Waking up on the first morning after two of the most tiring days that I have ever spent on a Disney cruise ship, I only had one goal in mind for the day and that was to do absolutely nothing. On every long cruise, there always comes a time when you just want to take it easy and do as little as humanly possible, and for us, this was definitely it.

Now that we were finally out in the Pacific Ocean and our big Panama Canal chapter was officially done, it almost felt like the cruise should be over in a weird way and yet, we still had a whole week left onboard the Disney Magic. There was such a sense of relief on this morning knowing there were no early alarms, no exploring to do, no locks to watch and also absolutely nowhere that we urgently needed to be. The most important thing on this day was simply going to be taking it easy, recovering as well as enjoying a slow and relaxing day at sea.

Despite having no alarms set and every intention of having a massive lie-in, my body clock had other ideas as I annoyingly woke up just before 6:30am. After laying there for a little while, I decided that I wanted to get some fresh air so I walked up to Deck 10 where even though it was still a little humid out, it was thankfully nowhere near as intense or oppressive as the previous few days had been. No matter where I walked, it was so quiet (as everyone else was clearly exhausted and still in bed too) and I did not see another person the entire time. After enjoying the peace and quiet as well as the morning air, I headed back to Deck 9 to get us both a cup of tea to begin our next four days at sea.

However, as soon as I got back to the stateroom with our cups of tea, the tiredness of the last few days hit me once again and as soon as I got back into bed, I immediately fell straight back asleep for the next few hours. I think it’s fair to say that I needed the rest!

I woke up again just after 10:00am feeling so much better and as we were both feeling a little hungry at this point, I quickly ran up to Cabanas to grab us both a light breakfast. It was still very quiet up there and luckily they were open until 10:45am which was perfect timing. We sat in bed to eat while watching the Good Morning Disney Magic show on the television where we were laughing so much at our Cruise Director David’s story about previously appearing on Come Dine With Me back in the UK – which if you do not know, is a chaotic reality show where strangers host dinner parties for each other and brutally score the food. I think a lot of the Americans onboard were completely confused by the whole thing (I know that our Assistant Cruise Director Josh definitely was) but as Brits, we understood every single reference and it was absolutely hysterical to listen to along with his stories about still watching The Bill every day. We usually find that so many things on the ships are heavily US-focused so it was incredibly wonderful to have that familiar little taste of home.

It continued to be a lazy morning as we stayed in bed for a little while longer and even watched some amazing thunder and lightning outside our window – and as we sailed past the storm, we could even feel the humidity starting to slowly disappear and it thankfully began to feel a little cooler, which after the last few uncomfortable days was the best feeling ever.

After the best start to a day at sea ever, we eventually dragged ourselves out of bed after midday and had a shower before getting dressed. We then made our way down to the adult-only After Hours area, ready for the Star-Spangled Musical Revue which was due to take place in Fathoms at 1:15pm. We had actually seen this show once before during our Marvel Day at Sea cruise on the Disney Dream. However, because those themed sailings had since moved over to the Disney Magic and had only recently finished, those incredible cast members were still onboard the ship and it really was a special treat to be able to see it once again as a one-off entertainment offering on this cruise.

We had absolutely loved this show when we sailed on the Disney Dream, even though we did not have the best view back then as we had arrived just before it started due to Marvel Day at Sea being such a busy and activity filled day. As we were determined to put that right this time, we got to Fathoms early so we had our pick of anywhere to sit and we had no trouble getting two seats in the front row where we had an incredible and completely unobstructed view of the entire performance – and we loved it even more this time around.

The Star-Spangled Musical Revue is inspired by one of the iconic scenes from Captain America: The First Avenger and features the songs Anything Goes, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else but Me), Begin the Beguine, Moonlight Serenade, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, In the Mood, Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) before finishing with Star-Spangled Man With a Plan and a special appearance from Captain America himself.

The show finished at 1:45pm so we had just enough time to quickly run up to Cabanas for a late lunch before they closed at 2:00pm. The special that day was “Mediterranean Corner” which sounded amazing, but in reality, was yet another example of how poorly thought out the vegetarian options were on this cruise. The only non-meat offering available was some dry Patatas Bravas with hardly any sauce which combined with some shrimp from one of the other counters (thankfully, I love seafood) and butternut squash, made for a very uninspired, beige and boring plate of food.

Thankfully lunch was saved once again by the dessert station as my favourite Strawberry Creme Pots were on offer – and I also made sure to take a couple of extra as it was Pirate Night that evening and we always like to stockpile a few extra desserts during the day to create our own private midnight buffet after the fireworks are over.

It was at this point that our plans for the rest of the afternoon split in two as my boyfriend was still feeling completely wiped out and exhausted after the previous two tiring days, so he decided to take a well-deserved nap. However, as it had been a couple of cruises since we last saw all of the characters in their pirate outfits – having completely skipped them on our Pixar Day at Sea cruise because the lines were so long – I decided to dedicate the rest of my afternoon to meeting them.

As the Pirate Night character meet and greets are always popular – and no matter how calm and quiet the cruise is, there are always lines on this day – I quickly came up with a strategy of which order to meet everyone to try and minimise my wait times. Because each character had multiple appearances throughout the entire afternoon and many of them overlapped, I knew that I could easily skip the first meet and greet for some of them. By doing this, it meant I could ensure that I was close to the front of the line for the next character on my schedule, before seeing the ones I left for later in a much shorter line – while also successfully avoiding the same handful of noisy, screaming people at every stop!

My first stop of the afternoon was Deck 5 where Minnie was out at 3:00pm and I loved that one of the first things she asked was where my boyfriend was, as we usually go to all of the meet and greets together. I then rejoined the same line to meet Donald at 3:30pm before heading down to Deck 4 for Chip and Dale at 3:45pm. My next stop was Goofy on Deck 3 at 4:15pm, after which I walked back up to Deck 5 to see Daisy at 4:30pm, before being second in line and finally meeting Mickey on Deck 4 at 5:15pm.

After meeting Mickey and the gang, I made two cups of tea and walked back down to our stateroom, however, my boyfriend was still fast asleep at this time. I wanted to let him rest as I knew he had been feeling so exhausted, so I left his tea on the side for when he woke up and instead, headed back down to Deck 4 to walk a few laps before making my way back up to Deck 9 to grab a plant-based hot dog and fries for my dinner. It was always our plan to skip the dining room on this evening of the cruise like we always do as we really do not enjoy the Pirate Night menu, so it simply made sense for me to grab some food when I was hungry.

A common theme I have found on many of the cruises that we have taken over the years is that some of the best sunsets always seem to fall on Pirate Night, and this evening was no exception. As it turned out, having my deck food dinner outside at this time was a complete blessing, as I was able to run straight up to the front of Deck 10 the moment that I saw those beautiful colours start to appear in the sky.

When I got back down to our stateroom, my boyfriend was finally awake but still happily sitting in bed with no wish to move. Since he said he could happily fall straight back asleep, I made my way down to Deck 3 to meet Captain Hook who I had missed seeing that afternoon when I chose to wait for Chip and Dale instead. He was due out at 7:30pm and when I arrived, the line was already back around the corner alongside Lumiere’s and I ended up waiting about thirty minutes to meet him. The Lobby Atrium was so noisy and crowded at this time that I almost left the line several times as the sheer volume of everything was so loud, but I decided to hang in there as there was no escaping the noise if I wanted to meet him. Thankfully, it turned out to be an awesome meet and greet, making the long wait and the loud crowds completely worth it.

After the chaos of the Lobby Atrium, there was nothing else we wanted to do that evening until the Pirates IN the Caribbean Deck Party which was due to begin at 10:00pm. Because it had been so loud and warm inside the ship, I did not mind heading up to Deck 10 early to grab our favourite spot (and I was not the first person there as there was already a handful of others waiting) as it gave me a chance to enjoy the peace and quiet and once he had finally gotten out of bed and had a shower, my boyfriend quickly joined me up on deck where we just stood chatting and enjoying the fresh air with a cold drink whilst we waited.

One thing that I have discovered over the years is that on Pirate Night on a cruise with so many frequent and repeat passengers, many people prefer to watch the deck party and fireworks from one of the upper decks instead of down by the stage. This cruise was no exception as with thirty minutes to go, nearly all of the spaces on Deck 10 had already been taken whereas there were only twelve people waiting on Deck 9. I have never seen the higher deck so busy and the stage area so quiet before, though it did start to get much busier just before the party started.

After the cruise staff warmed up the crowd with I Ain’t Worried, Holding Out for a Hero, Love Story and Zombie, Minnie, Chip and Dale and Goofy arrived on the stage where they danced to Try Everything, Me Too, Birthday, Beautiful, Treasure, 24K Magic, Uptown Funk, Time of Our Lives, Shut Up and Dance and Cake by the Ocean.

Captain Hook and his crew (along with some members of the audience) quickly took over the party and danced to I Wanna Rock, I Love Rock and Roll, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, You Give Love a Bad Name and Living on a Prayer. However, my memory of this part of the deck party will forever be immortalised by Mr Smee rocking out to The Final Countdown which was an amazing sight to see!

However, during this part of the deck party, I will also admit that my eyes kept wandering as I was hoping to spot Pirate Captain Mickey before he made his big entrance and it made me laugh that so many other people in the audience were also looking back and up at the second funnel instead of the stage at this time, ready for him to zip-line across the deck.

The last two times I saw this version of the Pirates IN the Caribbean deck party onboard the Disney Wonder, things had not gone to plan on either cruise. Due to different technical issues, Mickey either had to just run straight onto the stage or – and no, I am not joking – literally fall down the side of the funnel before having to be lowered the rest of the way onto the deck. Because of that, I was absolutely overjoyed on this cruise when everything went to plan and he successfully zip-lined right over us to save the day and kick off the fireworks.

I have heard that since our cruise, the Pirate Night party on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder has been changed to match the deck show on the other ships in the fleet. It makes me sad that I will never get to see this specific version again, but at the same time, I feel incredibly lucky as well as so happy that I was able to experience it and finally see Mickey successfully zip-line across the deck one final time.

The party ended with all the characters dancing to Can’t Stop the Feeling, On the Floor and Till the World Ends. Having seen this show many times over the years, it always makes me smile as it brings such a wonderful sense of pure nostalgia. While it feels a world away from the incredible Pirates Rockin’ Parlay Party on the newer ships, which I absolutely adore, there will always be a special place in my heart for this classic version.

We got back to our room just after 11:00pm and to make a great day even better, we had the first of our two time changes of the cruise taking place overnight, so we manually changed the clocks on our phones ready for the following morning. Falling asleep knowing we had an extra hour in bed ahead of us, instead of losing an hour which from personal experience really hurts, was the absolute perfect conclusion to a very lazy day (even if I did end up doing way more than my morning self intended) and we happily had more of the exact same thing planned for the next day too – and we were ready to do it all over again!

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