Full Review/Report of our 5-Night Magic Experience July 31-August 5, 2023

[2boysmommy]

I found myself with some extra time today and wrote out a review of our recent trip. I will post here with each day separately. Happy to answer any questions or post any photos.

We just disembarked from the 5-Night Silver Anniversary at Sea Western Caribbean Cruise from Miami, FL on the Disney Magic. I wanted to provide a quick report of our experience – from the exceptional to the not as much.

For reference, we are a multi-generation family of 10: kids ages 15, 17, 18, 21, their 2 sets of parents, and grandparents. This specific trip was booked as a HS graduation and 18th birthday trip for my niece and to celebrate my parents’ 55th anniversary and 75th birthdays. As a group we have done 5 DCL cruises, starting in 2012, on the Fantasy and Magic, and one NCL (Haven area). My immediate family of 4 has done one additional DCL and one Celebrity. My husband and I have also done 3 Princess and 2 additional Celebrity, my brother/SIL have done an additional Celebrity and RCL, and my parents have been on 25+ cruises across numerous cruise lines. All that is to say… we have a wide variety of experiences to compare this voyage to.

We had four category 5B Deluxe Oceanview with Veranda staterooms on Deck 6 and our dining rotation was Rapunzel’s Royal Table (Let the Magic Begin), Lumiere’s, Animator’s Palate, Animator’s (Pirate Night) and back to Rapunzel’s (lantern menu/show night).

We arrived the day prior to embarking and spent the night at the Hampton Inn in Brickell. It is a nice hotel – clean enough, decent breakfast, good location for dinner the night before and a quick walk to Publix. Unfortunately, their A/C was out in the lobby and our hallway, and it was toasty. Our rooms were cool enough, but this ended up being a running theme with our trip.

 

[2boysmommy]

DAY 1 – Miami, FL

The next morning, we took 3 Uber/Lyft XL vehicles to port; all departing at the same time and arriving within 7 minutes of each other. We could have crammed into 2 but chose to have some space and not stress about loading the luggage. Each cost $17-20 for the trip. We arrived at the port around 11:10 AM, dropped our bags with the excellent porters, and walked to the entrance. Our PATs were 11:30 and 11:45 AM (difference between Gold and Silver check-in dates) and they had the 11:30, 11:45 and 12:00 times standing to the side. Thankfully, just as we walked up, they waved us through. Security was a breeze and the check-in line moved very quickly. They walked us as a group to the escalator. I had an interesting encounter with a guy in Mickey gloves who told me “I don’t give a damn” when he stopped me after the rest of my group went to get on the escalator. I know they aren’t direct Disney employees, but it was a little shocking. I try hard to not let stuff like that get to me and was able to continue without incident. The waiting area was very crowded but right when we found seats, they called our Boarding Group (6) and within 5 minutes had called through group 9, which included the rest of us. After a great group photo, we took the long walk up the ramps to the ship.

We had them announce my parents with their grandkids separately from us and it was a special moment – Mickey was standing on the stairs waving and all was right in the world. We headed to Rapunzel’s for lunch knowing my parents wouldn’t navigate the crowds in the buffet too well. There was a line to get in and they kept encouraging us to go upstairs but it moved quickly, and we were seated within 10 minutes of boarding. We had Sompong and CJ as our service team. I get now why everyone raves about him. While our dinner team was great, Sompong is something special! CJ was a hoot – she’s from England but basically Wales but don’t say she’s from Wales. We saw her multiple times throughout the week and each time she remembered us and stopped for a chat. It’s those personal connections that make DCL special and was a wonderful start to our cruise.

As soon as we finished lunch, it was 1:25 and we headed to our rooms on deck 6. They were ready so we all got in and started to get settled. Our luggage started showing up quickly and we had almost all pieces across 4 rooms before the muster drill at 4:00. The last piece did not arrive until 5:30 PM – a great reminder to pack anything you absolutely need for the day/early evening in the bag you carry on! Jeffery was our stateroom host and was wonderful. He quickly opened the balcony dividers between our rooms (6068/6070/6072/6074) and fulfilled the few requests we had. Our Castaway Club gifts were on the bed – a quality, nice size tote bag, the very useful wet/dry bag, and our gold lanyards (which were very yellow and quite large).

For those looking for more information on these rooms, 6068/6070 connect and sleep up to 4 each with an upper pull-down bed. 6072/6074 connect but only sleep up to 3 each as they do not have the upper bed. There is a solid wall between 6074 and 6076 so if you have those two rooms you would not be able to open a balcony divider between them.

After a HOT, sticky, and crowded muster drill on the Promenade Deck, we made our way to Deck 10 to watch the sail away show from above. The Cruise Director and team were the least exciting of any ship we have been on. They were all nice and we got to know them through the week. They just lacked the energy you expect from a DCL team. We quickly moved to the Sports Deck area to play some games and watch the port exit from a less crowded area. After enjoying the pilot boat almost forcibly remove a sailboat from our path, we were on our way.

Most of us went to the Tangled show that evening in the Walt Disney Theater. It was very good but very long so be prepared. We did not have a ton of time between it ending and needing to be at dinner. The theater was packed and fairly loud, but everyone seemed to enjoy the show. The lantern part towards the end is unique and beautiful. Maximus was awesome and made me laugh every time he was on stage.

We had the late seating (8:15 PM) which we have picked for every cruise, even when our kids were young. I know most people don’t love this time but for us it works very well. We’ve never had the Let the Magic Begin menu and we found it overall to be better than the See Ya Real Soon/’Til We Meet Again menu. Whether that was first night food happiness vs. last night food indifference…who knows. We were at table 58 – a large oval for our group of 10. Our table location in this restaurant was towards the stage area and in the middle of other tables. Joey and Anya (sp?) were our service team and were wonderful this night and throughout the cruise. They work so hard but always have a smile on their faces. We had celebration cakes for my parents’ anniversary and my brother’s birthday…which was in February. That one was a joke by our Head Waiter. My niece had made a big deal about it being HER trip so he was purposely bringing out random cakes to others. He finally brought out a birthday cake for her…the first of many she would have!!

After dinner my husband, nephew and I went to our Whiskey Tasting experience. It was $50/person and met in the Cove Café. Jarvis led the 10 participants in a tasting of 5 different whiskeys. We learned a lot of history and some of the nuances of whiskey from various parts of the world. Some of the ones we tasted were very expensive and I doubt I will drink them again, so it was unique. By this point we were full and exhausted so we crashed hard.

 

[2boysmommy]

DAY 2 – Castaway Cay

This was the day I was most looking forward to as Castaway Cay is always my favorite port. We have never had it so early in the cruise, but it felt like a great way to kick things off. I was up early, got dressed, and packed up my stuff to disembark as soon as the gangway was open. I headed up to Cabanas to grab a coffee and bite to eat…and hit a WALL of people. The line to enter was out the door, through the elevator lobby, out the other door, past Daisy’s De-Lights, and halfway down the sun chairs on the pool deck. I immediately gave up on that thought and headed to Cove Café. There were at least 10 groups in front of me so I grabbed a coffee from the drink station and went down the elevators to Deck 1. My SIL met me on the dock, we stopped to buy the soft-side cooler with waters, and we started walking to get seats. Our family always chooses the second, smaller family beach as our kids like the water slides. Given how old they are compared to our last visit, we should have stopped at the larger beach for the better view! We also like as much shade and umbrella coverage as we can group together. Not wanting to monopolize the front row, we grabbed 6 seats on the front and 4 behind. We settled in and waited for the rest of the crew.

About 30 minutes later, no sooner than their feet touched the sand, it started raining. Sideways. Plus a decent amount of thunder and some visible lightning. It lasted about 30-45 minutes in total, and we basically just waited it out at the seats. My SIL walked my mom to the closest bar area for some shelter, but once you were that wet it really didn’t matter. After it stopped, we dried everything off as best we could and went on with our Castaway day! My oldest son ran the 5K during all of that and was soaked. Since he’s 17, he still requires an adult to take him off and on the ship so I walked back with him. After we got his clothes wrung out and his shoes taken apart to dry, we hurried back to get lunch at Cookies Too. In hindsight, we should have grabbed some lunch on the ship before we went back. We always love the Castaway lunch but today it was a miss. My burger patty was a charred hockey puck and the chicken was insanely dry. The sides were fine, so I mainly ate coleslaw and corn/black bean salad. Of course, a chocolate chip cookie with soft serve made it all better.

After lunch, my teens went off to find the Vibe hangout and we didn’t really see them the rest of the day. The rest of us enjoyed the beach and the ocean and went down the waterslides a couple of times. Most of our group had headed back to the ship by 2:30 so my husband and I decided to do the snorkel trail. We were being cheap ($34/person for rental gear) so we just got the required vests and used goggles. It made for a much harder swim, but we were able to see 4 of the sunken items before we had to head back. The water is so salty that you can float with almost zero effort. It’s so very strange but really cool. By the time we got back it was after 4:00 so we packed up and headed back to the ship.

This was the first day we commented on the smell in our toilet room. It was an overwhelming urine smell, almost as though someone had peed directly into the floor drain. Jeffery was on it immediately, cleaning the room and adding some additional fragrance. He also called for maintenance to come take a look. They ended up putting a piece of duct tape over the drain. It didn’t help.

One thing we noticed on this cruise was a lack of organized family activities. It seems that many activities that used to be available to all ages is now behind the various youth clubs. We have great memories of the vegetable and the soap car races, towel folding, origami, drawing classes, etc. when our kids were young. It was fun to be able to participate as a multi-generational group. We had one towel folding class and one drawing experience that was not in a youth club. All that was really offered were some coloring sessions (literally printed pages with markers available) and 3D crafts (cutting and folding paper) that you did on your own, bingo (very expensive) and trivia. So this day started our trivia run. We played almost every trivia offered and most of the time came in first worst. The number of trivia games we lost by one answer was actually laughable, but it made it fun.

We skipped the magician this night in favor of family photos. It was the Silver Celebration night so it was “dress up optional” and was similar to a Captain’s night with free drinks in the atrium, music, and lots of photographers out. We got some good photos and had a drink. The main issue was the heat. It was beyond hot in the atrium and in all the common areas midship on almost every deck. This continued all week and at times was unbearable. I don’t know if the A/C can’t keep up with the number of people or if the doors to the Promenade are set to stay open too long (they are all auto controlled by waving your hand over the button) allowing way too much heat in but it was terrible. We basically stayed in a state of sweat the entire cruise. Thankfully our rooms stayed cool (we kept the balcony door closed and locked almost all the time and the curtains drawn) but even the dining rooms were toasty, and they are typically cool enough that I need a sweater. My husband went to Guest Services and asked why it was so hot. He nicely explained we had been on many cruises before, to all parts of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, across all seasons, and had never experienced that much heat inside the ship. The guy said “Have you ever cruised before? To the Caribbean?” Ummmm…yes… They just said it was normal and that the A/C was functioning just fine. People were walking around with sweat dripping from their foreheads inside the ship. It was most definitely not normal. But it gave us a good response for the rest of the trip whenever anyone said they were hot…”Have you ever cruise the Caribbean before?”

Dinner was at Lumiere’s and was, as usual, fabulous. It’s a unique menu in a beautiful setting. Our table was tightly wedged between 2 server stations and was quite loud but there isn’t much you can do about that. Since we were only there one night we didn’t mention it. The Head Server brought my niece another celebration cake, this time for graduation, and she realized she may have started something!

We made our way to Deck 10 to watch the Silver Sea Celebration fireworks. They were lovely. Pro tip…they are on the starboard side and Deck 10 is your best bet to see them. Between the smokestacks is quite crowded. Be midship or more forward to avoid the most people. However, right at the rear smokestack (where they block it off behind) is a great place to stand if you are more intrigued with how they are shooting them off than the fireworks themselves. My dad was happily watching the mortars leave the ship the entire time!

After setting our clocks back an hour we were off to bed.

 

[2boysmommy]

DAY 3 – At Sea

We had decided to all meet for a full breakfast at Lumiere’s at 9:00 this morning. Unfortunately, we didn’t account for the time change so most of us were up rather early! Breakfast was yummy and we exited in the middle of the Princess Gathering. We headed up to Deck 4 to watch all the happy kiddos interact with the beautiful princesses and reminisce about the days when our kids were young.

At 10:30 AM we had the Member Gathering in the D Lounge for Disney Vacation Club. In the past this has been one of our favorite things on the ship but today it was rather blah. I don’t know if there just weren’t many members onboard or what, but it wasn’t as exciting as it usually is. The complimentary drinks were terrible – it was the Welcome Home cocktail that DCL created for DVC and it was sweet and blue and made me gag. Most of my family bailed before the game and the “special guest”. The game was relatively entertaining – Family Feud style about DVC and general Disney. The guest at the end was Donald and it was nice to see him and get a photo without a big line. Granted my face is bright red because it was, you guessed it, really hot in there. The best part was the 3 bottles of water I drank. Sometimes it’s the little things! To round out my DVC experience for the week, we had a fun Mickey Ear Hat as the magnet on our door and picked up the daily gift at the desk. Nothing super exciting – lanyard, drawstring bag, lip balm, pop socket and Riviera print. We have been debating adding on at the Disneyland villas but just can’t justify the cost. They had some deals for onboard only add-ons but not enough to make us take the leap.

When I went back to the room, Jeffery stopped me to ask about the smell. Since it was still strong, he called for maintenance again. They came sometime during the day and snaked the drain and the toilet and it was definitely better that night. From here out we only noticed it if the door to the toilet room was closed when someone was in the shower. No idea how it was all connected but at least it was better. Jeffery put some loofah scrubs in our room as a “thank you” for our patience as they dealt with the issue. Totally unnecessary but a nice gesture. Ironically, my brother’s toilet had an issue during the week (the button got stuck and when they came to fix it the toilet started making a deafening noise when flushed…thankfully they were able to figure it out within the day!) and my parents’ toilet leaked on the floor one night (they woke up to a floor full of (thankfully clear!) water…it never happened again but was really odd). Jeffery dealt with each issue quickly and completely and was always very gracious.

The rest of this day consisted of multiple trivia competitions and a round of bingo. We bought 3 machines and 3 paper cards. No one in our group won although 2 of the machines had one number left on a couple of games each. Out of the 4 games played there were about 10 total winners in the room…and only one was using a paper card. It’s hard to think the game isn’t rigged when only machines are winning and it’s a computer program picking the numbers that are directly connected to those machines. I felt very old and missed the days of actual bingo balls coming out of the basket.

I did not attend the show this night (Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story) – we were in O’Gill’s playing music trivia. Dinner was at Animator’s Palate. I just love that menu and setting! Our table was in a more open location right as you come into the restaurant and had a great view of all the action. Watching the pictures change throughout the meal is fun to me and the ending never fails to make me cry. Between the movie choices on the screens and the Fantasmic music…I’m mush. After everyone was done making fun of me we had all the desserts, including another birthday cake for my niece. Literally – we ordered every single dessert option on the main menu and the kids’ menu across the 10 of us. When Joey brought the tray out we all erupted in laughter, him included. There was some real excitement in the room that night as someone proposed during dessert! The entire dining room cheered.

I was off to bed right after dinner for our big outing the next day.

 

[2boysmommy]

DAY 4 – Cozumel

Remembering the debacle that was Cabanas on Castaway day, I rope dropped the buffet for coffee and a bite of breakfast. I wasn’t the only person with this idea – there were about 20 of us waiting for them to open the doors. Within 15 minutes it was pretty crowded. I worked through theories on this and then realized…the buffet hours are very limited compared to pre-covid. Breakfast is 7:00-10:00 and lunch is 11:30-2:00 on most days. That’s it. The pool quick service locations have different hours and some are open later in the evening. But for the most part, a large portion of the ship population descends on the same spot in a short amount of time. It’s quite chaotic.

Historically, I don’t love Cozumel as a port of call. There just aren’t many redeeming qualities to me. I hate the dock location for DCL because you have to walk forever through so many stores to even get to the street level to be able to leave. We had discussed staying onboard this day, but my niece really wanted to go to a beach or somehow be in the water. The Port Adventures were all pretty expensive for what they were and none really interested us. Instead, I found a private catamaran charter through Cozumel Windseekers. It was a 15-20 minute taxi ride to the marina where they are docked (right next to Carnival’s big port area) and we were able to get a large van to comfortably transport us all. Shelly met us at the entrance to the marina and walked us to the Sophia where we set sail on a 5-hour Sail & Snorkel experience. It was heaven. Every moment of our time on the boat was perfect. The crew was so wonderful and friendly. They fed us from the second we boarded until we were almost back to the marina. A beautiful assortment of fruit started the morning followed by vegetables and dip as a snack and then a seriously fantastic lunch of trigger fish ceviche, chicken fajitas, tortillas, chips, freshly made guacamole, fresh pico de gallo, refried black beans…so much food! We also had made-to-order drinks throughout the day with vodka, rum, tequila and whiskey options as well as beer. They had a huge cooler full of bottled water and Gatorade plus all sorts of fruit juice and soft drinks. All that hospitality paled in comparison to our time on the water. They took us snorkeling in a very popular area but made sure we were safe, together, and away from other groups while constantly pointing out amazing sea life. We saw turtles, eels, a nurse shark, tons of fish, coral…it was marvelous. Our next stop was an incredible sand bar where we could easily stand up in the bright turquoise water. They had a large float that held 4 people comfortably, a standup paddle board, and a float for our drinks. We were able to get both my parents into the water here so all of us got to experience it together. One of the crew stayed in the water with us for safety…and to be our drink runner! A HUGE stingray swam through our group twice, almost like it was on a schedule. It was stunning…and a little freaky. After about an hour in the water we had to get back onboard to start the return journey. The netted front was perfect for laying and enjoying the sun and the water, plus there were plenty of other places to sit. There were 2 bathrooms on the boat and multiple shaded and indoor areas for those that needed a break from the sun. Once we returned, Shelly made sure we made it back to the marina entrance where our taxi was waiting, walking patiently with my mom on her arm. While it cost a little more than joining a large group outing, it was much less than the private option through DCL. We all agreed the personalized service and care we received along with the overall incredible experience was well worth the price.

After returning to port, and walking the maze back to the ship, we started getting ready for the evening. Tonight, in lieu of a stage show, they were playing The Haunted Mansion film in the big theater. It was…interesting. I’m not at all sure who the market is for this one. It’s moderately funny, kind of scary, a little sad…and has more than a few loose plot lines. The special effects are incredible and the nods to the ride are plentiful. I don’t think I need to watch it again.

This was Pirate Night and we were in Animator’s Palate again. I always like having Pirate Night in here with the added ambiance of the pictures around the room. The menu was the same as it usually is. This is one of my least favorite nights and I really tried to get Palo for this night but was unsuccessful. Oh well…it was a good excuse to not eat as much! Before and after dinner we enjoyed the music in the atrium. I’m not sure of their names so I called them the Irish dudes. Incredible musicians and such fun music!

We ventured back to Deck 10 starboard just forward of midship for the Pirate Party and fireworks. This is a great place to stand if you don’t care much about the stage show. You get to see a ton of characters as they go down to the stage, you have a great view of Captain Mickey make his entrance, and a clear view of the fireworks. Love this spot for this night.

I drug my exhausted self to bed, dreaming of Palo brunch the next day.

 

[2boysmommy]

DAY 5 – At Sea

I got up early to get a long walk in as I was starting to feel like the people on the Axiom in Wall-E. My husband and I then met our boys at Cabanas to sit and talk while they had breakfast. We did not eat since the 8 of us that are DCL adults had Palo brunch reservations at noon. I had been looking forward to this since we booked our cruise. We have done Palo brunch 3 times and dinner once. Sadly, it wasn’t as amazing as I remembered.

There are not many large tables in Palo so they seated us in the private room in the back. It was nice to have the space and it was quiet but it did take away some of the atmosphere you get in the main dining area. It’s a $50/person flat rate for brunch but the missing buffet makes a big difference in the experience. You can order as much as you want from the menu but it’s a very heavy menu. We started with a glass of Prosecco, mimosa or Bellini and I also ordered a latte. This was the highlight of my meal. It was a beautiful latte and had an amazing taste and texture. We were served a selection of pastries that were all beautiful and tasty. We then ordered our meal – all courses at once. I chose the zucchini frittata, a bowl of tomato soup, and the Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Breast. Husband and I split a flatbread with half margarita and half grape and gorgonzola. He ordered the Lasagna Bolognaise and the Veal Saltimbocca. He requested a simple salad of arugula and olive oil but was told that was not an option. Odd, as there was arugula all over my frittata, but whatever. Overall, there was a serious lack of fruit and vegetable options on the menu, even as a side dish. Across our group, we tried most of the antipasti, egg and flatbread options. Aside from the veal the only other non-lasagna or chicken parm choice at the table was the Wild Mushroom Ravioli. The lasagna was the clear favorite across the table, but everyone said it was very heavy. Dessert choices were overall good, although I missed the souffle option. Our server said I could come back in the evening and have just a souffle at the bar, but my timing did not work out for that.

Palo brunch is expensive, and I don’t really feel it is worth it anymore. When the buffet was a part of the experience it was better and, oddly, cheaper. You could try a small amount of multiple items leading up to your entrée. Now it is multiple courses of full-sized items. A regular person just can’t eat that much at one sitting, and they won’t let you take anything out of the restaurant. We wasted so much food. If we ever cruise DCL again, I will skip brunch in Palo. I’m not sure if I would do dinner…maybe on a longer cruise. It’s a beautiful restaurant and a special experience but the cost has just put it out range for it to be a necessity.

We were not finished until after 2:30 PM and, after changing, I had to go for another walk. We then played a few rounds of trivia, packed a couple of our bags, and debated going to the evening show (Disney Dreams – An Enchanted Classic) but shopping won out for me. I was, however, underwhelmed by the gift shop selection. The 25th Anniversary choices were limited to jewelry and a model ship with a couple of straggling coffee mugs. There were some decent Magic specific items but nothing that I just had to have. I ended up with a Christmas ornament and a t-shirt. My younger son got Disney Uno and the older got a t-shirt. We came out pretty cheap! After getting ready and getting another bag packed and set out, we headed to dinner. Tonight was Rapunzel’s for the dinner show. It started with the Irish dudes and continued with a couple of ruffians, Rapunzel and then Flynn joined her. It was cute but very loud. The whole restaurant was much louder than the first night we were there. The servers were more scattered and the show was overshadowed by the general din. The lantern piece was neat, but it seemed to make the food service more choppy. We had the Lantern menu and it was fine. The highlight was the ravioli appetizer, and I could have happily had another one as my entrée. After the meal I saw the kid’s menu and realized I should have ordered some things from it instead. We had one final birthday celebration cake for my niece and called it a night.

 

[2boysmommy]

DAY 6 – Miami, FL

We woke up early to the Port of Miami. I’m always super thankful to have the late seating on disembarkation day. I was able to shower and get ready, make sure the teenagers were up and going, and finish the last-minute packing without feeling rushed. Breakfast was back in Rapunzel’s and was fine. We said goodbye to our assistant server and went out to sit in Soul Cat Lounge while we waited for the chaos to clear. My family had a 3:00 PM flight from FLL so we weren’t in any rush to get off the ship. The rest of the group had a 6:30 PM flight so they had rented a car for the day and my SIL left to go pick it up and come back for them. We took some final photos in the atrium and were some of the last people off. It was nice to be in the terminal with hardly anyone there – makes for finding your bags much easier! We met our Uber at the curb and were off to the airport.


Final thoughts…
Overall, the cruise was lovely. We had a good time as a family. My boys spent a lot of time in Vibe hanging out and making new friends. Across our group, we watched 4 movies in the theaters, visited every lounge/bar on the ship, played so much trivia, and enjoyed the Disney bubble. The service was wonderful, as usual. Everyone I encountered gave a smile and a greeting. The head of hotel stopped me in the hallway, calling me by name, to ask about our toilet issue. I still can’t figure out how he knew it was me.

The heat in the common areas was awful. Sometimes even nauseating and unbearable. It was better to walk Deck 4 outside to at least have a breeze than deal with the stifling hall on 4 or 5. I am thankful our staterooms stayed relatively cool but they need to figure out the A/C in the rest of the ship.

We woke up at our respective homes in different states the day after disembarking with multiple from our group feeling sick, including (so far) myself, my husband and my mom. Fever, chills, aches…not awesome. Looking back, I remember us saying that our server was not himself the last dinner. He messed up some orders and was much less jovial. We chalked it up to the chaos in the dining room. But then the last morning at breakfast he barely said a word and made a bunch of mistakes. Then he just disappeared. We said we hoped he was ok and that we were sorry we didn’t get to say goodbye. Now I’m wondering if he was ill. It’s a hard position for those working on a cruise ship. On land you would just call in sick, but on the ship I feel like they are more likely to try and push through. It put a damper on our good experience. Now that we are also not feeling great it really leaves a bad taste. I know there is not much that can be done and people get sick all the time but this is the second time we have come off a cruise ship sick (our Alaska cruise on Celebrity last summer ended with covid). In the last year we have also gone to Europe, Disney World, Hawaii, visited family, 2 college tour trips, and to 5 different travel baseball tournaments and no one has gotten sick after these. It will make us think long and hard about booking another cruise.

 

[etusing82]

Loved your review! We were on the cruise as well and shared many of your same thoughts! The heat was terrible! Even in our room. We noted this to guest services many times and were told basically the same thing, with the addition of it being the oldest ship in the fleet. We asked for a fan or something for our room (deck 6 aft) and were told the room was as cold as it would get and there were no fans available. We also noted an odor in our bathroom. One time my husband remarked that it smelled like a port o potty in there. The lack of merchandise on the ship and on Castaway were also noted by my husband and myself. On the positive side, we also had an amazing service team and the food was mostly spot on (our January cruise on the Fantasy was the total opposite). We loved the trivia and also attended almost every one and did most of the drawing classes and things like that. It was our first time on one of the smaller ships (we have previously only been on the Dream and Fantasy) and we liked the smaller size. We (well me, my husband seems fine so far) seemed to have brought a bit of a bug home as well.

 

[SeanSD]

DAY 6 – Miami, FL

We woke up early to the Port of Miami. I’m always super thankful to have the late seating on disembarkation day. I was able to shower and get ready, make sure the teenagers were up and going, and finish the last-minute packing without feeling rushed. Breakfast was back in Rapunzel’s and was fine. We said goodbye to our assistant server and went out to sit in Soul Cat Lounge while we waited for the chaos to clear. My family had a 3:00 PM flight from FLL so we weren’t in any rush to get off the ship. The rest of the group had a 6:30 PM flight so they had rented a car for the day and my SIL left to go pick it up and come back for them. We took some final photos in the atrium and were some of the last people off. It was nice to be in the terminal with hardly anyone there – makes for finding your bags much easier! We met our Uber at the curb and were off to the airport.


Final thoughts…
Overall, the cruise was lovely. We had a good time as a family. My boys spent a lot of time in Vibe hanging out and making new friends. Across our group, we watched 4 movies in the theaters, visited every lounge/bar on the ship, played so much trivia, and enjoyed the Disney bubble. The service was wonderful, as usual. Everyone I encountered gave a smile and a greeting. The head of hotel stopped me in the hallway, calling me by name, to ask about our toilet issue. I still can’t figure out how he knew it was me.

The heat in the common areas was awful. Sometimes even nauseating and unbearable. It was better to walk Deck 4 outside to at least have a breeze than deal with the stifling hall on 4 or 5. I am thankful our staterooms stayed relatively cool but they need to figure out the A/C in the rest of the ship.

We woke up at our respective homes in different states the day after disembarking with multiple from our group feeling sick, including (so far) myself, my husband and my mom. Fever, chills, aches…not awesome. Looking back, I remember us saying that our server was not himself the last dinner. He messed up some orders and was much less jovial. We chalked it up to the chaos in the dining room. But then the last morning at breakfast he barely said a word and made a bunch of mistakes. Then he just disappeared. We said we hoped he was ok and that we were sorry we didn’t get to say goodbye. Now I’m wondering if he was ill. It’s a hard position for those working on a cruise ship. On land you would just call in sick, but on the ship I feel like they are more likely to try and push through. It put a damper on our good experience. Now that we are also not feeling great it really leaves a bad taste. I know there is not much that can be done and people get sick all the time but this is the second time we have come off a cruise ship sick (our Alaska cruise on Celebrity last summer ended with covid). In the last year we have also gone to Europe, Disney World, Hawaii, visited family, 2 college tour trips, and to 5 different travel baseball tournaments and no one has gotten sick after these. It will make us think long and hard about booking another cruise.

Thanks for detailed review. We are scheduled for a 4 day cruise on the Magic in January and chose it for a good deal and also to go to New Orleans for a few days before. Will keep this info in mind.

 

[tidefan]

Enjoyed your review and agreed with most of it, but we were on the August 14th sailing of the same itinerary and didn't have any heat issues in the common areas, so not sure if it was just your cruise or they fixed something, but I thought I'd let you know. In fact, our stateroom (interior on Deck 7) was probably the coldest DCL stateroom we've ever had.

Our only disappointments were that a) Cabanas is not open for dinner and that they've still not started the Post Pirate Night Party buffet back, and b) you are right, there was a severe lack of 25th anniversary merchandise.

 

[DIS_Ag]

Can you share the name of the Catamaran charter? We’ll be there in January and that sounds awesome.