We were so excited to get back on a cruise ship again, which we did the end of January 2023, and we were especially excited since it was our first time on the Disney Magic!
We headed to the Port of Galveston to hop aboard this four night cruise to Progresso, Mexico.
Our Disney cruise didn’t disappoint, just like our other Disney cruises. There were just two things that could have made it better, well three (if it was longer).
First, something that can’t be controlled by the cruise line, is the weather. We had only one day of really good weather, the day we were in port.
Second, which was recently reinstated, was the traditional muster drill. We had to stand on deck, outside, in the chilly and misty weather. Not a fun way to start a cruise. Disney returned to this type of muster drill back in mid-November of 2022, as are other cruise lines (but not all). We were hoping to watch the instructions and then report to our muster station and then go on with our day.
Instead, we had 40 mintues of waiting around.
I did some research into why Disney returned to this type of muster drill, and the official reason is that people were not participating in the “on your own” muster drill. Now all must suffer – again.
Anyway, this was the first time we’ve ever cruised in a stateroom without a balcony. We got an oceanview stateroom with a large porthole (as you can see in our picture above). It ending up being a great choice this time as the weather would have meant that we would not have used our balcony at all. It was just too cold, except for the one day.
The entertainment, food, activities, etc. were all up to par.
, ,Yes, that is the monkey that I folded myself.
One of the stateroom attendants demonstrated several folds. Some were easier than others. Since we only got towels enough to do one fold, each time he moved on to another fold, we had to unfold the other one.
The final fold, he told us we could take with us to “show off” to our own stateroom attendant so he could see how well we could fold towels.
While not on par with our stateroom attendant’s own creations (nor the one who demonstrated), I was pretty pleased with my end product.
I’ll put a few of our stateroom attendant’s creations below.
My favorite was the pirate that was created for us on Pirate Night where the servers dress up as pirates, they serve a special pirate menu, have a deck party by the pool, and even show fireworks at the end of that party (which is between the dinner seatings).
Everyone on board is given a pirate “scarf” that can be used to dress up as pirates, but many will bring their own costumes from home (or purchase something on board) to dress up as pirates themselves.
This time we did not go to the deck party, but were able to watch the fireworks from our stateroom. When you have a balcony, if you are on the fireworks side, you are asked not to go onto your balcony during the fireworks. So, having a large porthole instead was great! While the weather was good that night, it was VERY humid. Having a deck party with all those people and, standing out there right before dinner, didn’t sound like fun. So, since we knew we would be able to see them all from our side of the ship, we opted to “stay in” and watch them.
My husband’s favorite part of a Disney cruise is that every day in the buffet at lunch they have peel and eat shrimp. That is the ONLY thing he eats for lunch. No sides, no other meats, no bread, just the shrimp.
Since our dinner seating time was at 8:15 pm, he would always grab a snack on the pool deck where you can get a lot of different items if you just want to stay at the pool all day. His favorite was the shawarma.
You could get hot dogs, bratwurst, shawarma, chicken tenders, fries, and pizza on the pool deck. You could also get a soft drink, coffee, tea, and even ice cream there, too (all included).
To me, just being on the ship was what made the whole trip relaxing and fun.