Ugly Magic Review on the Cruise Review page

[overeasy]

I usually enjoy the negative reviews, because they're entertaining, but this one just seemed mean-spirited.

[Zoedokey]

I have sailed RCL and Princess and Carinval's food was by far better then RCL and on par with Princess. What line has way better food ??

 

Disney. The food was amazing.

[richstowe]

I hope all this is not true. Sailing for the first time ever and on the Splendor, stuff like this makes me wonder if i should just take a loss of my deposit and book another line. I should stop reading this stuff!

I really agree with your last line.:p

 

If you are going to read reviews, don't concentrate on just the negative ones.

Looking at the last 25 Magic reviews, only 2 people gave less then 4 stars. In fact 17 gave 5 or 5+ stars.

 

Don't get hung up on theskipper. I'm betting you will be with the majority.

Bon Voyage.:)

[dave76310]

If you ignore the subjective bs you will see a lot here that amazes me still exists. I don't doubt most of it. This is my review on the third cruise they did upon arrival at Galveston. http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=93156

 

Long story short...don't totally discount the bad comments, and surely don't accept everything the cheerleaders put out.

 

This kind of stuff can be expected as they supposedly need to get the bugs out, which does not totally make sense since it was operating 6 months before arrival, but there were some crew changes. They should have fixed some of this by now. I think they have no intention of doing so. No cruise is perfect, but my next cruise after this was on Voyager of the Seas, which amplified the cutbacks Carnival has been making. Service, food, and entertainment far exceeded my expectations on that cruise and really soured my view of Carnival. I'm sure a short hop on the Triumph will fix that though. The several cruises we have been on it have all been great. I would expect some sort of consistency among ships, at least the good parts of it. They do not seem to want to fix known problems, as long as they can still fill the ships. Hope they are hoarding cash for when they are forced to fix problems someday when people quit buying tickets.

[maxamuus]

Disney. The food was amazing.

 

Considering Disney charges 4X what any other line charges i would hope their food is amazing.

[jdyer09]

Nothing says luxury cruise like angry, bitter waiters that forget to bring the rolls every night, take 30 minutes to serve between courses, never refill your tea glass, and don't speak English well enough to understand your order but quite well enough to constantly complain about how long they had been on the ship and how much they wanted to be home! Fine, Jose, go friggin home to your little socialist country with no jobs! But bring me my rolls first, OK??

 

Serioulsy skipper....take your elitest American attiude and set sail for your own island, build yourself a red lobster (obviously your idea of quality, not mine) and stay there. The rest of us, who have a tolerance for culture and the hard work these people do will enjoy our cruises better without the likes of you around. You probably removed your tips too because your alcoholic self drank too much to cover them. Good Riddence!

[TexasRon]

I have read many things that grizzled veterans of many cruises say here and a lot of those things are echoed in this review. Perhaps there is a bit too much complaining in this review but, if you take most things addressed by themselves, I think you would find a lot of them written about on these pages as Carnival has cut back on many things.

 

The food issue is consistent with what is written here--the majority of threads I read say that the members of this forum are not as happy with the food as they used to be. The same with the service on board.

 

Of course some are totally happy with everything and almost all of us "manage" to have a great time in spite of any issues we have with the specific things that bother us but many are longing for bygone days with better service and better food, etc.

[lady_cruiser]

I have to disagree with everything (on the review) but the food review. We have sailed on 10 cruises before and on every cruise to have been on, we have never had to complain about the food quality. Except now.

 

We were sadly disappointed in the food not only in the Main Dining Room but also at the Buffet. . So some reason it just wasn't up to the quality that we expected from Carnival.

 

The only things we liked about the food was the Mongalian Grill and Cucina del Capitano (for lunch and supper). And of course The Captain's Table but for the price of $75 a person you would except a special meal which we did get.

 

But then I guess a person can't cook for over 3,000 passengers and execpt to please all of them .

[cawagner]

Just read that review, the first 2 paragraphs I thought, well this review isn't so bad but it just went downhill after that with the constant nit-picking and complaining. Seems to me nothing would have made this person happy. I would just take his review with a grain of salt and not let his negativity spoil your cruise expectations, as I have heard many wonderful reviews of the Magic too. Enjoy your cruise and don't let one grumpy gus spoil it for you.

[zqvol]

I am not going to comment about the decor part of his review, because I have not been on that ship, but let's face it CCL decor has always been a bit over the top. If you read the rest of it and cut through the editorial comments that are added, all s/he says is identical to what is posted on these boards every day.

 

The review basically says the service is declining, the food is going down hill, the staff seems unhappy, the drinks are over priced, the entertainment consists of karaoke and a couple of less than stellar production shows, the size of the bands are decreasing and what they play is only so so.

 

Anyone want to dispute that you can find threads saying exactly the same thing on the boards every day?

[Stevesan]

As with all reviews, throw out the high and the low.

[okgirl]

I just find the whole review unbelievable and not even close to anything that I've ever experienced.

 

I have 26 cruises with Carnival and 2 more booked. After the next 2 I will have 188 cruise days, spanning lots of years, so I am an experienced Carnival cruiser.

 

I thought the Magic was the best ship I've ever been on and I've been on 15 different ones. There are more food venues, better menu selections and a real effort has been made to spread things out and address the crowd issue.

 

I like the new menu's. I was okay with them not having shrimp cocktail every night (I never ordered it every night), but for those that missed it, they have returned it to the everyday menu. There are plenty of new and out of the ordinary choices on the menu, but I like that sometimes I have the option available to eat meatloaf. I like meatloaf, I had it for dinner Monday night.

 

I've never had a crew member of any kind appear bitter or angry. And I've certainly never heard one complain about wanting to go home. Are some of them near the end of their contract and when asked express excitement about their upcoming vacation? Yes, I do that to, don't you? I think it's amazing that they leave their homes and work LONG hours and live in such tight quarters and still have a smile on their faces at the end of a 6 or 9 month contract.

[pinkdiamonddolly]

Nothing says luxury cruise like angry, bitter waiters that forget to bring the rolls every night, take 30 minutes to serve between courses, never refill your tea glass, and don't speak English well enough to understand your order but quite well enough to constantly complain about how long they had been on the ship and how much they wanted to be home! Fine, Jose, go friggin home to your little socialist country with no jobs! But bring me my rolls first, OK??

 

Serioulsy skipper....take your elitest American attiude and set sail for your own island, build yourself a red lobster (obviously your idea of quality, not mine) and stay there. The rest of us, who have a tolerance for culture and the hard work these people do will enjoy our cruises better without the likes of you around. You probably removed your tips too because your alcoholic self drank too much to cover them. Good Riddence!

 

WOW, this comment really makes you better than him??? I just got off the Legend Sunday and honestly I would have killed for a Red Lobster (at least my food would have been hot) at 4 cruise's I consider myself more experienced than someone who has never been on a cruise before. I am a pretty mellow traveler, but we had some nasty experiences on the Legend, and I think he has a right to state the issues that he had. I do think you should have to be a member of CC to post a review, but sorry Carnival cheerleaders, I have a right to share my not so happy moments, if you choose not to read them, thats fine. I hope that your experiences will be better than mine. I always urge people to form their own opinions, but don't flame people for posting theirs.

[kal72]

I drive a Kia and sail Carnival...I am happy enough with both.. :)

[MichelleChell]

I think everyone has an opinion and desirves to have it. I also think everyone feels different about food and entertainment. However I call BS on this review and think it is a troll!

I also wanted to add that the decks are named. I have not been on the Magic yet to give my opinion but I am booked for March and I am on deck 8 and when booking I did see that theya re all named.

[douglinc@msn.com]

We were on the Magic for the 1st. sailing out of Galveston & had a really good cruise. I do agree about the food. The food quality has been on a steady decline for a couple of years. Also the service in the main dining room was VERY slow. I thought this probably had something to do with the fact they had so many new crew members and would get that worked out pretty quick. (Hopefully they did)

I thought the ship was great, it was roomy and pretty easy to get around on. I had no complaints there. I hope Carnival wakes up and changes their menu back to the old one and improves their food quality to the point it was for many years. I always thought the food and service was Carnival's strong points and hope it is again before long.

Would we cruise on the Magic again?? You bet.

 

Doug

[flyonmaster]

I am not going to comment about the decor part of his review, because I have not been on that ship, but let's face it CCL decor has always been a bit over the top. If you read the rest of it and cut through the editorial comments that are added, all s/he says is identical to what is posted on these boards every day.

 

The review basically says the service is declining, the food is going down hill, the staff seems unhappy, the drinks are over priced, the entertainment consists of karaoke and a couple of less than stellar production shows, the size of the bands are decreasing and what they play is only so so.

 

Anyone want to dispute that you can find threads saying exactly the same thing on the boards every day?

 

This is the best post on the entire thread, concise and true. Well done.

[FLORISTARRANGER]

I am hoping that this is not the case as this is my first cruise and i am so looking forward to it and want the best experience from it.

[PSkinner]

I have sailed RCL and Princess and Carinval's food was by far better then RCL and on par with Princess. What line has way better food ??

 

Any food that I don't have to cook and then clean up afterwards is fantastic in my book! And if it is served in the middle of the Caribbean then I'm really a winner! Hot dogs taste better at the ball park and anything taste better at sea Just sayin'

[crewm8]

No kidding...If you don't like some food get something else...if your a jerk to the wait staff they will be bad to you...I am sure with all the saliva and spit in his food it was horrible.

[MikeM]

We were on the Magic for the 1st. sailing out of Galveston & had a really good cruise. I do agree about the food. The food quality has been on a steady decline for a couple of years. Also the service in the main dining room was VERY slow.I hope Carnival wakes up and changes their menu back to the old one and improves their food quality to the point it was for many years. I always thought the food and service was Carnival's strong points and hope it is again before long.

Would we cruise on the Magic again?? You bet.

 

Doug

 

Have to agree about the food and service. Last 3 cruises the food has been bearable to terrible (most times cold and or tastless) in the MDR and buffet. Has driven us to eating in the steakhouse at least twice per trip.

[redneony]

Have to agree about the food and service. Last 3 cruises the food has been bearable to terrible (most times cold and or tastless) in the MDR and buffet. Has driven us to eating in the steakhouse at least twice per trip.

 

Maybe that's what they're hoping people will do? :rolleyes:

[mrsdoc3]

I quote theskipper50

 

They were so cheap, they didn't even name all the decks! 14 decks and most of them just go by numbers, "Deck 6, deck 7, etc."

 

.

 

How could I possibly go on a cruise where the decks weren't even named?! Oh, what a horrible vacation that would be!

[mrsdoc3]

any food that i don't have to cook and then clean up afterwards is fantastic in my book! And if it is served in the middle of the caribbean then i'm really a winner! Hot dogs taste better at the ball park and anything taste better at sea just sayin'

 

amen!!!!

[dna1990]

Uh oh. I DESPISE named decks. If I am on Deck 5, then by gosh I know exactly which way to head to get to Deck 7.

 

Life is too short to memorize where Atlantic falls with relation to Empress or Promenade.

 

 

Eh, goto to Lido and then walk down to ya see the Casino. What else ya need?