Trip log, day two. At Sea.
5-Night Bahamian Cruise on Disney Magic
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Personal Navigator
Today is our first full day aboard the Disney Magic and I can’t think of a better way to start a Saturday with a 5:30 AM alarm, set on purpose. I may not stay out late, but I do start the day early, even on vacation. Emily was headed to the gym because she is not about to take any days off and take a step back in her continued recovery. She’s amazing.
I, on the other hand, took this opportunity to walk around the public areas filming a full ship tour that will be similar to the version I made for the Disney Treasure (Wish Class). This will take some time to put together, but will be the next project once this sailing’s trip report is completed.
The beauty of the Magic is her size and filming a tour at this time of day was significantly easier than my last experiment on the Treasure. I was able to meet Emily at Cove Cafe following her workout. Cove Cafe was busy this morning; I guess we are not the only early birds out today. From what we could identify via operation hours in the navigator app, this was the only place currently to purchase espresso or other specialty coffees.
Emily returned to the room to freshen up and change for some time at the Goofy Pool. I settled into a lounger with a book and my Americano and enjoyed the ambiance before Funnel Vision started regularly scheduled programming.
The start of the day on the upper decks reminds me of the good old days when tv stations had a test screen or an off air message rather than 24/7 programs and morning programming would start off with some announcement or news. Funnel Vision switches from the clockworks screensaver to the Safety Smart video about water safety starting Timon and Pumbaa.
The first movie today was Beauty and the Beast. We hung out for a few hours with some of our friends and enjoyed some time in the hot tub before it was time to freshen up for Palo brunch.
Today, our group had staggered seating. Initially, the spacious private room would have been available for us in two days, but we have an excursion planned in Nassau. Luckily, we were all seated in the same area of Palo and all had an Oliver as our server.
The Palo brunch menu remains unchanged aside from an increase in the price of the cocktails listed at the very top. I really wish they’d offer table side charcuterie cart instead of the two antipasti selections. I feel there would be less waste when guests are served just the items they would like to enjoy akin to the old self service buffet. I realize we will never get the old brunch back, but it would be nice if we could meet somewhere in the middle.
During our brunch we ordered espresso and tea, which led to the discovery of the Twinings hourglass tea timer and the presentation of the loose tea in the box. The video below was carefully directed by Oliver. Oliver, is easily one of the top servers we’ve had in Palo over the years.
The best part of my brunch, hands down, was that warm apple cinnamon sticky bun. It had the perfect amount of gooey center, just like I like it.
Today, Isabelle celebrated another milestone in her life by enjoying her first adult dining experience on board & finally being able to use her Castaway Club benefit. Oliver did a wonderful job sharing the story of Palo and the meaning behind the name.
Since we were staggered, I was seated at a different table, but I heard reports she said she prefers my chicken parm over the one she was served (although, I never make risotto). I was impressed by the full cheese coverage.
Oh, a timely notice from Guest Services appeared on my watch… Our Let’s Bond Behind the Scenes: Agent 007 in Nassau with Beach Break (N302) port adventure for two days from now has been cancelled by the tour operator due to low participation.
Everything is awesome. We can’t complain, it could be worse, our room could have flooded, so first world problems, right? It has been a very long time since we booked a Port Adventure in Nassau and I was really looking forward to this 007 centric tour. Another member of our group learned they needed 3 more people to make the tour work. Here is an idea for the Port Adventures & Recreation manager – consider asking guests who are booked if they’d be willing to share the cost of the 3 guests and offer those spots to Cast and Crew Members who have the time off.
If you think DCL’s music trivia is tough, you should try mine. For this cruise, I put together music trivia based on the Cabanas loop along with some swashbuckling tunes… Well, as catchy and memorable as the songs are in Cabanas, around the ship, and at Castaway Cay, the title and artist for most of the songs are not what I’d consider common knowledge.
| Clue | Song | Artist | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You Can Get It If You Really Want | Jimmy Cliff | |
| 2 | Cheeseburger In Paradise | Jimmy Buffett | |
| 3 | I’m Yours | Jason Mraz | |
| 4 | Hot and Cold | Jermaine Stewart | Weekend at Bernie’s |
| 5 | Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) | Harry Belafonte | Beetlejuice |
| 6 | Hoist The Colours | Hans Zimmer | POTC At Worlds End |
| 7 | A Whale of a Tale | Kirk Douglas | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| 8 | The Harder They Come | Jimmy Cliff | |
| 9 | Stir It Up | Bob Marley | Captain Ron |
| 10 | Family Time | Ziggy Marley | |
| 11 | Sailing For Adventure | The Muppets | Muppet Treasure Island |
| 12 | Jammin’ | Bob Marley | Captain Ron |
| 13 | Wild Wild Life | The Wailing Souls | |
| 14 | Volcano | Jimmy Buffett | |
| 15 | Montego Bay | Bobby Bloom | |
| 16 | Picky Picky Head | The Wailing Souls | Cool Runnings |
| 17 | Don’t Worry, Be Happy | Bobby McFerrin | |
| 18 | I Can See Clearly Now | Johnny Nash | |
| 19 | Coconut | Harry Nilsson | |
| 20 | Under The Sea | The Ohio State University Marching Band | The Little Mermaid |
A subset of the group assembled a 300 piece puzzle we brought with us this cruise as a mini-activity during tunes trivia on the table in Misty and Tammy’s 1-bedroom stateroom. We eventually donated this puzzle to the impressive collection of games available in O’Gills.
We really did not do much (any) shopping this cruise. We casually walked around and essentially did some window shopping. At Preludes, there was a wide selection of souvenir popcorn buckets and drink vessels. The cruise ships often have some of the popular ones from the parks.
One of the interesting finds in WhiteCaps was the Scent of the Seas reed diffuser for $40.
Our dinner rotation this evening brought us to Rapunzel’s Royal Table where we were served the Lantern menu or the primary menu of the restaurants two menus, the second menu is served on longer sailings when you dine in each of the restaurants at least twice.
I spotted the double baked potato on a plate and asked myself whey haven’t I ordered one of those as a side. I did go back to the vegetarian potato crepe filled with spinach, zucchini, eggplant, and ricotta. I am not a vegetarian, but I tend to find these dishes more consistent and flavorful as I suspect they are not making as many each night.
Service was speedy and we were able to leave once the show ended, allowing us all to head across the ship to After Hours for 80s music trivia over in Fathoms, a perfectly sized venue for trivia. I am now proud to say, I’ve been kicked out of a Disney Cruise Line bar – technically – we all were kindly asked to clear out so they could setup for the next activity.
We walked over to O’Gills and admired all the games and to donate our crayon puzzle to the collection. We grabbed the Encanto puzzle that was there to put together on another day.
We rounded the night off enjoying the music and conversation in Keys.
Tomorrow, we return to Lookout Cay nearly a year after our first visit with plans to leave Disney property and head north and explore Eleuthera.
The seventh DCL Blog Group Cruise is set to set sail from Fort Lauderdale on the Disney Destiny. It’s a 5-Night Western Caribbean adventure that is scheduled to include two days at sea and stops at Cozumel and Castaway Cay!
Don’t miss out on this marvelous opportunity to assemble on the fleet’s newest cruise ship, book your spot now and to take advantage of opening week cruise pricing! All of our events will be exclusive to the DCL Blog Cruisers booked through Storybook Destinations, our travel partner. For more information, and to secure your stateroom, email DCLBlogCruise@StorybookDestinations.com to get a free, no-obligation quote or fill out a quote form over the DCL Blog Group Cruise page.
Complete Trip Log Index
- Day 1 – Port Canaveral, Florida
- Day 2 – At Sea
- Day 3 – Lookout Cay
- Day 4 – Nassau, Bahamas
- Day 5 – Castaway Cay
Scott, thanks, as always, for your detailed and insightful reports. You have truly earned a badge of honor – being kicked out of a DCL bar! Do you happen to recall the name of one of the bartenders at O’Gills? We made fast friends with Andrae from Jamaica on the Magic last October. He was absolutely the best – however, at tome she instsed on being called “Bob”, just for the humor of it.
Hi Kevin, I did not sit at the bar proper. We had a couple different servers during the cruise.
I was on the Disney Magic a couple of weeks ago. Our Bond trip was also cancelled. We also found the service in the dining room to be lesser standard than usual.
Scott, we have been able to only get the procuito and cheese on our board from Palo ad that is all we wanted. No issues getting it and more of each to enjoy.
Your music trivia is indeed quite difficult. I must point out though that while the Wailing Souls did a nice version of Wild Wild Life, it simply has to take a back seat to the original version done by the Talking Heads.