August 2011 Carnival Magic Review, Better late than never!

[Cruisecrazy20000]

First of all I would like to apologise for this extremely late review. I had every intention of posting my review shortly after I returned home but somehow didn’t get around to it. For a couple of months before my cruise I had read everything I could on Cruise Critic and I hope this review can be helpful to someone J

 

I’m Susan (32) and my fiance, Gary, (33) and I travelled on the 26 Aug sailing on Carnival Magic out of Barcelona. We are from Ireland and this was our third cruise, we had previously cruised with Royal Caribbean in the Caribbean and last year we cruised on Voyager of the Seas also out of Barcelona. I work as a travel agent and love cruises!

 

I knew that I wanted to do another Med cruise this year because of the short flight and the great ports of call. After extensive research I settled on Carnival Magic. It was a tough decision as there are lots of great ships in the Med but I loved the pictures that were being posted of Carnival Magic, it really looked like a fun ship with so much to do.

 

It was great to be travelling on a brand new ship too and even though I had loved our previous cruises, I wanted to try a new cruise line. In Ireland, Royal Caribbean is by far the most marketed cruise line and while I’ve sold Carnival cruises in the past I wanted to see what they were like for myself J I loved the fact that this was a 9 night cruise too, I knew that these extra nights would make a big difference to the trip.

 

We had spent 2 nights in Barcelona prior to our cruise last year and decided on another night before out trip this year as it is a great city. Last year we stayed in the AC Diplomatic Hotel which is about a 10 minute walk from the Ramblas.

 

 

 

 

We liked it so much we decided to go back this year. It is a nice modern hotel with a small gym and pool on the roof (great views of Barcelona from up there). The staff were friendly and the buffet breakfast was excellent.

[Cruisecrazy20000]

As we had seen a lot of the sights of Barcelona last year we decided to take it easy and just enjoy our day in Barcelona. We left Dublin at 06.40 am and arrived about 10.30 into Barcelona Airport. Flight went smoothly and we took a pre-arranged shuttle to our hotel. This worked well as there was no need to queue for taxis and it was good to have it already paid for. The hotel was quiet when we arrived and we were able to check in and go straight to our room. We left our bags and walked down the Ramblas to a really nice waterfront area I think it is called Vell. We had some great fish for lunch and a bottle of white wine (we were on vacation after all!) at a waterfront restaurant which cost €38 plus tip.

 

 

 

[Cruisecrazy20000]

Afterwards we walked along the waterfront and beach area before turning back on to Las Ramblas where we changed some euros into dollars and stopped in a Carrefour store to collect our carry on wine for the cruise. We also came across a great colourful market about half way up Las Ramblas where they were selling all sorts of food and snacks before heading back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

After a brief nap we headed out for dinner and stopped in a lovely little wine bar for a few glasses of wine before having dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe at the top of Las Rambles. 2 chicken fajitas and a couple of more glasses of wine came to a total of €55. At this stage we were tired out from the day and the heat and called it a night.

 

[Captain Carnival]

Keep it coming!

[jakeHOU97]

Love it! Besides my review of the Magic, I have only seen maybe 2 other Magic reviews.

[SondraC]

Great start! What shuttle did you use?

[Cruisecrazy20000]

Thanks guys, this is my first review so I will do my best to keep it interesting :D

 

jakeHOU87 I hope you enjoyed your Magic cruise, she's a great ship.

 

We used Holiday Taxis for our shuttles and they were very good, would use them again.

[etwright]

Better late than never. I will be following and looking forward to this review:)

[Cruisecrazy20000]

The following morning we were up early and excited about our cruise! We ate a nice breakfast in the hotel and our pre-arranged transfer arrived at 10.30. The port of Barcelona is in the city centre so it didn’t take long to get to the ship. It can accommodate a large number of ships and I was surprised to see so many in port.

Among other ships there that day was Independence of the Seas, MSC Splendida, Costa Serena, Thomson Dream and a Crystal ship. Getting on The Magic was completely painless and much quicker than with Royal Caribbean out of Barcelona last year, from the time we dropped off our bags to getting on the ship took less than 10 minutes.

As soon as we got on the ship I knew we were going to have a great vacation, I know the decor on Carnival ships isn’t to everyone’s liking but I loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisecrazy20000]

Thanks etwright :p

[Cruisecrazy20000]

 

 

 

 

 

[jakeHOU97]

 

jakeHOU87 I hope you enjoyed your Magic cruise, she's a great ship.

 

I sure did!

[Cruisecrazy20000]

 

 

 

 

 

There was a lady selling wine packages so we signed up for 5 bottles at a cost of $110 plus tax. At this stage we still had our carry on bags and laptop so we only did a little exploring before heading to the outside Lido area on deck 10 by the main pool to wait for our cabin to be ready and to have some lunch.

 

The lido was already getting quite crowded and I had read about the Italian restaurant so we headed up there. Gary got pasta and I got a Caesar salad but I was too excited to eat much J

 

 

 

 

At 1.30 our staterooms were ready and we headed up to deck 12 to check out our spa balcony cabin. We were really pleased with it, the decor was nice and relaxing and we had the added perks of nice cosmetics and access to the spa. Afterwards we took a tour of the spa and the gym and signed up for spinning classes. The gym is a good size and the equipment is very good. At this stage we went to the lifeboat drill and then back to our cabin for champagne and strawberries J

 

[Cruisecrazy20000]

 

 

 

We got ready for dinner and headed to Southern Lights , our designated dining room, I had originally requested late sitting and this is what we got, at a large table. There were 4 other couples with us, 3 from the States and one from Canada. I ordered chicken tenders, lasagne and crème brulee while Gary had soup, chicken a la grecque and an orange cake dessert.

 

Dinner was great, we had an instant connection with all our tablemates and enjoyed their company that night. We attended the uncensored comedy shows afterwards before going to bed. The seas were particularly rough that evening and they was a noticeable movement in the ship. It didn’t bother me but I can understand how it could upset some people.

 

 

[cruiseclues]

We're very pleased you decided to do this review, with photos, instead of not doing it at all. We would have to agree, better late than never. :)

[Cruisecrazy20000]

Thanks cruiseclues :D

[Cruisecrazy20000]

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning was a day at sea and we were up early for a spinning class at 9, we grabbed some breakfast afterwards and then found a spot on one of the decks for sunbathing. By the time we got out the beds were pretty crowded but there was a good atmosphere and everyone was enjoying themselves. We checked out the spa in the afternoon which was included in our cabin cost and used the steam rooms and the pool which was very relaxing before hitting the gym.

 

 

Afterwards we had a quick look at the stores on deck 5 and spent a few minutes in the casino at the slots before going for dinner. Tonight I had portabello mushrooms with a spinach salad, beef stroganoff and warm chocolate melting cake. Gary had soup, mahi mahi and the warm chocolate melting cake. After dinner, Maitre’D Ken, who is from Dublin, sang and some of the waiters and waitresses danced for us, it was very entertaining! Afterwards we watched the welcome aboard show with John Heald which was quite funny before going to bed.

 

 

 

[Cruisecrazy20000]

Today Magic was in Livorno and as we had seen Tuscany, Pisa and Florence the previous year we decided to stay on the ship and explore while we had the ship to ourselves. I will include some pictures we took from our stop with Royal Caribbean in Livorno last year, this was a small tour organised through Cruise Critic and Tuscany in my Pocket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisecrazy20000]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[remharri]

Can't wait to read the rest, taking me back to my Med. cruise last October. :D

[Cruisecrazy20000]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisecrazy20000]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kubanita]

I am really enjoying your review!! Looking forward to

More :) Thank you for sharing !!

[Cruisecrazy20000]

Thanks Remharri and Kubanita, it's taking me a bit longer than I expected to get it up as I'm busy in work this week but it's bringing back good memories of the trip :) Glad someone is enjoying it :rolleyes:

[Cruisecrazy20000]

After breakfast we found some pool chairs, got some sun and used the waterslides. It was great not having to queue and we loved the two slides. After lunch we went on the obstacle course, I was really nervous but so pleased I tried it, I even went around twice!