On the fifth day of our Panama Canal cruise onboard the beautiful Disney Magic, I woke up just after 7:00am. While I was finally starting to sleep much better, I was still wishing that I was able to sleep in for much longer, as it was taking me much more time than normal to adjust to the time difference from the UK. Despite having won our game of basketball the previous evening, I walked up to Deck 9 to get us both a cup of tea since I was awake first which almost never happens at home where I struggle to get out of bed without an alarm. The first thing that was immediately noticeable was just how hot it was outside so early in the day, as the heat from the doors by the entrance to Cabanas could be felt in the stairwells two decks down.

Even when I got back to the stateroom and walked out onto our verandah, all of the mirrors as well as everything else inside our room quickly steamed up. It really was so hot and humid out, which was a clear sign that we were getting much closer to South America as well as the Equator. Instead of sitting outside and sweating, we decided to stay in bed and have a very slow start to the morning, as we knew we had two very busy days ahead of us exploring Cartagena and transiting the Panama Canal – the very reason why we were on this cruise to begin with. It was a lazy start to an even lazier day, and that, in itself, was perfect.

After getting dressed, we headed down to Deck 5 as both Jessie and Woody were out separately at 9:00am and 9:30am for a meet and greet in Andy’s Room at the Oceaneer Club. Meeting characters at this location is not something you would normally see on most other cruises, but this is another advantage of sailing on one of the longer and more unique itineraries. However, the line was already very long and after checking the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app, we saw they had another time scheduled a few days later, so we decided we would much rather wait until then, as we knew it would be much quieter.

Instead, we decided to head up to Cabanas for a leisurely breakfast. For the first time this cruise, I ordered the Plant Based Scramble (filled with lots of vegetables) along with some Plant Based Sausage Patties which was absolutely delicious and was the best way to begin another day at sea. Just be aware that special orders like these do take a little longer to prepare – they will give you a pager to let you know when it’s ready to collect – so I simply enjoyed one (or two) of my favourite Raspberry Danishes while I waited.

Just before 11:00am, we made our way down to Preludes and the Walt Disney Theatre on Deck 4 ready for the Gold, Platinum and Pearl Castaway Club Reception which is an event that is only offered on cruises of eight nights or longer. The most interesting part for me, however, was that even though there were only 1,889 guests onboard this sailing in total, there were so many higher-tier Castaway Club members that they actually had to split the reception across these two sea days to be able to accommodate everyone, as the Walt Disney Theatre only has a capacity of just under 1,000 seats, which was not enough for all of us to attend on one day!

Once we arrived at Preludes, the crew were offering complimentary drinks to everyone, and since I had always been intrigued by the Cloudem Blue drink that so many people rave about onboard, I took the opportunity to try one for myself for the first time ever. Personally, I did not see the fascination with it at all – it’s just shimmery blue apple juice that tastes and looks very artificial – so I quickly swapped it for a much better Mimosa before we walked into the theatre.

After Captain Robert said a few words, our Cruise Director David took over the microphone before the cast of the Disney Magic performed one of the scenes from Twice Charmed which, despite this being our fourth cruise on the Magic – yes I know we are bad Disney Cruise Line fans – we had never actually seen before. They then reset the stage and performed it once again, but this time they used the large screens at the side of the stage to show us exactly what was happening behind the scenes, as well as letting us listen to all of the backstage cues, which was fascinating to watch.

They also introduced all of the technical crew who work behind the scenes for all of the entertainment shows and even showed us how many of the costume changes as well as other technical elements worked. Once the reception was over, we were all given Mickey Rice Krispie treats as we left the Walt Disney Theatre. I have no photos of during the event itself, as we were asked not to take any throughout the entire reception, and as far as I could see, everyone respected that request.

Once the reception had finished, we spent a few minutes looking around Mickey’s Mainsail and White Caps for the first time since embarkation day. I was so excited to finally find one of the new pins that I had been hoping to get on this cruise which I had not seen anywhere on our first night onboard, nor on our recent Pixar Day at Sea cruise on the Disney Fantasy. The pin features the names of all eight ships in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, including the new Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure – maybe those two should be the next ships that we sail on so we can complete the set once again!

We also took a few minutes to listen to Captain Robert’s lunchtime announcement, where he let us know that we had sailed 647 nautical miles since leaving Cozumel. He also mentioned that we would see some rain overnight before picking up our harbour pilot at 7:00am the following morning, ready for our arrival into a very hot Cartagena at 8:15am.

We also spent a few minutes walking a lap or two of Deck 4 and as it was such a beautiful day, I made sure to take my traditional lifeboat photo before I forgot which I have a habit of doing. I take these photos on every cruise that we take, so this time I made sure to get the picture of “Disney Magic 16” to commemorate our sixteenth cruise.

Just before 1:00pm, we headed up to Cabanas for lunch where it was a good day as the speciality was “West Indian Corner” so I got myself some amazing Vegetable Biryani along with some Roasted Plantains, Shrimp and Corn. It was also a fantastic day onboard for desserts, as both my favourite Caramel Pot de Crème and Strawberry Cupcakes were available which I enjoyed before getting a few extra to take back to our room to eat later that day.

As had become our favourite tradition on this cruise, we decided it was time for another nap as we had no plans for the next few hours onboard. Naps on such a long cruise are truly the most underrated part of any sea day, and exactly what we needed to get ready for the excitement of the next two days ahead.

We saw that Rapunzel was due out at 4:00pm on Deck 4 of the Lobby Atrium, and while we were waiting to meet her, we spotted Pluto waving to everyone from one of the elevators – sometimes the best character moments happen when you least expect them.

There was also an Open House at the Oceaneer Club for three hours from 4:00pm that afternoon, so once we had met Rapunzel, we headed there to explore. We took a few minutes to look around at all of the details in the Marvel Super Hero Academy where you can find one of the Iron Man suits on display along with a replica of Mjolnir as well as a Captain America training shield.

And naturally we also had to stop by Andy’s room just so we could have a go on the Slinky Dog Slide – because why not?! It resulted in a lot of laughs and it was exactly the sort of silly and unadulterated fun that makes these longer cruises so memorable and special.

Afterwards, as was becoming our favourite sea day routine, we grabbed a much needed cup of tea and made our way up to the Quiet Cove pool for the next two hours which was incredibly peaceful and calm. As it was a little windy, the pool even transformed itself into a wave pool for a short time, which was such great fun and the best way to spend the rest of our afternoon.

Before heading back inside, I also took a walk up to the front of Deck 10, as just like the evening before, there was the start of another dramatic, albeit beautiful, sunset. Even at this time, the inside of the ship was getting noticeably hotter as we moved ever closer to our destination and it really felt like the air conditioning in some areas was struggling to keep up with the rising temperatures – we knew it was going to be hot and humid for the next few days and this was only a very small preview of the temperatures to come. It had been such a relaxing day onboard and the evening was going to get even better.

We decided to skip the main dining room for the first time this cruise that evening, as neither of us were inspired by the Freezing the Night Away menu that was on offer in Lumieres. Instead, while chilling and getting ready for the rest of our relaxed evening onboard, we ordered a Spinach and Feta Pide each from room service, which was absolutely delicious (why did it take me so long to order one?!), along with our complimentary bottle of Prosecco for being Platinum Castaway Club members.

The other reason we wanted to skip the dining room was that Enchanted – one of my absolute favourite films of all time – was showing on Funnel Vision at 8:30pm. The combination of pool, room service, fresh air, deck food, ice cream and a movie sounded like the perfect way to spend our evening and it was exactly what we needed to feel ready for the next day.

We did have one slightly worrying moment when the announcement chime sounded out of nowhere just before the movie started, which made us immediately think that something bad had happened, as you never normally hear an announcement at that time of the evening. Thankfully, it was just Captain Robert keeping his promise to let us all know the timings for our Panama Canal transit as soon as he found them out. And in that moment, the sheer wonder of the journey ahead all of a sudden felt very real.

Enchanted was as wonderful to watch as it always is, but there was something even more special about being able to watch it on the open deck of the Disney Magic with a hot dog and fries under the starry skies of the Caribbean.

Once the movie had finished just before 10:30pm, we made ourselves one final cup of tea of the day which we took back to our stateroom to drink whilst we got our bags ready for our time in Cartagena the next morning. I was almost too excited to sleep as in a few hours’ time, I would finally realise a lifelong dream and step foot in South America for the very first time and in my 78th country of Colombia and I could not wait!

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