Disney Cruise Line - July 5th 2014 - 9 Night Mediterranean - Embarkation Day

[LaurenM]

Today was the day we had been looking forward to for months – today we boarded the Disney Magic!

We had a port arrival time of 11:30 so with no need to rush we took our time getting ready and repacking our bags before heading downstairs for the complimentary breakfast at about 9am. This was once again quite basic and consisted of a small selection of pastries, cereals, bread, yogurts, juice and coffee. The rest of my family dug in, however, my vast amount of research prior to this trip had informed me of the glorious food waiting for us aboard the Disney Magic, so I stuck to a glass of juice to save plenty of room.

After a quick check of theDIBB and social media on the free wifi we heaved our bags down the stairs and checked out. From here we did the reverse journey we had completed yesterday back through the crowds, over the very large bridge and across Piazzale Roma to the people mover. The people mover is a monorail type transport that drops you off at the port and cost €1.30 for an adult single ticket. This area was extremely busy but once on the train the journey only took a couple of minutes.

Once at the port we exited the station and found a Disney representative lining guests up for a free shuttle bus straight to the terminal for the Disney Magic. We later learned that this was only a 10-minute walk away but it was a nice relief not to have to take our bags any further. After a short wait we loaded our bags into the coach and headed for the terminal arriving a few short minutes later.

On arrival we took our cases out of the coach and were directed to leave them next to the coach where porters were taking them and putting them through the scanners and then onto the ship. This was slightly unnerving as we hadn’t even checked in or had our documents checked so we waited in the area for our all of our bags to go through before we headed into the terminal.

Upon entering we were welcomed and handed today’s personal navigator before being directed to the guest check-in area. There was no line to speak of and plenty of empty desks and we were sent to one at the far end. It turned out we needed two different individuals to check us in as we had two staterooms so the person at the desk next to us checked Natasha and I in. Photos taken and Keys to the World cards printed we were assigned boarding group no. 10.

As they hadn’t started to call the boarding groups yet we went and found some seats to peruse the navigator and wait to be called. Dad went to try and get a second navigator and was very sternly told be the woman that it was only one per stateroom, after much discussion that we had two staterooms he managed to acquire another.

Our main observation of our experience at the terminal is that the contract staff need more training before being let loose with Disney guests. The check-in staff seemed quite unhappy and were more interested in chatting with each other than dealing with the guests. This didn’t ruin our experience but there was a vast golf between these staff and the wonderful ship crew.

After about 30 minutes our group 10 was called and we joined the security line, which took about 10-15 minutes to get through. Once outside we had a short walk before boarding an elevator to get to Deck 3 to board the ship. A quick 2-minute wait later our family was announced onto the Disney Magic to applause from the crew and we found ourselves in the Atrium. Finally we were starting our first ever Disney cruise!

After a quick survey of the beautiful Atrium we headed to Guest Services to check our onboard credit and book some of the alcohol tastings and the Art of the Theme Show tour. At the same time Dad filled in a beverage consent form so that Natasha could drink alcohol during our cruise. We were told that despite filling this in that Natasha could not participate in the alcohol tastings as she was under 21 (which we found out later was not the case), so we booked a wine tasting for mum and dad and I and a whiskey tasting for dad and I.

Having heard about the lunch rush on embarkation day we headed towards Carioca’s for lunch. However, after some discussion we decided to try out Cabana’s up on Deck 9 as the restaurant has the large windows for a great view out over the port and Venice. We were pleased to see that Cabana’s had no lines for food and plenty of tables so we grabbed one by the window and took it in turns to avail ourselves of the large selection of food and drink. As picky eaters Natasha and I were pleased to find a very large selection of food to eat including pasta, carved meat, chips, rice, chicken breast, bread and ice cream and cookies for dessert. Mum and dad were equally impressed with the enormous selection from which they could choose, including masses of seafood, salad, stir fry’s, curries, cooked vegetables and plenty of small desserts to sample.

Whilst eating we purchased the small water package from one of the cast members for use in port as we did not have many excursions booked. This was probably more expensive than buying water from sellers in the local towns but we felt safer taking our own ashore and didn’t have the room to bring some onboard with us.

After eating far too much food it was past 1:30pm so we headed down to see our staterooms for the first time. We were in 7623 and 7625 Cat 11a inside staterooms just Aft of the Aft elevators on the starboard side of the ship. We were suitably impressed with the space and layout of the rooms and loved the musical artwork on the wall. Our bags were still yet to arrive so we headed off on a self led tour of the ship to get our bearings and take a multitude of photos.

We arrived back at our staterooms just before 3:30, with no luggage in sight, so we watched a little TV and listened to the safety announcement before heading to our drill station in Animators Palette. As we arrived the crew scanned one Key to the World card from each stateroom and directed us to take a seat whilst everyone else arrived before more instruction was given on what to do in an emergency situation.

Safety drill over we headed to deck 10 port side to watch the sail away party and then the sail out through Venice past St Mark’s Square. The deck party was very cute with lots of characters and the children down on deck 9 were having a great time dancing away with the blue sparkly streamers that were handed out. After the party we were informed that we would have a delay leaving the port but should be departing soon. We commenced moving at about 5:40pm for a very slow reverse out of the port and into the main channel in the most convoluted way possible. By about 6pm Natasha, mum and I dashed down to our staterooms to get changed for dinner – luckily our suitcases had just arrived. In my fastest ever turn around time I freshened up, changed and was back up on deck just in time to sail past St Marks Square. By this time it was gone 6:20pm and we were late for our dinner seating of 6:15pm! Dad and I dashed down the Aft staircase calling in at our staterooms for mum, Natasha and our dinner tickets but found that they had already made their way to the restaurant.

Tonight we were dining in Animators Palate for the ‘Show Dinner’ with the standard rotational menu. Dad and I arrived about 10 minutes late but we were quickly shown to our table where mum and Natasha were waiting and found that over half the restaurant had yet to arrive either. Prior to the cruise we had requested a 4-top table for our family for many reasons, this was granted and we found ourselves at table 57.

Our server for this cruise was Rodel from the Phillipines and our assistant server was Romina from Italy. Both of our servers were great throughout the cruise and quickly caught onto our eating habits as well as keeping our drinks topped up frequently.

Our appetizers tonight consisted of Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes, Sliced Serrano Ham and Roasted Red Bell Pepper, Zucchini and Red Onion Salad. The pasta purseittes had been recommended on a number of trip reports and forums I had read prior to our cruise and Mum concurred that they were delicious.

For the main course mum and dad had the Seared Red Snapper, Natasha had the lighter note offering of Sirloin Steak with rice and I had the Pennete Bolognaise, all of which was enjoyed immensely.

As we neared the end of our main course the lights in the restaurant dimmed for the show. I won’t give too many details for those who have yet to enjoy this but the show makes use of the screens around the restaurant to celebrate Disney animation and storytelling with the finale featuring an appearance from the main mouse. We loved that the waiters switched their waistcoats round from the black and white design to the colourful alternative to match the restaurant. We also agreed that it was nice that they included the servers in the parade and applause due to how much hard work they put in with very little rest.

Show over it was time for dessert. Mum had the Sweet Temptations – a trio of white chocolate fudge cheesecake, lemon-raspberry tart and chilled mango mousse, dad had the White Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake and Natasha and I had the Cookies ‘n Cream Sundae. Once again all were excellent, however Mum wished she had gone for the sundae as it was delicious.

After dinner we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre for tonights show ‘All Aboard Let the Magic Begin’. The nightly shows were a major draw for us when choosing a Disney cruise as we love the shows in Walt Disney World and try to see West End shows as often as financially possible. The show tonight was very cute and was a great way to start the cruise and get everyone excited about the shows to come. We were particularly looking forward to ‘Villains Tonight’ and ‘Disney Dreams: an Enchanted Classic’.

Once the show was finished we perused Mickey’s Mainsail and White Caps where I bought a Disney Cruise Line vinylmation for my expanding collection, Mum bought a Disney Cruise Line lanyard and a Frozen case for her iPhone and Natasha bought a very soft Stitch pillow. On this first evening there was a reasonable amount of Frozen merchandise including the Animators dolls, tshirts, phone cases and books, however, there were no dresses to be found and the Elsa Animators Doll quickly sold out! Luckily I had managed to grab both Anna and Elsa dolls from our local Disney Store before we went.

Purchases made we decided to bypass the rest of tonights entertainment as I was peckish and wanted to try out the quick service food locations up on Deck 9. This did mean that we missed ‘Magic Quest’ and ‘Match your Mate’ down in Fathoms but we thought that these would be repeated throughout the cruise (which turned out to be incorrect).

First up was Pinocchio’s Pizzeria, which surprisingly serves many types of pizza. These had a lovely thin base and plenty of toppings with a slice or two making a great snack, which we had many times during this cruise. Next up was Pete’s Boiler Bites where dad tried out the Shawarma offerings and I grabbed a hamburger minus the fries. Both were good although I found the burger a little overcooked and therefore quite dry. Unfortunately this was the only time I visited Pete’s Boiler Bites during our cruise as there were so many other options to choose from. Whilst we tried out the fast food mum headed to the self serve ice cream where she had a coconut and pineapple cone, which she readily devoured. Over the next 9 days mum became a frequent haunt of the ice cream station when not full from the copious amount of food that Disney serve for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Suitably full we headed back to our staterooms for the evening. Tonight the clocks went forward one hour and we have an early start tomorrow for our ‘Art of the Theme Show’ tour.

Tomorrow – A busy day at sea

[NatsyNoo]

Wow a fab day there! We missed Match Your Mate last time so it's a must do for us next time! Look forward to reading more!

[Bats]

Great first day on board Lauren.
Can't believe your mum got such nice ice cream, we had strawberry and vanilla I think on our last cruise.
A few years back, we had coconut flavour and we poured Venezuelan rum over the top of it .. Mmmmmmm

[Guest]

Wow lauren, this is making me very excited now :-)

Food looks delish to.

[Ciano]

Great report Lauren... love the detail!

[Tinkers]

Great day, it's making me super excited.

[Dissie]

Really enjoying your report, great detail

[pluto66]

Great first day onboard looking forward to seeing more photos.

[elise]

A fabulous start to your report . I can't wait to read more
It's getting me very excited for our trip next month but I am very jealous that you got to depart from Venice.

[CheshireCaty]

Enjoying reading your report. I missed the Animator's show dinner on our Med cruise last year (gutted) but looking forward to catching it on the EBTA. Looking forward to reading more