We took our first ever cruise on the Magic 26 Dec 2019 and decided that since everything gets so crowded at the holidays, that a cruise was ironically one of the safer bets for a holiday trip. The vaccine/testing requirements gave my family a lot of confidence that this was an okay decision, so I liked the policies even though it added extra stress regarding whether the trip would happen.
The good:
* Palo brunch. It was our first time, and we found the food and service incredible. We tried both of the appetizer platters, shared 3 entrees between the 2 of us, and had some incredible desserts. It was really a tremendous experience and I thought well worth the upcharge.
* Service and upkeep on the ship continues to impress. Our stateroom attendant in particular was just a total machine. It seemed like every time we left the room we came back to find it cleaned and rearranged.
* The bigger ship does give you more room to spread out. The deck 12/13 area above the adult pools was a lovely area to just hang out, read a book, enjoy the sea breezes and a fruity cocktail.
* Watched Encanto in the movie theater. It was a pretty nice facility although they kept a lot of lights on during the film.
* Our excursion at Tortola was a lot of fun. The hike-and-beach. The hike was a lot more of a hike than I expected from DCL (We are Colorado people who take 10-15 mile hikes regularly). It wasn't a super tough hike but it wasn't a stroll along a paved path either. It was a muddy uphill trek through interesting scenery, a lot of fun. Then we got to dip our toes in the ocean, have some Caribbean beers, and lounge at a beautiful beach.
* Castaway Cay is one of the best possible places to spend a day. What a way to kick off the new year.
The mixed-to-bad:
* While some of the dining room meals were impressive, with a week long cruise the overwhelming richness and blandness of the dinner options got to be a bit much. If you want anything that is even slightly less boring, you need to look at the vegetarian options. I realize there are a lot of very plain eaters on DCL but we can't get a shrimp stir-fry? A chicken curry? Or *anything* that reflects the foods of the areas you're cruising through?!?
Don't get me wrong, there were some lovely meals too. But man it got dull as the week wore on.
* St Thomas got cancelled. That was unfortunate. We did get some onboard credit and a significant discount off a future cruise, which definitely did help. Oh man, 4 at-sea days is a LOT of at-sea days.
The ugly :
* Vibe was closed for several days, which was a major drawback for our teen, especially because there were not a lot of activities offered for such a big ship and many of them (like trivia) were inexplicably 18+ -- presumably to prevent crowding, which brings me to....
* Incredible inconsistency on COVID policies. It's okay to be crammed on a bus with strangers for 45 minutes, but the theatres are kept at 1/3 capacity? After you spent 30 minutes shoulder to shoulder with people in a line? Sometimes the bars were completely empty, other times they were absolutely packed, practically every chair taken. The dining rooms seemed pretty full, at least the areas where we were seated, tables were not spread out at all.
* The app is terrible. Worse than it was in 2019. Dining menus work. Otherwise? Not great.
* Vibration! There was a lot more movement on this cruise than our previous cruise. I didn't mind the rocking, but the vibration from the engines rattled our headboard. (deck 7, mid-ship). That was quite unpleasant.
Overall, I had a good time and we will cruise again. But not until maybe summer 2023 at the earliest. And probably back on a smaller ship.
The good:
* Palo brunch. It was our first time, and we found the food and service incredible. We tried both of the appetizer platters, shared 3 entrees between the 2 of us, and had some incredible desserts. It was really a tremendous experience and I thought well worth the upcharge.
* Service and upkeep on the ship continues to impress. Our stateroom attendant in particular was just a total machine. It seemed like every time we left the room we came back to find it cleaned and rearranged.
* The bigger ship does give you more room to spread out. The deck 12/13 area above the adult pools was a lovely area to just hang out, read a book, enjoy the sea breezes and a fruity cocktail.
* Watched Encanto in the movie theater. It was a pretty nice facility although they kept a lot of lights on during the film.
* Our excursion at Tortola was a lot of fun. The hike-and-beach. The hike was a lot more of a hike than I expected from DCL (We are Colorado people who take 10-15 mile hikes regularly). It wasn't a super tough hike but it wasn't a stroll along a paved path either. It was a muddy uphill trek through interesting scenery, a lot of fun. Then we got to dip our toes in the ocean, have some Caribbean beers, and lounge at a beautiful beach.
* Castaway Cay is one of the best possible places to spend a day. What a way to kick off the new year.
The mixed-to-bad:
* While some of the dining room meals were impressive, with a week long cruise the overwhelming richness and blandness of the dinner options got to be a bit much. If you want anything that is even slightly less boring, you need to look at the vegetarian options. I realize there are a lot of very plain eaters on DCL but we can't get a shrimp stir-fry? A chicken curry? Or *anything* that reflects the foods of the areas you're cruising through?!?
Don't get me wrong, there were some lovely meals too. But man it got dull as the week wore on.
* St Thomas got cancelled. That was unfortunate. We did get some onboard credit and a significant discount off a future cruise, which definitely did help. Oh man, 4 at-sea days is a LOT of at-sea days.
The ugly :
* Vibe was closed for several days, which was a major drawback for our teen, especially because there were not a lot of activities offered for such a big ship and many of them (like trivia) were inexplicably 18+ -- presumably to prevent crowding, which brings me to....
* Incredible inconsistency on COVID policies. It's okay to be crammed on a bus with strangers for 45 minutes, but the theatres are kept at 1/3 capacity? After you spent 30 minutes shoulder to shoulder with people in a line? Sometimes the bars were completely empty, other times they were absolutely packed, practically every chair taken. The dining rooms seemed pretty full, at least the areas where we were seated, tables were not spread out at all.
* The app is terrible. Worse than it was in 2019. Dining menus work. Otherwise? Not great.
* Vibration! There was a lot more movement on this cruise than our previous cruise. I didn't mind the rocking, but the vibration from the engines rattled our headboard. (deck 7, mid-ship). That was quite unpleasant.
Overall, I had a good time and we will cruise again. But not until maybe summer 2023 at the earliest. And probably back on a smaller ship.
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