Magic Antigua 7day Sept 18 report

[qofhearts]

Hi all!

With all the complaints and positive thoughts during this rather rough hurrican season, I thought I should post our positive experience on the Magic 1st sailing to Antigua. All I can say is I hope they do more Antigua trips.

It was our first Disney cruise, despite Jeanne, we had a great time and I feel Disney did a wonderful job accomidating us. One of the cruise staff even helped carry our luggage and get us to the right ticket counter on Sat the 25th as everyone was struggling to get out of Orlando. I was told if our flight was cancelled that they would take us back to the Dolphin until we could get home (FYI we were there Fri night on Disney as we had to get off Magic early due to the hurricane).


Ok enought about the hurricane. For all of you going to Antigua in Oct. Have a blast. We did the cat snorkel excursion- It was great. The staff was wonderful, we had a party boat on the way back. Some of our other cruisers did the Island tour by boat and said it was A+. The only excursion we heard negative things about was the off road jeep safari excursion. Shopping in the town was great, they gave away free local beer and everyone was really friendly.

More to come.

 

[lildeb724]

Which cruises in October are going to Antigua. I am on the 10/16 Magic - I don't believe it is going there unless I missed something.

 

[eander5696]

Im on the 10-2 Magic cruise, we are headed to Antigua!

 

[westjones]

We didn't do an excursion in Antigua, but the thing that I enjoyed was watching all the local children come to see the ship. The people of Antigua seemed to be SO happy to have us there. In our stateroom we could see a bank from our porthole and several children came down to the waters to see the Magic. One Dad came with his son and took lots of pictures. Then we saw people dancing on a little boat near the Magic. We really felt 'welcomed' there.

That afternoon, inside the Magic there seems to be a lot of 'official' people with the crew. I was wondering if maybe some of the government officials came onboard for lunch with captain (lots of pictures were being taken).

I think maybe the schools let the kids out for the day because there were so many local children around to see the ship (many had really cute pink school uniforms). It almost seemed like a holiday for them.

The FUNNIEST thing though as we got off the ship, there was a bank playing and a gentleman with a mic was welcoming us to the island and then he said, "So where is Elmer and Daffy? Didn't they come with you?" (instead of saying Mickey and Donald). DH and I had a good laugh from that. Maybe there will be a Warner Brothers cruise sometime!

DJ

 

[WDWLVR]

We're heading to Antiqua on the 10-day Holiday cruise and we're really looking forward to it.

 

[qofhearts]

Can't wait to hear what you think of Antigua. Yes, the school kids and the steel drum band were really nice.

 

[disneybride96]

What did you hear about the Off road Antigua excursion. We are booked for that one next week. I think I still have a couple of days to cancel!

 

[DisneyNutMary]

I have to say, despite everything, my 9/18 cruise was enjoyable. I am planning to re-book using the discount DCL gave us.

Antigua is beautiful, we didn't do an excursion, instead we asked the dispatcher at the taxi stand. He recommended Turner's Beach. It's beautiful, calm water, clean, nice.
I highly recommend it!

We were also impressed with the turnout for our arrival. Some of the school kids told us they arrived at the pier at 7 am to wait for us. All of the shopkeepers were happy to have us, we received a warm welcome. Future Antigua cruisers, you'll love it!

If you're a shopper, there are plenty of shops right outside the pier, plenty of great deals to be found.

 

[TexasGirl]

We felt without question Antigua was the highlight of the 9/18 cruise. I def recommend Jolly Beach Resort. Stunning and great value.

 

[JanDave]

I was on the 9/18 Magic also. My DH and I booked an eco tour with Eli's Antigua Adventures on our own. Two other DCL families were on the excursion. It was a 6 hour tour on Eli's 52 foot boat. Eli gave us a history of Antigua, pointed out sea turtles, pelicans, rare species of birds, short hike to a ridge which overlooked several small islands, snorkeled and swam and provided lunch. I would highly recommend this tour.

Jan

 

[Shooter]

JanDave,

Was there any time left for shopping following the Eco tour?

Does anybody know what prompted the poor review for the safari? My son really wanted to do that.

 

[Scotsman]

We took a private sail boat. Had a great time. The captain picked us up at the dock and drove us to his boat and back to the ship at the end of the day. They took us snorkeling and made us lunch then stopped at a secluded beach for the kids to play. It lasted all day and they were willing to take us anywhere and do anything. A very nice English couple take care of you and they are extremly nice. Check them out at Jollycharter.com It cost $500 for the whole day and was worth every penny.
The main reason we did it was our 3yr old was not allowed on the excursions.

 

[qofhearts]

4x4 safari- We didn't go on it, only heard from several people we met on the boat that did it that they liked the tour but didn't get to see all the things promised and the "in season fruits" sampling was a disappointment- only one fruit. They said it wasn't really off road as they expected. I just saw another post from someone who went on it that loved it.