The one with the bunk beds - Magic to Bermuda October 16-21

[Ronneeaght]

Day 6 - time to go home

We woke up on our last morning and we were already docked at the pier. DH and DD7 went up to seated breakfast at 7am while I packed up the last of our things and got DS4 up and dressed. We all left in a flurry, and I wish I would have taken the kids up to deck 4 or something and had DH do one last sweep of the room, because we did forget an insulated lunch box in the fridge. We *almost* forgot about our checked alcohol that I had bought in Bermuda, but luckily did remember that, so overall a win in the remembering department.

When we left the rooms at 8, I wasn’t sure if they had called our luggage tag yet plus I still wanted to grab breakfast for myself at Cabanas. I suggested that we go sit in some chairs on deck 5 overlooking the atrium, but we only made it as far as the Buena Vista Theater

I took the opportunity to snap the movie options on our cruise.


At this point, we noticed the monitors said all tags could leave the ship so DSil and family decided to get going. We said our goodbyes and pulllled the kids away from each other. I just wanted to grab some breakfast and get my Rum Swizzle before we left. The atrium was *packed* with people trying to get off the ship, so I wouldn’t recommend right around 8am as a good leaving time. I noticed later that even though the monitors said all tags could get off the ship they were still calling out certain tags and asking others to wait to disembark.

I was super confused until I read something ArielRae posted in our cruise meet about them announcing the tags between the 7-8am hour. So maybe they went through the whole announcement lineup again to try to stagger people getting off the ship, but since they had all the luggage out at customs already they showed all the tags on the monitors. After checking out the atrium I ended up taking the forward elevators and getting up to deck 9 outside Cove Cafe. DS4 had come with me and he didn’t want to walk across the windy deck to Cabanas after all the nice warm weather we had in Bermuda. Had I been a bit more alert (like, already having eaten breakfast, ha) I would have simply walked down to deck 8 and across to the aft stairwell, but I decided to just go into the Cove Cafe. I left DS4 just outside the adult area and brought him out a picture of his options:


He wanted a chocolate chip muffin so I brought that and a couple things for me back down to our little camp at deck 5, then ran to get my alcohol. Once we had everything we needed from the ship it was time to disembark! By this time it was 8:45 and the atrium wasn’t nearly as crowded. I think there was only one family ahead of us in the line. We easily found all of our stuff and a porter asked if we’d like help getting to our car. We jumped at the offer, and he loaded everything onto a cart and took it all the way to the car. Nice and easy

We loaded up the car and then tried to agree upon if we should just head home or if we should take advantage of parking already paid for in NYC and wander around a bit. DD7 really wanted to go to the M&M store in Times Square, but DS4 and DH were feeling adventured out. Since we didn’t have a stroller with us, we decided to go home. I promised DD7 we could take a train into the city sometime soon for a girls day, since she and I like exploring and adventure more than the boys. Next time we sail out of NYC we will probably be past needing it, but I wish I would have thought of wanting a stroller post cruise.

That was our cruise!! We really enjoyed it. It was nice to have so many things to do while having our room right there. Bermuda was lovely. We don’t have our next cruise booked yet, but I’m pretty sure we’ll take another in the next 18 months. I’m eying up that six night option next year that would give us three days in Bermuda, but we have two family weddings in September so might not be able to take more time off school/work so soon. There’s also a couple that would line up with spring break, but then we’d actually have to get on a plane and put more thought into our luggage I would LOVE if with the new ships came new itineraries with options out of NYC or Baltimore during school breaks or the summer. I’m sure everyone feels the same about their part of the world.

 

[greensombrero]

Thank you for this trip report! We just decided to pivot our 2023 fall break plans and do one of the 6 night Bermuda sailings so it was great to hear your experience. I think spending multiple days in Bermuda is going to be incredible and your report confirms it. That and sailing from New York City (I’ve never been there) will be iconic, helpful to know we probably want late dining to enjoy the sail away. Glad your trip was great and thanks again for writing this up!

 

[Ronneeaght]

Thank you for this trip report! We just decided to pivot our 2023 fall break plans and do one of the 6 night Bermuda sailings so it was great to hear your experience. I think spending multiple days in Bermuda is going to be incredible and your report confirms it. That and sailing from New York City (I’ve never been there) will be iconic, helpful to know we probably want late dining to enjoy the sail away. Glad your trip was great and thanks again for writing this up!

So glad you found it helpful! I just realized that I never responded when I came to find *your* spring break report on the Dream as we are considering a similar somewhat last minute booking. You will love Bermuda I’m sure and sailing out of NYC is really neat.

 

[greensombrero]

So glad you found it helpful! I just realized that I never responded when I came to find *your* spring break report on the Dream as we are considering a similar somewhat last minute booking. You will love Bermuda I’m sure and sailing out of NYC is really neat.

No worries about the late response.

I think this is the TR you are looking for if you didn’t find it already https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...-return-of-most-activities-final-7-3.3881452/

Which are you looking to book? There isn’t a bad DCL cruise in my book but I will say 3 nights was too short for us. It was fun but I don’t think we will do that short again. I’m excited to get back on the Dream for a longer sailing because we enjoyed the Fantasy so much. I think we would have liked the Dream more with more time.

 

[Ronneeaght]

Which are you looking to book? There isn’t a bad DCL cruise in my book but I will say 3 nights was too short for us. It was fun but I don’t think we will do that short again. I’m excited to get back on the Dream for a longer sailing because we enjoyed the Fantasy so much. I think we would have liked the Dream more with more time.

I did find it but thanks for the link; I’m sure I’ll be referring back to it. There’s a four night sailing over our daughter’s spring break that lines up perfectly (well, perfectly except we’d also appreciate more nights). It starts her second day of break so we can fly in the day before, and ends her last day of break so she won’t need to miss any school.

The four night itinerary is the same as yours but adds a sea day at the end, which will be nice to not have to worry about last night things on Castaway day as you pointed out.

It will also be our third cruise, but the first where we need to fly in. Soooo many more logistics to consider!!

 

[greensombrero]

I did find it but thanks for the link; I’m sure I’ll be referring back to it. There’s a four night sailing over our daughter’s spring break that lines up perfectly (well, perfectly except we’d also appreciate more nights). It starts her second day of break so we can fly in the day before, and ends her last day of break so she won’t need to miss any school.

The four night itinerary is the same as yours but adds a sea day at the end, which will be nice to not have to worry about last night things on Castaway day as you pointed out.

It will also be our third cruise, but the first where we need to fly in. Soooo many more logistics to consider!!

Sounds like a blast! I think that extra night (3 vs 4) makes a huge difference, even better that it’s a sea day.

I will say I like what we did our last cruise better for hotel to port transport. We stayed at an airport hotel with a free shuttle the night before and then did Disney transfers from the airport. They handle all the luggage for you which was nice with our family. If you have less luggage and a smaller family then there are other easy options too.

Good luck and have a great cruise!