Anyone been on Disney Magic at Sea ?

[knagelli]

Hello experts , just wondering if any has experience of going on the Disney Magic at Sea cruise holiday. It is being offered for the first time from Australia in Oct/Nov 2023 and very keen to make the booking. It will be good to know what to expect and what not to expect from Disney cruises. As this will be out first time , any useful pointers will be appreciated. cheers

 

[Rich]

Hi @knagelli - sorry I would have replied sooner if I saw this
Have you made a booking?
Our family have been on 2 Disney cruise - one on the Magic and the other on the Fantasy. Both out of US. We have also been on a Royal Caribbean cruise (from SYD).
Whilst the Magic is not as new or big as the Fantasy, it didn't impact our enjoyment. There was still plenty to do and the cruises coming up out of Australia are pretty sure TBH anyway.
Disney is expensive but it was a cut above Royal Caribbean.
Happy to share more if you have any questions.

 

[knagelli]

Hi @knagelli - sorry I would have replied sooner if I saw this
Have you made a booking?
Our family have been on 2 Disney cruise - one on the Magic and the other on the Fantasy. Both out of US. We have also been on a Royal Caribbean cruise (from SYD).
Whilst the Magic is not as new or big as the Fantasy, it didn't impact our enjoyment. There was still plenty to do and the cruises coming up out of Australia are pretty sure TBH anyway.
Disney is expensive but it was a cut above Royal Caribbean.
Happy to share more if you have any questions.

thanks @Rich ; we have reserved the inaugural Disney Cruise from Melbourne around Oct / Nov 2023. For 2 adults and a child ( 7 ) , we are paying close to 5500 AUD , not sure if that is normal or high as this is our first time on a cruise. At this point , we still can cancel for free if we feel the price is too high and it is not worth it for 4D/3N. We are yet to explore the activities and other fun stuff that my child can do.

Any pointers/tips on the basic things to look out for .

 

[Rich]

We paid around USD1000 a night for our cruise (balcony suite that allows 5 passengers) but I know all their cruises have gone up since.
One of the great things about Disney is the cabins for 5 which is unusual for a cruise line. (Having said that our next cruise is on NCL and there was an inside room for 5 available but for a few hundred dollars more we opted for a balcony for 2 and inside for 3. Kids are a bit older now and 2 bathrooms!). NCL is much cheaper and like I mentioned before RCL was too, but we were disappointed in the main dining in RCL. Disney's main dining was great - we liked the rotating themed restaurants with different menus and staff were happy to get something from another menu if you really wanted.
Key things - work out when you can book stuff. It might be 30, 60 or 90 days out for example. (those who have sailed DCL before will get in earlier, but there are probably a lot who haven't in Australia). Then book straight away, so look at what you want to do in advance.
I highly recommend the adults only restuarants for one night Remy I think was better but that might depend on your preferred cuisine. We paid an extra USD30 each for one meal and it was absolutely worth it. So kids club for one night for junior but take him/ her to dinner first and then go off to your dinner.
There is other stuff like "Meet the Princesses" where in 15 minutes you can get photos with them all and other character greetings which you can probably book or not line up too long for.
There is some sort of detective hunt or similar which you can do any time, but read up or there will be things like this you miss (we nearly did).
There are things you probably wouldn't do because of your child, such as buying a full cruise pass to the adults only Rainforest Retreat (we never did - we did want to try it for one day but couldn't get in. From memory one cruise sold out of single day passes and the other didn't have them at all).
Don't rule out the later dinner session which we always do. Although we had young kids, we were happy with the later dinner as we were typically still in the pool or surrounds at the time of the first session and could then go for showers etc. Plus it is easy to overeat or find food somewhere, so you are not going to be starving.
Entertainment on cruises is usually good. There is likely some show (we had a shortened Aladdin which was great and some one that featured all Princesses which was not so great). Kids seem to like magic shows too.
Avoid cruise organised port tours as they are overpriced (all cruise lines are the same).
Embrace the cult of Disney. They do it so well.

 

[knagelli]

We paid around USD1000 a night for our cruise (balcony suite that allows 5 passengers) but I know all their cruises have gone up since.
One of the great things about Disney is the cabins for 5 which is unusual for a cruise line. (Having said that our next cruise is on NCL and there was an inside room for 5 available but for a few hundred dollars more we opted for a balcony for 2 and inside for 3. Kids are a bit older now and 2 bathrooms!). NCL is much cheaper and like I mentioned before RCL was too, but we were disappointed in the main dining in RCL. Disney's main dining was great - we liked the rotating themed restaurants with different menus and staff were happy to get something from another menu if you really wanted.
Key things - work out when you can book stuff. It might be 30, 60 or 90 days out for example. (those who have sailed DCL before will get in earlier, but there are probably a lot who haven't in Australia). Then book straight away, so look at what you want to do in advance.
I highly recommend the adults only restuarants for one night Remy I think was better but that might depend on your preferred cuisine. We paid an extra USD30 each for one meal and it was absolutely worth it. So kids club for one night for junior but take him/ her to dinner first and then go off to your dinner.
There is other stuff like "Meet the Princesses" where in 15 minutes you can get photos with them all and other character greetings which you can probably book or not line up too long for.
There is some sort of detective hunt or similar which you can do any time, but read up or there will be things like this you miss (we nearly did).
There are things you probably wouldn't do because of your child, such as buying a full cruise pass to the adults only Rainforest Retreat (we never did - we did want to try it for one day but couldn't get in. From memory one cruise sold out of single day passes and the other didn't have them at all).
Don't rule out the later dinner session which we always do. Although we had young kids, we were happy with the later dinner as we were typically still in the pool or surrounds at the time of the first session and could then go for showers etc. Plus it is easy to overeat or find food somewhere, so you are not going to be starving.
Entertainment on cruises is usually good. There is likely some show (we had a shortened Aladdin which was great and some one that featured all Princesses which was not so great). Kids seem to like magic shows too.
Avoid cruise organised port tours as they are overpriced (all cruise lines are the same).
Embrace the cult of Disney. They do it so well.

Thanks @Rich ; It is indeed a lot of useful information that you had provided. I will try to look out for all of the activities/experiences that you listed. ta

 

[odysseus]

thanks @Rich ; we have reserved the inaugural Disney Cruise from Melbourne around Oct / Nov 2023. For 2 adults and a child ( 7 ) , we are paying close to 5500 AUD , not sure if that is normal or high as this is our first time on a cruise. At this point , we still can cancel for free if we feel the price is too high and it is not worth it for 4D/3N. We are yet to explore the activities and other fun stuff that my child can do.

Any pointers/tips on the basic things to look out for .

Just some general commentary on pricing/cruises as you mentioned you are new. I haven't sailed Disney though kept an eye out when they announced arrival, but have experience on other mainstream lines (similar generaly standard to Disney).

Basically, for cruises in general, that price is very high i.e. you may well pay from say $750 for 3 people on a 3 night cruise otherwise, with broadly similar inclusions. But Disney cruises are always dearer than other lines as well (though these perhaps more than usual.)

However, the one real difference is unlike other cruise lines which are good, but somewhat nondescript in identifying what cruise brand you are on onboard, Disney cruises are very evident that it is Disney with characters, decorations and branding around you on the ship. So you get a good experience but also the unique Disney factor surrounding you as well.

It then comes down to you whether the very significant premium you pay is worth that extra experience.

If you just want to try the cruise experience there are much cheaper options. But if you specifically want to do it just because of Disney then there is a cost to that.

 

[knagelli]

Just some general commentary on pricing/cruises as you mentioned you are new. I haven't sailed Disney though kept an eye out when they announced arrival, but have experience on other mainstream lines (similar generaly standard to Disney).

Basically, for cruises in general, that price is very high i.e. you may well pay from say $750 for 3 people on a 3 night cruise otherwise, with broadly similar inclusions. But Disney cruises are always dearer than other lines as well (though these perhaps more than usual.)

However, the one real difference is unlike other cruise lines which are good, but somewhat nondescript in identifying what cruise brand you are on onboard, Disney cruises are very evident that it is Disney with characters, decorations and branding around you on the ship. So you get a good experience but also the unique Disney factor surrounding you as well.

It then comes down to you whether the very significant premium you pay is worth that extra experience.

If you just want to try the cruise experience there are much cheaper options. But if you specifically want to do it just because of Disney then there is a cost to that.

Thanks @odysseus for the honest feedback. Though we want to experience the cruise , the reason for this one is mainly for my son who is a big Disney fan.

 

[Rich]

i.e. you may well pay from say $750 for 3 people on a 3 night cruise

You may well, but you'd be lucky. And you'd be paying for an Inside Guarantee rather than choosing a room and likely it would be a "last minute" booking. I don't know what the OP booked but I would guess it was a higher category. Looking at what is available now departing Melbourne the cheapest Disney cruise for 3 nights is $3125 for an inside room, so I suspect @knagelli booked something pretty good.
Not trying to have an argument as I understand the point you were making.

FWIW https://travel.usnews.com/cruises/ ranks Disney as the best cruise line for families. Although it is US centric I think it is quite relevant and it helps explain why our family much preferred our Disney cruises over the RCCL one. A small sample size by us of course. I am hoping our next cruise coming up which is with NCL is better than RCCL.

 

[Katie]

Am considering one of the Disney cruises this year. I worked through all the ex-AU dates that would work for us, and one of them was SYD-NOU-SYD over NYE. Mr Katie commented that meant we wouldn't have to figure out what to do for NYE!

A friend is doing Hawaii-AU, and then the next three cruises! She's done Disney cruises before from the Caribbean, and has a Disney timeshare.

I spoke to another friend in the US (she lives in TX, and is raising I think three of her grandkids) and she was about to go on her 21st Disney cruise. She highly recommended them and said she wouldn't cruise with anyone else. I think a differentiator, apart from the Disney aspect, is the lack of gambling. The friend in TX mentioned that your restaurant wait staff follow you around the restaurants for dinners and remember your allergies, likes/dislikes. So, not just Disney branding, but Disney attention to detail and customer service.

 

[Kangarucci]

We have booked the October 13nt Hawaii to Sydney cruise to bring the Wonder out to Australia and then the 6nt Sydney-Noumea- Sydney in January.
We have completed 10 Disney cruises and have now sailed on all the Disney cruise ships.
Yes, it is more expensive than other cruise lines, especially the Aus/NZ ones, but if it is of any comfort, you don't have the cost and effort to fly to the US.
Just wonderful for big and little kids!
24hrs access to soft drink and tea/coffee.
You can get away from the kids and go to the adult areas.
Evening productions, especially Aladdin, are great.
Only cruise line that have fireworks out at sea on pirate night.
Service is wonderful.

 

[Katie]

Booked the 6nt SYD-Noumea-SYD cruise over New Years last night. First time on a cruise for all of us (apart from the Oslo-Copenhagen overnight ferry! )
Main impetus was to have something to do a New Years, and this is the last year the Teen will be eligible for the Teen's club (they'll be 17 by then).

 

[Rich]

Booked the 6nt SYD-Noumea-SYD cruise over New Years last night. First time on a cruise for all of us (apart from the Oslo-Copenhagen overnight ferry! )
Main impetus was to have something to do a New Years, and this is the last year the Teen will be eligible for the Teen's club (they'll be 17 by then).

I am not sure if there will a lot of older teens on a Disney cruise, but regardless, the tip from my eldest teen is to go to kids club on the first night to make friends and then they don't really go again.

 

[Katie]

Getting pretty excited. Teen is everjoyed about the cruise!!

 

[Katie]

We've been able to book a dinner at the fancy restaurant on NYE. Honestly, there is just so much I'm looking forward to (and trying to inform Mr Katie of for him to be excited about!! ) about this trip. Not to mention first holiday since last Christmas and I'm not having my usual late Oct/early Nov trip to the US, so I only have this holiday to think about.

Post automatically merged: Oct 25, 2023

We have booked the October 13nt Hawaii to Sydney cruise to bring the Wonder out to Australia and then the 6nt Sydney-Noumea- Sydney in January.
We have completed 10 Disney cruises and have now sailed on all the Disney cruise ships.
Yes, it is more expensive than other cruise lines, especially the Aus/NZ ones, but if it is of any comfort, you don't have the cost and effort to fly to the US.
Just wonderful for big and little kids!
24hrs access to soft drink and tea/coffee.
You can get away from the kids and go to the adult areas.
Evening productions, especially Aladdin, are great.
Only cruise line that have fireworks out at sea on pirate night.
Service is wonderful.

Looking forward to hearing about this trip when you get back! A friend is on it with her family, and I've been watching a lot of Instagram posts from a British guy who's on the cruise. So helpful!

 

[33kft]

I know it was a long time ago now, but how was your cruise @Katie? I have the family booked on the MEL-AKL 5 nighter on the Wonder, it's the first cruise for all of us.