The next morning we all showered and headed to the Stone Harbor Club for breakfast- cereals, bagels, toast, Danishes, hard boiled eggs, oatmeal… delish and just enough for us in the morning.
As I was putting our Disney Cruise Line bag tags on our bags, my daughters saw the concierge symbol and our cover was blown again! But not entirely…
We had a private car company take us to port- which is great. You decide the time you are picked up AND they will make a stop for you to shop for anything you might need on the way to port if you need it. For us, this is also a cost effective way to get to port because the transfers provided by Disney cost more than a private car.
We got to the port around 11:30am and flew through security. Staying concierge, you have a different area to check in which is in the far right had side of the building in the back. We strolled passed the lines on our left and checked in, very quickly, and immediately boarded the ship.
Before boarding we had another surprise- this time for our son, Mikey. His best friend, Andrew, was cruising with his parents and his room would be just down the hall from ours. We meet in the terminal and the boys were so excited! Cruising with friends and family (or friends who are like family) is a great way to vacation. The boys are the same age and would be able to go to the clubs, beach, pools, etc together and have a great time too!
Concierge holds a welcome reception as you board The Disney Magic in Keys (adult section). Mike and I were anxious to see Keys in particular because on our three previous Disney Magic cruises this is where you would find us after the show, while our kids were in their clubs- enjoying a drink and some live music.
At the reception we met up with Tricia who was cruising on a Girls Weekend with some friends (some old and new) in a suite a few doors down from ours.
It is beautiful! You see Mickey- but again, not over the top. We were offered mixed drinks and the kids each had a Shirley Temple in addition to the finger foods they had as we entered the reception. We met with the kids’ club counselors and our concierge staff for the next 3 nights as well. After we met with everyone, we decided to head to Cariocas for lunch- a new restaurant with the makeover that we were excited to see. We always try to have lunch in the restaurant not close to the pools- less crowded. 😉 They both serve the same luncheon buffet – it isn’t like one place is better than another in that regard. We loved the improvements they made here. Parrot Cay was nice- but Cariocas is beautiful. We were seated and immediately greeted by our waiter that we had on our previous Disney Magic sailing, Savio! What a nice surprise! We took turns heading up to the buffet, which was delicious. As we were sitting we also saw another of our previous servers, Brian, and one who had been promoted to server from an assistant, Marcus. They were all so very nice to us and gracious- really making this a magical lunch for us.
I absolutely LOVED the lighting…
After lunch we decided to head up to our room- Mike had let it out of the bag that we were staying in a suite so EVERYONE was now anxious to see it! We got up to the 8th floor and we waited a bit until the barriers came down and we strolled over to our door…
