Guest Blog! Barbara talks her awesome cruise out of NYC on the Disney Magic

Today we feature a Guest Blog from my dear friend and colleague Barbara Lane – check out her Facebook page and request a travel quote from her here!  :-)

I found the perfect adventure to celebrate my husband’s recent retirement!  The Disney Magic had a 4 night cruise to Saint John, Brunswick in early October.  This was our first  Disney Cruise and our first trip to New York City.  We love Disney vacations and as Annual Passholders at Disneyland we were very excited to experience a Disney Cruise. We thought it would be fun to see what a Disney Cruise had to offer to adults who are traveling without kids.

Our Retirement Celebration at Palo aboard the Disney Magic 🙂 

Our adventure started in New York City with a two night stay at the Fairfield Inn Manhattan Central Park.  The Fairfield Inn was conveniently located to many of the iconic New York City landmarks.   We were able to walk everywhere – Central Park, Times Square, the Rockefeller Center and Pier 83.  Our room was very small, but at the same time, very comfortable and could be described as cozy!  And the full breakfast buffet had a great selection!. The weather was beautiful and loved walking through Central Park!  We booked a Harbor Lights Cruise through Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises in the evening, it was the perfect way to see the New York City skyline, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.  We are definitely going to visit New York City again as we just barely scratched the surface!  

Fairfield Inn NYC

Gorgeous Statue of Liberty in NYC! 

Beautiful NYC Skyline from Harbor Cruise!

Central Park

Downtown NYC

On Monday morning, we repacked our bags and called an Uber for transport to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal!  The Disney Magic is a beautiful ship!  The embarkation process was very organized and our documents were quickly processed and we were able to embark the ship.  We had the option to have lunch at Cabanas, casual dining, or sit down table service at Carioca’s. The buffet at Cabana’s had many great selections including peel and eat shrimp and snow crab legs!  Our stateroom was available by 1:30 PM and our luggage was delivered by 3:30 PM, just in time for the Muster Drill at 4:00 PM.

The Icon of the Disney Magic

The Magic is a beautiful ship! 

We were very impressed with the Staterooms on the Disney Magic!  The ship was completely renovated in 2013.  Our beautiful and spacious Verandah Stateroom reminded us of our Mini-Suite on the Star  Princess (and twice as big as our room in New York!).  We had a king size bed with ample space underneath to store our suitcases once we unpacked.  There was a full size couch and coffee table – perfect for our morning coffee which we ordered from room service!   The Verandah had a slider door and 2 deck chairs, a small table with a see-through plexiglass wall.  We were able to relax and enjoy a glass of wine while listening to the ocean below us – Disney allows each adult to bring on 2 bottles of wine or champagne in carry-on bags!  And our stateroom host called room service to have wine glasses delivered!  The closet was large with plenty of space to hang our clothes, especially since we did not have to use it for luggage storage.. We also loved the split bathroom – tub/shower combo (much larger than I’ve experienced on other cruise lines)  plus a sink and a separate room with a toilet, sink and storage shelves.  We were also impressed with the amount of available wall outlets for charging our devices. I think we had had only one outlet on our last cruise!

Lots of space in the staterooms on the Magic

Separate room for toilet is handy

Dual bath – separate for bath/shower and extra sink, is awesome!

A shot out towards the balcony

The Disney Magic has 3 different main dining rooms all with very unique themes and decor.  Guests are assigned a dining rotation in order to experience all 3 locations. We had the same table number in all three dining rooms and our servers followed us to each location.  We were assigned to the Animator’s Palate the first evening and loved watching the walls as the animations magically came to life before our eyes!  Our meals in all three dining rooms were wonderful and the service was awesome.  We noticed the kiddos at the surrounding tables were served their meals right away and it looked like they enjoyed their “kid friendly” options.  It was very exciting when Mickey visited  the dining room and everyone was happy to see him!  After dinner, we had time to stop by one of  the adult only areas for a cocktail before heading to the Walt Disney Theater for the nightly live original productions.  We were very impressed with the entertainment options.  The Sail-Away Party and Pirate Night Deck Parties were both very fun and we loved the fireworks show on Pirate Night!  We even dressed in our pirate gear!  It was also very fun to see our favorite Disney Characters and Princesses on the ship!  We also enjoyed Cars 3 and Moana in  the Buena Vista Theater on our sea days.

Fireworks off the ship are amazing, and unique to Disney!

Nighttime Deck Entertainment on the Magic

We were very happy to be able to relax in the adult areas on the ship.  The Cove Cafe was a great place to grab a speciality coffee and watch the ocean from the comfy chairs and couches.  We made reservations at the adults-only restaurant Palo for a special retirement dinner and could not have been more impressed!  The Northern Italian inspired menu was fantastic and service was impeccable!  We completely enjoyed the elegant setting and decor of Palo and felt it was well worth the additional cost.  

A shot of the Magic in port

 

There were several Port Adventure options in Saint John, we decided on the adult only tour of the Bay of Fundy, the Reversing Falls and the Village of St. Martins. We stopped by the Reversing Falls twice so we could witness both phenomenons at low tide and high tide, it was amazing!  

The Magic’s bow

We did not use the pools onboard the ship as it was a little too cool while we were at sea.  There was beautiful adult only option, the Quiet Cove Pool with a full bar.  We also did not use the Senses Spa & Salon or the Fitness Center, however, we were able to catch a couple of naps in our stateroom instead!  We did notice that the only channels available on television are Disney Channels, this allowed us to stay in vacation mode and away for the real world!  We were happy to be able to enjoy Monday Night Football in the O’Gills Pub.

The pools on the Magic were great! 

 

Our cruise came to an end on Friday morning, we disembarked after one last breakfast in the Lumiere’s restaurant.  Disney also has an extremely efficient debarkation process, we were off the ship and on board the Disney Bus back to the airport before 9:00 AM.  

 

Our first Disney Cruise was awesome and we are very excited to book our next Disney Cruise!  Disney Cruises really do have something for everyone – families traveling with kids, multi-generational families and groups, and even just a couple of retired adults!  

This is a Guest Blog from my dear friend and colleague Barbara Lane – check out her Facebook page and request a travel quote from her here!  :-)