W. Caribbean 6/13/09-6/20/09 on Magic **Completed** 6/27 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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W. Caribbean 6/13/09-6/20/09 on Magic **Completed** 6/27
Pretrip
I try and write these TRs to basically reinforce all the great info you can get in Passporter. But I also like to try and help first timers and occasional Disney goers like ourselves. Its not that we don’t love all things Mouse, we just feel that all Mouse all the time just isn’t our thing. For those who do, more power to ya and thank you for sharing your experiences with us. This was our second DC, last time being a 4 day on the Wonder combined with 4 days at DWorld. Eight days was a little too much so we opted for a 7 day W. Caribbean on the Magic.
By way of introduction we had 4 Disney goers. Myself (good old dad), mom (always up for a great vacation), the boy(11 and still a closet Mickey fan) and the girl(8 and couldn’t wait to be in the Lab.)
I made reservations in Dec of ’08 and got a great deal on a category 6 room on deck 6 with a verandah. It was 6050 2 doors down from the stairs and “the Lab.” Couldn’t have been more pleased with the location. We were initially scheduled for the late seating but I was assured that we were wait listed for the main seating. For some reason unless you book directly through Disney it seems that this is a pretty standard issue. Within a few weeks as I continued to check on the DCL website it did in fact change over to a “main” or “early” seating.
The next issue was the kids clubs. For those of you who have never cruised or have only been on the Wonder, the ages of the clubs differ some on the Magic. I did not realize this until it was time to register online. Being a Castaway Club member does have its privileges and being able to register early is one for them. Take advantage of it. In other words after you get back from the first cruise DON’T throw away all the “stuff” you get from DCL. Keep it if you ever plan or think you might cruise with DCL again. The boy had just turned 11 and would have been still able to go to the Oceaneers Lab on the Wonder. But in filling the online registration out there was no where to register him only the girl. Say what? But as always the good folks here at Passporter let me know the scoop and so we had to prepare for Ocean Quest.
About registering online….do it. It will save you time and headaches later. Excursions, kids clubs, Palo…..do it early and online.
Then about three weeks before the cruise we get an email telling us we have been upgraded!! You must be joking right? Nope. We were now hobnobbing up on deck 8 in 8018. Right next to one suite and down the hall from the WD suite. Very cool. Did I mention register early?
I am not a big risk taker when it comes to vacation so I (we) decided to get to Orlando at least a day early. What to do with a Friday in Orlando in June? SeaWorld anyone? Pretty neat place. So we decided to go.
One last pretrip note. I am in the minority I know when it comes to transportation away from the airport. I am just not that good at waiting for people who aren’t ready to go the same time I am. If you are fine with that, use Disney’s transfer options and never load or unload those bags except in your room. We rented a car.
By the way, yes you are reading the day I posted this correct. I am writing this from my verandah overlooking the bluest water you will ever see!!
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I too will be quite interested to read your report. My DD is 11 and isn't keen on the clubs from the DCL video we watched. Which is the opposite of what I was expecting. Congrats on the upgrade !! Sounds wonderful.
I just wanted to add that I booked thru a travel agent and was able to get early seating right away. I booked about 8 months ahead.
We stayed at hotel on International Blvd that was only about 2 miles from Shamu. Nice place and convenient location. SeaWorld can be done in one day, but it would be an incredibly LONG day. We chose another option. Plan ahead and figure out what we would really be interested in. The Manta, a new ride is a must if you can. Like all new attractions find a slow time, like when the Shamu show is going and ride it multiple times. Very fun coaster. You must be 54 inches tall though so we only had 3 riders. Atlantis is a good water ride on a hot day. You WILL get wet, very wet. See all the animal attractions you have time for. Then of course you have to see Shamu. I have seen Shamu 4-5 times and the show just continues to get better. Something for everyone. Now about the splash zone. Like the sign says YOU WILL GET WET. This is NOT pool water. It is 52 degree salt water. Very cold and very salty. If you do not want to get wet DON’T SIT THERE. The small kids who do want to sit there and don’t care if they get wet can’t see the show when adults who don’t like being wet and salty stand up and whine about getting wet. I am officially now off the soapbox. Orlando was about 96 degrees that day so we took lots of “shopping” and “eating” breaks. They were actually air conditioning breaks. The girl is a red head. Need I say more about her skin and heat tolerance? Again though, with some planning we saw everything we wanted to after arriving at about 1130 and saw the 330 Shamu show. Then it was back to the hotel pool for some cooling off and relaxing for mom and dad. Getting a good nights sleep was in order and accomplished.
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Another DCL Trip Report!!!! YAY!!! And it's a Western!! We'll be on the Western October 17th!
Congrats on the upgrade! Great start, Chris. Thanks for bringing us along.
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If you are a first time DCL cruiser and want the “full effect” I would go with the passporter recommendations and arrive before noon. Check out the terminal. There are some pretty neat things in there. If you have little ones they do have characters around and cartoons. But I work in the travel industry and have little to no patience for security/registration lines. I like to walk right through or express check in and out. If you are like us, you might want to not get to Port Canaveral at 1130, you might want to leave Orlando at 1130. This again only applies if you have done all your registration work online, weather and traffic are good, etc. etc. We slept in which felt very nice and for the first time in my life I left a hotel at exactly check out time 11. We got a little lunch and were on the road by 1130. Traffic was pretty light and after curb checking the big bags(more on this later) we were pulling into the lot at 1245. There was plenty of parking. DCL has drastically improved the parking lot to terminal crossing area. As expected, no line for security. Right in and up the escalator. Upon arriving at the top guess what was awaiting us? An almost empty terminal! We did go to the Castaway Club member check in line and got a crew member right away, but even the regular check in lines had maybe 4-5 families waiting. Nice! Again, because of online registration, and having passports ready to go, check in took no more than 3 minutes. Then its off to get your picture taken for your Key to The World card. It doesn’t go on the card, but when your KTW is swiped this picture comes up. Then it was time for a Lab armband for the girl. This also took very little time due to online registration. Did I mention online registration is a good thing? Then the best part, no waiting for a number to be called…just right onto the ship. Another boarding picture and we were on!! Woo hoo!! Now about those bags. If you are scared about a family member wanting to take too much hence, too many bags, stop worrying. The closets which I believe are all about the same size and under the bed provide plenty of storage rooms for bags. Our bags were way oversized for my taste but it was 7 days and if moms not happy…you know the rest. We also had a large chest in our room. I am not sure if this only is included in some staterooms above a certain category but man was it nice! I'll try to get a picture of it in a later report. The only down side of arriving late is that your bags might not be at your room in time for dinner if you have an early seating. So put your dinner clothes in your carry on along with swim suits and toiletries and you’ll be set. Ours did arrive at about 430 right after the life boat drill which went very quickly this time. If you are a Castaway Club member be prepared for some stateroom welcoming gifts. Like a nice beach bag, a couple of insulated water/drink bottles, a nice mesh beach knapsack, pen and paper, and some drawing stuff for the kids. Very cool stuff. Dinner was at Lumiers. Some people on here have talked about a “new” menu and different food. Well, the kids menu seemed about the same, which is good. The regular menu though did seem to have some changes. We really enjoyed it. I had baked salmon off the “light” menu and moms meal was great too. Then of course dessert. It is DCL you know, so do I even have to tell you how good dessert was? Then it was off to the Oceaneers Lab and Ocean Quest for the kids. One note about OQ. If your kids like or LOVE the semi-structured atmosphere of the Lab they are in for a change when it comes to OQ. The boy absolutely LOVED the Lab on our last cruise. OQ not so much. The first couple of days were fun but the small size of the room and the ability of the kids in this age group to come and go as they please makes activities pretty hard for the counselors I’m sure. Not that he hated it but it is NOT like the Lab. The girl was in heaven in the Lab. She had 3 new friends by the end of the night and they hung out together for most of the next 6 days. Me and mom got to check out the band at Rockin Bar D and they were a HUGE improvement over the band from three years ago. Very good and could play just about any style of music very well. Fun day but because we didn’t start until about 930-1000, midnight for shutting down didn’t seem all that long. Get on your inner Parrothead tomorrow!!
My 75 day window is tomorrow so I'll get on to that online registration. Sorry to hear that OQ is not as engaging as the lab. Maybe since my DD doesn't have anything to compare it to she'll still enjoy it. Keep it coming....
The one food option we all remembered from our last cruise that we all liked was Parrot Cay for breakfast. Unfortunately, on the 7 night, Parrot Cay the first 2 mornings are character breakfasts. Great for some kids and worth it for some families. We just want to grab some decent food and get out and start having fun. So it was off to Topsider for the breakfast buffet. Not the best meal on DCL but it does get the job done. Then it was time to sunscreen up and get out to the pools. We didn’t get to Key West until about noon so pool time was in order. Goofy’s pool is THE place to be if you are into Disney movies. The Ariel View screen is located above the Goofy pool on the back of the forward smoke stack and is an awesome place to watch movies. Movies in the pool!! Are you kidding me? The girl and I then went to Mickey’s pool to try out the slide. She found some friend’s from the night before and had a ball. It was about this time that I discovered some of the best food on the cruise. Goofy’s Galley has some great food. If you are NOT in the mood for hamburgers or hot dogs which are good by the way, and not interested in going back for another buffet or have had your fill of Pinnochio’s pizza then the Galley is the place for you. The wraps are excellent, the sandwiches looked very good and they also have fresh fruit. There is hardly ever a line and the portions are just about perfect. Then it was off to Bolt in 3D for the boy and the Lab for the girl. Mom and I went into Key West and did a little grocery shopping and had some adult beverages at Hogs Breath. If you would like to have some extra snacks or drinks for your room this is an excellent place to accomplish this without having to pack more stuff in you bags. There is nothing to declare back in customs and the prices are pretty normal. Mom is partial to the Coke Zero so we got a few. We also got a few extra bottles of sunscreen. There are plenty of shopping opportunities and even time to imbibe a little and still be back in time for the main dinner. One note…some folks took the imbibing to the extreme and lost track of time. One person who became infamous on our cruise, even the kids knew his name after his name was called over the PA system for a good hour, got to stay in Key West. 730 PM means 730 PM folks. They will NOT wait. Dinner was at Animator’s Palate. The food again was outstanding. The “show” at this dinner is actually pretty good. It is worth sticking around for. I wish I had written down our meals and choices all I can remember is that they were all great. After dinner the boy was off to OQ and the girl joined me and mom for the hypnotist show. If you see Ricky Kalmon’s name anywhere go see him. This show was hysterical. He had a 6' 5" probably 300 lb. guy believe he was Susan Boyle and Cpt. Jack Sparrow!! It had been a while since I had laughed that hard. It was great. The girl was then off to the Lab for the rest of the night and mom and I went to the Quiet Cove for some coffee drinks and relaxation. This also is a very nice place to spend some adult time, we highly recommend it. Everyone had a great day
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