Disney Magic Review

Disney Magic for Adults, along with Disability/Accessibility

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Disney Magic
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lexmiller
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Feb 2015

So much has already been said in prior reviews - be sure to read them, as well as the review written by the Cruise Critic staff. I want to add a bit about traveling on a Disney cruise WITHOUT kids, as well as a word on handicapped accessibility.

I travelled with my adult daughter who is a walker/wheelchair user, on this 7 night Western Caribbean cruise - thus, two adults, no children. We love all things Disney, and are living proof that there are no age restrictions or cutoffs when it comes to enjoying the fun. We see the Disney experience as a milieu, an immersive experience, we love it. And, we appreciate the brilliant business acumen of Walt and those that have carried on and expanded his legacy. So, back to the cruise - we needed to have a standard wheelchair for the duration of the cruise for shore excursions and we were erroneously told by the Special Services department on shore before we left home, that we needed to rent a wheelchair from an outside vendor. That was incorrect, and turned into a fiasco, as the outside vendor delivered the wheelchair barely before the ship departed - but the main issue, as it turned out, is that we never needed to rent it at all in the first place! Guest Services on the Magic helped figure out what was going on with the outside vendor wheelchair since it was late, but crucially, they told me how they have loads of standard wheelchairs on board in a special room on Deck 6 Midship, for guests to borrow if they need it. The Guest Services rep even took me to the room and showed me all of the chairs! Urgh, well, so I spent $85 needlessly, and I won’t do that again - and future Disney cruisers who need to borrow a standard wheelchair, take heed - don’t rent one from an outside vendor.

The ship has excellent accessible features - all of the public doors are accessible. Not all of the public bathrooms are accessible, but there are signs clearly stating where the closest accessible bathroom is, to where you are at the time. The Port Adventures staff was excellent - they realized without us pointing it out, that we would need extra time to get down to Deck 1 to leave the ship with our tours. Our check in for the excursions always happened to be in the Promenade Lounge. We would check in there, get our tickets, then the excursion organizer would signal us about 10 min ahead, before the rest of the tour group would go down, to give us a head start - better for us to avoid the rush and better for the tour as a whole as then we would not be delaying anyone. The elevators on the Magic, though absolutely beautiful, are very very small, so during peak times - such as when everyone was trying to leave the ship - we would often have to wait for 7 elevators full of passengers to go by - they would stop on our floor but the elevator was full so we had to wait for the next, and the next and the next elevator and so on. (as a side note, those who can walk, should walk, no?? sorry, I just had to editorialize!) When we had to leave for our excursions, the impossible-to-get-on-an-elevator-issue would have been a huge problem, if the staff was not aware of our need for extra time. The Port Adventures staff, in fact, I should say right now - ALL of the staff on the Magic - was extremely sensitive without ever once being condescending. No one ever spoke down to my daughter, no one ever assumed that since she can’t walk independently then of course her mind must also be compromised - we often run into that attitude, I am sorry to say. Whatever goes on when these people are trained, well, keep it up!

Cabin Review

Cabin 6A

This cabin is aft, which on other cruise lines, affords you one of the absolute best views from your balcony, as you don't just see 'out', you see 'around' - however, on Disney, though this balcony is HUGE and is positioned where you have a very broad view, the fact that the verandah is not glass is an issue as you can't sit on your gorgeous HUGE verandah and look out! Your view is completely and entirely blocked, unless you STAND UP! Not relaxing. So the 140-ish degree view you have from this verandah is meaningless as you can't SIT and enjoy it. Otherwise, the cabin itself is large, excellent accessible features. Though as I wrote in my main review of the voyage, the bathroom has ZERO storage - no shelves, no cabinets - Guest Services helped by bringing us a transfer bench which we used for storage, but otherwise, seriously, there is NO place to put your toiletries in the bathroom itself.

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