Disney Magic 12 nt. British Isles Cruise 2017

[poison ivy]

We absolutely loved this cruise and are really hoping Disney brings back the 12 night in 2019. I am already in the pre-planning stage in my mind and budget planning. It was definitely something we want to do again. Also considering Norway in 2019 if the 12 night British Isles doesn't return.

This was such an incredible trip, we're really hoping they bring it back too. Omg. England, France, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. It was very tough to decide among so many great places to visit - especially for our first time around. There's so much more we really wanted to see and do. The British Isles is truly a fantastic cruise.

oooooh...... adds to file for future Med Cruise.....

now its starting to make sense. For those who know Disneyland Paris
Cabanas = Plaza Gardens Buffet
Carioca’s = Inventions Buffet Disneyland Hotel

A Future Med cruise sounds like a great plan! Hopefully soon so we can read all about it.
I'll have to look up those DLP buffets. Disneyland Paris is one place we'd love to check out. Just add it to the list!

 

[poison ivy]

Now I’m hungry! Lol.

Me too. I'm enjoying some penne right now! Can you believe how much food they served on our first day? This doesn't even include all the poolside options.
We really enjoyed that lunch. A great kickoff to an awesome cruise.

I keep looking for us in the background of your pics! Oh, this was a magical cruise.

That would be so great if you show up! Many more pics to come. I'm sure our paths had to cross over those 12 nights!

View attachment 287091
Disney Magic - Invergordon (first warm sunny day in Scotland!)

What a beautiful picture. Nothing but sheer joy and happiness! I still feel that way when I think about this cruise.
And Invergordon was so amazing. Every time we catch another episode of Outlander I smile.
Really love it. Thanks

 

[wajones2]

So excited to see the updates on the Magic this March we are doing a 5 night Western Marvel day at sea....only 5 days I know but still the new Tangled restaurant - I can't wait! And maybe we can do an onboard booking for 2019 summer in Europe!

 

[poison ivy]

Disney Magic 12nt. British Isles
Sunday, July 9, 2017 – Dover, England
Day 1 sails away……....

(our weather July 9, 2017 – sunny high 77 °F / 25 °C)
(weather Sept 2, 2017 – clear high 64 °F / 17 °C)



Before we set sail, I'd like to add a few points worth noting about Cabanas:

1. The food changes daily – including the carving stations.

eg: German inspired station



another lunch sample - Carved Ham / clams casino / steamed veggies/ fried rice / pesto pasta etc...



2. Cabanas was closed for dinner on both the first and last night of our cruise.
(This may be standard operating procedure - but it will impact your choices on those nights)

Check it out: *no Cabanas dinner: embarkation night – Day 1, Dover*




*And again, no Cabanas dinner on our last night – day 12, At sea*




3. For dinner, Cabanas hosted a casual sit down meal every night with a limited menu - not a buffet
*listed as “Cabanas Table Service” on the navigator*



Menu: July 18 - Invergordon - combines a few MDR dishes w/the grill (changes nightly)



4. Exception: 2x during our cruise Cabanas ran a dinner buffet instead of the table service: (no pics - sorry!)
(This too was on the navigator)

Day 2 – Le Havre, France – all aboard time of 10:45 pm
*buffet dinner 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm*




and Day 7 - Greenock, Scotland (Edinburgh) – all aboard time of 7:15 pm

*buffet dinner 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm*



These dinner buffets were open to everyone. They were offered to accommodate the long commutes for excursions from Le Havre and Greenock, since many cruisers were arriving back well beyond the 6pm first dinner seating.

We never saw it on the navigator, but crew were standing by the gangway entrance as we arrived back to let everyone know a dinner buffet had been set up in addition to the rotational dining.

So check for this in 2018 at Greenock, Scotland!

In our case, we were always back in time for second seating at 8:30 pm, so we never took advantage of the Cabanas dinner buffet - but in hindsight we should have. A self serve come as you are grab and go buffet would have been a nice break from the regular themed sit down main dining experience every night.

Especially given the long 12nt. cruise we had.

So unfortunately, I can’t report back on how good or bad the Cabanas dinner buffets were. Hopefully others here can shed some light.

We did patronize their casual sit down dinner a couple of times, and I’ll show some pics of that along with a fun video. Stay tuned.

Ok It’s now 3:30pm. All aboard is 4 pm.

Here we go!

 

[poison ivy]

So excited to see the updates on the Magic this March we are doing a 5 night Western Marvel day at sea....only 5 days I know but still the new Tangled restaurant - I can't wait! And maybe we can do an onboard booking for 2019 summer in Europe!

Thanks so much for this post. I'm so out of the loop on what's happening, I had no idea enhancements were coming to the Magic.

and congrats on the March cruise! So jealous you have a 5nt. cruise coming up in a few months! We are still holding a spot for the NYC 5nt Bermuda cruise in Oct, but I've done nothing beyond apply a deposit. I hope we get there. Maybe this news will help push us to make it happen.

So I checked the DCL website: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships/magic/dry-dock/

3 major projects for the Magic:

A tangled royal restaurant - I'm assuming it's to replace Lumiere's?? They didn't specify.
Vibe upgrade
Cove Café refurbishment and expansion

They all sound really great! Hope you'll be able to post some pics on all this so we can check it out. can't wait!

Honestly, Cove café needed a complete remodeling - so that's really going to be nice.

If anyone's curious, here's what it looked like during our cruise.



I know - very sad and tired.

Now picture Iron Man crammed in here for that coveted Whiskey tasting they held to sample some great whiskeys from Scotland.
Sign up early if you're interested! It's a packed house for that event.

 

[mmmears]

Love your updates! I'm still following along. We only have one port in common (other than Dover) for our upcoming cruise, but your itinerary looks fantastic. I have to say that the 7 night looks much less compelling to me. I hope they do a longer one again.

Oh, and the new Tangled restaurant will replace Carioca's, not Lumieres. They did specify that part later on, not on the original post about the changes coming to the Magic.

 

[poison ivy]

Love your updates! I'm still following along. We only have one port in common (other than Dover) for our upcoming cruise, but your itinerary looks fantastic. I have to say that the 7 night looks much less compelling to me. I hope they do a longer one again.

Oh, and the new Tangled restaurant will replace Carioca's, not Lumieres. They did specify that part later on, not on the original post about the changes coming to the Magic.

Thanks! So glad you're enjoying the updates and still following along. You've got an awesome cruise planned with that 10 nt. Norwegian Fjords. What a great vacation. And it's repositioning to Dover - I would be so tempted to hop the chunnel and visit DLP. *hint* *hint*

I'm gonna be updating much faster to show a lot of the ports this month since Jan really is when the serious decision making starts to come together. But we really loved Invergordon so hopefully our day spent with Gavin will prove helpful, even if we only have that one port and Dover in common.

Totally agree - the 12nt BI is such a fantastic itinerary and I hope Disney offers it again soon. True the 7nt. seems less exciting, and really a baby sister IMO - but it is covering a lot of territory: you've got England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales all in range with that schedule. Plus they get to visit Cork for the very first time ever with DCL. So I am a bit jealous! They're gonna have a great time.

Wow. Rapunzel's Royal Restaurant is replacing Carioca's? I would not have guessed that. So anything I post about Carioca's will be moot - unless it's the same menu at all the restaurants like the captain's gala. I wonder if the Embarkation lunch will change? I just read where the Wonder opened Tiana's place in that area and did away with the buffet. So the embarkation lunch is now served at Triton's as a sit down meal with a menu to order from.

That would move the Embarkation lunch to Lumiere's for you guys. which would in turn move the day 1 - drink class signups and dining changes to possibly the D lounge?

Very interesting. Thanks so much for letting us know and please share anything else you may learn. My uber planning is on hiatus right now!

 

[mmmears]

Thanks! So glad you're enjoying the updates and still following along. You've got an awesome cruise planned with that 10 nt. Norwegian Fjords. What a great vacation. And it's repositioning to Dover - I would be so tempted to hop the chunnel and visit DLP. *hint* *hint*

I'm gonna be updating much faster to show a lot of the ports this month since Jan really is when the serious decision making starts to come together. But we really loved Invergordon so hopefully our day spent with Gavin will prove helpful, even if we only have that one port and Dover in common.

Totally agree - the 12nt BI is such a fantastic itinerary and I hope Disney offers it again soon. True the 7nt. seems less exciting, and really a baby sister IMO - but it is covering a lot of territory: you've got England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales all in range with that schedule. Plus they get to visit Cork for the very first time ever with DCL. So I am a bit jealous! They're gonna have a great time.

Wow. Rapunzel's Royal Restaurant is replacing Carioca's? I would not have guessed that. So anything I post about Carioca's will be moot - unless it's the same menu at all the restaurants like the captain's gala. I wonder if the Embarkation lunch will change? I just read where the Wonder opened Tiana's place in that area and did away with the buffet. So the embarkation lunch is now served at Triton's as a sit down meal with a menu to order from.

That would move the Embarkation lunch to Lumiere's for you guys. which would in turn move the day 1 - drink class signups and dining changes to possibly the D lounge?

Very interesting. Thanks so much for letting us know and please share anything else you may learn. My uber planning is on hiatus right now!

Yeah, we're really excited about our itinerary. Haven't taken a cruise this long before, and I'm concerned about motion sickness (and I do use the patch), but the only place I've been to before is London (which we will still tour after the cruise) so it's definitely going to be something new! I'm definitely following along, not just for Invergordon. (We booked a private tour there already). We won't be going to DLP, but we were lucky enough to spend an afternoon there a few years ago. We actually have a layover in CDG and I still can't believe we won't have time to get into Paris at all, but that's ok.

I agree the shorter cruise does look nice, but I think the longer one looked better. Not having taken a longer one, though, maybe my opinions will be different after this one.

I haven't heard much about the remodel, only that it's definitely Cariocas and people think there will be no more little buffet area in there when they are finished. I'm pretty sure that they are closing it early (a couple of cruises before the actual dry dock) so that they can get it all done.

Looking forward to reading more about your trip! :

 

[poison ivy]

Yeah, we're really excited about our itinerary. Haven't taken a cruise this long before, and I'm concerned about motion sickness (and I do use the patch), but the only place I've been to before is London (which we will still tour after the cruise) so it's definitely going to be something new! I'm definitely following along, not just for Invergordon. (We booked a private tour there already). We won't be going to DLP, but we were lucky enough to spend an afternoon there a few years ago. We actually have a layover in CDG and I still can't believe we won't have time to get into Paris at all, but that's ok.

I agree the shorter cruise does look nice, but I think the longer one looked better. Not having taken a longer one, though, maybe my opinions will be different after this one.

I haven't heard much about the remodel, only that it's definitely Cariocas and people think there will be no more little buffet area in there when they are finished. I'm pretty sure that they are closing it early (a couple of cruises before the actual dry dock) so that they can get it all done.

Looking forward to reading more about your trip! :

Well it'll be good to keep tabs on all the changes. It's funny how I knew nothing about this remodel. I must have the cruise blues and haven't been checking the boards. They can easily do away with that little buffet they had. They threw a cover over the buffet service when it was not in use which was bad optics and took up a lot of space just sitting there under a drape.

Your cruise was one JQ and I were seriously looking at. Iceland has been on our radar. I know we would love that trip. We're now sold on the longer cruises - especially for Europe. It does make a difference.

I don't know how long your layover in Paris is but that's too bad you can't really do anything while you're there. I'd be really torn with that. At least you've had a chance to visit before.
This was our first trip abroad so we have yet to visit DLP or any of Paris for that matter. Hopefully someday we'll get there too.

Thanks again and I'm glad you're enjoying the report. I'm in a writing mood so hopefully you'll have lots to read over the next few weeks.

 

[FSU Girl]

Reading along I'm thinking of doing a British Isles cruise so this is great for planning!

 

[poison ivy]

Reading along I'm thinking of doing a British Isles cruise so this is great for planning!

Thanks and welcome! Cruising the BI is a great plan. I really hope you get the chance to book it in the future. This is one cruise guaranteed not to disappoint.
Glad to have you here.

 

[tink1970]

Well it'll be good to keep tabs on all the changes. It's funny how I knew nothing about this remodel. I must have the cruise blues and haven't been checking the boards. They can easily do away with that little buffet they had. They threw a cover over the buffet service when it was not in use which was bad optics and took up a lot of space just sitting there under a drape.

Your cruise was one JQ and I were seriously looking at. Iceland has been on our radar. I know we would love that trip. We're now sold on the longer cruises - especially for Europe. It does make a difference.

I don't know how long your layover in Paris is but that's too bad you can't really do anything while you're there. I'd be really torn with that. At least you've had a chance to visit before.
This was our first trip abroad so we have yet to visit DLP or any of Paris for that matter. Hopefully someday we'll get there too.

Thanks again and I'm glad you're enjoying the report. I'm in a writing mood so hopefully you'll have lots to read over the next few weeks.

I know what you mean about not keeping up with the dry dock changes. I was on the boards and saw something about Rapunzel's Restaurant and I was so excited I bored DH-probably to tears- about it We are semi spontaneously (as in booked in October) doing the 5 day Mediterranean in July. DH doesn't like to be gone from work for too many days so it means we're in Edinburgh for 6 days for Easter, Ireland for 8 days in June and then this short cruise in July. I won't complain...I love to travel but sometimes I wish we could just fly over the Atlantic once and just hang out for a couple of weeks.

I seriously want to see Iceland and think a cruise would be perfect since Iceland is so darn expensive! Hop off, see what you want to see, but eat on the ship Wow I'm starting to sound like my grandmother (who was Depression era and saved everything--because you never know when you'll need 50 bread bag ties, now do you?).

Hopefully you'll get to do another cruise out of Dover and just hop the train and go to Paris. It is lovely and something if you're that close you really should see.

Can't wait to see Scotland and Ireland photos, as you can tell from our upcoming 2018 trips, I do enjoy that neck of the woods

 

[85glht]

Getting to the Cabana’s dinner buffet.... we had first seating and we took advantage of this a few evenings. Food was really good. One thing I will point out though, when we boarded the ship after our late returning excursions, there was personnel there mentioning that it wasn’t too late to go to our tables and eat dinner in the dinning rooms. We didn’t do that for fear of being rushed though dinner. Just throwing that out there.

 

[Disneyfriend]

Also a thank you to PoisonIvy too - my wife and I have been following this eagerly. We're going on the 2018 UK cruise, so this has been really helpful for us.

Those of us not on the east coast definitely are at a disadvantage when it comes to flying transatlantic, but DisneyFriend and others, don't give up and buy overpriced tickets too early - there's lots of time to find some decent prices. Be sure to set up price trackers and alerts at Google Flights or other sites, and also don't rule out alternative airports! We wound up with a weird routing from a small town in Wyoming to Salt Lake to Vegas to London/Gatwick - but it's barely longer than flights with fewer stops for us, and about half the price. Airline pricing baffles me We'd also found some really good prices flying into Manchester, Paris and Dublin, and all of those are a relatively easy jump on a commuter line to get to London - if you're up for jumping onto a different airline and the extra work that entails. Good luck, hope you find some bargains like we did!

Thank you, RichWyo! I'm glad you found some great tickets, and look forward to seeing you all on our cruise next September!

 

[poison ivy]

I know what you mean about not keeping up with the dry dock changes. I was on the boards and saw something about Rapunzel's Restaurant and I was so excited I bored DH-probably to tears- about it We are semi spontaneously (as in booked in October) doing the 5 day Mediterranean in July. DH doesn't like to be gone from work for too many days so it means we're in Edinburgh for 6 days for Easter, Ireland for 8 days in June and then this short cruise in July. I won't complain...I love to travel but sometimes I wish we could just fly over the Atlantic once and just hang out for a couple of weeks.

I seriously want to see Iceland and think a cruise would be perfect since Iceland is so darn expensive! Hop off, see what you want to see, but eat on the ship Wow I'm starting to sound like my grandmother (who was Depression era and saved everything--because you never know when you'll need 50 bread bag ties, now do you?).

Hopefully you'll get to do another cruise out of Dover and just hop the train and go to Paris. It is lovely and something if you're that close you really should see.

Can't wait to see Scotland and Ireland photos, as you can tell from our upcoming 2018 trips, I do enjoy that neck of the woods

That news came pretty quick with the dry dock changes. Another thing to look forward to for 2018 cruisers. We have only glanced at Iceland and from what we've seen it's a definite yes for a future cruise but probably not for a few years yet.
Your travel for next year sounds incredible though. Easter in Edinburgh... 8 days in Ireland... and a 5nt Med cruise.... What's not to love! Hopefully you can lend a lot of tips to aid our BI and WBTA planners.

I really want to be on that Dover to Paris rail. If all goes well, it'll be sooner rather than later. We would love to go back which seems to be a driving force these days.

And I can't wait to showcase Ireland and Scotland. Been working on it so stay tuned.

Getting to the Cabana’s dinner buffet.... we had first seating and we took advantage of this a few evenings. Food was really good. One thing I will point out though, when we boarded the ship after our late returning excursions, there was personnel there mentioning that it wasn’t too late to go to our tables and eat dinner in the dinning rooms. We didn’t do that for fear of being rushed though dinner. Just throwing that out there.

Thanks so much for this info on the dinner buffets. do you remember if it was crowded and whether both sides were open? I'm curious how they set it up. I don't know how abandoned the mdr's were at 6pm those nights, but they had a decent turnout at 8:30pm so not everyone went for the buffet. I still regret not checking it out but there's always next cruise!!

Thank you, RichWyo! I'm glad you found some great tickets, and look forward to seeing you all on our cruise next September!

how I envy you guys. You are gonna love the BI. I so wanna go back!

 

[poison ivy]

Disney Magic 12nt. British Isles
Sunday, July 9, 2017 – Dover, England
Day 1 sails away……....

(our weather July 9, 2017 – sunny high 77 °F / 25 °C)
(weather Sept 2, 2017 – clear high 64 °F / 17 °C)

They say on a clear day, you can see France from here.



Well we were looking....... we were really looking.



And once that All Aboard sounds at 4pm - “day of cruise” begins to fly by.

Everything's in motion:

Luggage delivery



Mandatory lifeboat drill – 4:15 pm



Adventures Away Deck Party – 4:45 pm



Port departure – 5:00 pm est. (actual time 5:45pm)



And that’s just before dinner.

We still had to unpack, get organized, prep for tomorrow and check out all the fun happening tonight.

Most Disney cruisers have a list of “must do's” and port departure is one of ours.



JQ and I love hanging up on deck



watching the lines drop as we gradually cruise out to sea



Sailing out of Dover was just incredibly beautiful.

What a great feeling - with all the anticipation of what lies ahead



As the White Cliffs slowly fade away in the backdrop.
(I can still hear Clayton’s voice welcoming us aboard like it was yesterday)

And we’re off!

 

[mmmears]

Yay! We're on our way! Great update, and photos, too!

 

[poison ivy]

Yay! We're on our way! Great update, and photos, too!

Thanks so much. Yes! We are heading to France! so great! We had so much fun on this cruise.

 

[Johnny Quest]

Oh how I Wish We were leaving a port right now. These pics really bring it all back. Best cruise ever!

 

[85glht]

Thanks so much for this info on the dinner buffets. do you remember if it was crowded and whether both sides were open? I'm curious how they set it up. I don't know how abandoned the mdr's were at 6pm those nights, but they had a decent turnout at 8:30pm so not everyone went for the buffet. I still regret not checking it out but there's always next cruise!!

If I remember correctly, I believe it was set up just like lunch... get a tray, grab some food and find a table. Food was very delicious and worth a try.