Trip Report So Long Winter, Hello Disney Magic – A January Cruise Trip Report

Well it’s been a couple weeks since we have been home from our cruise and there’s no better way to deal with the post-cruise blues than reliving it through a trip report. So let’s get this trip report started!

The Details:

Who: Me (Ashley) and my husband (Wes)

When: January 11th – 18th, 2015 on the Disney Magic

What: A 7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise complete with stops in Cozumel, Mexico, Grand Cayman Islands, and Falmouth, Jamaica.

This was our 3rd Disney cruise and our first time on the Disney Magic. I was really excited to see one of the classic ships since we have only been on the Dream and Fantasy up until this point. We were interested to see what we thought about the Magic compared to the two newer ships. I was also really excited to see the re-imagined elements of the ship.

This cruise went by WAAAAAAAAY too fast which must mean that we had a LOT of fun!

Saturday, January 10th – Warm Weather Here We Come!

We were doing things a little differently this trip. Normally we are on the first flight out of Raleigh in the morning but since this was a January cruise, I really wanted to be in Orlando the day before. I was so worried that there would be a snowstorm or our flight would be delayed so I figured it was best to play it safe. Since we weren’t coming in the same day as we sailed away, there was no need to get there so early since we wouldn’t have a car.

Our flight was at 3:50pm which felt so odd. Normally we have already spent half a day in WDW by this point. We lucked out and didn’t have any bad weather today so our flight was on time and uneventful.

Airport toes ready to go!

We arrived in Orlando at 5:40pm and picked up our bags from baggage claim. That was the one downside to arriving early; Disney wouldn’t be picking up our bags for us. Our bags arrived (woo hoo!) and we made our way to the Hyatt Regency Orlando, which is located inside the Orlando airport. We’ve never stayed there before but we’ve walked by it a million times. I was really excited to see what it’s like inside.

We’re here!

I had done online check in before we even left our house and gotten a text that our room was ready. We stopped by the front desk to get our keys and get the information about what to do tomorrow for the cruise.

We were on the 7th floor and all the way around the other side of the hotel. I was happy to see that our room overlooked the airport. Hahaha Wes thought I was crazy but I wanted to see how noisy it was from those rooms. I’ve always wondered what it was like while walking through the airport so now we would find out.

Hello!

View from our room

I thought the room was really nice. We could definitely hear the noise from the airport but it wasn’t that loud. The hallways in the hotel were especially quiet. Wes and I both commented at how quiet they were!

Since we knew we were getting in to Orlando around dinner time, I had asked my friend Maggie if she wanted to meet up for dinner. Maggie is the friend from my March trip report, and she just moved down to Orlando. Yay! She was previously in Chicago so I was super happy to hear that she got transferred to Orlando because it means that I will get to see her more with my many visits down there.

When we got to our room, I gave Maggie a call and she came and picked us up at the airport and we all went to dinner out in Orlando. Maggie was also nice enough to take us to a liquor store so we could stock up for our cruise! This would be the first time we would have access to a car so I was looking forward to saving some money by bringing our own alcohol on the ship.

We had a great time at dinner catching up with Maggie. After our run to the liquor store, it was time to head back to the hotel so we could get a good night’s sleep.

Sunday, January 11th – We’re Sailing Away

We woke up this morning around 8am after a very good night’s sleep. I’m happy to report that we didn’t hear any noise from the airport throughout the night.

Wes was a wonderful husband and went to get us Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast. I should have been up getting ready but instead, I decided to lay in bed for a little bit longer. We enjoyed our donuts while we got ready and filled out the paperwork so we could leave our bags in the room for Disney to take care of. I was a little worried about our bags showing up but luckily all bags ended up making it to our stateroom later in the day! I’m always so worried about luggage getting lost but this system was really easy. You leave your bags in your room and then turn in a paper to the cast member before you board the bus. That’s it. It was so nice and even nicer when we saw that our bags made it! Hahaha

We left our room at the Hyatt a little after 9am. I wanted to already be down at the buses at 9am since that’s when they open but it wasn’t meant to be. We made our way down to Disney’s Magical Express area of the airport to catch our motor coach to the port.

We got in line around 9:20am and were able to board the first bus leaving. Woo hoo! It wasn’t too crowded at the check in area but our bus was full.

I love these seats!

As soon as we started going on the bus I realized that I forgot to take my Dramamine! Yikes! I quickly took my less drowsy Dramamine so I wouldn’t get carsick or seasick later in the night. I asked Wes if he wanted one but he said no. More on that later…

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Our bus driver was great and really funny! We made it to the port around 10:15am.

There she is!

It was a little overcast today and they were calling for showers later in the day. I was hoping the sun would come out soon and stick around for the cruise. I was on a mission to get a tan.

We went in to the terminal and checked in at the Castaway Club line.

It was a pretty quick and painless process and then we found some seats to wait until we could board.

I decided to go take some pictures while the terminal was fairly empty.

I then went outside to the observation area.

Come on sun! Where are you?!

With the sun hiding, I decided to head back inside. I’d just have to wait for another day to get some prettier shots of the ship.

There are so many cute details in the cruise terminal!

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this on here before but I love pens. Like, LOVE pens. I don’t like fancy pens though. I prefer the cheap, Bic pen style. No clickers and I refuse to write in anything other than black ink. So, lucky for me, DCL and WDW have the type of pens I like! I got my first DCL pen of the trip at the terminal during check in. Woo hoo! Hahaha

So happy! (But so pale!!)

We were in boarding group 8 so we had awhile to wait before we could board. They started boarding around 11:30am and we were called at 12pm. Not too shabby.

That’s us!

Sailor Mickey is my favorite.

We entered the lobby atrium and I got to say… I was a little disappointed. It’s a beautiful ship but the lobby just doesn’t compare to the grandeur of the lobby on the Dream and Fantasy. I also really didn’t like the chandelier. I feel like I could take hundreds of pictures of the chandeliers on the Dream and Fantasy but this one just wasn’t speaking to me. Still a pretty chandelier but just not my fav. You’ll see I still took numerous pictures of it throughout the cruise, though

Since we had never been on the Magic before, we took our time exploring the ship instead of rushing off to eat lunch.

We made our way down towards the shops and the Walt Disney theater.

Cute carpet!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Looking back towards the lobby

We then went up to Deck 5. We used the stairs, not the elevator. I have a rule on the ship that I won’t use the elevators. I only use the stairs. I figure I need some exercise if I’m going to be eating so much food.

I thought maybe another angle would help me like the chandelier. It didn’t work.

Entrance to the Oceaneer Lab

We made our way upstairs. We stopped briefly on the Deck 7 since that is where we would be staying.

We then went up to Deck 9 so we could continue our tour of the ship and then go get some lunch at Cabanas.

The sun’s trying to make an appearance

Outdoor seating for Cabanas

Kids pool area and Aqua Lab

We got to Cabanas and found a table. I should have made a disclaimer at the beginning of the report but this report will be filled with comparisons to the Dream and Fantasy. Fair warning. Hahaha

I prefer Cabanas on the Dream and Fantasy. I think the décor is just better. I missed the giant tile mural and the castles made out of sand artwork. It’s funny all of the little details that I missed. Comparison over…back to our regularly scheduled program.

Normally at Cabanas my plate looks like it belongs to a little kid with chicken nuggets, fries and Mac and cheese. Well I expanded my horizons…slightly!

I tried the lo mein and it was actually really good! I also decided to be a little healthy to begin the cruise and get some salad. I wasn’t in my food-picture-taking-zone yet so I missed getting a picture of Wes’ plate.

After lunch, we still had about an hour to kill before our stateroom would be ready. I knew I wanted to change the date of our Palo reservation and we also wanted to sign up for a Mixology class so we decided to make our way to Lumiere’s to get those things changed.

Promenade Lounge

We got to Lumiere’s and there were just a few other couples there. There wasn’t any line to sign up for Mixology so I took care of that while Wes waited in line to update our Palo reservations. I was able to get us signed up for Mixology during the first sea day which would be tomorrow. While Wes continued to wait in the Palo line, I took some pictures.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Now I love these chandeliers!

It was our turn at the Palo table and we were able to switch our reservations from Thursday night to Wednesday. Sweet! At first we weren’t going to dress up for pirate night so I booked our Palo reservation for that night but then I decided that we should dress up. I mean, when else do you have an excuse to dress up as a pirate?!

So with all of our reservations taken care of, we made our way out to the lobby so I could…TAKE. MORE. PICTURES!

Still not sure about you chandelier…

We went back up to Deck 4 to look around some more. You know how I love restroom signs. These on the ship were super cute.

So many PENS!!!

Look at all these pens sitting out in the open at the future cruise desk! I resisted the urge to make off with the whole lot. Hahaha I did take one though. I couldn’t resist that much!

We walked by the art gallery and Shutters before finding Animator’s Palate.

Cute walls!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I thought the décor in Animator’s Palate was cool. I prefer the décor on the Dream and Fantasy but I know that Animator’s Palate on the Magic changes so I didn’t want to give any final judgments. I was looking forward to seeing the restaurant at the end of dinner.

Next up was the Oceaneer Lab. I never got around to visiting the kids’ clubs on the other ships so I wanted to make sure and see them on the Magic. Wes felt weird going in there with us not having any kids so he waited outside.

Let it go! Let it go! You sing it, Demi!

ADOR-A-BLE!

I found the hallway between the Oceaneer Lab and the Oceaneer Club and decided to go back for Wes. I thought he might want to see the Avengers Academy section in there.

Really cute carpet in the hallway between the Lab and Club

This place was a mad house! The Lab wasn’t very crowded but the Club was packed. Kids were running all over the place.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Love these!!

Andy’s Room was the most insane area because it has a slide. You should have seen these kids coming down the slide. All of the parents were standing around and the kids were just coming down the slide, one after another. They were piling up at the bottom. They weren’t waiting for the kid to move. It was crazy!

I couldn’t even get pictures of the rest of the area without people being in it so I didn’t even bother.

It was almost 1:30 so we decided to head up to Deck 7 to see if we could get in our stateroom. I thought it would take us longer to walk there than it did because we got there and everyone was still waiting for them to open up the hallways. It was packed with people. We only had to wait a couple minutes before they opened the hallway.

Yay free gift!!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Free stuff! I love using these for scrapbooking.

We came prepared!

I brought some magnets to put on our door.

Captain Mickey ears are my favorite

Our first bag was there when we got to our room, which happened to be my bag, so I started unpacking everything. Wes’ bag arrived shortly after. Yay! I was so happy to see that both of our bags made it.

Now that we had our bags, we decided to head up to Deck 9 and 10 to check out more of the ship.

Blue skies and sunshine had arrived! Yay!

Signals in the adult only pool area

Quiet Cove pool

Kids pool

Funnel pictures!!

Hey Wes!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I love the funnel

First ice cream of the trip!

We then went down to the After Hours area to check out the bars.

Fathoms

Next on our self guided tour of the ship was Carioca’s. This is where we would be eating later tonight.

I love these light fixtures

We went back to the stateroom for a little bit and called our parents to let them know we had arrived safely. It was then time for the mandatory life boat drill on Deck 4.

We were in section E and our team leader was Pierre Luc. He was our team leader back on our first cruise on the Disney Dream! So cool seeing a familiar cast member on another ship.

After the safety drill we made our way up to Deck 10 to get a good spot for the Adventures Away celebration.

It was really noticeable during the party the difference in number of guests between the Magic and the newer ships. It felt almost cozy compared to the sail away party on the Dream and Fantasy.

Our Cruise Director, Natalie

I was really bummed when the cruise director came out and it wasn’t Brent. I loved Brent on our last cruise and I was hoping we would see him again. I’m happy to say that as the week went on, I started to really like Natalie. I now have two favorite cruise directors!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

The Adventures Away celebration was cute. We were on the funnel vision twice, which was pretty cool! I didn’t get one of those streamers though which was a bummer.

We went back to our room and decided to order some room service. Might as well get started with the over eating immediately. Hahaha They didn’t have any rice crispy treats. I was so sad about that! But we did get some Mickey ice cream bars. I guess those would have to do.

We’re sailing away!

We watched some Disney movies while we enjoyed our room service and I looked over the Navigator. Another difference between the Magic and the newer ships was there was no On-Demand on the TV. It’s not a major thing and I know we aren’t going on a cruise to watch TV but it’s nice to be able to select what you want to watch and when you want to watch it.

We finished unpacking and got ready to head to the show. Tonight’s show was All Aboard: Let the Magic Begin. The show is basically an informational session but I don’t like missing it.

During the show, we could really feel the ship rocking. I took my Dramamine earlier in the day so I was feeling fine but Wes wasn’t doing so well. We decided to go up to Deck 9 to get some fresh air after the show.

The fresh air helped a little with Wes’ seasickness so we made our way to dinner. Tonight we would be eating at Carioca’s. We would be sitting at Table 6 for the week. When we got to dinner, one other couple (Mike and Kay Beth) was already at the table. They were sitting across from each other so we did the same and picked the seats right next to them.

A few minutes later, another couple joined our table. They sat across from each other but left one set of seats in between them and us. It was a little odd but they may have thought that we all knew each other and were giving us space. The fourth couple never showed up so we figured they decided to do room service or went to Palo.

We met our servers for the week; I Ketut from Indonesia was our main server and Luis from Spain was our assistant server.

For appetizers, I got the Ahi tuna and avocado tower and Wes got the Peruvian Causa, which was layers of potato and cucumber.

I wasn’t a fan of mine but I knew I was taking a risk. I figured when else would I order Ahi tuna that had caviar on it and not worry about the price? My gamble didn’t pay off though. Wes wasn’t really a fan of his either. I tried it and thought it was just okay. I ended up eating all of the cucumbers off the plate.

After we got our appetizers, Wes was really not feeling well. You could really feel the ship rocking and the other couple at dinner agreed that it was bad. You could see the water in our glasses sloshing around.

Wes decided that he was going to have to head back to our room. He felt really bad leaving but he just didn’t want to get sick at the table. I don’t blame him. I decided to stay at the table and finish my meal. I told I Ketut that Wes had to go and he offered to send Wes’ entrée back on a serving tray for him. So nice! He told me how important it was for Wes to eat something tonight so he would feel better tomorrow morning. He said if he didn’t want to eat his entrée, we should order some chicken noodle soup from room service.

The ship was actually rocking pretty bad because throughout the course of dinner, we saw numerous tables get up and leave before they even got their food. I’m so glad I took my Dramamine!

For the salad course, I went with the Cuban Salad.

It really wasn’t what I was expecting when I think of a salad but it was really good! I’m glad I stayed. Hahaha

It was a little awkward being at dinner by myself with this couple I just met. To top off the awkwardness, it was their honeymoon! They were so nice though and I kept thanking them for letting me crash their honeymoon. They wanted to get a picture so they asked I Ketut. Mike said let’s get a picture of all 3 of us. Hahaha I just met these people and now I was in one of their photos of their honeymoon.

For the main course I got the Lobster, Shrimp and Mahi Mahi Skewers. This dish was really good! So I was 2 for 3 on menu selections. Not too bad.

I really wanted to get some dessert but I knew I should probably head back to the room and check on Wes. I told I Ketut that I would be skipping dessert and asked if he could bring out Wes’ entrée.

I got Wes’ entrée on a serving tray with a lid on top and made my way back to our room. Now, Carioca’s is located on Deck 3 Aft and our stateroom was on Deck 7 Forward. That’s a long way to walk carrying a meal on a serving tray! I walked Forward and had to take the elevators. I know this breaks my rule but there was no way I was going to make it up the stairs to Deck 7 without spilling the food.

I made it back to the room with the food in one piece. Wes was laying in bed with a washcloth on his head and he said he was feeling okay. He got back to our room when our stateroom hostess was in there so she wasn’t able to finish our room. She apologized for not being able to make our towel animal.

I got him to get up and eat some of his food. He said it was really good.

Wes was starting to feel a lot better now that he had some food in his stomach. Maleficent was playing in the Buena Vista Theater at 10:15pm so we decided to go see it. I thought it would be good for Wes to get his mind off the rocking of the ship.

Fun carpet

Little blurry

We thought the movie was okay. We were happy that we didn’t pay to see it in theaters. One plus to seeing the movie was that Wes was feeling a lot better now. It really helps when you have something to take your mind off of the swaying.

We made our way back to our room, stopping quickly to take some pictures of an empty lobby.

We got back to our stateroom around midnight and called it a night.

Up next: A full day at sea!

 

[FlaggNL]

Wow great TR!! Love all the details in you pictures! Thanks for the share and can't wait for more! Absolutely following along!

 

[DAKOTADISNEY]

Hi Ashley! I've been waiting for your trip report. Too bad Wes didn't feel well the first night. It reminds me to hand out the dramamine to the family before we leave the Hyatt.

 

[RobnRachal]

Magic is the one ship we haven't had the privilege of being on. Loving your pictures and report so far. Excited to follow along.

 

[mrdrift]

What a great start to the week long cruise. This is on my bucket list to do a Disney cruise. You have taken some really detailed pictures around the ship that show why Disney cruises are different from other cruise lines. Sorry Wes was feeling well during dinner. Does that ship not have stabilizers or was the sea that rough? Following along .

 

[flynnibus]

Looking forward to more!

It does seem like that race from PC down till you hit the bahamas is the worst for ship movement. Curious to hear if things get better!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Wow great TR!! Love all the details in you pictures! Thanks for the share and can't wait for more! Absolutely following along!

Thanks! Since this was my first time on the Magic, I wanted to capture everything!

Hi Ashley! I've been waiting for your trip report. Too bad Wes didn't feel well the first night. It reminds me to hand out the dramamine to the family before we leave the Hyatt.

Hey Melanie! Thanks for reading! I felt so bad for Wes that first night but I just kept thinking...if only he would have listened to me and taken a Dramamine! Hahaha He never learns. I take it every morning of a Disney vacation (WDW or DCL) just to be safe.

Magic is the one ship we haven't had the privilege of being on. Loving your pictures and report so far. Excited to follow along.

Thanks! It a really nice ship; it was different though having just sailed on the Dream and Fantasy.

What a great start to the week long cruise. This is on my bucket list to do a Disney cruise. You have taken some really detailed pictures around the ship that show why Disney cruises are different from other cruise lines. Sorry Wes was feeling well during dinner. Does that ship not have stabilizers or was the sea that rough? Following along .

Thank you! Wes prefers the cruises over WDW so we've been trying to do more. I can't imagine cruising on any other cruise line now that we've done Disney! I'm sure they are nice but the customer service on DCL is hard to beat. Plus I love all the Disney details throughout the ship! The ship does have stabilizers but the seas were a little rough that night. Our server told me that the captain was trying to get past some rough seas so he was going faster than normal to try to get us out of it. We had another rough night later in the cruise but it was pretty calm the rest of the days.

Looking forward to more!

It does seem like that race from PC down till you hit the bahamas is the worst for ship movement. Curious to hear if things get better!

Thanks for following along! Spoiler alert: We had much calmer days the rest of our cruise. Just one other night where there were some rough waters but we were fine.

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks! Since this was my first time on the Magic, I wanted to capture everything!

I can imagine. I think a cruise is not really 'it' for us But love to see how other people loves the Magic!

 

[Longers]

Great start to your trip report. Read your last one so looking forward to more. Never taken A cruise so it will be great to follow along to see if I might like it. Not sure I could cope with a rocking ship though I think I would get sea sick! Following along

 

[dukeaboy]

Great report...nice pics....Go Skins!!!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I can imagine. I think a cruise is not really 'it' for us But love to see how other people loves the Magic!

I didn't think I would like the cruise either before our first one but now I almost like them more than WDW! It's crazy, I know.

Great start to your trip report. Read your last one so looking forward to more. Never taken A cruise so it will be great to follow along to see if I might like it. Not sure I could cope with a rocking ship though I think I would get sea sick! Following along

Thanks for reading! I know how you feel about being worried about getting sea sick. I get really car sick when I try to read or watch TV in a car so I was worried about being on a ship but I've never gotten seasick thanks to Dramamine. As long as I take that, I'm fine. It may be a placebo effect but hey, if it works, I'm happy!

Great report...nice pics....Go Skins!!!

Thanks! Yea, Go Skins!!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Monday, January 12th – Day at Sea Complete with Mixology, Trivia and Free Drinks

Today was our first full day at sea. We decided to start off our day with some room service.

After breakfast, we got ready to head up to the Quiet Cove Pool. I wanted to get up there early to get some good seats. We were able to grab some great seats on Deck 9 right by the pool that were in the sun. Sweet!

I kind of like what the sun naturally did to this picture

That book was CRAZY good!

We lounged around the pool for a good while enjoying the nice weather. It was pretty warm out so we occasionally took a dip in the pool. I’m sad to say I never once got in the hot tubs though. They seemed neat but I was always too hot to get in them. Next time for sure!

At some point we decided to go get lunch at Pete’s Boiler Bites. I went with the hot dog and Wes got a chicken sandwich and some chicken nuggets for us to share.

We found a seat near Goofy’s Pool where they were doing a Movie Challenge Poolside.

The game was like bingo but instead of calling numbers they would show a clip of a Disney movie and then the kids would cover that square. It was cute. The winners got to pick what movie they showed on the Funnel Vision. The winning team chose The Lion King. Good choice kids!

We didn’t get to stay and watch the movie though because we had Movie Quotes trivia in O’Gill’s! On our last cruise, we dominated in trivia! We won one of the movie quotes trivia and the TV theme song trivia so we were feeling confident going into this one.

We shouldn’t have been so confident. Hahaha We didn’t win. We got 24 out of 25 right including a bonus question. Sadly, someone else got 25 right. We were one away!!

Vol-de-mort! Vol-de-mort!

Let me explain our team name. Did any of you watch the US version of The Office? Well Wes and I loved that show and whenever we have to pick a team name we think of the Beach Games episode where Jim picks the team name Voldemort and Dwight freaks out. Don’t have any clue what I’m talking about? That’s okay. That’s what YouTube is for!



Hahaha We get a good laugh out of it. We always wonder what other people think when we pass them our paper.

After trivia, it was time for Mixology in Keys! It would be a great chance for us to drown our sorrows from losing trivia. Hahaha We got to Keys a little early and walked inside. One of the servers let us know that we should wait outside so we grabbed a seat in the nearest porthole and waited.

At 2pm we were called in to Keys to begin Mixology. It was a big group today. On the Fantasy we were in a group of about 20 and here we had closer to 40. Our instructor and bartender today would be Claudette from Jamaica. She led us in and gave Wes and I, what she called, the Lady Gaga chairs.

These were setup at our table

They did look a little like something Lady Gaga would sit on with the spikes going up the side.

Instead of going behind the bar to make the drinks, like we did on the Fantasy. We made our drinks at the tables around the room. First up was a Mojito, which Wes and I like very much. We got to muddle the mint, lime and simple syrup and then the servers brought around some ice.

We then poured in some of the club soda and the shot of rum and ta-da! We had ourselves a mojito!

Better view of the Lady Gaga chair (and Wes)

The next drink they brought out was pre-made. I think this one was a Jamaican Rum Punch.

It was VERY tasty! I liked this one a lot.

Our bartender, Claudette

While we drank our drinks, Claudette told us about the different kinds of liquor and what was in each drink. The drinks were coming out faster than I could drink them! You can see in this next picture that I wasn’t letting them take my other drinks. I was trying to finish each one before I let them take them away.

I don’t remember what that drink was but I think it was a grapefruit martini or something. All I do remember is that I did not like it. Not at all. I was trying to drink it really fast to avoid tasting it but it was just too hard. (That’s what she said. Hahaha Another Office reference that I say a lot)

The next drink was some kind of cosmopolitan. Maybe a pomegranate? Not sure but I liked it better than the previous drink.