TCM Cruise 2025

Boarding and Sail Away

We boarded the Disney Magic at Port Canaveral after a short Uber ride from our Cocoa Beach condo. Checking in and boarding was very quick and easy but our cabin wasn't yet ready, so we headed to the restaurant for lunch. We found ourselves sharing a table with another couple who introduced themselves and told us they were the parents of Dave Karger, one the TCM hosts on the cruise. After a few minutes, Dave joined us and was telling us and his parents how his sister, who was supposed to join the cruise, had forgotten her passport and left her wallet on the airplane! He was still hoping to get her on board and he left after a few minutes to try and make arrangements. 

Of course, this is a Disney ship, but as TCM had chartered the ship, many of the usual Disney elements, such as Disney Characters and Disney music and all the kids, were thankfully missing.

Later in the cruise, one of us dared to use the water slide, which starts with a trapdoor opening and a straight drop down, before ending in a water trough. Guess who did and who didn't !

The main reason for being on the ship, of course, was to see as many films as possible and to go to as many interviews as possible. The TCM events started with a "Welcome Aboard" party on the main deck.

During our five night cruise, we watched eleven films:

The films were in the order we saw them:

Devil in a Blue Dress - 1995

Sunset Boulevard (just the last hour) - 1950 

Midnight Cowboy - 1969

Groundhog Day - 1993

Crimson Tide - 1995

Flower Drum Song - 1991

Capricorn One - 1978

Emperor of the North - 1973

Choose Me - 1984

Heaven Can Wait - 1978

One True Thing - 1998

We also attended a series of interviews with guests. In most cases, the guests had appeared in at least one film that was shown on board. 

Brenda Vaccaro - Actor in "Midnight Cowboy" and "Capricorn One" (no photographs)

We also attended a quiz " So you think you know Hitchcock" and a seminar "How TCM Intros are Made" given by Alicia Malone.

We stopped twice on the cruise. The first Nassau, a port we had visited many times before. We walked to the British Colonial Hotel for a drink.

The second stop was at the Disney private island, Lookout Key. It was a long walk from the ship to where we boarded the tram to take us to the beach.

We spent a couple of hours on the beach, which wasn't terribly crowded and then headed back to the ship for the afternoon. Fortunately when the tram dropped us at the end of the long pier we managed to get a ride back to the ship in a golf cart. Later in the afternoon it rained, so our early start was the right choice.

On another day (Day 3) the ship held a "Hollywood Canteen Party" on the main deck. Many people dressed in 1940's style clothes.

Last, but not least, we ate in a different restaurant each night, but with the same dinner companions and the same waiters. 

After five nights, we arrived back in Port Canaveral, left the ship almost immediately and were home by mid morning. Easy peasy !