Magic Cruise to St. Croix starts tomorrow
- Thread starter paango
- Start date
DMMarla07860
DIS Veteran
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- May 12, 2005
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no last minute tips, but have fun. I'll be going to st. croix in febuary 28th-March 7th cruise so would love to hear about that place
glindamood
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2000
- Messages
- 3,726
Have an awesome time and hoping you have sunny skies and smooth seas. We are heading to St. Croix in November so I am anxious to hear what you have to say as well.
DMMarla07860
DIS Veteran
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- May 12, 2005
- Messages
- 7,447
fairfax
DIS Veteran
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- Apr 13, 2004
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- 886
I noticed you'll be on the same cruise as me
It's really getting close now isn't it? I'm so excited!
Are you doing two 7 nights back to back? Wow am I jealous!!
All Things Simba
Can't stop taking photographs!
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2006
- Messages
- 291
DD (15) along with DH and I are hading to St. Thomas and St. Croix tomorrow on the Magic. We've cruised DCL a few times before but its been awhile. We are in cabin 6654 and I promise to come back with pictures and a full report. Any last minute tips?
As I'm responding to your post.... you all are still sailing now! How wonderful!
Hope it feels like your vacation is lasting forever!
We are on the Magic/St. Croix sailing coming up on 1/31/09! We can't wait to her from you and other cruisers about St. Croix and the experiences you've had with this new tropical destination! We'll be standing (or sitting!) by the computer waiting for your report!
Enjoy! 
LoveMickey
<font color=red>Can't wait to feel the "wonder" of
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2000
- Messages
- 3,512
We are interested in your trip report also. We'll be sailing on the Eastern next January.
If you can let us know about the temps, water temp, etc. that would be great.
Hope your trip was Magical.
If you can let us know about the temps, water temp, etc. that would be great.
Hope your trip was Magical.
We are going to be on that cruise too. I don't know if you've seen, but we have a thread on the Cruise Meets board, if you haven't yet, you should come join us.
makewifehappy
Disney husband who pleases her..
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2007
- Messages
- 89
Got room for me? My family currently has to wait until Thanksgiving of 2010 before we go.
Take advantage of the buffet at Parrot Cay when you get to the ship tomorrow. It's always a good way to start the trip off.
Take advantage of the buffet at Parrot Cay when you get to the ship tomorrow. It's always a good way to start the trip off.
Angie_Ohio
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 471
My family is also going on the March 28th to ST. CROIX and ST. THOMAS. 
We've never been to ST. CROIX so are wondering how it is. What excursions are you planning if any? 
We are booked for the WAVE jeep tour.
Angie
We've never been to ST. CROIX so are wondering how it is. What excursions are you planning if any? We are booked for the WAVE jeep tour.Angie
nzdisneymom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2003
- Messages
- 6,094
Welcome home! Can't wait to read about the trip! Hope you all had a Magical time!
We just returned yesterday from the St. Croix trip. I will have all my pics posted next weekend.
It was fabulous, of course! We had a great time, and only a couple of small glitches. DH and I used separate credit cards for our Key to the World Cards and interestingly, when I presented my card at Palo and the Spa, the charges showed up on his Key card so keep an eye out if this is an issue for you. This is the 4th cruise for me and DD (15), and 1st cruise for DH so we have some interesting perspectives. If you have specific questions send 'em on!
Note to anyone in the military active-duty: DH is active duty and I was told to call about 45 days prior to cruise to see if there would be a military discount. Was there ever! We got about $1800 back on military discount which applies to all in the same stateroom. Do it! Make that phone call, and fax a copy of the active id! Sorry, don't know if it applies to retired military.
I thoroughly walked the ship and looked in on the kids program areas and they were very clean and up to Disney standards. My daughter even lamented that she couldn't spend time in those places for the little ones.
The ship: The ship was as beautiful as we remember it from previous cruises. Just out of dry dock in October and the carpeting was new and they did some general up keep and reconfiguration in some areas. Parrot Cay seemed to be the only place that seemed dated, but then again how much tropical/parrot themed places can a family from Florida stand? We were in room 6654 (handicapped accessible) and it showed a little wear but the room was way too cool (more on that later). There is a video that runs in the room that shows all the work they did during dry-dock and it is pretty amazing.
St. Croix: my advice to anyone who does not have a pre-planned excursion: STAY on the ship. I live in Florida and the "islands" are right in my backyard so I know from experience. St. Croix has not had a cruise ship in dock for 8 years and it shows. Mind you, we did not have an excursion planned as we just wanted to do our own thing. The taxis were a mess and very unorganized. We tried to get a taxi to the Cruzan Rum factory and none of the taxi people knew what we were talking about. If you didn't want to go to one of the locations posted on their board (everything was $20), forget it. We walked around a bit and finally got on a taxi to Christiansted - about a 30 minute ride. The marina area was beautiful and the shops were ok but there were only a few and not anything special. We did hear from those doing excursions that it was nice and the snorkeling was great. But if you are just looking to do it yourself, stay on the ship and enjoy!
I will post more when I can a little later - but reality calls
It was fabulous, of course! We had a great time, and only a couple of small glitches. DH and I used separate credit cards for our Key to the World Cards and interestingly, when I presented my card at Palo and the Spa, the charges showed up on his Key card so keep an eye out if this is an issue for you. This is the 4th cruise for me and DD (15), and 1st cruise for DH so we have some interesting perspectives. If you have specific questions send 'em on!
Note to anyone in the military active-duty: DH is active duty and I was told to call about 45 days prior to cruise to see if there would be a military discount. Was there ever! We got about $1800 back on military discount which applies to all in the same stateroom. Do it! Make that phone call, and fax a copy of the active id! Sorry, don't know if it applies to retired military.
I thoroughly walked the ship and looked in on the kids program areas and they were very clean and up to Disney standards. My daughter even lamented that she couldn't spend time in those places for the little ones.
The ship: The ship was as beautiful as we remember it from previous cruises. Just out of dry dock in October and the carpeting was new and they did some general up keep and reconfiguration in some areas. Parrot Cay seemed to be the only place that seemed dated, but then again how much tropical/parrot themed places can a family from Florida stand? We were in room 6654 (handicapped accessible) and it showed a little wear but the room was way too cool (more on that later). There is a video that runs in the room that shows all the work they did during dry-dock and it is pretty amazing.
St. Croix: my advice to anyone who does not have a pre-planned excursion: STAY on the ship. I live in Florida and the "islands" are right in my backyard so I know from experience. St. Croix has not had a cruise ship in dock for 8 years and it shows. Mind you, we did not have an excursion planned as we just wanted to do our own thing. The taxis were a mess and very unorganized. We tried to get a taxi to the Cruzan Rum factory and none of the taxi people knew what we were talking about. If you didn't want to go to one of the locations posted on their board (everything was $20), forget it. We walked around a bit and finally got on a taxi to Christiansted - about a 30 minute ride. The marina area was beautiful and the shops were ok but there were only a few and not anything special. We did hear from those doing excursions that it was nice and the snorkeling was great. But if you are just looking to do it yourself, stay on the ship and enjoy!
I will post more when I can a little later - but reality calls
Report from 7 day St. Croix on the Magic:
Alcohol: We packed a small roll-on suitcase that we carried on board. The security sign says specifically no alcohol but true to what a CM said, they are looking for weapons etc. We carried on Red Bull (not avail on cruise), a 12 pack of near-beer and a box of wine for me. No one even blinked. I highly recommend for those looking to save a few bucks and enjoy drinks in the room to do this. And get a box of wine - travels so much better and easier. DH did take red bull to a bar and they mixed it with liquor for him. The refrigerater is really a drink cooler but it was nice to have a glass of wine on the verandah at night.
When you get on the cruise you are offered to purchase a case of evian water and have it delivered to your stateroom. It worked out to about $1.50 a bottle as opposed to $2 a bottle separately. If you are a water person, I suggest you bring it on yourself or buy the case. We brought reusuable plastic mugs and helped ourselves to free coke products, coffee and tea, lemonade and regular water throughout the cruise available on deck 9 aft near Topsiders. Out of the room we drank the "tap" water at the table etc and it tasted fine to us. At dinner the soda and iced tea was free.
They now offer beer packages - you get your choice of 6 beers for set price and can buy buckets of beer - pay for 5 get 1 free. Not bad. We do recommend the mojitos, no flavor, and ask them to make it with light rum, not Baccardi limon. Best ones in the Diversions Bar. Best margaritas with regular tequila in Promenade - find bartender named Prince.
There is a specialty coffee cafe at the Cove Pool - deck 9 forward. Nice place but anyone under 18 can't go in to order a coffee drink, so I ordered for my DD who needed a cappucino one morning.
Some general tips: do take plain pillowcases and/or tshirts and colored sharpies to the guest services desk and ask them to have as many characters sign as possible. They will be delivered to your stateroom the last night. We took several and they made great gifts for our younger friends when we got home.
They now have hold performances for the Disney shows during a matinee. Take advantage - less hassle than doing it before/after dinner.
Do go to Topsiders and Goofy's Galley in between or in place of regular dinner. Goofy's had awesome sandwiches, paninis, salads and fruit. We had one every day. And Topsider was less busy and had great food and we did have the porterhouse steak - wonderful!
Do prepay the gratuities. We did and what a relief - no messing with the guest services etc. the gratuity tickets are delivered to your stateroom the last day and it was just so easy to handle it and we added a little cash to one CM who was exceptionally attentive.
Do bring a deck of cards or Uno game. We played for some togetherness time and later had others join us, and we forget how much fun it is.
Wipe your hands! I have never seen such attention to hygiene. Everywhere you go, and in front of each eatery there is handi-wipes and someone handing them out whether you want one or not. Disney is extremely conscientious about cleanliness.
Do bring a $5 clear shoe organizer to put over the bathroom door. Saved space and was really handy and stopped a lot of the "honey, where is my ---" questions.
We bought walkie-talkies for the DD to check in with us. Its a lot to ask for the transmission through the decks and metal but for the most part it was good. We had her "key" us once an hour to check in, when she didn't want to take the walkie-talkie, and we were in the room late in the evening, we had her call the room once an hour from any of the courtesy phones everywhere on the ship. Easy to do and a relief for parents.
Beware of the on-line internet packages. The brochures in the room advertise a totally different set of packages and prices that are cheaper than the actual packages when you sign on. We got the 100 minutes package and checked in for about 10min a day, and it was just enough from our stateroom with our laptop. We took the laptop because we wanted to download the pics from the camera every day too.
Photopass is up and working. When you get your embarkation pic taken and any other time you get your photo taken in front of a backdrop, they swipe the card and you can see the pics at a kiosk. Just make sure you check all adult key cards because they show up on the key card that was swiped at the time...took a bit before we realized some pics were on DH's key card.
Alcohol: We packed a small roll-on suitcase that we carried on board. The security sign says specifically no alcohol but true to what a CM said, they are looking for weapons etc. We carried on Red Bull (not avail on cruise), a 12 pack of near-beer and a box of wine for me. No one even blinked. I highly recommend for those looking to save a few bucks and enjoy drinks in the room to do this. And get a box of wine - travels so much better and easier. DH did take red bull to a bar and they mixed it with liquor for him. The refrigerater is really a drink cooler but it was nice to have a glass of wine on the verandah at night.
When you get on the cruise you are offered to purchase a case of evian water and have it delivered to your stateroom. It worked out to about $1.50 a bottle as opposed to $2 a bottle separately. If you are a water person, I suggest you bring it on yourself or buy the case. We brought reusuable plastic mugs and helped ourselves to free coke products, coffee and tea, lemonade and regular water throughout the cruise available on deck 9 aft near Topsiders. Out of the room we drank the "tap" water at the table etc and it tasted fine to us. At dinner the soda and iced tea was free.
They now offer beer packages - you get your choice of 6 beers for set price and can buy buckets of beer - pay for 5 get 1 free. Not bad. We do recommend the mojitos, no flavor, and ask them to make it with light rum, not Baccardi limon. Best ones in the Diversions Bar. Best margaritas with regular tequila in Promenade - find bartender named Prince.
There is a specialty coffee cafe at the Cove Pool - deck 9 forward. Nice place but anyone under 18 can't go in to order a coffee drink, so I ordered for my DD who needed a cappucino one morning.
Some general tips: do take plain pillowcases and/or tshirts and colored sharpies to the guest services desk and ask them to have as many characters sign as possible. They will be delivered to your stateroom the last night. We took several and they made great gifts for our younger friends when we got home.
They now have hold performances for the Disney shows during a matinee. Take advantage - less hassle than doing it before/after dinner.
Do go to Topsiders and Goofy's Galley in between or in place of regular dinner. Goofy's had awesome sandwiches, paninis, salads and fruit. We had one every day. And Topsider was less busy and had great food and we did have the porterhouse steak - wonderful!
Do prepay the gratuities. We did and what a relief - no messing with the guest services etc. the gratuity tickets are delivered to your stateroom the last day and it was just so easy to handle it and we added a little cash to one CM who was exceptionally attentive.
Do bring a deck of cards or Uno game. We played for some togetherness time and later had others join us, and we forget how much fun it is.
Wipe your hands! I have never seen such attention to hygiene. Everywhere you go, and in front of each eatery there is handi-wipes and someone handing them out whether you want one or not. Disney is extremely conscientious about cleanliness.
Do bring a $5 clear shoe organizer to put over the bathroom door. Saved space and was really handy and stopped a lot of the "honey, where is my ---" questions.
We bought walkie-talkies for the DD to check in with us. Its a lot to ask for the transmission through the decks and metal but for the most part it was good. We had her "key" us once an hour to check in, when she didn't want to take the walkie-talkie, and we were in the room late in the evening, we had her call the room once an hour from any of the courtesy phones everywhere on the ship. Easy to do and a relief for parents.
Beware of the on-line internet packages. The brochures in the room advertise a totally different set of packages and prices that are cheaper than the actual packages when you sign on. We got the 100 minutes package and checked in for about 10min a day, and it was just enough from our stateroom with our laptop. We took the laptop because we wanted to download the pics from the camera every day too.
Photopass is up and working. When you get your embarkation pic taken and any other time you get your photo taken in front of a backdrop, they swipe the card and you can see the pics at a kiosk. Just make sure you check all adult key cards because they show up on the key card that was swiped at the time...took a bit before we realized some pics were on DH's key card.
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