Trip Report for the Disney Magic 11/1 Sailing

[ljjrlm14]

Since we were going on the Disney Magic so shortly after the dry dock--I was watching these boards for any morsel of new information before our cruise. So I know the rest of you November Magic cruisers are probably doing the same thing based on the not-so-Magical initial reviews. So I thought I'd share since I benefitted from some inside scoops from these boards.

Here is my first hand report. We had a party of 9 in 3 cabins on Deck 8 Verandas. A mix of Gold Castaways and 1st time cruisers--ages 5-50.

I am happy to say that the Magic was Magical. The rooms were in great shape, the common areas were beautiful and the staff was attentive. We had no (and so no one having or complaining about) plumbing, air-conditioner or electrical issues. There continued to be some finishing work being done with contractors fixing lights and some painting on Deck 9 pool area.

My only constructive feedback on the comment card was our party did not care for the menu at Cariocas. But with all the food on the ship this wasn't a big deal. We certainly ate enough elsewhere to make up for that.

AquaDunk apparently only has one wait time sign that says 80 minutes. From our experience from being on the Dream with the AquaDuck our family only goes on the slides in the morning so we never waited more than 10 minutes for the AquaDunk even though the wait time said 80 minutes. That slide is amazing.

The kids 5-9 all had rave reviews about the kids club and the new Splash Zone. I think the pool deck of the Magic is laid out much better on the Magic than the Dream.

Also there seemed to be some issues with the laundry rooms. I was able to get 2 loads washed and dried on Deck 6 but Deck 7 was out of order totally. The washer and dryers were working for free on Deck 6--but even only half of those were working.

So I know she just came out of Dry Dock and (our) the cruisers expectations were that she'd be all done with the cherry on top. And even though they may still be completing some minor touches--she's in amazing shape and the staff is attentive and happy to have cruisers back on board.

Only one note of caution--that has nothing to do with Disney or the ship.... The Port of Miami is very, very slow. When we came back on Wednesday 11/6 they only had 5 customs agents checking passports. We probably waited an hour and a half. A painstaking process that Port Canaveral travelers are probably not used to...I may only look for Port Canaveral cruises in the future for us.

To all reading this in preparation for their trip on the Magic--take a deep breath and get ready to have a Magical cruise. Enjoy!!!

 

[JoTheBookish]

Thank you for your trip report. Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Care to share any pictures?

I feel like I can finally let go of some of the worry I was feeling about our upcoming trip. I will be on deck 8 as well, so I am glad to hear that any issues people had with the last trip are resolved.

If you don't mind my asking- What was it about Carioca's that you didn't care for? I have read many positive things, but I am always interested to hear all points of view.

 

[ljjrlm14]

As far as Cariocas--I am sure it was fine if you like that Brazillian/SA flair to your food. If those same three restaurants were in my town--I probably wouldn't go to that one--So its not a reflection of the quality of the food as much as my taste for it.

For the night we were there, I ordered just the lighter fare--chicken breast that evening as nothing on the menu really got me that interested. The lighter fare chicken was tasty. My sister ordered the pork belly and wasn't that crazy about it-the skin was a bit too chewy for her expectations. And my 18 year old son ordered the fish--swordfish I believe, and felt the seasoning over-powered the fish.

Our servers were very interested in the feedback on that restaurant and we just let them know that if we had to rate the meals--that one would be #5 of 5. But keep in mind--Animators Pallet and Luminers are some pretty stiff competition. So if you enjoy that food/flavoring--I am sure you will really love Cariocas.

As far as pictures--I've got some nice ones of Fathoms, that venue is really cool with the lighting effects. I have some others of the Atrium and pool deck but I don't think they do the ship justice. I will try to post them this weekend--I'm still downloading them from 3 cameras....

I am so happy you enjoyed my report. I was chomping at the bit for any info before we sailed last week so I am really happy I can share my experience and put your mind at ease a bit. Bon Voyage!!!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[mrssmartypants]

I was deck 8 on this sailing as well! Our room was immaculate. No plumbing, a/c, or electrical issues. Our room hostess was friendly, and extremely helpful. DH sent a shirt out to be pressed, and she had it back in our room in less than 3 hours!!

Our favorite dinner was at Lumiere's. The dinner menu was delicious. Our first 2 nights, dinner service was disorganized and slow, but improved after that. Our ***'t server was under the weather, so the Server was using a temp/new asst. server who was SLOW. Our server was excellent with the kids and did everything in his power to make dinner smooth.

The pools were never too crowded. My husband jumped right on the Aquq dunk with a 5 minute wait in the middle of the day. I did think that Goofy pool still looked old and moldy/dirty or something.

Our favorite show was Dreams!!! We sang to all the songs, and loved the performance in general. Charmed was a close second.

 

[randomiam79]

Hey we were on this sailing too! Deck 7 inside room. We also had no issues or complaints. We were upgraded from a cat 11b to a 10a on Thursday night before sailing, I'm guessing they tried to move people around to finish work on any rooms that we're having problems. Honestly, they were still working on some things but if you cruised before, you know they are ALwAYS working on something, even on the 2 new ships. It was nothing that we really noticed or inconvenienced anyone we talked to.

The ship is beautiful, the service was the best we e had in 9 DCL cruises, and we did like Cariocas, just to offer a different opinion. I don't personally care for the AP menu, but everything was great. This cruise reminded me of why we fell in love with DCL in the first place. I can't wait to sail to the Magic again sometime next year, she is once again my favorite DCL ship! I don't even want to go on the Dream after sailing the Magic this cruise (maybe the Fantasy, since it's 7 nights), though I'll skip Miami and wait til the Magic comes home to Port Canaveral before sailing again.

 

[colachdec]

We were on this cruise, as well. Hard to believe we've been home a week
It made me think that we never really saw our room attendant. We never got his name and we never interacted with us. He wasn't bad, just didn't give us any extra MAGIC. We were on deck 8.
We LOVED the kids clubs! I don't know if we can ever go on the Wonder for fear our 3 sons might be bored (We have been on the Dream and Fantasy).
Our servers were slow, as well. Maybe it was because we were second seating with a table of 10.
We did not have air for close to 2 days. That stunk! They did fix it and thought maybe , just maybe, that's why we stopped in Miami unexpectedly. We were not the only ones with an A/C issue.
Overall, great cruise and we look forward to sailing DCL again.

 

[colachdec]

Oops, sorry. We were on the 11-6 sailing.