Seven Nights of Magic

Before December 12, 2009, I had never even stepped foot on a cruise ship. But I can say now it was one of the best vacations I have ever been on!

My daughter and I took the December 12-19 Western Caribbean Disney cruise. We left on Saturday, December 12 and headed out for a full week of fun in the sun!

Let me say first – the ship (the Disney Magic) was decorated BEAUTIFULLY for the holidays. There was a huge, beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the lobby so as soon as we stepped foot on the ship we could feel the festivity. Once we boarded we were directed as to where we could go to get some lunch. On our way to Parrot Cay we passed a huge, wonderful gingerbread house. The whole area smelled like gingerbread! It was wonderful!

 

 

After we finished our lunch at Parrot Cay (where there was enough food to feed an army, and feed them well!) we headed to our stateroom. We were in an inside stateroom on deck 6. We unpacked our belongings and then headed out for the lifeboat drill. From then on, we were on our own, which for my daughter and I meant a week of sun, fun, rest, and food!

Each night of the cruise, you have a preselected dinner time, as well as a specified restaurant to eat in. They also seat you with the same people each night, and you have the same waiters at each restaurant. We grew to love Francois and Luke! Also, Disney worked some kind of magic when matching us up with dinner-mates because we also grew to love our dinner companions! My daughter made friends with one girl in particular who I think she will be friends with for life!

Day 2 of our cruise took us to Key West, Florida. What a wonderful place to stop! We absolutely loved walking the streets of Key West, taking in the sights and soaking up the sun. I would highly recommend the key lime pie at the Blonde Giraffe. Perfection!

Day 3 was a day at sea, and my daughter’s 11th birthday. There was so much to do on the ship that even if you never got off at a port you could never be bored! And we are SO thankful for our personal navigators. These little papers were our own personal planners for the entire cruise! We’d sit down with highlighters each evening and use our personal navigators to help us plan the next day’s activities.

Everyone we encountered made a big deal about my daughter’s birthday. When it turned midnight the night before her birthday, she was in the kids club. Everyone there sang Happy Birthday to her. When she returned for activities the next day, they all sang to her again. And on the evening of her birthday, all the servers in the restaurant sang to her and brought her a cake. She felt quite special.

Day 4 was a stop at Grand Cayman. My daughter and I got off the ship and took a tour that took us through the town and out to “Hell” and to a rum cake factory. Our tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable and was able to share quite a bit of Grand Cayman history with us.

Day 5 was a stop at Cozumel. My daughter saw in our personal navigator that there was a Ron Jon surf shop in Cozumel so we had to go hunt that down. Let me tell you, it was easy to find but quite a hike from the port! I’d definitely recommend good walking shoes if you are going to go out on your own. We were able to get quite a few nice souvenirs in Cozumel.

Day 6 was another day at sea. We spent a lot of that day laying out and resting. And eating!

Day 7 was a stop at Disney’s island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay. What a beautiful island! My daughter was immensely impressed with the Flying Dutchman that was just off shore there. We took many pictures of it! While at Castaway Cay we had some great BBQ and did some shopping. Due to the weather (rain and wind) we didn’t stay long on the island. This gave me time to do some laundry and start packing.

On the 19th we returned to Cape Canaveral. We were sent off with a wonderful breakfast and a lot of tears and goodbyes.

There is no question in my mind that we will be taking another Disney cruise. There were live shows each night, movies, games, activities, and so much wonderful food! We returned to our cabin each night to find our beds made, and turned down for us, with little chocolates on our pillows. Disney quality and pride of service was everywhere you turned. This cruise will be counted as among one of the best vacations of my entire life.