Tips & Tactics from Dec. 27 cruise

[Needzavacation]

Just returned from the NYE cruise on the Magic, and thought we'd offer some tips & tactics for future cruisers:

Cabins:
* Consider taking along something to hang on your outside doorknob to help you locate your cabin along those long halls. The kids made their own "do not distrub" type door hangers, and they were an easy way to find our cabin at the end of a long day.
* The cabins get cool at night, but take a long time to cool off in the heat of the day. If you turn up the temp at night, remember to turn it down when you leave the cabin in the morning so it's comfortable when you get back.
* Close the bathroom doors before you go to sleep at night. If the ship rocks, the doors start slamming!

Food/Dining:
* The food quality and variety at Topsiders seems to keep improving. Even if you prefer to eat breakfast or lunch in the dining room, you might want to check out the selections at Topsiders first. One day, Topsiders served fabulous crab legs and peel-n-eat shrimp, while Lumiere's served the standard fare. Dessert variety always seemed pretty strong at Topsiders, too.
* The "24-hour" beverage station on Deck 9 closes at 11 p.m., so make sure to grab some filtered water or hot beverages before then if you have a late night.

Entertainment:
* Arrive early -- especially for Disney Dreams, which seemed to be the most popular show! If you arrive 30 minutes in advance, you'll have your pick of the theatre. You're still OK about 20 minutes ahead of time, but if you arrive 10 or 15 minutes ahead, it will be hard to get a group of seats together.

Characters:
* Again, early is the watchword here! Lines formed pretty early for the popular character signings, particularly the Princesses. A half hour ahead for the Princess line-up isn't too early.
* If you're somewhere in line for a character signing and you hear an announcement that the line is closed and there are no more signings, stay in line! As long as you're in line, you're safe. The announcement is for any newcomers.
* If your party is big enough, send a scout ahead to line up for the next character signing when you get near the front of the line for the current character. Every little bit of time saving helps when there's so much to do on board!

Pins:
* The nightly limited-edition pin release that starts at 7:30 p.m. packs 'em in! You can either jam in with the crowd -- or wait. Even the LE New Year's Day pin was available the following day, and we never saw them run out.

Castaway Cay:
* "Early" is the word again! There are plenty of lounge chairs on the island, but if you want a front-row seat with the lounge chairs/umbrella/hammock combo, then plan to leave the ship with the first wave to stake out a spot.

Happy to answer any questions!

 

[seastar]

Thanks for the great tips! I am taking notes!

 

[cotomom]

Thanks so much for the great tips! If you think of any more... please don't hesitate to post them no matter how insignificant you think of them. Every bit helps!!

 

[Miss Eeyore]

Do you suppose they find a reason to celebrate with a LE pin on every cruise?

 

[Lisa F]

We just got off the NYE wonder cruise and have a few tips of our own. I hope you don't mind me posting on your thread, but I figure it's better to keep them together than "litter" the whole board with a bunch of threads started by me!

Anyway, here are a few more tips based on our experiences:

1) If you see something you want at one of the shops, buy it when you see it! They had this great DCL ship ornament that I saw on our third night and only about 4 or 5 left. I was dead on my feet but bought it at that point anyway because I was afraid it would sell out and sure enough, by the next night it had! I had heard that from people before and it was in the back of my mind but I'd never run across that problem at DCL, but my gut told me to buy that ornament while I still could and I'm glad I listened.

2) Inside staterooms are awesome. If you read these boards enough you might think that you are really missing out if you don't book a verandah. Yes, they can be wonderful (we have had one and thoroughly enjoyed it), but we LOVED our cat 11. It was so nice and cozy and well laid out, still very spacious and the price was right. If you are booked in an inside stateroom, don't feel inferior, you will still have a great time (and I am pretty spoiled when it comes to accommodations!)

3) Bring an extra bathing suit. The hot tub started eating away the elastic in my lycra! It looked like crap by the end of the cruise as it deteriorated a little more every day even though I stopped going in the hot tub (i looked like I constantly had sand on me) and thank goodness it's lined otherwise people would've gotten an eyeful but I really wished I had a spare. I'd heard about the hot tub wreaking havoc on a swimsuit but I never had it happen to me. This was a nice speedo, too (a lady speedo brand racing suit, not tiny little briefs!)

4) Don't arrive early for the safety drill. Don't arrive late either, that would be rude, but if you are a little on the claustrophobic side, people who arrive early have to stand at the back. We leave our stateroom when the "alarm" sounds and not a minute before and find that we show up a couple of minutes before everything starts and the timing is perfect.

5) There is no room service on debarkation day and I have heard that the selection at Beach Blanket/Topsiders is less than stellar. We grabbed a couple of muffins and some bananas and milk the day before and had our own version of "room service" on debarkation day without having to take time out to go up and check out the buffet (we were in a rush to get to the parks for our one and only day there). We kept the muffins in an extra ziplock bag (we always bring extras) and they were still really fresh the next day.

That's all I can think of for now!

 

[Mjasp]

Thanks to both of you for your tips.

Lisa...Glad you wrote about the inside stateroom. Seems to be a big question every now and then.

Happy New Year all

 

[CRB#33]

Thanks to both of you!

Lisa, what time were you able to get off the ship and what time did you make it to the parks?

Thanks

 

[Lisa F]

All I know is that the inside stateroom was even better than I thought it would be. I was expecting it to be "not bad but not great" compared to a verandah room but I found it to be great! We just spent a lot of time elsewhere and when we were in the room it was very quiet and cozy.

It probably took us 2 hours from when we got in line to get off the ship at 8am (we were sort of waiting to hear an announcement that we could get off like she said there would be on the disembarkation talk but we didn't hear it) and there were lines everywhere. Getting through customs wasn't too bad but it did take some time for the officer to look at passports (you did just drop your customs form in a box like before though) and then we waited a while for the budget van (only one of two was picking up) and then the people behind the counter at budget were a little slow. We also had to get cash because our towncar that dropped us off never said they ONLY accept cash if it's one way and basically we had JUST enough cash with us to pay that and no way to get more (we didn't get off in nassau) and of course we had to go to a couple of atm's before we found one that worked. All told I believe we were in line at mission space at 11AM. Maybe someone would have better luck than us if your car is waiting for you and if you are waiting in earshot of the atrium for them to start letting people off the ship.

Lisa

 

[Doctor P]

Actually, there is not a LE pin on each cruise, although they will often have limited edition pins left over from previous releases. Our 7/19 Magic cruise last year did not have a LE pin release but there were still Artist Choice pins left from the previous week as well as a couple other limited edition DCL pins. There is also the special pin to the Magic or Wonder that is not a LE but is limited availability on each cruise.

 

[kcashner]

Personally, I like the Cat 11 when it is just 2 of us. DD fusses a bit about not having a "window, but I've pointed out that she can have several cruises for the price of one with a fancy cabin. With more than 2, I find the split bathroom to be really nice....

We've had the verandah....it's nice, but you really have to weigh the cost vs. how much YOU will use it. Unfortunately, on our cruise with a verandah, it was 106 degrees, which was too hot to use it! 106 was at the port...it got hotter....and I don't cruise in July any more.....

 

[plutojudy]

Thanks for the tips. Especially about Cat. 11. We have a Cat. 11 booked for our next cruise. We had a Cat. 6 booked on our other four.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Thanks to both of you for all the great tips!

* The "24-hour" beverage station on Deck 9 closes at 11 p.m., so make sure to grab some filtered water or hot beverages before then if you have a late night.

Is it really called the 24-hour beverage station? (seriously asking)
So the only way to get free beverages after 11pm would be room service?

 

[alexandrew]

Excellent post...thanks so much

 

[sjhlib]

Thank you both. I especially like the reassurance on Cat. 11. This is a spur of the moment trip for me and two 13yr olds girls, and we are going only because special rates for the cat.11 room. Although I considered (momentarily!)splurging for a verandah, I like the idea that the kids will be sleeping in the back of the room and I can get up early, shower and get out to the deck w/my coffee without waking the sleeping beauties, (not the case w/ the layout of the verandah room).
They can split the bed in two, right? Also, is there a curtain between the 2 sections as there was w/our verandah room last time?

 

[jrabbit]

Is it really called the 24-hour beverage station?

Yes it it They have not changed the name of it since the dreaded Norwalk virus of last year (well nov 2003). Before then it was open 24hr/day. Since the bug struck, they have it closed from around 11pm to 6am.

 

[gometros]

Lisa - you actually touched on another suggestion when talking about breakfast on debarkation day. Bring ziplock bags, they come in handy in more ways than one.

As far as the veranda goes, I think the sentiment is that if you cost isn't an issue, the veranda is nice. That's not to say that the other staterooms aren't They are. The one thing I do like about the veranda over the inside stateroom, aside from the obvious, is that it makes the room much brighter during the day.

 

[floridaminnie]

I also found one small difference from the Wonder and Magic with roomservice. On the Wonder, whenever they brought you your food you had to sign a slip no matter what and were able to add a tip eventhough you weren't buying soda or the such. On the Magic you only had to sign a slip if you were "buying" something.