March 7th, 2009 MAGICal Western Caribbean Adventure

[SplashMountainManiac]

This is the first trip report that I will actually finish. I said it and now it will happen. As a 19 year old I hope that this trip report will not only be helpful to everyone planning cruises or stuck on shore, but also to everyone who wonders if college age people can have fun on a Disney Cruise. In short the answer to that would be an immediate and excited yes. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask, I am more than happy to help. Enjoy.

And the adventure begins. Several months ago, we decided that it would be really awesome to take a Spring Break cruise, with me being away from home for so long, it would be really great to put together a family vacation. So late last summer we booked a cruise on the NCL Pearl. Yes, the NCL Pearl, with a 162 square foot balcony room sailing out of Miami. We had sailed NCL before and knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into, but we were still excited about our first ever Spring Break cruise. A few months later in late September, I happened to be looking at the Disney website, and saw that a secret porthole room (5020) was open on the Magic, a secret porthole room, it can’t be. Even better, the price relative to NCL wasn’t that bad. I immediately let my parents know and the next day, September 29th, our travel agent let us know that the room was ours. WE WERE GOING ON THE MAGIC! YAY!

Fast forward several months and we decided to ask our travel agent to see if Disney was willing to make a deal on an upgrade from our Cat 10 to a Cat 6. The ship was only 60 percent full, and we were hoping to have good luck. Our ta called back and said that Disney had agreed to upgrade us to a cat 6 (6586 midship), and they would be sending us a check for several hundred dollars. Wait, what was that. They are sending us a check, didn’t we just upgrade four categories. Turns out, Disney had brought on Florida Resident Rates without telling anybody, and the supervisor was kind enough to let us know. Best Disney news ever, not only did we get the upgrade we wanted, we got money back. WOO HOO!

Planning continued leading up to the cruise. I stayed up, well I am in college so it really wasn’t staying up, to book our online reservations. We got a reservation for Palo dinner at 6pm on Grand Cayman day and Palo Brunch at 11 on the second sea day. We had been to all the ports before so the only Disney excursion we booked was the GPS walking tour in Key West. I spent a lot of time researching car rentals for Cozumel, both the safety of it and finding a reliable company. We settled on Rentadora Isis as it was locally owned and had a high reputation in the cruising community. With all the plans set, we anxiously awaited Spring Break.

About a month before the cruise, with the great Florida Resident Rates, we convinced our neighbors to join us on the cruise. They were lucky enough to be able to get a cat 11 two doors down from us (6583 midship). It worked out perfectly. So the brave adventurers include:
Myself: 19 Mike
DM: My mom Joan
DD: My dad Paul
DNH: Our neighbor Richard
DNW: Our neighbor Sandy

Everything was all set to go, but of course the two weeks before Spring Break involve several papers, exams, and general madness. On top of all that, my birthday was on the Tuesday before the cruise, so I was trying to find a little time to have some fun. Let’s just say that by the time Friday came around, I incredibly in need of a break. I was lucky enough that my TA cancelled class at 12:50, so my Dad was able to pick me up at 10 and we were on the road for home. I go to school at University of Florida and live in Orlando, so the drive is only about two hours. I spent some time with my parents and then headed out to spend a little time with my friends from high school who had just flown in for their Spring Break. I got to see Watchmen, which had come out the day before, and then it was off to bed. Sleep, yeah right. Who can sleep when they are going on a Disney Cruise the next day? Not me, that’s for sure.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Great start! Can't wait to read more. I loved your parents, they are so cool! You are very lucky!

 

[wdwjan]

Mike, awesome pre-TR! I can't wait to read the rest.

 

[frdeb1999]

Great start! Looking forward to more!

 

[DMMarla07860]

great start looking forward to more. I was on a b2b cruise the two weeks before, how was the college club on your cruise did you go to it?

 

[SplashMountainManiac]

great start looking forward to more. I was on a b2b cruise the two weeks before, how was the college club on your cruise did you go to it?

Yeah, I did the college club all week. The group of us hung out the entire time and had a blast. We spent a lot of time in Rockin Bar D', pretty much had the place to ourselves, and we would meet up on the sea days. Katrina from the cruise staff ran the scheduled meet ups. They also left us a message every night telling us when the meet was the next day. It was a really cool program.

 

[DMMarla07860]

Yeah, I did the college club all week. The group of us hung out the entire time and had a blast. We spent a lot of time in Rockin Bar D', pretty much had the place to ourselves, and we would meet up on the sea days. Katrina from the cruise staff ran the scheduled meet ups. They also left us a message every night telling us when the meet was the next day. It was a really cool program.

cool, and yes deff agree it is a cool program. The cruise staff hung and talked with my group every night, and even Team Rootberry and Alfred and Seymour hung with us as well

 

[cakesnjammom]

great TR...cannot wait for more!

 

[SplashMountainManiac]

It was finally cruise day, and I woke up to one of the first warm and sunny days in a long time. Usually it is almost impossible for me to get out of bed before 9, but I jumped out of bed right when I was woken up. We quickly ate breakfast and I put all of the tags on our suitcases.

In case I didn’t mention it before, I like to include a lot of details in my writing. We loaded up the car and left our house around 8:15 and grabbed our neighbors. After using up every inch of space in the car with luggage for five, we got on the road around 8:30. A rare sight in Orlando, traffic was really light and we made it to Cape Canaveral around 9:30. It is always our tradition to count the DCL buses we see and if I remember correctly the count was 9. The Magic looked absolutely beautiful, and our excitement was building.

We had time so we grabbed gas just down the road and then we got in line at the terminal. It was by far the best arrival experience that we have ever had for a cruise. Instead of having us wait in the day lot, and everyone making a mad rush when they open the terminal, we waited in the left turn lane, and were able to get out and take pictures while we waited.

The terminal opened a few minutes after 10, and a short time later we were pulling up to unload our bags. My dad went to park the car while the rest of us went inside to check in.

They let us all through security; it is always such a feeling of accomplishment making it through. We headed up the escalators and into the beautiful terminal. We already had our paper work filled out so we got into the Castaway Club line with no wait. We got our KTTW’s and saw that we got the rotation we requested (6:00 APLLAPL). YAY! 5 DCL cruises and they have taken care of us every time.

Our neighbors talked to the supervisor about getting an upgrade, but Disney wanted the entire difference between a cat 11 and a cat 6, they definitely were not willing to make a deal on it. We got our pictures taken, again no wait.

It is so nice to arrive early before it gets busy, I would definitely recommend this to everyone. You get everything taken care of and get into cruise mode that much sooner. Also, by putting in the photo area they eliminated some seating, so if you are there early you can grab a seat. We grabbed a couple of sodas at the store and went out to the overlook to take some pictures and call our family since we would be out of touch for the rest of the week.

It was an incredibly beautiful day a nice change from the below freezing temperatures in North Florida a few days earlier. Mickey and Minnie came out to visit everyone, as we all sat waiting in anticipation.

Around 11:40 the doors opened and boarding began. We were called on at about 11:45 and headed through the Mickey ears. We had two family photos and a group shot taken and then headed for the gangway.

 

[cakesnjammom]

great addition...ready for more! love all the pics thx!

 

[SplashMountainManiac]

DISNEY MAGIC, PLEASE WELCOME ABOARD THE DION FAMILY! We had boarded the Magic and our vacation had officially begun. It felt so good to be home, and the Magic looked as beautiful as ever. We had kept the boarding announcement secret from our neighbors, so they could be as surprised as we were on our first cruise.

We headed down to the aft elevators and headed up to deck 9. Now I know that many people like the calmness of Parrot Cay for embarkation lunch, but for us, it just doesn’t feel like a cruise without starting in Topsiders overlooking the water.

Topsider’s was still pretty quiet since we were some of the first one’s on the ship, so we were able to get a great table for five outside. A really nice server, Wayne from U.S., sat us and I continued to have many great conversations with him throughout the week. Our first reunion of the cruise occurred at this point. I was setting my stuff down and all of a sudden I hear my Mom scream “IT’S WILLY.” I lept up, and ran inside shouting WILLY (sorry everyone sitting near us), and of course our neighbors were a little confused. There he was, our amazing assistant server from our cruise in June ’08. Here it was almost a year later, and he remembered all of our names. What an incredible guy. After talking with Willy for a while, I finally got around to grabbing food, and it was just as awesome as I remembered. It amazes me how much better than other cruise lines Disney’s buffets are considering the limited space they have.

I had a cool moment when I got a call from one of my friends saying, “we see your boat.” They were driving by on the way to the Cocoa Beach beaches, and wanted to say bon voyage. So I waved to their car, and the waved back. Lunch was, as always, finished off with a plate full of desserts. You have to love cruising. When we were done with lunch we strolled the pool decks and ran into Goofy on the way.

We still had half an hour until stateroom time so we headed down to Rockin’ Bar D to add our neighbors to our Palo Brunch reservations, switched the reservation from 3 to 5 with no problem at all. Made a quick stop by Guest Services to book the galley tour, and it was time to head up to our rooms.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I see you are going on the Magic in March 2010 do you know what dates I'll be going then as well

 

[ehagerty]

I plan to forward the link to MY 19-yr-old when you're finished, as we are going on the May 23rd Magic cruise!

 

[RLccweems]

I'm enjoying your TR and all the pics...can't wait to read more.

 

[SplashMountainManiac]

We headed up to deck 6 and down to our home for the week. I opened the door, and to my surprise, my parents had gotten me the birthday package.

I was so excited and the decorations were awesome. I then surprised everyone with the really cool nametag door magnets I had made.

We set our stuff down and went over to our neighbor’s room. We had never been in a cat 11 before; it was cool to see the inside finally. I actually really liked the setup, having the sitting area first makes it feel a lot roomier. We left them and went back to our room to get settled in. Contrary to what many people have been saying, the rooms looked to be in great condition, and the new tv’s were really cool.

We brought our portable dvd player and were able to hook it up to the tv. The only strange thing was the new channel system, as a comedian would later say, the tv’s now require the use of fractions. 22.4, 23.1, etc. Very strange indeed. My mom and I went to stroll the ship for a little while to give my dad a chance to have a nap.

We stopped by the ping-pong tables for a quick game and then headed down to the DisMeet at 3 in the Promenade Lounge.

It was so good to be able to put faces to the names. Met disneyfaninaz, we had been planning the meet, WDWKevin, ThtrMike, seventcotedwarfs, Chip N’ Dale Express, CapeCodRob, and wdwjan. It was great getting to talk with everyone, and we would see each other many times throughout the week. It was definitely an awesome group of DISers. In a cool Disney “It’s a Small World” moment, I had seen that wdwjan was from Grand Rapids, MI where my family used to live. It turns out that they had lived just a few blocks down the road from us, absolutely incredible. Around 3:30 Brent came on announcing the impending muster drill, so everyone headed back to their rooms. All of our bags had arrived so we helped my dad with the unpacking. A short time later we were being summoned to the drill, so we grabbed our neighbors and headed down to deck 4.

It may have just been me, but it seemed like this drill took much longer than usual. I gave mom and dad my life jacket and headed up to deck 10 to grab a couple of seats. A few minutes later my group had arrived, and Jan of wdwjan and her husband Henry had also joined us. It was an awesome sail away party. No matter how many times you hear the horn, it never gets old.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Mike, great update! I think I see myself in the crowd near the far end of the stage during the sail away party!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I'm really enjoying your report so far, it is great to read the perspective of a young adult on the cruise. I'm 25 and going on my first Disney Cruise on May 23rd with my mom and I am beyond excited. I am a bit too old to join in with the college group but I am sure I can find other Disney/funloving people around my age to hang out with.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[epcotrulz]

Great TR!! Getting me excited for my 4/18 Western!!

 

[Desi]

Thanks for the great report. and putting all your time and effort into it!

 

[DMMarla07860]

I'm really enjoying your report so far, it is great to read the perspective of a young adult on the cruise. I'm 25 and going on my first Disney Cruise on May 23rd with my mom and I am beyond excited. I am a bit too old to join in with the college group but I am sure I can find other Disney/funloving people around my age to hang out with.

Can't wait to read more!

this isn't my trip report, but you aren't too old to join the college club, I went on a b2b cruise two weeks before him and there we 25 year olds that hung with us every night