Review: Disney Magic

In February of this year, Kim and I took a cruise for our 5th wedding anniversary.  We took the cruise as an early anniversary trip.  Our actual date was a week or so later but pricing did not line up.  We got married around Valentine's Day and this year that weekend is also President's Day weekend so prices go up with everything Disney around those days.  We decided to take a quick 3-night Bahamian cruise from Port Canaveral on the Disney Magic.   We have done two other cruises with DCL (a 4-night on the Dream and a 7-night on the Fantasy) and we wanted to experience the "little" ships.

The first thought when arriving to port was how small the ship actually looked compared to the port.  Small is a relative term, as the Magic is 984 ft. long with a gross tonnage (measure of ship volume not weight or displacement) of nearly 84,000 tons.  For comparison, the RMS Titanic was 882 ft. long with a GT of 46,300.  So we aren't talking about a little dinghy.  But compared to the Disney Dream's 128,000 GT it's quite a bit smaller.  Aesthetically, the ships are painted and styled very similarly on the outside.  It is becoming a comforting sight to see the Disney livery on a ship.  

As we arrived in the lobby,  it looked quite cramped compared to the other ships.  "Who shrunk the lobby?"  Elevators were right there as you entered and all of the information desks were squeezed into the smaller space.  We spent the rest of the day trying to get oriented to the ship as things were in different places compared to our other cruises.  Because the ship had repositioned from Miami the night before, it had no passengers and the rooms were ready very early in the morning.  

We were in an ocean view stateroom on Deck 6 Forward right above the "Disney Magic" name on the side of the ship.  This was our first ocean view cabin.   Previously, we had inside staterooms with virtual portals.   The room was a nice size and the view was great. We did miss the animations in the virtual portals. I'm not a big fan of the verandah rooms simply because it is another door to deal with and we probably would not spend much time there anyway.  We preferred the set up of the inside rooms where the bed and couch were in line rather than side by side.   It was a bit cumbersome having the bed right in the middle of the room. 

The Magic seems to have very similar amenities to the larger ships, just of a smaller size.  It still has the live theatre, movie theater, nightclub area (with 3 instead of 5 sections), Edge, Vibe, Oceaneer's Club, Palo (no Remy), the pools, Cabanas, Quiet Cove, spa, shops, etc.  The top deck is positioned differently with less space between the funnels and Goofy's Sports Deck is Forward instead of Aft.  All in all, I did not think the ship really lacked any of the essentials that could be found on the Dream or the Fantasy but everything was just petite in size and in a different place.

Palo was possibly our biggest surprise.  On the last night, we did dinner service at Palo.  We had done a brunch at Remy on the Fantasy and it was good, but not overly impressive.  This Palo dinner was worth every bit, not just for the quality of food but also for the atmosphere and personal attention.  The restaurant is larger than those on the Fantasy simply because there is no need to share with Remy or the Meridian lounge.  Palo spans the whole back of the ship and you can see out of the panoramic windows at the stern of the ship.  

The Animator's Palate had a good show that was completely different from the other ships.  It did not have an interactive Crush the sea turtle but it was a wall show based on Fantasmic complete with a guest appearance from my favorite character of all time (you can guess who that is).   The other dining facilities were the same good and average quality that is found on any general cruise ship.  I am not a huge food connoisseur so my food reviews will not be as detailed as others.  If it is edible and not meat, I typically eat it and am satisfied.       

The real surprise I found was the large size of the Quiet Cove pool and bar area.  The larger ships have Decks 12 and 13 for adults only but have a very small and not useful Quiet Cove pool.   The pool here could actually be used for some short lap swimming and had lines painted on the bottom.  I definitely like the layout here better.   We didn't spend as much time here this cruise because the night weather was a little chilly and we had no at sea days.  

The thing that frustrated us about the ship was the layout.   Disney really did learn from the mistakes they made with their first ship when designing the larger ships.  Things such as the Buena Vista theatre and the nightclub district were positioned opposite where they are in the larger ships.   I found I had to constantly run back and forth to get to places and even though the ship was smaller, it felt weird.  The layouts on the newer vessels adapted to  account for passenger traffic for moving from one activity to another.  The other improvement was the expansion of the lobby.  Even though the ship is smaller, the Magic's lobby is really not useful as a space.  It just wasn't thought out well.  With just a little bit more open space on Deck 3, it could have been an extra space.  

We have not yet experienced the Wonder and likely will not until after it's dry dock referb this year.  Overall, we were happy with the ship and even happier that Castaway Cay was not overly crowded.  The benefit of the smaller ship is also the smaller passenger count.  We were able to sit and enjoy the family beach area for the first time.  And with that I will say to have a magical day.