Disney Magic Cabins

Magic's roomy cabins are designed with family comfort in mind. Cabins aren't made to wow kids but, rather, to provide respite from the child-friendly public spaces onboard. They are placid, quiet and comfortable havens of privacy, and it's no surprise that they are popular, even with people traveling without youngsters. The overall color scheme is a nice nautical blue with gray and burgundy, and while there are "hidden Mickeys" everywhere, you have to look to find them. On Magic, Disney's oldest ship, the cabins are beginning to look worn, with bedspreads that are showing signs of age and shower tile grout that could use replacing.

The 214-square-foot outside cabins and 223-square-foot balcony staterooms (each with a 45-square-foot verandah) are comparable to mini-suites on some other ships, each with a distinct bedroom area and living room. Twin beds, which can be made into a queen, are divided from the living area with a full pull-across curtain. The living rooms include deep, full-length sofas, which can be made into third single beds; many rooms also have berths that descend from the ceiling for a fourth person. The slightly larger 259-square-foot Deluxe Family Oceanview stateroom, with a 45-square-foot balcony, can fit five with an additional wall-mounted Murphy bed. Inside cabins (184 square feet for standard, 214 square feet for deluxe) are, for the most part, configured similarly to the outsides and offer the same amenities.

The honey maple furniture with inlaid Art Deco designs is elegant and warm, as are the triple-paned etched-glass balcony doors, which have childproof locks. There are plenty of drawers for storage, including six in a chest at the end of each closet and eight in the deep double-pedestal desk/dressing tables. The closet has sliding doors and is fairly small, but most rooms also have an upright "steamer trunk" wardrobe for more clothing storage, which also happens to be the perfect height for kids. There are shelves above the TV in the desk area console, too high for little ones to reach. The beds are very low, too low for most suitcases to slide under -- an issue thankfully rectified by Disney on their newer ships, Dream and Fantasy. All cabins come with two portable Wave Phones, which have texting capabilities and can be used throughout the ship and on Castaway Cay. (Four phones are provided in the Royal Suite and two-bedroom suites; passengers can rent additional phones from Guest Services for $3.50 per day.)

Each stateroom comes with a "cold box." It's not a refrigerator, but it does keep already cold items cold. Also included in each stateroom: a safe large enough to fit a Macbook Pro, two small end tables with a single drawer each, a sofa, a coffee table that rises to table height, a large desk with a crescent-shaped stool and a small television. The TV programming is mostly Disney-owned channels (including ABC, Toon Disney, the Disney Channel and several ESPN channels) and Discovery, Discovery Travel, CNN, CNN Headline and BBC World. There were several stations with movies produced by Disney-owned companies, including Miramax, Buena Vista and Touchstone.

The bathrooms on Magic are unique in that they are divided into a "bath and a half" configuration in all but the least expensive inside cabins, which have single baths with one sink each. In all other cabins, one bathroom has a toilet, a sink and shelves for makeup and sundries; the other has a shallow tub, shower and sink. The tub is mainly to wash little ones who are too young to shower, and while it seemed a bit shallow for an adult bath, it can be used for that purpose as well. Crisp white tiles with bright blue accent pieces, faux granite sink tops with molded honey maple surrounds and round chrome sinks made these little rooms appear elegant. Though most people love them, we felt claustrophobic in them.

Bathroom amenities are decent and include soap, shampoo, a collagen conditioner and lotion. There is a wall-mounted hair dryer in the bathroom that houses the toilet, which we found oddly inconvenient ... after showering, you have to change bathrooms to dry your hair.

The ship's exterior "modern classic" design dictated several interior space nuances. Outside cabins have large, round windows that replicate portholes. Most of the balconies have bars and Plexiglas inserts, but at the aft end of Decks 5, 6, 7 and 8 are balconied staterooms with either a "Navigator's Balcony" (with a solid wall and a round cutout) or a half-height white metal wall as the staterooms angle toward the pointed stern. This angle, too, allows for larger verandah spaces because of the curve. We had a stateroom at the "corner" of the aft curve; our balcony was nearly six feet wide at one end, narrowing to about three and a half feet at the other, slightly longer than the standard midship balconies. We loved the extra outdoor space but missed the ocean vista since the solid metal wall prevents a view of anything but the sky when you are seated.

Caveat: Some of these "aft corner" staterooms (5150, 5650, 6150, 6650, 7134, 7634) are narrower than others, with no extra wardrobe for clothes and a tight fit at the living room end. Ours was fine for two people; three would have made it uncomfortable.

The wheelchair-accessible staterooms on Magic are enormous, and they are available in inside, outside, verandah and suite categories. The aft balcony accessible staterooms have huge verandahs, as well (some 30 feet long).

Hint: The ship has six staterooms known by insiders as "The Secret Porthole Rooms." They aren't secret at all, but they are a great bargain. They are staterooms all the way forward on Deck 5 that have portholes that are -- to varying degrees -- obstructed, and they are sold at the cost of the most expensive inside stateroom. Staterooms 5020, 5022, 5520 and 5522 have virtually nothing blocking the windows except rails and a pulley; 5024 and 5524 are almost completely blocked with barrels. Still, if you are considering an inside stateroom but would love the light of day for no extra charge, these cabins are your best bet.

The suites are all located on Deck 8 and include the following: 524-square-foot one-bedroom suites with 90-square-foot balconies, 805-square-foot two-bedroom suites with 140-square-foot balconies, and two 845-square foot Royal suites with 184-square-foot balconies (one of which has a baby grand piano). The one-bedroom suites sleep five, and the two-bedroom and Royal suites sleep seven. Each suite comes complete with a concierge team, more upscale design elements, upgraded mattresses and feather pillows, granite countertops and full-length whirlpool tubs. All of the suites have large verandahs.

In addition to shampoo, conditioner and body butter, suite passengers get a sea salt body wash and sunburn relief gel, as well as robes and slippers. They'll also find mouthwash, toothpaste, a toothbrush and a vanity pack with cotton balls and cotton swabs, plus a little sewing kit.

Next: Disney Magic Dining

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