OrcaPotter
Lucky to be local to the Mouse
- Joined
- May 21, 2005
- Messages
- 1,185
I disembarked the Magic this past Friday after a MARVELous 5 day cruise including Marvel Day at Sea. As I was eager for details before I left, I figured I would pass on my thoughts and experiences on that special day.
- If you're booked on a sailing with MDAS and are NOT a comic book fan, do not worry. Other than a standee in the atrium, there are no more references to Marvel than on a usual sailing (i.e. movies in theatre). On the designated day, most activities were concentrated in the atrium and some of the lounges. Animated Marvel shows were played on Funnelvision, and Marvel movies played all day in the theatre. Doctor Strange's stage show for the kiddos (similar to Jedi Training Academy) is the production in the main theatre in place of a normal stage show.
- There are 2 ticketed character meet & greets: NY Heroes and Groot. You meet Spider-man, Black Panther, and Iron Man (or at least on our sailing) in the NY Heroes meet. Groot was awesome and we got mostly great photos with nearly all of them. I wish they had done this for ALL of the characters, as the lines for Loki, Thor, Black Widow, and Captain America were almost an hour long each early in the day. All of the characters did a great job spending time with you; the ticketed meets went faster due to less people. Had there been room on the comment card, I would have suggested each passenger get tickets for a designated meet time for all of the Marvel characters. Some, like Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, and Starlord & Gamora were walk-around characters in the halls of the atrium.
- Some of the other events that day were trivia-based (study up before you go), drawing lessons (by a poor CM who clearly isn't a comic artist), a costume showcase, and a presentation by a real Marvel artist. My sailing had Todd Nauck, who did a live drawing of Spider-man as he answered questions. Awesome! The Doctor Strange Journey into the Mystic Arts stage show was a DS version of Jedi Academy. Still, it was well done with a lot of special effects ... DS is my favorite, so it was a must-see.
- The special menu in the dining rooms that night was delicious. I ended up with the soba noodle bowl and if I could have licked it clean, I would have. There were a lot of options on this menu. There were lots of themed adult beverages and a couple for-sale cup options for kids/adults.
- The absolute highlight of the cruise was the superhero deck show. Literally every character on the ship was featured, with pyrotechnics and fireworks! Even in a heavy wind, characters climbed up and jumped down from the funnels. Fireworks made it seem like Iron Man was battling off the side of the ship. Kids thought that Hyrdra was literally crawling around them. The finale had the Guardians of the Galaxy show up, with Groot leading us in his signature dance moves as the show ended.
- Mickey and friends meet during the later half of the day wearing outfits inspired by their "favorite" superheroes: Mickey had Capt. America, Minnie had Spider-man(girl), Daisy had Black Widow, Donald had the Hulk, Goofy had Iron Man, and poor Pluto was stuck with an Avengers-logo bandana. The dog-hero options in the Marvel universe are too obscure still for Disney to decide to give him an outfit inspired by them. There is a kid-centered deck show before the 2nd dining time staring them but I saw a shortened version of it due to rain.
- You get 1 Marvel-themed goodie in your stateroom in the afternoon: a logo banner. Guests were using it to have characters sign throughout the day. Most folks got Thor's hammer as their towel "animal".
That's all I can think of for now. I'll be happy to answer questions. There were no kids with me, so I'm sorry in advance for having no answers that are kid-specific.
- If you're booked on a sailing with MDAS and are NOT a comic book fan, do not worry. Other than a standee in the atrium, there are no more references to Marvel than on a usual sailing (i.e. movies in theatre). On the designated day, most activities were concentrated in the atrium and some of the lounges. Animated Marvel shows were played on Funnelvision, and Marvel movies played all day in the theatre. Doctor Strange's stage show for the kiddos (similar to Jedi Training Academy) is the production in the main theatre in place of a normal stage show.
- There are 2 ticketed character meet & greets: NY Heroes and Groot. You meet Spider-man, Black Panther, and Iron Man (or at least on our sailing) in the NY Heroes meet. Groot was awesome and we got mostly great photos with nearly all of them. I wish they had done this for ALL of the characters, as the lines for Loki, Thor, Black Widow, and Captain America were almost an hour long each early in the day. All of the characters did a great job spending time with you; the ticketed meets went faster due to less people. Had there been room on the comment card, I would have suggested each passenger get tickets for a designated meet time for all of the Marvel characters. Some, like Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, and Starlord & Gamora were walk-around characters in the halls of the atrium.
- Some of the other events that day were trivia-based (study up before you go), drawing lessons (by a poor CM who clearly isn't a comic artist), a costume showcase, and a presentation by a real Marvel artist. My sailing had Todd Nauck, who did a live drawing of Spider-man as he answered questions. Awesome! The Doctor Strange Journey into the Mystic Arts stage show was a DS version of Jedi Academy. Still, it was well done with a lot of special effects ... DS is my favorite, so it was a must-see.
- The special menu in the dining rooms that night was delicious. I ended up with the soba noodle bowl and if I could have licked it clean, I would have. There were a lot of options on this menu. There were lots of themed adult beverages and a couple for-sale cup options for kids/adults.
- The absolute highlight of the cruise was the superhero deck show. Literally every character on the ship was featured, with pyrotechnics and fireworks! Even in a heavy wind, characters climbed up and jumped down from the funnels. Fireworks made it seem like Iron Man was battling off the side of the ship. Kids thought that Hyrdra was literally crawling around them. The finale had the Guardians of the Galaxy show up, with Groot leading us in his signature dance moves as the show ended.
- Mickey and friends meet during the later half of the day wearing outfits inspired by their "favorite" superheroes: Mickey had Capt. America, Minnie had Spider-man(girl), Daisy had Black Widow, Donald had the Hulk, Goofy had Iron Man, and poor Pluto was stuck with an Avengers-logo bandana. The dog-hero options in the Marvel universe are too obscure still for Disney to decide to give him an outfit inspired by them. There is a kid-centered deck show before the 2nd dining time staring them but I saw a shortened version of it due to rain.
- You get 1 Marvel-themed goodie in your stateroom in the afternoon: a logo banner. Guests were using it to have characters sign throughout the day. Most folks got Thor's hammer as their towel "animal".
That's all I can think of for now. I'll be happy to answer questions. There were no kids with me, so I'm sorry in advance for having no answers that are kid-specific.
