It's A Magic Cruising Christmas 2015 - Day 1 At Sea

[debidee]

I was wide awake at 3.30...snoozed until 6.30 I stupidly turned the air-conditioning off last night and now was boiling!

Now it was starting to get light outside and we were on the 14th floor it was a pretty good view and looked like the sun might make an appearance today

Breakfast wasn't included as we got the room on points - it was your standard Hilton type buffet, I had an omelette and toast and Jez had eggs and bacon. It was $60 including tip which is ridiculous! I suppose you could have eaten a lot but knowing that's what we are going to be doing for the next week we decided enough was had and headed back to the room!

Spent the next hour or so making use of the free wi-fi and reading up on all things cruise related! We decided to head down at about 10am

The port was about 20 mins away and the taxi was $35 including tip. We arrived and there were probably about 50 or so other people waiting, they opened at 10.30 and it didn't take long to reach checkin. There is an airport style check in process but it didn't take long and the people were a lot friendlier!

It only took a few minutes to check in and get our pictures taken and then it was a case of waiting to be called - we were in group 4

They were handing out navigators - this is basically a detailed itinerary of hour by hour what's on! This is great to plan out what we wanted to do today!

I have to be honest it didn't feel particularly organised, I had selected 11-11.30am as an onboard time and it was literally 11.50 before the first group were called

In fairness it didn't take to long and it was 12 as the 'Giles' party were welcomed onboard - we passed the main man on the way in!

Disney certainly know how to decorate a ship and everything just looked beautiful and festive!

By now it had been a good few hours since breakfast so tummies were starting to rumble! Lunch we decided to go to the main buffet restaurant and the selection is fantastic - it's literally got something for everyone! It has 2 entrances both with the same food selection. I put a nice selection on my plate!

We sat outside in the sunshine - here is my plateful

Jez's plateful

And our cheeky puddings!

We stopped to get a water package for our 1st 4 days, it was $19.99 for 12 bottles. As we are out most days this should be enough and we can always pick up a couple of big bottles when we get to key west for our 2nd part of the cruise.

Wifi was free for today for up to 50mb, by the time I had posted 2 IG photos and downloaded email it had already used 18mb and I'd only been connected 10 mins! I quickly turned off all pushes / automatic updates and will see how I get on! The packages range from payg to 1000mb for $89, this is the one we will probably get and hope it lasts! Before we had set-sail I was all used up :-(
Depending on how much data this post takes up will determine if I can continue to post live otherwise it will be when we get back to Port / Miami :-(

After lunch we chilled for a hour or so, there are lots of chairs and loungers about and there is wording in the navigator about not reserving spaces lol!

We were sat near one of the main pools with a giant movie screen - it was playing little mermaid which is one of my favourites!

Now I know we have literally just eaten but whilst getting a drink there was fresh pizza - rude not too right :-)

On the agenda today was a tour of the boat to get ourselves familiar, the guides were both from the UK and spent the next 45 mins showing us around the main restaurants and where everything was. It was well worth the time

I saw these gorgeous pictures in the gallery - $595 each and would look nice somewhere / anywhere in my house! The main mouse

And his lovely girlfriend!

We next decided to listen to the shopping guide tell us about what could be found at the 2 stops - Nassu and Key West, with the promise of free gifts for showing up... it was 1.5 hours of my life I won't get back! The free gifts as you can see are plastic rings - not sure how's that's a good advert! The only thing that slightly recovered it was I won a prize in the raffle of a rum cake! What did we learn - if you want diamonds or super expensive shops then buy here... I think I'll give it a miss!

We had about an hour to kill before the mandatory fire drill so headed down to our room where our luggage was waiting, here is our state room - it's not huge by any means but it will be just fine for the next 7 nights and every spare space is a compartment or other - and great now you can put your cases under the bed!

Because we were a returning guest we had this handy canvas bag waiting for us - it will be just right for when we are at Castaway Cay

We had just enough time to decorate our room and I'm so pleased with the outcome!

As it was nearly 4pm there were loud speaker announcements now throughout the ship telling us to go to deck 4 for the safety brief

I guess considering the size of the ship it was pretty well organised, it took roughly 25 minutes and we were free to head up to deck 9 for the sail away party

This was fun with Mickey and Friends turning up to dance us away, by the time we were leaving it was just starting to rain so we went back to the room to freshen up for tonight.

The show tonight was called Twice Charmed and was a twist on Cinderella - the stage shows are really well done and a great way to spend an hour before dinner!

But before dinner we had to play bingo! It ranged from $25 -$60 depending on if you wanted paper or machine style. I went for a mixture at $40. I won the 2nd game and got $55 so it paid for itself...

And my glass of wine lol!

Tonight's rotation dinner was at Animators Palette - we were seated on a table of 6 with an American couple and 2 girls from Japan
The style of the restaurant is basically from starting a sketch to full blown animation in colour which builds during your meal

Ending with the main man again!

Food was unbelievable - I started with Ham / Cheese combo, then the butternut soup, followed by chicken and then a sundae - you could literally order as much as you wanted from the menu and I saw many people with multiple dishes!

Literally waddled back to the room, finish this trippie and sleep! Tomorrow I have my first spa appointment then a day in Nassau - hope you can join us then... Debs xx

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New Photo Added by debidee - 28 Dec 15 3:41 AM.

[Guest]

$60 for the first breakfast is terribly expensive, note to anyone else going, eat as much as possible lol
Hope you can keep the live report going as it's nice to read about something I will probably never do. Silly question but do you have to sit with strangers or are there tables for 2?
Great pics and write up as always Debs 😊
ps Did you buy the Mickey and Minnie pictures?

[Guest]

Great start, what a great first day!

[Jake71]

Fab first day, is the food included in your booking? It just looks fantastic. Hope you're able to continue with the fab live reports.

[Lindy15]

Great reading. I do too hope you can continue to report.
The ship looks amazing. Have great fun. Would be hard not to! X

[margyloveswdw]

Fab first day... many more to come!

[twinkleshmoo]

Ah a great report for day one! I hope you can keep wifi whilst at sea look forward to reading more xx

[sheluk]

All aboard! Whoop!

All looks lovely - particularly the Christmas decs! Well done on the bingo! Defo want to do the tour of the ship must really help find your way around.

Hope your wifi package holds out currently reading this on a packed cold train to Manchester so nice to imagine where we could be! X

[Yorkshiredisney]

Can't wait to go on fantasy next August love the pics