This trip report was written by Gunes, who sailed the Disney Magic December 24, 2017, through December 29, 2017. You can see photos and videos from her cruise and other adventures by visiting her travel blog (fotogenictravel.com) or by following @fotogenictravel on Instagram or Facebook. Gunes provides concierge-style planning services as an independent travel advisor affiliated with My Path Unwinding Travel and can be followed on both Instagram and Facebook (@vacayconciergegunes).
You can also read her stateroom review here (a concierge 1 bedroom suite!), her excursion review of the Cozumel Dolphin discovery here, and her review of cabana #20 on Castaway Cay here.
Day 1: Boarding the Disney Magic
The day we had waited for was finally here: we’re going on a Disney cruise! As soon as we had booked our cruise in January 2017, I started our “cruise countdown” on my Disney Cruise mobile app. There’s nothing better than seeing this on your app on the morning of your cruise:
Woo hoo!!!!!!! And, it was Christmas Eve to boot!
We wanted to get on the ship as soon as we could. After having a hearty room service breakfast, we called for the bell hop to assist with our luggage and had the valet bring out our rental car. We were only a ten-minute drive to the Port of Miami cruise terminal from the Four Seasons Hotel Miami, so we didn’t have far to go. I wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to park and lug our luggage, so we left around 11:15am.
Upon arriving at the port, we parked in a deck, and walked a while with our luggage to the Disney terminal. In hindsight, it would have been easier if I dropped off my husband, son, and luggage at the terminal, parked, and then met up with them. We had a lot to carry! Oh well – live and learn.
Although I had a rental car, I decide to pay the $20 per day for parking to make it easier at disembarkation to do a little sight seeing prior to flying out of Ft. Lauderdale. To me, the convenience was worth the extra expense. Also, having a child, it’s much easier to leave his booster seat installed in the rental car and not worry about the safety of Uber/taxis/shuttles, etc.
Once we arrived at the terminal, the staff took all our tagged luggage (we had three pieces). We then went inside and waited in a loooooong security line. It took us at least fifteen to twenty minutes to get through it. But, it was exciting, as we saw everyone around us with their Disney gear and could not help but smile!
Since we were sailing concierge level, after passing through security, we were able to go straight to concierge check-in counter. They gave us our “Key to the World” cards on nifty lanyards, since we were now silver Castaway Club members (no lanyards are given to first-time cruisers):
#1! I like that number. As concierge guests, we had the privilege to board whenever we wanted, so off we went to the main boarding area.
The boarding area was PACKED! I noticed that concierge guests had their own lounge to relax in should they arrive before the ship was ready for boarding. We arrived at the perfect time, as we walked right onto the ship.
When we sailed concierge with the Disney Dream out of Port Canaveral in December 2016, we were personally escorted by a concierge staff member onto the boat and directly to the concierge lounge. There was no such service in the Port of Miami, and I was told that was because Disney has exclusive rights to the terminal in Port Canaveral but not so in Miami. They apparently don’t have as much staff and/or are not allowed to get off the ship to assist (I wasn’t quite clear about the reason, as the concierge staff member who escorted us onto the Dream also sailed on the ship with us). Anyway, it was a small disappointment, but no big deal for us.
Once we boarded the ship, in usual Disney cruise fashion, they announced our family’s name on the microphone and the staff applauded us as we walked around the Lobby Atrium area. (I wonder if they ever get tired of doing that for four straight hours of embarkation!)
Since it was lunch time, we immediately went up to Cabanas to eat. Luckily, since we were some of the first people on the ship, it was not that crowded and we were able to get a table inside. We feasted on the buffet and then examined our daily Personal Navigator to see what activities awaited us.
I was very excited to watch the movie Coco on this cruise, since it had just premiered a month prior and we had not seen it. Well, what do you know? Coco was going to be playing at 1:45 pm in the Buena Vista Theatre. Our cabin would be ready at 1:30pm, which was about ten minutes away. So, once we were done, we went down one deck to wait to get into our stateroom (Cabanas was right above our stateroom, which was 8086).
There was a little bit of a crowd waiting to get into the rooms. The staff actually blocked off the stateroom hallways until the cabins were ready. We only had to wait two minutes and then we were able to get into our stateroom. We were very pleasantly surprised with all the space in our one-bedroom suite!
Here are some views of Miami from our stateroom’s balcony:
Those yachts aren’t too shabby!
After we dropped off all our bags in our stateroom, we went straight to Buena Vista Theatre to see Coco. It was a fantastic idea to go while others were embarking, as the theater was practically empty. There probably were not more than twenty people there.
We absolutely LOVED Coco (and I was very pleased to later see that it won a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature and that it was nominated for two Oscars)! If you haven’t seen this movie, then bust out the tissue box!!! I cried at least three times. It was a very touching and well-written movie.
After watching Coco, we had a little time to kill before the mandatory guest assembly drill (the so-called “muster” drill) at 4:15pm. So, we hung out in our stateroom. Thankfully most cruise ships no longer require you to bring lifejackets to muster drills.
Promptly at 4:15pm, the ship’s alarm went off, and we headed to our assembly station: Animator’s Palate. Animator’s Palate is a restaurant on deck 4, which was four decks below us. By the time we got there, the place was filled, and we had to squeeze ourselves next to some folks to sit at a table. We sat through about ten minutes of announcements and life jacket demonstrations. Then, we were “released.” We decided to head up to the kids’ club, a.k.a. the Oceaneer’s Club.
We had pre-registered our son with the Oceaneer’s Club during our online check-in. When we checked in at the concierge desk in the cruise terminal, my son received a magic band, which gets him in and out of the club.
Sailing on the Disney Dream, my son refused to go to the Oceaneer’s Club on his own. We went to the open house on embarkation day (for security reasons, parents are only allowed into the club when it’s an open house), and then he decided he didn’t want to go back. Luckily, this time around, he was a little braver and went to the kids’ club for at least an hour or two almost every day of our cruise. That gave Mommy and Daddy much needed “us” time!
Here are some photos of the Oceaneer’s Club:
Here I am getting ready to take a plunge down the Toy Story slide:
For dinner, we had requested the early seating, which started at 5:45pm. Before dinner, though, I had to get over to the concierge lounge for happy hour! Starting at 5:00pm, the concierge lounge has complimentary adult beverages – literally anything and everything you could want: from wine to beer to all sorts of cocktails. The concierge bartender was at my beck and call. I’m a wine kind of gal, so I had a glass of red and sampled some appetizers while I was there (they have complimentary dinner “snacks” starting at 5:00pm as well).
I also got to meet our concierge hosts: Emanuela (from Italy), Blanca (from Mexico), and Yuki (from Japan). I love the international cast members on all the Disney ships!
Our first night’s dinner was in Animator’s Palate. Animator’s Palate on the Dream has a fantastic Finding Dory/Nemo theme, with TV screens showing very cute “live” scenes from the movies. Also, Crush shows up and actually interacts with the guests (similar to Turtle Talk with Crush at Epcot). The Animator’s Palate on the Magic is actually about animation. You’ll see scenes from various movies being shown on all the TV screens in this restaurant.
Our dining room server was Oliver from the Philippines, while his assistant was Joy from South Africa. Oliver was pretty good, although it took him a little time to warm up to us (maybe he was shy?). Joy truly was a joy, and we enjoyed her company.
For dinner I had the tomato tarte, the black truffle pasta purseittes, black bean chipotle cakes, and the cheesecake (you’ll notice a trend throughout our cruise: I always order way too much food at dinner – I just have to try everything!). My husband had the arugula leaves, as well as the black bean chipotle cakes. My son had chicken tenders, French fries, and pasta with tomato sauce every single night of the cruise (gotta love that kids’ menu!).
After we finished our main course, the dining room’s lights darkened and the TV screens started showing a montage video of various Disney animated films. At the end of the montage, there was a big surprise: Fantasia Mickey showed up and danced around the dining room! It was pretty exciting to see him, as we totally were not expecting that.
Speaking of Mickey, here is a photo of my son’s dessert – a Mickey bar:
Here is a picture of my cheesecake – yum! I love how they “painted” the raspberry sauce on the plate:
After dinner, we headed over to the Lobby Atrium for Mickey’s Tree Lighting Magic, which was going to start at 7:30pm. The place was super-crowded, but somehow we were able to squeeze ourselves in a spot overlooking the balcony.
It was a Disney character extravaganza, which we love! Here is a photo of Mickey, Minnie, and Santa Goofy singing and dancing prior to the tree lighting:
Reindeer Pluto joins the fun:
And, here is the tree after it was lit by Mickey:
After all the fun, we headed back to our stateroom. We already were well past my son’s usual bedtime of 7:30pm, so it was time to hit the sack.
One of my favorite things about cruises, especially Disney cruises, is the creativity (and amazing service) of our cabin stewards. Flora, our stateroom “hostess” (sorry, not a cabin steward on a Disney cruise), was phenomenal at crafting towel origami. Case in point for our first night:
Our towel “snowman” was reminding us that tomorrow morning was Christmas Day! We would be at sea on our way to Cozumel, Mexico. This would be our first time on a ship on all together at Christmas. We couldn’t wait to see what Disney had in store for us!
Up next: Christmas day at sea!
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