Disney Cruise Embarkation day
Saturday 24th June 2023
It’s cruise day, it’s cruise day, it’s cruise day.
We were up early to drop our owners lockers with bell services where they will be picked up and put back into temperature controlled storage for a few days.
We then hopped on the Florida turnpike about 7am for our 3 hour drive to Miami International Airport. Why were we heading for the airport and not the cruise terminal? There isn’t a hire car return at the Port of Miami, so we decided to return the car to the massive car centre at the airport and then take Disney Cruise Line transport to the port.
The drive to Miami itself was uneventful and to be honest a bit dull. Getting to the airport the signage for the car hire return disappeared at points and the sat nav kept wanting us to “Turnaround when possible”. It was extremely stressful just trying to find the entrance to the car park. It took us about 30 minutes but finally managed to find the right car return location and then the process of leaving the car was straight forward.
The Car hire centre is in a separate building to the airport but they are linked by the MIA mover, basically a small monorail system. This was well sign posted and easy to use, and it’s free. Unfortunately once we got to the airport our troubles with signage began again. Miami International Airport is massive, bigger than Heathrow and Gatwick combined.
We walked for miles trying to get to the baggage reclaim section of the airport. Once we made it there were no signs for where to go for Port of Miami Transfers. On all the correspondence from Disney Transport we were told to head to baggage claim and someone would meet us. There are nearly 100 baggage carousels at the airport! We ended up calling DCL transport to find out which carousel number we should meet at. This was of course the opposite end of the airport to where we were stood! Once we got there, the signage was just an A4 print out stuck to a wall, and this was the same for all the cruise lines. Thankfully the Disney staff were lovely and we were quickly boarding a bus to the cruise terminal. We made sure the luggage tags we received from Disney through the post were attached to our bags before they were loaded into the bus as this was the last time we would see them before they arrived outside our room some hours later.
The journey took about 30mins and once there we left our luggage with the porters and headed into the terminal. It’s a good idea to have some cash on you to tip your driver and porter.
Disney leases the use of the cruise terminal and therefore it is not decorated like the Port Canaveral terminal, which is owned by Disney. There were some removable banners to add some “Disney Magic”, but the terminal was nothing special. Check in was very smooth, you do need your passport and ESTA (UK resident visa) and the QR code you were sent when you completed your online check in 30 days before. Keep all these documents and QR code handy as they will be checked multiple times. Once through check in we waited maybe 10 minutes before our boarding group was called and we headed to the ship.
While you are waiting to board there are photographers and Disney backdrops should you wish to take a photo. We hadn’t purchased a photo package in advance as we thought it was a bit too expensive, but our photographer gave us a great piece of advice.
“Make use of all the photo opportunity’s, and then on the last day of your cruise visit ‘Shutters’ (The Photo Studio) on board to check your photos. If you like them, you can then purchase one or a whole package. But if you don’t take the photos in the first place you won’t have that option!”
I’m glad we took their advice as we did end up buying a photo package, but more on that in a later blog.
Once we stepped onto the ship we were greeted by the fantastic cast members, who announced our arrival to the ship. We could then meet Mickey & Minnie or some of the Princesses around the atrium.
The whole process from trying to return the hire car and then getting onto the ship was extremely overwhelming. Everything moved at a million miles an hour and we didn’t feel like it was an enjoyable process. We had watched YouTubers describe how embarkation day can be stressful but I don’t think we realised just how true that would be, and we were just two adults, imagine being a large group with tired children!
Once onboard we spent some time trying to get our bearings and headed to ‘Cabanas’ the buffet restaurant on deck 7 aft. Thankfully the signage on the ship was spot on and there were maps at every elevator bank.
‘Cabanas’ was mental!
Again we had heard it would be busy, but wow. There was a large selection of hot foods, salads and desserts as well as fountain drinks and tea and coffee. We found a quiet table outside and had something to eat and started to calm down.
Once you are onboard it is essential that you connect to the ship wide wifi and download the Disney Cruise Line App if you haven’t already done so. This app holds information about everything going on on the ship and also all the extra activities that you may have booked. We’ve mentioned before that we had no idea what our dining rotation was going to be. While we were sat in ‘Cabanas’ we opened the DCL app and selected the ‘Onboard’ option and found a wealth of information. Each day had a full itinerary of Daily activities, Character appearances, Dining info and more. We also found under the ‘My Plans’ section our dining rotation for the cruise and more information on the pre booked activities.
There are 3 restaurants on board, ‘Repunzels Royal Table, ‘Animators Pallet’ and ‘Lumiere’s’. As we had made our ‘Palo’ reservation (adult only dining experience) when our booking window opened we did’t know what rotational dining we would have that night. It turned out we would have missed our ‘Animators Pallet’ meal so we headed to guest services to see if they could change our plans. We were directed to the ‘D Lounge’ on deck 4 midship where we met the amazing Maitre’d who helped us move our ‘Palo’ reservation so we didn’t miss out on ‘Animator’s Pallet’.
It’s a shame that you aren’t told your dining rotation at the same time as your booking window opens, as we could have avoided having to move our ‘Palo’ dining. Thankfully the process was easy and the cast members will try their hardest to accommodate your requests. Apparently the main issue that the cast members have is getting people into the early dining time. When your book your cruise you pick which dining time you would like early or late. The early time slot books up very fast.
With our dining sorted and our room not yet ready we headed to the ‘Senses Spa’ to find out about the ‘Rainforest Room’. Once at the spa we had to endure a 20 minute tour and sales pitch of all the facilities and treatments available before we could buy the ‘Rainforest Room’ pass. This was slightly frustrating as we knew that we didn’t want to book any treatments, mainly as we couldn’t afford them!
The ‘Rainforest Room’ is an adults only relaxation space. There are 2 steam rooms, multiple experience showers of varying temperatures and pressures and heated loungers. Passes for the cruise are limited and sell out quickly. You can not purchase a one day pass and treatments do not come with access to the ‘Rainforest Room’.
The pass was $118 + tax and and 18% gratuity. We only used the our pass 3 times during the 5 day cruise so it ended up working out more expensive than if we had gone everyday. I’m not sure we would bother purchasing it again for the older ships as the facilities are all the same, however the Wish is meant to have an amazing ‘Rainforest Room’ so we will have to check that out.
Around 2pm an announcement was made that the staterooms were ready, so we went to deck 7 forward to find our home for the next 5 days. We were in a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom, which meant we had a large porthole window and double bed with a sofa bed. Our room was spacious and very comfortable. Even thought the Magic is the oldest ship in the fleet the room was still in good condition and the subtle Disney accents to the decor made the room incredibly special.
We spent some time unpacking and then headed to the top deck for the ‘Sail A Wave’ party as we departed the Port of Miami. This character filled party is great fun and the ships horn plays ‘When you wish upon a star’ as you leave port. After we partied with Mickey we headed to the front of the ship to watch Miami pass us by and our first glimpse of the ocean.
Our first night dinner was at ‘Repunzal’s Royal Table’. We found this out in the DCL app which also had our table number, which would be the same for each night. We had requested a table by ourselves when we checked in, but when we arrived we found that we were sat with 2 other couples who had also requested private tables. Thankfully we all got on like a house on fire! Dinner wasn’t up to the standard we were expecting, and as there was no show, it all felt a bit disappointing.
Our first day was unfortunately stressful and in some areas not the standard we were expecting. But it did get better…