Skipping forward in time...

We ended up leaving Argentina about 4 weeks early. We spent 1 of those weeks in Rio, and another in Morocco, but that left us with 2 more weeks. At this point in the trip, we were looking for something a little bit different, maybe more relaxing and more social. Something that might require less planning too.

Prelude

We ended up leaving Argentina about 4 weeks early. We spent 1 of those weeks in Rio, and another in Morocco, but that left us with 2 more weeks. At this point in the trip, we were looking for something a little bit different, maybe more relaxing and more social. Something that might require less planning too. We investigated want-to-see destinations like Istanbul and the Greek Island, and learning/volunteer experiences like helping at a Roman archaeology dig or counting sea turtles. We also looked into cruises. Neither of us has been on a cruise before, but we've both been a little bit curious about the experience. This turned out to be a winner, and we settled on something that might seem unlikely - an 11 day cruise on the Disney Magic, leaving from and returning to Barcelona. We got a great last minute price, but did have to do some shopping in order to have outfits for the formal, semi-formal, and pirate dinner nights. Fortunately, there are some cheap clothing stores in Barcelona, and the main thrift store chain was having and "everything is 2 euro" sale.

We almost had a problem when it came to buying the tickets. I'd seen a really good price on Expedia, but I'd also read in my investigations that if we bought through certain travel agents, we could get a hundred or two worth of ship credit. So we certainly wanted to do that. But, by the time the travel agent got back to us, the good price for the sail date we'd wanted was gone (it had nearly tripled). However, she said that it looked like the last of the discount cabins was only under hold, not purchased, and the hold would be released in 24 hours. She could put a hold on our second choice date, and then if the hold on our first choice was released, book that for us. It did end up getting released, and we got our first choice, the main advantage being that we got an extra day on the ship (a rest day at sea right in the middle) for no additional cost.

Now that we had everything settled, I tried to dig up more information about the ship and the ports, and found the DISboards, a bulletin board style forum for Disney fans. These boards included a meetup thread for every Disney cruise, so I connected with people there who had been planning their cruise for months and even years, and they filled me in on all the details and answered a bunch of questions. They're a very friendly and enthusiastic group of people, and it was fun to start out already "knowing" some people on the ship. We met up with several of them the night before the cruise to see the Magic Fountain (better than I expected) and had a great Mexican dinner with Kia, John, Nikia, and Lelani.

An Aside

We're going to try to liveblog this whenever we have internet access. A network connection on the boat is very expensive and very slow, so we might only post when we have a port day that we have some time at. There will probably be no pictures til we get back.

Embarkation Day - May 15

Even with all this prep, I didn't know fully what to expect for Embarkation Day, but we did have some worries already. First, we'd been assigned the early seating because the late one was full. Early here means 5:30pm, and we'd been eating dinner around 10:00pm. The early seating could also interfere with some of our port trips, since sometimes we otherwise wouldn't have to be back until 8:00pm. Our travel agent had waitlisted us for the late seating, and later on told us that we'd gotten it, but I could find anything on the Disney website to confirm this. We also really wanted to get a brunch or dinner reservation at Palo, the upscale restaurant on the boat, but all the pre-booked slots were full. I'd heard we could get reservations on the ship, but didn't know how many were available or if it would work with our schedule.

The embarkation terminal was just one of several large halls on the dock. There were 3 other cruise boats lined up there, 2 from Royal Caribbean and 1 from something else. I was happy because although the Disney boat certainly wasn't the biggest, it was the prettiest to my eye. It's built to look like a classic ocean liner with big smokestacks and gold painted scrollwork on the bow. The smokestacks are just decorative though - one holds the teen club and the other a giant LED screen where they show movies that you can watch from the swimming pool and hot tubs.

The Disney Magic, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

At the terminal, you turn in your forms, show your passport, and get your bags scanned. A lot like the airport, but less formal. We'd hoped to buy a bottle of sipping liqueur in the dutyfree, but it only had overpriced wine, and we'd already stocked up on that at the grocery store.

In the waiting room, there was some entertainment for the kids: a silver statue guy of a sailing captain, a flamenco dancer with her guitarist, and Mickey and Minnie in Spanish dress taking photos with the kids. We said hi to the DISboarders we knew and waited for our number to be called.

Spanish Mickey, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

As we walked onto the ship, I couldn't help but feel excited, almost as excited as when we'd first started our adventure. Here I was doing another thing that I never really expected to do, and certainly not on this trip. My first surprise was just a couple minutes later when I found out that we didn't just board the ship, we were announced. Every group entering gets formally welcomed over the atrium sound system, which echoes throughout the hallways of the ship. And then a line of cast members applauds and says hello. It's a fun touch, and made it feel very Disney right away.

Our first order of business was to verify our dinner seating, sign up for some tastings (martini, rum, and mixology), and try to get a Palo reservation for brunch and/or dinner. We got on the ship in the early crowd, so this was all very easy and we got everything we wanted, including brunch and dinner at Palo.

We had about an hour and a half before we could check into our rooms, since the earlier cruisers had just left this morning. The buffet was open, but we weren't hungry yet, so we wandered around the ship. It's quite nice - the main decor is art deco, with lots of little Disney touches everywhere (old sketches and obscure Disney film posters on the walls, a Mickey Mouse hand on the elevator indicator, a bronze statue of Steamship Mickey in the atrium, a dining room called Lumiere's with glass encased roses in the chandeliers, etc). The ship is also clearly kid-focused. There are 4 fun areas for kids only - the teen hangout in the stack, looking kind of like a TV set of a college dorm lounge; a science lab themed area with microscopes, other science toys, and a set of video game stations; a fake bridge with a ship simulator program; and an active play area with a jungle gym, hula hoops, bean bags, etc. They looked like fun places to play, but we could only visit during the open house. There are 3 swimming pools - a kids only one with a waterslide, an all ages with the giant LED screen, and an adults only one. There are three main dining halls, one Caribbean themed, one French themed (Lumiere's), and one Disney themed (Animator's Palette), plus the fancy Palo restaurant which requires special reservations. In addition, there's a buffet, a hamburger and pizza place, salad and panini stand, and 24 hour soda fountain. All of this is free, as much as you can take. Pretty much only the liquor and coffee costs extra. There are also two huge theaters, one for movies and one for live shows (which seats 900!) - think big Disney shows with musical numbers and indoor fireworks and confetti cannons. Finally, there's a spa and an exercise room, and about 4 nightclubs, plus several lounges, some all ages, some adult only.

Kids-only pool, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

All ages pool with the aerial view, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Adult pool, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

When we got to our room, I was surprised how big it was. I'd heard that Disney has some of the biggest rooms, but it was better than I expected. We'd gotten the cheapest possible room (category 12) and been upgraded to something only a hair larger (category 10), but it was easily twice as big as some of the hotels we'd stayed in (specifically a certain hotel in Christchurch). We've got a king sized bed, living area with a couch, coffee table, and desk, a steamer trunk wardrobe, a double closet, a chest of drawers, a TV, a fridge, and two half bathrooms. I think a bunk bed folds down out of the ceiling too. It's all nicely decorated and very comfortable. I think it's been the only place where we've fully unpacked.

Our stateroom, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Now, the next order of business was to get some food. We hit the buffet, and while it wasn't awesome, it was OK. I knew that Disney Cruise Lines isn't known to be ultra gourmet, and that the buffet is one of their least appealing food offerings. They did have some tasty cocktail shrimp though. In line, we met Dr. Dolberg and ate lunch with him. He travels about on cruise ships giving lectures on the history of places that are being visited, and we hoped to listen to his talk on Malta tomorrow.

After lunch, we took a tour of the spa - it has a soothing rainforest room with a herbal steam room, regular steam room, dry sauna, 360 degree shower and several heated stone chairs. The spa also has some couples massage rooms and some very elaborate "villas" complete with jacuzzi on the exterior veranda.

At 4pm, we had an emergency drill. We had to get our lifevests on and proceed to our gathering areas. Ours happened to be in the Animator's Palette dining hall. We sat around and waited to see if our room would be one of the random ones called for checks, they explained some emergency procedures, and we headed back to the room to do some unpacking.

Next up was the farewell party. In true Disney fashion, a group of very enthusiastic and bubbly performers got up on stage on the center deck of the boat and got everyone dancing. The cover the main pool area and use it as a dance floor and gathering area. We only saw the last couple songs, and missed the confetti cannons, but we saw the remnants.

Bon voyage party, from Cruise 2010 - On the boat

Typically the evenings are dinner and a show, or if you have the late seating, a show then dinner. Tonight's show was "Let the Magic Begin", a sampler of all the shows to come. There was some singing and dancing, a comedic magician, and a comedian. The performers were all pretty good, but I was looking forward to tomorrow's show, which I'd heard was much better.

Dinners on the Magic are done via what they call "rotational dining". You cycle through the 3 main restaurants with the same people at your table and the same server and assistant server. We started in Parrot Cay, the Caribbean style restaurant. The theming for this restaurant is pretty light - some wall decorations and the ceiling in places. Later in the week, the menu is supposed to reflect the restaurant, but tonight was a special theme, so all the restaurants had the same menu. I had the fried calamari appetizer, seafood chowder, and the lobster and shrimp risotto, and the dessert sampler (small portions of three of the night's dessert). Danny had the bastela (a strange form of the Moroccan pastela), the same risotto, and an add-on of roast vegetables on arugula. The food was pretty good, but not stellar. I'd say the desserts were the most disappointing. Despite the server's warning that the steak was very tough tonight, several people at the table ordered it, and regretted it. The server had them choose a second dish as a backup and most of them took advantage of that.

At 9pm, in the middle of dinner, the ship cast off and departed from Barcelona. There was a gentle rocking all night long, sometimes a bit more than I expected, and I know that we looked like drunkards as we tried to walk down the long straight corridors. I was wondering if that would make me sick, but it didn't. After dinner, we checked out the dance club to find it empty except for a few kids moonwalking on the stage. So, we finished unpacking and went to bed early.

Barcelona, from Cruise 2010 - Ports