Time to go (July 18) - on our way to gold - 11 night Iceland Norway on the Magic

Yay all checked in and booked! While it's fresh in my mind (and because I need to get ready to go back to bed....), here are our updated plans.

Checking In: We were able to check in at about 8:30pm EST the evening before activities opened. BUT there is an error (For almost everyone on our flights) if you try to save flight info, so I just said I didnt have flights and was able to get all checked in.
Activity booking opened right at midnight.

Day 1: PAT 11:30-12 which is perfect for us - we prefer the sit down lunch and leisurely walking the ship before going to our room, so happy with this time.

Day 2: Sea Day - No activities planned except for sleeping off the last of our jet lag (plus I am sure lots of character visits!)

Day 3: Kirkwall- DCL KI 01 Scenic Tour of Orkney 12:45-4pm - the girls helped us decide between two options and older one was really interested in everything on this tour including Skara Brae. Chose PM time to allow husband to run off ship in the AM.

Day 4: Sea Day- Character Breakfast at 8:15am and Princess Meet & Greet at 12:45pm

Day 5: Reyjkavik - Iceland Go Tours Private All Day Tour

Day 6: Reykjavik - No plans except likely husband and I will separately run and hopefully find a park/wander the city with the girls - more planning needed here

Day 7: Ayukeri: DCL AK16 Jewels of the North 9:15-3:15 - at the suggestion of some others who have done this cruise before, this one is a no miss so really happy was I able to get it booked. Palo 7pm - will have the girls do a rushed 6pm dinner and then drop them at the kids club. I am sure we will sleep well this evening.

Day 8: Sea Day: Younger daughter BBB at 9:15am (older one says she doesn't want to do it and wants the extra spending $$ for pins or souvenirs).; Frozen Meet and Greet at 11:45am

Day 9: Alesund DCL AL01 9:45am-1:15pm

Day 10: Stavanger Cruise Group Rodne Tour from 10:15-1:30, also noted to play at the playground near the petroleum museum

Day 11: Gotenburg DCL GT04- Volvo Experience from 1:15-4:45pm - this is one I have to decide on further - we definitely want to do the Volvo experience but DCL places a big premium on it. May cancel and do on our own but not sure.

My excitement is building so I am sure I will be back with updates as we make progress and personal life/work allows.
 
2 months from today, we will be starting our vacation - eke!

A few updates from the last month:
- Our cruise group leader booked private Mixology and we were able to secure a slot for the two of us - all the tastings were full at Silver booking so we are super excited about this. Husband did one last trip but I opted out; I am not a big drinker but still think this will be a fun activity for the two of us to do.

- Older daughter has continued to write with one of her two pen pals and we are planning the first day meet up so the girls can get to know each other and be ready to play in the Oceaneer area.

- I finished our FE gifts and know what I want to buy for the treats exchange but waiting for it to be closer.

and then a fun semi-cruise related item - the girls learned that if you are first to the Disney store you get to open the store with a big key so one Sunday when my husband was traveling for a half-marathon we headed to the mall super early to be first (thankfully we were!). They were very excited as you can see in the photo below. We obviously had to shop :flower:and the girls chose matching Tiana dresses- they are the new style ones that look like what Tiana might have worn but aren't the more costume type ones that I have SO many of. And our littler lady agreed that she will choose this as her dress and just do her hair and nails at BBB therefore saving us some $$.

IMG_2387.jpg

and lastly another member of our cruise group offered to bring Aulani pins so older daughter chose some she wanted and they will be purchased next weekend. When we were in Aulani, pins hadn't yet become part of her routine so this is a nice surprise as our next Aulani trip is likely 2021 if not further out.
 
6 weeks from today, we will be on the Magic!
I know that things will start to get hectic so took advantage of some quiet time today to pay for our transfers from Heathrow to Hotel and Hotel to Port (Using Blackberry Cars) and also purchase the photo package. I have never purchased the package before but we wished we had last time, so I decided to go ahead and get it this time.

The girls have started to think about which outfits they want to take and which they don't want to take. We won't pack at all until it gets much closer, but I am glad they have started to think about what they want - they love to over-pack and then I have to pull things back out - hopefully not this time.

And then a question for you all - what kind of trip reports do you prefer? Should I post on disboards with some photos and link to my personal blog (no ads, etc just for me) or just post the link to the blog?
 


We are getting close now - 22 days until our journey begins and only 3.5 weeks until we get on the Magic! A few quick planning updates.

London Eye: I pre-purchased our London Eye tickets for the day before the cruise - DH and I have done this but the girls haven't and they said they'd like to (we did a much smaller version in Niagara Falls over spring break) so that will be part of our London day.

Running Planning: DH loves to run and is quite fast so Deck 4 running is out for him - he has some long runs to get in during our trip so I have been researching routes and times in each port city for him - this has been fun.

Kids Club Activities: The girls asked to look at old Navigators online so we checked the EBTA Navigators. There were a few new (to them) activities that they are excited for - The Mad Hatters UnBirthday Party was one; I cannot recall the others. They also are excited for Vampiric and older daughter was thrilled she saw Captain Marvel listed. We will see if she's on our cruise too - fingers crossed.

Now a few questions for you all:
1) What's the latest on the paper navigators? My 9 year old DD loves going through the Navigators and doesn't have her own phone yet - do we have to plan to get to Guest Services each day?
2) What's the best laundry strategy? Early morning? I forget what I have done in the past.

Thanks for reading along - more to come either in pre-trip planning OR trip report early August!
 
Now a few questions for you all:
1) What's the latest on the paper navigators? My 9 year old DD loves going through the Navigators and doesn't have her own phone yet - do we have to plan to get to Guest Services each day?
2) What's the best laundry strategy? Early morning? I forget what I have done in the past.

Hi! We're on this cruise, too, and have enjoyed reading your posts. :)

To answer your questions:
1) It's been reported recently that if you ask your Stateroom Host, they will put the daily Navigator in your cabin during nightly turn-down service. We plan to do this because we like the paper layout better than the app and also because we like to keep them. It's amazing how many times we've referenced old Navigators!

2) I think laundry is going to be tricky on this particular itinerary. It's a long cruise, and many people will extend their trip in Europe before and/or afterward. For sure, the 3 sea days will be jammed packed with people trying to get their laundry done.
Thank goodness there are three laundry rooms onboard. I find the most frustrating part is that the washers take less time than the dryers, causing big back-ups as the day goes on. Early morning is probably the best time, maybe after a time change. ;)
 
Hi! We're on this cruise, too, and have enjoyed reading your posts. :)

To answer your questions:
1) It's been reported recently that if you ask your Stateroom Host, they will put the daily Navigator in your cabin during nightly turn-down service. We plan to do this because we like the paper layout better than the app and also because we like to keep them. It's amazing how many times we've referenced old Navigators!

2) I think laundry is going to be tricky on this particular itinerary. It's a long cruise, and many people will extend their trip in Europe before and/or afterward. For sure, the 3 sea days will be jammed packed with people trying to get their laundry done.
Thank goodness there are three laundry rooms onboard. I find the most frustrating part is that the washers take less time than the dryers, causing big back-ups as the day goes on. Early morning is probably the best time, maybe after a time change. ;)

Thanks for the info, especially on laundry!
Hope to see you in person in a few weeks.
 


I am following this report with interest. Just off the Magic yesterday and made an OBB for the 10 night Norway/Iceland cruise next August. I am already researching port activities, particularly in Iceland which will be a real highlight for us (having visited the Norway ports previously). Your Reykjavik port times look better than ours (we arrive 6.30pm day 1, and leave 6pm day 2). I like the sound of the Jewels of the North tour, but also the Mývatn baths (if we can’t get to blue lagoon, this looks like a good alternative). However our kids will be 8 and 5 at the time, and I’m not sure if they’d enjoy the baths.

We picked up paper navigators every morning at guest services. I’d read they were available the evening before, but this wasn’t my experience. I checked most nights before bed but the next days ones weren’t available yet.

Captain Marvel was on our cruise, with a scheduled meet and also wandering around deck 5 a few times. This was our best ever cruise for random character meets. Pluto, goofy, Spider-Man, captain marvel and princesses were often wandering about in the evenings.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!
 
I am following this report with interest. Just off the Magic yesterday and made an OBB for the 10 night Norway/Iceland cruise next August. I am already researching port activities, particularly in Iceland which will be a real highlight for us (having visited the Norway ports previously). Your Reykjavik port times look better than ours (we arrive 6.30pm day 1, and leave 6pm day 2). I like the sound of the Jewels of the North tour, but also the Mývatn baths (if we can’t get to blue lagoon, this looks like a good alternative). However our kids will be 8 and 5 at the time, and I’m not sure if they’d enjoy the baths.

We picked up paper navigators every morning at guest services. I’d read they were available the evening before, but this wasn’t my experience. I checked most nights before bed but the next days ones weren’t available yet.

Captain Marvel was on our cruise, with a scheduled meet and also wandering around deck 5 a few times. This was our best ever cruise for random character meets. Pluto, goofy, Spider-Man, captain marvel and princesses were often wandering about in the evenings.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!


I will definitely do a trip report and happy to answer questions - thanks for the info on paper navigators, Captain Marvel, and also random meet and greets!

Also, Jewels of the North is the excursion that people I have met online say is the MUST do excursion so I prioritized that. We aren't doing the baths, but I am sure some others with kiddos around our kids' ages are, so I will let you know what I hear.
 
I will definitely do a trip report and happy to answer questions
Was their still good availability of excursions at the silver booking time? I know most recommend booking privately, but I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable with that on our 2nd (and longest) day in Reykjavik. It would be a real shame not to see the bits we want to (probably the Golden circle tour).
I will be interested to hear about how rough the seas are between Scotland and Iceland. DH gets motion sickness, and I want to be prepared! Don’t want to put him off cruising😂.

Once again, have a wonderful trip and I look forward to the report!
 
Was their still good availability of excursions at the silver booking time? I know most recommend booking privately, but I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable with that on our 2nd (and longest) day in Reykjavik. It would be a real shame not to see the bits we want to (probably the Golden circle tour).
I will be interested to hear about how rough the seas are between Scotland and Iceland. DH gets motion sickness, and I want to be prepared! Don’t want to put him off cruising😂.

Once again, have a wonderful trip and I look forward to the report!

I got everything I wanted at Silver - I did stay up until midnight to be sure. A lot of the more seasoned cruisers went private AND we went private for our long Reykjavik day. That said, with your itinerary, I would indeed try to get Golden Circle through Disney. I 'think' that Golden Circle (maybe with BBQ) was still available for Silver.

Note - I could not get any mixology (I would have signed up) or Palo Brunch at Silver. Husband preferred Palo Dinner anyway so....no real loss.

Edited to add- Kirkwall seemed to sell out super fast!
 

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