A MAGICal Adventure from San Juan - May 4-9, 2024

[sadiecatie]

Chapters

Day 0 - Intro and Planning
Day 1 - Travel and San Juan
Day 2/3 - San Juan
Day 4 - Embarkation Day
Day 5 - St. Thomas
Day 6 - Day at Sea
Day 7 - Nassau, AKA Day at Sea #2
Day 8 - Castaway Cay
Day 9/10 - Debarkation Day and Ft. Lauderdale
Day 11 - Travel home and Final Thoughts

Intro and Planning

Welcome! I’m here for my second trip report, and happy to be prepping to get back on board a Disney ship! I’m working to organize my thoughts ahead of time and hoping to complete my report in a more timely manner this time around (I did complete my Alaska report last year, but it took a hot minute!).

The cast of characters:

• Sarah - me - college professor and shameless Disney adult
• Christian - my spouse - engineer and good sport for all of my vacation planning shenanigans
• Audrey - my (very-soon-to-be) 9-year-old daughter - 3rd-grader and super excited to hopefully swim with some sea turtles!

This trip started with the intention of visiting extended family in Puerto Rico (most of Christian’s family is still there, though he grew up in Florida). After some grandparent health scares last year, we decided it was priority #1 to get to the island and see loved ones while we still have the chance to do so (he is fortunate to still have all of his grandparents - I have none of mine and I’ve told him just how fortunate he is to be pushing 40 and still have all his grandparents living). Just out of curiosity, I looked to see what kinds of options there might be to combine a family visit with a cruise - and what do you know, there was a 5-night repositioning sailing from San Juan that would be right after my spring semester and give us the opportunity to visit family on each end (in both Puerto Rico and Florida)! It didn’t take much convincing to get Christian on board, and I was off and running with my planning!

We decided to spend 3 days in San Juan before boarding the Magic. Our plans will combine daytime sight-seeing and relaxation with evening family visits each day. While our evenings are set aside for family, any recommendations people have for things to see and do during the day would be welcome! Right now I would really like to go walk around Old San Juan and visit El Morro, and have some beach/pool time at our hotel, but otherwise we’re wide open! (Christian hasn’t been to the island to visit since he was 13, so he really doesn’t have much experience to assist with the planning!)

We have a paper chain countdown calendar in our living room counting down until we leave for San Juan - it started at 100 days and has gotten noticeably shorter (34 days today)!

I’ll be doing online check-in this weekend, and then it’s just waiting, ordering last-minute stuff we might need, and going over the packing list! (Can you tell I’m a planner? Audrey takes after me, she wants to start “practice packing” now). Can’t wait!

 

[sadiecatie]

Our countdown is almost over! We leave for San Juan Wednesday morning - can’t wait to get this adventure started!

 

[princesserin1350]

Have an amazing trip visiting family and enjoying your cruise! Can't wait to read your trip report.

 

[Ronneeaght]

Following along! Have a wonderful trip!!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I am enjoying your report, and will be enjoying the cruise with you! We leave for Puerto Rico tomorrow too!

 

[sadiecatie]

I am enjoying your report, and will be enjoying the cruise with you! We leave for Puerto Rico tomorrow too!

I’m lounging by the pool right now and it’s wonderful

 

[shosh1530]

Looking forward to hearing your cruise report, especially your day in St. Thomas as we'll be there in about a month on the Fantasy. I hope it has been smooth sailing!

 

[Lisa F]

Following along as I will be on the Magic in a little less than a month!

Can you tell me if the pirate night fireworks were between dinner seatings or if the deck party was at 10pm?

 

[sadiecatie]

Following along as I will be on the Magic in a little less than a month!

Can you tell me if the pirate night fireworks were between dinner seatings or if the deck party was at 10pm?

The deck party and fireworks were at 10, after both dinner seatings.

 

[mikeuno]

It's a long day for sure...

 

[sadiecatie]

Day 1 - Travel and San Juan

We left home Tuesday afternoon and considered ourselves officially on vacation. We had an early flight scheduled for the next morning, so we drove to stay at the Marriott at the Cincinnati Airport. It was pretty much your standard Marriott! We were pleased with it, and Audrey was impressed with everything but the bathroom door (I don’t know why hotels ever think a sliding barn-style door is a good idea for a bathroom! You can hear everything - enough said). We enjoyed the hors d’oeuvres in the M Club Lounge, and since we weren’t very hungry that was our dinner. Audrey declared it the best thing ever because there were jars of M&Ms and Skittles and she was able to get herself a cup of candy for the road



The next morning we rose bright and early to head to the airport for our 6:30 flight. We were reminded again why it’s important to book a long enough connection - we originally had 90 minutes for a layover in Charlotte, but the day before our first flight got pushed back by 30 minutes, then we ended up sitting on the tarmac for another 20 minutes on a last-minute delay before takeoff. In the end we made our connection by the skin of our teeth - we hustled through the charlotte airport and got to our gate at the end of boarding. We were just thankful we made it!

When we arrived in San Juan it was beautifully warm and super humid! I quickly realized that any hope I had of having nice looking hair on this trip was in vain I turned into an instant frizz ball in the humidity. We got an Uber to our hotel in the Condado Beach area (Uber worked well for us in San Juan, we used it everywhere we went) - we stayed at the Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino. We were impressed with the hotel and really enjoyed our stay here - we had an ocean front room with a balcony, which we very much enjoyed sitting on and watching the waves. The pool and beach were also really nice, and the hotel has lots of amenities (restaurants, bars, etc).





We spent the afternoon enjoying the pool and beach (though there was a warning of strong riptide the entire time we were there, so we just put our feet in the surf and played in the sand), and then had dinner with family.







All in all a great travel day!

 

[sadiecatie]

Day 2/3 - San Juan

We woke up on our first full day in San Juan and headed down for breakfast - because of our status with Marriott, we got free breakfast vouchers for our entire stay, and we were so happy with the offerings! (Also, the vouchers were absolutely worth more than the “points gift” we could have chosen at check-in - if we had paid cash, it would have been $40/adult each day for breakfast, and with all that was included this was honestly a fair price). I think this was the best hotel breakfast buffet I’ve had (I wish I had thought to take pictures). Each morning there was a whole line up of hot offerings (pancakes, waffles, French toast, bacon, eggs, potatoes, oatmeal with fixings), as well as a variety of juices, pastries, fruits, yogurt, mimosas, and a made-to-order omelette bar, and everything was delicious. All of this was enjoyed with views out to the ocean. Needless to say, we started each day in San Juan with a big and very satisfying breakfast!

This morning, we got going early with the plan to make the most of the morning. After breakfast we took an Uber into Old San Juan (10-15 minute drive). We visited Castillo San Felipe del Morro (El Morro), which was definitely worth a visit and very interesting to learn about the history of the island and the fort. If you have the time, your entry ticket to El Morro also includes Castillo San Cristobal and we were told entry was good for two days - unfortunately we just didn’t have the time to explore both, but we definitely would have with more time! We enjoyed the history, the views of the coastline and ocean surrounding the fort, and stopped for a while to watch four large iguanas hanging out in the sun.








After we finished at El Morro, we walked further into Old San Juan to explore and see the sights. We planned ahead to visit a local park that serves as a cat sanctuary (if you search for Save-a-Gato, you’ll find it!) - we had picked up a bag of cat treats at Trader Joe’s the evening before flying out, so we spent some time feeding all the kitties. We’re cat people (Audrey most of all!) so this was a fun time enjoying the cats, and there was lots of shade which was also welcome as we got into the midday heat.



After enjoying the cats, we walked around just to see what we could see. We stopped into a lovely little gelato shop (Anita Gelato) because we were all sweltering and needed a break, and it was a nice break - the air conditioning was blasting and the gelato was delicious.







We then walked over to the Old San Juan cruise port where the MSC Seashore was docked for the day. We enjoy looking at whatever ships are in port, and there was lots of music and people watching it be had in that area.



We went to see family for lunch, then back to the hotel for pool time. Unfortunately, the weather turned nasty very soon after we arrived at the pool, with clouds, wind, and off-and-on rain showers. We stuck it out for awhile as Audrey still wanted to swim, but when the rain started back up around 5:30 we called it and went in to get cleaned up. Went for dinner at Gingambo (one of the restaurants at the hotel) and enjoyed a very good and HUGE meal (I ordered a soup and two sides thinking I would go a little lighter for dinner, and it was still an obscene amount of food! The dishes here are definitely shareable, which we did for lunch the next day). Then back to our room to relax a bit before bed.

Friday the weather report was iffy - before bed we didn’t know if we’d get any sun or if it would rain all day. Thankfully, we woke to beautiful sunny skies. Audrey and I enjoyed sitting on the balcony for a bit watching the ocean before going down for breakfast. Then we got suited up and spent a good three hours down at the pool and beach, enjoying both pools and the water slide.



The rain did come on just before noon, but that timing was just fine. We got cleaned up and had lunch, then ran final pre-cruise errands before meeting up with family for an early dinner. There is a large pharmacy right next door to the Marriott (it looked like a CVS but was not - I’m wondering if it used to be and was bought out by a local company? The only negative of it not being a CVS was not being able to use the coupons I had on my account). The store has basically anything you’d need - we needed to pick up more sunscreen (we underestimated how much we’d go through with three pasty midwesterners who reapply liberally to avoid getting burned!), eye drops, and wine. Audrey enjoyed trying on sunglasses (she was doing a “cool” pose here ).



We were really spoiled by all of Christian’s relatives in San Juan - everyone was so welcoming and gracious, and everyone wanted to cook for us! We had large and delicious home-cooked Puerto Rican meals every day, and we were so happy that we were able to start our trip with good family time seeing all of Christian’s grandparents, as well as several aunts, uncles, and cousins.

In the evening we settled in for our last night before getting on board! We watched Trolls in our room and chatted about our plans for the morning. We were all excited to board the Magic!

 

[sadiecatie]

Day 4 - Embarkation Day!

Again, we weren’t sure what the weather would hold for today (more rain/storms in the forecast) but we happily woke to see a sliver of the sunrise and no rain. It was cloudier, but it seemed promising that we could get a little final pool time and not get soaked on our way to the ship. We had one final breakfast (more yummy food and mimosas!) then we got changed and spent a little time at the pool - I didn’t want to do too much, as we still needed to repack and get our bags tagged before heading to the port, but we still got in a little over an hour of pool time before we needed to get cleaned up.



We ordered an Uber to the port, not sure what was in store as I had read reports of things being chaotic at the San Juan terminal. I think the key is to arrive at your scheduled time - this seems self-explanatory, but there were lots of people lined up outside (they had people lining up according to PAT, with signs and roped off areas) - our PAT was 11:30, we arrived at 11:30, and there were people lined up well over an hour before their scheduled PAT. The process was smooth for us, though - we waited a couple minutes in line to drop our bags, sent through security, then basically got right on the ship (no wait once we were through security - we got into the waiting area and they had just called our boarding group).





After getting on board, we headed to Rapunzels for lunch. We enjoy doing the sit-down lunch on embarkation day for a relaxed start to the trip. While waiting for our food, Christian went off to Soul Cat Lounge and got our table assignment for dinner sorted (we had requested a private table, and apparently that hadn’t been accommodated ahead of time, but they were able to move us to a table for 4 so that we were able to dine on our own as a family).



The afternoon of embarkation day seems to consistently be a whirlwind for us - we’re bopping around the ship checking things out and getting situated for the trip. Some highlights of this afternoon:

• We somehow lost Audrey’s favorite stuffie, “Stitchy” (a little baby Stitch) between lunch and checking out the kids club open house. We retraced our footsteps but couldn’t find him anywhere. We went and let Guest Services know, and they came through within a couple hours - he was found and at our stateroom before dinner.
• We headed to our stateroom and got changed into swimwear at 1:30, then headed up to the pool deck. We watched Encanto on funnel vision while Audrey swam. I enjoyed a piña colava and Audrey had 3 soft serve cones We were living our best lives

• It was soooooo hot and humid. I definitely underestimated the strength of the sun. Thankfully I didn’t get a sunburn because I’m vigilant about sunscreen, but I would not do another Caribbean/Bahamian cruise without bringing rash guards (I ended up buying one on board because I realized I was just hiding from the sun and wanted to enjoy myself more).
• I’m on board with everyone who says the safety drill needs to change - it’s absurd how long it takes to get going when you require everyone on board to be at their stations at the same time, and really the problem is the people who don’t respect others’ time and roll in super late. It was hot and uncomfortable and NOT short (we stood there for I think 40 minutes?). I know it’s necessary to make sure everyone needs to know what to do in case of an emergency, but I couldn’t even hear/see most of the demonstration (I’m positive watching a video then reporting to our station like most other lines do would be more effective in actually getting the required info). I just kept telling Audrey that this was the worst part of the cruise but necessary - once it’s done we can just have fun (she was not a happy camper during this period).
• The Sail a Wave party ended up taking place in the atrium because of a rainstorm that came on in the afternoon. We grabbed a spot and watched from deck 5, which was just fine, and we were able to easily head up one deck to our room when we were done and ready to decompress a bit (we all needed a little quiet, air conditioning, and water before dinner). Audrey started her first movie in the stateroom, watching Inside Out as we unpacked (she really enjoyed watching on-demand movies when we were in the stateroom during this trip).

Dinner this evening was at Rapunzel’s Royal Table. Since it was a 5-night sailing, we had the “Let the Magic Begin” menu tonight. Our serving team for this trip was Yasa and Roice, who were great - very energetic and attentive. My only complaint with Yasa throughout the trip was a little extra pressure for us to also be energetic - I can meet that energy, but Audrey is quiet and shy, and that’s OK. Sometimes it felt like he needed/pushed her to be outwardly enthusiastic and I think that stressed her out a little.

Dinner service on this first night was a little slow - they picked up after this (I don’t know if it was just getting first night kinks out or if they picked up that we prefer a bit faster pace, but we were pleased with the adjustment). I ended up taking Audrey to the kids club before dessert because she didn’t want to miss the ice breakers that were starting at 7 - luckily she didn’t mind skipping dessert since she had already had so many ice cream cones Christian and me did a couple laps of the promenade deck after dinner, then got Audrey to get showered and changed before heading back to the kids club for more activities (this was a theme this trip - she really loved her time in the kids clubs on this sailing and made some friends that she had a lot of fun with).

Christian and me decided to head to the theater for the evening show - the featured performer this evening was a magician, Zak Mirz. I was ambivalent about going, but I’m glad we did! This show was impressive and very entertaining. Afterward, we headed up to Signals for our first beverage seminar of the sailing, the Tequila and Margarita tasting. Isaias was the CM leading this session, and he was great. Very personable, explained things well, and made some great drinks for us to try (I’ll be attempting to make the skinny strawberry margarita he made with strawberry-infused tequila for the 4th of July!). We enjoyed this experience very much, and were with a good group of fellow guests who were pretty talkative/personable.



After this, we were all getting tired (despite what Audrey would claim!), so we headed back to the stateroom for showers, finishing watching Inside Out, and bed. The next day would be an early morning for us with our main excursion of the trip planned for St. Thomas!

 

[shosh1530]

Sounds like embarkation day got off to a great start (minus the muster drill). Can't wait to hear all about your St. Thomas day.