Trip report Very merry concierge part 1.... 8532

[Jennifer Scicchitano]

We just got off the Magic 7 night western caribbean MerryTime cruise. Our group was made up of me 38, DH 38 our kids: son 9, twins boy and girl 5, and added the very last minute... the grandparents.
Our port of departure was Miami. We got into Florida a few days early to spend with other family and flew into fort lauderdale and rented a car with enterprise. On departure day we dropped our rental off at a hotel near the pot of Miami and took an uber to get to the cruise.
We arrived at the port at around 10:45 and got into a line of about 100 people in front of us, we did not have a port arrival time since we were sailing concierge. A little after 11, they started letting people get their paperwork checked in by TSA and went up through security- it was pretty painless and moved rather quickly.
Stopped over to get our pic with Mickey, also very quick. We then went up and got into the concierge check in line, we were the only family there and it took us 5 minutes to complete the process and get our ktwc, then it was onto the "pre boarding" concierge lounge- I use the term lounge loosely...very loosely. I expected maybe some refreshments, water, coffee, anything?? it was just a bunch of couches and chairs and outlets to charge our devices.
At around 11:40, it was time to board- i think we were the third family aboard the ship, the announcing in was a little underwhelming because it was just 10 or so crew, but that really wasn't an issue for us- we were then sent up to the concierge lounge to have some refreshments (may little animals broke a glass within 3 minutes of being there, i was ready to run out and never return) We were introduced to Emanuela & Michelle our concierge team, who would really make this whole trip be magical!
By 12:30....Our room was ready!!! We went over to our room and it was decorated with the birthday decor and robe i ordered, there was also a bag from "its a small world" travel agent that we used, wine i preordered on ice and a fruit plate. I had to keep the kids in the room to prepare them for their last surprise of the trip, that their grandma and grandpa would be coming with us.[GALLERY=][/GALLERY] (the bag from ism)
I wish i could post the movie of them walking into our room, bc it was epic.
Once the surprise was over, i quickly unpacked and we were in the pools and on the slides. My kids must have gone down the small slide 20+ times that first day. After all the swimming, we got ready for dinner on our first night at Animators Palate - table #52. The grandparents were seated with us! yay! even though they booked 3 days before sailing the magic team got them with us- and it was awesome. So far everything was great...Until I realized I was missing something... I had spoke with multiple reps on shore and on disney's website and got the information from 3 different sources, I shipped my FE gifts to the port to be on the ship when I arrived...The two boxes were not there- the concierge team went on a mad hunt to find the boxes, One was located just by sheer luck and the other was signed for and then for some reason...on its way back to my home in Maryland, maybe i will get it back this week- a little too late. So, there i was in an FE group of 10 with only 5 cabins worth of gifts Once again the concierge team the the rescue- crafting supplies and a bunch of other stuff for me to re-create my FE gifts. I really cannot rave about them enough.
After dinner we took the kiddos to check out the lab and club....holding breath... they all loved the club and lab, all made friends and begged to go there all week- more on that later in my report though. At long last it was time for bed.

 

[76Disney]

Welcome back ashore! I was hoping someone would post a trip report from a recent Magic cruise. My family will be boarding the Magic on December 23rd for a 7-day Eastern Caribbean Merrytime cruise, and I was wondering which princesses are currently on board for the meet and greets. My daughter always brings 1 or 2 costumes for pictures, and we always seem to bring exactly opposite of who is on the ship. :/ I would greatly appreciate your help! (and I look forward to hearing the rest of your trip report!!!) We have never done a Merrytime cruise before...if there are any "must-dos" while aboard the ship, I'd love to know!

 

[tntstults]

We were on the same cruise! 76Disney, make sure to go to Guest Services the first day and get tickets to decorate a Gingerbread house!

 

[76Disney]

Will do! My kiddos love to decorate (and eat!) Gingerbread houses!

 

[Jennifer Scicchitano]

Day 2 Key West... and various other activities.. We got up at a fairly early time and headed to breakfast at cabanas, they had an egg sandwich that was really good, but this was the only day i saw it. We headed up to the concierge lounge and from there got escorted right off the boat- which was awesome, no waiting in line at all. There was really no plan in place for key west except for the standard "most southern point" pic and chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick. The line for the pic took almost 30 mins and we walked back and saw some chickens and got the key lime pie at the closest place by the port- and it was awesome!!! We had and appointment for a couples massage scheduled at 2:00 and had more than enough time to drop the kiddos off with the grandparents and be on time. The massage was really good, not the best i have ever had but not the worst either- i would give it a 7.5. Anyways after the massage we were set for a mixology class so we put the kids in the club and off we went. I missed half the class bc one of my kids wanted to come out but then i talked him into staying- i was gone long enough to miss 3 of the drinks so i chugged them to catch up and had the last one with everyone else. By then i was feeling pretty good so we got everyone and headed to dinner at cariocas, I think it was so so probably the worst of all our meals. This was the night that i could start to hear the thumping noise from vibe...it was annoying but it trickled off by 11 or so and then I was out like a light.

Sea Day....
We had a lot planned for this sea day; First event was the princess gathering in the main atrium, my little girl got to meet Belle, Rapunzel, and Cinderella- of course we had tickets so we only waited about 10 mins in line to get to them.
Following the princess meet and greet, i grabbed the boys and grandma and headed over to cariocas for the gingerbread house making. I know this has been mentioned before but they were standard box kits already opened with 2 types of candy to decorate and premade icing, the chef explained how to assemble and we were finished the whole process within 20 or so minutes.

Next it was time for some adult time, Grandma and Grandpa weren't feeling too hungry- so they wanted to skip Palo for brunch- i know i know- gasp- but me and hubs went anyway and they took the kids- omg when I say food baby, i mean like 6 month pregnant, gonna name it cheese kinda food baby- it was one of the best brunches I have ever had, and can I also add that Victor was AMAZING!!!
Food coma complete, I was off for another meet and greet, this time Anna, Elsa, and Olaf! Olaf was a bonus - I didn't even know he was on the ship, they redid cariocas as frozen and it was really cute we got almost 5 minutes with them too

One last thing for the day.... the BBB- also known as the money eater- lol- Since we have already done all the bells and whistles in disney, I opted for the crown package since I already had the dress and my daughter chews her fingernails all day long, so hair, makeup, a crown and we were out- even got out with out buying the 120$ dress - even though she wanted me to buy it and wear it myself to dinner- one can only go so far with the princess garb as an adult. We ate at Lumineers for dinner and it was also pretty good- even though i was still full from brunch.