The Bahamian Rum Runners! May 18, 2012 - 5 Nights on the Magic!

[tinkmt]

We had our 2 year old daughter on the Wonder last year. It was both good and bad. She was not much fun at dinner time so we started dropping her off in Flounders Reef and that was the best thing we ever did. She actually seem to eat more in there than with us anyway and sometimes didn't want to leave. Of course dropping her off was always drama. Later we learned they would let her go in the kids club as long as we were in there and she went crazy for the indoor play sets. The pools are rough. The area for non-potty trained kids doesn't have a lot to do after you've done it once or twice. The Private island was awesome. Just make sure you pack plenty of sunscreen. It's pricey on the stops and even on board, though not as bad. We always go through a ton.
If your 2 year old is at the point where she (assuming a girl?) is interested in princesses, then sign up the first day for the princess breakfast. It's free but you need tickets. One cruise they didn't have it, so YMMV.
The main shows actually held her attention quite well and she really loved the kids comedy shows earlier in the evening. They are pretty tame. They made me a prop at one point and I think my daughters loved that the most.

If you have any specific questions, just ask. The Wonder and the Magic are nearly identical.

Thanks for the info! I was wondering about the nursery. All of the older kids will be in the Oceaneers club so she will be there by herself. Do they follow the age structure in the oceaneers club? My neice and nephew are in the older group but my daughter is only a year off their group. Anyone know much about the cabanas on Castaway?

 

[tinkmt]

Hi TinkMT! Is your Sisters Daughter interested in chatting with my DD10?

She has proposed that the DD9's and DD10's meet on the first day and hang out for the cruise. Email me if interested. matt.mckinley at troutmansanders then dot com (silly 10 post count rule is annoying)

I am sure she will. I will forward your email to my sister.

 

[starwarsdisney]

Does anyone know how the dining rotation works on this 5 night cruise? Which night is pirate night and which on is dress up?

I assume the rotation would be 1/2/2/3/3? Do they change the menu in the one that you repeat when it's not pirate night?

Sorry for all of the questions, but we've only done the 4 night Bahamas cruise on the Dream.

 

[mcmckuf]

Thanks for the info! I was wondering about the nursery. All of the older kids will be in the Oceaneers club so she will be there by herself. Do they follow the age structure in the oceaneers club? My neice and nephew are in the older group but my daughter is only a year off their group. Anyone know much about the cabanas on Castaway?

They usually have allowed my daughter to go down a level, but frown upon kids going up a level.

I have not used the cabanas....

 

[mcmckuf]

Does anyone know how the dining rotation works on this 5 night cruise? Which night is pirate night and which on is dress up?

I assume the rotation would be 1/2/2/3/3? Do they change the menu in the one that you repeat when it's not pirate night?

Sorry for all of the questions, but we've only done the 4 night Bahamas cruise on the Dream.

The rotation is random for each room. You may be 12312 or some variation of that. Note that getting Parrot Cay twice is a bummer in my book. This and the equivalent on Wonder are both a step below the other restaurants on board. The staff is your rotating staff so it's not that. There's just little Disney Magic in them.....and yes, the menu's change. Almost forgot that. I believe Pirate Night is your At Sea night. that part is a little foggy....

 

[Kim&Chris]

The rotation is random for each room. You may be 12312 or some variation of that. Note that getting Parrot Cay twice is a bummer in my book. This and the equivalent on Wonder are both a step below the other restaurants on board. The staff is your rotating staff so it's not that. There's just little Disney Magic in them.....and yes, the menu's change. Almost forgot that. I believe Pirate Night is your At Sea night. that part is a little foggy....

I totally agree. Parrot Cay is just "meh". I do believe we may even skip Parrot Cay while on this cruise, and have dinner at the buffet instead....or room service....or out on the deck. We've always wanted an excuse to just sit on the deck and and relax at night, so I think we've finally found it

 

[mcmckuf]

I totally agree. Parrot Cay is just "meh". I do believe we may even skip Parrot Cay while on this cruise, and have dinner at the buffet instead....or room service....or out on the deck. We've always wanted an excuse to just sit on the deck and and relax at night, so I think we've finally found it

We successfully asked to go back to Triton's (Wonder) the last cruise. I just can't do the Cay when those other beautiful restaurants are there for the taking! Feels too much like a cheap buffet...

 

[Kim&Chris]

We successfully asked to go back to Triton's (Wonder) the last cruise. I just can't do the Cay when those other beautiful restaurants are there for the taking! Feels too much like a cheap buffet...

Wow, that's great!!

This will be our 8th cruise, so missing Parrot Cay won't exactly bring tears to my eyes . I just wish DCL would re-vamp those restaurants to make them at LEAST as nice as the Enchanted Garden on the Dream, which is the equivalent restaurant, but just so much nicer & brighter, without that buffet feel to it.

 

[DVC Jen]

Also, DVCJen, we are from Dallas. Are you flying in that morning or the night before? We are flying out the night before from DFW on AA.

Sorry I missed this until now.

We are actually driving - we rarely fly - RARELY.. I hate it - always gives me a migraine and we kinda like the drive.

We are leaving here (Rowlett) on Tuesday or Wednesday (hoping Tuesday all depends on DH and work). We will get to Port Canaveral that day before and spend the night somewhere close. Our last cruise we spent two nights at the Radisson and did Cape Canaveral (NASA). No plans on repeating that this time.. for us once was enough.

 

[DVC Jen]

I had a couple of questions for all of you that have been on the Magic before. First, will you feel the rocking of the ship more since it's smaller than the Dream? We really did not have a problem, except for the first night. It could have been all of the excitment, but we both started to not feel so good about 3/4 of the way through dinner. We both had to go up to the room to lie down and get some fresh air.

I can't compare the two but I did notice rocking the first night when we were on the Magic 6 years ago (been a while!). I noticed it mostly during dinner and just after - then I either got used to it or it stopped. It wasn't enough to make me sick - just kind of disoriented.

The worst part for me was landsickness after being on the ship for a week. That lasted about 2 days and would come and go - making me feel really dizzy and lightheaded on and off.

 

[DVC Jen]

Well I have loaded up on questions the past few weeks.

Nassau - would anyone recommend any of the sightseeing/historic type tours? I love history. I am a photographer so I would love to get some scenic shots of the island and historical places. We are not really interested in the Atlantis stuff so much. And I am also a bit concerned about the whole safety issue so just staying on the ship during that stop is also running through my mind.

Key West - we did KW 6 years ago on our first cruise however I was in such a cold med fog I really don't remember that cruise much at all. DH (Ian) had a cold the week before and I started sneezing with it during the sail away party and it knocked me out (or the meds did) for almost the entire cruise. STUNK! My most lucid memory of KW was looking for a drug store to get better cold meds than they had on the ship.

I love history and would love to also see the lighthouse. Any suggestions?

I have been training - if you can call it that - for the 5K. It is something I have wanted to do for years but never stuck with running (not sure I can call what I do - running..more like slowly clomping) long enough to get to the point. I AM going to do it this time. I may be the last one crossing that finish line but I don't care.. I just want to be able to say I did it and I did it at Disney. Anyone have any experience with it? Anyone going to be running it as well and rushing by me and I crawl my way through the second half? LOL I am not exaggerating either.. I will be SLOW - determined.. but SLOW!

 

[alexturner74]

We will be driving from Atlanta, with a stopover in Jax to drop the pups off with my parents.

A few tips: By your last tank of gas passing out of Ga before you enter FL. Exit 5 is pretty decent. Florida has higher taxes on fuel then FL.

We don't park at the terminal. We use a service nearby where you drop your car at the lot, and they take you to the terminal. Cuts your parking fee in half. You just call whenever you are exiting the terminal and they are usually there in under 10 minutes. Happy to share info if anyone is interested.

We will also be driving from Atlanta, leaving the morning the day before the cruise. We'll probably stop in Valdosta for lunch at the The Smokin' Pig BBQ for lunch and somewhere (before FL) to get gas. Last time we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott a couple of miles from port. We haven't decided where we are going to stay this time. We also do not park at the terminal.

 

[PA DisneyFan]

If your 2 year old is at the point where she (assuming a girl?) is interested in princesses, then sign up the first day for the princess breakfast. It's free but you need tickets. One cruise they didn't have it, so YMMV.

This will be our 3rd DCL cruise on the Magic and I have never heard about the princess breakfast. We will have our 21-month old DD with us and she would ABSOLUTELY LOVE the princess breakfast! I may post this on the main board also to hear about other people's experiences too!
Thanks for the info!

 

[mcmckuf]

We will also be driving from Atlanta, leaving the morning the day before the cruise. We'll probably stop in Valdosta for lunch at the The Smokin' Pig BBQ for lunch and somewhere (before FL) to get gas. Last time we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott a couple of miles from port. We haven't decided where we are going to stay this time. We also do not park at the terminal.

Man I botched that post. That's what happens when you are up too late watching a less-than-thrilling BCS game. Anyway...I mean taxes in FL are higher than GA, so buy before you cross the line. The Smokin Pig is great...Where in ATL are you? We're in Roswell, by Riverside Park....

 

[mcmckuf]

This will be our 3rd DCL cruise on the Magic and I have never heard about the princess breakfast. We will have our 21-month old DD with us and she would ABSOLUTELY LOVE the princess breakfast! I may post this on the main board also to hear about other people's experiences too!
Thanks for the info!

They did back when my current DD10 was into that sort of thing. Fingers crossed its still around. We want our 2 year old to go. She has a major thing for Bell, Punzel, and Tiana.

 

[mcmckuf]

They did back when my current DD10 was into that sort of thing. Fingers crossed its still around. We want our 2 year old to go. She has a major thing for Bell, Punzel, and Tiana.

I called, this was discontinued "years ago"....my apologies for bad info. They said that each ship does it's own schedule of events with characters so check the schedule when on board.

 

[alexturner74]

Man I botched that post. That's what happens when you are up too late watching a less-than-thrilling BCS game. Anyway...I mean taxes in FL are higher than GA, so buy before you cross the line. The Smokin Pig is great...Where in ATL are you? We're in Roswell, by Riverside Park....

Near spaghetti junction, just outside 285 off of Chamblee-Tucker road.

 

[MagicFan75]

So, I'm guessing that we will not have a character breakfast on our 5 night cruise since we have one sea day. Granted, we aren't scheduled to arrive into Key West until 12:30pm, but the other two port arrival times are pretty early, so I don't think we have enough morning hours to make it work. Typically you need at least three sea days or half a sea day to get all the dining rotations in for the character breakfast scheduling. Anyone have thoughts?

 

[Kilted Candyman]

Well we finally got our reservation made.

Amy(43) and I(43) will be joining you'all for our first cruise. They told us that the Dress up night is going to be the 3rd night and Pirate Night is 4th night so we are looking forward to it. WE are already planning our FE.

Is there going to be a 5K? Where would I find info on it?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Sir William]

Well we finally got our reservation made.

Amy and I will be joining you'all for our first cruise.

Jim

Welcome!