Live from the 11/5 Magic

[GreenGirl8]

All of these updates are wonderful. I love hearing everyone's experiences.

 

[jlawall]

I'm so jealous.........we had such a blast last summer on 70s night!!!

 

[chop003]

We were at the Disco Party last night also, the most hysterical thing I've ever seen. The guy from Brooklyn really lit it up. I was told that we've had the best weather for the last few months.
I'm an idiot, all week, I lug my laptop around for wifi and it works right on my veranda. Took me to Friday night at 11pm to realize that.
So sorry to have the week come to an end.

 

[Buddy Bear]

I'm an idiot, all week, I lug my laptop around for wifi and it works right on my veranda. Took me to Friday night at 11pm to realize that.
So sorry to have the week come to an end.

I have heard that some areas of the ship you can get WiFi reception on your verandah. Just curious, what stateroom were you in?

 

[inkkognito]

Yep, that was us in the t-shirts on the horseback excursion.
In Cozumel we did some trotting and cantering on the DCL excursion...not sure that is the norm.

As of last night, signs were still on the doors on deck 2. As for wi-fi, I can get a bit of signal on the verandah of 5650, but not quite enough to log on. I see a lot of people on deck 5 midship using it, and it's find in the little aft seating area.

We did the Castaway Ray's excursion on CC and loved it! About 25 of the rays have returned. It is so neat how Disney has trained them to come up on "feeding stations" to be fed and petted.

Our second villa appointment was as great as the first (although it was a bit awkward as we were drinking our tea and realized by the sounds next door that the couple in the neighboring villa was doing a...uh, souvenir-making activity.

I can't believe the cruise is over. It was amazing!! My only small consolation is that we sail on the Wonder in 8 days, although I don't think it will be easy to ever match this "magic"al voyage.

Barb

 

[chop003]

I'm in 6640 & 6642 and it works on both verandas. This boat is really rocking tonight.

 

[michlynb]

Hey Everyone!

Just got back from the trip. My love to Suzanne and Scouter (other members of the "Single Girls" club) and their lovely sons for making dining great for me and DS, and the fun we had dining at Palos, partying and shopping together (me and Scouter bought the same beeeeaaauuutiful ring on board!).

Some of my highlights:
Palo's Brunch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

70s night (pretty hysterical!)

Stingray City excursion (but be warned - during hurricane season the ocean is choppy even with no storm systems around, and it was pretty exhausting battling the waves while snorkeling. I now know I much prefer still water snorkeling!!) - LOVED petting the stingrays, SO COOL!! One of my personal highlights.

Tropical Rain Forest (TIP: there is a temp control in the aromatic showers which you need to work if you want the water warm) - very, very relaxing and nice.

Disney Dreams show - it is EXCELLENT!! (TIP: if you miss any show in the Disney theatre, it will be shown on TV in your room every hour the day of the show)

Bought a black coral necklace on the main shopping street in Grand Cayman - COOL! (Speaking of Grand Cayman - IMPORTANT TIP: You cannot buy Tortuga Rum company liquor and get it onto the ship in Grand Cayman. Disney and Grand Cayman have conflicting laws, so that's how it is. They do sell it on board, and in Costa Maya. Try the Vanilla Rum - YUM!!! )

Magic Chacobben Ruins excursion - read my report on this in the Costa Maya thread in Trip Reports. This and petting stingrays and Palo Brunch (liked brunch a bit more than dinner) were the highlights of my trip personally.

The food was more often than not EXCELLENT (and I am a tough critic I think) If you do not like what you got, your server will be MORE than happy to get you something else right away. Feel free to mix and match side dishes, etc. try a few deserts. BEWARE: Gained many pounds. I was not alone. I am not kidding.

Kids Club for my almost 6 yo ds - I thought the counselors were EXCELLENT!! More importantly, my DS thought they were excellent!! He LOVED it there, and the counselors were very welcoming to the kids always, facilitating the kids being comfortable being there. Major kudos to the 5-7 YO kids club team!!!

LOVED the Cove Cafe - good place to hang out. They make great spiked coffee drinks!

Getting up near sunrise, getting a Latte at the Cove Cafe, and going up to the oh so bubbly Jacuzzis at the Goofy pool with DS (and then going swimming) before the sun is shining everywhere (I am a shade person) and before the crowds.

Characters, Characters everywhere (my son loved this)! TONS of picture opps here!!!! Character breakfast was great.

Lunch at Lumieres!!!!

Lazing in a hammock with DS on Castaway Cay in the PM.

LOTS of Singles Get-togethers (read the Navigator) (yay Disney!)!

SO many yummy tropical drinks

WARNING!!! Spent alot more than planned (pictures and drinks and shopping, oh my! )

So there are some of my highlights. Some tips - if you wake up on Thursday morn and decide you need to do laundry, you are going to have SOOOO much company (so maybe try for VERY early morn or afternoon). Formal night - most people were VERY formal, I think women just like a chance to wear finery. Pirate night - my almost 6 yo DS was scared, as were other similar aged kids around. Bring LOTS of film or digital memory - I just couldnt stop snapping, SO MANY photo ops!

That's all for now, have a great time future cruisers!

 

[Michelle2]

Great info, michlynb! Thank you! We leave soon, and will take all the information and advice we can get!

 

[Nala11]

Hey all... my fiance (Kevin) and I (Jen) just got back from this cruise. Our first Disney cruise and will definitely not be our last!!!

Highlights, comments, and other random things that come to mind...

Palo: Wow, I think we are still full from Palo! Went to tea, brunch, and dinner, hard to pick a favorite but I'd have to say it was brunch. The buffet was unbelievable. Heard so much about the crab legs and shrimp but didn't know there would be SO many choices that I (not a seafood fan) would love! Best pizza EVER, tons of yummy salads, cheeses, berries, and of course desserts.

Servers and Food: We had Sachin from India and Anastasia from Russia. They were excellent. Sachin wouldn't quit feeding us!! Try another entree, another dessert... well, I'm just glad we took the stairs everywhere. Anastasia was so friendly and great with everyone's kids. The food ranged from good to very good to excellent. Some of my favorite things were the ribs in Parrot Cay, eggplant parmesan on Captains Gala night, all the chilled fruit soups, and creme brulee at Lumieres.

Key West: Did the Back to Nature Kayak tour. Kayaking was good, but tour was a little disorganized. At the last minute the tour was moved 2 hours later due to one of the boat captains having hurt his leg on a scooter accident the night before. Then when we got there, there weren't enough kayaks, and a couple families with kids had to go 3 to a kayak. We love kayaking but this tour might have been more trouble than it was worth.

Stingrays in Grand Cayman: This was neat to see... from the boat!! I am a little creeped out by sea creatures, but I did pet a couple of the stingrays. Kevin absolutely loved it. A couple of the younger kids were a little nervous as the stingrays were pretty big. Saw one mom physically drag her scared daughter into the water... that was NOT cool.

Costa Maya - Checchoben ruins: This was a good tour, we had a very attentive and informative tour guide. Definitely not a tour for very small kids as there is an hour bus ride and lots of walking and listening - the 8-10 year olds looked interested and they were having fun climbing around the ruins, but there was one couple who brought a 2-3 year old in a stroller, who screamed the whole time. Don't think any of them got much out of it. The tour guides and bus drivers seemed very excited to have all the cruise ships visiting.

Shows: The 3 big shows, Golden Mickeys, Twice Charmed, and Disney Dreams, were absolutely wonderful. Amazing that they pull all those effects off on the cruise ship. Disney Dreams was my personal favorite but they were all incredible.

Konk Kooler! These did not suck. Neither did the Drinks of the Day. That is all.

Dress at Dinner: We loved dressing for dinner and were happy that many people chose to do the same. Saw quite a few tuxes on formal night - Kevin wore his again for semiformal night but not many tuxes then. I won't comment on the guy in camouflage pants and sandals.

Couples Massage: Loved the massage, very very good, think Kevin didn't know where he was after about half an hour. Did not love the slightly snooty tone from the girls as they interrogated me about what kind of moisturizer I used and why my skin was dry (um, I just spent an hour in the Jacuzzi!) We wrote No Sales Pitch on our forms but they still tried, though not very hard, to sell me some muscle relaxing oil or gel or something. Ugh.

Random Disney Touches: Absolutely loved these, though they are not overwhelming if you don't happen to be a huge Disney fan. We love Disney, so we loved the ship's horn, the music in the hallways, randomly running into Cinderella or Mickey, and the hidden Mickeys everywhere.

Feel free to ask me anything else you want to know but I think this is long enough for now!

 

[GreenGirl8]

Jen,

Thanks for the trip report. I (Jen) am doing the same cruise with my fiance (Honeymoon) in a year! I can not wait. We are pretty sure we will do the stringray city tour.

How was dining as far as children go? I love children, but I don't want them crying/banging silverware me while I am trying to enjoying my meal. We went ahead and did the late dining thinking it would be a bit better. Also, were there crab legs at any of the other dining location/lunch buffets?

 

[dlf246]

Stingrays in Grand Cayman: This was neat to see... from the boat!! I am a little creeped out by sea creatures, but I did pet a couple of the stingrays. Kevin absolutely loved it. A couple of the younger kids were a little nervous as the stingrays were pretty big.

Jen, great review; could you give your opinion for a minimum age for kids to enjoy the stingrays?

 

[Nala11]

How was dining as far as children go? I love children, but I don't want them crying/banging silverware me while I am trying to enjoying my meal. We went ahead and did the late dining thinking it would be a bit better. Also, were there crab legs at any of the other dining location/lunch buffets?

We had late dining and the "adult" rotation, starting in Lumiere's. There were a few kids at our seating but not many, and I hardly noticed them. The kids I did see in the dining room were very well behaved. Really, overall, the kids on the ship were busy and happy and well behaved, with a few exceptions of course, but not bad at all considering how many kids were on board.

Crab legs... I'm not the best one to ask considering I'm not a seafood person, but Kevin is, and I think I only saw him with crab legs at the Palo brunch. We didn't do the seafood lunch buffet the day it was offered, so I don't know if they had them there or not.

I'm sure you'll love your honeymoon! We were seated with a honeymoon couple at dinner and they were having a great time.

 

[Nala11]

Jen, great review; could you give your opinion for a minimum age for kids to enjoy the stingrays?

I passed this question on to Kevin since he was actually in the water with the stingrays and I was not - his answer: "I would not give a minimum age - just make sure the kids are comfortable in the water and love sea creatures."

The kids I saw who were scared were probably in the 8-10 year old range; older than that mostly seemed fine, but obviously it depends on your kids' comfort level. The water was pretty rough so you had to be comfortable bouncing around in the waves.

Take this with a grain of salt as we don't have any kids!

 

[Suzy Mouse]

There were crab legs at the Topsider's seafood buffet. They were the same ones that were at Palo's for brunch.

 

[BoosGram]

Door signs: We had a different experience regarding the room signs. My daughter, PirateWife, had made several signs that we applied to our doors as soon as we got on board (we used the magnetic paper, so no glue or tape). The first time we left the rooms and returned, the signs were gone. Our first thought was that someone had decided to "borrow" them for whatever reason. We then found out that our CM host had removed them. He stated that they were not allowed. Needless to say, we were more than a little disappointed. Now, we did see some of the doors in our corridor (not ours) with wet paint signs on them (this was on deck 7, port side), so perhaps it was just a temporary thing, but we never did get a better reason.

Child care: God bless the CMs who staff the kids' clubs. My DGD3 LOVED the club, but was a bit of a handful, to say the least. We had dropped her off at the club so we (DH, DD, DSIL, and I) could go to Palo's brunch . You know we hadn't even sat down before the pager went off. What a major bummer! My poor DSIL went to get her and missed the brunch, but he was a good sport about it. Palo's is wonderful, and I'd have to cast my vote for the brunch over the dinner, but we certainly wouldn't turn down any chance to go there!

DISboarders: What a fantastic tool the DIS board is . It was so great to be able to meet the people we've been "talking" to and what terrific people they are. Scouter did a fabulous job on the badges (Rose, you rock!), and it was fun to meet everyone. We also felt we knew a lot about the cruise even though DH and I had never been aboard before. Thanks, everyone!

Pirate Night: We did dress up. My DH had a parrot on his shoulder and the kids in our area loved it and wanted to pet it. He decided to put his eyepatch on his ear, explaining that the parrot had talked his ear off. All in all, a fun night.

Costa Maya: Unfortunately for us, we were unable to attend our excursion, so were limited to walking around the small plaza right off the ship. My opinion is that unless you have somewhere to go on an excursion in Costa Maya, pretend it's a day at sea.

Key West: There was definitely storm damage there, but, hey, Kino's was open. (This is 4 pairs of sandals later and not even $40!!!! For leather sandals!!!)

In short, I wish we were back on the Magic right now

 

[kzybulew]

Howdy all,
Wi Fi is in select areas, like Cove Cafe and Promenade lounge, but at the moment I am sitting in the deck 5 aft hallway and getting it just fine (another benefit of stateroom 5650...the internet isn't far away).
Barb

Hi Barb,
I see that you got a signal outside of your stateroom:
Do you think we'd get a decent wifi signal in the hallway by 5622 on the Wonder? (I know 5650 is more aft and that you wrote this on the Magic.) It would so awesome if we could log on from there, DH and I would love to be able surf the net while DS(1) naps or is down for the night. Next time you're in the B&T Suite would you mind taking a walk foward in the hallway to check it out? I think you sail again soon, I hope number 51 is as great as the first.
Thanks,
kzybulew