pe4all

I am kind of surprised the wind caused the gangway to smash into the ship, or visa versa., as some reported. It usually seems to be tied up quite securely with the ropes, though we have felt the gangway move/sway at times getting on or off the ship at a port. That must have been some big wind! Hopefully the cruise won't be impacted too badly, though they are already missing a port. Bet they will cancel rest of cruise and limp back to Miami. Hopefully next cruise won't be impacted.

Great review. We are looking forward to trying Venezia, as NY is our homeport. Interested in how crowded the public areas seemed - Lido, pools, serenity, etc. We usually use our balcony or find loungers NOT on Lido - but in another area (quiet) on one of the decks.

We just got off Magic Sunday. They started setting up for the concert Saturday afternoon. (emptied Lido pool, setting up stage, chairs, etc. Hopefully the ship has only cosmetic damage, if any at all, and the ship can dock safely at new dock.

I am always surprised at the number of kids onboard my January cruises. Don't know if it is because they are being home-schooled, or if the parents just pull them out of school for a week. As a retired teacher I kind of understand missing a day or two of school for the educational aspect of visiting places and learning about a culture different than ours - but to pull out for a week or more....🤷‍♀️ just mho.

My best advice to you is to "go with the flow" - don't let small things bother you. The crew is there to make your cruise the very best it can be. Treat them with respect. If you eat at the buffet when you board, go up to deck 10 (there is a stairway in the buffet area) where the bbq area is - it is usually very quiet up there the first day until people "discover" it. Lots of tables also, when lido buffet area is very crowded. Short cruises are usually more of a party atmosphere than longer ones, as people try to stuff as much drinking in as they can - lol.

We went on Magic out of NYC June 2022. It was my Diamond cruise, so I have definitely been on many CCL cruises. I always cruise with my special needs dd35-also Diamond. NY is our home port and we definitely want to try again - but not when school is out - lol. As a teacher for 37 years I can now cruise when most kids are in school as I am retired and not hampered by having to book during school vacations.

This cruise is on my bucket list! C'mon dh, retire already!

Thank you for your review. We have sailed out of NY numerous times - NCL and CCL. We did sail Magic last time, and were surprised at the number of teens causing trouble - running wildly around the ship at all hours, totally blocking stairways so you literally had to climb over them, etc. By the end of the cruise security was posted outside the clubs to try to control the issues. Unfortunately some parents seem to think they (parents) are on vacation and let their kids run wild and do not supervise them. We will try Venezia in the future and hopefully will sail when there won't be as many issues as you saw. BTW - thank you for stepping in and helping the girl you saw on the ground. Many probably would just turn and walk away.

Safe flight and thank you for taking the time to post everything. I can't wait to see you published in the future - I will surely be one of your biggest fans!

Great start! Was on Horizon once- a bit too big and crowded for me, even with access to Havana area. (didn't help when going to Lido or shows - lol) Looking forward to the rest. BTW - good looking group of cruisers!

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise. We fly to MIA Friday for our Magic cruise Saturday! Can't wait, but not looking forward to Marathon weekend and Icon of the Seas intro and first sailing- neither of which was "set" when we booked over a year ago - lol.

We love the Liberty, and that class of ship. Have been on every one of them, and - even though it is "older" would not hesitate to sail on any of them again. Have a great cruise!

I just did a search on cruisedeckplans.com - there is a video of Liberty aft wrap cabin 6483, which is identical to your cabin. It shows a couch, and the cabin is listed as a triple, so you should have no problem with your soon having a place to sleep!

We use NCL for our European trips. We liked the new shows, love the piano bar, O'Sheehans pub, etc. They just seemed to have better itineraries than CCL in Europe when we booked. Easier departure ports, which is big for us. They will nickel and dime you also, but their free at sea can be really worth it if you hit a sale.

Have a great day! Love the Philly cheesesteak from room service. The chicken fingers are also really, really good. I miss not having them on the buffet as they used to "back when."

They look like a "slap" bracelet that goes around cans, bottles, etc.

This has worked for us for the last 40 years we have been married. DH has no idea of travel dates, itineraries, hotels, price, etc. I even pack his suitcase - lol.

I can see I will be getting little, if any kind of work done during these live reviews. Can't think of a better way to spend my time!

Looking forward to cruising "in spirit" with The Tribe. Glad I can follow along day in and day out from my home computer before my 1/27 Magic cruise. If our cruises over-lapped I would be sitting around all day on the ship following this thread instead of enjoying my cruise, which won't be 1/2 the fun of your cruise!

You have been lucky, then. We never book a flight before 12:30 pm, and are always off the ship by 9. We leave our luggage outside our door the night before. Last cruise we started to debark at 9, made it to the walkway overlooking the seating area of the terminal, and were at a dead stop for 40 minutes. It was hot, people were upset, and when we finally got down the escalator the facial id was not working. Our luggage was supposed to be in a certain area, and wasn't. We had to run around looking for it and finally found it ( #1 tags still on, so it wasn't as if they had to guess where it went) then onto the customs line. Still had plenty of time to get to MIA, but it definitely could have been better.

Wishing you the best of luck. Almost nothing worse than having to worry about the weather and how it may effect flights.

We also have had these issues with debarkation in Miami. Sometimes it is due to customs backups, sometimes due to people not following instructions on when to debark. We do not use the Diamond debark as we don't want to sit in the airport for over 4 hours. Wish they would maybe have an "early" Diamond/Plat debark and one maybe an hour later!

I always put 2 luggage tags on my luggage because I am fearful of 1 being torn off after I hand my luggage to porter at embarkation. I think I will mix and match, as you said- great idea - thank you!

From CCL website: Minor Guest Policy: Guests are required to be 21 years of age (on embarkation day) to travel on their own. I gather that means to have cabin on their own. Booking a 20 year old and an infant in 1 cabin doesn't meet CCL's requirement.

I printed my luggage tags almost a year ago for Magic- right when I got my cabin confirmation. They were red (deck 8 aft) Just went to print 2 more, and they are olive green-ish. It isn't my printer - put in a new cartridge - lol! Any guesses which I should use? Both have Diamond printed on bottom in red. New ones have slightly smaller print than older ones.