Waking up on the Disney Magic on the first morning of our fourteen night Panama Canal cruise with absolutely no plans and precisely nowhere to go really was one of the best feelings ever. Normally on most cruises, I always feel the need to get up and start doing as much as I can but this cruise with so many sea days ahead of us, was going to be very different as there is something about a longer cruise that really encourages you to slow down.

Sea days have always been one of my favourite things about cruising and after the excitement of our embarkation day in Galveston, today was definitely going to be all about taking it easy, relaxing and simply enjoying being back on the beautiful Disney Magic once again as sometimes the best days are the ones when you do almost nothing at all.

Even though I was so happy to be back in this stateroom for the fourth time, the loud and annoying squeak in the wall next to the bed that had been there since at least our first cruise on the Disney Magic back in 2015, which also kept me awake on our last two cruises on the ship, was still very much alive and well. Thankfully on this cruise, I remembered to bring some ear plugs with me to help block out the noise which worked perfectly and after eight hours of solid sleep, I woke up just after 7:00am. It is worth being aware that the older Disney Magic and Disney Wonder do make a little bit more noise than the newer ships in the fleet, but it was a small price to pay for being back in our favourite stateroom on one of our favourite ships.

As it was my turn to get tea, I walked up to Deck 9 and one thing that I really loved was that I only had to go up two decks, as the Disney Magic is just the perfect and manageable size. It was a very grey, overcast, windy and rainy morning in the Gulf of Mexico but thankfully it was looking much brighter ahead in the distance.

We did not really have any real plans for our first day onboard apart from meeting some characters, but this was exactly the kind of lazy and chilled out start to the cruise that we both wanted as well as needed. Once we were dressed, we walked down to Deck 4 just after 9:00am where we bumped straight into Stitch who was already out causing plenty of mischief and wanting to collect as many “Selfies at Sea” as he could. I absolutely love him!

One thing I have learnt from meeting so many characters and sailing with Disney many times over the years, is that when there is a Royal Gathering taking place – there were two on this cruise – it is always worth checking the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app to see if Minnie or Daisy are scheduled to appear around the same time as they will usually be wearing their princess costumes too. Minnie was out at 9:00am on Deck 4 and once we had met her, we walked straight back to join the same line again to see Daisy at 9:30am.

As it was still raining outside, the Lobby Atrium was very busy that morning with people lounging in every single available chair inside the ship – even those behind the former Future Cruise desk – and it really reminded me of some of the wet and colder sea days we had when we crossed the Pacific between Hawaii and Vancouver onboard the Disney Wonder. After a quick walk out on Deck 4, we headed up to Cabanas for breakfast just before 10:00am. Even though it was very busy inside due to the weather, we grabbed one of the sheltered tables outside where I enjoyed my first Disney Cruise Line hashbrowns of the cruise, which I love getting every single time that we sail.

One of the best things about having absolutely no plans on a cruise is simply deciding what to do on the spur of the moment. We saw that General Knowledge Trivia was due to start in Fathoms at 10:15am, and we thought it would be interesting to do as we had never done this particular one before. We ended up scoring 15/20 but I will offer a word of warning as so many of the questions are very American-centric and if you are not from the US, you will likely struggle with quite a few of them. Thankfully because I have spent most of my adult life spending a lot of time in the United States for work and as we have travelled across the country frequently over the years, we did okay but there were definitely some questions that we had absolutely no idea about!

After leaving Fathoms, we walked up to Deck 4 ready to meet Belle at 11:00am before heading back to our stateroom just to simply chill. This first day was all about finding our rhythm for the next two weeks onboard and there was simply no need to rush anywhere. It was a very strange but wonderful feeling to have especially after only recently sailing on a very busy five night Pixar Day at Sea cruise on the Disney Fantasy where it felt like almost every moment was packed with activity. It actually took a little bit of effort that day for my brain to readjust back to “long cruise mode” and to stop that nagging feeling that I should be doing something instead of just enjoying the peace of having nowhere to be.

At 12:00pm Captain Robert made his daily announcement to let everyone know that we had sailed 348 nautical miles at a speed of 20 knots since leaving Galveston, and we still had 382 nautical miles left before reaching a very sunny Cozumel the following day.

Lunch at Cabanas on the first day at sea is always a highlight of the cruise for me, as it features some of my favourite dishes including the Rosemary and Thyme Polenta Cakes and the Baked Feta Stuffed Zucchini along with some new Sweet Potato Fries that were loaded with Impossible meat and plant based cheese. Once again, we sat outside to eat and it was a great first lunch onboard but sadly not every lunch throughout the cruise would have as much choice as this first day.

Our next stop was Rapunzel’s Royal Table, as the Strawberry Mille-Feuille – which is one of our favourite desserts – was on the lunch menu that day. We asked for two to take back to our room to eat later that day, which is something we do on every cruise that we take. If you ever see it on the menu when you sail, make sure you order one, because it really is that good.

We grabbed a cup of tea and after six laps of Deck 4 to help work off all the food we had already eaten that morning, we made our way back to our stateroom to have a shower and a little nap before getting ready for the rest of our day on the Disney Magic.

We decided to try something else new that afternoon, as Marvel Trivia was scheduled to start in the Soul Cat Lounge at 2:45pm. It was so busy and some of the questions were very niche and tricky – if that was the basic Marvel Trivia, I dread to think what the Advanced Marvel Trivia was like later in the cruise. We once again scored 15/20 and one thing I found interesting during the trivia sessions on this cruise was that because there were so many repeat cruisers, the trivia sessions were very competitive so they made everyone swap papers with another team for marking as a way to ensure that there was no cheating.

As soon as Marvel Trivia had finished, we made our way to Deck 5 of the Lobby Atrium ready to meet some of the characters in their Formal Night outfits. I love meeting them in the afternoon on this day, as I find the lines to normally be much quieter than in the evenings when it gets very crowded due to the Captain’s Welcome Reception.

Donald was our first character of the afternoon at 3:15pm followed by Mickey at 3:45pm, Daisy at 4:15pm and finally Minnie who was out on Deck 4 also at 4:15pm. We noticed that the lines moved very quickly on this cruise as there were hardly any children onboard, so the characters were rarely being asked for their autographs which usually slows the line down quite a lot. The only long wait that afternoon was for Chip and Dale so we decided to leave them until the evening when they were scheduled out again.

As we had no plans for the next few hours, we finally made our way up to the Quiet Cove pool just after 4:30pm, which was perfect timing as the sun had finally started to come out. It was almost completely deserted as everyone had already gone back inside early to get ready for Formal Night and even both of the hot tubs were empty, which is when you truly know that it is quiet as they always have people in them.

Because this cruise was almost entirely adults – there were very few children onboard – the Quiet Cove was always extremely busy during the day throughout the entire cruise, which is exactly why we always headed out there in the late afternoon when it was so peaceful in comparison as it truly is the best time to be there. We also grabbed some pizza as well as a Cove Cafe latte to enjoy while we sat there, though I have to be honest that the pizza was probably the worst that I’ve had on all of our cruises so far!

After we finished sitting by the pool, we took a few minutes to walk around the whole of Deck 10 before heading back inside to get ready for the evening ahead. Both Decks 9 and 10 were completely empty, and there was no one else to be seen apart from a handful of Crew Members. We even stopped for a few minutes to watch the end of Coco that was playing on Funnel Vision which we really should not have done, as I seriously had to stop myself from crying because it is such an emotional movie!

Once we got back to our stateroom, we quickly showered again and got dressed before walking straight down to Deck 4, ready to meet Chip and Dale who were due out at 7:00pm. Given how long the line had been to meet them a few hours beforehand, I was expecting it to be just as busy, so I was shocked to find it much quieter than I thought it would be as most people were still watching the first show of Twice Charmed at the Walt Disney Theatre or were still at dinner at this time.

We then headed up to Deck 5 where we were first in line to meet Pluto at 7:45pm, before making our way back down to a very busy Deck 3 for the second Captain’s Welcome Reception of the evening. Complimentary alcoholic drinks including wine and cocktails were being handed out by the crew, although the margarita that I had was so weak it barely tasted of anything.

Many of the ship’s senior officers were out and about, and it was great to see Captain Robert walking around the Lobby Atrium chatting with everyone. We managed to chat with him as well as catch up with our Cruise Director, David, for a few minutes too while we were there.

Before going to dinner, we actually took a few minutes to sit on one of the benches outside on Deck 4 to enjoy some peace and quiet. It had been very busy and noisy in the Lobby Atrium for the last hour, and the weather had also started to turn very humid, making the inside of the ship feel quite warm, so it was nice to take this little time away.

Our dinner on the second night of our cruise was in Lumiere’s and the first thing that we immediately noticed was just how hot it was in there that evening – even all of the serving teams had sweat pouring down their faces which cannot have been fun for them in the slightest.

As I am not the biggest fan of the main courses or desserts at Lumiere’s anymore, I decided to just order a few appetisers instead for my dinner. I started my meal with the Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp, followed by the amazing French Onion Soup before finishing with my favourite Breaded and Deep-Fried Brie, which I have since sadly learnt is no longer offered onboard due to some recent menu changes, so I am very grateful that I was able to have it one last time.

As it had been so hot and stuffy in Lumiere’s during dinner, we quickly escaped back outside onto Deck 4 to cool down as soon as we had finished our food. Afterwards, as we were walking back past the D-Lounge, we saw what we thought was “Movie Quotes Trivia” about to start at 9:45pm, and as we had a little time to kill, we decided to give it a go.

It actually turned out to be “Disney Movie Quotes Trivia” – I really should wear my glasses more – and even though we teamed up with two other people, it was one of the hardest and most impossible trivia sessions that we have ever done and everyone was struggling – I have never seen so many confused and blank faces in one room! We managed to get 15/40, though we would have only got 6/40 if we had not joined another team, and you know it was difficult when the winning team only managed a score of 26/40!

Before we headed to bed, our final stop of the day was at 10:15pm back on Deck 4 of the Lobby Atrium to meet Goofy. We could have met him earlier in the evening, but when we saw that he was also scheduled out late at night, we knew it would be so much quieter, and we definitely saved the best for last.

As we had skipped dessert in Lumiere’s, once we got back to our stateroom and got changed ready for bed, we sat and enjoyed a Strawberry Mille-Feuille each that we had ordered from Rapunzel’s Royal Table at lunchtime and it was the perfect way to end our first day at sea.

It felt like we had done so little and nothing “exciting” had happened, and yet it was truly the best. We were really looking forward to being back in Cozumel the following morning, which was going to be another day where we had very little planned and it was going to be great.

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