It was just before 6:00am when I woke up once again on our two week Panama Canal cruise on the beautiful Disney Magic. While I usually sleep so well onboard the ship, part of me always wishes I could sleep for much longer, as a lazy sea day is the perfect excuse for a long lie-in. We had very few plans for the day, which was ideal as this was our final day at sea before arriving in Cabo San Lucas the next morning.

Walking out onto our verandah to fresh air and another beautiful sunrise felt so wonderful. As there had been another time change overnight, we were finally on Pacific Time, so we did not have to think about changing our clocks again for the rest of our trip until we headed back home to London the following week.

As is naturally expected of us, we sat in bed for a while enjoying the fresh air from outside with a cup of tea, whilst reading through the schedule for the day on the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app. There was not much at all that we wanted to do or that even interested us, which was ideal, and if this day turned out to be as completely chilled and relaxed as our previous one, it was going to be absolutely perfect.

We also realised that on a shorter cruise, when there is so much to do and so little time, you never really have the opportunity to feel tired while onboard, as the exhaustion usually hits you the moment you get back home instead. However, on a longer cruise like this, the tiredness always starts to catch up with you right in the middle of a long run of sea days. When you have no plans and very little to do, you are forced to completely slow down and relax, as there is absolutely nowhere that you urgently need to be.

After having a shower and getting dressed ready for the day ahead, we headed up to Cabanas for a light breakfast just before 8:30am and it was noticeably quiet compared to the previous few mornings when it had been much busier.

After breakfast, it was time for the final character group photo of the cruise with Mickey and the gang all wearing their classic outfits. We only arrived a few minutes before it started at 9:30am and the queue was already stretched all the way back to the Soul Cat Lounge. I have mentioned several times before to always try and go to the first time slot (there are usually two), because if you are not happy with how your picture turns out, then you have another chance to get the perfect photo. We did not like our first photo, so after meeting Ariel at 10:00am at Preludes, we rejoined the long line on Deck 3 once again for the second group photo at 11:00am.

Once we had our picture, we headed up to Cove Cafe to grab a much-needed and delicious Oat Latte. We took our drinks back down to Deck 4 where we sat and enjoyed the fresh air and the ocean views while sorting through some of the many photos we had taken so far on the trip.

At midday, Captain Robert made his daily announcement, where he let us know that we were currently 40 nautical miles off the coast of Mexico. He also told us that we had sailed 1071 nautical miles since leaving the Panama Canal at an average speed of 19 knots, with 374 nautical miles left to go until we reached Cabo San Lucas the following morning, where we were due to pick up the pilot at 9:00am.

Just after 1:30pm, we made our way up to Cabanas for lunch, and because we visited at a later time, it was very quiet, just as it had been for breakfast that morning. The special that day was Asian Corner, where there were some vegetables and noodles available, which honestly felt like a rare and special treat given the severe lack of non-meat options that had been on offer for the previous few days.

It was also at this time we realised that it had been a whole week since we visited Cartagena, where we had stepped foot into South America for the first time ever – and we really wondered where the time had gone, as it had all simply flown by so fast.

We began the rest of our afternoon by meeting some characters, starting with Princess Minnie Mouse at 2:30pm followed by Stitch at 2:45pm who had a very long line, as he is always so popular no matter the cruise. Whilst we were waiting to see him, we noticed Goofy wandering around the Lobby Atrium and afterwards, we even bumped into Princess Daisy walking around on Deck 4, who was as fabulous as she always is.

After returning to our stateroom for a short nap, we decided to head up to Quiet Cove for the rest of the afternoon just after 4:30pm, when everyone else was making their way back inside ready for Mega Jackpot Bingo.

One of the funniest moments of the day happened as we were walking past the tables next to the Goofy Pool on Deck 9, when we noticed that someone onboard the Disney Magic had made a model of the Magic itself, broken it in half Titanic-style with the funnels falling and surrounded it with icebergs. Minnie was also lying on a tray next to it with Mickey holding onto the side (as there was not enough room for both of them on the tray, of course) and Minnie was even wearing the Heart of the Ocean necklace, with a drawing of her wearing only the necklace right next to her, signed by Mickey. It was truly impressive and disturbing in equal measure. I loved it.

It really was a beautiful afternoon – the sky was so blue – so we sat and enjoyed a very empty and relaxing Quiet Cove pool for the next hour or so with a cold drink and a bowl of fresh pineapple from Daisy’s De-Lites, which had become my new favourite snack onboard – see, I can do healthy too! There was a cool breeze in the air, so we actually stayed in the water as much as possible to stay warm, which seemed so strange to say after the swelteringly hot temperatures just a few days previously when all we wanted to do was get in the water to try and cool down.

Just after 6:00pm, we quickly walked up to the front of Deck 10 to watch another beautiful sunset. Being able to experience so many of them was such a privilege and highlight of a long cruise like this one, and watching the sun go down is something I always look forward to on every single day at sea.

The sunset on this evening was my favourite of the entire cruise as once the sun disappeared below the horizon, the clouds in the sky all turned an incredible shade of candyfloss pink and the views, no matter where you looked, were simply beautiful. After experiencing a breathtaking fiery orange sky the night before, this was something completely different, deeply peaceful and very ethereal.

These quiet evenings by the pool were so wonderful and some of my favourite parts of the cruise. As it got dark, we stayed outside relaxing in the hot tub, before finally making our way back to our stateroom around 7:45pm to have a quick shower, get dressed and run down to dinner.

Our dinner was back in Lumiere’s, which we had not been to since the second night of our cruise over a week previously as nearly every night that we had skipped dinner was due to be there. However, there was no way we were going to miss dinner on this night as it was the Land and Sea menu, which we both love.

To start my meal, I ordered two of the Marinated Shrimp, which is one of my favourite appetisers onboard (and I made sure to finish all of the wonderful sauce with some extra bread that was brought to our table), before having the amazing South Indian Vegetable Biryani and finally finishing with the Triple Chocolate Terrine.

There were no characters out after dinner that we wanted to meet, so we decided to walk a few laps around Deck 4 before grabbing a hot drink instead. However, the Disney Magic Panama Canal Tea Thief had struck once more, as nearly all of the tea bags at the drink station on Deck 9 had vanished yet again, which had become a common occurrence and a real annoyance over the last few days of the cruise.

No matter the time of day, as soon as the tea station was restocked, it would all be gone within minutes each time. It was painfully obvious that there were one or two very selfish individuals onboard who were clearly filling their pockets (and therefore their luggage) with all of the tea bags they could find (except for Earl Grey, Chai and Camomile, which they always left behind) to take home with them, leaving everyone else disappointed whenever they wanted a hot drink – I love being able to have a peppermint tea after dinner, and yet thanks to the tea thief, I was completely out of luck most nights.

Thankfully, as we always bring a supply of English Breakfast tea bags from home (I think I will pack some peppermint ones now too on any future cruises in case of similar emergencies), we took two cups of hot water back to our stateroom where a monkey towel animal was just hanging around and waiting for our return.

We were ready for bed just after 10:00pm as we both really wanted an early night ready for the next day. As we sat in bed, we quickly read through the tender information for Cabo San Lucas, making sure that we had all the right information for the following morning – it was going to be our very first time visiting Cabo, and after five whole days spent onboard the Disney Magic, I could not wait to step foot on land once again and explore somewhere new.

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