kellym506
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2011
- Messages
- 121
Back to the Magic for eight fun, fantastic days June 22 - 30, 2012! 
Cruisers: Me (Kelly), on my third cruise (Magic and Dream previously). Love the Disney experience, customer service and memories (raised on Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday night as a kid).
Dad (Ed), 70-something on his first cruise, if you dont count his trip to Germany via England on that other famous cruise line: the US Army.
Sister (Sue), brother-in-law (Bob) and nephew (Eddie), veteran Disney cruisers and Vacation Club members. Its 11 cruises for Bob and Sue, six for Eddie (seven if you count one while in utero).
Sue and her family and I booked this cruise during our June, 2011 five day trip on the Dream. I invited Dad to join us after our mom, his wife of 52 years, died last November. We all needed something fun to look forward to. I thought a lot about her on the trip, especially while watching Brave and during the farewell show.
I learned so much from reading posts and trip reports from DisBoards I wanted to return the favor and provide some info or vicarious vacationing. Feel free to ask questions--I'll share whatever I can.
DAY 1:
We live in shoreline Connecticut, just around where the traffic starts to build in the morning commute. To avoid that we left at 7:00 am, passenger van packed with our luggage, bottled water and more. With Bob in the driver seat and Dad riding shotgun, we got to NYC around 8:15 am (I-95 to 9A south to cruise terminal). As Bob drove down the West Side Highway we could see the stacks in the distance, then more of the ship as we got closer. Yay, our waiting was finally over!
Because we were so early, we paid ($280 for eight nights) and stayed on a fairly vacant parking area one pier away from the Magic. Around 9:45 am the attendant told us we could move to the parking deck between the Magic and the Intrepid. We walked our wagon train of luggage to the huge pier elevator (third level). While we were waiting, I notice some people without luggage who were dressed a bit more formally than the rest of the cruisers. As we settled inside the elevator, one gentleman looked at our luggage (all nine pieces plus day bags) and asked Are you on the two day cruise?. He looked relieved when we told him we were sailing for eight days. Im guessing he was a travel agent--there was an agent tour of the ship prior to our boarding.
The elevator took us to the second level, where friendly cast members with padded Mickey hands directed us to the curb area there to give our luggage to the porters. It felt kind of strange giving the suitcases to people outside the terminal, but it was fine. Back inside the terminal we found some chairs and waited for the security process. The terminal experience isnt Port Canaveral but the Disney-fication is a good attempt to spruce up the place.
There were perhaps 150 or so people in the terminal Most were standing in an area to the left side of the queue line stanchions. We sat outside the restrooms on the right hand side. About 10:55 am, a cast member asked Are you sailing today? (Was Were sailing tomorrow an option?) She opened the queue line right near us and we scurried through--we were the first five people in line for security!
A brief moment or two later--passport, travel document review and security scanning--we were on our way to registration. This part was easy: health documents completed, photos taken, Key to the World cards issued. Now on to more waiting. Sue registered Eddie for the kids program, Dad and I looked at the Intrepid (space shuttle is now covered by a plastic bubble with a plastic pom pom on top--booo!). Minnie arrived in her Lady Liberty costume. Eddie and I stood in line for a photo op by the time we were first in line, Eddie only wanted to be the photographer, not the subject. Patriotic Mickey arrived soon after. The anticipation was building we want to be on the ship NOW! We met Pamm from the Disney Vacation Club who gave Sue & Bob the details on the DVC welcome events. She and my dad hit it off--we ran into her all vacation long.
Finally around 11:45 am concierge and platinum (thanks Bob & Sue) were called to board the ship! We walked down the outside of the terminal, had our picture taken and walked the gangway onto the ship. The big moment: the annoucement, courtesy of Andy from cruise services. On board! The atrium lobby was smaller than I remembered (last cruise was on the Dream, maybe thats why), but still amazing.
Lunch was next--a great thing since wed been awake since 5 am. Parrot Cay was just what we needed. We met Mizar, a server that my sister knew from one of her previous cruises. The buffet was good, carved tenderloin was rare and tasty, Caesar salad was very good. Dad was amazed at the variety and amount of food. He aint seen nothing yet!
We took the aft elevators to the 6th floor to wait for our connected cabins: 6140 and 6142. (The connecting doors need to be propped open with a door stop, ask your cabin attendant for one.) After they dropped the blue ribbons, we found our rooms down the hall. They were far enough way from the elevators to have less hallway noise but still have an easy walk to them. We were on the port side (pier side at Castaway Cay and market side at Nassau), navigators verandah cabins. The porthole was round, with a solid white wall. Solid walls between verandahs, too, no way to fold them back to having connecting verandahs like on the Dream. I missed that. Also not a fan of the navigators verandah: you cant see the ocean unless youre standing at the porthole. The rest of the time--when youre in the room or standing at the slider--you see the sky.
First things first--decorate the door! Magnets from the last cruise, plus new ones courtesy of Shadowryter here on DisBoards, and our fish extender. Grampys First Cruise for my dad, a UCONN C in a dark blue Mickey Mouse head for me, plus lots of others. Not to long after that we got our first Fish Extender group gift: Statue of Liberty Mickey ears to go above the cabin number on the door. We met Made, our cabin host, that afternoon. He was very gracious and kept us in towel animals and chocolates all week.
We went to the 9th deck for beverages and the farewell party. The pool area didnt seem as crowded as I remembered from previous cruises. We heard the famous Disney horn and we were cruising! We watched the pier slip away, along with the George Washington Bridge and the midtown skyline. We stayed starboard to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island around 5:30 pm. Perfect timing to get back to the room to check on our luggage (all delivered!) and freshen up for dinner. We left the room just as we went under the Verrazano Narrows bridge.
Our dining rotation was PLAPLLAP--formal night in Lumieres, Pirate Night in Parrot Cay, semi-formal in Animators Palette, and character breakfast in Parrot Cay the morning after the last Animators Palette dinner. We got a great window-side table on the starboard side of the ship. We were behind the servers station, unfortunately, which blocked our view for some of the server shows. We had a table for eight: the five of us plus a family of three who lived near Baltimore. They had a seven year old daughter, a great pairing for us. It was my first Disney cruise when we shared a table and I really liked it. It was nice to hear how others spent their day and learn more about them.
We quickly met our servers: Esther from Trinidad & Tobago and Avatar from India. Esther was a petite dynamo with a bright smile and her signature flower in her hair. Avatar was soft-spoken with an easy smile, always ready to help. Esthers welcome and recommendations were a great beginning to our dinner. She and Avatar worked well together--it took us several days to know that it was Avatars first week as an assistant server on Disney. Over the course of the week they added so much to our whole cruise experience. Toward the end of the trip, I really looked forward to seeing them more than I did to the food itself (although the food was very good). We also met the Head Server, Boohla from South Africa. He spent time talking to my nephew. Im not good at remembering the menus or what I had; most of the meals were very good. So good that Bob would get two or three different entrees!
The servers always amaze me. How do you learn and remember the names and preferences of the guests at three tables overnight? Avatar always got our drinks right and always went to my dad first with the pepper grinder (I think Dad used up a grinder-full of pepper during the cruise). He poured Mickey head-shaped ketchup for the kids at the table; Esther poured hook-shaped ketchup for Pirate night and Plutos paw print one night! They taught us how to fold napkins to make Peter Pans hat and shoe, among others. Anticipating Esther's magic tricks helped the kids get through the dinner service. She and Avatar made us feel very special and well taken care of.
After dinner we went to the first nights show. Peter was the cruise director, man does he talk fast! He gave an overview of the cruise activities for the week, the shows and ports of call. We enjoyed the numbers performed by the Disney cast and couldnt wait for the rest of the shows. John Charles was the additional entertainer for the beginning of the cruise. He sang some familiar tunes with Disney Cruise-inspired lyrics about cabin size, lines, crew, etc. I thought one song was in particularly poor taste when the lyric included that we probably wouldnt understand what the cabin attendants were saying to us.
When we got back to the cabin, my sister got a call from Dining Services. They apologized that we didn't have a table just for our family. They offered to give us a table for five and a bottle of wine for our inconvenience. We liked the family we met and didnt want to move. We delined the option (and the wine). We never found out why we were asked to move to a smaller table. We shared the story with our tablemates; they didnt request the switch. Did someone want our window-side table? Who knows.
We settled in the room for the night. Dad had the bed, I took the couch. Its really a glorified crib-width mattress, very firm. It was fine for the week, but I couldnt have slept on it much longer. There was plenty of space for all of our clothes and toiletries, love the steamer chest. I never felt like we needed more space for our stuff. The surfboard shaped table is too big for the room and should be removed. The crescent moon shaped foot stool/desk chair was sufficient. I had to tuck the furniture under or next to the desk each night. The Wave phone charger plug overlaps one of the light buttons at the desk, so when you plug in the charger the light goes on or off. Also, with the Wave charger plugged in I couldnt use the outlet next to it.
After a long day, we went to sleep with happy thoughts of embarkation day and visions of our first sea day in our dreams.
Cruisers: Me (Kelly), on my third cruise (Magic and Dream previously). Love the Disney experience, customer service and memories (raised on Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday night as a kid).
Dad (Ed), 70-something on his first cruise, if you dont count his trip to Germany via England on that other famous cruise line: the US Army.
Sister (Sue), brother-in-law (Bob) and nephew (Eddie), veteran Disney cruisers and Vacation Club members. Its 11 cruises for Bob and Sue, six for Eddie (seven if you count one while in utero).
Sue and her family and I booked this cruise during our June, 2011 five day trip on the Dream. I invited Dad to join us after our mom, his wife of 52 years, died last November. We all needed something fun to look forward to. I thought a lot about her on the trip, especially while watching Brave and during the farewell show.
I learned so much from reading posts and trip reports from DisBoards I wanted to return the favor and provide some info or vicarious vacationing. Feel free to ask questions--I'll share whatever I can.
DAY 1:
We live in shoreline Connecticut, just around where the traffic starts to build in the morning commute. To avoid that we left at 7:00 am, passenger van packed with our luggage, bottled water and more. With Bob in the driver seat and Dad riding shotgun, we got to NYC around 8:15 am (I-95 to 9A south to cruise terminal). As Bob drove down the West Side Highway we could see the stacks in the distance, then more of the ship as we got closer. Yay, our waiting was finally over!
Because we were so early, we paid ($280 for eight nights) and stayed on a fairly vacant parking area one pier away from the Magic. Around 9:45 am the attendant told us we could move to the parking deck between the Magic and the Intrepid. We walked our wagon train of luggage to the huge pier elevator (third level). While we were waiting, I notice some people without luggage who were dressed a bit more formally than the rest of the cruisers. As we settled inside the elevator, one gentleman looked at our luggage (all nine pieces plus day bags) and asked Are you on the two day cruise?. He looked relieved when we told him we were sailing for eight days. Im guessing he was a travel agent--there was an agent tour of the ship prior to our boarding.
The elevator took us to the second level, where friendly cast members with padded Mickey hands directed us to the curb area there to give our luggage to the porters. It felt kind of strange giving the suitcases to people outside the terminal, but it was fine. Back inside the terminal we found some chairs and waited for the security process. The terminal experience isnt Port Canaveral but the Disney-fication is a good attempt to spruce up the place.
There were perhaps 150 or so people in the terminal Most were standing in an area to the left side of the queue line stanchions. We sat outside the restrooms on the right hand side. About 10:55 am, a cast member asked Are you sailing today? (Was Were sailing tomorrow an option?) She opened the queue line right near us and we scurried through--we were the first five people in line for security!
A brief moment or two later--passport, travel document review and security scanning--we were on our way to registration. This part was easy: health documents completed, photos taken, Key to the World cards issued. Now on to more waiting. Sue registered Eddie for the kids program, Dad and I looked at the Intrepid (space shuttle is now covered by a plastic bubble with a plastic pom pom on top--booo!). Minnie arrived in her Lady Liberty costume. Eddie and I stood in line for a photo op by the time we were first in line, Eddie only wanted to be the photographer, not the subject. Patriotic Mickey arrived soon after. The anticipation was building we want to be on the ship NOW! We met Pamm from the Disney Vacation Club who gave Sue & Bob the details on the DVC welcome events. She and my dad hit it off--we ran into her all vacation long.
Finally around 11:45 am concierge and platinum (thanks Bob & Sue) were called to board the ship! We walked down the outside of the terminal, had our picture taken and walked the gangway onto the ship. The big moment: the annoucement, courtesy of Andy from cruise services. On board! The atrium lobby was smaller than I remembered (last cruise was on the Dream, maybe thats why), but still amazing.
Lunch was next--a great thing since wed been awake since 5 am. Parrot Cay was just what we needed. We met Mizar, a server that my sister knew from one of her previous cruises. The buffet was good, carved tenderloin was rare and tasty, Caesar salad was very good. Dad was amazed at the variety and amount of food. He aint seen nothing yet!
We took the aft elevators to the 6th floor to wait for our connected cabins: 6140 and 6142. (The connecting doors need to be propped open with a door stop, ask your cabin attendant for one.) After they dropped the blue ribbons, we found our rooms down the hall. They were far enough way from the elevators to have less hallway noise but still have an easy walk to them. We were on the port side (pier side at Castaway Cay and market side at Nassau), navigators verandah cabins. The porthole was round, with a solid white wall. Solid walls between verandahs, too, no way to fold them back to having connecting verandahs like on the Dream. I missed that. Also not a fan of the navigators verandah: you cant see the ocean unless youre standing at the porthole. The rest of the time--when youre in the room or standing at the slider--you see the sky.
First things first--decorate the door! Magnets from the last cruise, plus new ones courtesy of Shadowryter here on DisBoards, and our fish extender. Grampys First Cruise for my dad, a UCONN C in a dark blue Mickey Mouse head for me, plus lots of others. Not to long after that we got our first Fish Extender group gift: Statue of Liberty Mickey ears to go above the cabin number on the door. We met Made, our cabin host, that afternoon. He was very gracious and kept us in towel animals and chocolates all week.
We went to the 9th deck for beverages and the farewell party. The pool area didnt seem as crowded as I remembered from previous cruises. We heard the famous Disney horn and we were cruising! We watched the pier slip away, along with the George Washington Bridge and the midtown skyline. We stayed starboard to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island around 5:30 pm. Perfect timing to get back to the room to check on our luggage (all delivered!) and freshen up for dinner. We left the room just as we went under the Verrazano Narrows bridge.
Our dining rotation was PLAPLLAP--formal night in Lumieres, Pirate Night in Parrot Cay, semi-formal in Animators Palette, and character breakfast in Parrot Cay the morning after the last Animators Palette dinner. We got a great window-side table on the starboard side of the ship. We were behind the servers station, unfortunately, which blocked our view for some of the server shows. We had a table for eight: the five of us plus a family of three who lived near Baltimore. They had a seven year old daughter, a great pairing for us. It was my first Disney cruise when we shared a table and I really liked it. It was nice to hear how others spent their day and learn more about them.
We quickly met our servers: Esther from Trinidad & Tobago and Avatar from India. Esther was a petite dynamo with a bright smile and her signature flower in her hair. Avatar was soft-spoken with an easy smile, always ready to help. Esthers welcome and recommendations were a great beginning to our dinner. She and Avatar worked well together--it took us several days to know that it was Avatars first week as an assistant server on Disney. Over the course of the week they added so much to our whole cruise experience. Toward the end of the trip, I really looked forward to seeing them more than I did to the food itself (although the food was very good). We also met the Head Server, Boohla from South Africa. He spent time talking to my nephew. Im not good at remembering the menus or what I had; most of the meals were very good. So good that Bob would get two or three different entrees!
The servers always amaze me. How do you learn and remember the names and preferences of the guests at three tables overnight? Avatar always got our drinks right and always went to my dad first with the pepper grinder (I think Dad used up a grinder-full of pepper during the cruise). He poured Mickey head-shaped ketchup for the kids at the table; Esther poured hook-shaped ketchup for Pirate night and Plutos paw print one night! They taught us how to fold napkins to make Peter Pans hat and shoe, among others. Anticipating Esther's magic tricks helped the kids get through the dinner service. She and Avatar made us feel very special and well taken care of.
After dinner we went to the first nights show. Peter was the cruise director, man does he talk fast! He gave an overview of the cruise activities for the week, the shows and ports of call. We enjoyed the numbers performed by the Disney cast and couldnt wait for the rest of the shows. John Charles was the additional entertainer for the beginning of the cruise. He sang some familiar tunes with Disney Cruise-inspired lyrics about cabin size, lines, crew, etc. I thought one song was in particularly poor taste when the lyric included that we probably wouldnt understand what the cabin attendants were saying to us.
When we got back to the cabin, my sister got a call from Dining Services. They apologized that we didn't have a table just for our family. They offered to give us a table for five and a bottle of wine for our inconvenience. We liked the family we met and didnt want to move. We delined the option (and the wine). We never found out why we were asked to move to a smaller table. We shared the story with our tablemates; they didnt request the switch. Did someone want our window-side table? Who knows.
We settled in the room for the night. Dad had the bed, I took the couch. Its really a glorified crib-width mattress, very firm. It was fine for the week, but I couldnt have slept on it much longer. There was plenty of space for all of our clothes and toiletries, love the steamer chest. I never felt like we needed more space for our stuff. The surfboard shaped table is too big for the room and should be removed. The crescent moon shaped foot stool/desk chair was sufficient. I had to tuck the furniture under or next to the desk each night. The Wave phone charger plug overlaps one of the light buttons at the desk, so when you plug in the charger the light goes on or off. Also, with the Wave charger plugged in I couldnt use the outlet next to it.
After a long day, we went to sleep with happy thoughts of embarkation day and visions of our first sea day in our dreams.
