Trip Log Day 5: 5-Night Marvel Day at Sea Western Caribbean Cruise on Disney Magic – Castaway Cay

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Trip log, day five. Morning at Sea / Castaway Cay.
5-Night Western Caribbean Cruise from Miami with Marvel Day at Sea
March 22, 2018
Personal Navigator – Day 5

Disney Magic Staterrom Map 20180322 Castaway Cay

We woke up and headed to Cabanas for a quick breakfast and then prepared our day bags for our day on Castaway Cay. During breakfast, we were given a glimpse of things to come. Isabelle and Emily headed out to the aft deck in Cabanas, and the food blew off Isabelle’s plate due to the strong winds.

At this time we were lined up with the channel and attempting to dock, but after a bit me moved way from the island.

We remained optimistic, yet realistic, and checked in for the Castaway Cay 5k in Fathoms.

Shorty after our cruise director, Leslie announced we’d be making another attempt at docking when conditions improved.

The cruise staff running the 5k instructed us to go have fun on the ship and return when we started to dock. We decided to go hang out on deck 4 and watch as we began to make another attempt to dock.

Isabelle and I started a game of shuffle board, an activity she continues to improve her skills and is making for some competitive non-scored games.

The second attempt to dock at Castaway Cay failed as the winds remained an issue.

At this point in the morning, we decided to bail on waiting for the 5k, as it was already getting late. Emily headed up to the gym to run the 5K on a treadmill as the forward portion of the deck 4 track was blocked off.

Isabelle & I headed to Promenade Lounge for a button making activity and a family feud game show. Following this, it was another learn to draw session, this time it was learning to draw Stitch.

We received a navigational update that we will try to dock for a 3rd time in about a hour around 11ish and that the 5k was moved to deck 4. Isabelle and I decided to forego the 5k on the deck. We later learned they gave out medals at the beginning to anyone who showed up, but where is the fun in getting a medal for nothing? Besides, we were having fun inside. An additional mini-navigator was distributed with a summary of the extra events to help pass the time on this unexpected morning at sea.

Emily finished her own version of the Castaway Cay 5k in the gym.

She took a quick shower in the spa and we met back up to hit deck 10. We figured we might as well go up to the pool deck to enjoy the morning and the wonderful weather. It was no longer windy & was warm in the sun.

As I was walking around the upper deck, I noticed that the Duck-In Diner sign that was installed behind a support column was removed.

The third attempt to dock at Castaway Cay was underway and this time the winds died down enabling Captain Marco to safely maneuver into the channel and dock.

An announcement was made that the all ashore time would be 12:30 and that lunch would be served onboard. The line for pizza, shawarma, and Cabanas all looked like rope drop for Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom. It was crazy, we opted for the shortest line, which was Daisy’s De-lites for sandwiches.

Emily headed up to the pool bar to order the drink of the day, the Stingray, which is $5 plus 75¢ auto gratuity and it was freshly made and tasted much better than what we believe is pre-mixed on the island.

I forget exactly when the Magic was cleared, but we headed out to the family beach around 12:45. The weather was beautiful, but chilly with the wind, and even more so when the clouds blocked the sun.

Isabelle braved the waters for the ropes course for a bit before seeking the warmth of a beach towel.

Conched Out Bar had a new to me drink that I was eager to try, the Pelican Mule. It was wonderfully citrusy.

Isabelle was done with the beach and wanted to walk over and check out the hair braiding. In all her trips the the Caribbean and Castaway Cay, this is was her first time getting her hair wrapped. I would suggest setting a budget as this quickly became a $28 (+ gratuity) hair wrap.

We may have been late to the island, but it was a beautiful day. We had a great time. Additionally, the cooler weather was perfect for enjoying some of the other island activities.

We returned to the ship where Isabelle showered and headed off to the EDGE for WALL-E and Friends Robot Building. She found it to be really fun. Emily and I took this opportunity to check out an area of the ship that is relatively unknown to us… the Quiet Cove. In the past, we’ve taken turns in the solace of the Quiet Cove, but today was one of the first times we had a block of time just to go and enjoy the quiet adult retreat. It’s fantastic, but the concierge lounge just taunts you as you sit back and relax in the hot tub. It is sorta like the Top of the World bar at Bay Lake Tower at Walt Disney World. You can see that it is empty and crew members are standing by, but it is reserved for concierge guests just as Top of the World is limited to DVC members.

We cleaned up and packed about 95% of our stuff. We were meeting Isabelle at dinner and we had some time to spare. We saw an interesting option on the Promenade Lounge menu earlier in the cruise and decided to give it a shot.

The Porthole is your choice of rum, bourbon or aromatic bitters that is poured into to a Porthole Infuser by Crutial Detail with strawberries, oranges, limes, and Filthy Black Cherries which are more or less a budget version of Luxardo Cherries.

The liquor in our case was Blanton’s Bourbon, along with bitters which was poured ever so carefully into the Porthole and left to sit for a bit. The infused bourbon is then split between two glasses and topped with Rekorderlig Strawberry-Lime Hard cider. This is almost like an experience for 3 as you get the remaining bottle of the cider. We found the Porthole to be a great value and even with a short infusion the bourbon had a great flavor. I think next time, I may order this ahead of time and ask them to hold it behind the bar for an hour or so for a longer infusion.

Our final dinner was back in Rapunzel’s Royal Palace for the ’Til We Meet Again menu.

After dinner, Isabelle headed to the Oceaneer Lab to make bracelets and we returned to Keys. Emily wanted a glass of the Lasseter Rosé and I took my chances with a red from the sommelier bin again. Although I saved a few bucks, I received a Pinot Noir which isn’t really a red I’d normally order.

I mentioned that in our previous trip to Keys the music was at a much better volume. Well, tonight it was back to what I recall previously with the pianists mic cranked up to where it was hard to hear over his signing. If you are going there to listen to the music then I am sure it is fine, but this is a much better venue when the piano and pianist’s microphone is set at a much lower volume.

Isabelle met up with us in O’Gills, where Emily & I were doing 90s music trivia. We had a respectable score, but it was not enough. Four teams had perfect scores which lead to a tiebreaker. It never ceases to amaze me how humbling onboard trivia can be. You go in thinking you got this and leave asking yourself, what just happened? Regardless, it is always a lot of fun and the cruise staff do a great job. Matt from the United Kingdom was great the entire cruise.

We headed back to the stateroom & finished packing so that we could set our bags out and then finished watching The Winter Soldier. One thing about the stateroom on demand on the Magic is that there didn’t seem to be a way to resume on demand content from where you left off. We may have missed it, but each time we went back to resume, it started from the beginning.

Day 6 Debarkation in Miami
Debarkation day was here. As usual, we skipped our morning breakfast seating in favor of Cabanas. The interesting thing in Miami is that once the ship is cleared, they begin calling guests to disembark based on their luggage tags.

While it was somewhat annoying having to wait until our luggage group was called, it resulted in quick departure from the ship and ended up being a quicker process than the free-for-all at Port Canaveral. It didn’t take much time to find and retrieve our luggage and go through customs once we checked off of the ship. We were in the parking lot and on the road in no time. One last bit of advice. If you are parking in the surface lot make sure you have a card that doesn’t have a problem scanning. The two cards I tried resulted in read errors. Thankfully, Emily’s card worked on the first try. Also, parking at PortMiami is now $22 a day.

Thank you all for following along with our live trip logs in the new format. I realize some of you were unable to see the embedded tweets due network restrictions at work, but frankly, it freed me up to enjoy the cruise. We have much more to share from this cruise, so keep an eye out for more on the dry dock changes, Rapunzel’s Royal Table, and Marvel Day at Sea.

Complete Trip Log Index

17 Replies to “Trip Log Day 5: 5-Night Marvel Day at Sea Western Caribbean Cruise on Disney Magic – Castaway Cay”

  1. Psac

    Thanks for taking us along. We had the luggage tag exit in Port Canaveral when we were on the Fantasy sailing that was badly delayed from Hurricane Joachim. I think it’s a timing issue more then a port issue.

    Reply ↓
  3. Jenniffer

    Thank you for sharing your cruise. I wish our daughter was as independent as Isabelle. We also had luggage tag departure on Magic in NYC but I think it was because we arrived late to port, pulling in at 7 am.

    Reply ↓
  4. Gretchen

    I don’t ever think we have sailed and NOT had the luggage tag departure. A free for all sounds horrifying!!!

    Thanks for the great report!!

    Reply ↓
  5. Tammi

    Loved following along on your journey. It always makes it easier to pass the time between mine to live vicariously through yours. My daughter is independent like Isabelle, which is really nice. It’s now really nice when they can do both Edge and Oceaneers as they have so many activities to choose from. We had luggage tag departure in San Juan. We were one of the last tags called, which was okay because we were just going straight to sitting in the airport to wait for our flight so we enjoyed our extra time on the ship before debarkation.

    Reply ↓
  6. Angela

    Loved following along with your trip reports! Can’t wait to read a bit more about Rapunzels and the other dry dock enhancements.

    We have been called by luggage tags in both San Diego and Vancouver, for what it’s worth. We are always second seating so I don’t find PC too chaotic when we’re wandering off the ship sometime around 9:15. Unless we’re rushing to make a flight =0

    Reply ↓
  7. Beth

    Thanks for the great report, Scott! I love following reading your DCL trip reports. They get me excited about our next cruise. This trip seemed packed with fun. If you had to pick, would you recommend the reimagined Wonder or Magic? And which had the “better” kids’ space?

    Reply ↓
  8. stacey lockard

    My daughters are 6 and 13. I noticed Isabelle was able to go into both Edge and Lab. Will my 13 year old be able to go into lab to be with the 6 year old? And do they every let the 13 year olds go out to the outside vibe venue on the front of the ship?

    Reply ↓
  9. Bonnie

    Thanks for your trip reports Scott, I really enjoy them! We just got off of The Wonder yesterday where we were able to enjoy the gorgeous concierge lounge. Did you notice by chance if they did upgrade The Magic’s lounge so it would be as amazing as The Wonder’s?

    Reply ↓
    1. Scott Sanders Post author

      Bonnie, the Magic did not get the amazing 2nd level like the Wonder. In my book, the Wonder has the best lounge of the fleet because of the 2nd level which offers amazing views. Sure the Dream class sundeck includes a hot tub, but you are walled in.

      Reply ↓
  10. Kelly

    Maybe you answered this somewhere, but I’m curious about the red pillows in the staterooms. You mentioned back in October they were missing. Are they back?

    Reply ↓
  12. Kathy

    Scott,

    I loved following your trip so much I decided to change my 3 day Dream cruise to a March 2019 Marvel at sea cruise! I wonder if Disney can tell when you are on a cruise, their phones get even busier? Thanks for taking us along!

    Reply ↓

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