Spring MAGIC Was in the Air! 4/13/12 About This Page:

[num1DVCfan]

Our Party: Me 32, 4th cruise – first time sailing on DCL, DH 35, 1st cruise, DS 2, 1st cruise
Our Journey: Driving from MD to Cape Canaveral, FL. Departed 4/11/12, returned 4/20/12
Our Cruise: 7 Night Eastern Caribbean; Disney Magic
Stateroom: 5622
Our Special Plans: Play on the beach with DS or in “the big sandbox” as he calls it

This is my first trip report, so I hope I can pull it off without too much rambling! A little about me – much like everyone else on this message board, I am a bonafide Disney addict. We are Disney Vacation Club members and I use that as an excuse to visit the World as much as I possibly can. DH doesn’t quite have as much passion as I do, so when he asked to take a break from the parks once our trip in Dec was complete, I knew I had to act fast. Since he didn’t want to visit the World in 2012, I figured the Disney cruise would be a welcomed replacement. Because DH had never cruised before, he was game and even more excited because we were going to use DVC points for the reservation. The decision to drive didn’t come easily. I prefer to fly, but the cost of airfare from Baltimore to Orlando was hundreds more than we were used to paying. I’m assuming it was due to the time of year and increased gas prices. Oh well, road trip meant we got to start vacation sooner.

Day #1 (pre cruise)We decided to leave after work on Wednesday (April 11) and drive to NC, spend the night, and then finish the rest of the trip on Thursday before the ship sailed on Friday. We figured this way it would be easier on DS since he isn’t used to be in the car for long periods of time. We left after rush hour traffic was over in anticipation of a smooth trip. Things were going well until we got past Richmond, VA. The night construction crew had traffic backed up and we only went about 2 miles in over an hour. At this point the GPS had us arriving in our planned destination at 1 am. We were both exhausted and DS was cranky so we took the next exit in VA and decided to look for a hotel. This was going to add an extra 2 hours on to our travel time for Thursday, but we both needed to sleep.

Day #2 (pre cruise) We woke up bright and early and hit the road. After a quick stop at McDonald’s we were headed to Cape Canaveral. The trip down was uneventful and we checked into the Radisson in time for dinner. After checking into our room, we headed out to find a liquor store (to carry on some beer & wine) and get dinner. DS started getting cranky so we ended up going back to the Radisson and ordering room service. This made me secretly happy because I didn’t want to miss the new episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

Day #3 (First day of Cruise!) Our stay at the hotel also included a free breakfast, which was really nice. We scheduled breakfast to be delivered at 9 am and we were scheduled for the 11:30 am shuttle. We arrived at the terminal and DH realized he forgot his suit in the car. The shuttle driver was extremely nice and drove him back to the car to get his suit, then immediately brought him back to the port. Round trip time was only about 10-15 minutes of waiting. Once we got into the terminal we were assigned to boarding group 9 which was ready to board. We waved at Mickey while we excitedly walked through the Mickey shaped portal. Once on board we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Parrot Cay while waiting for our room to be ready. We sat with a very nice couple from Georgia and after bidding them goodbye we set out to explore the ship. Our room was ready promptly at 1:30 pm and I was relieved to see that the Babies Travel Lite package was waiting for us upon entering. DS enjoyed the Disney cartoons while I unpacked our carry on bags and the BTL box. Our luggage came rather quickly so we unpacked all of our clothes before venturing out again. After some exploring, we got ready for dinner at Parrot Cay. This was nice since we were already acquainted with it’s location and set up from having lunch earlier. We had the main dinner seating (5:45 pm) in an attempt to keep DS on a schedule. The first day was a bit over whelming for him, so we opted to skip the evening show and relax in the room and put DS to bed. The turn down service had chocolates with Sleepy on the picture and a swan towel animal wearing my sunglasses. I was very happy to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 would be continuously playing throughout the week. After sipping wine on the verandah, I settled in to swoon over Edward.

Day #2 of cruise: This was our first day at sea so we slept in and ordered a continental breakfast from room service. Afterwards we attended the DVC member gathering and walked away with 3 hats, a reusable tote bag, a notebook portfolio, travel toiletries bottles, and DS got a color book. We were also treated to free mimosas which were really good. After the gathering we headed out for more exploring. DS loves Cars so we watched that in the Buena Vista Theater until he fell asleep. We went back to the room and enjoyed looking out at the ocean from our verandah while he napped. We went to Lumiere’s for lunch and wandered about the ship, stopping to admire artwork as we went along. We tried going up to deck 9 to check out Mickey’s Splash Zone, but it was windy and chilly so we opted to skip the pool that day. Instead, we found ourselves by the Future Cruise Sales desk, so I picked up a brochure and filled out a couple quote requests. Dinner was at Lumiere’s, I can’t remember what we ate but it was a wonderful meal. This was our formal night so it was fun being dressed up in that restaurant. I was happy we had formal night here instead of Parrot Cay. The theme of this restaurant seemed more fitting for formal attire. DS can be a flirt, and he seemed to have a crush on our assistant server Rachael. She and our main server Noel ended up becoming highlights of our trip. They were simply amazing and hilarious people, I’m going to miss them! After dinner we went back to the room to change and check out the shops before going to see the evening show. Returning to our rooms we decided to order room service and check out the chocolate chip cookies we’ve heard so much about. Wow – not only were they HUGE, they were really good. I made a mental note to make sure I ordered those again before the trip was over.

Day #3 of cruise: This was our second day at sea. DS seemed to really enjoy our room and looking out from the verandah. He also loved the continuous cartoons playing on the television. After pulling him away, we headed to breakfast and to any activities that seemed to interest DS. He of course kept asking to go back to the room, so after wandering the ship we finally gave in and let him relax and take a nap while we enjoyed the verandah. Because we were still full from breakfast, we ordered a light lunch from room service. Most of the day was spent wandering and popping in and out of the theater. It was windy and chilly again today so we didn’t take DS to the pool. It may have turned out ok, but I didn’t want to risk him catching a cold. Dinner was at Animator’s Palate and the show was wonderful! I had heard many good things about this place and after watching it featured on the DCL DVD, I was anxious to eat there. I had a pleasant surprise when we returned to our room to change after dinner. Our stateroom attendant stopped us in the hall and said, “I found this upstairs and thought you might like it. I know you mentioned you were excited about going.” He handed me a menu from Animator’s Palate! It was one of the nice ones from the show, complete with an Aladdin moving picture on the cover! I thanked him and he winked saying, “don’t let anyone see it!” This will be a souvenir I’ll treasure for a long time.

Day #4 of cruise: We got up and ordered room service for breakfast before venturing out into St. Maarten. DS must have been worn out because he slept in until 8:30. Although we were able to get off the ship earlier, we waited until 9 am to keep things easy for DS. I had reserved a rental car from Hertz, it was a small car and was going to be $97 for the day. As we walked over to the Hertz building, the other two local rental agencies immediately tried bargaining with us. I’m happy to report that we ended up getting a Jeep for $20 with a free car seat! The port fees and GPS rental brought it up to about $50, but still was a better vehicle and half of what I would have paid at Hertz. Great start to the day! We decided to head over to Marigot to start our day. Traffic was crazy as we traveled the roads. DS was getting antsy so we decided to go to a beach and let him play for awhile. We pulled in, parked and wandered over. Oops! We found a clothing optional beach and from the looks of it, everyone decided against tan lines. We laughed at our predicament and then quickly put DS back in the Jeep. This wasn’t easy to do because DS wanted to play in the sand. After promises of find a “bigger beach”, DS seemed satisfied and stopped crying. DH was worried about the traffic going over to Marigot, so we decided to head back to the Dutch side. DS was hungry so we stopped at a waterside restaurant called Chesterfields. We had a delicious meal and then wandered the nearby shops. DH picked up a bottle of Guavaberry Rum, which was really good in the Pina Colada Chesterfields served us. After shopping we decided to finish our day at the beach, DS hadn’t brought it back up but we also didn’t want to break our promise. We headed back to the Jeep and told DS we were going to go play in the sand. He started crying and said he wanted to go back to the room. This was code for “nap time.” DH and I returned the Jeep early and took DS back for a nap. He found his second wind by the time we got there and it was apparent nap time was not in our future. It was much warmer and sunnier today, so we decided to go up to the pool and spend the afternoon. I was surprised at the amount of people who were up on deck 9! I expected a fairly vacant area since we still had a few hours in port, but there was a fair amount of people up there. Most of them had small children, so perhaps they had the same situation we did and ended up coming back early. DS absolutely LOVED the splash area! We had to finally make him leave and go back to the room for a nap. Well that was our plan, and we did leave…but still no nap. We tried and tried, but he would not go to sleep. Dinner was back at Parrot Cay. As soon as I ordered his dinner, he passed out. Our server Noel tried to make him a bed out of two chairs and extra napkins, but he woke up and wanted to get back in his chair. We put him back in and he leaned over, put his head on my arm and went back to sleep. It wasn’t until we were finished dessert that he finally woke up. We ended up skipping the show after dinner so DS could relax in his bed. DH and I decided to take this time to seriously look over our future cruise quote requests and book our next vacation. Because we’re thinking about having another child in the near future, we opted to book a little further out and do a 4 night Bahamian cruise in Oct next year, followed by a few days at WDW. The anticipation is killing me because I can’t book our DVC Villa until the Winter, but it’s going to give me lots of time to plan between now and then!

Day #5 of cruise: We had no real plans for St. Thomas so we took our time getting out of the room before heading into port. We opted for a taxi to downtown for shopping. I loved the cobblestone streets. It was nice wandering about, but it was pretty hot. DS started getting cranky and asked to go back to the room. Things are going to be unpredictable with a 2 year old, but I was happy we didn’t rent a car on this island. We were only out of the room for about 2 hours before he started getting fussy. I’m sure it was the heat and being dragged in and out of shops that made him uncomfortable. DH and I decided to take a taxi back and walk around the shops in Crowne Bay before getting back on board. This didn’t take long and DS really wanted to go back to the room. We ventured back to the ship and let DS go to the Splash area again. He was thrilled, but this time got in a decent nap before dinner! The next day was going to be an at sea day, so we weren’t worried about getting to bed too early. We posed for pictures with Mickey and then headed to the evening show. The theater was packed, so we decided to watch a movie in our room and let DS see some more characters. We started watching Sherlock Holmes 2, but the day quickly caught up with me and I fell asleep.

Day #6 of cruise: Sea day! It was sunny and warm when we got up so we decided to head to the pool bright and early. After lunch I decided to lay out at the adults only pool and check out the Rainforest room. I absolutely LOVED this! Now that I’ve experienced it, I am going to add it to the list of must do’s for future trips. John Carter was playing a few times in the Buena Vista Theater today, so we decided to go to the 2:15 pm showing. I guess the Rainforest room made me a little too relaxed because I had a hard time staying awake in the theater. I dozed off a couple times, but finally pepped up enough to watch the last hour of the film. We had enough time to shower and get ready for dinner. After dinner we went to the evening show, Disney Dreams. I haven’t really talked about the other shows we watched, they were wonderful – but this one was just outstanding. I can see why it has such rave reviews! After the show we headed back to our room for more pina colada and chocolate chip cookie room service. DS went to bed while we relaxed on the veranda and anticipated our arrival at Castaway Cay.

Day #7 of cruise: All ashore time wasn’t until 10 am, which was surprised about because I had read that it is usually earlier than that. This was fine with us because we were able to sleep in and enjoy breakfast before heading out. I took advice from PassPorter and made sure we got off the ship early to get a good beach chair. This was by far our favorite island we visited. It is beautiful and there was no traffic or haggling needed! We had gorgeous weather and DS had a ball playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean. He took a nap in the beach chair and never once asked to go back to the room. If only we could book a week long trip just to stay on the island! I did note that the servers on the beach were abundant. I think we were asked at least once every 5-10 minutes if we wanted a drink. The servers were walking around in long pants and I felt bad for them, it was really warm out. We finally headed back around 3:30 to shower and get DS out of the heat before dinner. All ashore wasn’t until 5 pm and I noticed the ship was much quieter this afternoon as opposed to the other two days we went back to the ship early. DS enjoyed Disney cartoons while we sipped wine on the verandah (we really loved it out there). Our last dinner was at Parrot Cay. I have to say this was my least favorite restaurant out of the three (Animator’s Palate comes first). The food was good, but I liked the décor of the other two restaurants better. After dinner we headed over to Shutters to make final picture decisions, then back to our room to pack and get to bed early. Word of caution, listen to all warnings about avoiding Shutters the last night of the cruise. It was PACKED in there. The only reason we went back was to check out some photos that were taken earlier that day, otherwise I would have avoided the area all together!



Breakfast was scheduled for 6:45 am and we were now in the routine of sleeping until at least 8:30/9:00 am every day. DH and I ordered drinks and we got DS a final chocolate chip cookie then spent some time on the verandah talking about what a great time we had. Going to bed early didn’t happen because next thing we knew it was 11 pm. I think we finally went to sleep close to midnight. I know I paid for it the next morning, but the Mickey wakeup call got us moving. We said our final goodbyes at breakfast and we were off the ship and through customs by 7:45 am. The Radisson shuttle was outside so we hopped on and next thing we know we were in our car and headed home by 8 am! The process of exiting the ship was very smooth and was a pleasant experience. I can’t say that for previous trips I’ve gone on with other cruise lines. Because we had such an early start with getting on the road we decided to see it we could drive straight through. We had to make stops for meals and diaper changes, but we were still home by 11 pm. I have to say this was one of the best trips I’ve ever been on in my life and I can’t wait for our next one. I just wish it wasn’t a year and 6 months away! Oh well, hopefully we’ll have a little one on the way soon to help fill that time!

[num1DVCfan]

Oh I forgot to mention that the location of our room was excellent! I had read reviews online about people complaining there was noise from the life boats outside. We never found this to be the case. It was very close to the elevators and we felt secluded since we only had neighbors to our right. If we ever sail on the Magic again, I'm going to try to get this room. Our next sailing is on the Disney Dream and we're on deck 7.

[disney fan 46]

Good report! Sounds like a nice and relaxing time

[pamcarey]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! I hope that my next cruise will be an Eastern Caribbean. (I just returned from a Western Caribbean the day before you.)

[Colexis Mom]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

[lauriep]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise so much!

[Shelley the Pooh]

Thank you for sharing. Its sounds like y'all had a great time!

We are cruising the Magic from Galveston in Oct. this year. It will be my first cruise ever and I am really looking forward to it. We have a verandah and its seems like we will enjoy it too. I kinda was having the same thoughts about the theming of Parrot Cay compared to the other two but atleast you mentioned the food was still as good.

I have heard so many good things about the Rainforest room, I think I will have to definitely check into this for our cruise.

[num1DVCfan]

Originally Posted by Shelley the Pooh

Thank you for sharing. Its sounds like y'all had a great time!

We are cruising the Magic from Galveston in Oct. this year. It will be my first cruise ever and I am really looking forward to it. We have a verandah and its seems like we will enjoy it too. I kinda was having the same thoughts about the theming of Parrot Cay compared to the other two but atleast you mentioned the food was still as good.

I have heard so many good things about the Rainforest room, I think I will have to definitely check into this for our cruise.

The food was very good at Parrot Cay, no complaints here. We just didn't care for the decor. One thing I think I forgot to mention was that we ate there during the Pirates In the Caribbean night, which actually was probably more fun than being in one of the other two restaurants. As far as the Rainforest room, I wish I had bought more than a one day pass! I'm sure you'll love sailing on the Magic, it was a wonderful ship!