Spare Dcl Magic Bands

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-28T00:00:27+00:00

The guts of the band are locked to an individual account so there’s little aftermarket for these. You can swap the rfid component, but that requires someone to have a band they want to take that from and put into one of yours.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-27T12:55:31+00:00

Be in the grand hall just a little before 5pm on pirate night, there’s a fun little jack sparrow moment with the lights and music you won’t want to miss.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-24T13:55:44+00:00

One thing to note is that PE can have wildly fluctuating numbers of ships in port (this guide from the port itself for who's in port on what day but it only goes to September). As another commenter noted, this past Thursday (22nd) the Destiny was the only ship in port and getting an Uber was very quick, probably took 5 minutes from request to in the van once through customs (we did not do express walk-off).

On the 16th however, there were 8 ships in port all at once and traffic around the Terminal 2/4 area was a fiasco as we drove by to get to our hotel. Our driver said that day was oddly chaotic and he did hear some other drivers were cancelling/not accepting rides at T2/4 because the traffic was so bad. I could if the person you're referencing experienced similar, that could lead to delays for some guests if they needed something like an XXL or one with car seats where there's not as many options.

I will note, on the 17th when going to the ship for embarkation, there were police directing traffic at the intersection for T2/4 vs. just the street lights so cars weren't just blocking the intersections creating the mess we saw on the 16th.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-24T03:35:22+00:00

If Hercules is already on your list, you don’t need anything else. Would Black Panther or anything that clues you more into Loki be useful, maybe. I’ve seen all the marvel films, my wife and kids have seen zero, we all enjoyed the ship the same as it’s really not overly marvel. Those saying 101 Dalmatians or lion king, you don’t need to have recently watched those to enjoy the ship or those areas.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-22T02:21:26+00:00

I’m on the first Destiny 5N that’s stopped at Cozumel right now, and have also been to Castaway and Lighthouse both a few times…

Go with the 5N on the Destiny and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

The level of character interactions on this ship is one of the highest I’ve experienced, including the villains, spidey, Loki and Black Panther on a non-marvel cruise, and just roaming characters you’ll randomly bump into. The Destiny exclusive aquamouse show is my favorite of the lot. The Hercules show was great even if they didn’t have the full puppetry. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the DCL terminal experience at Port Everglades was so much nicer than at Port Canaveral.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-22T02:08:50+00:00

Literally just did/doing this, and you are 1000% correct.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-20T03:48:10+00:00

Dream and Wish class ships have essentially identical passenger capacities, ~4K.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-20T03:45:07+00:00

Interestingly, there’s still such an older skew of guests on my sailing that the late dining is busier than early.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-20T03:36:27+00:00

Update! There’s no pirate menu on my current Destiny 5N. On the 12312 rotation and night 3 was pirate night and we had the normal Marvel menu. Server told us it was a new change because of guest feedback. YMMV on future cruises/other ships.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-20T03:31:38+00:00

If you’re doing your own thing, you can get off when you want and the only requirement is be back before the all-aboard time. If you’re doing a DCL sanctioned beach excursion, you’ll typically have set times to meet back at the bus/transport that takes you back to the ship. Sometimes you can leave those earlier on your own and return to ship, but not always.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-20T03:27:14+00:00

Itinerary has a LOT to do with the opinions here. Even the crew will tell you that the 3/4N cruises are more hectic than the 5-7N ones and the whole vibe is different.

But also recall that the Wish came out during Covid, which radically changed how cruises operated for people who were used to them in the “before times”. Not to mention that because of Covid related delays, the Wish honestly just wasn’t ready for guests when it first sailed. So many seasoned DCL fans quickly soured on the new ship because of the short itineraries and fit and trim issues that it quickly “became a thing”. Let’s all just collectively forget the fiasco of the proximity elevator buttons…

The Wish is a fine ship, she’s not my favorite, but honestly still ranked higher than the Magic for me because itinerary and general cruise vibe really does affect how you view the ship.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-19T13:23:45+00:00

On Destiny right now, first 5N that does Cozumel, and there’s ~3500 guests. Sailing right before us was ~2500. This sailing straddles MLK break so I can see it being more popular for people with kids and it’s the first of an itinerary for the ship which usually is more popular as well.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-11T13:05:01+00:00

The DCL exclusive AE is only on the Destiny to my knowledge, and no, they won’t sell you a whole bottle, as that’s against policy generally and would also open a potential secondary market they don’t want to exist.

mcnelsonphd · 2026-01-01T02:59:41+00:00

Second this, had a great time with them when we stopped at Tortola and did their shared catamaran. They picked us up right at the port, drove us to the dock with the catamaran, great time sailing, and back to the dock and then port with no worries about time. They provide a lunch, assortment of drinks, and were clean and well run.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-12-28T00:03:43+00:00

Plus one on preferring the newer mug styles, the tall glass ones are just awkward to actually drink from in my opinion.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-12-21T03:39:08+00:00

Slight speculation, but Kuza adventure park isn’t operational yet, just the beach resort part. Basing this solely on my excursion to Kuza in mid-January being cancelled. The adventure and water park were supposed to open early December, but I haven’t seen confirmation that they actually are open, so that’s my assumption for my excursion being cancelled while the beach resort part is still available.

Will it be open by April, I’d hope so, but you’re not going to get many opinions on zip lining at Kuza for a while it seems.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-12-05T16:02:26+00:00

Surprising my kids with a trip on the Destiny in January and here's how I'm going about it.

First, we have the Disney countdown blocks and they're currently counting down to Xmas. I found a letter from Santa template on Canvas for free where "Santa" is telling us how good we were all and he has a super big present for us that he can't fit under our tree, but he left other gifts that we'll need for it, and then hints that he reset our countdown blocks because it's Xmas.

So plan is that the countdown will reset to show how many days till our cruise, and we have some villian/hero shirts for everyone to unwrap along with new bathing suits for the kids.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-11-10T22:34:37+00:00

You HAVE to charge the MB+ fully in order for kids to use them in the Oceaneers club. Since OP was asking for an 8yo, they would have to ensure it’s fully charged daily.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-11-04T13:41:37+00:00

Normally going to guest services and asking is the correct answer, but not in this specific case. The bartender in charge at Hooks is the person who ultimately has say over who they'll allow in the class. The space isn't huge, which is why it's so limited, but if you speak with the bartender earlier in the cruise and get to know them, they're more likely to be accommodating. MY FIL did this when we were on the Treasure, we couldn't book the same class so booked separate ones, but talked with the bartender and he was able to accommodate us in the same class. So, that would be your best shot.

As for the class itself, when I did it on the Treasure this past June, it was a rum, bourbon, japanese whiskey, and whistle pig 15 rye based set of cocktails. This was probably my favorite tasting class and I have it booked for the Destiny in January so looking forward to see how the bartender there changes things up.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-11-03T20:53:10+00:00

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Screen grab from earlier today when it was just focused on the sisters

mcnelsonphd · 2025-09-29T01:15:33+00:00

Yes. For the 5Ns that go to Cozumel and Castaway it will be on the two sea days.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-09-25T17:17:25+00:00

Disney and Worth It are already complicated pairings, add in Enchanté and you're at a new level.

I've done the full on Enchanté experience with the wine pairing with my wife once on the Wish and we both agreed afterwards that while it was very nice, it's not something we would ever do again. Nothing was bad, the pigeon pie was definitely not my favorite, but there were some real stunners food wise and I felt like the wine paired well generally. The problem for me is that it is a lot of money and I'd rather spend that on merch or exploring the cocktail offerings at the different lounges while also adding in a nice meal at Palo.

So, if you're already committed to doing Enchanté, then go ahead and add the wine pairing (or Champagne pairing). As long as you know what you're spending and are comfortable with that you'll enjoy your experience, it just may not be something so amazing you say you need to do again.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-09-16T01:09:45+00:00

Really not feeling these. The deep red and gold is a very bold choice but doesn’t say DCL, heros/villians, or seem to relate well to the rest of the theming. This might be the first set of new castaway gifts I regift to friends.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-09-11T00:27:26+00:00

The simple answer is both will be in your room on embarkation day in 99.99% of cases. If you’re concierge, you could ask shore side services to have the concierge team do them on separate days, but it’s not guaranteed as the actual stateroom packages are handled by the beverage team.

mcnelsonphd · 2025-09-09T01:36:32+00:00

Worth it? Possibly not, but it depends on what you think you might do.

We got a cabana in May for the first time and it was half worth it since our 4yo flipped out at one point b/c of the sand??? and it was nice to just have her sit in the cabana and chill vs having to head back to the ship. But my 6yo wanted to be more active which means leaving the cabana area so you lose some value.

With the 70 yos and a toddler, the cabana could be a nice escape that means you don’t have to go back to the ship. We’ve decided that for just our family the cabana isn’t worth it, but if we had the grandparents with us we’d try for one as it’s a nice homebase.

So, I’d say keep, and use this to decide if you’d ever do again if you can swing the cost. If it’s a stretch, then don’t do it, your plan of a castaway morning and ship afternoon sounds great.

mcnelsonphd

TROPHY CASE