NYE on a Disney cruise?

[Happy99]

We have booked a NYE cruise on the Magic (2018) and would love to hear from others that have been on a NYE cruise what their thoughts were. We have also decided to splurge and booked a one bedroom suite (gulp on the price). We have been on nine Disney cruises so not newbies but newbies to concierge on the ship and never done a NYE one. Our children age 18 and older so everyone is considered an adult. Any tips, hints, etc we should be aware of for this holiday sailing?

Feel free to link trip reports as well.

Thanks

 

[wjs3]

Hi:

About two (three?) years ago we did a one bedroom concierge trip on the Magic over NYE. This year we're doing a 1 bedroom Concierge on Fantasy.

Tips...they give out lots of hats and noisemakers on New Year's Eve. Bring earplugs, lol. 1000 kids running the halls with noisemakers is really...something...

They do a great job, of course. I remember that the Captain came on over dinner and gave a nice speech thanking us all for passing the New Year in the company of the Ship and Crew. In concierge we also got a commemorative lithograph.

New year's eve is full on "Formal" which makes it quite nice and elegant too.

Oh, and the crew seemed a little...slow...the morning of the 1st. I guess we all did lol!

When we did concierge on the Magic it was before the lounge was installed. You will L-O-V-E it, especially now with the lounge (I hear...don't get to see that until next year). There are many other threads here about the benefits of concierge sailing, but if you have anything specific, please fire away.

Sounds awesome!

 

[Shanti]

Here is a link to my trip report for our New Year's cruise on the Magic.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...rt-from-disney-magic-12-31-15-1-3-16.3473076/

 

[tink1970]

The Magic concierge lounge is very nice...we definitely enjoyed it We sailed a 1 br suite in July and I think it's my favorite stateroom so far (14 cruises and counting). I don't know which type you booked but there are 4 cabins that have a "sideways" layout and this is what we chose (8532). It was very spacious and didn't seem over crowded with 4 adults in it.

Have a great cruise!

 

[wjs3]

I agree with the PP's trip report that the deck party is unimaginative. Not to say it's not fun, but compared to the "usually" very theme-y things you get for all things Disney, it lacked. Not at all a reason to forego it, just maybe set your expectations.

Also, if you have any college football fans, they did a GREAT job of getting as many bowl games as they could. Even if not listed for viewing, ask your concierge host and magical things can happen...

 

[cmph]

We were on the Wonder this past NYE. We all (even the "cheap seats" haha!) got a lithograph, box of truffles, and hats/tiaras in our rooms before dinner. So that stuff isn't just for concierge, in any case. Fireworks were that night instead of Pirate night. They passed around little bites of food and sparkling cider at the deck party, and apparently champagne somewhere that I didn't see. It was a bit hectic, certainly more than Pirate night. The noisemakers were on tables near the elevators that not everyone noticed, rather than given to us in our rooms, so I didn't think that part was so bad. It was just a really crowded deck party. The characters roamed around a bit, and the CMs on stage did lots of dance things for the crowd to join in. I think if you all like dancing around to the pirate night stuff, you'll love this too. Crowds/noise can get to my kids, and my 8yo wasn't happy, as he also has zero interest in dancing and is hit or miss with characters. He wanted to get the heck out of there as soon as the fireworks were over. Personally, I think it would be a great thing with adult kids who aren't yet 21! The 21 and overs might think it's lame, depending on how into Disney they are and how much they like clubbing in their regular life. It's a fun and festive atmosphere for the whole family, which appeals to us, and quite honestly we would have enjoyed at 21/22... but I was never that person who hit the clubs until 3am or anything like that.

 

[SnowWhite2]

Since you mentioned that your kids were over 18....Maybe they are not 21 yet. Just note that the flutes of champagne are passed out around midnight and keep coming. No one is carded so your teens can very well get served champagne. Anyone who reaches for a glass can take one. If your kid is like mine, she took one and then the servers kept filling her glass from a champagne bottle until she was literally fall-down-drunk. Right in front of an officer. Her friends took her to the medical center where they put an IV into her arm and she stayed there for 1 hour before we were called to get her. There was a $1032 charge on our on board account for that hour in the medical center. My daughter was only 16. She was with the Vibe for their NYE party and then they went out on the deck for the countdown. After the fireworks they met back up in the Vibe and the counselors wondered what happened to her and her friends. Disney didn't care that underage kids could take alcohol from the servers. I didn't think that could happen but it did, on several cruises. We all had a talk after the first time and my daughter was more responsible for future trips. When I talked to the beverage manager about it he said that they can't do anything about it. I'm not blaming Disney, I'm just relaying our experience because I was sure that underage kids wouldn't be served alcohol. Now I know. If it is free alcohol (also the Captains night), they hand it to whomever wants one without carding the individual.

 

[JakeRambo]

We did the Magic on NYE 2016. Best experience we have had on our 8 cruises to date. The deck party was a blast. Instead of the overly scripted, over produced, often cheesy deck parties, we had a very spontaneous off-script event. They had a mega-band made up of each musical performer on board that was remarkable (Samson and Kiley as always stole the show). The cruise director and adult club host had a lip sync battle complete with back up dancers from the company of the Walt Disney theater. They had a lot of cute videos that had been filmed throughout the day on board. Noisemakers and hats were placed in our room before dinner. They served complimentary champagne and cider in souvenir 2017 glasses.

Another highlight-from 0000-0130 you could "dunk in the New Year" on the aqua dunk.

Our boys all rated it the best Disney cruise moment and best family New Year ever