Chapter 18 - Final Thoughts
I called this the Here, There and Everywhere trip. We were able to go on both 7-day itineraries, our staterooms were located in completely opposite locations, we spent one week with a large group and one week alone and we had one week of running around and one of complete relaxation. So I thought I'd end this trip report with a breakdown of each aspect of the cruise.
Staterooms
Week 1: 2002, Cat. 9 (window), Port Side, Deck 2 Forward
Week 2: 6610, Cat. 6 (verandah), Starboard Side, Deck 6 Aft
We honestly loved both of our cabins. The Deck 2 location was wonderful. The cabin was completely quiet and there was no hallway noise. Since we now tend to book a Category 9 we will ask for this location again. We'd actually ask for 2004 as it is a big longer than 2002 (which is already longer than most 9's) but we'd take anything in that area.
The Cat. 6 was also wonderful.
DCL was nice enough to upgrade us to the verandah cabin and we appreciate it...but we still won't pay for one. We certainly enjoyed spending time on the verandah but the difference in price between a 6 and a 9 just isn't worth it to us. Of course if DCL wants to upgrade us in the future we'd gladly accept!
Dinner Rotation
I didn't request a rotation before we left but was hoping that we'd get the 6:00 LAPLAPL rotation, which we did for the first week. Because we wanted to stay with Luis and Graham that meant switching to the earliest rotation (APLAPA at 5:30) for the second week. While I hadn't wanted this rotation, fearing it was too early, we loved it and actually preferred it to the 6:00. We felt that it allowed us more freedom in the evening and we never felt in a rush to get to dinner. It allowed us to get to the Family Cabaret Shows at 7:30 and then move on to the shows in the Walt Disney Theater. Both rotations put is in Parrot Cay for Formal Night and Animator's Palate for Pirate Night and that was just fine. We once had the rotation that put is in Lumiere's for FN and Parrot Cay for PN and we felt that there was no difference this time. While I won't request a rotation in the future I now know that I'll be happy with any of them.
Entertainment
We thought the entertainment onboard was top notch. We had seen The Golden Mickeys and Disney Dreams before but loved seeing them again, especially the new enhancements to DD. The comedians onboard were great and we enjoyed their family and adults-only shows at Rockin' Bar D, as well as their performances in the Walt Disney Theater. We got to see a few movies we hadn't seen and enjoyed DCL's live band, Elite. We also enjoyed the holiday additions (Tree Lighting, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas) in the Atrium.
One thing I haven't talked much about is the movies on the stateroom TVs. We assumed they would be the same from week one to week two but we were wrong. For week 2 they removed several movies and replaced them with holiday-themed titles (Unacompanied Minors, Christmas with the Kranks, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, etc.) It was nice to have new choices the second week and nice to have some movies to put us in a holiday mood. They weren't all holiday-themed...only about 1/2. We still had Transformers, Nancy Drew, Shrek the 3rd, No Reservations and others in addition to the holiday titles.
Kid's Clubs
This was DD's first time at The Stack and DS's first experience at Ocean Quest and both were big hits. In fact, one of the reasons DD wanted to cancel Alaska and sail on the Magic again was because of the counselors in The Stack. OQ is such a great addition for the 10-14's, although I am intrigued by recent posts that have it becoming a 13/14yo club with the Stack being reserved for 15-17yo cruisers. That would mean that my DS would be in OQ in August and DD would be in The Stack, which works out perfectly for us. we'll see what happens.
Western vs. Eastern
My opinion on this hasn't changed. I prefer the ports in the Western but love having three sea days on the Eastern. That said, we will probably book the Western for any future 7-day cruises unless DCL adds ports we want to visit to Eastern itinerary. We fell completely in love with Key West on this trip, enjoyed Grand Cayman (we still haven't seen too much of the island itself) and loved Cozumel. Besides, if we want to we can always stay on the ship in one of the ports and get our extra ship time that way.
Dining Room Serving Team
What can I say that I haven't already said? Luis and Graham added so much to our trip and we were so sorry to say goodbye to them. While Luis seemed a bit stiff and uber-professional on the first night he soon warmed up and was so warm and friendly to us. He was so attentive to DD and truly catered to all of us. Each night of the second week he remembered what each of us had had the week before. That amazed me. We will be asking to have him as our server whenever possible in the future. We're just sorry that we weren't able to spend our Port Canaveral day hanging out with him. Perhaps we'll be able to fix that on our August Panama Canal cruise.
Graham was also fantastic and did such a great job in a position he had held for only a month before we sailed. Each night he had our drinks waiting for us but had no problems getting us something else if we wanted it. He refilled our drinks and bread basket more than once each night and was always ready with a good pirate joke when we needed one...as long as the punchline was Arrrrrrrrrrh!
Hopefully he'll have some new jokes in his arsenal next week as we've sent the Sponge Bob Pirate Joke Book off to him and he should have it on Saturday.
Other CMs
In addition to Luis and Graham our stateroom hostesses were fantastic and every other CM we encountered onboard was wonderful. We didn't meet one CM who seemed tired, frustrated or who acted unprofessionally. There were some (Natalie from the Cruise Staff, Jenny from Shutters, Gavin and Jessica in the dining rooms, Flori, Elsie, Luis and Graham) who truly made our vacation an amazing one and I will be writing to DCL about each and every one of them.
The Ship
The Magic is in great shape. Both of our staterooms were in terrific shape (except for missing bolster pillows on the sofa in 6610) and our one maintenance issue (a cracked flush button on the super-sucker-toilet) was fixed within an hour. I saw very little wear & tear around the ship and crews were always out painting and maintaining parts of the ship. The only night we heard any creaking or banging in our stateroom was when the seas were at their highest. Otherwise the Magic was ship shape and beautiful.
Been There, Done That...Going Back
What can I say? We love sailing with DCL. We love it so much that we have canceled our June cruise to Alaska on NCL and will be doing the Panama Canal repo with DCL instead. We'll wait until DCL goes to Alaska. Until then we'll try to sail any new itineraries DCL comes up with or stick to the Western. I can't wait for August but it's such a double-edged sword. I want the trip to come soon but that means my time with my kids is even further gone. I'll just have to convince them to still vacation with us when they're grown, right?
So, that's it for this time. If anyone has any questions please ask away or feel free to PM me. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
So now it's time to say goodbye
To the readers of my trippie
M...I...C...See you real soon
K...E...Y...Why? Because August isn't that far away!
M...O...U...S...E!
) Even with the high seas it was such a great week, wasn't it? 
I have sat here off and on all day reading it!!!
THe only break to fix lunch for the Bucs/Panthers game today....even the loss for the bucs wasn't too bad!! Soon as the game was over ....right back to reading!! 
)
