COMPLETE Diary of a reluctant first-time cruiser WITH VIDEO 5 night Magic W Caribbean March 2017

In case you're having trouble with the video - sometimes YouTube is finicky and won't play a video on a mobile device, but it will work on a computer. It's a pain, but sometimes that helps.

(It's working for me on mobile, but I hear a few others are having trouble.)
 


Love your trip report!
And your video! The magic is my old home and it makes me miss it so much, I saw so many friends (practically family) and even an old roommate, so thank you haha!
Your daughter though, I love the way she's so excited and literally bouncing through the whole trip!
 


What go pro do you have? & did you use special settings or just the regular ones? your pictures are great!

Thanks! I used a GoPro Hero 5 for this video. I used most of the factory settings but changed the Field of View to Medium (to eliminate the fisheye effect) and the Sharpness was also changed from High to Medium.
 
Thanks! I used a GoPro Hero 5 for this video. I used most of the factory settings but changed the Field of View to Medium (to eliminate the fisheye effect) and the Sharpness was also changed from High to Medium.

thanks for the info!
 
The next chapter: our day at Castaway Cay!

IMG_2179 by carriecook, on Flickr

The next morning we were up bright and early to run the Castaway Cay 5k. I believe we were due to go ashore for the race at 8:30, and we had eaten a light breakfast and packed everything we would need for the day into a couple of backpacks. However, we were delayed in docking, so there was a bit of a wait. There wasn't much needed in terms of registering for the race; you simply pinned on a number and were ready to go.

IMG_2183 by carriecook, on Flickr

The CMs filled the time with some trivia games and by describing the run course in detail. "You run around the bike path. Then you run down the airstrip. Or not, you know, depending on what you want to do. On the way back you run another loop of the bike path. Or not. You can just head straight to the finish line. It's up to you." They are pretty relaxed about the whole thing!

G0411303 by carriecook, on Flickr

Finally we were docked and were ushered as a group off the boat. It's a bit of a hike over to the starting line so we got a good look at Castaway Cay before the run began. When we first got off the ship we encountered Chip and Dale, who were impressed that the kids were running and wanted race numbers of their own to wear.

G0441317 by carriecook, on Flickr

Here's the welcome to Castaway Cay sign. The weather was scheduled to be quite cool this day, with a high of 64F, but either it was considerably warmer than that or our cold Canadian bodies just felt like it was warmer. It was plenty warm enough to be in swim suits and in the water, despite a fairly strong breeze.

G0501359 by carriecook, on Flickr

After we traipsed across a fair amount of the island, we came to a small sign signalling the start of the 5k route. We dropped our day packs on some nearby lounge chairs. Others might prefer to use lockers but this felt secure enough for us. We waited a few minutes to ensure more or less everyone was there, then there was a small countdown and we were off. The course started out fairly congested but quickly opened up. And it's not like anyone was gunning for a PR on this race, so it didn't matter in the least.

G0551391 by carriecook, on Flickr

DS ran the whole way and beat us all. DH was not too far behind. DD employed a walk/run strategy and I stayed with her. She turned it on at the end though in an attempt to drop me. In this shot you can see there is a clock on the left and a CM waiting to hand out medals on the right hand side of the path.

G0641480 4x6 by carriecook, on Flickr

We changed into our swim suits and picked up some snorkelling equipment, then headed out to swim the snorkel loop in lieu of post-race showers. Don't expect to see much wildlife; there is talk that there is a ray in the lagoon, but we weren't lucky enough to see him. We saw a couple of fish but the real attraction is the sunken treasure that Disney has dropped into the lagoon and marked with buoys.

G0681534 by carriecook, on Flickr

The entire loop is quite long - it's a good length swim, though with vests and flippers on, it's pretty easy to finish.

G0731591 4x6 by carriecook, on Flickr

G0771617 by carriecook, on Flickr

Back on dry land, and with the sweat washed off us, I took a few pictures with the ship as our backdrop.

IMG_0495 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0439 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0450 by carriecook, on Flickr

By then we were famished from all the exercise, so we strolled over to Cookie's Too for lunch, passing some lovely scenery along the way. I really loved Castaway Cay, and one day there felt much too short. Disney should open a resort there and allow you to book an extended stay.

IMG_0520 by carriecook, on Flickr

Here's my lunch plate. Yes, it's just a BBQ joint, but I thought the food was pretty good. We saw a guy carting about 15 bags of chips around in his kid's stroller. I guess that's what happens when it's all-you-can-eat prepackaged food.

IMG_0526 by carriecook, on Flickr

More lovely scenery:

IMG_0531 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0539 by carriecook, on Flickr

We didn't buy the race shirt, but I snapped a photo of it.

IMG_0557 by carriecook, on Flickr

Up next: Castaway Cay Part II.
 
IMG_0573 by carriecook, on Flickr

After lunch, we rented bikes so we could tour around the island.

G0781625 by carriecook, on Flickr

The first part of our exploration took us back around the 5K course - the airstrip and the paved loop that runs off of it. We did stop at the observation tower and climb up it, so that was new. As a side note, there are coolers full of water located at frequent intervals along the bike path, so you don't need to worry about bringing a drink with you. After we checked out the view from the top of the tower, we rode down to the end of the airstrip and turned up the path that runs behind Serenity Bay and the cabanas. This was new scenery and more interesting with the cabanas being there. At the end of that path you come to a place where you can see the beach, but there is a fence up along with a sign saying not to access the beach from that point. Bummer! The kids were with us anyway, so we weren't about to spend much time there.

G0811669 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0568 by carriecook, on Flickr

We finished our ride and the kids wanted to play some of the games like tetherball and connect 4. I excused myself to wander around a bit and take some more photos. The afternoon light on the island is really good for this. It didn't hurt that the weather on the day we were on the island cooperated!

IMG_0580 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0596 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0600 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0611 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0614 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0643 by carriecook, on Flickr

I came back to the group and asked the kids to pose for a few, too.

IMG_0649 by carriecook, on Flickr

We played a bit of sand soccer - which is a tough workout!

IMG_0664 by carriecook, on Flickr

And more tetherball, too.

IMG_0674 by carriecook, on Flickr

We stayed right until the end of the day. We were probably in line to re-board the ship only about 10 minutes before the all-aboard time. The CMs were starting to clean things up, take down beach umbrellas, etc. It was really quite deserted - I definitely think it's worth staying on the island as long as you can! A few of the drink machines were out of service but that is the only thing we were looking for that wasn't available right at the end of the day.

We had pre-booked the package for the day that includes the snorkel equipment, the bike, and also the use of a floatie/inner tube. We never wound up using the inner tubes. Interestingly enough, we also never went on Pelican Plunge, which I really thought was going to be a big hit with the kids. There is a lot to do on the island, the day goes by quickly, and you really don't have time to do it all.

On our walk back to the ship we stopped in a couple of the souvenir shops to pick up pins.

IMG_0696 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0698 by carriecook, on Flickr

These are perhaps my favourite shots of the entire trip:

IMG_0709 by carriecook, on Flickr

IMG_0713 by carriecook, on Flickr

We made it back to the ship and there was a fairly lengthy line waiting to re-board.

IMG_0727 by carriecook, on Flickr

Back in our cabin - I had read something about watching as the ship pulls away from the island because there is some sort of farewell. I told my family we should be on the lookout for this, and they teased me mercilessly once we saw what the 'show' really was. Regardless - it might not be fancy, but I think it's a nice touch!

IMG_0721 by carriecook, on Flickr

Next up: our last night onboard.
 
Enjoying your trip report.

I treat the ship as a big resort. And try to do nothing but relax and soak up some sun and fun. But I do enjoy port days too.
 
I loved your video So, So much! Makes me want to hire you to follow my family around and take a video of us! :love:
 
IMG_0755 by carriecook, on Flickr

Back on board the ship, we cleaned up for dinner and went to our final show. It was "Disney Dreams" and while it wasn't my favourite show of the week, it did have its merits. I liked that it incorporated so many Disney characters and therefore felt like a fitting farewell.

Dinner that night was at Lumiere's again, and it was a nice way to finish off because that was our preferred restaurant out of the 3. We didn't spend much time lingering at the table though. We had to get packed up and have our luggage out in the hall by a set time, so we hustled back to the room to get that done. There were a few characters out meeting, and the kids wanted to fit in a few last snaps with them, so we packed in between making trips to the atrium to wait for Mickey etc.

The big news of the night was that the premiere of the new live action Beauty and the Beast movie would be the following day, and so the ship was able to run a special advance screening beginning at 10:45 p.m. The kids were exhausted - heck, I was exhausted after the long day in the sun - but we'd been hoping all week that they might be able to pull this off and DD was desperate to go. DS is a bit better at knowing his limits, and opted out. This left a conundrum for DH and I, as we both wanted to see the movie too. In the end, I stayed back with DS while DH took DD to the theater. They headed there around 10:15 and were lucky to get two of the very last seats in the house. We should have known how busy it would be! DS found a bit of a second wind, and he and I headed to the atrium one last time to see the farewell show. Many characters from the week's shows came out, and it was a nice sendoff.

We were both asleep in the room by the time DH and DD came back from Beauty and the Beast. DD managed to stay awake for most of the movie, and the fact that she did sleep through part of it gave her the perfect excuse to join DS and I at the theater back home the following weekend to see it again.

The next morning was kind of anti-climactic. We woke up early, packed the last of our things into our carryon bags, and had one last breakfast on the ship. We debarked and picked up our luggage fairly easily in the cruise terminal. From there we took a cab to South Beach, where we had purchased day passes at a hotel. We were able to use their pool and beach access for the day before taking an evening flight home. This was well worth our time and I'm glad we were able to extend our holiday a bit rather than flying home immediately after debarking the ship.

So I guess the big question is, will we cruise again? The cruise met my expectations. I expected to like it but not love it, and I was right. DH felt the same way. DD says it was her favourite trip ever, and DS says he prefers other types of vacations. I think he would have liked it better had the motion and vastness of the ocean not gotten to him.

I'm glad we tried cruising once, and I am very glad that we chose DCL. The other cruise lines do not appeal to me at all. I would not rule it out in the future, because I do see the convenience of being able to travel around without repeatedly packing and unpacking. However, the stars would have to align for me to cruise again anytime soon. It would have to be a port-intensive itinerary, and likely a destination where we lack the confidence to make plans on our own. As we get older, I can see cruising perhaps appealing to us more and more.

For now, we are on to other adventures. This summer we have a trip to Europe on the books, and as Disney fans, a day at Disneyland Paris did creep into our itinerary. We are very much looking forward to our next trip! And yes, a trip video is likely to follow.

Thanks for following along!
 

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