Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Accessible Travel in the USA: The Magic of Disney on Water!


We had a wonderful time on my first cruise which was a four days three nights on the Disney Magic. When I first saw the cruise ship when we arrived at the port, I was so excited! After going through security, check-in and officially entered the main lobby of the ship, the crew announced publicly that our family has arrived and clapped as we entered. I felt very welcomed. From the lobby we made our way to our room, which is wheelchair accessible.


My favourite part is that the door had an automatic opening feature! The bed is a perfect fit for the portable hoyer lift because it had space beneath the bed for the lift to enter and was very comfortable for me. The design of the washroom was just right for me and my commode chair as the commode was able to fit over the toilet and with plenty of space in the shower. Overall there was lots of space for a wheelchair in the suite and it even had three beds! (One king size and a bunk bed).


Before casting off they held an opening ceremony party, I was just excited to feel the ship move and to see the water go by. Once the ship set sail, it took some time adjusting to the rocking of the boat. I was nauseous for the first few hours.


On the first night we went to Carioca's a Brazilian themed restaurant and where we met our server and assistant server that would take care of us for the next three dinners, Egi and Ralex. I ordered the swordfish but was too dry for me and I couldn't finish it, good thing we had an extra order of chicken which I was able to finish. That experience taught me to listen to Egi's recommendations for the next evenings.

That was our first night, more to come of the remaining days!

On our second day we spent most of it on the island of Nassau, you can read our island experience here. In the evening back on the cruise, it was pirate themed night! We had dinner at Lumiere's (yes the same Lumiere's from Beauty and the Beast), the food was decent, the dish that stood out most to us was the baked escargot.


After dinner there was another original Disney Magic show "Villains Tonight!". It was a wonderful show that showcased many of the villains from their movies. Since it was Pirate Night, there was a pirate party on the open deck after the show where there was lots of singing and dancing and even fireworks in the middle of the ocean!


On our final day we spent most of it on Castaway Cay, which is a private island owned and operated by Disney, you can read our island experience here. For dinner we dined at Animator's Palate, this was a favourite for me and mom as the room during dinner changes from black and white into colour! The food was probably the best out of the three restaurants on the ship. The final show is called "An Enchanted Classic", awarded the best original cruise ship show, this was by far the best of the three shows we watched about a girl that learns the value of dreaming.


The service and precision of the crew members were fantastic, except for when we were about to leave the ship there was some confusion to helping us bring onto shore the portable hoyer lift and commode chair having to go back and forth between guest services and our stateroom host. It got sorted out in the end but the process took longer than I would prefer. Besides that our family had a wonderful time on the Disney Magic!

Read our previous entries:

Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 7 & 8 - In the Bahamas

No comments:

Post a Comment