question, my son did go and really enjoyed it, although I didn't get much in the way of specifics from him. I didn't ask, but I don't believe that they served snacks. The party was on Wednesday (so Eastern cruisers don't have the pirate night conflict) from 7:30 to 9:15, but since we made Wednesday our Palo night we actually dropped him off around 6:30 when there was an hour of free time in the Lab. I highly recommend PJ party night for Palo, if your kids are into the concept I think it makes it much less likely that you'll get paged.