This is my second cruise with Disney, both on the Disney Magic. The first was with Yvonne in the Caribbean and this one was with my two daughters in their 20’s. This cruise was from Barcelona to Dover over 7 nights.
We travelled to Barcelona by train, taking the Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord and then the overnight Spanish train –hotel from Gare Austerlitz to Barcelona Franca. We were only able to get reclining seats for the trip, not the most comfortable, but roomy and they do recline back over 60 degrees. Would go again but in a sleeper berth.
Check in at Barcelona was very straightforward and we were on the ship by 11.30. For parents with children Disney have Mickey and Minnie mouse making appearances in the terminal.
On boarding through the main atrium you are greeted and announced ( The Roberts family) to the waiting staff with rounds of applause.
The rooms were not ready until 1.30pm so we went to Parrot Cay Restaurant for the buffet lunch. It was very tasty and featured a hot carvery, soups, cold meats, fish and assorted salads and various of sweets to follow. There is a buffet, The Topsider, aft on the pool deck, that is small by to-days standard.
We had booked a Cat12 inside on deck 2 but were upgraded to a Cat11 inside on deck 6. During the second night on board a strange noise started in the cabin at 4am, mentioned it to our excellent steward and later that day we were moved to a Balcony cabin. The cabins are very spacious with plenty of storage and have a seperate toilet and washbasin from the main bath/shower and washbasin.
Disney does dining a little different in that you eat in three different dining rooms during your cruise. You do this in a rotation. The dining rotation is shown on your cruise card. Ours was PLAPLAP. We began in Parrot Cay, then Lumière's, which is a French inspired restaurant that used a theme based around The Beauty and Beast story. The third night was at Animator’s Pallet. Then you restart the rotation. Your waiters move with you and were excellent and made the dining a pleasurable experience, the food was to a very high standard.
One morning there is a Character Breakfast where all the Disney characters come around to every table and the Disney escort with the character will take your picture with your camera, hilarious!
Characters appear in the main atrium throughout the day and also around the ship, on embarkation day prior to sailing after swimming in the adult fresh water pool I was drying myself off when the towel was pinched by Goofy who proceeded to dry my bald patch to everyones amusement.
The Topsider buffet is open for all meals and a restaurant is also open for breakfast and lunch, which I prefer, I like my Eggs Benedict for breakfast.
On deck by the pools there are three food outlets, Goofy’s Galley, Pluto’s Dog House and Pinocchio’s Pizzaria. There is also free ice cream machines and free soft drinks, all Coca Cola products, no paying for a drinks container to obtain a soft drink 24/7.!
The entertainment is certainly the best at sea, a show every night, elaborate and very good and the stage sets quite amazing. The cruise director Brent from Aussie and his staff were fantastic. The cruise entertainment staff really kept everything moving from quizzes, to bingo to cooking demonstrations, wine tastings to cocktail mixing lessons to lectures.
There is a separate Cinema where they show the latest Disney Films in 2D and 3D. Films are also shown in the main theatre. The in cabin flat screen TV has a wide range of programmes and plenty of films to watch.
The pool deck has three fresh water pools, Childrens pool, Family pool with large screen showing feature films to football and an adults only pool, spent every day here and most of the time had the pool to myself. The adult area included a good-sized pool and two relatively large whirlpools. The area is only for passengers over 18 and Disney seems to do a good job of policing it and keeping it that way. By this pool there is Signals Bar and Cove Cafe which has a selection of books and magazines to read.
Adults are well taken care of with their own areas to relax. There is also an adult only restaurant Palo’s where they serve brunch and evening meals for a small fee, highly recommended.
The childrens clubs are without doubt the best in the industry and I was informed that other cruise lines send staff on board to see how children are looked after .
Disney is also the only cruise line to have fireworks at sea, this was spectacular and followed on from a “Pirates in the Caribbean” party on deck.
Obviously if your clients are not Disney fans this may not be the cruise for them.
Yvonne and I may be biased as we are Disneyholics have been going to Disney since staying in Disney World in Florida for a week on our 5 week honeymoon 26 years ago and having owned a villa in Orlando 3 miles from Disney for the last 9 years.
We are booked on the Disney Magic Transatlantic this September, says it all!!!!
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