This is a guest trip report written by Abby, who sailed on the October 24, 2018 5 night cruise to the Bermuda on the Disney Magic. You can start the trip report from the beginning by clicking here.
Day 1: Boarding the Disney Magic
(click here to see this day’s Daily Navigator)
Rise and shine! Today was the day! We were ready and oh-so-excited to start our cruise on the Disney Magic. For background, my family and I have only ever been on one previous Disney Cruise— a 3-night itinerary on the Disney Dream in 2016 for my sister’s 21st birthday. As DVC members with an equal love of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, we were excited to try something different than the norm this year. We selected the Bermuda itinerary because of its uniqueness, the Halloween on the High Seas offerings, and the fact that the ship left out of NYC. Bermuda itself wasn’t an initial draw for us (spoiler alert: we aren’t planning any trips back anytime soon…), just an added bonus. After staying in an Inside Stateroom for our one and only prior cruise, we elected for an Oceanview Cabin on Deck 2 this time around. Check out the review of our stateroom here.
We took our time waking up and lounging around our hotel room this day. Our selected arrival time at the port wasn’t until 1:30 pm, because when I went to complete the online check in process, I realized I didn’t have Eleanor’s passport yet. By the time it arrived, 1:30 pm was the earliest arrival time available. Lesson learned for next time. I eventually ran down the block to Starbucks for coffee and breakfast. Our family absolutely loves Starbucks, so it was nice to have something familiar for the girls to eat this morning. David packed us back up that morning while I finished some work and the girls played. Before we knew it, it was time to call another car to take us to port. Originally I thought we would divide and conquer, with David taking a taxi to the port with all the luggage, and me just walking with the girls (the Manhattan Cruise Terminal was less than 1 mile from Hotel Watson).
After having such a great experience with Uber Family the day prior, we decided to stick together after all. Looking back, I’m not sure this was the right decision. This Uber driver was not as friendly or accommodating… he told us “we were on the wrong side of the road” for the direction we wanted to go, and he seemed frustrated by Eleanor’s fussiness in the back (interesting choice on his part to pick up an Uber Family request). We eventually made it to the Terminal, and quickly unloaded to a sea of porters waiting for us. We handed off our luggage and made our way into the Terminal. Although this was only our second Disney Cruise, I think they did a great job with security and efficiencies out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. We barely waited in line… if anything, I almost felt rushed as we quickly passed through security and got in line to check in.
Within less than 15 minutes of arrival, we were walking onto the Disney Magic!!
We were announced and greeted on Deck 3, and Evelyn was just amazed at the “really, really big ship!” Our first order of business was to go to the Port Adventures desk and snag some Princess and Frozen Meet and Greet tickets. There were tons of options available, even though it was already 2 pm, so don’t fret if you don’t have a chance to reserve those when you complete online check in for your trip. Next, we headed to Preludes to book a Palo dining reservation. We had multiple options for dinner, although all brunch offerings were fully booked. We selected a dinner reservation for the 4th night of the trip, on Pirate Night.
Next we dropped things off in our stateroom. After finding room 2510, we took a few photos, then rushed up to Cabanas for lunch.
We enjoyed a great spread for lunch, although as we learned over the last few years, buffet dining is not ideal with small children. Here’s how buffets usually go for our family: after finding a table, I go up and get food for the girls, then bring it back so David can start cutting things up and feeding them. Then, I go back to the buffet to make myself a plate. Once I come back to the table, David hops up to get his food. Once he’s ready to eat, someone usually needs a refill or a napkin or something else. While he eats, I source desserts for the table. If all this sounds exhausting… you are correct. Buffets with small children are not my favorite. I make an exception for Boma at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and that’s about it.
After lunch, we decided to check out the Open Houses for the Oceaneer’s Club and the It’s A Small World Nursery. Our hope was that the girls would each love their dedicated spaces. The Oceaneer’s Club Open House was… wild, to say the least. Just the volume of kids (and grown ups!) running around made it hard to get our sometimes-reserved 4-year-old to explore and get excited about the space. Additionally, I made a rookie cruise mom mistake, and didn’t realize she could/would also be spending time in the Oceaneer’s Lab. For some reason I thought those spaces were connected and that we had seen both— it wasn’t until Night 4 of our cruise, on our way to Palo dinner reservations, that we realized there were 2 spaces, and that Evelyn was scared of the Oceaneer’s Lab, since it was totally new to her. Whoops!
After exploring a bit more, we stopped back by our stateroom to change our clothes and get ready for the safety drill. For room 2510, our drill location was the top right seating section of the Walt Disney Theatre. The Drill wasn’t without incident, as our children decided to show their truly sisterly-affection for each other during this time, resulting in Evelyn getting a baby-nails gash on her cheek. Ahhhh… sisters. After the drill, we decided to just relax in our room for a bit.
Once the Magic was officially on her way, we bundled up the girls and headed up to Deck 9.
We had missed the Adventures Away Sail Away Party, but we weren’t about to miss seeing the Statue of Liberty! Both Decks 9 and 10 were crowded, but we were able to walk around and find rail space on both sides of the ship.
David and I each strapped on a baby carrier and decided to babywear/toddlerwear each girl. Maybe it’s my overly-anxious mom brain, but I felt better knowing they were totally contained.
I’ll never forget passing by Ellis Island and watching Evelyn squeal with delight at the sight of the Statue of Liberty. We had been reading “L is for Liberty” for weeks leading up to our trip, and it was magical for her to see something from the pages of a story come to life before her eyes.
The girls eventually grew cold, and we realized it was already time for dinner. We had main seating for this cruise, and honestly, it felt too early for us. We usually eat around 6:30-7 pm at home, but my little snackers can be persuaded to eat later. We will book late dining for all future Disney cruises.
Our first stop on our dining rotation was at Rapunzel’s Royal Table— yay! I will just come right out and fess up now: there will be very few menu and food pictures in this trip report. The level of attention and and assistance our children needed for each dinner on the cruise was exhausting. It seemed like every night there was some crazy factor working against us, making formal dining with 2 small children even more challenging. I apologize in advance for the lack of food information. Even if I did capture every plate and menu, my opinion would still be worthless, because I had was fighting a nasty cold-turned-sinus-infection for the majority of the cruise, and didn’t taste much of what I ate (I also didn’t gain any weight on this trip!).
For our first dinner, we arrived at Rapunzel’s Royal Table and headed to our seats (a private table, thank goodness). The high chair they had provided for Eleanor was missing part of the buckle; there was no way to secure her into the seat. I let our Assistant Server know as soon as she came by to take our drink order. She told me that Eleanor would be fine; “she won’t fall out.” Ugh. We didn’t get off to the best start. After explaining that my 15-month-old is an active climber, and that I will be forced to hold my hand over her all night if another high chair couldn’t be provided, the Assistant Server said she would see what she could do. About 20 minutes later, the Assistant Server brought over another high chair. This one, believe it or not, was also broken. I was near tears by the time the Head Server came by to say hello (he hadn’t been informed of anything at that point). Once I explained what was going on, he set out to find us a third high chair. This whole ordeal took about an hour, and distracted us from the show and from enjoying our meal.
Evelyn was also afraid of the ruffians and thugs, and was up and out of her seat quite a bit. She got photos with both Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. By the time our meal wrapped up, we were all exhausted. We skipped the show and all the evening programming to turn in early.
Evelyn was delighted to come back to her “magic bed” all turned out and ready for her. She also LOVED the nightly towel animals left by our stateroom host, and she still talks about the chocolates left on the bed each night. We all quickly got ready for bed and tried to catch some sleep. The girls and David fell asleep right away. I, on the other hand, laid awake and really started to feel the motion of the ocean. I had taken a ginger capsule to help with motion sickness earlier in the day, and I had worn the acupressure Sea Bands on my wrists all day as well, but I took them off at bedtime. BIG mistake. I was violently ill around 1 am, but I felt better after that episode. Thankfully no one else in our family seemed to be too affected by the motion… they all slept like babies!
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Up next: Day 2 – At Sea
Thanks for your trip report. Always like the one from new ports and I will look forward to the rest of your posts.
Here is a tip if you tend to get sea sick on the Magic or the Wonder–book your room higher up on the ship, say deck 5 or 6 and forward of the center elevators. The ship is VERY steady there and close to the kids area. Also ask for additional pillows to help keep you from moving so much in bed. Works for me.
You are right about the late seating when you have small children. If they get hungry before your dinner seating just go to the pool deck and get a snack for them. Also many used the “dine and play” option for late seating where the counselors pick your children up during dinner and take them to the play areas for you to pick up later. That way you can have a little time for just the two of you. Parents deserve a vacation too.
Also another tip relating to your comment about it being crowded on deck 9 & 10. Go to Deck 4, (lifeboat deck). It is a great place to view the sights and not as crowded. If you go forward, near the entrance doors of the theatre, you’ll find that the heat from the bow walk way comes out on the deck a ways. It helps, especially on Alaska cruises.
I am loving this report from the Disney Magic sailing from New York. You see, my son finished uni earlier this year, fled across the Atlantic and joined the crew, sorry, cast of the Disney Magic! I’ve been following the ship’s progress and hearing a report from someone who was on the ship with him just makes him feel that bit closer
I am so proud of him