Newsies Cruises (or, How We Braved Hurricane Erin on the Magic) - Our First DCL Adventure! - Aug '25 *NEW 09/01*

[DLo]

Following along. Can’t wait to read more about your cruise adventures

 

[rdkeim]

What a long day! Glad you made it safely and you were happy with your hotel. Hope you all slept well and were ready for your first cruise day!

 

[Mary Pops In]

Hello! May we have your attention, please? On behalf of the Newsies family, please join us in welcoming you, the reader of this TR -- our DISboards member of the day! They'll help us begin the Trip Report!

Welcome aboard to Newsies Cruises (or, How We Braved Hurricane Erin on the Magic) -- the tale of our very first adventure with Disney Cruise Line!

Did everything go according to plan? Well, no, not exactly. To quote OutKast, "you can plan a pretty picnic, but you can't predict the weather." What a drama queen miss Erin was! She did her best to rain on our parade, but you can always count on Disney to turn things around for their guests. Through rocky seas and changing plans, we still had the absolute best time ever. I seriously don't think we could have asked for a better first cruise with Disney!

We sailed with the Disney Magic out of Port Canaveral on a 5-Night Bahamas cruise from August 17-22, 2025. We were originally headed to Nassau, Castaway Cay, and Lookout Cay, even if the 2025 hurricane season had other plans for our itinerary! We didn't waste a single second of our vacation, exploring everything our ship had to offer and enjoying a very different type of Disney vacation than we're used to.

... And, as an added bonus, we also tacked on a night at Disney's Boardwalk Inn once we disembarked so we could enjoy Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party before we headed back up to New Jersey.

Speaking of "the dirty jerz"... we are the Newsies family from New Jersey! Hello to DIS friends new and old!

We're 4 adults from New Jersey and we are crazy about the Mouse! We've been traveling to Walt Disney World once or twice a year for the past decade. My mom caught the Disney bug while she was growing up and passed it on to me while I was a teenager, which kind of sparked a chain reaction with the rest of the family. Since I've started writing TRs for DISboards in 2014, our love for Disney has grown and grown. We were Annual Passholders before COVID, and we've been Disney Vacation Club members since 2017. Our first home resort was the Polynesian, and actually, surprise! Earlier this year, we bought another contract and made the Riviera our second home.

Lately, for us, it's been all about slowing down at the Parks and just seeking to enjoy our time and prioritize new experiences. We'd been interested in doing a Disney cruise for a few years now, and 2025 ended up being the right time for us to set sail! This was actually our first cruise in a long time. I think the last time we were on a cruise was a Carnival Cruise back in 2006, and my sister and I had only been on one other cruise before that (Norwegian Cruise Line, possibly 2004?), so this really was uncharted waters for our family!

I'll quickly introduce us all from left to right:

On the far left is Grace, my younger sister! Grace is 24 years old and just graduated with her Masters Degree in College Student Affairs. She had a very smooth transition to a full-time job within the same program at her university afterwards and now she's a student counselor! She's the only member of our party who doesn't live at home with us and moved into a new apartment with her boyfriend a few months ago. Grace is the most go-with-the-flow member of our party and will normally do whatever mom and dad are doing. Like our mom, she loves sleeping in, having a pool day, and hitting up the Parks in the afternoon. She also loves buying silly Disney hats and calling every Disney character "her shayla." On this cruise, she really loved all of the activities that the cruise director had planned for us, from trivia to crafts!

Next to her is Susie, our mom! Mom has put in 40+ years at her job as a real estate manager for a propane company, and she's not too far away from retirement! Mom grew up driving to Florida with her parents and siblings, where they'd stay somewhere along the beach in Daytona and do a day or two at Magic Kingdom. She always dreamed of staying at the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian and now she gets to live that dream with her own family! I like to think that she and I are partners-in-crime, especially when it comes to all things Disney... once one of us has an idea to book a vacation, it doesn't take much convincing for the other person to get on board Mom is the queen of the pool day -- no rope dropping for her unless we're rope dropping her favorite breakfast spot before securing our spot on the pool deck! But she also just loves to be at the Parks. Haunted Mansion is her favorite ride and Pooh Bear is her favorite character, but she's content to just be drinking in the sights & sounds of the Magic Kingdom.

Standing next to her is Tom, our dad! Two years ago, he retired from 35 years of service in our town's volunteer fire company. He still has a few years to go as a zoning official before he retires for real, but he's already talking about how excited he is to move to Florida with mom! It really is all about Florida with him. He just loves being somewhere warm and sunny where he doesn't have to shovel any snow! I call him the chief logistics officer, since he's the one who does most of the driving and travel planning for us when we head down south. Disney really is his favorite place on earth, and Buc-ee's is a close second. When he's on vacation, you never know how he's going to feel on any given day! Sometimes, he's ready to rope drop Magic Kingdom and run to 7DMT. Other days, he's ready to spend a day sitting under an umbrella at the pool bar. No matter where he goes, he makes a friend. Be very careful if you see him in public! If you catch his eye, there's no stopping him from striking up a conversation.

And lastly, on the very far right is me, Kait! I'm your host! I am a 28-year-old customer experience professional who manages social media inboxes, product reviews, and assists my manager with our loyalty & VIP services. I love my job and I have a passion for customer experience that I picked up while I was working at Walt Disney World during two different DCPs between 2016-2020. I am also very, very passionate about writing and cherish all of my Trip Reports! This is my I am all about Disney! I'm the "rogue" of the group and always trying to pack as much action as possible into our vacation. You can count on me to be sneaking out the door at 6 AM to get on the first bus to Epcot! I do all the planning, which can be tough when we have different touring styles, but I don't mind hitting the parks alone before the family wakes up so I can get my priorities done and still spend time with them in the afternoon. Actually, I love touring solo and did my first solo vacation last September! I'm definitely an "extroverted introvert" and love talking to Cast Members & meeting characters.


This vacation ended up being really special to all of us and I can't wait for you guys to see just how much fun we had as we navigated our first Disney Cruise as four adults!


...And I think that's quite enough yapping for this introduction post! I am so excited to share the epic story of our first Disney cruise with you all and I hope you all love reading it as much as I'll love writing it. At this time, we'd like to invite guests in all boarding groups to start the Trip Report!

Click here to start the TR!​

Yay, I love your trip reports. Your family sounds like a fun group and very supportive of you and your Mom's love of Disney!

 

[hpygrll]

. We ended up following this Florida meteorologist on Facebook named Denis Phillips, who did a great job of keeping me sane & calm as we waited for more information on if this storm would trash our cruise.

This made me chuckle. Denis is the BOMB. Our son lives in Tampa and we follow Denis because he is so calm and factual in his coverage! I'm so excited to hear what you think of your first Disney cruise. We just did our first Disney cruise the first week of August on the DVC Member Cruise!

 

[Disney102015]

Yayyy another Newsies trip report! (Is anyone else reading the title as Newsies Cruiseys so it rhymes? Just me??)

She was STRESSING US OUT, ya’ll.

Oh my gosh I feel this - we rode out Hurricane Ian at Disney a few years ago and the uncertainty in the days leading up to it were SO stressful!! Can’t wait to read your report and hope your plans weren’t derailed too much - sounds like you all made the best of it regardless!

 

[LoveToDisney]

Yayyy another Newsies trip report! (Is anyone else reading the title as Newsies Cruiseys so it rhymes? Just me??)

Oh yes, same here…couldn’t imagine it planned any other way!! It’s gotta be a play on words! Just love it!

 

[Newsies]

You could have maximized your driving time by snagging some Sizzlis from that same Wawa on your way… but glad you’re enjoying so far.

Hahaha! Ashamed to admit I've never had a Sizzli before! I grew up in North Jersey and we actually didn't have Wawa until I was in college and they opened one 30 minutes away from us along the highway So I have no idea what's good at Wawa, never had a Sizzli or a hoagie or their pizza... always just grabbed coffee and started heading south. Gonna have to keep the Sizzli in mind when we drive down in May!

As a fellow "drive down to Disney" person myself, I can say pretty confidently that the traffic is getting worse all the time. I expect it when I go down at Thanksgiving but my April trip a year ago and my May trip this year??? Why is there heavy traffic? Glad you made it down safely though.

Yes!!! Like what is the reason? Last year was fine but my god there was so much construction happening all up and down i95 this year, lanes closing down for no reason, traffic accidents that really should not have been obstructing ANY flow of traffic causing backups for miles... just insanity!

Also drive to Disney peeps here! We typically leave on Sunday mornings around 6/7 a.m., and it's a 10 hour trip plus stops to FL from where we are, so luckily we don't hit much traffic. However, unless we stay a full week (which we usually don't-either 4 or 5 nights, but our last trip was 8!), traffic coming back is always an issue. Monday driving is AWFUL!

I can't believe y'all drove straight through this time! Shoo!!! Super excited to hear about embarkation day. We cruise 6 years ago and I want to do another so badly.

I love that everyone who drives has a "routine" that works for their family like clockwork! You are correct -- the traffic heading back up north is always worse than the traffic going down south. I have no idea why. Even on Saturdays when we normally head back, things are terrible.

We drove straight through on our way down AND on our way back up this time! It was an adventure to say the least Excited to tell you all about the rest of our cruise!

Yay!!! I am glad you liked it. I can't wait to hear more about the trip.

By the way you look great in your picture!!!

Thank you again my friend!! You are the kindest -- can't wait to update again!

Following along. Can’t wait to read more about your cruise adventures

Hey friend!!! So great to see you here Can't wait to update soon!

What a long day! Glad you made it safely and you were happy with your hotel. Hope you all slept well and were ready for your first cruise day!

Thank you friend! We were most definitely happy to be in PC and ready for our cruise!

Yay, I love your trip reports. Your family sounds like a fun group and very supportive of you and your Mom's love of Disney!

Mary, thank you for "Popping In!" Appreciate you being here and the kind words!

This made me chuckle. Denis is the BOMB. Our son lives in Tampa and we follow Denis because he is so calm and factual in his coverage! I'm so excited to hear what you think of your first Disney cruise. We just did our first Disney cruise the first week of August on the DVC Member Cruise!

Hahaha! Rule #7 was in effect all week Can't wait to share more about our trip -- so jealous you got to do the Member Cruise, I hear those are epic!

Yayyy another Newsies trip report! (Is anyone else reading the title as Newsies Cruiseys so it rhymes? Just me??)


Oh my gosh I feel this - we rode out Hurricane Ian at Disney a few years ago and the uncertainty in the days leading up to it were SO stressful!! Can’t wait to read your report and hope your plans weren’t derailed too much - sounds like you all made the best of it regardless!

Thank you for being here! Pun DEFINITELY intended, glad you're reading it that way!

I did my first DCP through Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and it was an intense time, I can't imagine having a vacation scheduled through Ian!

Oh yes, same here…couldn’t imagine it planned any other way!! It’s gotta be a play on words! Just love it!

I am so glad you guys loved it!

 

[Newsies]

August 17
Embarkation day
Our First Steps on the Magic​

I got out of bed at 7 in the morning on our embarkation day and got dressed to start the day. Our PAT wasn’t until 12:00, but I was just too excited to lay in bed any longer! A little OOTD, featuring my Lightning McQueen crocs:

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Mom and Grace were still sleeping when I finished getting dressed, but dad and I decided to go check out the breakfast the hotel was offering. It was a good selection, actually, with eggs, biscuits, gravy, bacon, sausage, your typical waffle maker, and these cheesy potatoes that looked really good. I just couldn’t eat anything! On big days like this, I always seem to be so excited that I can’t eat breakfast. The anticipation is too much for me. I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and milk and a little cup of coffee and once dad was finished eating, we went back to the room. There, Mom & Grace were finishing up getting ready and it was their turn to go get some breakfast.

When they came back, it was closer to 9:00. Thankfully, I had checked Facebook, because if I hadn’t, I would have missed another pre-arrival form that gets emailed the morning of your embarkation day. It was a very simple health questionnaire, and mom & I finished it quickly for both staterooms.

We had some hours to fill, and ended up watching Spongebob Squarepants in the hotel room until 10:30 or so. Even though we had an hour and a half until our actual PAT, the parents decided they just couldn’t sit around any longer. Plus, we had to check out of the room in half an hour anyway and we didn’t know what traffic would look like, so we decided to head to the port a little early. We threw our bags into the back of the truck and then we were off!

Like I said, the port was very close to our hotel, so we weren’t on the road for even 10 minutes before we started seeing signs directing us to the Magic. I really did feel like a kid as we drove over the bridge to the terminal, hyper focused on the skyline in front of me waiting to see the first glimpse of the ship. In a lot of ways, it was like seeing the castle for the first time when these two red stacks came into our sightline:

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As we pulled up to the building where we’d check in, we were greeted by tons of friendly porters who assisted us with our bags. Then we had to wait to park, since the parking lot didn’t open until 11 and it was ~10:45. There were a couple of cars in front of us waiting to park, and dad got out of the truck to talk to some other dads who were standing around. I also jumped out to take a few photos of the ship.

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Once we parked, I told my family I didn’t want to get out of the car until 11:30 because I heard DCL was going to be strict about our time and I didn’t want us to be standing outside in the brutal heat for an hour. Mom & dad decided they were going to stand outside anyway and look at the ship, but Grace and I sat in the car and I connected to the DCL wifi for the first time, which meant I could start looking at the Navigator!

The first thing I did was look for our dining rotation this trip. What does that mean? Well, with Disney Cruise Line, each ship has three rotational dining rooms that you’ll enjoy throughout your week. Each night you’ll visit a different one, and your dining staff will rotate with you. I was very eager to see what our rotation was, as we had booked Palo dinner for one evening. Our plan was to head to dining services as soon as we got on board to see if we could switch our dinner reservation to Brunch, but I felt like our chances could be slim given our later PAT for the day. If we did dinner at Palo, we would miss a “regular” menu at one of the restaurants, and I really didn’t want to miss the show at Rapunzel’s Royal Table, so I was anxious to know what we’d be skipping for Palo.

Our rotation was LAARL, so we’d start with Lumiere’s, do Animator’s Palette twice in a row for the Pirate Night menu and the regular menu, do Rapunzel’s Royal Table once, and then end at Lumiere’s/have breakfast at Lumiere’s before we disembarked. And the Palo reservation fell on Rapunzel’s Royal Table evening, so I was determined to change things around once we got on board.

Worth mentioning is that there are also two dining times for Disney Cruise Line – the first seating is at 5:45 and the second seating is at 8:15. This time, we chose the 5:45 seating.

I think I sat on my phone for 15 minutes once I had access to our navigator just looking at the activities every day and the different characters that would be meeting like this:

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So at 11:20ish, we grabbed our bags and went to get in the “holding line” for the 12:00-12:15 PAT arrivals.

Surprisingly, there were very few people in this terminal on this morning. Everyone says that they are very strict about PAT times, but with only one other family around, a CM waved us over and said she’d pixie dust us to get us in sooner than our PAT, which was extremely kind of her!

We made our way inside and got in line to go through security. It looked long but it moved very, very quickly. We presented our boarding passes & passports, a CM scanned our magic band, and then it was time for us to go through the bag check/metal detectors. All in all, we were past security by 11:30 – mind you, that was maybe 10 or 11 minutes after the first Cast Member told us we could go inside! So I was very pleasantly surprised at how quickly this all moved.

Here we are entering the famous DCL terminal!

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I love that even the port is fun and gets you excited to be on the boat! The first thing we did was get some photos taken by two incredible Shutters CMs, Nemo & Aaron, who we’d see time and time again on our sailing and loved getting to know.

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Once we were done with the Shutters photos, we decided to head out to the observation deck to get some more photos and see the ship up close for the very first time.

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It was quite warm out, so once we were done, we went back inside to find a seat so I could help my parents connect to the on-board WiFi and set up our Navigator chat. One great feature of the Navigator is that even if you don’t have a WiFi package, you can message members of your party with an in-app messaging system! You can also message people outside of your stateroom & traveling party, you just need their unique code.

They started the boarding process closer to 12 and it was so thrilling hearing those “when you wish upon a star” chimes for the first time! We were in Boarding Group 13, so we’d still have to wait some time to board, but dad filled that time collecting pressed pennies.

Finally, it was our turn to board and walk through these iconic ears for the very first time!

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By 12:30, our feet were on the Magic, and a Cast Member was welcoming our family onto the ship!

Our first stop was to head to dining services to see if we could change our Palo reservation. Dining Services was at Soul Cat Lounge, which is on the atrium level, so we didn’t have far to go. I was shocked to see that there were only 2 or 3 families ahead of us, as I was told to anticipate a long wait to speak to the Palo team.

I was even more shocked to reach the front of the line and hear that Palo had brunch availability for the very next morning! We changed our reservation from dinner to brunch and I was a very happy girl.

With all this talk about brunch, we were hungry. I heard the buffet, Cabanas, could be pretty crowded before staterooms opened, so we decided to head to Rapunzel’s Royal Table, where a dining room was serving lunch. That was a really nice touch to DCL – if you didn’t want Cabanas for breakfast or lunch on any given day, you could always visit Lumiere’s for breakfast or Rapunzel’s Royal Table for a seated lunch included in the cost of your cruise.

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They brought us some rolls to start. I wanted something lighter, so I had a bowl of soup and a salad for lunch. I had the Leek & Potato Soup with Soda Bread and the Mixed Salad with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

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Honestly, neither of them were anything to write home about. Didn’t love the potato soup, but the produce was really fresh and crispy in the salad and I loved the raspberry dressing.

I ordered the welcome aboard ice cream sundae for dessert, but I only had a spoonful of it. Again, it just wasn’t anything spectacular.

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Honestly? The embarkation sit-down lunch was a bit of a bust. Not only did it take much longer than we anticipated, the menu was kind of blah. We ended up wishing we had gone to Cabana’s, and we’ll do that next time we sail. We didn’t go to the dining room for lunch again during the cruise, but I did notice that the menu on every other day was much more robust, with offerings like meatloaf, burgers, pasta, and chocolate lava cake.

We had no time to sit and be disappointed, though. By the time we were done eating, staterooms were open and ready for us, and it was time to head upstairs to see our rooms for the first time!