adam3313

Excited to hear about how the adventure goes today!

Ship: Breeze

Homeport: Miami

8 Night Southern Caribbean

Itinerary:

Saturday - Miami

Sunday - Half Moon Cay

Monday - Grand Turk

Tuesday - Sea Day

Wednesday - Aruba

Thursday - Curacao

Friday - Sea Day

Saturday - Sea Day

Sunday - Miami

Room: Spa Balcony I guess

Enjoying the review so far! I'll be on the Magic in November!

I was just on the 4 night to Bermuda on the Horizon. For the first time, I decided to "rough it" and just get the Social plan. I thought it was way more reliable for posting/loading snapchat than any other ship I've been on. Also, my iMessage stayed activated the entire cruise, which was a first.

I wish I knew that the little Snowflake on the thermostat was a "Quick Cool" feature that would shut off your preferred temperature after 15 minutes. Took 2 nights until we learned that on my recent Getaway cruise.

So I'm new to NCL, but cruising in a few weeks. Was thinking about trying to put in for an upgrade from interior to balcony, but I am booked under my friend's land-based casino offer. Will we lose any of those perks if I try to bid on an upgrade?

Thanks,

I was able to replicate it for January 2020, but not in April 2020.

This was on Carnival Dream last week in my cabin:

 

CNN

CNN International

CNN in Spanish

Headline News

Boomerang

Cartoon Network

Turner Network Television (TNT)

Turner Broadcasting System (TBS)

Turner Classic Movies (TCM)

True TV

One complimentary movie channel however most of the time this channel only showed an advertisement for what was available on Pay Per View for $4.99 per movie

at least they have some News options, and a few "Real" channels.

One thing I've heard is any additional gratuity you add on your drink goes to the bartender who actually makes it, while the Cheers 15% gratuity is shared between all bar staff on board.

Great review so far! I feel like since I'm from VA I need to get myself on the Pride someday soon!

About your $12.22 refund, it's possible that could've been for a port fee. I feel like every cruise I've been on there's always a random amount of refundable credit on my account right when I get on. I think sometimes the port fees change, and you get the difference back. It very well could've been for the late start, but just another thought on what it could've been.

Looking forward to the rest of the review!

The TV change is slightly annoying. Always nice to have something to watch when going to bed or getting ready. Did they get rid of all channels other than ship programming, or just the Network TV channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX)? It'd be nice to have the news channels at the minimum.

Room Service again is an annoyance, but I hope they are adding staffing to improve the complimentary options remaining, or at least making the room service quick if you are charging for it now.

The Fun Shops delivery fee doesn't really affect me, since they don't charge for Bottled Water, but it is annoying for anyone who has someone purchase a gift for someone, etc. The prices are already so jacked up, that an additional 15% is ridiculous.

That's fine, but if they're charging an additional fee late night, the service time better improve!

I'm not picky, but when I finish up a long night at the casino, I always like something to eat. The pizza line is always ridiculously long, and the ice cream machines are always out of service late at night (even though they are advertised as 24/7 option). Last cruise, I was saved by the little boxes of cereal already being out on Lido Buffet!

I sure hope John is right that they are increasing staffing at the pizza place!

Isn't Splendor set to leave Carnival and transfer to P&O to go to China? Wasn't that part of the deal for Carnival getting Panorama?

Excellent review as always! Can't wait for the next adventure? Have you booked yet?

Happy to catch this review at the beginning! I actually got off the Magic the day you boarded!

How did the casino treat you? Did you spend any time at the piano bar?

Lucky Ladies is the sidebet on blackjack, as of September.

Pays for any 20, queen of hearts is the best payout.

Sail away!

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Good evening from somewhere off the Florida coast as we sail south towards Aruba!

Sail away party was a good time. Luckily after the electric slide, my bag was delivered to my room so I could get my swimsuit on and head to the jacuzzi for what turned out to be 2 hours. I'm a little annoyed that they didn't have a waiter taking drink orders in the jacuzzis!

I had dinner on lido tonight, since they had the pork and shrimp from the dining room.

My first shift at the casino didn't go too well, but I did get my "drinks on us" card from my last cruise, so all is good.

I've been at the piano bar since 9. "ThePianoMat" is a little under the weather, but is pushing through and entertaining us.

We'll be back to the casino once piano bar closes for the night!

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Most entertaining muster drill I've been at is over, and we have the first drink of the cruise! Ting Mojito at the red frog rum bar!

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Muster Drill time....the Magic is a ship that scans your sail and sign card when you get to the drill.

I have to say I enjoy the updates to the HUB app. They have dining menus available on the app now! It is a must download before any Carnival cruise.

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First lunch on board....no line for guys pig and anchor!

Got in the terminal at 12:15 and was onboard right before 12:40...not too bad!

It is really hot outside, and I forgot to pack my swimsuit in my carry on, so hopefully I have luck with my bag arriving early.

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There she is! Long backup waiting to unload shuttles unfortunately.

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I'll be sailing on the Magic with dad in October! If it's not too much trouble can you see what day they serve gazpacho? I know it seems silly but it's my favorite and I'm trying to do the steakhouse and not miss it! I'm looking forward to your review!!

 

 

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I'll take a look and let you know when I see it on the menu!

Greetings from Orlando!

I flew in yesterday and visited with friends and crashed at their house. Going to be leaving shortly to drive to port, drop off my rental car, and arrive for my 1130 check in.

Hopefully the sun comes out soon!

Hello again all!

It's been a few months since we last chatted, but it's time to get the review going again.

Back in May, I did a semi-live review of my Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Dream. I've decided to give it a try again on this upcoming cruise aboard the Carnival Magic.

If you'd like to read about my time aboard the Dream, you can do so by clicking here!

Let's get started on this next adventure!

After my trip on the Dream, I was "lucky" enough to "earn" a bounce back offer from the casino. I played phone tag a few times working with a casino representative going over what cruises were available. Even though you are given a 6 month window to cruise, recently it seems that window is only 3 months in reality. I started to evaluate options for a few short cruises, which I usually avoid due to having to buy airfare from Northern Virginia. I called back a few days later with a few options written down, but asked if there were any new cruises loaded on the offer. There was a 7 day on the Glory in early August, which didn't work for me as it was on the weekend I would be traveling for my college roommate's bachelor party. She proceeded to say there was an 8 day on the Magic out of Port Canaveral. I immediately asked what the itinerary was, and was shocked to hear it was the Southern Caribbean itinerary. The timing was not ideal, as I was hoping to travel over Labor Day week, but I took about fifteen seconds to pull up my work calendar to see if I could take the week off, and $93 in port fees and taxes later, I was booked!

I have been looking to get down to Aruba for quite awhile now. A few friends that have gotten married recently have honeymooned there and always had the best things to say. Curacao sounded great too, and Grand Turk is still one of my favorite ports, and hopefully we'll make it there so I can finally get there for the second time.

As you can see, this is a rough estimate of the route we will be taking from Port Canaveral. This sailing includes 2 sea days en route to Aruba, and a sea day before and after Grand Turk. 4 sea days sounds great to me!

This will be my first cruise on the Carnival Magic. After this cruise, I will have completed the entire Dream Class of the Carnival fleet. I am looking forward to exploring a new ship!

I'll be posting a bit more later tonight about what I have planned for the cruise so far. This one has snuck up on me a bit, and I've been doing a bit of traveling on weekends visiting friends and family, so I've got to do a lot of planning still over the next few days!

Looking forward to sharing the cruise experience with you all!