We did 5-night Bahamas with stops in Key West, Nassau and CC. This was our fourth cruise with
DCL and second time on the Magic. I'm happy to answer questions. Leslie was the Cruise Director and Jason was the Captain. Tisa was the main Cruise Staff entertainment person (I don't know what you'd call her, it's the same role I've seen Jamzey or Jo in previously.)
Overall we had a fantastic time.
The good:
We cruises with my mom and her husband and they had a fantastic time. They were really impressed with the food and entertainment and had a really nice time in some of the adult areas.
Our servers (Jay and Tiago) were incredible. We'll try to get one of them again next time we're on board.
The weather was amazing. It started a little cool in Miami, but it warmed up and we couldn't have asked for a better day at CC, in particular. No wind at all and just blue skies and sunshine! The water was a little chilly, but if you got in, you got used to it.
My favorite crew member (Darrell from Cruise Staff) was on board and remembered us from our Halloween cruise a year and a half ago. It warmed my heart. He's such a sweet guy and has so much energy. Love him!
I tried Palo brunch for the first time (only had dinner previously) and LOVED it. I'm a brunch gal for sure! Dinner is evidently just not my thing there.
I made my daughter a Rapunzel dress plus long hair extension and when we met Rapunzel she told us that we made her day. She was just really excited about it and it was so super sweet. It really made our princess meet so magical.
Parasailing on CC was really amazing. I got some incredible photos of the beach and the ship and it was just so peaceful and beautiful up there.
The pirate museum in Nassau was cute and fun and I'm glad we got off the boat. We'd been to Nassau before and this was a better experience than last time (when it was a national holiday and everything was closed and a parade caused major transit blockages throughout the city). We spent the afternoon on board and had a great time.
Key West was nice. I'm glad we had one day there, but I think that's enough. With spring break in full swing, it was a little bonkers, but we had an overall nice time. The Shipwreck Museum was pretty cool and my favorite thing we did there.
The not as good:
My mom's chat wasn't working intermittently through the cruise and we could never get it figured out. DH and I have never had problems, but she would consistently not receive messages and messages she would send failed, even after restarting the app and her phone. Of course, it worked whenever the Connect at Sea desk was open and was failing whenever they were closed!
I left my sweater at Cabana's the very first day at lunch and it was never turned into Guest Services. GRRRR. I bought a new one in Key West, but I'm still really sad nobody turned it in. I'm trying to look at it as someone really needing a new sweater. I hope they are enjoying it!
The night of our sea day, there was screaming on Deck 2 in the hallway near our room. At first, I dismissed it as kids, but then I realized that it was legitimate distress. I opened my stateroom door (as did many) to see a woman running down the hall with a child in her arms frantic screaming, "HELP ME!!!! HELP!" Someone was on the phone calling to get her help. I was so shaken and I can still hear her voice. Unfortunately, there was an ambulance the next morning in Nassau and my worry increased for that family. I did find later that the woman (who was on our Facebook cruise group) had found her daughter having a seizure (she had never had this before). They got medical attention in Nassau and then reboarded, only to have another. They were told by Disney that they could not continue the cruise, but found themselves without passports. Eventually got home and their daughter has been diagnosed with a form of adolescent epilepsy and will be on anti-seizure medication until she outgrows it. It was brought on by fatigue and lack of sleep. I'm so relieved that everyone is (more or less) okay and that they got home, though I feel badly at how their trip ended. Nobody wants that. The moral of this story is to travel with passports and trip insurance because you NEVER KNOW.
Shutters continues to put irritating borders on everything.
Cove Cafe did honor our full punch card from our last cruise, but they said from now on, the punch card is on a per cruise basis (and it says on the new card). I find this to be a little frustrating.
We had sort of mixed feelings about Tangled. It was lovely and the production was incredible, but we had just watched most of the movie earlier that day and it was literally exactly the same, which is, I guess the point? I don't know. I really like how Twice Charmed puts a twist on things and tells a familiar story, but in a new and creative way. But I felt the same about Toy Story the Musical (and I'll probably the feel the same about Frozen).
My daughter (who is 8, turning 9 in a few months) is pretty much done with the club/lab. She says it's boring and she really doesn't want to go. She literally went once to make a Rapunzel lantern. When I went to pick her up, she was playing a video game on an iPad. The lantern was a little dorky. Just construction paper with cuts in it. I think it's just really skewed younger and it's really hard to have activities for the kids in the older age range. It goes back to the arguments about having little kids all together with kids who are starting to like older kid things. Our next cruise (Mediterranean) will be port intensive so it's a moot point for our next sailing (she'll be a couple weeks shy of 10). We mostly stuck to family activities like trivia, family crafts, etc.
Our table mates were a mixed bag. My daughter and the other girl were like a rollercoaster. When they were having fun and playing together, it was great, but there were some issues and they had some problems and several nights ended in tears. Our last two cruises were so great, I think we got spoiled.
