Disney Magic at Sea, UK Staycation Cruise from Tilbury London

The day has come after 2 amazing nights on the Disney Magic Cruise ship we have to leave the ship, this morning.

Time for one last look off the verandah first though.

Don’t Forget

Before leaving the ship, it is important that we pop to Shutters to collect the photo we had printed. This is also the case if you had a package where you have a USB stick to collect. I’m not sure how easy it would be to sort once you have left the ship.

Also, if you are likely to sail with Disney Cruise Line in the next 24 months, get a placeholder before you leave the ship, you can do this either on the app or at Guest Services. We decided we wouldn’t as we couldn’t see ourselves putting a Cruise ship before the Disney Parks! Well roll on less than 2 weeks and my daughter has booked her wedding next year on the Disney Wish!!! Oh Well!!! Had we booked a placeholder at a refundable cost of $250 we would have saved 10%, but once you’ve left the ship, the offer is no more ☹.

Goodbye Ship

Before we were due to go to Luminiers for breakfast, we had a last wander around the ship, taking those last few photo’s and the last few glimpses of the sea out of the huge portholes.

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Final Breakfast on the ship

For our final breakfast we were allocated Luminieres as that was the one main dining room restaurant that we hadn’t experiences for our evening meal.

As we were on the late dining rotation for our evening meal, we were also late breakfast. Our time was 08.25am, which allowed us to be on the ship a bit later than those on the early seating.

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, we didn’t feel rushed at all.

Check out my video below and on YouTube to see what we had for breakfast.

Gratuities

Although we had prepaid our tips based on $13.50 per person in the stateroom, times the number of nights on the ship, there were still things for us to action.

On return to our stateroom last night, there were tipping envelops and slips for our Stateroom Host, Assistant Server, Server, Head Server, plus an envelope for the Concierge Hosts.

I am British but I do tip, maybe as we are used to going on holiday in the USA. For the Stateroom Host, Assistant Server, Server and Head Server, we doubled their tips as felt they had added value to our Cruise. But for the Concierge Hosts, we weren’t sure what if anything they had added to our time on the Disney Magic. From research prior to the cruise, the suggested amount is $20 to $25 upwards per person per night, so a minimum of $120. But we really couldn’t say what they had done to justify this. So we ended up tipping $60.

On our last morning we had to awkwardly hand out the envelopes. First was our Stateroom Host which was easy as Ria had been amazing. Then we had to pop up to the Concierge lounge to hand them their envelope (which I was pleased to get out of the way – I shouldn’t have felt like this), then the serving team was easy as we handed them to our server at Breakfast, along with some goodie bags of sweets.

Review of our cruise overall

Was Concierge worth the money?

We chose to upgrade to a one-bedroom Concierge suite, which took the price for the 3 of us to just over £2,000 plus gratuities.

Yes this was expensive for just 2 nights, but yes I feel the cost was worth it. Here are my reasons –

• For the 3 of us, having 2 rooms and 2 bathrooms, made our time much more comfortable
• The speed at which the Concierge team retain information about you is astounding (this might also be the case with non Concierge Cast Members). For example, my husband forgot our room number after running up 5 flights of stairs, Ria our fabulous stateroom host, knew who he was and which was his room, saving him from dashing back to us to ask!
• The Cast Members in the Concierge Lounge are super friendly and helpful, for us in particular, Shelley Anne was amazing.
• The free coffee and cocktails (between 5 and 10pm) in the Concierge Lounge were awesome.
• We had a fabulous table at Rapunzels Royal Table in particular, which was I believe because we were Concierge Guests.

Was the Disney Cruise Overall worth the money?

As a family who have frequented Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris many times over the years, we understand that Disney does not come cheap.

In some ways by keeping the prices up, it makes it more special, something you have to save up for. For some people a trip of a lifetime.

But breaking down the prices, based on our base price of just over £1,000 for 3 adults for 2 nights, in a non Concierge Verandah Room, lets see what we get if we were to buy similar elements –

• Tangled show
  • West End Quality
  • Say £40 each so £120
• Dreams show
  • West End Quality
  • Say £40 each so £120
• 2 days all you can eat breakfasts
  • Say £15 each, times 2 days so £90
• 2 days all you can eat lunches
  • Say £30 each, times 2 days so £180
• 2 days all you can eat evening dinner shows
  • Say £50 each, times 2 evenings so £300
• So that’s £810 already
• Then you have 2 nights in a deluxe standard room.
  • Pricing up a moderate room at WDW for the 2 nights (based on midweek next September) for 3 people
  • The cost of Port Orleans Riverside is £502 for 2 nights.
  • Even looking at a non Disney Hotel, for the same nights next year, 2 nights in the London Marriott Hotel Canary Wharf, you are looking at £258.

Plus I’ve not even mentioned the free snacks, cakes, soft drinks, hot drinks, trivia, pools, slides, musicians, character meet and greets, children’s clubs, Freeze the night away and fabulous Disney Cast Members. Plus I’m sure I’ve missed lots!

SO YES 100% I BELIEVE A DISNEY CRUISE IS WORTH THE MONEY

Do you need children with you to enjoy a Disney Cruise?

NO!

We were a party of 3 adults, we enjoyed the shows and the evening dinner shows. But we also enjoyed the vast amount of adult only spaces.

At no time did we feel out of place being an adult only group and at no time did other people’s children bother us in any way.

In fact watching other peoples children interact with the characters and cast members actually enhance the experience.

Would we go on a Disney Cruise again?

As above we thought that we wouldn’t for a few years, but as it happens we are now booked on the brand new Disney Wish next year.

SO YES WE ABSOLUTELY WILL BE GOING ON ANOTHER DISNEY CRUISE.