So we weren’t even 3 days removed from just moving our entire home from Ohio to New Jersey when we turned right around and headed out on our first cruise ever for the first cruiseliner ever to leave from NYC with Disney Cruise lines. To make a long story short if you don’t want to read the daily updates – if you have kids, this is the best vacation, not just cruise, you can ever take with children. We were a little skeptical at first thinking there wouldn’t be much for adults to do, or we be bombarded with little terrors going rupshot all over the ship, but it was nothing of the sort.
To start the day – we got into our Limo for a short trip down to the Seaport. It just also happened to be Fleet Week so we got an extra special treat waiting for the Disney Magic to pull in and we went over to the USS Intrepid to see all the military showcases, exhibits, and sailboats from other countries. Soon enough the Disney Magic pulled into port with high fare and horns a blowing. Mateo was giddy and jumping all around just dying to get onto the ship. Onboarding was about as smooth as can be with 5,000 people all ready to get on but we got settled quickly – got our Key-to-the-World card (or the moneypit as we ended up calling it) for our room and headed in to get the lay of the ship.
First order of biz was to get Mateo checked-in with the Kid’s Club. They put a lo-jack GPS bracelet on him for which we could locate him no matter where he was on the ship. The Kid’s Club was great as the hours generally go from 9am to 12midnight, including days in port. You can drop off or pick up at any time and they even had a pick-up service during dinner time to let adults enjoy their meal. The clubs are broken into age-specific groups with a Nursery, 3-5 yrs old, 5-7, 8-12, and a Teen Club. Everyday you get a schedule of each club’s activities and events so Mateo’s day’s were going to be packed with character visits, games, disney movies and everything in between.
The ship itself was huge to us but smaller than Disney’s newest ships (Fantasy & Dream). The top deck is the pool section broken into baby-sprinkler section, family pool, and adult-only pool. There was a bunch of eateries up top with all food free-of-charge, a spa for Mommy, and sports section with basketball court. Our room was on the 7th deck-aft and it was a good choice as most of the kid’s activities and water-soda fountain were near us. It was also near the elevator (big deal) for convenience and port side (starboard would have been top choice as it has washer/dryer there and better views when docked). The room itself was pretty big and with a bed, fold out and drop-down bed options – there be no prob with a family of 5 sleeping in there. The Disney difference is with the dual-bathrooms which is unheard in other cruise lines. When traveling with kids – this alone is a must-have.
We settled in and had our first sit down dinner in Parrot Cay and then noticed good thing about Disney cruise – was that the wait-staff follows your family every night of the cruise even when dining in different restaurants. Our two waitresses (Shauntell & Daisy) were awesome and overly attentive.