Day 1 - Walking on to the Ship and Rapunzel's Royal Table for Dinner
We arrived in Miami on Saturday night (the cruise began on Sunday) just FYI we stayed at the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon by the airport. I had booked a room several months out and so it was only $160 which we didn't think was bad. It wasn't amazing but not it was great for what we needed. And they had a little breakfast in the morning so that made life easy. We took an Uber over to the port and it only cost like $20 with the tip.
Since this was our first
Disney Cruise we were only able to made reservations for the meet and greets, special meals, etc. 75 days out. I had been worried we wouldn't get everything we wanted because I had been reading other reviews of people not getting the meet and greets they wanted and having to check in really late on the ship because of the time they reserved. We actually got everything we wanted... Maybe not at the exact time that would have been ideal but we were able to book a Palo Brunch and meet and greets with the Princesses, Frozen Character, Groot, and the special Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Panther meet and greet. Plus our time to arrive at the ship was 12 pm. So I felt like that was great for our first time on a Disney Cruise.
As I mentioned in my initial post, neither me or my buddy had ever been on a cruise ship before. So we were both excited but not fully sure what to expect.
Getting through security wasn't bad, and there were a ton of people in the waiting area waiting for their number to be called... But because of the number we were assigned we were able to go right in.
Walking on to the ship for the first time was unforgettable! So magical and so fun as they announce your name and all cheer for you.
While I know the Magic is the oldest ship you really wouldn't know that just by looking at the ship alone. It recently returned from a Dry Dock and it looked beautiful. Plus crew members were always working hard to clean, sand, fix things around the ship.
We spent a little bit of time exploring the ship waiting for our room to open to drop off our smaller day bag and camera bag that we wanted to keep with us.
I didn't take a picture of the room but I have a clip of it in a video that I will post below. We were on Deck 5 in the Aft with one of the Navigator Veranda's. I had heard both great and some mixed reviews of this area of the ship. We really enjoyed the location for getting to everything else. (Especially for the nightly meals and character meet and greets) Yes there were some vibrations at night that woke me and my friend up the first night. But once we got used to those it really wasn't a problem. If you are a light sleeper maybe bring some ear plugs and maybe just a little sleep medicine or something but after the first night we were fine.
And I really liked the Navigator veranda. It felt like a private extension of our room cut off from all the other veranda's.
As we dropped things off our All-Star room host came by to meet us and every time he would see us he would greet us by name and ask questions about how we were enjoying things. He was SO GREAT.
I know some people hate going to Cabana's the first day of the cruise because it is pretty hectic, but we were going about 2 hours after it had opened... And we wanted to dive in to the whole experience and it was a great first meal. It wasn't over crowded and everything after that first meal didn't seem crowded at all
As you can see... I mostly ate like a 6 year old for my first meal.
After exploring some more and doing the safety drill we were able to watch the adventure away show. It was also a fun way to start the cruise.
We ate some ice cream, headed down to the room and were shocked when we looked out the window and saw that we were moving because we couldn't feel it. Haha.
Although once we got into the open water we started to feel the waves but it was a fun first moment to realize we were sailing away.
That evening we saw Twice Charmed. I really enjoyed this show, it wasn't my favorite of the three but it was something different then the usual Cinderella story and I thought the effects were pretty good for being on a ship. Plus the cast was awesome.
Earlier in the day we had checked to see if our request to be seated alone had worked out. They said we were currently alone, but we were at a big table so it is possible others would be put there if someone requested a time change. The head serve said if we were willing to change rotations he had a table just for us. (We knew it might be fun to meet other people but at the same time it was our first cruise so that idea was still unnerving to us.) So he switched which restaurant we would start in... So on our first night we went to the new Rapunzel's Royal Table.
The decor is really nice. I love the lantern's for lights. The live music, songs and interactions throughout the night are fun. Rapunzel and Flynn drop by each table and say hello.
The food was also amazing! I had the tangled Pasta and some really good salad. And look at the detail on that bread bowl!!!
And since this restaurant is new and I love all things Disney any dessert that had some Tangled themed name... (or if it just sounded good) we ordered. Haha
They were all great but the chocolate tower cake was my favorite for taste. The Fry bread in the Fry pan won for being the most adorable.
We ended the night by going to see Captain Mickey and then to see some of the "hired" entertainment who did a little variety show for adults that night.
This was the perfect start to a wonderful vacation and it was only day one!
Thanks for following along. And if I missed any details that would be helpful if you are planning a trip on the Magic let me know and I can try to answer.
I left out plenty of details so if you have any desire to see more here is my video from day 1:
Get excited for day 2... Marvel Day at Sea and Palo!