Just Returned from the 1st Magic Sailing (3 night) from Miami

[Cheburashka]

@Cheburashka the Dreams theatre show and the Animation Magic presentation at Animator's Palate were both part of the UK 2, 3 and 4 night UK staycation cruises on The Magic, so its not surprising they kept them for the restart of the USA cruises

I said it was a perk, not a surprise.

Interesting that you feel the need to criticize another poster's positive comment that has nothing to do with you.

 

[tup1830]

This makes me very nervous for our sailing. It will be our 22nd sailing but am worried about bringing our friends, their 1st and 2nd sailing. This sounds awful, the Disney Cruise line I’ve never experienced. No Platinum perks of boarding early disappoints me. One of our friends has a shellfish allergy, one has a coconut allergy and I have a nut allergy, a little concerned by your report. May I ask, when u finally board ship, are u allowed to go directly to Guest Services to change your dining time? Two of our friends have issues (stomach) eating late (all we could get when we booked. TIA

Hi, i had an allium allergy (onions, garlic). Normally DCL and Disney as a whole do great with allergies of all kinds, but this was just a massive miss.

The crowds, I don't know which group they fall into, but they were often enough to be more than just a minor disturbance. I am grouping the bad behavior as a whole. When adults stand in front of kids during a kid centric show (that waited patiently for the show)...its entitlement to another level.

 

[tup1830]

Wonder why the staff is new? They aren't even back to full capacity yet and allegedly the castmembers really wanted to get back to work. Wonder why so many decided not to return to work?

Like i heard from an Indian cast member that with the UK cruises, there were a immigration halt of indian nationals to the UK, so because of some covid immigration rules, the crew changed a bit.

 

[tup1830]

There were a lot of positives to this cruise, though. I found the crew very positive and caring, with no lamely indifferent crew members. Mistakes were made, but they were in good faith. I did hear ship-wide announcements about rescheduling of the rained out Mousequerade Party & fireworks, btw.

And the new muster drill was light years better than the old one. That really improved the embarkation day experience imo.

On the negative side, I did wish that the deck 4 promenade deck chairs were available. They were tied closed so that no one could use them. All of the pool deck loungers were available, though.

Agreed...totally loved the new muster drill!!!

 

[tup1830]

This makes me very nervous for our sailing. It will be our 22nd sailing but am worried about bringing our friends, their 1st and 2nd sailing. This sounds awful, the Disney Cruise line I’ve never experienced. No Platinum perks of boarding early disappoints me. One of our friends has a shellfish allergy, one has a coconut allergy and I have a nut allergy, a little concerned by your report. May I ask, when u finally board ship, are u allowed to go directly to Guest Services to change your dining time? Two of our friends have issues (stomach) eating late (all we could get when we booked. TIA

As soon as i boarded, i went to guest services and asked for an upgrade...i'm assuming you can do the same for dining time.

 

[tvguy]

Like i heard from an Indian cast member that with the UK cruises, there were a immigration halt of indian nationals to the UK, so because of some covid immigration rules, the crew changed a bit.

That certainly could impact staffing. Soo many different policies.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We were on this sailing as well.

First the good...

• My DW is Gluten-Free and this was her first DCL since this happened. For the most part, we didn't have any issues. In fact, our server, Adanna, was excellent about making sure that my DW's orders were put in ahead of time, even for the "special" location at Cookie's on Castaway to get your allergen friendly meal (which, she said the Castaway meal they made her was excellent).
• Ship was in excellent shape and I thought the crew was excited to have guests sailing again from the US.
• One of the best Cabin Stewards that we've ever had.
• Rapunzel's Royal Table was amazing. The decor is fantastic and the food was the best (we thought) of the 3 restaurants. The desserts are worth it alone (Fry Bread and Creme Brûlée Cheesecake!!!)
• Entertainment staff (game shows, trivia, etc) did an excellent job.
• Finally got to see Jungle Cruise. Really enjoyed it.

The bad...

• Weather was not great on this cruise. (Not DCL's fault)
• Also noticed some of the issues noted above with other guests, but sometimes you get that.
• Not sure why, but they only showed Dreams in the Walt Disney Theater (along with a Nightmare Before Christmas sing-along one night). First DCL cruise where I never made it into the Walt Disney Theater...
• Absolutely zero HOTHS merchandise. Merchandise as a whole was disappointing
• No DVC meeting on the ship

The Ugly...

• We went to Palo Brunch on Day 2. I am not sure if our server had not worked in Palo before or what, but we had a lot of issues, primarily with service. First, we were there almost 3 hours, which just shouldn't happen. The server said that in part, this was due to my DW's gluten allergy. Well, I can understand that, but only to a point. First off, it was 45 minutes before we were served any bread. I think that they waited until GF bread was ready as well, but I was surprised they didn't go ahead and bring at least some to the table (they always did in the main dining rooms and the GF bread was there pretty quick as well). Another issue we had was that she didn't apply our Platinum discount. When we left, we got a bill for $135. I asked the server and she said we had to do that later with Guest Services. As she was saying this, the Maitre'd was passing by and heard and corrected her on the spot and told her she should have applied everything before creating our bill. He stated he would get it fixed (which was fine). The next day, we still had the charge on the bill, so I did the "chat" with Guest Services who said it would be taken off the bill. I checked back later, and they had credited our bill, but only for 2 of the 3 people. Had to go down to the Guest Services desk to finally get that straightened out.

Question About server, Adanna, is she from Trinindad? Was she on the Dream in the past?? We have always appreciated her service, and usually request her, but she wasn’t on the Dream in September. We have a Magic sailing in January, and I will put in a request for her!

 

[ari_lebron1203]

Do we know if the Tangled show on the Magic will be happening on other cruises? I’m on my first four night sailing in december and was looking forward to seeing it

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

We sail a 4 night in November for our late honeymoon / DH first cruise. I’m very nervous after reading yours and another report. I literally the day before we could cancel debated if we should do the Magic or pay more for the Dream hopefully with the feedback they serve Mickey waffles again! I’m pretty sure they had them in the UK sailings that I saw on YouTube.

 

[LisaRN97]

We also, we’re on this sailing. We had a great time! Although we don’t particularly like 3-night cruises as we feel they are so different from sailings 7+ nights. We felt like we were back with family, concierge was wonderful and we really focusend on the family time with our teens

 

[RamblingMad]

Are guests more rude than normal these days on the ship?

I've noticed this since the lockdowns came to an end. It's as if people lost their ability to properly socialize. This is my number one hesitancy to cruise right now.

 

[Cheburashka]

Are guests more rude than normal these days on the ship?

I've noticed this since the lockdowns came to an end. It's as if people lost their ability to properly socialize. This is my number one hesitancy to cruise right now.

No, I didn't find that to be true at all. It was no different than what I've experienced before Covid.

 

[Cheburashka]

Do we know if the Tangled show on the Magic will be happening on other cruises? I’m on my first four night sailing in december and was looking forward to seeing it

It takes them a long time to rehearse for a show, and they're only doing one show at a time right now, and on the Magic it's Dreams. It seems very unlikely that they'd switch to Tangled by December.

 

[Cheburashka]

We sail a 4 night in November for our late honeymoon / DH first cruise. I’m very nervous after reading yours and another report. I literally the day before we could cancel debated if we should do the Magic or pay more for the Dream hopefully with the feedback they serve Mickey waffles again! I’m pretty sure they had them in the UK sailings that I saw on YouTube.

They didn't have them at Cabanas or at the MDR debarkation breakfast. They could have had them at the MDR breakfasts on other days- I didn't go to those so I don't know. The Dream has them at Cabanas, but not the Magic.

 

[lcarter0922]

We also, we’re on this sailing. We had a great time! Although we don’t particularly like 3-night cruises as we feel they are so different from sailings 7+ nights. We felt like we were back with family, concierge was wonderful and we really focusend on the family time with our teens

How was the experience boarding at Port of Miami as concierge? We are surprising our teens in 3 weeks that we upgraded to concierge. We are wondering how long it will take for them to figure it out.

 

[dreamer17555]

It takes them a long time to rehearse for a show, and they're only doing one show at a time right now, and on the Magic it's Dreams. It seems very unlikely that they'd switch to Tangled by December.

Im wondering what they will do with the five night sailings… They have one Nov. 8th and a single show of Dreams would not be enough for me personally.

 

[Cheburashka]

Im wondering what they will do with the five night sailings… They have one Nov. 8th and a single show of Dreams would not be enough for me personally.

Maybe they'll add Tangled on. That would be great.

 

[BlueBayou]

Are guests more rude than normal these days on the ship?

I've noticed this since the lockdowns came to an end. It's as if people lost their ability to properly socialize. This is my number one hesitancy to cruise right now.

Went to the Lion King this week. Two middle aged, seemingly normal looking women, were escorted out by police at intermission. To applause and cheers from the people in the area near them. Don’t know what went down - they were in the very front - but it was some sort of altercation.

Who gets a police escort out of the Lion King?

 

[AquaDame]

Went to the Lion King this week. Two middle aged, seemingly normal looking women, were escorted out by police at intermission. To applause and cheers from the people in the area near them. Don’t know what went down - they were in the very front - but it was some sort of altercation.

Who gets a police escort out of the Lion King?

People on a very short fuse I imagine... we're all collectively going through a period of stress - some would even go so far as to call it collective trauma. Even if you feel fine, things are different and weird, and it is likely straining people. Case in point, some of the comments in this thread... please remember to try to be kind to one another. Even if you don't agree with someone, or like their attitude, being snippy isn't going to help anything.

 

[Pooh93]

Hello All,

Had another great cruise on the Magic out of Miami on Oct 28th.

Here are the good bad and ugly:

Good
- The ship overall was in great shape
- Characters pop up everywhere, all the time...which was great
- There were a lot of new staff, and since it was the first official sailing, the mood was very upbeat, very accommodating and warm and welcoming
- Room upgrades were available...but nothing at the port checkin....have to go to guest services after boarding
- Room keys are NOT given at checkin, they are in an envelope on the fish extender...a very weird situation, but made for a quicker checkin process
- The terminal flow was smooth, with the largest wait being for the results of the covid test
- Some may see this as a negative, but no paper in the room. I TOTALLY MISS the navigator, but the other stuff left in the room is all gone
- Dove chocolate in the room at night

Bad
- New staff, so a bit of a learning curve to get it just right, but overall, nothing that stands out
- Missed the fireworks because they cancelled and then returned the show. There was some rain and they announced on the deck that the show was cancelled, but then we heard the fireworks from inside. One of the cast members said it was updated in the app....we don't constantly check our app for cancelled and then restarted shows...totally a miss on disney's part
- Covid protocols are a hit or miss. Some cast members were strict about mask adherence, others could care less
- LOTs of unsupervised children running around. Cutting lines. Being loud. Eating in the stairwell....sitting on the floor...blocking the entire staircase. Example: Life guard will only let a certain number of kids into the pool at one time. Kids would bum rush the pool and too many would get in. The life guard would have to beg 10-15 times for kids to get out so that they stay within limit.
- Adults ignoring rules. Example: Masquerade party on the deck...rules are one family per blue dot. Nobody listened until a cast member came and then went back to normal after they left. Once the party started and characters came out, everyone ran to the front of the stage. Cast members didn't say anything. Children ran in front of my family, adults without kids stood in front of my kids (grrr), and others felt that the rules didn't apply to them.
- the APP....oh the app....Its nothing like the paper navigators. The information isn't the best about specials, deals, etc. The luggage information on debarkation wasn't there. It was hard to find things in the app. It was just a mess. If you think you need to be on the phone in the parks, they are trying to do the same with the App...and on the cruise, it doesn't work. The wifi isn't strong enough everywhere and fast enough to handle it
- Tried chatting with guest services, got logged out and re-entered the waiting virtual line 3 times...while sitting in the same place.
- Joining virtual line to get off the ship...it had an error and went back to the bottom of the list.
- Debarkation was weird. They called character colors, but not what proceeded it in case you missed it. I missed mine while in the elevator and didn't know to leave until i asked later.

Ugly
- We put in allergy information in the booking, but first night, no dinner for us. They improvised by giving us a bowl of lettuce for our appetizer and cooked noodles with a slab of tofu for dinner. It was pretty lame. On a 3 night, you shouldn't have to wait to the second night to get a good meal....especially since it was notated in the account for a long time prior to boarding. We complained and it was rectified, but missing 1/3 meals is pretty bad especially since we had palo one night.
- Guests were different this time. I stood in line waiting for ice cream and 2 adults just cut me off. I was only 3 feet behind the party in front of me. While waiting for pictures, one person was there and took 25 min with the characters...because they had family join them...and then had to get all pretty for the pictures, then another family member would randomly come. I get it, they deserve to take pictures, but its totally disrespectful to make everyone wait while you powder your nose...and your friend just woke up and wanted to take a picture too.
- I get that DCL wants to make guests happy and won't tell them much, but it just seemed that the rude guests ruled the ship. I had a guest take my daughters unopened milk container at breakfast because it was closer than going and getting it from the counter. I had a cast member say he will bring me a box of fruit loops only to forget and then not even offer an apology for forgetting. Just misses like these added up.

Happy to answer other questions you may have.

Thank you for the information! We sail on November 13-18. I am a bit apprehensive about the Wifi. It has never been that consistent imo.

I look forward to meeting the crew and sharing in their enthusiasm for being able to sail again! Will definitely try to pay attention to the debarkation colors etc. I hate to even talk about debarkation. The time will pass so quickly!!