First off, a little background. On our trip was me, my wife, oldest daughter Emily (who was just three weeks shy of turning 7), youngest daughter Molly (5) and both my parents. The six of us had taken one other cruise two years previous - a four-nighter on the Wonder.
There was no comparison in the two cruises. We pretty much went into that first one blind. We had never cruised before, never visited these boards and did very little research. Obviously, we enjoyed it enough to give it another try, but this latest cruise blew the doors off the first one in terms of overall enjoyment. It was fantastic. I think the extra days and ports helped, but I am convinced that the main reason we had so much more fun was because we did a lot more research and had a better idea of what to expect.
It was a truly great cruise. Probably our best family vacation ever. But, it wasn't perfect either. There were a few blemishes that I'll point out along the way.
LOW POINT: The main dining rooms. Ugh. I was NOT impressed with the food on the ship in the main dining rooms. We had late dining and most of the time, the food was just not good. The worst was the Captain's Dinner menu. Three of our four adults ordered the lobster tails and they were terrible! They were tough and flavorless. Luckily that was the one night I ordered a second entree - the seared sesame-crusted tuna, which was basically raw and served cold. I wasn't thrilled with the MDR food on our first Wonder cruise either. I think the problem is that they try to make all this different gormet food for hundreds and hundreds of passengers. I suspect many of the dishes are made way in advance and then reheated. I'm sure many of the items I ordered and didn't care for tasted much better when they were fresh out of the oven or whatever. Like the lobster tails. At the same time, the seared tuna was probably the best thing I got in a MDR because it was something that was meant to be prepared and then served cold. Not all the dining was bad though. We ate at Palo and found the food there very tasty - probably because it was fresh. I also thought the quick service was very good. The pizza at Pinochio's was a favorite for the kids and myself. I really liked the tacos from Plutos. I didn't remember them from our Wonder cruise. I am guessing they were fairly new. Maybe? The chicken strips are always tasty and the food at Goofy's Galley was all good as well. The food at Topsiders for lunch and breakfast was okay. We preferred eating breakfast at Parrot Cay and then just grabbing lunch at the quick service spots - or getting room service.
HIGH POINT: The entertainment. It was great. We loved the three broadway-style shows and three of the four comedians on board were very good. We especially liked Taylor Mason and Freddy Fusion. Taylor Mason did a family show in the Walt Disney Theater that was great and Freddy Fusion's family act in Rockin' Bar D was also excellent. The adults and kids both were very entertained. I had read some bad reviews of Villians Tonight, but I thought it was pretty entertaining. Disney Dreams was also good, even though we had seen it on the Wonder and Twice Charmed was good as well. All the other little events planned around the ship also made for some great entertainment - like the Mickey 200 and Match your Family and the various beer, wine and alcohol tastings.
LOW POINT: The Magic is starting to show its age. The deck chairs and tables (both on deck 9 and deck 4) are all starting to look shabby. Now, they all work perfectly well and are comfortable enough. But, they just look old and worn. I thought various other parts of the ship looked the same. Like the bathrooms in our cabin. And outside Topsider by the restrooms, there was a somewhat strong sewer smell for the entire week. And it seemed like there was a leak in the ceiling outside the aft elevators on Deck 4 that they were working to fix most of the week. I suppose without success since I saw them there several times. Now, none of this was a huge turn-off for us. But, it might be for some people.
Saturday morning I got up and ran out to the nearest drugstore, a Walgreens, because my dad had forgotten some of his medicine that he would need. The pharmacist there was unbeleivably nice and helpful in getting him the drugs he needed to take on the cruise. That was a good start after the trouble with the AC the night before.
Breakfast at the hotel was fine. Nothing great, but it got the job done. We paid the extra money to leave our car at the CI&S parking lot and take their shuttle to the port. It worked out pretty well. We were assigned a time of 10:30 and left pretty much on time, got to the port a few minutes later and a porter was waiting to help us with our bags.
We were in boarding group No. 8 and the wait to board was much more enjoyable than the one I remember from two years ago. I suppose they have added some extra seating in there because of the Dream. Two years ago, I remember not being able to find a seat and having to sit on the floor while waiting. That wasn't a problem this time at all. There was plenty of seating. We got the girls signed up for the kids club while we waited, got a photo with Captain Mickey and were on board in what seemed like no time.
Once we got on board we were told to go to Topsiders to eat. We really liked Parrot Cay on our Wonder cruise and asked if we could go there. We were told that we could, but we may have to wait for a seat. We didn't. We just walked right in and were shown to a table immediately. The food was good, not great, and we finished and were able to head down to our rooms by about 1:45.
Our steward for the week was awesome. I wish I could remember her name. I believe she was from Croatia though. Or some other Slavic, former Soviet bloc country. She did a great job keeping our cabin clean and neat and our ice bucket was always full. She was very friendly without being too friendly.
I thought the location was good for the room. We were between the mid and aft elevators - closer to aft though. We never used them when going up to dinner or the theater though, since it was just one or two flights of stairs up. The only time we used the elevator was when were going up to Deck 9 - and sometimes when we went up to Deck 5 to pick the kids up from the club at night.
There was no comparison in the two cruises. We pretty much went into that first one blind. We had never cruised before, never visited these boards and did very little research. Obviously, we enjoyed it enough to give it another try, but this latest cruise blew the doors off the first one in terms of overall enjoyment. It was fantastic. I think the extra days and ports helped, but I am convinced that the main reason we had so much more fun was because we did a lot more research and had a better idea of what to expect.
It was a truly great cruise. Probably our best family vacation ever. But, it wasn't perfect either. There were a few blemishes that I'll point out along the way.
High points & low points
HIGH POINT: The kids club. On our first cruise, Emily and Molly did not like going in the club at all. I guess they were just a little too young for it. This time, they LOVED it. Most nights, we had to pull them out of there against their will. There were times when they chose to stay in there during the day, instead of doing something else that I thought they would like much better. The CMs working there always seemed great with all the kids when I went in to pick them up. Emily is much more social than Molly, so she was almost always doing a group activity. Since Molly is more of a loner, I found her doing her own thing a lot. Which is great for her. Once I found her with a CM reading her a story from a book. Molly had just gone up to her and asked to be read to - and she did it. I thought that was pretty awesome and just sort of encapsuled the great job the CMs did. All the little extra goodies they got there were great too. On Pirate Night they painted their faces with skulls and crossbones and fake scars in time to go to dinner. They got the free T-shirts for taking part in the Friendship Rocks show and loved going up on stage in the Walt Disney Theater. Emily won a very nice Oceaneers Club hat playing Disney character bingo. And on the last night they got cool DCL backpacks. Both girls started carrying them to school on the Monday after our cruise.LOW POINT: The main dining rooms. Ugh. I was NOT impressed with the food on the ship in the main dining rooms. We had late dining and most of the time, the food was just not good. The worst was the Captain's Dinner menu. Three of our four adults ordered the lobster tails and they were terrible! They were tough and flavorless. Luckily that was the one night I ordered a second entree - the seared sesame-crusted tuna, which was basically raw and served cold. I wasn't thrilled with the MDR food on our first Wonder cruise either. I think the problem is that they try to make all this different gormet food for hundreds and hundreds of passengers. I suspect many of the dishes are made way in advance and then reheated. I'm sure many of the items I ordered and didn't care for tasted much better when they were fresh out of the oven or whatever. Like the lobster tails. At the same time, the seared tuna was probably the best thing I got in a MDR because it was something that was meant to be prepared and then served cold. Not all the dining was bad though. We ate at Palo and found the food there very tasty - probably because it was fresh. I also thought the quick service was very good. The pizza at Pinochio's was a favorite for the kids and myself. I really liked the tacos from Plutos. I didn't remember them from our Wonder cruise. I am guessing they were fairly new. Maybe? The chicken strips are always tasty and the food at Goofy's Galley was all good as well. The food at Topsiders for lunch and breakfast was okay. We preferred eating breakfast at Parrot Cay and then just grabbing lunch at the quick service spots - or getting room service.
HIGH POINT: The entertainment. It was great. We loved the three broadway-style shows and three of the four comedians on board were very good. We especially liked Taylor Mason and Freddy Fusion. Taylor Mason did a family show in the Walt Disney Theater that was great and Freddy Fusion's family act in Rockin' Bar D was also excellent. The adults and kids both were very entertained. I had read some bad reviews of Villians Tonight, but I thought it was pretty entertaining. Disney Dreams was also good, even though we had seen it on the Wonder and Twice Charmed was good as well. All the other little events planned around the ship also made for some great entertainment - like the Mickey 200 and Match your Family and the various beer, wine and alcohol tastings.
LOW POINT: The Magic is starting to show its age. The deck chairs and tables (both on deck 9 and deck 4) are all starting to look shabby. Now, they all work perfectly well and are comfortable enough. But, they just look old and worn. I thought various other parts of the ship looked the same. Like the bathrooms in our cabin. And outside Topsider by the restrooms, there was a somewhat strong sewer smell for the entire week. And it seemed like there was a leak in the ceiling outside the aft elevators on Deck 4 that they were working to fix most of the week. I suppose without success since I saw them there several times. Now, none of this was a huge turn-off for us. But, it might be for some people.
Heading to the boat & boarding
We left on Friday, April 1, and drove all the way from Kentucky to Port Canaveral, getting in late at night. We stayed in the Country Inn & Suites after reading so many great things about it on here. I was underwhelmed by it. It was a long drive and we got in well past midnight. We were tired and just checked in and went up to our room - only to find that the air conditioner wasn't working in the bedroom. The living room area with the fold-out coach was very cool, but the bedroom was hot. I tried calling the night desk clerk, but he wasn't any help. Luckily, we were all so tired that we went to sleep without much trouble.Saturday morning I got up and ran out to the nearest drugstore, a Walgreens, because my dad had forgotten some of his medicine that he would need. The pharmacist there was unbeleivably nice and helpful in getting him the drugs he needed to take on the cruise. That was a good start after the trouble with the AC the night before.
Breakfast at the hotel was fine. Nothing great, but it got the job done. We paid the extra money to leave our car at the CI&S parking lot and take their shuttle to the port. It worked out pretty well. We were assigned a time of 10:30 and left pretty much on time, got to the port a few minutes later and a porter was waiting to help us with our bags.
We were in boarding group No. 8 and the wait to board was much more enjoyable than the one I remember from two years ago. I suppose they have added some extra seating in there because of the Dream. Two years ago, I remember not being able to find a seat and having to sit on the floor while waiting. That wasn't a problem this time at all. There was plenty of seating. We got the girls signed up for the kids club while we waited, got a photo with Captain Mickey and were on board in what seemed like no time.
Once we got on board we were told to go to Topsiders to eat. We really liked Parrot Cay on our Wonder cruise and asked if we could go there. We were told that we could, but we may have to wait for a seat. We didn't. We just walked right in and were shown to a table immediately. The food was good, not great, and we finished and were able to head down to our rooms by about 1:45.
The room
Were were in room 2592 - one of the ones with a large porthole. This was a nice addition from our first cruise, when we had just an inside room. It was nice being able to look out and see if we were still moving or docked. I'd say it's worth the price of the upgrade. We debated whether or not it would be worth it to try a verandah next time we cruise, and decided that the porthole rooms are best for us. I don't think we'd spend enough time on the verandah to justify the extra money, but having the porthole was a nice touch. The main part of the cabin was in good shape. The bathroom was another story, though. As I alluded to earlier, it was in need of some updating. The shower leaked. The grout was old and dirty looking. The toilet was stained. And there was a soft spot in the floor just outside the tub. I swear, when I stepped on it just right, I was afraid my foot would go right through. Now, we're pretty easy-going folks, so it didn't bother us much. I could see some people getting upset about those things though.Our steward for the week was awesome. I wish I could remember her name. I believe she was from Croatia though. Or some other Slavic, former Soviet bloc country. She did a great job keeping our cabin clean and neat and our ice bucket was always full. She was very friendly without being too friendly.
I thought the location was good for the room. We were between the mid and aft elevators - closer to aft though. We never used them when going up to dinner or the theater though, since it was just one or two flights of stairs up. The only time we used the elevator was when were going up to Deck 9 - and sometimes when we went up to Deck 5 to pick the kids up from the club at night.
