I am so excited to be partnering with Danielle Guy for her trip report on her 10 night Mediterranean cruise on the Disney Magic! While on her cruise a few weeks ago, she took over my Facebook and Instagram accounts and showed us lots of incredible photos from her adventure. Now, she is back to take us with her day by day as she recounts this amazing trip! Let’s get started below with day one!
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For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Danielle and I am so excited to be sharing my family’s adventure through the Mediterranean on Disney Cruise Mom Blog! I am the oldest of 5 children, and our family has grown up vacationing with Disney. You can read a little bit more about me here. I hope that you enjoy following us through the Mediterranean!
After over a year of waiting, hours of planning, and quite a bit of packing, the day had finally arrived! It was finally time for our large family to venture across the Atlantic Ocean for a 10 night Mediterranean cruise on the Disney Magic. After our British Isles cruise last year, we are no strangers to international travel, and were prepared for the 36 hour day ahead of us. Our first stop was the Nashville International Airport with a connection at JFK airport in New York City.
Nine bags, seven people, and countless memories ahead of us – we were ready for adventure! We left our home in Nashville at 9:00 AM CST and were expected to land in Barcelona at 9:50 AM Barcelona time.
With such a long trip ahead of us, we were a little worried about our baggage meeting the 50 lb requirement and avoiding upcharges for overweight baggage. Our family’s normal strategy is to weigh the bags in order of heaviest to lightest. That way, if anyone’s baggage is overweight, they can move some of their items into a lighter bag. Thankfully, we didn’t have to do that this time, and everyone’s bags met the weight requirement.
After landing in JFK at 2:00 PM we had a few hours to kill, so we headed for the Delta Sky Lounge to relax and prepare for the long flight ahead. Everyone in our family is a relatively laid back traveler, so we understand that waiting is a part of international travel. Even Layne (11 years old) knew to take every opportunity to sleep on the flight to JFK.
On another note, the Delta Sky Lounge was the perfect place to grab a bite to eat and unwind before boarding our flight. We had access to the Sky Lounge because we were flying First/Business class, but access is also available to Delta Elite Plus members (diamond, platinum, and gold), Delta Reserve credit card members, Platinum American Express card members, or access may be purchased through a day pass (note that day passes are not available during high census periods). We headed for the patio where we were able to enjoy live music and a meal as the kids watched planes take off. We also enjoyed getting as much fresh air as possible before boarding an international flight and inhaling recycled air for 6 hours straight.
As we boarded our 8:00 PM flight, Layne’s ticket set off a security alert, and she and my mom had to stay back while they sorted it out. We initially thought that it was because Layne is an immigrant, but it actually alerted the system because they said that she didn’t check a bag (which she did back in Nashville). Although initially panicked, we decided to deal with the luggage situation once we got to Barcelona, and hoped that it was just a mistake. After all, if anyone in our group needed to purchase an entire new wardrobe, Layne would be the ideal candidate, and it would even give us an excuse to visit the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique on the ship!
Once on the plane, we were met with another surprise, this one a little more pleasant. The captain invited all the children into the cockpit before take off! The kids were so excited about this opportunity, especially Spencer, who wants to be a pilot someday. When we shared his dream with the pilot, he even let Spencer try on his pilot’s hat! We were so grateful for the thoughtfulness and patience that the pilots and Delta Airlines as a whole showed our family as we all crammed into the cockpit.
When we travel, we think that getting there really is half the fun, and we were grateful to be able to fly in First/Business class. This plane had the Delta One seats that lay completely flat. But, we were so excited for our trip that I don’t think many of us slept much that night.
After enjoying a phenomenal meal (seriously – this was just the appetizer!) I used my complimentary toiletry kit and got ready to take a short nap. By the time I finished eating, we only had 4 hours left in the air, so I closed my eyes for a few hours and then watched National Lampoon’s European Vacation to prepare for our own crazy family vacation.
Breakfast was served as the plane soared over the Pyrenees Mountains. It was a beautiful view to take in as we all mustered up the energy to take on the day after only a few hours of sleep. If you’ve ever cruised in Europe with Disney, you know that the first day is always a long day, ESPECIALLY when you fly in the day of embarking.
We landed about 30 minutes early and were SO excited to be in Barcelona. Although we were officially in Spain, we are not strangers to international travel and we knew that there was a lot of logistics ahead of us. We stepped onto the tarmac and then onto a bus which took us to customs.
As if going through customs isn’t stressful enough, the customs agent that we were assigned spoke exclusively Spanish (yes – even though the official language of Barcelona is Catalan!) Fortunately for us, my mother is fluent in Spanish, so we got through relatively quickly and had our passports stamped. Next stop: locating our luggage and the Disney Cruise Line representatives. Note that at this point, we had been traveling for 17 hours.
Despite the initial concern in New York about Layne’s luggage, all 9 of our bags made it through to Barcelona, and we were quickly able to locate the Disney Cruise Line representatives. On our British Isles cruise last summer, we spent at least an hour trying to find Disney representatives, so we were grateful to see dozens of cast members waiting for us at baggage claim. We checked in at the desk and waited for the DCL transportation to the port that we had pre-arranged.
We were told that the ship had been late in its arrival to port and because passengers were disembarking late, our shuttle would be running late as well. Unfortunately, this meant that we spent 2.5 hours waiting for our turn to take the bus to the ship. We were tired and irritable, but remained optimistic that once we were on the ship that everything would be fine.
Boy were we overly optimistic. When we arrived at the terminal, we were in shock! There was a line of thousands of people wrapped around the cruise terminal. Outside. In 80 degree weather. Elderly people, infants, and families alike. I had never experienced anything like this when boarding a Disney Cruise, and this was our 11th one as a family. We were tired, we were jet lagged, and we were so discouraged by this line.
But we waited. After an hour of waiting outside, we were finally able to go through security and wait in line to check in with the ship. Here is the Day 1 Navigator that we received when we checked in:
At this point, it was 2:00 PM Barcelona time, and we had been traveling for 22 hours. By the time it was our turn to board the ship, we were so tired of lines that we skipped the family picture and just ran right onto the ship!
Once we made it onto the ship, and heard the announcer say “Everyone please welcome aboard the Guy family!” and we caught a glimpse of those iconic chandeliers, we were all met with a second wind of energy. Everyone ran up the stairs to see our staterooms (room 6030 and 6532) and eat lunch before the muster drill.
After the muster drill, we all headed in our own separate directions with plans to meet for dinner. Madeline and Spencer both went to the Vibe, Layne went to the Oceaneer’s Club and Lab, and I met up with some friends that I met on our last cruise on the British Isles. As you can see on the Navigator, there are tons of activities for the entire family to do, even on embarkation day.
The first thing my friends and I did was head to the adult areas to see if any of our favorite crew members were working this cruise. Since we prefer to sail on the Magic, we get to know crew members very well, and it feels like coming home when you board the ship and crew members recognize you from your last vacation. This alone is one of the main reasons I recommend cruising on the same ship repeatedly! After we caught up with everyone, we were ready to set sail and caught a last glimpse of Barcelona as we sailed towards our first destination.
We love watching the evening shows and were so excited to attend the Be Our Guest show before dinner. We always try to attend as many of them as possible. My personal favorite is the Magic’s newest show, Tangled: The Musical.
After the show, we headed to Lumiere’s for dinner where we were greeted by the happiest surprise of all. Our server from our British Isles cruise, Genesis, was waiting for us at our table! We were almost in tears to see such a familiar face and spent the majority of the night catching up with him. In case you didn’t know, you CAN request your server. There is always a chance that they will be on leave during your cruise, but Disney always makes every attempt to honor your request. This was our first time requesting a server, and we are SO grateful that we did! Genesis is part of our family. We even got our Christmas card photo with Genesis during pirate night later in the week!
We finished dinner around 10:30 PM and went to bed shortly after. We were grateful to be “home” and we were eager for the adventures ahead of us.
Stay tuned for an account of our first port, our slightly crazy tour guide, and other exclusive, first-hand accounts only on Disney Cruise Mom Blog! Thanks for following along!
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Danielle is a 23 year old Disney fanatic, ICU Nurse, and travel blogger from Nashville, TN. When she is not traveling, you can find her snuggling with her 2 English bulldogs and spending time with her family of 7. You can read more about her trips and adventures at www.daniellefarideh.com.
Instagram: @daniellefarideh
Facebook: www.facebook.com/daniellefarideh
Hello! We r going on our own Mediterranean cruise this summer. N I saw your server Genesis. I’ve cruise with Disney before n loved our server but some are still better than others. I’m traveling with family , and this would be their first time cruising. I would love for them to have the best experience aboard Disney Magic and having the best server would make a difference. How do I go about requesting a specific server? Thanks! Love reading your blog.
Cecilia
Hi Cecilia! To request a server, you can call DCL and ask them to note it on your reservations. Sometimes they can make it happen, sometimes they can’t, but you should definitely try. I’m so glad you love the blog!
great blog! would be amazing to fly first class. For a family of 4 like us it would break us an arm and leg. lol. Did you book the flights with disney? We had never been on a cruise and we are thinking of doing it next year (2019). Im curious about the flight arrangements.
Hi Iris! This trip report was written by a guest blogger, Danielle, but I am almost certain that they did not book their flights through DCL. I would say that most people don’t, because it’s usually more expensive, but occasionally I hear of people who were able to get a better price through DCL, so it’s worth checking.
Hi Iris! Danielle here! We actually do book our flights through DCL. The main reason for that is that if anything happens with your flights (or with the ship), the ship constantly is held liable for monitoring changes, reroutes, etc. When I travel alone with my fiance, I manage our own flights but traveling with 5 kids is stressful and a lot to manage! It’s worth the extra cost to let the burden be on the cruise line to get us checked in and be sure we’re good to go to fly!