October 2023 Magic Westbound Panama Canal

[o&smom]

I was wondering about the upper bed being too small. He’s super skinny but tall. He’s 13 now, 5’ 9” and 120 lbs. Weight won’t be an issue in a year, but he’s can shoot up a few inches. Do you think a potentially six foot tall kid would be too cramped?

My son is thin and was just under 6 feet on our last cruise. He still wanted the top bunk. I think he slept on his side with his legs bent slightly.

 

[o&smom]

Oh nice!!! Even if it's just the pirate, that's fine just curious because it such a long cruise. I've been reading EVERY SINGLE REVIEW AND BLOG. I'm counting months, days, minutes. Seriously I was tearing up just booking the darn thing, so you will be able to find me pretty easy on the cruise....I will be the snot face, mascara streaked, ugly crying happy tears chick with the embarrassed husband and son trying to rein me in. Say hi when you see me! haha.

One of the best things is all of the different menus in the dining rooms at dinner! Always hard to choose which one to give up for Palo. I always cry when we enter one of the ships. The horn always gets me, too! So excited to do this cruise on the Magic. She was our first DCL ship. Excited to see if any changes with the dry dock. Is this your first cruise ever or just your first with DCL? What other lines have you enjoyed? You are going to have so much fun! Our first cruise was 10 days with only two sea days. We were clueless. Not much time to enjoy all that the ship has to offer. You made a great choice.

 

[Megan1669]

One of the best things is all of the different menus in the dining rooms at dinner! Always hard to choose which one to give up for Palo. I always cry when we enter one of the ships. The horn always gets me, too! So excited to do this cruise on the Magic. She was our first DCL ship. Excited to see if any changes with the dry dock. Is this your first cruise ever or just your first with DCL? What other lines have you enjoyed? You are going to have so much fun! Our first cruise was 10 days with only two sea days. We were clueless. Not much time to enjoy all that the ship has to offer. You made a great choice.

I've cruised before, but this is my first Disney cruise. I'm actually not a huge fan of cruising in general. I'd rather fly in somewhere and stay awhile. But there are certain bucket list cruises like Alaska, Panama Canal and European River...there are other great cruises obviously but these are the top for me. HUGE Disney fan. Live in SoCal and was a pass holder for years up till 2020. I would go 3 times a week and I miss it so much. Job and life changes make it not as easy to just drop by. ;( I've wanted to do a Disney Cruise for years, but it seemed like a "waste" to be in port when I was paying the premium for the ship and experience, so this PC is perfect. I'm more excited about sea days than anything.

Most of my cruising has been on Carnival since it's dirt cheap and I live near Long Beach. I've done the 7 day Carnival 2x - Cabo, PV, and Mazatlan. Were doing a quick 3 day to Ensenada for hubby's birthday this December. I've also done carnival in the Caribbean for our honeymoon 15 years ago. Carnival gets a bad wrap, but I always had a decent experience. It is what it is I guess.

We did Alaska on Norwegian and loved it. Our son was young then and the freestyle thing really worked for us.

I also did a "Jesus Freak" cruise with the band dcTalk on MSC. I loved the trip because I went with my mom and it was her fave band. One of our last trips together before she died. But the food was HORRENDOUS. I actually lost weight on the cruise, I didn't think it was even possible. I think I lived off of French fries the whole time. I am not a picky eater, it was just bad. Everyone complained. Also the service wasn't great. I would never ever ever use them again.

I didn't think I'd do Palo when I was first researching this cruise, but everyone is raving about it, so I get we have to go!!

 

[Megan1669]

Just upgraded to a family veranda to add grandma. It’s the partial white wall one I guess? Room 8090. I don’t really care as long as I get some fresh air and a view. The extra space will be nice with another adult in the room with extra luggage.

 

[nancipants]

I'm on this cruise as well! It will be me, my husband, and my son in one room, and my FIL, MIL, SIL, and her boyfriend in another. Just oceanview this time. My son will be 3 years, 10 months at sailing and I am so excited he'll be able to do the kids club this time. We sailed in August on the Fantasy and he loved the Oceaneer Club during open house. He also loved Nemo's Reef and the Mr. Ray slide, so I predict he will spend hours in the AquaLab riding the Twist and Spout.

 

[o&smom]

I've cruised before, but this is my first Disney cruise. I'm actually not a huge fan of cruising in general. I'd rather fly in somewhere and stay awhile. But there are certain bucket list cruises like Alaska, Panama Canal and European River...there are other great cruises obviously but these are the top for me. HUGE Disney fan. Live in SoCal and was a pass holder for years up till 2020. I would go 3 times a week and I miss it so much. Job and life changes make it not as easy to just drop by. ;( I've wanted to do a Disney Cruise for years, but it seemed like a "waste" to be in port when I was paying the premium for the ship and experience, so this PC is perfect. I'm more excited about sea days than anything.

Most of my cruising has been on Carnival since it's dirt cheap and I live near Long Beach. I've done the 7 day Carnival 2x - Cabo, PV, and Mazatlan. Were doing a quick 3 day to Ensenada for hubby's birthday this December. I've also done carnival in the Caribbean for our honeymoon 15 years ago. Carnival gets a bad wrap, but I always had a decent experience. It is what it is I guess.

We did Alaska on Norwegian and loved it. Our son was young then and the freestyle thing really worked for us.

I also did a "Jesus Freak" cruise with the band dcTalk on MSC. I loved the trip because I went with my mom and it was her fave band. One of our last trips together before she died. But the food was HORRENDOUS. I actually lost weight on the cruise, I didn't think it was even possible. I think I lived off of French fries the whole time. I am not a picky eater, it was just bad. Everyone complained. Also the service wasn't great. I would never ever ever use them again.

I didn't think I'd do Palo when I was first researching this cruise, but everyone is raving about it, so I get we have to go!!

So glad you had those fun memories with your Mom!

 

[Clarkson U]

We are on this cruise. Just me and my wife. the boys will be in college so they are not coming. This will be our 11th DCL sailing (or more if we take an unplanned trip before this one). First time as a Platinum stateroom and we are looking forward to such a long cruise. Expecting it to be loads of fun, lots of new things to try including different menus than we ever have before on DCL and the relaxing nature of the trip.

Do folks hang out in San Diego afterwards for a day or two. What's there to see? We are in an interior stateroom on Deck 5 - it is one of those sideways staterooms.

Hopefully will provide an opportunity to meet others from this board on the sailing.

 

[nancipants]

We are on this cruise. Just me and my wife. the boys will be in college so they are not coming. This will be our 11th DCL sailing (or more if we take an unplanned trip before this one). First time as a Platinum stateroom and we are looking forward to such a long cruise. Expecting it to be loads of fun, lots of new things to try including different menus than we ever have before on DCL and the relaxing nature of the trip.

Do folks hang out in San Diego afterwards for a day or two. What's there to see? We are in an interior stateroom on Deck 5 - it is one of those sideways staterooms.

Hopefully will provide an opportunity to meet others from this board on the sailing.

We are planning to fly home Saturday. We will probably explore on Thursday after getting into port and go to the zoo on Friday.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

3) Is the rainforest spa thing really worth it?

See you all next October!

-Megan

Thanks for starting this thread! We are on this cruise as well. My DH and I will be traveling with some friends. Really looking forward to the long cruise. We were on the Vancouver to Hawaii cruise and LOVED all the sea days. One of my favorite things is to spend time in the Rainforest Room. I finally talked my husband and son into going with me and they are converts as well.

I would say that if you like just lounging on a chair (no view of the sea, but also no sun hitting you either) or like spending time in the sauna then this is the place for you. If you need to have lots of activity/excitement, then maybe skip it. You can tour the Rainforest Room during the Open House on embarkation day. Do a test run on the loungers (their heated from within!). I don't believe you can pre-book it so you can decide then whether you want to purchase passes. On our last cruise, you were only able to purchase length of stay passes on the first day, but each day you could go and see if they had day passes available.

For past PC cruisers, does anyone know how much the length of stay pass cost for that cruise? Just trying to figure out how much to budget.

J

 

[o&smom]

Thanks for starting this thread! We are on this cruise as well. My DH and I will be traveling with some friends. Really looking forward to the long cruise. We were on the Vancouver to Hawaii cruise and LOVED all the sea days. One of my favorite things is to spend time in the Rainforest Room. I finally talked my husband and son into going with me and they are converts as well.

I would say that if you like just lounging on a chair (no view of the sea, but also no sun hitting you either) or like spending time in the sauna then this is the place for you. If you need to have lots of activity/excitement, then maybe skip it. You can tour the Rainforest Room during the Open House on embarkation day. Do a test run on the loungers (their heated from within!). I don't believe you can pre-book it so you can decide then whether you want to purchase passes. On our last cruise, you were only able to purchase length of stay passes on the first day, but each day you could go and see if they had day passes available.

For past PC cruisers, does anyone know how much the length of stay pass cost for that cruise? Just trying to figure out how much to budget.

J

Sorry, have never done rainforest room.

 

[shamroc75]

Couldn't find a thread, so I'm making one! LOL I'm so stinking excited. This will be our first Disney Cruise. We're currently booked for a navigator verandah for me, hubby, and our son who will be 14 at time of sailing. Just messaged our TA to ask about adding my grandma who will be 90 next year. She's already talking about what to pack. She said she now has "don't die yet" goals! Hahahaha!

Some questions from a first timer...

1) are there card keys or bracelets for staterooms?
2) Is the only "special" event the pirate day? Any chance after dry dock that there will be marvel, Star Wars, or Pixar?
3) Is the rainforest spa thing really worth it?
4) Can an adult get some pixy dust in BBB?

See you all next October!

-Megan

Thank you for starting the group. We will be joining this group in a few months and we are very excited.

 

[Flying Fish]

We have been talking about canceling this cruise and moving the booking to something else, but there is nothing that comes close to the PC cruise. Just all that time on the ship is heavenly. Seeing more posts on this thread is making the decision to cancel a little more difficult. We did the East Bound in 2019, so we need this to complete the set. That's me talking myself into it. Hope to see you all then!

 

[o&smom]

We have been talking about canceling this cruise and moving the booking to something else, but there is nothing that comes close to the PC cruise. Just all that time on the ship is heavenly. Seeing more posts on this thread is making the decision to cancel a little more difficult. We did the East Bound in 2019, so we need this to complete the set. That's me talking myself into it. Hope to see you all then!

What are you considering moving it to?

 

[Flying Fish]

What are you considering moving it to?

Therein lies the problem. The problem is we ended up with cruises that we had to move and move and move because of some family issues and then covid shutdown. We are going to Alaska in September, and we're not sure we want to then come back and get on another long cruise. We now have about 6 hours to decide, though. Chances are you will see us there - or we'll just move the deposit to a random sailing and hope something great pops up.

 

[o&smom]

Therein lies the problem. The problem is we ended up with cruises that we had to move and move and move because of some family issues and then covid shutdown. We are going to Alaska in September, and we're not sure we want to then come back and get on another long cruise. We now have about 6 hours to decide, though. Chances are you will see us there - or we'll just move the deposit to a random sailing and hope something great pops up.

I get it with all of the moving of cruises over the past few years! Hope to see you on the cruise. The PC cruises are so up in the air for the future as we all wait to see where all of the ships end up as the new ones join the fleet. We had to jump on the chance to do the PC on the Magic!

 

[gismo1554]

Honestly I'm so excited for this sailing! Can't wait

 

[sweet_nightingale]

This is my second Disney cruise, but my first one with a Halloween theme. Do people actually dress up? If so, is there a specific night for it? My first one was Christmas themed, and it was just magical. I’m so excited for this one!

 

[dcassetta]

This is my second Disney cruise, but my first one with a Halloween theme. Do people actually dress up? If so, is there a specific night for it? My first one was Christmas themed, and it was just magical. I’m so excited for this one!

Not everyone, but some people go all out with their Halloween costumes, just like pirate night.

 

[gismo1554]

This is my second Disney cruise, but my first one with a Halloween theme. Do people actually dress up? If so, is there a specific night for it? My first one was Christmas themed, and it was just magical. I’m so excited for this one!

There will be some halloween activities throughout usually (they have a tree in the atrium for example and usually do a welcome thing the first night for the tree) but then on one night they will have multiple halloween themed events like Trick or Treating and a dance party and a little show on deck. This is the night that some people will choose to dress up for the occasion. You will get a range of those that do and those that don't like you do on Pirate night (and some will just use their pirate night attire twice).

A friend passed on the following info on the scheduled nights but it is subject to change so take it with a pinch of salt:

• 6th October Formal Night
• 12th October Semi-Formal Night
• 13th October Pirate Night
• 15th October Halloween

 

[gismo1554]

Hope anyone who's Pearl managed to book what they wanted. I'm Platinum so will be trying in the early hours tomorrow (in the UK so its 5am). Hope those joining me get what they want. From chat with some Pearls there are very limited port adventures this year which is sad and Puerto Vallarta still hasn't loaded online so you might need to ring to book this one