As platinum cruisers we were able to check in at the concierge check in. Totally not worth it!!! First time cruisers got on the ship before we did. We won't make that mistake again. Once on board our first thoughts were Wow, the atrium is small. Our last 5+ sailings were on The Dream or Fantasy making this ship feel very small.
We explored the ship and found that we really liked the smaller classic size. While the newer ships have more things to do they also have more people too! It never took us more than a couple minutes to get anywhere on board.
We had our first meal in Caraiocas, the new restaurant that replaced Parrot Cay. It was the standard embarkation buffet. We also went on the spa tour to see the newly re-furbed spa. It looks very similar to the newer ships now. We purchased rainforest passes for two days ($27 per day per person plus 18% auto gratuity). While the rainforest was relaxing and usually empty it pales in comparison to the rainforest on The Dream and Fantasy. I would not do it again.
We were having bad weather, it had been raining all day so outside activities were pretty much out of the question but it cleared up just in time for sail away. We chose to stand on the top deck by the sports deck to watch us sail off. I didn't last long outside though as it was very windy.
Our first dinner was in Animator's Palette. I was excited to see the changes, but it didn't look all that different to me from my memory of our last trip on The Wonder a few years ago. The show is new and is very nice with Mickey coming through at the end. They have the capability to do the animated show they do on the Fantasy but they will only do that on longer cruises they told us.
After dinner we went to the show, Twice Charmed, as we had not seen that since our honeymoon. It was great. We explored the ship for a while afterward to keep ourselves awake for the never disappointing Match Your Mate game show that night. We were off to bed after the show, tomorrow was a sea day for us but we had a spa appointment and Palo Brunch to look forward to.
Magic was also my first Disney ship (almost fifteen years ago) - I'd also love to sail her again since the dry dock! I've been sailing so many mega-ships lately that I think I'd appreciate a return to a more modest-sized vessel. Great review!
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