Stapleton1

Sorry, we did not save any of the Fun Times nor take any photos of them.  Schedule is pretty full all day, depending on what you like to do.  We are primarily sit by a pool and relax folks so we don't do many of the activities.

We took a non-stop from DCA to FLL on Southwest, no bag fees!!!

Debarkation – We are still able to carry off all our luggage, so we opt to do this rather than wait for our bags.  We had a fairly early flight 11:50 and wanted to be sure that we weren’t rushed.  We walked down to deck 3 showroom around 6:30 where all self-carry folks were told to meet at 6:45. We were told that we could bring our luggage down and wait and that once the platinum and diamond folks were off, we would be able to debark.  We grabbed our bags and headed down at 6:45 and were told just to join the line and were through customs and immigration waiting for an Uber by 7:10. Have never had an easier embarkation or debarkation in all our cruises.  Of course, this meant that we were at the airport by 7:40 and couldn’t even drop our bags since it was more than 4 hours before our flight.  Well at least we weren’t rushed.  Stopped at the Air Margaritaville past security for breakfast and then hung out and waited for our flight back to D.C.

Final thoughts – We really enjoyed this cruise.  The Magic is a nice ship with some quirks.  I would be sure to not book a cabin on deck 6 again and really did not like the amount of smoke in the casino.  Bring some patience and be prepared to wait for things and it will be fine, you’re on vacation after all!  Enjoy those out of the way locations (decks 5 & 11) for relaxing without the masses.  We usually like the Serenity area but find when they are up on Deck 15 without a pool it is not as fun for us so we didn’t spend any time there on this ship (love serenity on the Pride).  This itinerary is great with lovely ports of call.  Feel free to ask questions and I’ll try to answer them as best I can.

Grand Turk – We were the only ship in port and this was our third visit to Grand Turk.  Admittedly, there just isn’t much to do here.  We don’t like being piled on top of others close to the port and Margaritaville has lost its luster for us.  As usual we walked down to Jack’s Shack and got two chairs and an umbrella for $10.  This beach is beautiful, the water is clear, it’s not too crowded and the drinks are cold.  A bucket of 6 Turks Head beers is $26 and they make some great drinks.  Have never eaten here, but the food smells amazing.  Topher and Calypso showed up mid-morning and made their rounds, they are always fun to play with.  There are lots of strays along the beach looking for some food and water, please try to give them a scrap or two and maybe share some water with them.  Headed back to the ship and called it a day.

San Juan, Puerto Rico – This was our first time in San Juan, and we were only there from 7:00 – 2:00.  We were there along with the Allure.  We decided to do a walking tour that I found online before we left and headed out to see the old town and explore the forts (Castillos) and other sights.  Sadly, we didn’t plan on the forts not opening until 9:00 but still got some great photos.  It was hot and humid so by the time we got to the Castillo del Morro it was still only 8:30 and we were sweating through our clothes.  We stopped at Cuartel de Ballaja to go into the Don Ruiz coffee shop, great idea, air conditioned and iced coffee got a spring back in our step.  We then went to the Castillo del Morro, but didn’t feel like standing in line to go in, it was just too uncomfortable.   Made out way through the streets of old town but couldn’t walk on the Paseo del Morro as it was closed for repairs.  Ended up at a small bar, I think it was Colmado ba Moreno, the kind of place where we were the only non-native patrons.  Cold beers, fun group inside and the kind of place we enjoy more than a Senor Frogs or Carlos and Charlies.  We explored a little more and then were just done with the heat and humidity and headed back to the ship, seemed like everyone getting onboard was just as miserable as we were!

St. Kitts & Nevis – As opposed to St. Maarten, this stop has well maintained roads, easy transport and a much more modern feel to it.  There were three ships in port, us and the Allure at the main terminal and the Fascination at a sub terminal on the other side of the bay.  We got a taxi to ourselves to the Marriot Resort $15 total and we had pre-ordered a day pass.  Great place, wonderful staff that made us feel like we were guests of the hotel rather than cruise ship day pass holders.  We got access to the beach where they have large permanent shelters with lots of shade, multiple chairs and a table along with the use of the pools.  The beach is covered in Seagrass, but they were actively raking it up and hauling it away, they must have to do this every day because by the time we left it was already accumulating on the beach again.  It is a little disconcerting to be in the water and have stuff brush against you (legs, stomach, chest, head) but you can’t avoid it and get use to it after a while.  We went to the pool area for a while and they are great with lots going on, all the chairs have shades that you can maneuver to get more or less sun.  There is also a swim up bar that was nice to sit at and have a Carib.  When it was time to go, there were taxis right out in front, and we asked our driver to take us to Timothy Hill to take in the views.  Very crowded but worth the views in my opinion.  The one thing that we didn’t like all over St. Kitts were the people that walk around with Monkeys trying to get you to take a picture for $5, very exploitive of the little fellas.  We got back to the port and walked around the shopping area, had a beverage and then made our way back on board. 

St. Maarten – There were 2 ships in port the day we were there, us and the Fascination.  Debarking at the port was easy, but the dock itself was a cluster with all the tours lining up from two ships, made it tough to get out.  Once in the port terminal we went to the taxi stand to go to Orient Beach.  They gather up a group and send you out together, we expected to have to find our own way back, but our driver said he would pick us up at 2:30 and he was on time and made the day great by not having to worry about how to get back.  St. Maarten is still not back to strength after the hurricane and there are only a couple of places on Orient operating.  We went to Kon-Tiki and we really enjoyed the place.  It’s a little pricey $30 for two chairs and an umbrella with no drinks included, but it is new/clean/well run/and friendly.  Love that beach.  If you are easily shocked, remember that the entire beach is topless so you will see lots of nudity if that sort of thing bothers you.  The nude section of the beach is not far away but you can’t see anything unless you walk down there.  Since we were in a group taxi, we were not able to stop in Phillipsburg on the way back to the ship and didn’t want to chance missing the boat, so we headed back to the ship and spent the last couple of hours on board.  The drive to and from Orient is not full of nice views or very pretty, still lots of destruction and lack of infrastructure.

Casino – Bring your gas mask, smoky doesn’t begin to describe this place.  We like to wager while on board but found at times that the smoke ran us out.  Speaking of smokers, if you want to smoke that is your choice, but a few times we had to point out to people that the entire ship is not a smoking area.  I do have to wonder why the smoking areas have the best/most comfortable seating on the entire ship though……

Other eating areas – The Lido buffet was crowded, and it was tough finding a seat at times, but the biggest disappointment was the selection of food.  Seems like the choices have been pared down and there is not much variety.  Guys Burgers were great as always and the Blue Iguana burritos and tacos were good as well.  We ate lunch at the Pig and Anchor twice because it was so wonderful, highly recommend it.  We didn’t try the Mongolian Wok (lines too long) or the seafood place by the Tides Pool (additional charge), or the Cucina del Capitano.  We did go to the Prime Steakhouse one night as per our usual plan and it did not disappoint.  Great steak and sides, dessert was wonderful.

Entertainment – I know I’m going to stir up some controversy here, but this is just our opinion.  The shows in the theater are just not for us, seems like an off-off-off Broadway type of venue, have never found them entertaining and quite frankly don’t want to waste our time.  Don’t find the fun in the HASBRO show or the Love and Marriage show anymore as well.  The comedians are a great addition to the evening entertainment schedule except that you had better plan on spending 45 minutes of your cruise to find a seat, I showed up 30 minutes early for a show and had to stand in the back, loads of people just turned around and left.  Would be nice if for the late night shows to be held in the showroom where everyone could get a seat.  The string trio was great as always, but by the middle of the cruise you were hearing the same songs again and again.  Rebecca in the Piano Bar was great, fun and entertaining.  Had to feel sorry for her though having to sing “American Pie” every night!  Dive In Movies are fun, had a great selection and for the most part if you got there a few minutes early you could find a seat.

Bars and bar service – Good luck getting a drink without having to get up and get it yourself if you are at the pool.  Seems as if Carnival has decided to have 1 or 2 waiters running around serving the areas.  We would just go to the bar ourselves rather than wait for a server to appear.  We found the bartenders to be pleasant and fun, though they are spread thin and you should expect to wait a few minutes.  We had the drink package and have found that it allows us to not worry about how much we spend.

We were in cabin 6318 and while it was a standard balcony cabin, I would not recommend this room.  With the layout of the ship any balcony on deck 6 will sit directly above the promenade on deck 5, so you will have many people walking right below you.  Additionally, there are 2 hot tubs per side on deck 5 so you may have to sit and look directly at the people sitting in there and hear everything they say (which also means they can hear you).  Also, check what is below you if you choose deck 6, you may also be directly above the Pig and Anchor and will have BBQ smoke and smell at all times of the day, or you may be directly above a designated smoking area.  The biggest problem we had though besides this was the fact that every night at midnight the casino had a “Big Loot” giveaway and we could hear every word that blasted through the loudspeakers one deck below.  I also noticed while walking on deck 6 that music being played in other bars on deck 5 could be heard clearly, obviously not good if you want to sleep peacefully.

Other outside areas – Deck 11 is nice if you get too hot in the sun, depending on which side of the ship the sun is on you can go to the other side and find loungers easily in the shade, plus there is an overhang from deck 12 you can sit under.  Sometimes there would be a strong breeze here so strap things down if you happen to be here at that time.  We also found that deck 5 has loads of chairs and if you want some shade/sun and peace and quiet this is the place to sit.  Of course, you will be in full view of the balconies on the decks above.

Will try to add some photos at home tonight.

Notes on the ship and other stuff...

Couple of notes on the ship/dining areas/cabin/pools

The ship itself is very nice with lots of activities, yes there is a bit of rust showing and some stains on carpeting, but overall it was in good shape

The dining area (Northern Lights) that we had was nice, but the tables are just jammed in there, we felt like we couldn’t talk without having our neighbors essentially joining the conversation.  The food itself was excellent, I don’t think we had a bad meal in the dining room all week but did have some problems with service on a couple of nights.  Once we left before our coffee and dessert arrived because we had already been in there almost 2 hours and had waited 15 minutes without even a coffee cup being placed on the table.  We had breakfast a couple of mornings in the Southern Lights dining room and it was excellent.  Note: The Northern Lights dining room has almost nothing but obstructed views as the lifeboats block the views out of the windows.

The pool areas were very crowded all week and the chair hogs were out in full force by 8:00 am every sea day.  There is little seating in the shade by the pools so if you get burned easily it could be tough to find a spot without full sun.  We didn’t use the main pool area but sat at the Tides Pool at the back of the ship, the pool got rather crowded as the day went on.  On the 1st day at sea a child threw up in the pool and it was disgusting to watch people refuse to exit the pool and just try to brush it away from them, even saw a couple of people swim right through the chunks.  They did close the pool after about 20 minutes.

More to come
 

Day 2 Embarkation Day and beyond

We had already decided that we would take an Uber to the port rather than use the shuttle service the hotel offers.  The shuttle is run by a non-hotel entity and they charge $8 per person for a ride to the port, since there were two of us it would have been $16 total, whereas we took an Uber with tip for $13 and didn’t have to jam in with a load of people and could leave when we wanted to.  From the time we ordered the Uber to the time we exited at the Port was less than 15 minutes.

When we arrived at the port, we dropped our bags and entered the terminal.  We had a 12:30 arrival time, but since check out at the hotel was 11:00 we went ahead and arrived early thinking, “well it will take some time and then we can at least sit at the terminal”.  Surprise, surprise.  We were directed to a line and were getting our pictures taken for our sign & sail cards in less than 5 minutes and were on board the ship by 11:45. So from the time we called the Uber until we were standing on board the ship was less than 45 minutes.  We were so speechless that we didn’t know what to do with ourselves!!  The rooms aren’t ready until 1:30 so we had some time to kill and did some exploring of the ship and then got lunch in the Lido Buffet area.  

We got into our room, got ourselves settled and headed out to enjoy the views and have an adult beverage until it was time to depart.  Love watching the ship leave Port Everglades and head out into the ocean.

We had Any Time Dining and have found that this works best for the two of us.  Note:  Carnival now uses the Hub App to help alleviate wait times for the MDR if you are on Any Time Dining.  You can request a table for the number of people in your group and it tells you when your table is ready, you then have 10 minutes to show up before they give the table away.  This was great as we could sit in the Atrium lobby with a drink and listen to music until we were ready and then request a table, within 5-10 minutes we got notice that the table was ready and we went right in, no wait in line.
 

Good Morning - Just getting around to putting a review together of our cruise on the Magic May 11 - 19.  Will try to get updates uploaded over the next couple of days but will start with getting to Fort Lauderdale and then on to the cruise.  Happy to answer any questions anyone may have and will do my best to answer them.  We are a couple from the D.C. area travelling without any additional cruisers or children, so I am going to be unable to answer anything related to children's activities!

Day 1 Travel Day & Background

This was our 10th or 11th cruise, have forgotten the exact number, and our 7th on Carnival.  This was our first time on the Magic.  My wife and I chose this cruise based on the itinerary and were not disappointed with our choice.

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale a day early from the D.C. region and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express – Cruise/Air Port location on 17th street.  We were able to find the hotel pick up area at the airport and were on our way to the hotel in less than 10 minutes.  One note, the owner of this hotel has another hotel nearby (Four Points by Sheraton) and two vans, one for each hotel, so while the van might have the Holiday Inn Express logo and phone number on the side it won’t go to that hotel unless it is dedicated to it.  We had issues with calling the hotel to get a pick up, kept getting disconnected, but the driver decided that he would take us anyways even though he was driving for the other hotel.

The hotel has an old section and a new section, I strongly recommend getting in the new section as it was bright, modern, and where the pool and breakfast area were.  The old section reminded me of a slasher movie setting and seemed really dated and somewhat gross.  The hotel is great if you want to be able to walk to restaurants and a Publix grocery to pick-up last-minute items.  Overall the hotel was good for the price. 

More coming later.......

Good Morning All, just back from the Pride yesterday and thought I would throw a few thoughts together for anyone sailing soon. Always get good info from this site and want to be sure to help out. Will try to break things down by sections and as always these thoughts are just mine and understand that others will feel differently.

Ship: The Pride is a great ship, well laid out and easy to navigate, that being said she is showing her age and is ready to go off to the plastic surgeon for a bit of a nip and tuck. While there wasn't anything substantial that was wrong it was pretty obvious that it is time for a dry dock. If someone wants to they can find the flaws, but it's vacation and it won't distract you from having a great time.

Stateroom: We were in a standard balcony cabin, 6120 and it is just what you would expect from this type of cabin. We (wife and I) had plenty of room for our things and the suitcases fit under the bed just fine. Our cabin steward, Sabina, was great and always made sure we were taken care of. Since the stewards are working hard all the time, we opted to just have our room made up in the morning each day rather than twice a day and had no issues. The balcony did have a bit of an issue in that the gutter that runs along the edge was not sealed to the decking and allowed water to collect underneath of it which squirted out if you stepped on it. For the entire cruise the decking on our balcony was damp and wet and never did dry out. Also the deck above us must have had some issues as well since we would get dripped on throughout the cruise from above.

Activities & Events: We found that without fail nearly every event lacked sufficient space for those that wanted to attend. The Dive In movies were always full and folks were dragging chairs to get seats or sitting on Deck 10 to watch from above, the comedy shows were virtually impossible to attend unless you showed up at least 15 minutes early, and the trivia events were jammed each day. We attempted to attend one of the shows in the evening (88 Keys) and there was a problem with the stage so they held it as a concert without dancing or anything, just the cast sitting on stools singing......well we didn't make it through the first song. We ended up calling them the Solid Gold Dancers and Singers and likened it to watching a high school talent show. Again just our opinions but we did not find them entertaining. The casino was as smoky as ever and very tight!!! The musicians on board were fine, we enjoyed the Fusion String Trio for the first few days and then grew tired of hearing the same songs played, Kaleidoscope were good as well. We chose the Cheers package since we have figured out that we can at least come out even at the least, works well but the drinks tend to be pretty weak.

Ports: Our first port was Grand Turk and we were joined in port by the Sunshine. We went straight to Jack's Shack and rented a couple of chairs and an umbrella where we spent the day enjoying the water, sand, cold beers, and of course Topher and Calypso. Since there were two ships in port it was a bit crowded but nothing like the mass of humanity that was closer to the port. We then went to Half Moon Cay, and being our first time there we were blown away by how beautiful this island is. We didn't do anything but enjoy our time on the beach and couldn't get over the water and the views. Since the Cheers package does not work on the island (why I don't know), we had stocked several beers in our cabin fridge throughout the early part of the week and put them in a collapsible cooler with ice and took it with us, lasted throughout the day and no one said anything to us. Final stop was in Freeport and after reading not much about this port and having the crew even say that there is nothing to do there we went in with low expectations. We ended up sharing a cab with 8 others to Taino Beach for a few hours and enjoyed a couple of cold ones, but were less than impressed, back to the ship with a little shopping at the port and then back on board. Really you only have about 5 hours total in port and there is nothing to do other than shop and drink at the port village.

Embarkation and Debarkation: We drove over from Northern Virginia Sunday morning around 11:30 and were checked in and ready to board by 12:15. There was a small issue with clearing the crew by CBP so that delayed getting folks on, but we were on the ship by 1:30 room keys in hand and had all of our luggage before muster drill. Debarkation is simple for us as we chose to self carry and were in our car and headed home by 10:30.

Food: The main dining room was fine and the food was pretty good, service was great compared to our last Carnival Cruise last fall until the last day when we had to ask for assistance both for breakfast and dinner since we seemed to have been forgotten about. The buffet was OK for breakfast but lunch was to me at least not appealing and I opted for either Guy's burgers, burritos from Blue Iguana, or a sandwich from the deli. Pizza is thin and not the best you will ever get, but it gets the job done. We dined at David's one evening and as usual it was excellent, from the service to the food I would have dinner there anytime.

Well that should about wrap it up, please hit me up with any questions you may have. One last request, the number of straws and pieces of plastic that we picked up both onboard and walking down the various beaches was astounding. If you don't need a straw ask them not to give you one, honestly you would think that the cruise lines would do away with them or at least opt for a biodegradable version to help clean up the very waterways and oceans that they depend on.

Thanks!!

Just back off of Splendor and wanted to get a short review of some of the good and unfortunately bad points of the trip. Just to start we did have a great vacation, it's what you make of it so we made sure we had fun and enjoyed the trip, but it could have been better had Carnival tried a little harder. Understand the change in itinerary due to the hurricanes, would have liked going South instead of West, but what can you do.

Low Point - Embarkation, in a word "awful". We arrived at 11:50 for our 12-12:30 arrival time and finally got on board at close to 2:00pm, no signs, no marking of lines, no friendly staff helping direct people. The consistent theme from what we heard was it was the worst most people had seen. I started sending Carnival messages through their FB page but did not get a reply.

We did not meet our cabin steward until the second day, we asked a steward in the hallway if he was in charge of our cabin or else we may not have met him then. Was fine after that, but was a sign of what was to come. The room 7225 balcony was fine, bed comfortable and had no issues with room. Good location forward.

Dining - Don't know what is going on but we averaged over 1 1/2 hours for dinner. Wait 20 minutes get bread and order, another 10 minutes and wine shows up, 15 minutes later appetizers arrive, 30 minutes later main course arrives, 15 minutes later dessert menu, 15 minutes later dessert arrives. Had to ask our waiter one night what was taking so long, he looked confused, but of course everyone was trying to do the dance and song instead of serving meals. Most of our meals arrived just warm and usually slightly cold, didn't send back because we had already waited so long. Saw a couple of people storm out due to wait. Breakfast in MDR was fine and recommended. Buffet is an odd layout and tended to have long lines and tough to find a place to sit.

Serenity - no pools or whirlpools available, bar service was primarily go to bar yourself, but it was for the most part quiet and relaxing.

Entertainment - started watching a couple of shows and just couldn't stay, comedians were good but lounge is very crowded and usually ended up standing unless you showed up 15-20 minutes early. Music was good enjoyed the band in the atrium each evening, they were fun.

Ports - Princess Cay-basic beach day, drink service good, we sat at the far left of the beach if looking from the ship, quiet and relaxing. The beach itself is very rocky and watched a lot of people stumble and fall trying to get to an area without rocks. Beach lunch was a no go for us, line was very long and we didn't want to wait for burgers. Spouse ended up waking up the next day with sand flea bites all over her, made for an itchy rest of the week.

Ocho Rios - Our least favorite port in the Caribbean, we did a little shopping in town and then had lunch at Margaritaville and used their beach before going back to ship.

Grand Cayman - Taxi to Calico Jacks, rented chairs and umbrella, got bucket of beers and enjoyed the beach, some shopping in town and back to ship.

Cozumel - Have been here several times and tried something new this time, the Cozumel Bar Hop to the Eastern side of the island. Best part of trip, loved it and would do it again and again.

That's it for now, may do more later but tired and work calls tomorrow.

Received the notice from Carnival about itinerary, looks like we will be spending an extra day at sea rather than adding a port to replace Freeport.