Disney Magic 5-night Spring Break Cruise - Day 3 - Key West

Key West

One thing I didn’t realize when I booked our room was that it was a connecting stateroom to the one next to it. This ended up being less than ideal. First, we were missing an entire piece of furniture—the little chest of drawers that usually resides at the foot of the bed was a door and second, we could hear the neighbors pretty well through the door.

Somewhere between 5:45 and 6 AM, a chiming sounded from the other room, waking me up. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but it continued. It was some kind of alarm clock - probably on their phone. It finally stopped and I tried to go back to sleep, only to hear it start in again 10 minutes later. This time it went on forever. Finally, it stopped. I got comfortable again and it went off again 10 minutes later. This time I counted. That stupid thing chimed 38 times. No joke. 10 minutes later? You guessed it! Finally, at 6:30 (ten minutes before my own alarm) I got up, tossed on my running clothes and made my way up to deck four for a run.

It was still dark and Key West was approaching as I started my run, passing someone running in the wrong direction. I surpassed the desire to give them the stink eye and continued running until I hit the section of track that enters the forward mooring station where it was roped off. “Mooring Operations Underway.” Fantastic. So I ran back the other way and soon realized that the five or so other people out running were making a big “U” turning at the forward mooring station on each side. Each time a new runner would enter the fun, I could see them debate about giving me the stink eye and then upon realizing what was going on, would settle into our little silent agreement to run a “U” keeping to the right and being careful in the little narrow aft section.

My GPS recorded my run and it's quite an interesting interpretation!




After about 30 minutes we were docked in Key West, the sun was shining and I finished my run, making my way to deck 9 to get a snack, knowing that I would still be the only one in my family awake (unless that stupid phone was still merrily chiming away and woke everyone else).

I relaxed on deck 9 with a croissant and some hot cocoa and checked my email and Facebook since we were in a US port. After awhile I made my way back to the room and showered and Roger and Emmaline got up and the three of us went to breakfast at Cabana’s. Mom and Steve just had some light pastries and fruit from Daisy’s de Lites up on deck 9. Around 9:30 we were all ready to disembark and made our way over to the Shipwreck Museum. Our admission price included a short 15 minute tour at the beginning, which we enjoyed, then we spent time exploring the museum. They also had an observation tower with an incredible view of the island (including the Magic).



After leaving the museum, we found the bus stop for the hop on hop off trolley we had reserved and we all got on and began the ride around the loop. We got off the trolley first at the Southernmost Point, which was absolutely MOBBED with people. There was a long line you could wait in if you wanted a photo alone with the marker. We didn’t and just took some quick photos in the distance that have other people in them. Oh well. Leaving there, Steve decided he wanted to rent a golf cart to ride around in. We began our walk to our lunch destination—a sandwich shop—but it wasn’t really what Mom was interested in so Steve picked us up in the cart and we made our way to another option. That place had an hour wait, so we tried a few other places without much luck. One of the places had available seating at the bar, but Roger and I weren’t really interested in eating lunch at a bar so Roger, Emmaline and I went back to our original little sandwich shop while Mom and Steve ate there and then we regrouped at the Earnest Hemingway Home.






The home was nice and the grounds lush and beautiful. Roger did the tour, but Emmaline was primarily interested in the cats so I followed her around to find them. I think I would have gotten more enjoyment from the property if I had been more of a fan, but I recall reading the Old Man and the Sea when I was in junior high and thought it boring. I haven’t picked it up since to try again.




We left the Hemingway Home and decided to split up because Emmaline and I were feeling done with Key West. My mom and Steve set off to explore in their golf cart, Emmaline and I went to do a little shopping and then go back to the ship, while Roger stayed behind to do some rum tasting.

On the way back to the ship, I stopped in a little clothing store near the trolley stop and found myself a new sweater. Mine never did turn up. I hope the new owner is enjoying their cheap cardigan from Old Navy. (Grr.) We also bought our requisite fridge magnet to commemorate a new destination. We have quite a collection going on the fridge of places we have visited.

Once back on board, Emmaline and I changed into our swimsuits and had some snacks, watched the funnel vision and did some swimming on deck 9. The show this evening was Twice Charmed and it was also “optional dress up” night. We changed into our fancy clothes and went up to see Twice Charmed. I had thought maybe Roger and I would skip, and Emmaline could go with my parents but she really wanted us to all go together so we did and I was actually glad I saw it again, as it was better than I remembered.

After the show, we took some formal photos together in the lobby before my mom and Steve went off to Keys to enjoy a drink together before dinner. We visited with the captain and then met with Minnie and Donald in their formal wear since we missed them last cruise on formal night. (We still need Daisy and Chip and Dale - next time!) Dinner was in Lumiere’s and we all enjoyed ourselves before going back to the room to collapse into bed to prepare to enjoy a nice day at sea the following day.

Click here for Day 4.