To Live Better: Disney Magic 4-night Bahamas cruise review and tips

Preparation:

Booked the trip 3 months in-advance. Avoid the spring break peak time.

We'll be driving 8 hours from Charlotte, NC to Titusville, FL. Make sure your vehicle is in good condition. DH changed two front tires and changed the oil of the car before the trip.

I made Beef-jerky for DH to eat in the car. He loves it and it's spicy to keep him awake while driving.

I downloaded 30 eposides of TV shows to the iPad for kids to watch in the car so they won't be too bored on the road.

I downloaded Disney Cruise Apps to the cell phone. It's very useful guide to use on the cruise.

DH booked the hotel a week ahead online. It's $156 a night at Marriott Hotel @ Titusville, FL. We might get a better price if we book earlier.

Inform school teachers about vacation and asked if they can give them the next week's homework earlier. The Chinese teacher did. AIG reading teacher gave Emma last reading assignment earlier because it's the end of grading period. Next time I could inform them 2 weeks earlier if it's close to the end of the grading period so teachers could give them the test earlier then they won't get an incomplete grade.

Review:

Food: 5-star

We ate our breakfast & Lunch mostly on Cabanna's buffet except the debarkation date you have to go to the assigned restaurant to eat breakfast. We love Cabana's buffet. Plenty of food choices. I would say it's even comparable to the food that served at our assigned restaurants.

Breakfast: oatmeal topping with lots of nuts, seeds and dried fruit is my favorite. Sometimes they even serve smoke salmon slices.

Lunch Buffet you can eat good amount of seafood choices: stone crab, snow crab, shrimp, cod, mahi mahi, salmon, snails etc. My favorite is the desert. Not too sweet, it's made in a bite size, top with fruits.

We ate one lunch at Castaway cay by the beach. They served hot dogs, burgers, drinks. It can not compare with the food on the ship but still meet our expectation.

On Deck 9, there are several places serving the foods through out the day. You can get them whenever you feel hungry. Pinocchio's Pizza place serves thin crust pizzas. They are wonderful snacks, kids love them!

Daisy’s De-Lite near the AquaLab family pool area serves breakfast, lunch, and early evening snacks. You can get fresh fruit, salads, sandwiches, wraps, cookies and Bagels from there.

You can get ice-cream, soda drinks, coffee, teas all for free. The smoothie($6) and the wines you have to pay for it. I can tell kids would rather eat at Deck 9 than those fancy restaurants.

Tips: You can order whatever you want for the dinner. You can order two main courses if you like two of the menus. You can also order from adults' menu for your kids, doesn't have to go with children's menu. On first day's dinner, my in-law got seabass on her menu and she said: I wish I could have this on my last day and the waitress brought her seabass on her last day's dinner even it's not on that day's menu.