New York City Disney Cruise Part III

Trip Report: NYC Disney Cruise, 2 night weekend getaway
Part III

So the alarm clock on my phone awoke me 7am on our final morning, the morning of debarkation, and I felt like I missed an opportunity.  The day before, the Captain had announced that we would be passing the Statue of Liberty at around 3:30 am, and, along with that, we would have a nice view of the New York City skyline.  I didn't think much of it at the time, having been born in NYC and having grown up in the suburbs ... but seeing the skyline by way of sea, and sailing in, would have been very unique.  Oh well, there's next time.

I looked out our verandah and instead of the open water I saw New York.  Beautiful city, but it meant we were home and the cruise was over.

We had left our one luggage outside the night before (gave it to our hostess Donette actually), with the color-coded Orange Goofy tag ... so just a quick shower, and a sweep of the room we called home for a few hours really, hehe, and off we went to our final meal.

I was initially expecting to rotate in only two of the three main dining rooms, it being a 2 night cruise, and traditionally the debarkation breakfast is held in the dining room of your last dinner, but the pleasant surprise was that we were scheduled to rotate into the third dining room.  Great surprise because it was Animator's Palate!!  Animator's Palate was revolutionary in its technology in the early days of Disney Cruising.  Throughout your meal, the room, which started out as black and white in color scheme sketches, would gradually transform into brilliant animated color, and your servers would change costumes as well.

There was no gradual change, and the menu was the See Ya Real Soon menu (again, not a restaurant-specific menu), but we were so thrilled to see the dining room show and animation at the end of the meal, and the room did transform.  It was beautiful, and the perfect way to end our trip.  When we first boarded and I saw that the Animator's Palate was not included in our rotation, I regretted not having requested it, but ending with it was perfect.  The meal itself was fine, I opted for a toasted bagel and lox with cream cheese, and coffee. (hey, I was back in new york city!)

Disney Cruise Line has mastered the debarkation process.  You are given color coded luggage tags, and your luggage (if you choose) is carted out the night before for sorting.  On this particular cruise, one thing different from the Dream was that you were also given an assigned waiting area, until your luggage tag color was called, before debarking.  We did not have to go there as our color was called before breakfast was over.  Debarking was quick and smooth, no line.  Our luggage was there immediately, and we did not have to go through customs because we did not stop in any ports.

We waited for our car service then went home with the satisfaction of having a wonderful cruise.

Final thoughts:  This weekend cruise getaway was a wonderful weekend!  I thought it would feel too quick, and too short ... which it was, but I had the mindset of it being a weekend versus a long vacation.  The best part was that it was local and we did not have to trek to the airport and fly down.  That was a huge plus!
The boat itself?  I walked onto the Magic after having sailed three times on the new, gorgeous Disney Dream.  My first impression was that it was nice, maybe dark and small in parts ... but after this weekend, experiencing the charm of it, thrilled to be on the original Disney ship, enjoying the wonderful DCL service ... I finally got it -- It wasn't "dark and small", I saw how others view it as "cozy and intimate".  Expensive?  who knows ... depends what you value.  I valued every minute of this cruise with my family, and for that it was worth every penny.

Oh, and my running injury for which I used a crutch the entire cruise, my femoral neck stress fracture??  It feels better already.