Just off the 4/2-4/7 Magic... couple thoughts

[sjuncfan]

We had a great time for the most part. There were a couple disappointments but part of that may have been that we hadn't cruised in almost 3 years so the anticipation was extremely built up in our heads. Also, our last 3 cruises had been on the bigger ships and we definitely missed some of the amenities the Magic is missing, like the AquaDuck, Midship Detective Agency, and Satellite Falls. The adults area on the Magic is seriously lacking (though we did love Signals!)

• Our main complaint was about family entertainment on the sea days, especially crafts. Both sea days had basically the same offerings: origami 2-3 times for families. They also offered 3D crafts and napkin folding once each sea day- but both of those were adults only, which seemed really odd. I will say there was a ton of trivia and the tastings we did were awesome.
• Along similar lines - the movie selection in Buena Vista theater was pretty poor. Basically alternating between Encanto and Turning Red all day. There were a handful of other shows thrown in but not nearly as much variety as I've seen on other cruises.
• I was really disappointed that they didn't have the NCAA basketball finals on funnel vision... but I think that was just bad timing because they were doing fireworks that night. We could have watched it in O'Gills but ended up just watching in our room.
• IMessage stopped working partway through but it may have been user error somehow because it came back later. I did ask guest services and they said it was not supposed to work, if I had iMessage before it was an error that had been fixed. I think someone else here had gotten a similar response from Guest Services. Seems odd... didn't they formally launch that they were enabling iMessage a couple years ago?

We feel very fortunate because some restrictions had just been lifted. DS was able to go to the kids club whenever he wanted, which was awesome. Preludes was open for business. Both of those elements added a lot to the trip.

Our stateroom host was awesome and our dining team was pretty good... Server was great and Assistant Server was... trying hard. I think they have more tables than normal so they weren't quite as on top of things. No major complaints about the service or the food though. EXCEPT - on our last morning someone puked on the floor right next to our table. It took like 5-10 minutes for them to do anything about it, and all they did was cover it up with napkins. We asked to move to a different table (since it was the last morning, lots of people skipped breakfast in the main dining room) - we were able to but I feel like they could have been more proactive and on top of the whole situation.

My only other comment is it seems like in general information was a little lacking and I was glad it wasn't our first cruise and we kind of know the ropes. The only specific example I can think of is usually there are a million reminders to return the kids club band, but this time no one reminded us and on the last morning I had an "Oh sh*t" moment. Fortunately we were able to go to guest services and get the band taken off and the charge removed, but I feel like they are usually better about reminding you at the club on the last day. There were a couple other similar things earlier in the cruise where I felt like the information had been better on previous cruises but they are not coming to mind. I think that's just from moving everything to the app and not having the paper to touch and feel like we did in the past.

Sorry this got so long but hopefully it's helpful to someone. Overall we had a great time and are looking forward to checking out the Wish in August!

 

[Snowwhyt]

When I was on the Fantasy in January we also had a table next to us that had a child that threw up. It did take a while for them to clean it up I would say 5 to 10 minutes later I did see people with equipment and dressed up in full PPE gowns gloves masks. I’m sure the hazardous waste/body fluid team were notified but may not have been on that side of the ship. They could’ve been cleaning up elsewhere too. They did offer to have us move to a different table. We stayed because we didn’t wanna be in trouble. That family did not return to dinner the next night. Although I believe they returned the second night.

 

[TPgal]

Thanks for your review and thoughts, its nice to have new feedback as things are changing so rapidly. My DH will be scouting for the last night of the NFL draft and can hopefully find it onboard. I don't think they are going to call his name, but at 53 he might still have a chance.

It's good to hear about the kids club our kiddos will want to be there, and then not, and then again. You get the drift.

22 days and counting...

 

[sjuncfan]

Thanks for your review and thoughts, its nice to have new feedback as things are changing so rapidly. My DH will be scouting for the last night of the NFL draft and can hopefully find it onboard. I don't think they are going to call his name, but at 53 he might still have a chance.

It's good to hear about the kids club our kiddos will want to be there, and then not, and then again. You get the drift.

22 days and counting...

If you are on the Magic, O'Gills is the only one that shows any sports stuff. The NCAA stuff was on ESPN2, which was a channel in the rooms - but it must be some international version since the games were actually on CBS. I have no idea how that worked.

 

[DisneYE]

We had a great time for the most part. There were a couple disappointments but part of that may have been that we hadn't cruised in almost 3 years so the anticipation was extremely built up in our heads. Also, our last 3 cruises had been on the bigger ships and we definitely missed some of the amenities the Magic is missing, like the AquaDuck, Midship Detective Agency, and Satellite Falls. The adults area on the Magic is seriously lacking (though we did love Signals!)

• Our main complaint was about family entertainment on the sea days, especially crafts. Both sea days had basically the same offerings: origami 2-3 times for families. They also offered 3D crafts and napkin folding once each sea day- but both of those were adults only, which seemed really odd. I will say there was a ton of trivia and the tastings we did were awesome.
• Along similar lines - the movie selection in Buena Vista theater was pretty poor. Basically alternating between Encanto and Turning Red all day. There were a handful of other shows thrown in but not nearly as much variety as I've seen on other cruises.
• I was really disappointed that they didn't have the NCAA basketball finals on funnel vision... but I think that was just bad timing because they were doing fireworks that night. We could have watched it in O'Gills but ended up just watching in our room.
• IMessage stopped working partway through but it may have been user error somehow because it came back later. I did ask guest services and they said it was not supposed to work, if I had iMessage before it was an error that had been fixed. I think someone else here had gotten a similar response from Guest Services. Seems odd... didn't they formally launch that they were enabling iMessage a couple years ago?

We feel very fortunate because some restrictions had just been lifted. DS was able to go to the kids club whenever he wanted, which was awesome. Preludes was open for business. Both of those elements added a lot to the trip.

Our stateroom host was awesome and our dining team was pretty good... Server was great and Assistant Server was... trying hard. I think they have more tables than normal so they weren't quite as on top of things. No major complaints about the service or the food though. EXCEPT - on our last morning someone puked on the floor right next to our table. It took like 5-10 minutes for them to do anything about it, and all they did was cover it up with napkins. We asked to move to a different table (since it was the last morning, lots of people skipped breakfast in the main dining room) - we were able to but I feel like they could have been more proactive and on top of the whole situation.

My only other comment is it seems like in general information was a little lacking and I was glad it wasn't our first cruise and we kind of know the ropes. The only specific example I can think of is usually there are a million reminders to return the kids club band, but this time no one reminded us and on the last morning I had an "Oh sh*t" moment. Fortunately we were able to go to guest services and get the band taken off and the charge removed, but I feel like they are usually better about reminding you at the club on the last day. There were a couple other similar things earlier in the cruise where I felt like the information had been better on previous cruises but they are not coming to mind. I think that's just from moving everything to the app and not having the paper to touch and feel like we did in the past.

Sorry this got so long but hopefully it's helpful to someone. Overall we had a great time and are looking forward to checking out the Wish in August!

Great review. Thanks for sharing.
What ports did you go to? did you get off the ship? did you enjoy them?

 

[sjuncfan]

Great review. Thanks for sharing.
What ports did you go to? did you get off the ship? did you enjoy them?

Castaway Cay, Cozumel, and two sea days. Castaway Cay is always delightful... we did the mojito/caipirhina tasting which was great. So much booze. It did storm in the afternoon but that didn't mess with our fun.

Cozumel we did the Fury Catamaran that comes highly recommended here. Our attitude started off not great because DCL had split everyone into Group 1 and Group 2, and indicated that there would be two catamarans. We were the last people in Group 1, and we got the last seats, so imagine our surprise when all the Group 2 people started coming onboard as well. They all sat on the upstairs part and it felt pretty crowded. But we ended up having a lot of fun - snorkeling was a little crowded but we saw lots of fish... and then we enjoyed their private beach. We'll probably stick with trying to find more "intimate" things to do on our own in the future, but with COVID uncertainty we chose this and it worked out great. It was only 1/2 day so we were back for (late) lunch on the ship and then went back out to walk around the port... which was basically like any port area that you go to with bars and shops and vendors harassing you to come check out their store.

 

[Joel0917]

I was ion fantasy 3-26 and our movies were Encanto and turning red and they even did turning red as a premiere in the Walt theatre even though it’s been out for 3 weeks. They did rotate black Widow and eternals.
Agree with limited crafts, animation and family activities.