My MerryTime Cruise Onboard Disney Magic

​  I was in need of a little Holiday spirit after finding out my Christmas Market cruise was canceled last minute so a Disney cruise seemed like the next best thing.   Since I had already been on the Dream and Fantasy this year I loved the idea of getting onboard the Magic.   It had been so long since I sailed on the Magic so I was so excited to get to see her again!  The Magic is currently sailing out of Miami - which for me is about the same amount of driving as Port Canaveral so that didn't play a part in deciding.   However I always forget how much I hate driving around Miami.   
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Port of Miami 
  There are other drawbacks to cruising on Disney out of Miami.   Since Disney doesn't have their  own terminal in Miami that means you are using a shared one (I am so happy Disney announced plans for their own terminal in Fort Lauderdale).   I wondered how the pre cruise testing would be different.   In Port Canaveral as I reported we were able to do the test in our car after entering the garage and then just hang out until the test results came back.   In Miami the first issue came when finding out the parking garage closest to the ship was closed so we had to go park in one that was at least a mile away.   Disney of course had shuttle buses ready to take us back to the terminal.   
Having already experienced check in at Port Canaveral I knew that you should only arrive at the time you were given for your port arrival - however in Miami no one even asked or checked our reserved arrival time so it seemed we really could have arrived anytime.   In Miami you will go into the terminal building through security and then you arrive at the testing location.  After your test you will head upstairs to wait on your test results.   This is the area with all the chairs where you would normally wait for your boarding time.   Disney has a few large screens set up and they were posting the reservation numbers that were clear to check in as the test results came in.  This was helpful since wi-fi in the terminal didn't seem to be working and even my cell service was very spotty.    TIP - always print out any important papers since you just never know if your phone will work.  After you get the good to go test result you can head into the next room where you will get to check in for the cruise.   I was disappointed that they did not have a separate line for the different Castaway levels but it wasn't very crowded so the line wasn't too bad.  We got checked in and like the Dream and Fantasy we were told our room keys would be waiting on the door when we get to our room.  

Onboard the Magic
   We were welcomed onboard in usual Disney fashion except this time the atrium was also decked out in holiday decorations too since this was a MerryTime Cruise.   It was just the holiday pick me up I needed with the large tree and gingerbread house greeting us in the atrium!    Rooms were not ready yet even though it was after 2 pm.  We were told we need to wait until 3 so we figured we would go grab a bite to eat in Cabanas.  On our way up the crew was really encouraging everyone to do the safety drill check in so we figured might as well knock that out of the way now.   Just like the other ships you use the app and find your meeting location and take a photo. We were done with that quickly and back on our way to food.   We hung out in Cabanas until our room was ready so that we could drop off our carry on bags before exploring more. 

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​Dining and Shows
  When checking out our schedule on the app I saw that on this 5 night cruise we would be in Lumiere's the first 2 nights and then Animators the next 2 nights with just the last night in Rapunzel's.   I had not been onboard Magic since Parrot Cay was changed over to Rapunzel's so I was a little bummed to only get 1 night in there.  I was happy that I hadn't booked Palo for that night at least.  I got lucky and had picked Palo night for the same night as Pirate night and was so glad since that is my least favorite night in any dining room.  Sorry pirates but I am over you.   
  Lumiere's and Animators are very similar to their counterparts on the Dream and Fantasy.   I was so happy that my husband got to experience the drawing part of Animator's this time since I had really hoped we would do it on Fantasy and they didn't.   Rapunzel's was a new experience for me and I have to say right away walking in I just loved the whole design of the restaurant.   It has very cozy feeling and I love the purple and the lanterns!    This is a dinner and a show type dining room and the storyline is that it is Rapunzel's birthday so you have appearances by her and Flynn of course along with a couple of the Snuggly Duck regulars.   It was fun but make sure you stay until the end so you don't miss the lanterns.

  For the shows on this 5  night cruise Disney was offering 2 main shows that would each be performed 2 nights in a row.  So the first 2 nights there was Tangled and then the 3rd night they showed a movie in the theater and the last 2 nights were Enchanted Dreams.  I was excited to get to see Tangled the Musical for the first time!  I have seen Dreams before but it has changed a bit since last time I saw it.  I found myself trying to remember which song was taken out to make room for Frozen.  I also noticed that Annemarie got new PJ's since last time I saw it.  Even though Disney was doing them each 2 nights to make sure there was enough room for everyone to get to see them and be socially distanced  there seemed to be a lot of people saying that they went both nights and saw each show twice.   Our sailing wasn't very full which I was very happy about.   It also appeared that there weren't many families with kids over age 12 and I am not sure if that was due to the vaccine requirement or just that school was still in and it isn't as easy to take the older kids out.

Merrytime Cruise
Since this cruise was in December it was a Merrytime themed cruise - which was one of the main reasons for picking it since I had just lost my holiday travel plans.   Besides all of the beautiful decorations around the ship and also on Castaway, there were holiday activities offered each day.   Storytime with Mrs Claus was very popular and there were also holiday crafts you could make.   Santa was in the atrium posing and waving in front of the tree - you did have to take a distanced selfie or photo but that was OK with me.   While we did see a good amount of characters at different times during the cruise but I was disappointed to never see them dressed in any holiday outfits.   Maybe we just missed those times but on our Halloween cruise we were always seeing the characters in costumes.   Character meets are still kept distanced and on the schedule they are listed as character appear and wave events.   The ship photographers have come up with a way to add some characters to your photos too.   I was happy to try it out and let the photographer direct me on what to do.   He had me pose in funny ways like dancing and when I saw the photo Daisy had joined me dancing.   There were others too and you might feel silly doing the poses but the photos are cute. 

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​Stops - Cozumel and Castaway
Our cruise stopped in Cozumel and Castaway Cay.   For me I have been to Cozumel many times and this cruise was about enjoying the ship so we opted to stay onboard instead of getting off in Cozumel.   Many people did opt to get off and at the time of our cruise if you were vaccinated you could go off on your own but if you were not you did need to be on a Disney excursion.  That did mean that any families with little kids would have to be on a ship excursion to get off.   It might sound funny but I was very happy to see 3 other ships in port with us that day!   Of course during normal times there probably would have been double that in Cozumel. 
Our cruise ended up with an extra visit to Miami as the night before our Castaway day the captain came on to tell us that unfortunately a guest needed to be medically evacuated so we had to head into Miami to do that.   He assured us we would still be getting to Castaway the next morning but maybe just a little later.   I liked the idea of watching us pull into Miami since I am always asleep when the ships return to port at the end of the cruise.  I enjoyed watching the city get closer from our balcony.   It was also a bonus to have cell service again for about an hour.   
Castaway is always my favorite stop and this visit we were greeted by a rainbow over the island as we pulled in!    Of course a rainbow meant there was also rain close but we lucked out and besides being a bit windy the sun came out and it was a wonderful day!      We headed right to the adult beach to grab a spot and enjoy the day.   The water was so shallow that we could walk in only about knee deep water all the way out to the buoy that marks the furthest out guests can go.  It was fun walking all the way out there and we even found one of the famous Castaway starfish.   I have seen one every time we have been there and if I hadn't seen someone pick one up last time I would maybe think they were not real.   The lunch at the adult beach always offers some better options than the family buffet but I do wish they would find a better way to do it.   As of now you have to go all the way through the line to find out what the main course options are and then it can get kind of confusing and crowded in there.   This time around they were grilling rib-eye steaks to order so that meant a long line of people waiting on their steaks.   I feel like if they just posted the main menu outside so you could see it before walking in that would really help a lot.   Then you could put your entrée order in and then make your way through the line so that it might be ready once you get down there.   I like the way Blaze pizza does the ordering process in Disney Springs so I think the adult buffet on Castaway could work well like that.   

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It was a great cruise and I really enjoyed being back on a classic ship again!   I love the smaller ships and have always felt the Magic and Wonder were designed very well.   Next blog I am writing will be a comparison of the Classic and New Disney ships so I will talk more about  that then.   

It was great to get to soak up some holiday excitement while cruising!   If you would like to add a little holiday magic to your next cruise you might want to think about going in November or December.

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