A Magical Stateroom

Upon boarding the ship, the beautiful Disney Magic, it was truly magical to hear our name announced in the Central Atrium.  As we had been working our way up the gangway to the ship’s entry, while we didn’t quite know what exactly what we would do at first, I had read in the “Personal Navigator”, the daily newsletter given to us while still in the terminal, that until 3:30 pm we could talk with the Dining personnel regarding any changes we’d like to make.  We had a dinner reservation for Palo – for the very first night – which I was not overly thrilled about.  But it was the only one that I could get when I made the reservation.  Nothing else was available through the online system.  Even when I phoned to talk to someone, that’s “all” they had. 

I had also previously heard that Animator’s Palette undergoes a beautiful transformation from “black & white” to “color”, but only on the first evening you dine in that restaurant.  As luck would have it, we were scheduled to dine in Animator’s Palette that evening, except for the fact that we were going to Palo.  Our first destination was Rockin’ Bar D, right there on Deck 3, just forward of the Central Atrium, where we could ask about reservation changes.   “No problem”,  “whatever you want”,  and “when would you like to dine with us?” were the wonderful phrases that Palo’s manager had to say when we inquired.  Not only did he say these things, but he gave us multiple time options when we said we would like to switch it to the second night.  Now that was a wonderful beginning to our cruise!  

It was now about 1:15, and we could not access our stateroom until after 1:45, and we both realized that we were feeling a bit hungry.  We’d eaten at around 9:00, and with the various swirl of activity to that point hadn’t really paid attention to the feeling until now when we were finally able to start to relax.  So our next destination was up to Deck 9 and Topsider’s Buffet.  We enjoyed a nice meal and some time to just sit and relax, as multiple servers came to our table trying to get us to purchase the refillable beer mug (we don’t drink) or the water package.  We’d already purchased water, so we didn’t need more.  Finally it was 1:45, and time to head down to see if our room was ready. 

As we worked our way around Decks 9 and 10, trying to figure out the deckplan, we enjoyed seeing the main pool area, the Mickey pool, and the adult pool near the Cove Cafe, as well as finding the Vista Spa, where we were invited in (I say that loosely, as it was hard to say no to all the smiles and charm being poured out) for a tour of the spa.  (I’ll share about the spa later in the updates).  We also got a tour of the terrific gym they have onboard. 

Finally we found our way down to our stateroom.  We were on Deck 2, in a Deluxe Oceanview stateroom.  When I first learned the placement of our room prior to sailing, I wasn’t all that thrilled about being “way down” on Deck 2 – but as the week wore on, I grew to really love where we were located.  I’ll talk about that later.

So I titled this entry “A Magical Stateroom”;  which is of course a play on the ship’s name, but also a little bit of reality as to what we felt about that room.  In and of itself, it’s just a room on a ship, with no balcony or private verandah – just a window looking out to sea.  BUT, and the big BUT here – is that that room, was enormous.  I’ve been in Oceanview rooms in the past, on other ships from other cruise lines – and WOW, this room was like night and day from those other ships and lines.  It was HUGE as cruise line staterooms go.  (Remember this was our first Disney Cruise Line voyage), so we were definitely impressed with what we were getting. 

Upon entry, the bathrooms (yes plural) were on the left, and the huge closest on the right.  There is a split bath situation with the first room having commode and sink with a neat little corner shelving unit – and the other bathroom having a tub (with shower) and another sink.  Certainly the tub wasn't large enough for an adult to enjoy a bath, but great for families traveling with small children who take baths instead of showers!  Immediately my lovely bride determined that we would have a his & hers bathroom situation for getting dressed for dinner, etc.

Beyond the bathrooms was the bedroom portion, with a dresser and a cool storage unit made to look like an old-fashioned steamer trunk standing up on its’ side.  There’s a night table with lamp on each side of the bed, which can be separated into two twin beds when guests are traveling together who don’t normally share a bed. 

 Beyond the main sleeping area is the sitting area, which of course is a sleeper sofa or a secondary bedroom area when traveling with children or if you just have 3 or 4 guests who want to share a single room.  There is a curtain to divide the two spaces.  The sitting area included the vanity table/desk area, with additional storage drawers.  But the best part of the sitting area is the enormous window.  It is circular in shape, but not just a mere porthole, it’s double to triple the size of a typical porthole window.  We had a great view! Sure having a balcony would have been even nicer, but with the size of the window, the room didn't really feel constrained. We were able to see a lot from that window. 

The décor of the room of course is a “Disney”.  We had the typical above-bed artwork found throughout the ship, but also had a piece of concept art on the wall, created by legendary imagineer Marc Davis for Disneyland back in the ‘60s for the last attraction that Walt Disney had been supervising before his untimely death, “Pirates of the Caribbean”.  Additionally the room sported a photo of Walt & Lillian Disney on deck of a ship that they sailed on to Europe back in the ‘50’s. 

Moments ago I mentioned that during the week we grew to really love our location, on Deck 2.  A big part of the reason that we liked it so much was that we were Mid-ship. Not only were we Mid-ship, but we were also just a few doors away from the Mid-Ship elevators.  Now normally I don’t recommend to clients being right near the elevators, but wow, it was great to be able to quickly head up the stairs to Deck 3 and all of the fun and excitement that was found there, or to head down our corridor in either direction to get the Forward or Aft elevators or stairs for things that were going on in those areas on other decks.  Because we were right below the Central Atrium, getting back to our room was very quick and easy any time we needed Guest Services, were in the Atrium or up to Studio Sea (just off the Atrium on Deck 4) for activities, or in the shops on Deck 4.  It’s a personal preference I know, but I just loved being right the heart of it all, rather than stuffed up on an upper deck away from it all – which is where I was on my last cruise.  This location just really fit my preferences a lot better. 

So there you go, our Magical room, with more to come in the next update. 

Until next time,