Eastern Caribbean September 15 -22, 2007 This was our 12th cruise, 5th with Disney , but first on the Disney Magic. Have sailed HAL, Princess, Celebrity and Carnival. All adults in party. Myself, DH,(mid 50's) my 83 year old mother (her 2nd Disney cruise) and my 77 year old aunt (her first cruise ever). My DH and I are ex cast members so are familiar with all things Disney. We now live in south Georgia and drove to Port Canaveral early on the morning of departure - approx. 5 hour drive. Arrived about 11am, dropped off luggage and DH parked vehicle. Embarkation: Minor hassle on check in - told the greeter we were Castaway Club members but also resident aliens so which line should we use - she said we should go to the Castaway Club line which we did, about 10th in line. On getting to the desk, the cast member there said we would have to go back to the line for non US citizens because she did not know how to process our paperwork! Luckily for us the cast member working next to her did and told us to wait until she was free and would handle our paperwork there. There was a much larger crowd than we have seen before and certainly many more young children. Our boarding number was 7 and we were on the ship by 12:30pm. Went straight to book Palos for brunch and then headed to Parrot Cay for lunch.
Stateroom was as expected. We really enjoy our balcony and having mum and aunt next door meant we could chat but still have privacy. Our room steward, Erwin was friendly, but very late in making up our room. It was after 2pm every day before our rooms were made up which has never happened to us before. I also found I really missed having robes supplied. Also it seems you have to ask for an ice bucket and ice. We have always enjoyed the food with Disney and still did. Palos brunch was excellent aa were all our meals whichever location we chose. We usually eat in the dining room, but did have a couple of meals in the buffet. Certainly there were hand wipes everywhere. Our servers Jonathan and Godwin worked hard and knew our names and preferences by the second night. We really enjoy the shows. This was the first time we have seen Twice Charmed and although we enjoyed it, I found the music to be less than memorable. We enjoyed the comedian/magician Rich Purpuri (spelling?) and John Charles - musician - was excellent. DH went to the yoyo class and had fun, but the show they did in the theatre was somewhat amateurish. Not Disney standard. ventriloquist was okay. Went to two cooking demos - okay. Did backstage tour - interesting for a high school drama teacher and ex cast member. Really enjoyed the talk and songs from Jeannie Lehman (Mrs. Potts from the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast) - she and her husband were just having a holiday cruise but did two presentations. Did one salsa dance class with Keyon (cruise staff - he is great)but wish there had been more. Because of mum and aunt, we did Disney organized bus tours on St. Martin (Under Two Flags)and St. Thomas. We have seen both before, but they really enjoyed seeing the sights. Would have liked a little more time to stop and photograph things. On our own we usually do our own excursions. Of course everybody loves Castaway Cay.
As my DH says I always write a dissertation I will try to cut to the relevant points. Good: Quantity and quality of food at all locations; friendly efficient service in general, especially dining wait staff; cleanliness of ship; excellent entertainment; painless embarkation and debarkation; characters - especially watching some of the little ones reactions; Castaway Cay - the best; the weather - excellent despite it being hurricane season; prate night - even if there was a problem with the fireworks; the pixie dust!