May 9, 2012: 5 Night Bahamas Cruise on Disney Magic

[jenf22]

I'm not the biggest fan of the pirate night & pirate show. Maybe they should do it more than once or something. I have yet to feel that squashing up in that crowd of folks was the thing to do. I don't care what goes on, it ain't worth the herd to me.

The Pirate show was where we ran into the first rude person. It was after the show and I was holding Ryan's hand walking down the stairs from deck 10 to deck 9. Ryan gets nervous on stairs with gaps in them so he was going a little slow - a little, not bad. I heard some guy say "Just pick him up!" then when the guy went by he made sure to make eye contact so he could glare at me. Ryan is 5 and 45 pounds - you don't just pick him up. Plus, we inconvenienced this guy for what? 30 seconds? I need to learn to not let stuff bother me! We had a good view for the show, but we were there early and the Davy Jones video game thing was WAY boring. It would be nice if they did it more than once.

Yeah, after getting a better look-see at those cabanas Tracey says the next time around we need to get one. Especially if you're on the Dream or Fantasy I'd think they'd be worth their weight in gold. The beaches get really busy when there's more people. The cabanas would make the beach much more doable for us. Looks like next year when we're there on the Fantasy my brother will be there with his girls as well. He'll split a cabana with us without even batting an eye.

I would have to say we're spoiled now!

I think our biggest disappointment was The Avengers. We never got to see it! None of the times worked for us. Two of the times on the Nassau day interfered with Pirate Night - we brought costumes, we wanted to do it up right. And the times on Castaway Cay day interfered with our Cabana time. The ultra late showing were options, but I'm normally in bed by 9/9:30, there was no way I was going to see a movie that ended at 1am! Plus, what would have done with sleeping Ryan? Made one of my parents hang out in our room until 1am? I was really disappointed they only showed it those 2 days. Why not the at sea day???

We loved the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter, even though none of the people were really that friendly. We hated Nassau - what a scary place! And none of those people were friendly at all! Key West was nice, but it was just so hot. Plus Key West is kind of like every other sea town in the world. We did the Conch train tour (nice), the Aquarium (nice, but tiny), and the Shipwreck Museum (ok but they made us listen to some guy yammer on for 20+ minutes - incredibly boring!).

We didn't do many activities on the ship. My parents and husband did the beer tasting and margarita tastings. They liked those. Ryan and I made door hangers at Promenade while they were doing that. My parents took Ryan to the Muppets while Phil and I had Palo brunch. We enjoyed all the dining rooms. We had fun "dressing" for dinner and getting all dressed up for the semi-formal and Pirate nights.

Looking forward to the Wonder in September!

 

[Lainey321]

I feel ya in having to be so careful with the sun. Yeah, my boys burn super easy. I could show you scars on Brian's shoulders where an olive-skinned friend kept the boys a few days in a row when they were little. She didn't understand that they burn in a matter of minutes. They couldn't be in the pool even 15 minutes without being thoroughly buttered. Then, the following day she thought since they were already burned and it was cloudy they'd be okay for a half hour in the pool. Burn on top of a burn = open bleeding blisters that scab then scar. Needless to say, as sweet as she was, we didn't leave the boys with her anymore. That said, we used the SPF 50+ shirts for the first time this year. It was an investment to buy them ($30+ each at Academy) but so worth it! Brian is the fairest of the 4 of us. He has long sleeves. I thought that'd be hot in the sun but he was mostly cold. I guess when the shirt is wet and the breeze hits you it's a cooling effect regardless of the sun or ambient temp. Tracey wants long sleeves now, too. Love that you only have to apply sunblock to the arms, legs, neck, & face. Also, there was a Groupon a few months back for Thinksmart Livestrong SPF 30 sunblock. I think it was 2 tubes for $14 + shipping or something which was like a 50% discount. I did a little digging around to find out what the big deal was with that sunblock over the standards at Target or Walmart. I read good stuff. It definitely lasts and works really good. When showering after using it and being in the sun for several hours we'd have to scrub ourselves down 3 times to get it all off. LOL! Annoying? Yes. But is that also a good sign? I'd say YES! The boys did get burns on their faces some but that's from repeated rubbing, not applying properly, or (in Chandler's case) just not applying it at all.

Yes, studies point to the correlation between tanning beds and skin cancer. At least for me, I can honestly say that 1 big pro that I've found from working at building color via tanning beds is that my skin tolerates being outside in the sun so much better now. I don't instantly burn anymore. I still use some SPF but I don't get the extremes like the rest of my family does. I used to be just like them. Not so much as long as I keep my color built up.

Did those who were sensitive to the motion take anything??? I should've mentioned pre-cruise that if you needed anything I was stocked. I had meclazine and 2 boxes of the the prescription patch. None of us ever took any of it. Tracey & I are nuts. We want to have a Deadliest Catch rolling seas experience in the worst way.

I was just telling someone this morning I plan on buying the SPF shirts. I too have scars on my knees and shoulders. Luckily, so far it doesn't look like either kid will have blisters. Camille's feet are the worst but no blisters. Chapin was freaked out by it because she has never been burned but the snorkling got her.

Camille and I did a tanning bed before we left and I think had she not done that she would be blistered. She only went twice (10 min each time) but got a slight burn both times. I paid for 10 tans and have 5 left so I plan on going once a week or so. I had someone tell me how bad tanning beds were but I still think it is much better than getting burnt to a crisp on vacation. And there are some people (Camille and I included) who burn no matter how much sunscreen you use.

I took a bonine the first night but really the only time I felt dizzy/nauseas was when I sat at the tables, both the dining room and the beer tasting. And the weird thing was the alcohol helped, or maybe I just didn't care

 

[iloverags2]

Jen, that is just so weird you rarely saw Loyd (the stateroom host). We saw him way more than I would have cared to see him! Not that I did not like him...just the opposite - he was great for us. I just felt bad I kept bumping into him in the hallway. Did you have Loyd for your host, or the other guy who was just down the hall (it seems very near to our stateroom there was a change in hosts...not sure if that was before or after your room). The only night we had an issue with the Navigator was the night it was late in being printed. I went down to Guest Services to get a copy, thinking Loyd had forgotten to leave it in our room...instead it just plain was not ready.

I am sooooooooo jealous, Terri, that you guys had Danny for your concierge! Love him! He was the bomb back in 2010. I agree with Kelly, there is nothing wrong with Andreia (she handled two or three questions or such for us), but Danny is by far the most incredible CM I have ever encountered anywhere on Disney property.

We had an awesome assistant server and head server in the dining rooms (Jennifer was the assistant and Sorin was the head server), but our server (Dervent) was just 'meh. He just seemed to never be very sincere, and pushed the whole excellent ratings EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. Sorin made up for it all though, as we have never had a good experience with ANY head server on ANY cruise line before. He visited with us often, and even chatted us up outside of dinner hours. Jennifer was the same way. We loved her!

My biggest complaint had to be the vegetarian offerings during both lunch and dinner. It seems for dinner the vegetarian entrees all focused on mushrooms. I loathe mushrooms. I even tried to eat the friggin mushrooms on this cruise the first night. But to have them EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT? Um, no thanks. What irked me was that Dervent knew we were not extremely pleased with the vegetarian offerings, and he made no attempt whatsoever to see if there were something else we could make do with. Not a big deal, and not something we even thought about, that is until the last night. The two girls at the table next to us (also being served by Dervent) did not like anything on the menu. And I mean the entire menu, not just vegetarian offerings. He offered to bring them stir-fried veggies. Hello! I would have so liked to try that. And the icing on that cake? One of the girls didn't even like those when they came out, so Dervent brings her a plate of pasta with tomato marinara sauce. Hello again! I would have LOVED that. Oh well. Next time I will just ask without being offered (I was brought up to eat what is offered or don't eat at all, which is what we did).

What we loved about the cruise -

Palo! Our dinner was fabulous! And I mean FABULOUS! Delicious food, great service. And get this. Our server was the same regular dining room server we had during our first DCL cruise in 2000. How cool is that? We loved him then, and still love him now!

Key West! We rented a convertible and drove up to Marathon, just over the Seven Mile Bridge. Had a wonderful lunch at the Sunset Grille, and the whole drive just reminded me of my days at UM and our trips down to the Keys.

Castaway Cay! As always, it was just a beautiful day spent there. Serenity Bay was as lovely as ever (even with the barracuda that decided to chase me back to shore!).


What were the not so good things?

Menus. As I said before, the dinner offerings were just so bland or nonexistent for us. Lunch wasn't much better, but at least we could find something to hold us over. (We ate lots of cheese pizza! LOL)

Margarita Tasting. Yes, this is billed as both Margarita and Tequila, but Margarita is the headline (first) and in one place the tasting was listed just as a margarita tasting. It turned out to be mostly a tequila tasting (which I am not a fan of tequila shots...just pour the stuff in my fruity drink please!). On top of that, they overbooked the tasting and ended up spending the first 20-25 minutes setting extra places for the additional people and trying to figure out who needed what tequila shots still. By the time we got to the margaritas, everything was so rushed, it was like, "Drink up!" What a total letdown that was. And only two margaritas to taste is not my idea of a tasting.


I'm sure I can think of plenty of other highs and lows; these are just the ones that stand out in my mind.

At this point I just need to figure out what Fantasy sailing we want to do, and move my Dream booking to it (we booked the Dream with the intentions of actually sailing it, then decided about 30 minutes later we really want the longer Fantasy sailing!). There are a few Eastern Caribbean ones out of Port Canaveral that have a port call on San Juan, which are the most appealing to us right now. Unfortunately I'm not crazy about the dates (Dec 2012, Jan-Apr 2013). I need to get on the ball and plan it though so we can move our booking ASAP! I hate that the Magic and Wonder will not be in PC for the foreseeable future since we much prefer the smaller, classic ships, but we are looking forward to the new experience on the larger ship!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I was just telling someone this morning I plan on buying the SPF shirts. I too have scars on my knees and shoulders. Luckily, so far it doesn't look like either kid will have blisters. Camille's feet are the worst but no blisters. Chapin was freaked out by it because she has never been burned but the snorkling got her.

Camille and I did a tanning bed before we left and I think had she not done that she would be blistered. She only went twice (10 min each time) but got a slight burn both times. I paid for 10 tans and have 5 left so I plan on going once a week or so. I had someone tell me how bad tanning beds were but I still think it is much better than getting burnt to a crisp on vacation. And there are some people (Camille and I included) who burn no matter how much sunscreen you use.

I took a bonine the first night but really the only time I felt dizzy/nauseas was when I sat at the tables, both the dining room and the beer tasting. And the weird thing was the alcohol helped, or maybe I just didn't care

When we were at Typhoon Lagoon I almost bought a swim set with a SPF shirt for ladies they had there. But I didn't. I didn't need it the way the boys did plus I'd be livid if I suddenly had tan lines after all the trips to the stinkin' tanning salon. LOL!

Camille did better than me! When I started tanning at a salon I could do 3 minutes in a 20 minute bed. I had to work at it for a long time to build up my skin without burning. If I did lower level beds I'd still burn if I went the full time. That's another reason I bumped up to the higher level beds over the years. The color is better and I don't burn in them. My annual contract is in the level 4s but when there's specials for the level 5 upgrades I will do those. The week prior to the trip I strategically pushed for the stand-up booth which makes me darker than the same level lay-down and paid for 2 upgrades to the level 5 which is 100% UVA, less than 1% UVB. They say that bed is guaranteed not to burn you. From my experience, I've never been burned in it but it sure gets hot in that thing. I feel like I'm cooking. When I first get out there's like no visible difference to the skin. Within a few hours the color really deepens and it's like this magical transformation. I love it! Regularly it's like $11 each time I want to upgrade to it but on Wednesdays and sometimes other days the salon I go to offers us half price upgrades. I do as much as I can! It makes a huge difference! Then there's the stupid additional tax on indoor tanning we get to pay thanks to the healthcare reform. I know on my annual contract last year almost $100 got tacked on for that tax. Guess I can't complain. There's extra taxes tacked onto cigarettes and alcohol for much the same reasons. Uncle Sam has to get his cut, huh? Maybe one of these days I'll be ready to just invest in my own tanning bed and be done with it.

 

[jenf22]

Jen, that is just so weird you rarely saw Loyd (the stateroom host). We saw him way more than I would have cared to see him! Not that I did not like him...just the opposite - he was great for us. I just felt bad I kept bumping into him in the hallway. Did you have Loyd for your host, or the other guy who was just down the hall (it seems very near to our stateroom there was a change in hosts...not sure if that was before or after your room). The only night we had an issue with the Navigator was the night it was late in being printed. I went down to Guest Services to get a copy, thinking Loyd had forgotten to leave it in our room...instead it just plain was not ready.

We had Orlando as our host. Maybe since we were at the far end of his assignment, we didn't see him? Who knows. Not a big deal, just not what I was expecting.

We had an awesome assistant server and head server in the dining rooms (Jennifer was the assistant and Sorin was the head server), but our server (Dervent) was just 'meh. He just seemed to never be very sincere, and pushed the whole excellent ratings EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. Sorin made up for it all though, as we have never had a good experience with ANY head server on ANY cruise line before. He visited with us often, and even chatted us up outside of dinner hours. Jennifer was the same way. We loved her!

Our server and assistant servers were fun, but they too did the EXCELLENT bit every night. My mom thought it was funny, but it did get old. Our head server we pretty much never saw.

At this point I just need to figure out what Fantasy sailing we want to do, and move my Dream booking to it (we booked the Dream with the intentions of actually sailing it, then decided about 30 minutes later we really want the longer Fantasy sailing!). There are a few Eastern Caribbean ones out of Port Canaveral that have a port call on San Juan, which are the most appealing to us right now. Unfortunately I'm not crazy about the dates (Dec 2012, Jan-Apr 2013). I need to get on the ball and plan it though so we can move our booking ASAP! I hate that the Magic and Wonder will not be in PC for the foreseeable future since we much prefer the smaller, classic ships, but we are looking forward to the new experience on the larger ship!

Since my mom wants to go again so bad, I've been looking around while home sick today. I think I like the Eastern Caribbean Fantasy cruises for fall of next year. They're 7-night. We'll have to see how we do with a 7-night this fall. I think we're doing Hawaii in the spring next year, so that leaves fall. Plus if my parents comes, it has to be out of a Florida port so they can minimize the cost.

 

[wildforgoofy]

Jen, that is just so weird you rarely saw Loyd (the stateroom host). We saw him way more than I would have cared to see him! Not that I did not like him...just the opposite - he was great for us. I just felt bad I kept bumping into him in the hallway. Did you have Loyd for your host, or the other guy who was just down the hall (it seems very near to our stateroom there was a change in hosts...not sure if that was before or after your room). The only night we had an issue with the Navigator was the night it was late in being printed. I went down to Guest Services to get a copy, thinking Loyd had forgotten to leave it in our room...instead it just plain was not ready.

I am sooooooooo jealous, Terri, that you guys had Danny for your concierge! Love him! He was the bomb back in 2010. I agree with Kelly, there is nothing wrong with Andreia (she handled two or three questions or such for us), but Danny is by far the most incredible CM I have ever encountered anywhere on Disney property.

We had an awesome assistant server and head server in the dining rooms (Jennifer was the assistant and Sorin was the head server), but our server (Dervent) was just 'meh. He just seemed to never be very sincere, and pushed the whole excellent ratings EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. Sorin made up for it all though, as we have never had a good experience with ANY head server on ANY cruise line before. He visited with us often, and even chatted us up outside of dinner hours. Jennifer was the same way. We loved her!

My biggest complaint had to be the vegetarian offerings during both lunch and dinner. It seems for dinner the vegetarian entrees all focused on mushrooms. I loathe mushrooms. I even tried to eat the friggin mushrooms on this cruise the first night. But to have them EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT? Um, no thanks. What irked me was that Dervent knew we were not extremely pleased with the vegetarian offerings, and he made no attempt whatsoever to see if there were something else we could make do with. Not a big deal, and not something we even thought about, that is until the last night. The two girls at the table next to us (also being served by Dervent) did not like anything on the menu. And I mean the entire menu, not just vegetarian offerings. He offered to bring them stir-fried veggies. Hello! I would have so liked to try that. And the icing on that cake? One of the girls didn't even like those when they came out, so Dervent brings her a plate of pasta with tomato marinara sauce. Hello again! I would have LOVED that. Oh well. Next time I will just ask without being offered (I was brought up to eat what is offered or don't eat at all, which is what we did).

What we loved about the cruise -

Palo! Our dinner was fabulous! And I mean FABULOUS! Delicious food, great service. And get this. Our server was the same regular dining room server we had during our first DCL cruise in 2000. How cool is that? We loved him then, and still love him now!

Key West! We rented a convertible and drove up to Marathon, just over the Seven Mile Bridge. Had a wonderful lunch at the Sunset Grille, and the whole drive just reminded me of my days at UM and our trips down to the Keys.

Castaway Cay! As always, it was just a beautiful day spent there. Serenity Bay was as lovely as ever (even with the barracuda that decided to chase me back to shore!).


What were the not so good things?

Menus. As I said before, the dinner offerings were just so bland or nonexistent for us. Lunch wasn't much better, but at least we could find something to hold us over. (We ate lots of cheese pizza! LOL)

Margarita Tasting. Yes, this is billed as both Margarita and Tequila, but Margarita is the headline (first) and in one place the tasting was listed just as a margarita tasting. It turned out to be mostly a tequila tasting (which I am not a fan of tequila shots...just pour the stuff in my fruity drink please!). On top of that, they overbooked the tasting and ended up spending the first 20-25 minutes setting extra places for the additional people and trying to figure out who needed what tequila shots still. By the time we got to the margaritas, everything was so rushed, it was like, "Drink up!" What a total letdown that was. And only two margaritas to taste is not my idea of a tasting.


I'm sure I can think of plenty of other highs and lows; these are just the ones that stand out in my mind.

At this point I just need to figure out what Fantasy sailing we want to do, and move my Dream booking to it (we booked the Dream with the intentions of actually sailing it, then decided about 30 minutes later we really want the longer Fantasy sailing!). There are a few Eastern Caribbean ones out of Port Canaveral that have a port call on San Juan, which are the most appealing to us right now. Unfortunately I'm not crazy about the dates (Dec 2012, Jan-Apr 2013). I need to get on the ball and plan it though so we can move our booking ASAP! I hate that the Magic and Wonder will not be in PC for the foreseeable future since we much prefer the smaller, classic ships, but we are looking forward to the new experience on the larger ship!

It amazed me how the cast members would tell you anything if you asked them. None of them seemed guarded and that was so fun! Danny was telling us about his apartment on the ship and how it's incredibly small, that he's not married but wants kids. The kids loved him especially Kane.
We ended up going to the Palo brunch and dinner. Brunch was good, but dinner was awesome! We had Mirko as our server for brunch and he made us a plate that said Happy Anniversary on it. Once he found out we were from Cincinnati he told us that he's friends with the owner of Rooster's a local bar/restaurant (great wings). He also talked about his wife and 2 kids in Croatia. Again so personal. When we went back for dinner on Sunday Mirko requested we be put in his section. He had our entire meal planned for us with what he said were the best selections on the menu. We had a great time, and he was very happy that I liked his wine selection. Interestingly Mirko said that Palo can hold 140 people but they stop booking at 100 because over the years they've realized that anything over 100 is too crazy for the 5 guys cooking in the galley.
I took over 500 photos on the cruise. LOL I got some amazing shots, but how could you not?
Kelly I got my photo matt signed and it's so cool! Now to decide which of the 500 photos I'll put in it. I agree the set up for bedtime was annoying. Once we got back from dinner our beds where turned down and the first thing I did was put the murphy bed back up.
Hey did anyone else notice the ESPN guy Sal Paolantonio was on the cruise? No.... me either but Brian spotted him before we boarded the ship and then they had a smile and wave relationship the entire cruise. Brian never did get up enough courage to talk to him. Mirko said he dined in Palo EVERY day for brunch and dinner. Must be nice!!

 

[Britster18]

We saw Sal in Palo brunch and john kept saying he saw him ALLLLLL the time on the ship but couldn't put a finger on who he was!! SOOO FUNNY!!

Just a quick note.. we had a BLAST! I have absolutely no complaints what so ever. Great staff, great food, great fun! We loved everything.

 

[Jaxs27]

We also had Mirko for Palo brunch and LOVED him. He said he will being leaving Disney cruise line this Summer, he will be missed for sure!

 

[iloverags2]

Pictures from the cruise are up! If anyone is interested, they can be found here.

 

[jenf22]

Pictures from the cruise are up! If anyone is interested, they can be found here.

You guys had Sasha for Palo too? We had him for brunch and dinner and he was awesome!

 

[iloverags2]

You guys had Sasha for Palo too? We had him for brunch and dinner and he was awesome!

He definitely is incredible! He was our dining server back in 2000, and we loved him then as well. After we mentioned that to him, he remembered our daughter (who was with us on that cruise) also!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We had Mirko for Palo brunch, too!!! I loved him! What a sweetheart! I'll be glad for him to be in a job where he can have more time with his family even if I miss him in the future. If you like someone you should want what's best for them, right? Mirko put us down for him for dinner but we ended up first moving dinner then cancelling altogether. The night we were initially supposed to do Palo my stomach still wasn't up for it. I was so sad I couldn't eat the way I wanted to at brunch. Then the next night we moved to was Pirate Night and I didn't want to be away from our boys on a special night so we ended up cancelling. We'll catch Palo dinner next time when there's more nights to work with.

Cindy! Your pics are so good! I think I took pics of that exact same house with the picket fence in Key West! I took pics of a lot of the residential streets and stuff because it fascinated me how different ordinary spaces are from ordinary spaces for us. Loved it!

OMG! Totally forgot to tell you about the Travel Channel guys we bumped into at the Southernmost Point! I had no clue who they were. Saw the cameras and thought "Oh geeeeez...who are these schmucks?" I mean, the main guy was wearing what almost looked like an old man's boxers that had pink flamingos on them. Not like well-dressed or anything. Well, turns out it was Mike McGuiness who was shooting for a new show with David Arquette. He struck up a conversation with Chandler, commiserating on the fair skin & red hair. What a character! He was so fun and bubbly! He jumped in with us on our Southernmost Point pic & had one of the crew snap pics. They filmed the whole thing then did some on-camera interviewing with us. We had to fill out some forms and sign some papers. No clue if we'll make the cut onto the show but the pics are priceless!!!! Lemme get one uploaded to show y'all!!!!!

 

[Denine]

It sounds like most had a great cruise.

It was too short for us. We are used to 7-day or longer, but we love the Magic!

Servers can be hit or miss; we have had our share of both. DD was in heaven. She didn't like anything on the kids menu and ended up eating steak and a baked potato every night except for our Palo night. I told her to enjoy because she wasn't getting that at home! We had Sylvester for our Palo seerver. We had him in 2010 and he was fantastic again as was the food and experience. We opted not to do brunch this trip since it was so short.

I used to get queasy at the beginning of cruises, but I don't anymore. I would get the patch and cut it in half.

We always have a verandah cabin. I am usually up around 6, no matter what time I go to bed and I like to sit out and have my own personal vies of the ocean. We sit out at night after kaleigh is in bed too.

We don't care for pirate night, but we can and usually do watch the fireworks from out verandah.

If you think these showers are small, you haven't been on other cruise ships. We sailed on the Sun Princess for 10 days several years ago. The shower was so small you could barely turn around in it. I ended up shaving my legs on the verandah!!! These showers and cabins are very roomy, even the inside cabins.

We walked around Key West and I bought a small wood carving. The original water colors I saw cost too much. We stayed on board the ship at Nassau since we don't care for it. That is when I got too much sun. Castaway was beautiful as always, but the water was too chilly for me this trip. Dh and I got a nice hour-long walk in on the sea day. We stayed away from decks 9 and 10 as much as possible.

 

[wildforgoofy]

You guys had Sasha for Palo too? We had him for brunch and dinner and he was awesome!

We didn't have Sasha but he was SO funny!! At brunch on our at sea day there were 2 girls posing outside the Palo windows, and I mean they were really posing..... sexy!! I'm not sure if they realized they were in front of a restaurant. Who knows, they probably did. LOL Anyway Sasha decided he was going to help them out, so he went out there and took their camera and then directed them on how to stand so as to get the perfect sexy shot. It was hilarious!

Pictures from the cruise are up! If anyone is interested, they can be found here.

Loved your pictures and I swear we both were taking the same exact pictures just on different decks. Did you just copy and paste the link from your FB account? I could post my pics as well. I'm giving this a shot. Here's some of the photos I took. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3666725080532.149090.1646941990&type=3

It sounds like most had a great cruise.

It was too short for us. We are used to 7-day or longer, but we love the Magic!

We always have a verandah cabin. I am usually up around 6, no matter what time I go to bed and I like to sit out and have my own personal vies of the ocean. We sit out at night after kaleigh is in bed too.

We don't care for pirate night, but we can and usually do watch the fireworks from out verandah.

.

I'm with you on the cruise being to short and this was our first cruise. Our next cruise will definitely be 7 nights. I was glad that I didn't book any excursions other than CC stingray, and we'll probably skip feeding the stingrays next time. It was nice not to have to stick to someone else's schedule. We loved the adult area, and spent a lot of our evenings there. I'll probably be banned from this site if I admit that we only saw Villains and then skipped all the rest. I just felt that I'll see them on the next cruise and I wanted to go and do so many other things.

 

[Britster18]

We didn't have Sasha but he was SO funny!! At brunch on our at sea day there were 2 girls posing outside the Palo windows, and I mean they were really posing..... sexy!! I'm not sure if they realized they were in front of a restaurant. Who knows, they probably did. LOL Anyway Sasha decided he was going to help them out, so he went out there and took their camera and then directed them on how to stand so as to get the perfect sexy shot. It was hilarious!



OMG! We were there at the same time. Where you guys sitting with your back to the desserts and the girls were in front of you in the window??

We sat at the table DIRECTLY in front of the Palo buffet table with the seafood trays and I remember seeing you guys.

That was SOOOOOOOO FUNNY!!!!! You know they went around to the other side of the resturant and did the same thing??!! after they were told there was a resturant on the other side of the window?!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'll probably be banned from this site if I admit that we only saw Villains and then skipped all the rest. I just felt that I'll see them on the next cruise and I wanted to go and do so many other things.

We skipped Villians because we saw it on the Dream. We did go see the Cinderella show (forget the name...think I'll be banned, too!) which we liked. I wanted to see the Dreams one but, again, just wasn't in the cards. We wanted to do the adult cabaret but didn't realize we had to show up early-shirley to get a seat in the actual club where it's being performed. My thought was if it's that popular, show it more times per night! I wasn't squashing up in the hoard to get a good view of the pirate show. We watched the fireworks. I will say, I thought the fireworks presentation was better on the Dream. I think they are more part of the stage show thing on the Magic because they just sorta happened whereas on the Dream you didn't have to see the stage show part to really get a good choreographed feel from the fireworks alone. Here's a video of how it went down on the Dream:

 

[wildforgoofy]

We didn't have Sasha but he was SO funny!! At brunch on our at sea day there were 2 girls posing outside the Palo windows, and I mean they were really posing..... sexy!! I'm not sure if they realized they were in front of a restaurant. Who knows, they probably did. LOL Anyway Sasha decided he was going to help them out, so he went out there and took their camera and then directed them on how to stand so as to get the perfect sexy shot. It was hilarious!



OMG! We were there at the same time. Where you guys sitting with your back to the desserts and the girls were in front of you in the window??

We sat at the table DIRECTLY in front of the Palo buffet table with the seafood trays and I remember seeing you guys.

That was SOOOOOOOO FUNNY!!!!! You know they went around to the other side of the resturant and did the same thing??!! after they were told there was a resturant on the other side of the window?!

No that wasn't us but I know who you're talking about because I saw them too. Maybe Jen?? Tall blonde... I'm the short dirty blonde (insert joke here). OMG too funny! When she took her sarong and held it up behind her back like a sail I about lost my mind with laughter. Every guy in the restaurant was glued to the windows. HA!

We skipped Villians because we saw it on the Dream. We did go see the Cinderella show (forget the name...think I'll be banned, too!) which we liked. I wanted to see the Dreams one but, again, just wasn't in the cards. We wanted to do the adult cabaret but didn't realize we had to show up early-shirley to get a seat in the actual club where it's being performed. My thought was if it's that popular, show it more times per night! I wasn't squashing up in the hoard to get a good view of the pirate show. We watched the fireworks. I will say, I thought the fireworks presentation was better on the Dream. I think they are more part of the stage show thing on the Magic because they just sorta happened whereas on the Dream you didn't have to see the stage show part to really get a good choreographed feel from the fireworks alone. Here's a video of how it went down on the Dream:

The first night on the ship we went to Diversions and they played a game that was so funny. Groups had to bring up items to get a point and whoever had the most points won. Well the game started out innocent enough then got crazy real fast. The announcer said he wanted them to bring up a women's bra! The girls started shimmying out of their bras and running up to the announcer. Then he wanted a guy wearing the bra. I loved the fact that the adult area of the ship is clearly adults only and a bit crazy. We had a good time in there.

 

[Britster18]

Yes! It was Jen!! Sorry!


Where were you guys sitting??

 

[wildforgoofy]

Yes! It was Jen!! Sorry!


Where were you guys sitting??

We were at a small table for 2 right off the entry next to the window. So when you walked into Palo we would have been the first table on the left.

 

[iloverags2]

Cindy! Your pics are so good! I think I took pics of that exact same house with the picket fence in Key West! I took pics of a lot of the residential streets and stuff because it fascinated me how different ordinary spaces are from ordinary spaces for us. Loved it!

OMG! Totally forgot to tell you about the Travel Channel guys we bumped into at the Southernmost Point! I had no clue who they were. Saw the cameras and thought "Oh geeeeez...who are these schmucks?" I mean, the main guy was wearing what almost looked like an old man's boxers that had pink flamingos on them. Not like well-dressed or anything. Well, turns out it was Mike McGuiness who was shooting for a new show with David Arquette. He struck up a conversation with Chandler, commiserating on the fair skin & red hair. What a character! He was so fun and bubbly! He jumped in with us on our Southernmost Point pic & had one of the crew snap pics. They filmed the whole thing then did some on-camera interviewing with us. We had to fill out some forms and sign some papers. No clue if we'll make the cut onto the show but the pics are priceless!!!! Lemme get one uploaded to show y'all!!!!!

I love all the picket fences and just beachy look to Key West. Miss my days of visiting down there on a regular basis.

That is just way too cool about The Travel Channel guys. Hope to see you guys on the show soon!

It sounds like most had a great cruise.

It was too short for us. We are used to 7-day or longer, but we love the Magic!

We always have a verandah cabin. I am usually up around 6, no matter what time I go to bed and I like to sit out and have my own personal vies of the ocean. We sit out at night after kaleigh is in bed too.

We don't care for pirate night, but we can and usually do watch the fireworks from out verandah.

If you think these showers are small, you haven't been on other cruise ships. We sailed on the Sun Princess for 10 days several years ago. The shower was so small you could barely turn around in it. I ended up shaving my legs on the verandah!!! These showers and cabins are very roomy, even the inside cabins.

Ha! No kidding the showers are teeny-tiny on other lines. Princess, for being considered a classier cruise line, really skimps on the stateroom space, including the bathrooms. RCI is pretty small as far as showers are concerned as well.

Agreed on the length of the cruise. 5-days is too short, but I will still take it over 3-days (which is my next cruise, and I am already dreading how short it will be). We much prefer the smaller, classic ships, but with Port Canaveral just being uber-convenient for us, looks like we will be sailing the Fantasy next year.

This was our first cruise without a verandah (and actually our Nov 2010 cruise we had a one-bedroom suite), and we were pleasantly surprised how much we liked our stateroom. I thought I would be miserable, but wasn't in the slightest bit. Of course, being on a higher deck helped, and we will definitely be sure to book a higher deck when booking an inside.

I go back and forth on Pirate Night. Sometimes I just love it, other times not so much. We have learned to always enjoy it from Deck 10, rather than the craziness of Deck 9. And I admit we have gotten there later, after the party is already in full swing, the last few times.

Oh, I did forget to mention...we got our passports stamped (again!) in Nassau. The guy who stamped them was so thrilled we came in for such, and even more happy when he found out I have been to Nassau umpteen times!

We didn't have Sasha but he was SO funny!! At brunch on our at sea day there were 2 girls posing outside the Palo windows, and I mean they were really posing..... sexy!! I'm not sure if they realized they were in front of a restaurant. Who knows, they probably did. LOL Anyway Sasha decided he was going to help them out, so he went out there and took their camera and then directed them on how to stand so as to get the perfect sexy shot. It was hilarious!

Loved your pictures and I swear we both were taking the same exact pictures just on different decks. Did you just copy and paste the link from your FB account? I could post my pics as well. I'm giving this a shot. Here's some of the photos I took. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3666725080532.149090.1646941990&type=3

I'm with you on the cruise being to short and this was our first cruise. Our next cruise will definitely be 7 nights. I was glad that I didn't book any excursions other than CC stingray, and we'll probably skip feeding the stingrays next time. It was nice not to have to stick to someone else's schedule. We loved the adult area, and spent a lot of our evenings there. I'll probably be banned from this site if I admit that we only saw Villains and then skipped all the rest. I just felt that I'll see them on the next cruise and I wanted to go and do so many other things.

OMG! That is too funny about Sasha going out there...and totally something he would do!

For the FB pictures link, when you go to your album of the pictures, at the bottom under all of the thumbnails will be a public link. That's the one you want to copy and paste here.

You know, we used to love booking excursions but have gotten to the point where we would rather just relax and go at our own pace. I think that was the best thing about renting the convertible in Key West. We did what we wanted on our own terms.

(And don't worry about being banned...we skipped ALL of the shows.

That was SOOOOOOOO FUNNY!!!!! You know they went around to the other side of the resturant and did the same thing??!! after they were told there was a resturant on the other side of the window?!

They didn't! OMG! Crazy!

We skipped Villians because we saw it on the Dream. We did go see the Cinderella show (forget the name...think I'll be banned, too!) which we liked. I wanted to see the Dreams one but, again, just wasn't in the cards. We wanted to do the adult cabaret but didn't realize we had to show up early-shirley to get a seat in the actual club where it's being performed. My thought was if it's that popular, show it more times per night! I wasn't squashing up in the hoard to get a good view of the pirate show. We watched the fireworks. I will say, I thought the fireworks presentation was better on the Dream. I think they are more part of the stage show thing on the Magic because they just sorta happened whereas on the Dream you didn't have to see the stage show part to really get a good choreographed feel from the fireworks alone. Here's a video of how it went down on the Dream

Oh good...another banned person!

That is one thing I am looking forward to on the Dream...the fireworks. I'm curious to see how Pirate Night works on the Dream.

No that wasn't us but I know who you're talking about because I saw them too. Maybe Jen?? Tall blonde... I'm the short dirty blonde (insert joke here). OMG too funny! When she took her sarong and held it up behind her back like a sail I about lost my mind with laughter. Every guy in the restaurant was glued to the windows. HA!

The first night on the ship we went to Diversions and they played a game that was so funny. Groups had to bring up items to get a point and whoever had the most points won. Well the game started out innocent enough then got crazy real fast. The announcer said he wanted them to bring up a women's bra! The girls started shimmying out of their bras and running up to the announcer. Then he wanted a guy wearing the bra. I loved the fact that the adult area of the ship is clearly adults only and a bit crazy. We had a good time in there.

OMG! She so did not do that with her dress! You guys really had good entertainment for brunch it sounds like. LOL

I so wanted to see Magic Quest, but we missed it. *sigh* One of these days. RCI's Quest gets pretty raunchy...it would be interesting to see how Disney's version compares.


Now, time for me to plan for Mom's visit next week! We just got home after my conference (my presentation went GREAT!). Need to do laundry and get this place squared away stat!