After boarding the Magic, we took a few moments to get our bearings and take it all in. Being on a cruise ship was a whole new experience for us. We walked around a little, checked out the ship map to orient ourselves and checked out the view outside. We couldn’t get into our room for another hour or more so we headed to lunch.
On embarkation day on the Magic, they offer the same buffet in Cabanas and Lumiere’s. Cabanas has the benefit of outside seating but you have to fight the crowds with your carry-on luggage and food and drinks to find an empty table and claim it. At Lumiere’s, wait staff will seat you at a table and serve you your drinks, and you are free to go up to the buffet whenever you want. Even though we were anxious to be a part of the action on the ship, we decided to take the time to sit down in Lumiere’s and collect ourselves before the excitement began in earnest.
By the time we were done with lunch, it was just after 1:30 so we were able to go to our staterooms. We were staying in a forward oceanview room on deck 2. We loved the location – it was quiet, convenient to the forward elevators, and easy to get to the restaurants and theater.
The boys changed into their bathing suits and we headed up to the pool deck. Both boys went down the Twist ‘n’ Spout slide several times. It was not the fastest water slide but they both went on it again and again. RB braved the AquaDunk and loved it. JB was not tall enough and was totally ok with that.
After drying off, the boys got their first of many ice cream cones and then checked out the Wide World of Sports Deck.
Between 3:30 and 4:30, all ship services are suspended to prepare for and hold the mandatory muster drill. At 4:00 we headed to our muster station in the Walt Disney Theater. This was another benefit of our room location – having a muster drill location that is indoors with plenty of seating for everyone. The drill was relatively quick and painless and when it was done we headed up to deck 9 for the sail away party.
The sail away party (dubbed Adventures Away) was a high energy character dance party. Everyone on deck was given streamers and once the music started and the characters came out, it was a super fun (albeit crowded) party. My boys made their way up as close as possible to the stage and JB even got some high fives from the characters as they danced around.
After the characters left, the music continued and the kids were allowed to go up on stage and dance around. My boys were interested in the DJ equipment and trying to get a peek so the DJ invited them under the ropes to watch him for a few minutes. Very cool experience for them!
At the end of the party, the horn blew and it was time to wave good-bye to Port Canaveral!
The ship left port around 5:00 and we had late seating for dinner so we were free until 8:15. JB immediately checked out the character appearance schedule and we headed deck 4 to meet Donald Duck. Donald did not take so kindly to JB’s Mickey Mouse shirt. He ruffled his tail feathers at him and then tried to cover up Mickey. The character interactions we had on the ship were by far the best we’ve ever had. They really went above and beyond to be silly and play around with the kids.
After meeting Donald, we went to the open house in the Oceaneer Club. Open house hours are the only time that adults are allowed into the kids clubs. We checked it out and played for a little while. My boys were apparently in the minority because they didn’t love the clubs and want to spend all of their time there. They enjoyed them but much preferred to be out and about on the ship.
Before dinner we had time for JB to meet his favorite character – Pluto! This is my favorite photo from the entire trip because it so perfectly captures his joy at meeting Pluto.
And the ones below are pretty good too! I will comment here on the Shutters photographs. We pre-purchased the all digital photo package and thought it was absolutely worth it given how many character meet-and-greets JB did. I had my camera with me and often took the same exact photo but in almost all cases, their photographs came out better. I have the same picture as above but I was standing off to the side slightly so I didn’t capture his facial expression as well. The Shutters photographers are set up in the ideal position and with the best lighting so in our experience their photos were better overall.
After this is was finally time for dinner. Our first night was in Carioca’s. We enjoyed getting to meet our servers and sitting down and relaxing at dinner. Sitting at the table was the first time I noticed the ship’s movement. It didn’t make me feel sick at all but I was definitely aware of the rocking back and forth. I noticed it lying in bed at night too but fortunately none of us ever had any issues with sea sickness. (I had been worried about RB especially because he gets car and air sick but he had no problems on the ship.)
We made it back to our room to find our first towel animal. JB travelled with his stuffed Pluto and Mickey and the stateroom host always set them up somewhere cute as well. The boys loved coming back every night to see what he had done.
Our first day on the ship wasn’t a full day in time but it was a full day in activities! Lots of people stress about getting the earliest port arrival time and getting on the ship as soon as possible. We didn’t set foot on the ship until 12:30 and I don’t feel that we missed out on anything we wanted to do that first day. We had a leisurely lunch, unpacked in our room and then the kids were able to swim, eat ice cream, and play on the sports deck all before the sail away party. After the party we still had time to visit the kids clubs, meet some characters and just hang out on the ship before dinner. It was a full day without being too full and I was really happy with how the timing worked for our family.
