Sailing Away on the Disney Magic from Dover!

It is finally the day to board the Disney Magic (June 5, 2016).  Considering I didn’t get much sleep last night, about the time I could probably get some sleep it is time to get up.  It is 8 a.m. and I go ahead and get moving for the day.  Pete, Faith and I call for a taxi and are told about 10 minutes to pickup.

We head to the port just a 5 minute drive from our hotel in Dover at 10:30.

They aren’t letting anyone in the port yet, but open around 11 a.m.  There are four check in areas.  One for Concierge, one for Platinum, one for Gold and Silver and the final one for 1^st time cruisers.  (Later we find out there are 2100 guests on board.)  We are located at the Dover Cruise Terminal Number 2.

I have had the question asked, so I will post what secondhand information I have received regarding an upgrade (because I did not attempt for one).  One of the cruisers I know who sails alot got in the upgrade line immediately and wanted to go from a category 9 oceanview to a verandah.  I don't know how many she is travelling with in her stateroom, but they quoted her a price in pounds for the upgrade (probably to soften the blow).  The upgrade cost was not the bargain as in the past.  I hope you are sitting down.  She was quoted 4000 pounds (she figured about $5,800 US dollars) for the upgrade.  She passed.  I haven't heard of anyone in our Facebook group who upgraded.  I'll check around to see if anyone did but I haven't seen any stateroom number changes our our FE master list as of today.

Of the guests on board, only 200 children are on this sailing.  We only had 350 on the Panama Canal in 2005, so I think this is a record for the least amount of kids.  There are only 260 first time cruisers we were told and the rest are silver/gold/platinum.  One of the officers told us there are 700 platinum members.  Wow, can’t wait to see our Castaway Club Celebration.

We wait in the terminal until 11:45 a.m. when boarding begins.  While waiting, I read the Daily Navigator.  Here are the changes I immediately notice.

1)      Seating times for dinner have changed.  For first dining it is moved to 6 p.m. and second dining is 8:30 p.m.

2)      Shows in the Walt Disney Theater are at 6:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.

Here is the 12 day rundown for our cruise.  I am guessing that the next cruise on June 17^th will have the same outline but it could always change so here goes:

                Day 1     All Aboard Let the Magic Begin; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 2     The Dream Goes On; dinner-formal

                Day 3     Pete Matthews; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 4     John Charles; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 5     Alton Fitzgerald White; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 6     Tangled-The Musical; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 7     Showtime:  Junnk; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 8     Showtime: Liverpool Legends; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 9     Showtime:  Hector is Magic; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 10   Showtime:  Twice Charmed; dinner-semi formal

                Day 11   Alice Through the Looking Glass; dinner-cruise casual

                Day 12   Disney Dreams, An Enchanted Classic; dinner-cruise casual

We go straight to the Port Adventure Desk for tickets for the Princess Gathering, the Frozen Meet & Greet and the Character Breakfast.  Then it is off to Cabanas for lunch.  Next we go window shopping at White Caps.  Due to the tides we are not going to sail until 7 p.m. so the stores will not officially open until 8 p.m. tonight.  There are a couple of things I see that I might like.  Then off we go to our staterooms at 1:30 p.m.  My luggage arrives shortly thereafter, so I am unable to unpack and get organized before our Meet and Greet.

At 2:30 p.m. we go to our Facebook Meet and Greet in O’Gills.  I am posting a picture of some of the attendees including my friends Bill and Debbie just so we can send a Hi to their daughter Katie and her husband Mike and baby Alice!  They have an amazing family and I am so lucky to have gotten to know them just because we met sailing together on the Disney Magic.  Also in the picture are Chuck and Janice Maida, my good friends and travel agent from All Seasons Travel in Jacksonville, Florida.  We met on the Panama Canal Cruise in 2005 in Curacao in an internet café when I loaned Chuck my adapter so he could download some pictures.  We have been friends ever since.  They even travelled to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend my daughter’s wedding back in 2014.

Here is Hildet, Faith, Pete and Debbie.  Debbie is the founder and originator of the Fish Extenders.  It all started in 2005 on the Panama Canal Cruise when Debbie gave gifts of hanging door pocket holders with Disney characters on them.  You might also know her by the name of Epcotkilterfan on message boards out there.  I have sailed with Debbie and her mom many times, wonderful people, so fortunate to know them.

Lifeboat drill still occurs at 4 p.m. and Adventures Away is still at 4:30 p.m.

Clayton is our cruise director.  Our whole group gathers for Adventures Away at our normal location on deck 10, starboard side.  Everyone receives a special button from DCL for the Inaugural Sailing to the British Isles.

I get to see Maroly at Adventures Away and get some pictures of our group sailing.  We have many friends on board.

Michael's creation for our sailaway logo glasses and our theme for the cruise:

Michael, Gary, Janice Linda, Faith and Pete

Chuck, Linda and Michael

More of the gang including Bob and Dale

After partying at Adventures Away, we wander back to the room and then notice out the verandah at 5:45 p.m. that the tides have risen and we are actually pulling away from the dock.  The only noticeable difference is there are no cast members waving us goodbye with their Mickey hands.

The Coast Guard comes to pick up the pilot and I am able to hang out over our verandah and get a picture of him descending the staircase off the side of the ship

The seas are calm, the sun is shining, but it is a little cool outside. Pete is out on his verandah (just one door down so I get a picture of him with Dover in the background

We work out way to the Walt Disney Theater, noticing that the shops have already opened since we were able to leave Dover early, so stop in and get our inaugural merchandise before going to the show “All Aboard Let the Magic Begin”.  Pete Matthews performs a 10 minute routine from his comedy show.  Clayton introduces the vacation dance and encourages us to do the dance everytime we see him on the ship.  He also hints of the Premiere at Sea of Finding Dory but doesn’t give any details.

After the show we have an hour before dinner, so Michael and I go play Bingo.  Michael get to be the Bingo verifier and gets a Brandana (a bandana with the Disney Cruise Line logo on it).  It is one of the new gifts they are giving away at Bingo.

Our first dinner is in Cariocas and the menu is Let the Magic Begin.  What’s new on the menus this year is instead of doing speciality menus at the different ports there are “regional favorites” on the menu so there are the regular menu items, plus you can choose a regional favorite if you want to check out food from the local area.  I think this is a great change and I am sure that guest feedback helped changed this.  For a number of years we were missing specialty menus because they happened when we were in port and out on port excursions until after dinner and missed the regional items.

Tonight in Fathom’s we saw the comedy and ventriloquism of Taylor Mason.  I have seen him a number of times with the first being on the Disney Magic for Christmas in 2004.  He brings Romeo and his pig Paco.  

After Fathom’s we are all tired so decide to work our way back to the stateroom and call it a night.  We haven’t even had time to decorate our stateroom door, but we are already receiving gifts in our fish extender!  

Tomorrow is a sea day and will be nice to relax and get into the groove of things.  There are lots of activities tomorrow so I am calling it a night.  Goodnight from the Disney Magic!