This is a guest trip report written by Carol, who sailed on the most recent 10 night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords and Iceland on the Disney Magic on August 16, 2018. You can start the trip report from the beginning by clicking here.
Day 1: Boarding the Disney Magic
After spending 3 amazing days in Copenhagen it was time to start our cruise! We took a taxi from our AirBnB to the Copenhagen port the morning of embarkation day. For us, staying in an AirBnB and taking a taxi was the easiest way to get to the port. Some of the hotels had bus transportation to the port, so depending on where you stay it is useful to check into the different options of transportation. Being this was our first platinum cruise, we were excited to be able to board the ship early so we got the to port early as well. We had never departed from the port in Copenhagen before so weren’t sure what to expect. We had to go through the standard security screening, of course, show passports and put our carryons through x-ray machines. Once through the initial screening, the port is very plain. Unlike Port Canaveral that has TV’s showing cartoons, models of the ships, check-in for the kids clubs, DVC area for members, and always a character with a line waiting for pictures, the port at Copenhagen is much quieter and laid back. While there was a character (we saw Minnie), there is none of the other amenities that Port Canaveral has. It is basically just an area to check in for your cruise and wait to be called to the ship. We did look into a stateroom upgrade – we had a stateroom with a porthole on deck 2 and were able to secure an upgrade to a room with a veranda on deck 6 for a very reasonable price to our pleasant surprise! This got our cruise off to an excellent start! I had been worried about being on deck 2 as I am prone to seasickness and had never stayed on such a low deck before. Plus, my husband LOVES to be able to look at the ocean, even if it is just for 10 minutes a day. All in all, the upgrade worked well in our favor.
Quickly we were on the ship and exploring the many areas. We ate lunch in Cabanas (as we always do) and then we proceeded to check out the Oceaner’s Lab and Club. On the Magic, the Oceaner’s Club has a Marvel themed area with Marvel’s Avenger’s Academy being of one of the main activities. They also have Andy’s Room and Pixie Hollow. The Oceaner’s Lab is themed like Captain Hook’s pirate ship and kids can even virtually navigate the ship!
After we explored the different areas on the ship, our stateroom was available, so we went and put our carry on luggage away. Some of our luggage began to arrive so we started to unpack. My son and husband decided that this was the only day when it might be nice enough to swim so they went for a dip in the pool. My daughter and I did some unpacking and then went to hang out on the pool deck with them for a little while. Then we had to get ready for the mandatory safety drill. Before we had to go to the safety drill, we had received all of our luggage. Since we upgraded our stateroom, some of it had been delivered to our old stateroom, but we managed to get it all up to our new stateroom and mostly unpacked before the safety drill.
Then we went to the mandatory safety drill, which is the same every time, but important to attend, of course. Immediately following the safety drill is the Adventures Away sail away party on deck, which is always fun and to which we go to on every cruise. It always has the cruise staff dancing and singing, and usually the cruise director, which on this ship was Leslie (who was great!!!) and of course, the world-famous Disney Characters!
After the deck party, we watched us sail out of Copenhagen. It was really beautiful: we saw wind turbines and sail boats, and gorgeous scenery. It was peaceful and enjoyable watching us sail out of port, and later we were treated to an absolutely gorgeous sunset.
One of my favorite things about cruising with Disney is my towel animal every night (and the chocolates on my pillow). Here is our first towel animal of this cruise:
Our stateroom host, Dom, made sure we had everything we needed and kept us entertained with his amazing work on his towel animals all cruise long.
We had late dinner this cruise, which for this itinerary was 8:30 pm. This meant we had the opportunity to see the show first. At this time, Disney is still doing what many people call “1 1/2” showings of their big shows, which means that on one night they will show a major production twice, opposite the 2 dinner seatings, and the next night they will show it once, in between the dinner seatings. The theory is that this gives people more choices of what to see and when. On the first night of our cruise they were showing Twice Charmed, which is one of their “big” productions between dinner seatings, but were also showing it again the next night opposite your dinner seating, and were also running a game show called “The Inside Out Game” opposite our dinner seating. Our kids wanted to see this, so we went. It’s a family game show based on the movie Inside Out, and has 2 families answering questions based on the feelings used in the movie. It’s fun to watch and was a good time for all.
Our first dinner was at Animator’s Palate. This is my absolute favorite restaurant on every ship so I was very excited to start here.
Our servers for this cruise were Steve and Widi and they were excellent! Our head server was Simone and he was amazing! We had such a great team this time! Our first meal was good, and we headed off to bed well fed, tired and ready for our first day in Norway.
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Up Next: Day 2 – Kristiansand, Norway
Click here to visit Carol’s blog about her family’s travels all over the world.
Thanks for the information on the port. Did you notice where to get a cab? We’ll be getting off instead of getting on in Copenhagen. Also thanks for the upgrade heads up.
I didn’t know where to get a cab, but we got one to the port very easily and the port isn’t very large so I would imagine there would be cabs waiting outside. I am glad you are finding the information helpful!!!