hobster7

Totally agree about the size of the comedy club.

Sailed on her last April and being used to the Spirit class ships, the cattle call to get in and mandatory exit between shows really turned me off.

Also found the lines in the buffet much less manageable.

Sticking to Spirit class.

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On all my cruises there is definitely a line after the 1st show of the night. 1st one you can walk in and sit until full. For subsequent shows you line up outside the doors until they start letting people in for the next show (after the club empties out from last show). This line can reach around several areas. (this is on the bigger ships --dream, breeze etc--I only sailed 1 smaller ship, fascination, and I don't remember how that one was)

 

 

 

I don't like waiting in that kind of line and would prefer it either be in the big theater or reserve a time.

That’s bc of the class of ship you were on. I sailed on the Magic and had the same problem.

This after NEVER having to stand in line on the Spirit class ships (Legend and Pride).

Eye opener for me. Never leaving the Spirit class.

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I have been on six Carnival ships. The Pride is still my favorite. The Dream is my least liked design. In my opinion the Spirit class ships were the pinnacle for guest enjoyment.

 

 

 

Plenty of balconies which the older class ships lack like the Fantasy and the Paradise.

 

Not too many people, around 2000 most cruises. This is where the dream drops the ball. She is a bigger ship, but not much more actual public space and twice the cruisers. So everything is crowded.

 

I also have a theory that the decor on the Pride causes people to behave just a little better.

Nail on head. Lines on Dream class are crazy when you come from the Pride.

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Another thing to keep in mind if you like the lobster in the MDR- there is no longer lobster served in the MDR on 5 day cruises. 7 is short enough for me, I’d just be getting unpacked on a 5 day. Lol

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Been on 1 RCL and 5 Carnival. RCL cruise was my first. But when I have the option EVERYNIGHT of going to the Piano Bar (not a lounge lizard piano player, but a real song a long piano bar) and/or comedian it was hands down Carnival for my cruising money.

I think my RCL cruise had maybe 2 or 3 nights of a comedian and NO sing a long.

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We decided to keep our Panorama deck room. Sobering mentioned that the balconies in the spa deck are not covered. Can someone confirm this?

 

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That’s correct. Mine didn’t have a roof on the balcony. That being said, I was on floor 12 on Magic. Aren’t some 11th floor rooms Spa? It may depend on your floor.

Carnival Magic - 4/17

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Cabin is nothing special. Was on Magic Spa Balcony in April. If you want to use the Spa, then it may be worth it for you. But the cabin is the same as other balconies. I enjoyed the Spa freebies that came with the room but will probably not book again u less it’s a great rate/ free upgrade.

Carnival Magic - 4/17

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

So Lobster and Prime rib on American Feast nights, huh? Hmmm. Think I'll move the steakhouse dinner to another night so I Don't miss the Lobster...not a fan of prime rib so i will keep the Cucina reservation.

 

 

 

Good info....thanks to all.

EVERY night is American Table. No such thing as American Feast.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Problem i see is that you will be missing out on the lobster in the MDR the first night. Prime rib the second (Wednesday).

I'm just off the Magic last week and I would NEVER do the steakhouse on elegant night for these reasons.

American Table is every night. Lobster and prime Rib only on elegant. .

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Question about Grand Turk - I'm wondering if I should just lounge on the beach or rent a golf cart and do some exploring. I'm trying to get cheap this cruise and staying away from all excursions, which is easy for Nassau as I don't get off the ship there anymore. With the other stop being Amber Cove I also heard there is plenty to enjoy right off the ship.

Literally right at the end of the dock in GT is a great beach. For you the question would be do you mind sharing with 1,000 of your new friends. If not then go for it. If you want seclusion, rent a vehicle.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Ports

Amber Cove - disappointed that there was no beach access on property.

Zip line was worth it, especially if you ride it more than once. It's $20 adults $10 kids and can ride all day.

Pool was nice and had a DJ. Plenty of lounge chairs.

St Thomas - did zip line tour with Tree Limin. Excellent time. Memorable views looked into doing it privately but worked out cheaper with Carnival bc of cost of own taxi. Just wished Carnival allowed you to pick ur own time instead of picking for you.

San Juan - visited fort just north of port then took a taxi ($20 for 8 people) to Laguna Del Condada where we paddleboarded. $20 for an hour. Also nice calm beach there to enjoy after.

Grand Turk. Rented golf carts and explored the island. Took our snorkel gear and found a couple great beaches. Best advice - if a beach u find is too windy/rough, go to the other side of the island and it will be calm like bath water. Easy to do on an island this small. One of the most beautiful places I have visited.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Did they announce this as a mechanical problem, or perhaps it was just a matter of uncharacteristically high waves? The image on the left, below, is the nominal wave heights for the Caribbean Seas this time of year. The image on the right is the wave heights this morning.

 

Lol. You will never get an announcement like that. I asked an officer about it and he confirmed.

It was very windy the last 2 days but the seas were no larger than 3-5 ft swells.

Again. Something similar size and smaller ships I have been on handled much better.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

I sailed the Magic on April 1st and I still have no idea what this 'sewage' smell is, or where to find it.

 

The only line for any food we saw was at Guys the last two days. Easily 50 people deep on both sides, about 10 minutes after opening.

The sewage was on deck 9 aft starboard. A couple in our party rec'd a $150 OBC for it although don't think that was nearly enough for having the cabin and hallway smell like that at least once a day.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Ok, I'm a little concerned about the stabilizer issue. We have a first timer going with us and I'm worried about her getting sick. We have been on several cruises (one during a hurricane) so I'm not worried about us. Was the rocking enough to make you sick?

 

 

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It didn't make anyone in our party of 10 sick, it was more of a nuisance bc I know a ship that size should not be doing that.

There was nothing past the few times where everyone in the hall all go and extra step right then all go back left again.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Tons of kids. Lol. But when you go Easter week, we expected it. Not to mention we contributed to it. :)

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

We always like to get a certain dining time so that we can develop a relationship with our servers in the MDR.

Our servers at MDR were fantastic. All Bar Tenders were excellent especially at Alchemy.

Everyone we encountered were all either very good or exceptional with the exception of our cabin steward. But I'd still rate him as fair.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Just off the Magic on Saturday. We went to Amber Cove, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and Grand Turk.

My 4th Carnival cruise with my DW and DD 14 and DS 12. all had a blast.

Pros -

itinerary. Our first time at these ports and we loved them. (More details later).

Food was very good. We ate dinner in the Southern Light MDR every night. Ordered off the Steakhouse menu once but that food was no better than other nights of the MDR menu and not worth the $20 upcharge. (We had dined in the Streakhouse on a previous cruise and that WAS worth it). Buffett was fair to good. Pig and Anchor was exceptional. We went to the Italian restaurant on embarkation day for free lunch and did not enjoy it. It was just a pasta bar so may not be indicative of the quality they have for dinner.

Rope Walk was fun

Comedians - very good but because of the size of the ship and (lack of) size of the comedy club we were forced to exit after each show and take ur chances on being able to get back in after the line of people who had queued up outside the lounge. First time we had experienced this.

Cons -

Stabilizers on this boat were broken or not deployed. Bumps like we were running over roadkill I could not ever figure out. But lack of stabilizers lead to just a side to side rolling that a boat that large and seas relatively calm should not be doing.

Buffett lines - seems like they have the same amount of Buffett stations as the Pride but handling 1,000 more passengers proved to be quite crowded.

Piano bar - A for effort but wow. Roddy was like trying to sing along to a record on 78 speed. And worse, when passed a note asking him to slow it down or keep the original tempo he went on a tirade about how he was an artist and he was performing. No Roddy you are not an artist, Carnival hired you to play at a bar sing a long.

We had a spa room and would go hang in the Thesollain (sp) pool and saunas but didn't think the extras were worth the $$ but YMMV.

Proseco (Italian champagne) was originally listed as avail on Cheers package but when we tried to order it , it had been removed.

Family member had bowling alley balcony. But the sanitation odor that we had read about previously was still present.

DW waited over 45 minutes for the Manchuria Wok. Just not acceptable.

Also had FFTF but for our itinerary found that other than embarkation and disembarkation it was not worth the money. Our itinerary had no tenders and we learned that when docking FTTF doesn't matter. No preference is given to get off first.

More time needed in port - as mentioned above we LOVED our ports but wished we had more time at them. Obviously that's a function of the miles between them but it would be nice to overnight one or more of these places.

I will try to detail ports tmrw. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

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I found 2 reasons to do the early dining with my 2 kids who were 8 and 10 at the time.

1) after a full day of activities my 8 year old was really dragging trying to keep eyes open when you sit down at 8pm and get finished around 9:30 for late dining.

2) he kids club activities typically start around 730 so early dining is much more convenient from that point of view.

Btw- when at home with sports practices my family typically doesn't eat dinner until 7:30 or 8pm with no problems. But on the cruise it is way different.

Our first cruise in 2013 was late dining, we have done early the rest of them.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

Skip

Unless the stabilizers were inoperable, the Magic is more than capable of handling most seas conditions.

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

My daughter is 14 and my son is 11. My son will turn 12 a month after we sail. We are also with another family that has a 12 year old.

Will Carnival allow an exception to be made to allow my son to be in Circle C (12-14) instead of Camp Carnival (9-11)?

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For iPhones the setting is under Settings- Date and Time - Set Automatically - change to OFF

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10am is what time it's due in this week. I was giving general rules of arrival for a suite holder leaving out of Baltimore.

Obviously, one should adjust their time based on any related delayed arrival by the ship. Ship is always SCHEDULED to be in between 8-9am.

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Hi there

 

Did you notice...the OP said they had a check in time for 12:30-1. If they arrive at the terminal before 12:30 they will not be allowed into the terminal building until after 12:30. That would defeat the purpose of arriving earlier.

 

To the OP, If you arrived at your scheduled time, the ship will likely be already boarding. So after you finish your check in process you will not have to wait too long to board. I would however suggest that (if convenient for you) you try to come a little later 1-1:30 p.m. You will be able to check in right away, the crowds would be thinning somewhat, you will not have any wait to board and by then your cabin will also likely be ready for you to enter. (if you are too early the cabin may not be ready)

 

hope this helps

have a great cruise

I did notice.

Did you read the rules for Suites ?

The OP CAN and SHOULD arrive much earlier than that as I said in my original post.

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Keep checking to see if some become available. On our last cruise, right around the date that final payment was due, several opened up. Likely they were from people who booked then canceled their cruise when final payment was due. Doesn't hurt to check.

Actually FTTF was avail then because they wait and see how many Diamond and Platinum guests are signed up before figuring out how many additional FTTF passes they will release.

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