Just off the Magic

Me and my Dad just returned from the Magic 1/6 sailing. Best cruise ever! I will work on a review this week. I am happy to answer anything I can about the sailing. I did not save the Fun Times and did not eat in the MDR.

Looking forward to your review! Magic is one of my favorite ships.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Looking forward to tour review!

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Looking forward to your review. Leaving on the Magic July 7th travelling with my 18 year old grand daughter!

My one question is do they have two shows each night? So you can the show wether you eat early or late.

My one question is do they have two shows each night? So you can the show wether you eat early or late.

Yes except for the welcome aboard show and lip sync battle

Thanks!!!

Also looking forward to your review. Have never been on the Magic.

looking forward to it

Glad you thought this was your best cruise ever.

Keith

My one question is do they have two shows each night? So you can the show wether you eat early or late.

The playlist shows were twice a night, either 7:30 & 9:30 pm or 8:15 & 10:15 pm. Others like the Welcome Aboard show, Lip Sync Battle, Hasbro The Game Show and the Love and Marriage Show were only 1 time at 7:30 or 10:15.

Me and my Dad just returned from the Magic 1/6 sailing. Best cruise ever! I will work on a review this week. I am happy to answer anything I can about the sailing. I did not save the Fun Times and did not eat in the MDR.

Hi there, glad you had a great time. Will be going on the Magic next month and was wondering what shows are performed in the main lounge? Thanks in advance! Ricky

Hi there, glad you had a great time. Will be going on the Magic next month and was wondering what shows are performed in the main lounge? Thanks in advance! Ricky

Hey Rickey! Playlist shows were 88 Keys, Country Road, America Rocks and Flick. Also in the main lounge was Hasbro the Game Show, the Love & Marriage show and Lip Sync Battle. I hope you have an awesome trip!

We were on that cruise too! Looking forward to your review!

Looking forward to your review!

I, like many others that have posted so far (unless you have already done it, and I have missed it???), am looking forward to your review. We are to do the Magic for the first time the end of March, and I'm trying to find out all I can, either pro/con of this ship. Just because I read something negative that someone has written, that doesn't mean that I will feel it will be that way, as everyone has different opinions.:)

I am doing YTD on the Magic - do you go straight to the dining room or somewhere else to sign in first? thanks!

I can't think of a better way to spend a cold, snowy afternoon than by writing about our cruise.

I will be posting pictures as we go along. But for this first post about the actual cruise, there will be none. I am waiting for an SD card reader so I can get my pics transferred to my iPad. I have a lot of pictures of our ports, not so many around the ship. I also need someone to let me know where you host your pics and how to embed them in the post. This is my first cruise in about 2 years, so I don't remember what I used to do the review I wrote about our cruise on the Paradise.

Thank you to all of you who stated you are looking forward to my review. I am looking forward to it as well. Let me say again, I did not save the Fun Times, and we also did not eat any meals in the MDR. With that said, here is the background for this cruise.

It's the day after Christmas, and me and dad started talking about cruising. I had been wanting to try a cruise on a ship bigger than the Paradise. While I liked the cruise on the Paradise, Dad wasn't eager to try another one. By the way, it's me, Bubba (45) and my Dad (65) on this journey. It's been cold, very cold here in Tennessee, and Dad gets cold easily. His last job was for a company called Denso, and he worked in front of a high temperature machine, so when the temp goes down, he gets cold. As we were talking about cruising, he says "why not book a cruise?" So we booked the 1/6/18 Carnival Magic sailing. After all, I can use some warm weather as well.

I tried calling my PVP to book the cruise, but she is away for the holidays. So, I booked it myself. We had cabin 6260, and it was a great location for us. Yes, it is over the main show theater, but we didn't really hear much. A few thumping bass beats, but that was about all. We had easy access to the elevators, to the Promenade and just about everywhere else. We loved our location, so much so that we are looking at booking the same room for our next cruise.

Ok, we have a tender port, so I looked up booking FTTF. Of course, it was sold out. I then proceeded to do our online check in, got confirmed for late dining. Since we didn't plan on going to the MDR anyway, it was no big deal. I got a 1pm arrival appointment, bummer. We like to be on the ship early, so 1pm was a HUUUUUUUGGGGEEEE disappointment for us. Oh well, we'll make due.

Carnival had a big glitch on their website the day before were were leaving to go to FL. All of a sudden, I found FTTF was available, so I grabbed it. I was certain it was a mistake, but the transaction was completed. I reprinted our boarding passes and went to work. We left a very cold TN at 12:30 am on 1/5 to head to a cold FL. We had an uneventful trip down. Stopped at Daytona to see the beach. We had lived in FL for 18 years and never went to Daytona. Now I understand why. We passed by the speedway, and it looked cool. We parked by the pier and boardwalk, and the waves were huge. It was windy. There was one other family unloading their stuff. It was cold, so I could not believe they were gong swimming. We walked up to parking meter and a noticed some shady looking people hanging around the parking lot. The other family was heading off to the beach, me and dad were looking at how much it was going to cost to see the boardwalk and the beach. I turned around to see the shady looking people standing at the door to my Jeep. I said to dad, "Let's go." And headed back, and those standing at my Jeep ran away. We drove around and I really wasn't impressed with Daytona.

We headed down to Cocoa Beach, drove by Port Canaveral so we could get a lay of the land. Like many of you, I have watched the ships come and go on Port Canaveral Web Cam. The port wasn't as big as I thought it would be. Saw the Disney Dream and two Royal ships that were in port that day. We proceeded down A1A and found Ron Jon Surf Shop. We were going to stop in, but traffic said otherwise. Did I mention that I live in a small town in East Tennessee? Traffic in Daytona and Cocoa Beach was horrible. We found Cocoa Beach Pier, something else I wanted to see. We pulled up the the parking lot and was told it would be $10 to park. 10 bucks to see a beach? We turned around and went to find out hotel, Econo Lodge on Merritt Island. It was easy to find. It's not a new hotel by any means. But it was clean, the employees were friendly and it was quiet. We ate at a local Denny's for dinner. I don't understand how every Denny's we go to has terrible service. It took longer to eat at Denny's than it does in the MDR. Since we had been driving all night, we decided to just crash in the room and get some rest.

This hotel has a free cooked to order breakfast. I had milk, OJ, two over easy eggs, home fries and toast. Dad had the same thing, and we split an order of bacon. The whole thing cost just $2.50. It was a great deal. We packed up and headed to the port. It's CRUISE DAY!!!!!

I am on the Magic for Spring Break (departs Mar 31). Looking forward to it. One big question I have, is that we did not book FTTF. First it's been sold out. But then after we realized we don't think we'll need it to get on the ship (we have an 11:30-noon arrival time), we don't think we need it for getting off the ship early at any port, and we walk off with our luggage at the end of the cruise. My concern, though, is that we will get to the terminal for our 11:30 arrival time and then have to wait for all those who did book FTTF to get on before we are allowed to. Does that happen??? Or will we at least get to board during that 11:30-noon window?

Another question I have is about the entertainment. My last cruise was on one of the big RC ships and we had to book everything in advance, and then still show up early to make sure we could find seats together. Is there a craze for everyone to see the shows on the ship? How early do you need to show up before they start to get a seat?

I am on the Magic for Spring Break (departs Mar 31). Looking forward to it. One big question I have, is that we did not book FTTF. First it's been sold out. But then after we realized we don't think we'll need it to get on the ship (we have an 11:30-noon arrival time), we don't think we need it for getting off the ship early at any port, and we walk off with our luggage at the end of the cruise. My concern, though, is that we will get to the terminal for our 11:30 arrival time and then have to wait for all those who did book FTTF to get on before we are allowed to. Does that happen??? Or will we at least get to board during that 11:30-noon window?

In my opinion, FTTF is only valuable if you have a tender port.

My understanding your check in appointment is just that-to check in. You still board by zones. When we got to the terminal at 10:30, they were boarding already. We were waiting in line at security when they called FTTF, then zones 1-6 were called within 5 minutes.

Unless you have a tender port, I see no value in FTTF, especially at almost $70.

Another question I have is about the entertainment. My last cruise was on one of the big RC ships and we had to book everything in advance, and then still show up early to make sure we could find seats together. Is there a craze for everyone to see the shows on the ship? How early do you need to show up before they start to get a seat?

We got to the main show theater about 15-20 minutes before showtime. The theater was never full for the shows we saw, and I don’t really think there are any bad seats. We always sat in the front row of the balcony, great seats

For the Punchliner Comedy Club, we got there about 20 minutes early and always got the same seats. This show fills up quickly, so at least 15 minutes. We only saw the family friendly comedy shows.

I was also on this cruise! It was my first ever and we absolutely loved it. We actually did all the sit down meals for breakfast and dinner. I was a contestant on the family game night as well! ;p

I was also on this cruise! It was my first ever and we absolutely loved it. We actually did all the sit down meals for breakfast and dinner. I was a contestant on the family game night as well! ;p

We went to that show! It’s one of our favorites. Both games they played looked difficult to do. Was it?

We went to that show! It’s one of our favorites. Both games they played looked difficult to do. Was it?

Yes, you can feel the rocking of the boat a bit more from the stage, I think. And, I was wearing heels + playing “basketball” so it was a difficult combination. My team carried me to the win, that’s for sure! Lol