Christmas on the Magic 2016 - COMPLETED

[FSU Girl]

This is my first Trip Report, so hopefully I do a good job. I've been struggling with the pictures actually showing up so fingers crossed they do when I hit post. I've read many and they helped with my planning of my first cruise so I thought mine might help others as well

Some background information. This was my first Disney cruise and my boyfriend's third, but our first cruise together. It was a romantic trip with just the two of us and was an amazing time.

DAY ONE - MIAMI (DECEMBER 23)




I had been watching the countdown for months and the day was finally here! We live about an hour away from Miami where the ship was sailing out of and had a 12:30pm PAT. I am a little OCD about being on time so we ended up arriving at exactly 12pm. I had read on these boards that by 12:30 everyone was allowed to board and it seemed to be the case for us as well. I wanted to wait in line to meet Mickey before getting on the ship, unfortunately, his line was incredibly long and they made an announcement as we walked up that he would be leaving soon. So instead we decided to head straight onto the ship.



The ship was so beautiful all decked out in Christmas decorations. I was wondering how the ship would look since she had been built in 1998, but once on board it was like she was a brand new ship. I absolutely loved the lifesize gingerbread house.



There were little touches all over the ship to let you know you were on a Christmas cruise. I felt like the added charm really made this cruise feel special.


While waiting in line to meet Pluto I noticed that the top of the Christmas tree was anchored down, I guess incase of rough waves they wouldn't want it falling over.


We had a verandah room midship on deck 6. Compared to other cruise lines I had sailed on this room was huge. It was also my first time having a balcony and I could not be more excited. we went outside often and I felt the added expensive was completely worth it. Not sure I'll be able to sail any other way now.



We did a walking tour to get a feel of the ship with Jamezy, he was awesome and we saw him frequently around the ship. It definitely helped learning where everything was. Afterwards we went back to the cabin to relax then Muster Drill then sail away party. The only time it rained on the entire cruise was the beginning of the sail away party. It didn't last long, but it sent me indoors. We had first seating for dinner and I wanted to get ready for that anyway.


We had rotation LAACLAC. I was a little bummed that we would be in Animators Palate the third night since we were going to Palo's, but they did honor our request to have a table for just the two of us. I hadn't had high hopes we would get that with this being a Christmas cruise so I was really happy. Normally I like to sit with others and meet people, but this being our first cruise as a couple I wanted dinners to be just us.


I almost never drink soda at home, but since it was free on the cruise I seemed to go a little overboard drinking Coke every night. I really enjoyed this meal at Lumiere's. This first course was shrimp and lobster.

I decided to be brave and try escargot. Once I got past the fact I was eating snails it turned out to be delicious.

I've apparently reached the max number of photos allowed for a post so I will post the rest of the first day later.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

So far so good! It feels like we are there with you. You sure you never did one of these before?

 

[FSU Girl]

DAY ONE - MIAMI (DECEMBER 23) PART 2

For my main course I had Filet Mignon which is my absolute favorite cut of steak. It came out just the way I like it (medium well).


For dessert I had the Grand Marnier soufflé which was delicious. My boyfriend had the crème brulee.


I had read on these boards about being able to order the mickey bars, but had totally forgot once I was on the ship. Then a table next to us had a child eating one so I asked our waiter if I could get one. He was happy to do it and I ended up ordering one almost every night for dessert.


After dinner we went to the show. Since we had first dinner at 5:45pm our show time was at 8:30pm. We only got there a couple minutes early so we found seats about twenty rows up. It was a physical comedian named the Great DuBois, who did a really good job. He performed for the adults as well that was entertaining. Before the show they had the tree lighting ceremony that I wanted to go see, which is why we didn't get to the show early. We didn't have the best view, but it was packed by the time we got there.


After the show we went back to the cabin to relax until it was time for the adult activities that didn't start until 10:15pm
This guy was waiting for us. Not sure exactly what it is? A seal maybe?

Before going to Fathoms (the adult only area where all the adult activities took place) we went to the main atrium to watch Ana and Elsa make it snow. Santa and Mrs. Claus had landed their sleigh on the ship to make sure all the kids would get their presents in time for Christmas.


I loved all the characters dressed in their Christmas clothes they were adorable. Fathoms was fun, we never participated in the shows, but they were hilarious to watch. The first night we missed most of the beginning watching the show in the atrium, but the ending had people running all over the place, women taking their bras off to give to men to dress up in and listening to David the adult cruise host (I forgot what his official title was). He was hilarious.
After the show ended they had a DJ put on music, but we never stayed for this part. We went up to the pool deck and had some late night pizza (which I forgot to take a picture of the entire cruise) and watched some Disney movies on our TV back in our cabin until falling asleep.

Up next Christmas Eve a Day at Sea

 

[FSU Girl]

So far so good! It feels like we are there with you. You sure you never did one of these before?

Thank you! Nope, this is my very first one

 

[o&smom]

Great trip report! Cannot wait to read more!

 

[FSU Girl]

DAY TWO - SEA DAY (DECEMBER 24) PART ONE

So I am the type of person that absolutely loves sleep - I am a morning person - but given the choice I would sleep for hours on end. My boyfriend on the other hand does not know how to sleep in, even when on vacation. So I'm pretty sure we never slept past 8am any day of the cruise.

This is not a bad view to wake up to. I loved walking out onto my balcony and seeing nothing but ocean for miles around. I just find the ocean so beautiful, especially when you are in so far out in the middle of it where the water is such an intense dark blue. I could spend hours out there just gazing at the waves. I don't have a lot of pictures from the day. We went to the pool and swam for a couple hours. The adult pool was fantastic. I'm not sure if it was because it was a Christmas cruise and all the adults were with their kids or they didn't like the rough waves (the pool was a bit rocky with the water going down to where I could stand and then up over the sides) but we had the entire pool to ourselves. I believe three people ventured into the water when we were in it the entire cruise and never stayed longer than a couple minutes. The water felt fantastic as it was slightly heated. I tried to go in the hot tub, but I found the water to be too hot. We tried to go on the aquadunk, but it was closed the first two sea days due to the wind. But besides the wind the weather was perfect. It was sunny and not too hot, but not cold. I was in heaven. We had lunch at Cabanas and went back to the room early to shower and get ready for formal night.

We watched some Disney classic movies while getting ready for dinner. Dinner started at 5:45 and we were in Animator's Palate that night. I was really excited because I had read many great things about this restaurant. Before dinner we went to the atrium to take some pictures. They had all the classic backdrops out for professional shots. I knew I wasn't going to spend the ridiculous amounts to buy those so we decided to get some of our own in before dinner. They were also passing out free drinks to people while waiting for Captain Marco to show up.


I tried to get a picture showing the fire place inside the gingerbread house was very pretty.

I will post more later

 

[FSU Girl]

DAY TWO - SEA DAY (DECEMBER 24) PART TWO

We both were really excited to eat at Animator's Palate this night. Me, because I had read this was the best restaurant on the ship and the shows here were not to be missed. And my boyfriend because he had only been on the Dream and Fantasy before and this was a different experience for him as well. It did not disappoint. I only took pictures before the show I think I got caught up in the magic. I also forgot to take pictures of most my food, but I remember liking it a lot.

I just love all the sketches on the walls as you walk in.

I tried to get an action shot of how the front of the menu changed as you moved it.

I absolutely love the plates and silverware in this restaurant. Does anyone know if you can buy these from Disney?? I would love to get the plates and this butter knife is soooo cute. I really hope there is somewhere I can buy these.

The table number in this restaurant is so cute. I love how detailed this restaurant was.

Here are just some pictures I took of the restaurant. I'm actually happy I didn't take pictures of the show that way it doesn't ruin the surprise for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It is really cute you will love it.



Fantasia Mickey showed up after the show. I tried to get a picture of him, but he never walked close by our table and was moving pretty fast. We saw him walking in the hall the next night I wish we could have stopped to take a picture with him then. I think he had just finished up the show when we saw him then.

A delicious cheesecake for dessert, one of the rare nights I didn't order the mickey bar. You can see our coke and ice tea in the background. What I loved about our waitstaff was the first night we ordered those two drinks and then every night after they were there waiting for us. It was a nice touch that they remembered what we liked.

After dinner we went to see the show Twice Charmed. I really enjoyed it. It was the first Broadway style show of the cruise and it did not disappoint. The premise of the show is what would have happened if Cinderella's other glass slipper broke. I thought it was a fantastic production and the fact they had fireworks on the stage at the end was beyond cool.

We went down to Fathom's for the adult show that night - Match Your Mate. It was probably the best night for adults, in my opinion. They had three couples come on stage. A newly engaged couple, a couple who had been married I think 15 years I don't remember, and then a couple who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. I'm pretty sure couple number three became the favorite couple of the cruise after this show.

 

[FSU Girl]

I noticed on a lot of other trip reports people have more than 10 photos in a post. When I try to post more than 10 I get an error and it tells me that 10 is the max. How are others getting around that?

 

[FSU Girl]

DAY TWO - SEA DAY (DECEMBER 24) PART THREE

After the show we headed back to our room and found some adorable Christmas presents waiting for us.

This was a box of delicious chocolate truffles with a full size Mickey head that was made out of solid chocolate. We ended up saving this for the last day of our cruise and had chocolate for breakfast.
This is the second lithograph(I think that's what these are called) I've received from Disney. The first one I got was when I was at Disney World and we received one under the door inviting us to come to a DVC meeting. We had been upgraded to BLT so I think that's why they did that for us. It was really cute, Mickey and Minnie at the Polynesian hotel. I'm not sure what to do with these though, what have others done with them? Do you frame them and hang them up in your home? I think they are so cute and would love to display them.

We spent some time out on our balcony watching the waves go by. I think there is just something so peaceful being out in the middle of the ocean. The smell of the sea and how quiet it is, I just love it. I tried taking some pictures of the stars (they were so bright!) but they came out as little white specks and not very impressive. I guess my iPhone just didn't cut it.

I love writing this trip report. It's like I get to relive my vacation all over again!

 

[scrappydew]

Enjoying your report!

 

[FSU Girl]

DAY THREE - SEA DAY (DECEMBER 25)

Hi everyone, please let me know if I'm doing my trip report okay. Should I do something different or add something? I'm open to lots of suggestions. I'm enjoying posting it, just want to make sure it's fun for everyone else to read!

Christmas morning and I woke up to this gorgeous sight. Having a balcony room for the first time totally spoiled me. I loved opening the curtains and seeing the ocean just outside. It was a nice place to relax and eat some breakfast from Cabanas (my amazing boyfriend went up and brought food to our room most mornings since he is an early riser and I am not)


We had a relaxing sea day planned ahead of us. Now my two sea days are starting to blend together so I'm not 100% sure what happened on which day. I believe this was the day we went to see Rouge One in the Walt Disney theater. It was showing in the early afternoon and we had a Mixology class planned for 4pm that day. I loved the movie, I am a Star Wars fan and had held off watching this movie in theaters since I knew they'd be showing it on the ship. For some reason I wasn't sleeping that well the first couple nights of the cruise (I think I was still adjusting to being on a moving ship) so I was really tired when we went to the movie. I ended up falling asleep in the middle. We went to see the movie again on our last sea day where I stayed up the whole time.

We did another walking tour of the ship. This one was to give background history on the design of the ship. It started up at Palo (Where we would be dining later that night) It was incredibly hot when we got up there. I think the A/C wasn't working properly. Jamezy was our tour guide. He had been ours for the first walking tour on day one and it was nice seeing him again. He brought us into Palo and gave us a brief history of how the restaurant was designed to look like Venice where the ship was built and Palo was the word to describe the long stick the gondola's use. The tour went down to deck five (We had not even been on this floor yet on our cruise. Since we didn't have kids with us there really wasn't much there except the smaller movie theater) I think Jamezy is hilarious and gave a great tour. At the end he asked if we had any questions and we all ended up staying an extra half hour talking to him. He said that had never happened before.

So I was trying to not spend a lot on board the cruise since it was so expensive to begin with. I figured the easiest way to overspend was buying lots of alcoholic drinks. We scheduled a Mixology class figuring it would be a good monetary deal. It was only $20 a person and we received 5 drinks. Since my martini from the night before cost $12 this seemed like a great deal.

The Mixology class was held in the adult bar Keys. This was the only time we went into this bar. I think it might be because the walking tour we did on the first day said this bar was for mostly the much older crowd and had a piano player every night. It's not really our thing to sit and listen to music so the other adult areas appealed more to us. I did find it a very nice looking bar, I wish I had taken more pictures of the area.


Belle was behind the bar pouring the two full already made drinks. The one on the left was a PPJ martini (this one was my absolute favorite and I ended up having a second since there were some extras at the end. It was a combination of Frangelico and dark raspberry liquor. It honestly did taste just like a PPJ and was very sweet) and the drink of the right was a blue margarita. I was not a fan of the margarita and only drank about half of it. I prefer my drinks to be strong, but not taste like alcohol.

When we sat down they had two drinks already laid out on the table that we would be making. The drink with the limes was some Brazilian drink. I forgot what the shot was, but we were told the locals call it jet fuel. Mixing it with agave and the limes makes it taste much better. We used that black stick thing to mush it all together. The Champagne drink I forgot what they had in it. They topped it off with more champagne and I enjoyed that one.



Here's a collective picture of all our drinks on the left. On the right is the last drink we had - a B52. Normally this drink is lit on fire and you suck it down with a straw. Since we were on a moving ship in the middle of the ocean Disney decided that having an open flame was a bad idea. The drink started off with the two bottom layers and then we poured the Grand Marnier on top using this twirly looking spoon. It was very strong, but tasted good. I'm not a big drinker and a bit of a light weight so after these five drinks I was a bit tipsy. We were going to Palo for dinner this night, but the reservation wasn't until 8pm so I figured I had plenty of time to sober up. In the future I won't be scheduling one of these drinking classes before a fancy dinner.

The show this night was the same physical comedian from night one - The Great DuBois. Since we had seen him the first night and the second night in the adult area, we opted out of going this night and relaxing in our cabin. It helped me sober up from all the drinks and watch some Disney classics. Since we were going to the special restaurant I wanted plenty of time to dress up for dinner.



It was time for dinner yay!

I had read some many good reviews for this restaurant I could not wait to try it. My boyfriend was very excited too, it would be his first time trying this restaurant as well.

We were seated next to a window, but since it was long past sunset we couldn't see outside. Our waiter was very nice and started us off with a sampler platter. The balsamic drizzle on the cheese was soooo good. I've never had it before like that, it was thick and a little sweet. We got a couple appetizers, but I forgot to take a picture and have no memory of what we ordered.


They brought us a palate cleanser and then it was time for the main course. I ordered the Filet Mignon. It was cooked perfectly and tasted absolutely amazing.


My boyfriend ordered veal. He thought it was very good as well. Although I love meat I can't bring myself to order veal since it's a baby cow. For dessert we both ordered the chocolate soufflé. It was really good. I also got espresso gelato, which tasted really good as well.



After dessert they brought out a complementary shot of alcohol. Our waiter acted like this was something special he was doing for us because he liked us so much, but I had read on here that everyone receives one of these. I forget what it was exactly, but it tasted like hard apple juice and I was not a fan.



We decided to call it an early night this night and skipped the adult show. Got back to the room and found this cute little elephant wearing my boyfriend's sunglasses. We had to be up early the next morning for our snorkeling excursion in Tortola!

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

I'm loving your review! Keep it up. The pictures are fantastic (and unlike some peoples' pictures I can see these no problem), and your personal stories and opinions make me feel like I'm there again too.

 

[oufpat]

You are doing an excellent job with your trip report, looking forward to more!!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Loving your report as well, we did a merrytime cruise on the Magic Dec 2015 and loved it too. You can by the way get the animators palate butter knife at the shops onboard. At least you could on the Fantasy, we had just got one this past October. It was $8.95 maybe?

 

[FSU Girl]

Loving your report as well, we did a merrytime cruise on the Magic Dec 2015 and loved it too. You can by the way get the animators palate butter knife at the shops onboard. At least you could on the Fantasy, we had just got one this past October. It was $8.95 maybe?

Thank you! I'm planning my next cruise for this May, I'll have to get them when I'm on board.

 

[FSU Girl]

DAY FOUR - TORTOLA (DECEMBER 26)

Land! I was so excited to wake up and see an island outside my window. Before the trip I had looked into the weather and the reports had said it was going to rain the entire day. I was so happy when it turned out to be a bright sunny day and the rain clouds stayed off in the distance. We had a beautiful view of the island before a Royal Caribbean ship showed up. I took A LOT of pictures this day. Some on my phone and many on an underwater camera I had bought for this trip.









We did an excursion through the cruise. Here's the description from Disney's website:

Treasure Island Swim & Snorkel (TT44)
Swim the crystal-clear waters of a colorful wonderland of coral formations, exotic fish and unusual marine life.

On this adventure you will…

• Board your 57-foot catamaran Rebel Yell at the pier. Your friendly crew will greet you and conduct a short safety briefing to make sure you are well-settled before the captain sets sail.
• Cruise approximately 30 minutes across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to one of the British Virgin Island's prime snorkel sites.
• Your approximately 60-minute snorkeling adventure is all about enjoying the beautiful clear waters of the Virgin Islands, the myriad marine life and an idyllic Caribbean beach.
• Upon arriving at your snorkel site, an experienced instructor will guide you around the underwater world of uninhabited, legendary Norman Island.
• The cave furthest to the south once contained a horde of treasure and the reputed history of piracy on this island is immortalized in Robert Louis Stevenson's famous book Treasure Island. The pristinely clear waters of this area make it easy to observe the exotic fish and the abundant marine life of this colorful wonderland of coral formations.
• Once back on board Rebel Yell, you will motor approximately 15 minutes into Pirates Bight, where your boat will dock. Here, you have approximately 90-minutes to snorkel from the beach or simply relax.
• Finally, reboard your catamaran and cruise approximately 30 minutes back to the pier in Road Town.

I had a lot of fun on this excursion. All the pictures were taken on my underwater camera. The boat ride to the first snorkeling spot was a little bumping and very windy. We got wet from the water being kicked up from the sides of the boat, The Rebel Yell. On the way there they handed out waivers we had to sign and cups of water. Everyone was given a snorkeling mask and flippers along with an inflatable vest that allowed you to easily float on the surface. You could increase and decrease the amount of air in the vest if you want to swim deeper.




I noticed when I was swimming over the deeper parts of the ocean my pictures had more of a blue tint to them. When I got really close to the coral the blue went away.




There were so many fish swimming everywhere. I realized it was difficult to see what exactly I was taking pictures of with my snorkeling mask on. I did my best to get the fishies in the shot.

 

[FSU Girl]

DAY FOUR - TORTOLA (DECEMBER 26) PART TWO - SNORKELING



They had said the water temperature was around 80 degrees. That might seem hot, but the water felt very cold for this Florida girl. Once in the water for a bit it wasn't so bad and as long as you kept moving it wasn't unbearable.




There was a little blue fish swimming over the coral that I found to be such a beautiful color. He was swimming very quickly so it was difficult getting a picture of him.


Me attempting to do an artsy shot of the surface of the ocean.



So one thing you have to keep in mind when you are snorkeling is that all sight and sound around you is muted from the water. It is really peaceful, but you have to be careful not to accidentally kick someone you can see behind you. Unfortunately, for my boyfriend, I learned the hard way. I kicked him in the face and knocked his snorkel mask off. I felt soooo bad. He wanted to swim back to the boat to get some water to drink so I followed him back. Since the boat was anchored in the deeper part of the water larger fish were swimming around there. I ended up getting caught in a giant school of fish.




The fish were swimming very fast so some of them came out in a blur. Action shot!


Here's a view of what it looked like on the surface.

Taking a picture of my flipper feet. Closest I'll get to becoming a mermaid

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Thanks for the picture of the flippers. It is helpful to see what the equipment looks like. Pretty decent flippers. Was the mask the "traditional" type?

 

[FSU Girl]

DAY FOUR - TORTOLA (DECEMBER 26) PART THREE - SNORKELING


I don't know if my pictures capture how beautiful the water was here. I'm not sure how long we were swimming for, but they rounded us all up to get back on the boat eventually. We would have a short boat ride to our next location - Pirate's Bight. It was a small island with a beach and a bar and that's about it. There were dozens of boats anchored off shore. Tortola is the sailing capital of the world.



We saw a pelican sunbathing on the dock. He flew away before anyone could walk near him.

Pirate's Bight

We opted to not buy any drinks or food at the bar. It was all very expensive and the excursion was due to end around noon so we decided we'd wait to be back on the ship to eat some free food instead. The water here felt even colder than the first snorkeling spot. It might be because we weren't really moving around. I brought my mask with me so I could do a little snorkeling. Most of the time was spent near the shore holding onto my boyfriend and just floating around. We had some people ask if we were on our honeymoon because we were so cute together. (We aren't even engaged yet)


I wanted to get a picture of how the water gradually changed colors as the water got deeper. I feel like this could be a painting (minus the two random people swimming in my shot)

They let us hang out here for a while (it was hard to know what time it was without my phone) There was a dock right next to the bar that would have been very convenient to get to, but unfortunately our boat docked at the far away dock that you had to walk on a gravel mountainous path to get to. We got back on the boat a few minutes before it was time to leave.

The boat ride back was a bit choppy and some people who were walking around had to hold on tight as they moved. They gave out Rum Punch to all the adults and Fruit Punch to the kids.

It was still very sunny out (I got a really bad sunburn on my back even with sunscreen), but some clouds were rolling in at this point.


I loved taking pictures of the back of the boat. I think it's so cute and clever that they have Goofy painting the words.


Our temporary boat for the excursion. I sat behind the R and had some great views of the island from back there.

We opted to go right back on the ship. It was around 12 and we hadn't had anything to eat since 7 this morning so we were both hungry. They wouldn't let us walk right back to the ship, instead redirecting us to go through the little shops area.

I thought this sign outside a bar was funny.

 

[FSU Girl]

Thanks for the picture of the flippers. It is helpful to see what the equipment looks like. Pretty decent flippers. Was the mask the "traditional" type?

The flippers were great! It made swimming so much easier with them. I think the mask was traditional, if you got water instead the mask you had to lift your head out of the water and pull the mask off to drain the water. If you got water in the breathing tub thing you had to blow it out or take off the mask. It also fogged up pretty easily and to make it go back to clear you put a little water in and then dumped it out. Hope that helps!