This was the first of two Disney Magic 'Staycation' cruises. The second being at the end of September 2021
Having had a great experience on the Celebrity Silhouette the week before this sailing, we decided to book a last minute inside cabin on the Magic that popped up a couple of days before departure.
This was my first inside cabin with Disney (we have done around 30ish Cruises with Disney Cruise line) and apart from the markedly lack of storage space and lack of a split bathroom, this room was perfect for a base for two people. (The room slept 4 but I wouldn't want to even try to get a family of 4 in there on a cruise longer than 2 nights). Booking was quick and easy, but Disney failed to conspicuously specify which services / shows / entertainment were cancelled or altered (because of covid) before booking. We didn't realise exactly what we were paying for.
Pre-boarding: You have to register your Covid Vaccination with a third party to get a boarding pass (this company also carry out the Covid tests at the port). We found their system to be unreliable and it took 2 phone calls and 3 emails to jump through the hoops to get them to tell us our vaccination record was in fact 'valid' - Which begged the question why didn't Disney accept the pass on the NHS app? The source of all information in the first place. I Believe our late booking didn't help the situation.
Boarding: (unlike Celebrity) Disney have chosen to Lateral Flow test everyone at the port before boarding, (rather than in advance with a much more accurate PCR test). This created chaos at our boarding. The third-party company performing the tests appeared to be disinterested and incompetent. It took over 2 hours standing in line just to get a test. - NO SEATS / NO WATER or refreshments of any kind. The limited land-side 'Disney Staff' we encountered were memorable for one reason only - total disinterest. No one was willing to explain why boarding was taking so long, or how much longer we would have to wait. (It was 3 hours in total, many others took even longer).
On boarding we were semi forced to stand to watch a Mikey / Mini 'welcome Aboard' 'number' in the Atrium. The ship staff were totally unaware how galling this was, after the wait we had suffered to get on board. We skipped it and tried to find a bite to eat, by now it was around 6pm and dinner was not until 8:30pm - There was a total disconnect between customer experience and staff response.
Room Keys were stuck to the stateroom doors, the stateroom was immaculate as always. The stateroom host was simply amazing !
(Unlike Celebrity) there were no masks or hand sanitiser in the stateroom - (masks could be bought at the shops for around $22 each! +20% VAT )
On-Board: There was no welcome aboard show the first night, leaving may people feeling a little lost and directionless as if nothing had started.
Disney are now reliant on every passenger being willing and able to carry around a constantly charged smartphone to navigate the ship and entertainment. Disney spend a lot of time telling you to check and refresh the app, and just as much time telling you to turn off / not to use your device depending on the venue you are in. I personally find this incredibly annoying.
Restaurants: Any real welcome on board was left to the Restaurant staff the first evening. The staff were as engaging, fun and as professional as always. Restaurant menus are also now provided on the app - if you love your whole party spending 15 minutes scrolling through pages of small text on a smart phone you will have no problem. I prefer to enjoy the restaurant experience with a printed menu to browse in a reasonable sized font - just ask for one. - DO NOT RELY on the app for Dining Rotations - it was wrong every night. Stick to the dining rotation is printed on your Room Card.
The Animators Pallet show was as much fun as always
It would be nice to see an alternative animation as this show has been running for nearly 10 years.
Rapunzel’s Royal Table was a little incoherent as all character interaction with the diners was simply removed. Effectively characters appeared on stage for 5 minutes, made some noise and then disappeared for 20 minutes. and repeated this 3-4 times. Most passengers were busy staring at their smart phones trying to work out dessert....
Palo is the adult only premium restaurant on the Magic, the only problem other passengers ever discussed about Palo, was the never changing menu. And Disney appeared to be petrified of changing it, after 20 years this dulled the experience. Recently Disney have made changes to Palo - first was the removal of the dress code. Now, dependent on the other diners, you can feel like your sat in a Burger King rather than enjoying the ambiance of a fine dining restaurant. It is blatantly incongruous and an amazing backwards step. Also effective gone as part of this 'Fine Dining Experience’ is the single cover charge per passenger.
Palo has been 'reimagined' as some kind of steak house? Incredibly the items on the menu appear to have been jigged around, not really changed. Unacceptably only a limited number of items are now covered by the cover charge. Everything else is individually priced. The IS NOT why I, or any of the regular Disney Cruisers that I spoke to about it, choose Disney. If we wanted individually priced speciality menus, we would be firmly on Royal Caribbean at half the price! - What's next - remove the Cinema and install a casino? or close the Disney family shops and transform them into Diamond / Omega Watch boutiques?
Cabanas Buffet was incredibly 'managed' by staff, directing you to service stations, dispensing drinks etc. We used it once. Not a pleasant experience, and the food was as average as ever.
Bars/Lounges: For some reason there were no live singers in the usual locations / times around the ship. A limited number of slots had been replaced by a Violin player. (There is only so much Violin you can take in a day...) There appears to be no real logic to removing the lounge singers. If it’s to do with social distancing, most are usually on a stage a good 6-10 feet away from passengers anyway. Also, passengers are not social distanced at all in the bars. Seating arrangements looked no different to normal. We had no problem enjoying a conversation with fellow passengers wherever we sat. Bar staff were superb and engaging, KEYS in particular had a great team. In fact chatting to bar staff replaced listening to the live singers.
Walt Disney Theatre: Spaces between parties on rows were enforced, but not in front or behind your seat. So why either side? It’s a shame crew staff didn't stop people from reserving seats with the same vigour as they did for those using a camera or attempting to sip water.
Incredibly, you can eat and drink in the restaurants and bars on the ship, but cannot take, or be served with a drink, in the Theatre. ? (Enjoying a drink at your seat in the Theatres in the West End of London is not a problem, but it apparently is for Disney.) We were informed by the cruise Director that we were 'lucky' to be having 2 live shows over the 4 days. Most regular cruises would not have expected anything less. The shows were great, as was the visiting Comic/magician who filled in the third night (A movie was played the first night which most missed the beginning of ) - The visiting entertainer wasn't, it appeared, appreciated by the 'Micky fanatics' who made up the majority of the audience. The wanted all things to 'be Mouse'. And he wasn't...
Open Air: On the top deck / Promenade deck in the open air, all sports facilities were closed, (ping pin and ball game arena, and the shuttle stick game thing that I have never attempted to play ) but you could sunbathe next to any one you felt like.
Rather than take the facilities away, why not provide sanitising wipes for the equipment. It has worked for shopping trollies this past 18 months! You can probably see an irritating patten here, incredibly inconsistent, random, 'covid precautions'.
We were treated to a 'Frozen' deck party, but not the Pirates firework party, no reason was given. But as this was the most expensive Disney Cruise per/night I have ever booked, we felt incredibly short changed.
On a ship as old as the Disney Magic, which is essentially a very traditional Cruise-liner, it is the shows/events and services that make the difference. The covid precautions appeared nonsensically arbitrarily un-thought-out and ultimately erratic. The resulting changes left us (and almost all other passengers we talked to) constantly disappointed and weirdly irritated . Disappointment is not something anyone pays for on a cruise, especially on a Disney Cruiseline, (it is not something we experienced on Celebrity the week before.)
Character Apperiances: Not something we cruise for, being fans of cruising first, and Disney characters somewhere down the line. But the characters appeared, waved and ran away. - All very disappointing if you were one of the 'Mouse fanatics'
Covid precautions & changes appeared arbitrary and sometimes nonsensical - Especially with a ship full of vaccinated and 'tested negative' passengers & staff. Simple precautions like proving masks and hand sanitiser in state rooms for all guests was totally missed.
If we had been made aware of the FULL LIST of implemented 'covid' changes before paying , we would not have booked this cruise - especially at this price. It was too easy to be left feeling disappointed and quite simply ripped-off.
Disney Cruiseline management appear to be relying on, and hiding behind, the excellent customer facing crew and staff, to mitigate their often-poor decisions.
Newer ships of any operator have so much more to offer. This heavily 'edited' Cruise 'staycation' on an old ship was incredibly poor value for money.
Having had a great experience on the Celebrity Silhouette the week before this sailing, we decided to book a last minute inside cabin on the Magic that popped up a couple of days before departure.
This was my first inside cabin with Disney (we have done around 30ish Cruises with Disney Cruise line) and apart from the markedly lack of storage space and lack of a split bathroom, this room was perfect for a base for two people. (The room slept 4 but I wouldn't want to even try to get a family of 4 in there on a cruise longer than 2 nights). Booking was quick and easy, but Disney failed to conspicuously specify which services / shows / entertainment were cancelled or altered (because of covid) before booking. We didn't realise exactly what we were paying for.
Pre-boarding: You have to register your Covid Vaccination with a third party to get a boarding pass (this company also carry out the Covid tests at the port). We found their system to be unreliable and it took 2 phone calls and 3 emails to jump through the hoops to get them to tell us our vaccination record was in fact 'valid' - Which begged the question why didn't Disney accept the pass on the NHS app? The source of all information in the first place. I Believe our late booking didn't help the situation.
Boarding: (unlike Celebrity) Disney have chosen to Lateral Flow test everyone at the port before boarding, (rather than in advance with a much more accurate PCR test). This created chaos at our boarding. The third-party company performing the tests appeared to be disinterested and incompetent. It took over 2 hours standing in line just to get a test. - NO SEATS / NO WATER or refreshments of any kind. The limited land-side 'Disney Staff' we encountered were memorable for one reason only - total disinterest. No one was willing to explain why boarding was taking so long, or how much longer we would have to wait. (It was 3 hours in total, many others took even longer).
On boarding we were semi forced to stand to watch a Mikey / Mini 'welcome Aboard' 'number' in the Atrium. The ship staff were totally unaware how galling this was, after the wait we had suffered to get on board. We skipped it and tried to find a bite to eat, by now it was around 6pm and dinner was not until 8:30pm - There was a total disconnect between customer experience and staff response.
Room Keys were stuck to the stateroom doors, the stateroom was immaculate as always. The stateroom host was simply amazing !
(Unlike Celebrity) there were no masks or hand sanitiser in the stateroom - (masks could be bought at the shops for around $22 each! +20% VAT )
On-Board: There was no welcome aboard show the first night, leaving may people feeling a little lost and directionless as if nothing had started.
Disney are now reliant on every passenger being willing and able to carry around a constantly charged smartphone to navigate the ship and entertainment. Disney spend a lot of time telling you to check and refresh the app, and just as much time telling you to turn off / not to use your device depending on the venue you are in. I personally find this incredibly annoying.
Restaurants: Any real welcome on board was left to the Restaurant staff the first evening. The staff were as engaging, fun and as professional as always. Restaurant menus are also now provided on the app - if you love your whole party spending 15 minutes scrolling through pages of small text on a smart phone you will have no problem. I prefer to enjoy the restaurant experience with a printed menu to browse in a reasonable sized font - just ask for one. - DO NOT RELY on the app for Dining Rotations - it was wrong every night. Stick to the dining rotation is printed on your Room Card.
The Animators Pallet show was as much fun as always
It would be nice to see an alternative animation as this show has been running for nearly 10 years. Rapunzel’s Royal Table was a little incoherent as all character interaction with the diners was simply removed. Effectively characters appeared on stage for 5 minutes, made some noise and then disappeared for 20 minutes. and repeated this 3-4 times. Most passengers were busy staring at their smart phones trying to work out dessert....
Palo is the adult only premium restaurant on the Magic, the only problem other passengers ever discussed about Palo, was the never changing menu. And Disney appeared to be petrified of changing it, after 20 years this dulled the experience. Recently Disney have made changes to Palo - first was the removal of the dress code. Now, dependent on the other diners, you can feel like your sat in a Burger King rather than enjoying the ambiance of a fine dining restaurant. It is blatantly incongruous and an amazing backwards step. Also effective gone as part of this 'Fine Dining Experience’ is the single cover charge per passenger.
Palo has been 'reimagined' as some kind of steak house? Incredibly the items on the menu appear to have been jigged around, not really changed. Unacceptably only a limited number of items are now covered by the cover charge. Everything else is individually priced. The IS NOT why I, or any of the regular Disney Cruisers that I spoke to about it, choose Disney. If we wanted individually priced speciality menus, we would be firmly on Royal Caribbean at half the price! - What's next - remove the Cinema and install a casino? or close the Disney family shops and transform them into Diamond / Omega Watch boutiques?
Cabanas Buffet was incredibly 'managed' by staff, directing you to service stations, dispensing drinks etc. We used it once. Not a pleasant experience, and the food was as average as ever.
Bars/Lounges: For some reason there were no live singers in the usual locations / times around the ship. A limited number of slots had been replaced by a Violin player. (There is only so much Violin you can take in a day...) There appears to be no real logic to removing the lounge singers. If it’s to do with social distancing, most are usually on a stage a good 6-10 feet away from passengers anyway. Also, passengers are not social distanced at all in the bars. Seating arrangements looked no different to normal. We had no problem enjoying a conversation with fellow passengers wherever we sat. Bar staff were superb and engaging, KEYS in particular had a great team. In fact chatting to bar staff replaced listening to the live singers.
Walt Disney Theatre: Spaces between parties on rows were enforced, but not in front or behind your seat. So why either side? It’s a shame crew staff didn't stop people from reserving seats with the same vigour as they did for those using a camera or attempting to sip water.
Incredibly, you can eat and drink in the restaurants and bars on the ship, but cannot take, or be served with a drink, in the Theatre. ? (Enjoying a drink at your seat in the Theatres in the West End of London is not a problem, but it apparently is for Disney.) We were informed by the cruise Director that we were 'lucky' to be having 2 live shows over the 4 days. Most regular cruises would not have expected anything less. The shows were great, as was the visiting Comic/magician who filled in the third night (A movie was played the first night which most missed the beginning of ) - The visiting entertainer wasn't, it appeared, appreciated by the 'Micky fanatics' who made up the majority of the audience. The wanted all things to 'be Mouse'. And he wasn't...
Open Air: On the top deck / Promenade deck in the open air, all sports facilities were closed, (ping pin and ball game arena, and the shuttle stick game thing that I have never attempted to play ) but you could sunbathe next to any one you felt like.
Rather than take the facilities away, why not provide sanitising wipes for the equipment. It has worked for shopping trollies this past 18 months! You can probably see an irritating patten here, incredibly inconsistent, random, 'covid precautions'.
We were treated to a 'Frozen' deck party, but not the Pirates firework party, no reason was given. But as this was the most expensive Disney Cruise per/night I have ever booked, we felt incredibly short changed.
On a ship as old as the Disney Magic, which is essentially a very traditional Cruise-liner, it is the shows/events and services that make the difference. The covid precautions appeared nonsensically arbitrarily un-thought-out and ultimately erratic. The resulting changes left us (and almost all other passengers we talked to) constantly disappointed and weirdly irritated . Disappointment is not something anyone pays for on a cruise, especially on a Disney Cruiseline, (it is not something we experienced on Celebrity the week before.)
Character Apperiances: Not something we cruise for, being fans of cruising first, and Disney characters somewhere down the line. But the characters appeared, waved and ran away. - All very disappointing if you were one of the 'Mouse fanatics'
Covid precautions & changes appeared arbitrary and sometimes nonsensical - Especially with a ship full of vaccinated and 'tested negative' passengers & staff. Simple precautions like proving masks and hand sanitiser in state rooms for all guests was totally missed.
If we had been made aware of the FULL LIST of implemented 'covid' changes before paying , we would not have booked this cruise - especially at this price. It was too easy to be left feeling disappointed and quite simply ripped-off.
Disney Cruiseline management appear to be relying on, and hiding behind, the excellent customer facing crew and staff, to mitigate their often-poor decisions.
Newer ships of any operator have so much more to offer. This heavily 'edited' Cruise 'staycation' on an old ship was incredibly poor value for money.
