Our least favorite Carnival cruise. Short Magic review.

Just back from 9/24-9/30 Magic and our re-routed itinerary. I wanted to share our experience, although I am no where near as thorough as some of the better reviewers on this site (Jim Zim for example).

Let me start off by saying that although this was our least favorite Carnival cruise to date, I don’t want you to think I am complaining or was looking for negatives. We did have a good time! Simply want to touch on some of our great and not so great experiences to hopefully help others in their planning just like reading other reviews helps me.

—PRE TRIP AND EMBARKATION—

We flew down on Thursday and spent three days in Orlando at the Sheraton Vistana Villages resort. Nice hotel but with all the decent choices in Orlando, I would recommend just booking wherever you can get a good deal. We went to Universal IOA and Disney Springs and had a good time at both places. We had rented a car thru Alamo and drove to Port Canaveral on Sunday morning. Drive wasn’t bad at all and I think it was approximately $5 worth of tolls. We dropped the car off at Alamo’s Port Canaveral location. Drop off was easy and we were quickly on the complimentary shuttle to the ship.

We arrived to the cruise terminal at 10:32 and stepped on to the ship at 10:48. After reading reviews I purposely checked my phone for the exact times, lol. Port Canaveral definitely has their act together!

—SHIP DESIGN/LAYOUT—

We were both excited to try a new Carnival class of ship for us but quickly discovered the Dream class is again just a modernized version of the Destiny, Triumph and Conquest classes. I can’t quite pinpoint it but nothing on this ship seemed to stand out to us. The decor was a very welcome change and much more neutral than our previous Carnival ships, but at the same time seemed to lack any “wow factor”. Our biggest issue with the ship itself was crowding. Taking a basic ship blueprint from 1996 and adding more cabins without greatly increasing the public space areas was very noticeable...to us at least. I personally felt like the Lanai was Carnival’s attempt to lure a big chunk of people away from Lido based on the amount of deck chairs they set up down there each day. (Almost like an Oasis type neighborhood). It simply just doesn’t draw as many people down there as I think Carnival had planned on. Lido buffet was consistently crowded all week long, even at dinner. I think part of this is due to the upper seating area and where Fish & Chips occupies some of the Conquest class being used for Cucina. This takes away a lot of extra buffet seating. You had to be at every show/comedian/activity at least 45 mins ahead of time to even think of getting a decent seat. Several other people we talked to throughout the cruise also commented on the crowding. Maybe it was just our sailing but we both came away with the belief we will steer clear of Dream class ships in the future for these reasons.

—ITINERARY/PORTS—

Originally this was booked as Nassau, Amber Cove, and Grand Turk. Due to hurricane damage we were re-routed to Cozumel, Belize, and Costa Maya. Although not an itinerary we would have booked, it still was a cruise and a much needed vacation opportunity, so we decided to make the best of it. Biggest issue we ran into throughout the week was at Costa Maya. Three ships there is simply too much, especially when one of them was Oasis of the Seas. However we kind of expected this with all the cruise lines and ships trying to find replacement ports at the same time.

The only excursion we did was at Belize. We booked thru Carnival (simply because it is was Belize) and went to Bacab Eco Park for the Jungle Bike Ride and pool time. Bike ride was nice but it was very hard to look around much at the surroundings due to the narrow trail with lots of turn, branches, and debris across it. Belize also was sweltering hot the day we were there and I think everyone in our group was just ready to get to the pool ASAP. The pool was very nice with a waterfall and waterslide feature and the included lunch was good as well. I would recommend skipping the bike ride and just having a relaxing pool day by booking the Bacab Family Escape thru Carnival if you are looking for something to do in Belize. You still get a decent tour on an air conditioned bus during the ride to the park.

—FOOD—

While food is subjective, you cannot argue with the amount of free food choices on Carnival ships. Magic has everything I personally like...Tandoor, Blue Iguana, and Mongolian Wok.

We only went to the dining room the first night, and that was only for the strawberry bisque. Lido dinner options maybe were a little limited, but then again, I struggle in the dining room with American Table in the MDR as well.

We ate at Cucina del Capitano one night and I think it is fairly priced at $15. The quality in there seems to be what the MDR used to be about 10 years ago. Food was very good and all our dishes were well prepared. Only criticism was the staff coming to our table at least six different times asking if we liked it. I have a hunch they are a little too driven by management to not receive negative guest comment cards or something.

—CABIN—

We decided to splurge and upsold ourselves to an Ocean Suite. We stayed in Cabin #7335. The extra room was very nice, especially having the larger shower. Our steward, Muli (Short for something I don’t even want to try and misspell), did a great job. Ice bucket was kept full without ever asking. He did inquire about Morning, Evening, or twice a day service.

I know there have been several recent threads about Suite vs FTTF benefits. I wanted to share what we experienced and what was on our Suite Welcome letter in our room that outlined our benefits, including several things that happened that were NOT advertised on Carnival’s website

We were instructed by our check in representative that our suite would be ready upon boarding and we could proceed past the doors with Diamond, Platinum, and FTTF. We are only Gold level VIFP and our drink coupons, two large bottles of water, and the gold pins were also waiting in our room upon boarding.

Additionally the Suite Welcome letter was there and stated our benefits included:

-Two large bottles of water. (We received four total)

-Free bag of laundry.

-Confirmed dining preference for MDR

-Priority debarkation both for homeport AND at all the Ports of Call.

That last one is different than what is advertised, in that it stated to bring the letter directly to the gangway and you could skip the gangway line that usually went up several flights of stairs and also to proceed to the Diamond, Platinum, FTTF waiting area in the dining room for priority tender access as well for Belize. Essentially the only FTTF benefit we did not receive was the priority guest services line.

I did not post anything on John Heald’s facebook page but we somehow ended up with a bottle of sparkling wine and a ship on a stick that just said “Compliments of John Heald.” Not sure how that happened but was a nice gesture.

We also received a $200 gift card for the art auction/sale from the Hotel Director and a $12 gift card to be used at Pixels from our room Steward. Again not sure if this is something new to Carnival or something they sent to suites or even just random, it was a nice gesture. I do think if the price is right, we would do a suite again in the future.

—ENTERTAINMENT—

Playlist cast is the most talented we’ve seen in a long time and they all blow away our past several Carnival cruises, especially the shorter blonde lead female vocalist.

Not much other than the word amazing can be said to describe our cruise director Eversen “Dr. E” Bevelle. This was our second time cruising with him and he is simply awesome at what he does and genuinely seems to enjoy it as well. His muster drill routine had our entire muster station roaring with laughter. Thankfully the singing to start daily announcements has decreased a bit since we first were with him on the Glory. Seems like he used to sing for about 30 seconds each time and he has cut it back to about 5 seconds.

The rest of the Fun Squad was pretty blah. I didn’t see any potential future cruise directors in the making like we have several times before. Jessica, who hosted most of the trivia rushed through it and even during the name the tune stuff, she never played the songs long enough to let everyone sing along.

Patrick the Piano Bar entertainer was awesome. He is younger but probably the best piano guy we’ve ever had.

Most of the live music around the ship was pretty decent. The string trio really stood out and I could have listened to them play in the atrium or ocean plaza for hours at a time.

Dr. E did a great job hosting Quest especially when some idiot started swinging a chair over his head and broke the LED lighting above the dance floor area. He kept everyone laughing and tried to keep the energy going even when they had to stop and sweep all the glass off the dance floor. Quest was a riot as usual and we had a great participating team that ended up winning.

Dr. E’s love and marriage show was also funny. Even though the middle couple was a bit annoying and you could tell Dr E almost just quit trying with them about halfway through.

—OTHER STAFF—

All the room stewards we passed in the halls always said Hello, Good Morning, etc. They seemed genuinely friendly. Lido staff including the wait staff, deck patrol, etc. mostly seemed to avoid eye contact or saying anything. They weren’t necessarily rude, just seem to be pushed to work as quickly as possible. Did have one Lido table busser that went out his way and asked if we needed anything like drink refills and made some small talk. Did leave an extra tip for him.

Had to go to Guest Services twice to have erroneous charges removed. Both coincidentally were for additional gratuities. On the first trip the charge was promptly removed. The second time, the employee at guest services told me the beverage manager would have to locate the receipt to prove I did not leave the extra tip. This gratuity, ironically was for when we redeemed our VIFP drink coupons on the last evening so I insisted it be addressed at that time so it could be reflected on our final Folio printout. I knew if we got home I would never get anywhere talking to anyone. He sent an email to the beverage manager and I waited about five minutes, but the manager did remove the tip. Not sure if others have had this happen recently, but found it a little ironic that this happened twice in the same cruise. If crew members are doing this on purpose, it is flat out theft.

—DEBARKATION—

Not nearly as smooth as embarkation. Dr. E called for self-assist and there was pure gridlock on deck 3 in the atrium. Staff stopped us on deck 4 and would not let us down the stairs or elevators. Dr. E made another announcement basically telling self assisters to stop coming down because there was no where to walk/move. We waited about 30 minutes just standing above the atrium before it finally cleared out a bit and then were allowed to continue down the stairs. Once off the ship, customs had no line at all. No customs form required either, so that was nice!

—OVERALL—

Another great Carnival cruise and we had a good time. Magic is a bit crowded and feel Carnival just hasn’t mastered how to have that many guests on a ship like Royal Caribbean has. We absolutely will cruise Carnival again and have no problem recommending them to others. I think Conquest class is the largest we would ever book in the future though. Our favorite class is Spirit. You get the big ship features with a smaller ship feel. We are cruising again with some friends in February on Harmony of the Seas. We will see how that goes on a REALLY big ship.

If you have any questions or I forgot to go over something, feel free to ask.

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Thanks for the review!

We will be on her in Jan. 2019.

That was a great review! Thanks for posting. I have found that the people who do the check in give misinformation as much as the people who answer the phones at Carnival. They assume that because your boarding pass says “Priority” that you get the same perks which isn’t true. There are going to be lots of upset people when the S&S cards are placed in the mailboxes and the Suite passengers don’t have theirs because it’s not time. Sadly, they will take it out on the shipboard crew. Carnival really needs to address the issue of them giving bad info both at the port and over the phone.

Belize is a tender port, so that part is right. Did you in fact get priority debarkation at Nassau and Amber Cove? If that’s an added benefit, it’s an improvement.

I have only been on Conquest Class and Vista and basted on the two, I will be sticking to Conquest Class.

I agree about Dr E. LOVE him!

That was a great review! Thanks for posting. I have found that the people who do the check in give misinformation as much as the people who answer the phones at Carnival. They assume that because your boarding pass says “Priority” that you get the same perks which isn’t true. There are going to be lots of upset people when the S&S cards are placed in the mailboxes and the Suite passengers don’t have theirs because it’s not time. Sadly, they will take it out on the shipboard crew. Carnival really needs to address the issue of them giving bad info both at the port and over the phone.

 

Belize is a tender port, so that part is right. Did you in fact get priority debarkation at Nassau and Amber Cove? If that’s an added benefit, it’s an improvement.

 

I have only been on Conquest Class and Vista and basted on the two, I will be sticking to Conquest Class.

 

I agree about Dr E. LOVE him!

Thank you!

I agree, misinformation from call center staff, shoreside staff, and onboard crew always varies widely.

FWIW, we were given S&S cards upon check-in I was not expecting our room to be ready. Since we were “given the green light” we did go the room and quickly drop our bags...whether we were actually supposed to or not. It did appear though that only the interior and regular balcony cabins on deck 7 were still being cleaned though.

I believe we could have received priority debarkation but we just took the stairs down and waited not more than 3-5 minutes. Mainly because we didn’t want to carry the letter around with us as it instructed us to do.

We did the priority tender for Belize though.

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Thanks for the review!

 

 

 

We will be on her in Jan. 2019.

You’re welcome. Hope you have a great cruise!

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Here was our suite welcome letter with the benefits listed.

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Thanks for your interesting review. I have sailed on the Magic three times and enjoyed her a lot. However I agree there seemed to be long lines in lots of places.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

We were on the same sailing. Agree with almost all of your points. Agree with debarkation fiasco. Seems like everyone was trying to leave at the same time regardless of their number. :)

Is the muster drill on the Magic inside or outside?

Is the muster drill on the Magic inside or outside?

Inside and no life jacket required. We were in the Northern Lights dining room for Muster Station B3

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Surprised about the priority debarkation on ports of call that are not tender ports. We are Diamond and have never seen that.

Surprised about the priority debarkation on ports of call that are not tender ports. We are Diamond and have never seen that.

I agree. Have not ever seen anything about that on CC before.

I do remember a few months ago someone commented to John Heald about the lack of Carnival Suite benefits versus RCI and NCL and he replied with something to the effect of:

“I can’t go in to much detail but there are plans to expand the benefits in the future”

Perhaps they are just testing the cabin ready upon embarkation and priority debark to see how it goes???

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Thanks for the balanced and tempered review reasonably outlining the hits and misses you experienced.

It is funny how people can have different experiences on the same cruise. I couldn't disagree more with your view of how crowded Magic seems. This was my 8th cruise and the largest ship I have been on and I was extremely surprised at how it never seemed as crowded as I expected. Other than the BBQ area, I never once felt overwhelmed by the crowd size like I have on every other cruise before. We absolutely loved the Magic and can't wait to be back! I do agree about Costa Maya, but I feel like the cruise lines did a a great job of getting into some type of port after losing some to hurricanes.

Thanks for the report.

I agree with bmwdod02. I also just got back from this sailing, and one of the reasons I love this class of ship is because there is so much public space. Costa Maya was crowded, but it didn't really affect us because we took an excursion away from the crowd.

It is funny how people can have different experiences on the same cruise. I couldn't disagree more with your view of how crowded Magic seems. This was my 8th cruise and the largest ship I have been on and I was extremely surprised at how it never seemed as crowded as I expected. Other than the BBQ area, I never once felt overwhelmed by the crowd size like I have on every other cruise before. We absolutely loved the Magic and can't wait to be back! I do agree about Costa Maya, but I feel like the cruise lines did a a great job of getting into some type of port after losing some to hurricanes.

Yep, we loved our cruise on the Pride, but came home to a scathing review of the same sailing here on CC.

With thousands of people on a ship I guess you will get thousands of different experiences.

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I agree with bmwdod02. I also just got back from this sailing, and one of the reasons I love this class of ship is because there is so much public space. Costa Maya was crowded, but it didn't really affect us because we took an excursion away from the crowd.

Glad you enjoyed it.

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I too, appreciate your posting of your experience aboard "Magic". I'll be sailing her again on 11/11, and can't wait to get aboard, even though I too, like the smaller, less crowded ships a bit better. ;) I've learned to smile, and go along with the big groups of people, and sit back and relax till the crowds are thinned out a bit. In any case, I'm ready for another "Magic" experience.

"SKY"

Thanks for your review. Curious about what you did in Costa Maya. We have always enjoyed our visits.

Thanks for your review. Curious about what you did in Costa Maya. We have always enjoyed our visits.

We arrived at 7:00am ship time (5:00am local time) so it was pitch black and had a back on board time of 1:30pm (11:30am local). We have done enough Mexico excursions in the past so we decided to just walk around as it was a new port for us. Due to the short amount of time there and not having a lot of time to research anything due to the itinerary change, it worked out okay for us.

Thankfully we were the first ship there so we had a chance to make a loop around the port area before many of the Oasis of the Seas and MSC Opera passengers went ashore. By the time we got back on board it was very congested down there. Port area was very clean and well maintained but like most Western Caribbean ports it is the same 5-6 shops over and over again. Pool area looked decent as well.

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Thanks for your very detailed report!

Thanks for the info. We have been on the Pride the last two years - easy to drive to Baltimore, and this year we decided to fly to FL and try San Juan as a port. Oh well - we will be on a different ship anyhow. Does anyone here know anything about the Chef's Table menu? We did it the last two years on the Pride, and it was the same menu. Don't want to do it 3 years in a row. Thanks for any info, and maybe Dr. E will be back by Nov.4!

Thanks for your concise review! We'll be aboard Magic next October.

After finally having the Mongolian Wok aboard the Vista last week after four long years of ships not having it, I'm again looking forward to the Wok aboard Magic...even if I have to stand in line instead of sitting down and filling out a card. :D

We also received a $200 gift card for the art auction/sale from the Hotel Director and a $12 gift card to be used at Pixels from our room Steward. Again not sure if this is something new to Carnival or something they sent to suites or even just random, it was a nice gesture. I do think if the price is right, we would do a suite again in the future.

We stayed in an Ocean Suite on the Victory last month. We got a $200 Art gift card and a $50 EFFY gift card and another $25 EFFY gift card and some chocolate covered strawberries out of the blue... Have no clue why and there was not a note or anything. They were just on the table after we got back from lunch. Didn't use the gift cards, but we devoured the strawberries. ;p

Funny though, we never got a suite perks letter at all. We did get those water bottles on Day 2 which was nice to have.