In January of 2014, I was able to go on my second Disney Cruise. My first cruise was a few years ago on the Disney Dream. This time I went on the Disney Magic! Its one of Disney's original ships. It's a bit smaller than the Disney Dream, however, it was filled with magical fun!
One of the Ports they sail from is Port Canaveral, Florida, close to TourGuideTed's Florida house. Whenever you go, you sign up for a time to get on the ship. My humans always sign up for around 12:00-1:00 pm so we can have lunch on the ship! Since my humans and I have been on cruises before, we are Castaway Club Members. They have a a special check-in line and get perks throughout the cruise.
We checked in and boarded the ship. We immediately went up to Cabanas, which is their casual dining buffet on Deck Nine. At Cabanas they serve breakfast, lunch, and buffet-style dinner daily. At Cabanas my humans always pick up their Drink of the Day cups. The Disney Cruise Line has these for around $15 on the first day. You get a reusable cup for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, as posted each day, with refills only about $5 each. Even if you only have one alcoholic drink a day it's definitely worth it! We had a delicious lunch, while we waited for our rooms to be ready - normally around 2 pm - when you can go find your cabin.
We went to our cabin - we have always had the luck to have our luggage arrive quickly. The humans unpacked and then we explored the ship a bit. The first day on the ship is a free for all. You can tour the kids areas, the spa, the fitness center and see some programs.
You get an on-board "Navigator" (newsletter) each day in your stateroom that tells you what you can do on-board each day. We always tour through the ship and take photos of the areas we don't expect use as well as see what we want to do.
Then before you set sail, you must go to the mandatory life-boat drill. You don't have to wear your life vest, but make sure that you try it on to make sure it fits you! Your life boat info is on the back of your door in your cabin. After the lifeboat drill you are ready to go! The first night they have a deck party with music, Disney characters and lots of fun!
Humans went up to the deck to watch us set sail, but I watched from our balcony and explored our room. We love the cruise line rooms due to the split bathroom layout and tons of storage space. They also have wave phones on board that let you call any other stateroom phone - meaning, you take the phone with you and you can communicate with other passengers or your friends on the ship. Just make sure you turn them in at the end of the cruise in your room, if not you will be fined!
The stores onboard are only open when you are at sea, owing to regulations and laws, so normally my humans browse through the stores the first night - just to see if there is anything to debate about buying.
On the ship there are two dinner seatings, the first one is around 5pm and the second is at 8pm. We always have the second dinner seating, so before dinner we go to the show. Each night in the Theater, there is a different stage show. They have two showings each night, so you can see it no matter which dinner seating you are at. One of my favorites is Villians Tonight where all the bad guys come out and try to help their friend Hades. That said, every show we've seen is wonderful.
For those with after-show dinner seating, you report to your assigned dining room after the show. Your table number and dinner rotation are on your room keys. Each night you are assigned to one of their sit down restaurants and you will rotate through the restaurants on your cruise! The cool thing is that your waiters go with you - so by the end of the cruise they know you like to drink coke and eat peanut M&Ms (at least that was for me). They start to know what you like and sometimes even have your drinks waiting for you when you sit down at dinner.
The Disney Magic has three restaurants - Animator's Palate (below left), Lumiere's and Carioca's. Each of them have a different menu and you will see all of them at least once as long as you are on a three day or longer cruise. If you are on a longer cruise, your rotations randomly repeat and you always have the option of not attending sit down dinner, but going to Cabanas or some of their other locations each night. The food is delicious. Order what you want! They will always bring you more - if you want two entrees, get them! You won't be the only one at the dining room doing that. Desserts too!
Besides the sit down restaurants, they also have places that are open the majority of the day out on deck such as Daisy's De-Lites, Pete's Broiler Bites and Eye Scream. At those places you can get wraps, fruit, burgers, hot dogs, soft-serve ice cream and many other delicious things! Additionally, room service is free! Just remember to tip the person that delivers it. The menu can be found in your cabin, and if you are like my dad, you will eat dinner and then order room service a few hours later!
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One tip that we always use is that we carry on some water and sodas to have in our room. There is free soda and water up on deck nine, but any beverage through room service costs money. You are welcome to carry on some liquids the first day, you just have to carry them on, not pack them in your luggage. We always have enough sodas and a few waters so we can be lazy and not go up to the deck to get something to drink. |
The first night we always explore the ship, going through the different adult districts and the family room area. There is also a movie theater on board playing recently released Disney movies (and some not so recently released ones). The schedule is on the Navigator. On this cruise we saw Saving Mr. Banks and Frozen. They were also showing Finding Nemo and many other options!
On the Disney Magic you will find Keys (a piano bar), Fathoms (which has family games during the day, but adult-only activities at night), O'Gills Pub (a sports bar), Promenade Lounge (it has board games and fun day activities and snacks) and Signals (a bar out on deck for adults only). My humans were nice enough to sneak me in for some fun! On each of the Disney ships, there is a bar slightly similiar to one of these so no matter which ship you are on you can always find some fun. They have games such as "match your mate" and bingo for fun prizes!
On this specific cruise we stopped at Nassau and Castaway Cay - which is Disney's private island. There are a ton of port adventures you can do that you can see online before you book your cruise, or they have a list each day in the Navigator. However, they are limited to space and they cost extra. We normally just explore on our own so we don't have any fun things to say about most port adventures.
In Nassau, there is a market that has vendors selling many unique products. If it is your first trip, it is definitely worth a trip off the ship. Make sure you have your room key and identification to get on and off the boat. However, we have been to Nassau a few times now, so we just stayed on the ship.
If you stay on the ship, it does empty out a bit, but there are still plenty of people. It's up to you what you wanna do. This cruise we relaxed by the pool. Humans went to the gym a bit, but I stayed in the room and watched TV. The humans also left me one of their room keys which is what you use to charge everything on the ship - no cash needed except for extra tips. Everything is just charged to your room which is then charged to a credit card you have on file. I am thankful the humans are nice enough to grant me this privilege!
The next day, on Castaway Cay, Disney's private island, you have a lot of activities to choose from. There are bike rentals, boat rentals, scuba diving, snorkeling and many other options. There are also lawn chairs and a play area with slides that drop you into the ocean!
My mom is crazy and always runs the Castaway Cay 5k. It is a 5k fun-run that is through the island first thing in the morning. By signing up to do the free run, you are always the first off the boat. You get to go on your 5k run and either get a finishers medal or a certificate and get to explore the island. It takes you up and down the air strip and through one of the bike trails. It doesn't matter how fast you are, many people walk it, so its a unique way to see the island without any guests on it.
They serve lunch on the island at Cookes BBQ which is neat. You don't have to go back on the ship for food, although you do have that option. You don't have to take a shuttle on and off the ship, as Disney's ship pulls directly up to the island. This means you can get on and off as many times as you like in a day (which is good as Mom always needs to shower after the 5k).
There are burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fish, salads, fruit, ice cream, chips, beverages and so many other options! It's decent food and convenient. There are two locations to eat around the island which is nice and there are a few beaches - a kids-only beach, a family beach and an adult-only beach. There are also fun activities like mini golf and basketball that you can participate in. My humans and I normally go down to the adult-only beach. There are waiters that walk along the beach and bring you unique drinks - try the Sunken Treasure or the Conch Cooler - both are delicious!
You have a designated time you have to get back on the boat, so we normally stay until almost that time and then head back. Keep an eye out for Disney Characters on the island. Sometimes Captain Jack Sparrow can be seen as he tries to meet new friends! Make sure you check out the stores on the island they have unique island-only merchandise at She Sells Sea Shells By the Sea Shore!
My cruise also had a day at sea. That means we were stuck on the ship, but its definitely not a bad thing as there is plenty to do! I love playing shuffleboard or just exploring the many different offerings. Each cruise is unique so you can do the same stops multiple times and have lots of fun each time - we've done this cruise a few times now with these same stops, so don't be afraid of going back to the same place.
On each cruise there is also a Pirate Night where you have a deck party and the ship shoots off fireworks in the Caribbean. Yes, I wrote that correctly, IN the Caribbean. Fireworks. So cool! Make sure you bring some pirate gear to dress up in!
Another option for dining for adults only is called Palo. For an additional fee, you can book a brunch or dinner reservation at their adult-only restaurant that has amazing views! It is so delicious that you definitely want to try it! The food is even more delicious than in the regular dining room and has even more unique offerings. If pirate night isn't your thing, you can book it that night and then go out for fireworks or you can go for brunch. We love the risotto.
A few tips before I turn the blog back over to Ted.
There is internet on board, make sure you read the Navigator to see fees - it can get expensive!
There are many different TV stations that show random Disney movies throughout the day and night - you can always find something to watch.
Be nice to the crew! They are super nice and some are very cuddly! Your state room is cleaned twice a day by your state room hostess. Each night, if you are lucky, they will leave you some towel animals which I, bearsonally love to make friends with!
Well, I believe that's all I can think to share. This little blue bear is very tired from all this typing so I'm going to go take a nap. Thanks Ted for letting me blog! You can find me on Twitter @ChillytheBear - I would love to be your friend! You can also find me on the Disney Wonder this September! I am a very blessed bear.
Well - TGT here - wasn't that fabulous? I am particularly interested because I am also taking a Disney Cruise this October, but we are sailing on the Disney Dream. We are only going for three nights because - while I love to cruise - my assistant Di isn't great on boats, so we thought we'd try this little one first and see how she goes. If she survives we may get to do more! I hope so!