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We are back
from Western 3/15
We
enjoyed our cruise. Seas were the roughest we have cruised
in but we couldn't feel the ship move. Our location was a
cat. 3 midship 8548. We will be in this room again next
spring break. Deck 8 is noisy compared to deck 6 but we were
still able to sleep. To all: to get the cheapest cruise rate
book as far in advance as possible.
The DIS meet was the largest we had seen. All were nice.
The weather was fantastic. A lot warmer than last year and
no rain! Well, when we were leaving Key West it rained but
we sailing away.
Key West was great. Ladies, the Tikal Trading Company has
cute tropical mother/ daughter outfits at a good price. Fast
Buck Eddies was a fun store to shop in. The aquarium was a
good thing to do with children.
Grand Cayman. Missed it because of sea swells coming into
the harbor. No the Magic was fine and not rocking but we are
boaters and believe me after what we saw in the harbor, we
would not want to be in a small tender in those conditions.
DCL had a wonderful day at sea planned for us and the
weather ended up being better than our first day at sea. It
didn't bother us at all, we prefer the days at sea and we
got the 3 days at sea just like the eastern!
Cozumel. We rented a taxi and took a small island tour. Mr.
Sanchos beach is where we will spend time the next time we
go to Cozumel. The other side of the island looks completely
different than where the ships dock. Our daughter opted to
stay aboard the ship and do the club.
Castaway Cay. Perfect. A word of caution, remember the
entire ship gets off on one island. Be prepared, it well be
crowded. We saw a young family at 11:30 am complaining to a
cast member because it was so crowded. It wasn't what they
expected, they had a small child and they were demanding a
umbrella with chairs. All we thought was, well, they aren't
the only family aboard with a small child. If you want an
umbrella, get off the ship early.
The children's programming. Our daughter loves the club. She
is in the 10-12 group. She enjoyed this cruise as much as
her first back in '99. She loved the party held at night in
the Mickey Pool just for her age group. They were able to
use the slide with out the crowded conditions of the pool. I
don't remember that from last year. She was sad when we had
to leave the ship Sat. morning. She was reminded we are
coming back in '04.
The food. Getting better each cruise. If you are a food snob
you would be turning your nose up but for cruise food cooked
in mass quanities it was tasty. The lobster was the best I
have ever had on a cruise ship in my total of 12 cruises. My
husand said the beef was much better from our first DCL
cruises.
The ship. She needs her dry dock time. We have cruised a
year apart for 5 cruises (except once it was 6 mo. apart)
and we can see her wear and tear. It is expected. The ship
is half children every cruise and as parents we all know how
rough children can be. I hope they replace the mattresses,
ours was really feeling broken down. The carpet in our room
was also looking old.
The common areas of the ship were looking great. We did have
a small plumbing problem with our bubble tub and it was
fixed in a timely matter.
The crew. Not one rude cast member. That is a first.
The passengers. Well this cruise had more than its fare
share.
The dissappoinments. This is only our OPINION so please no
debate started.
We where prepared for 1 formal night, 1 semi-formal night
and the rest casual. What we experienced was the formal
night was more like a semi-formal night and the rest was
casual. I was surprised at the number of people who dressed
in tropical attire on the semi-formal night. Maybe it was
just our rotation. We had PAL. Did not like that rotation at
all. Our previous cruises we had LAP which we prefer.
Our cruise in Jan on Celebrity was a 7 day so we had a ton
of children aboard. We had 4 formal nights and I mean tux
formal nights, 1 semi formal night and 2 casual. We know the
defense is always, we paid for our vacation and we will wear
what we want. So be it. We just like the cruising tradition
of dressing up and seeing all the fellow passengers in their
finest attire.
We have decided we prefer the eastern over the western but I
would do the western once again. Disney is still the
cruiseline we feel is the best for families. Dave and Kathy
__________________
WDW (Boardwalk) - August 1999
Disney Magic 4 day - August 1999
WDW (Off property) - Jul/Aug 2000
Disney Magic Inaugural 7 day Eastern - August 2000
Disney Magic 7 day Eastern - August 2001
Disney Magic 7 day Eastern - March 2002
Disney Magic 7 day Western - booked for March 2003
Disney 7 Day Land and Sea - booked for December 2003
Disney Magic 7 day Eastern - booked for March 2004 |
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