It was finally time to get on board our Very Merrytime Cruise on the Disney Magic.  After parking our car in the lot at the Port of Miami, we headed over to where the porters were collecting bags.  The only issue was that we were very early.  We arrive at the port about 10 am or so and the ships were still discharging passengers.  I sent Nancy and the girls to the line while I looked for a porter.

I found a porter and asked him where to drop our bags.  He took them and after giving him a tip, I went to join the ladies in line.  On the way, I asked a security guard at the terminal where the line would be.  He showed us where the entrance would be, so we lined up there.

We waited about 45 minutes or so before we could head inside.  The first thing we encountered was a huge serpentine line for security.  Since we were in the front of the line, we just walked through the empty line.  We quickly went through the security check point and headed upstairs to check in.  The terminal at Miami has been reconfigured since the last time we sailed from here.  There is a dedicated check in area that is separate from the waiting area.  The waiting area is now larger and is the area that was previously used for both check in and waiting. 

The check in process was a bit long this time.  We had a new cast member that hadn’t quite worked out all the details of how to do it.  He eventually got us checked in and gave us our Key to the World Cards.  It definitely made me nervous since we were eager to see if there were any stateroom upgrades available.  The slow check in didn’t hamper us though, because there were never any upgrades available.  The supervisor’s desk was on the other side of the check in area.  By the time we got over there, the “Captain Mickey says the ship is full, no upgrades available” sign was out.  I don’t think anyone had visited before us (we could see the desk from where we checked in), so there were no upgrades to be had.

We headed over to the waiting area and settled in to wait for our boarding number to be called.  We were boarding group #3.  We got the Navigator as well to read over what type of activities were available.

We wandered around the waiting area as well to get some pictures!

The waiting area started to quickly fill up.  By around 11:30 or so, the family of the day was announced and they boarded the ship.  We were quickly called after that and we made our way towards the ship.

We have started to bypass the family boarding photo.  We have never purchased a photo from the onboard photography service.  So, we step right around the boarding photo and skip the photos at dinner.  Once we cleared the photo area, we were ready to swipe our Key to the World Cards to board the Disney Magic.

After they announced our family, we were eager to snap a few photos of the atrium with all the decorations (and Christmas tree) up.  We had never been on a themed cruise before, with the exception of the Star Wars Day At Sea cruise, so it was interesting to see the ship decorated. 

This was also our first time on the Disney Magic, so it was interesting to see the atrium.  The Magic has a similar layout to the Disney Wonder, so it didn’t take us very long to get oriented to the ship.  This sailing would also complete a cruise on all four of the Disney ships, also referred to as completing the Grand Slam.  Who knows what they will call it once the three new ships come online (the touchdown?). 

We headed off to grab some lunch from Carioca’s, the Brazilian themed dining room on the Magic, which has now been replaced with the latest refurbishment.  It has been converted to a Tangled theme dining room. 

We checked in and were soon on our way to a table for lunch.  I expected a buffet, since that is usually what we got when we dined the first day on the Magic in the old Parrot Cay. 

Instead, we were handed a menu.  It looked like the standard lunch menu that you would get on a sea day. 

I ordered my standard Coke Zero, which they seem to have on the smaller ships but not on the larger ships (Fantasy/Dream).  I also ordered the Beef Empanadas, which were really good.  They offered this later on the cruise as a dinner appetizer.  The girls ordered the Seafood and Chicken Gumbo soup and the Leek and Potato Soup, which they enjoyed.

For entrees, we ordered the Pennette Pasta and the Grilled Salmon Salad.  Everything tasted fine.

  For dessert, we ordered the Chocolate Marquise Bombe and the Carrot Cake.  Both were fine, but nothing spectacular.

Lunch took a long time.  Once we finished dessert, it was already time to get into our room.  We headed forward to our room in order to drop off our stuff.  We were in room 2512, which was all the way forward on the starboard (right) side of the ship.  Nancy grabbed our bags from the hallway and started to setup the room.  The girls and I went off to look around the ship.  Our first stop was the atrium, again.  You can see people still boarding the ship on Deck 4.

We looked around the top decks as well since the Magic has a different layout up there than the Wonder does.  The Twist and Spout slide was a new water feature we hadn’t seen before.

We also were eager to check out the Aqua Dunk, although I was the only one that ended up liking it.  You end up getting enclosed in a glass coffin (for lack of a better term).  There is then a countdown from 5 to 0.  When the countdown reaches zero, the floor drops out from below and you go flying down the tube, over the edge of the ship, into a splashdown pool. 

The adult area was a looking great, as always.

 We looked through the door of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, but thankfully I think we are out of that phase of our Disney travels.

We got back in the room in time to grab Nancy for the muster drill.  The muster drill is a standard procedure on all cruise ships.  Luckily, our muster station was inside the Walt Disney Theater, so we just had to go there, sit and listen to the assembly instructions.  We were soon on our way back to the room just in time for the sail away party.  We all headed up to Deck 10 to get a spot on the rail so we could see.  We love sailing out of the Port of Miami!

After the sail away party, we went to grab something to drink.  On the way there, I noticed the shawarma station!  It had the best quick service available on the boat.  We would hit this up a few more times on the cruise.

Here is the Aqua lab, which is the water section for the small kids. 

We captured this photo as well of the sun setting as sailed away from Miami.

At 7:30, we headed to the atrium for Mickey’s Tree Lighting Magic.  We were pretty excited for all the Christmas activities and this was the first one.  The atrium was packed, but we managed to find a spot on the rail on Deck 5. 

Mickey and all his pals came out to get everyone excited for Christmas, although I think he was preaching to the choir at this point.

A family was selected to help sprinkle pixie dust on the tree to light it up. 

The cruise director soon appeared after to tell everyone about the activities that were going to be taking place over the next few days.

After the end of the tree lighting ceremony, it was time for our second seating dinner.  We were headed back to Carioca’s, which is where we had lunch.

We noticed the fantastic lanterns that were hung from the ceiling. 

We got to meet our server team for the cruise.  The server was Viand (from the Philippines), assistant server Debbie (from Scotland), and head server George. They introduced themselves and brought our drinks!

The first course was the bread service, which was Banana Bread with a Mango-Mint Mojo.  I don’t know what that means, but it tasted really good.

One of the girls ordered a virgin Pina Colada.

We ordered the Ahi Tuna and Avacado Tower, the Sopa de Frijoles Negros Habanero soup, and the Cuban Salad.

For our entrees, we ordered the Grilled Rum-marinated Swordfish, Garlic Rubbed Roasted Beef Rib Eye, and Small Corn Tortillas (With Veracruzan Refriend Bean Dip, Green Tomatillo-Chile and Salvadorian Pupusa Relish).  Everyone really enjoyed their entrees.

For dessert, we ordered the Coconut Tres Leches and Torta de Chocolate.

After dinner, we headed back to the Atrium for a very special guest.  It was time for Santa’s Winter Wonderland Ball.

The Ball kicked off with some dancers who did a few dances to various Christmas songs.

Then the special guest arrived.  It was Santa and Mrs. Claus to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

They brought some friends as well from Arendelle. 

Since everyone always loves a white Christmas, Elsa managed to make in snow in the atrium.

The girls went off to their clubs for the “ice breakers” activity to meet new friends.  Nancy and I were done from the long day, so we headed back to the room.  We had a few gifts from the ship waiting for us.

The coolest thing was this Christmas lithograph!   It features Anna, Elsa, and Olaf!

There was also a soap snowflake and some candy.  There was also a certificate for each girl to go to the atrium the next day to pick up a special gift from 8 am to 10 am.  We figured that might be a little difficult since I knew they were going to be out late.

It had been a long two days of travel and fun.  We spent one day at the Magic Kingdom watching the Christmas Parade and finished the next day on board the Disney Magic with Santa Claus.  It doesn’t get much better than that!  Tomorrow, we would be out at sea headed towards Cozumel.

Full Trip Report:  Planning | Travel  | Boarding | Day At Sea | Cozumel | Day At Sea | Castaway Cay | Disembarkation

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