Carnival Magic Picture Review (March 2012)

[marlat]

Well, it's been over six months from our cruise and I'm finally getting around to posting a picture review! This was my husband (Colby-31) and I (Marla- 23)'s first cruise ever. We are semi-newlyweds who live to travel. Colby is a farmer and I am a professional photographer/ secretary. We live in the Oklahoma panhandle.

 

For this cruise, we decided to drive to Galveston. It's a little over 750 miles so we left two days before the trip. We drove to south of Dallas and then continued to Houston the next day.

 

One really cool thing about driving down in March is all the Blue Bonnets on the side of the rode. I was obsessed with getting the perfect picture of the flowers and made my husband pull over a couple of times. Here’s a shot:

 

 

These flowers are seriously all over the place. It’s marvelous, especially when you live someplace that doesn’t green up until mid-April. We kept saying- “It’s just so green!”

 

Since we were first time cruisers, we decided to go down to the ship port and make sure we knew where everything was. We figured it out pretty quickly and then headed to dinner and drinks in Galveston before we went back to our hotel to sleep.

[gbphatcat]

great so far ready for more love reviews with pictures

[marlat]

The next morning, we happily headed back to Galveston. We were both pretty stinking excited about getting on the Magic and couldn’t wait for our vacation to truly get started. I seem to take a picture like this on every single one of our road trips:

 

 

We parked at the Lighthouse Parking garage and took a shuttle over to check in. Everything went very smoothly and we were boarding within an hour.

 

We parked at the Lighthouse Parking garage and took a shuttle over to check in. Everything went very smoothly and we were boarding within an hour.

 

As soon as we boarded, a crew member invited us into the Northern Lights dining room for lunch. It was pretty crazy and we had no idea where to go, so we followed his direction. We were one of the last people to order before they closed lunch. We both got club sandwiches, declaring them decent but not amazing.

Next, we went exploring. The Magic is huge and it took us a little while to find our room. We had Cabin number 1367:

The cabin was okay- small, as expected, but also clean and cozy.

[marlat]

Then we went to a little talk about learning our way around the ship. Honestly, this was probably pointless and we left feeling like we hadn't learned anything. lol.

 

Next we headed to buy Colby a soda card and took a Spa Tour. We loved the Spa and bought a week pass for a couple. I will write more about this later when I get to the spa pictures, but we LOVE our time in the spa so much that we got a Spa Cabin on the dream for next February.

After the spa tour, we headed to deck ten to check out the pool, part and waterworks. It was a bit of a wild house, but not uncomfortably crowded. Here are a few pictures from the port:

 

[marlat]

Please forgive the crazy formatting of this post. It keeps changing to blue?

 

At this point, I felt like our vacation had finally started. I got a Strawberry Pina Colada at the bar (my favorite) and we found a couple of chairs to relax in until the Safety Briefing.

 

 

 

 

We headed below deck to one of the meeting rooms for our Safety Briefing. They counted everyone but did not require us to bring out life jackets our anything. This took a little while and the captain had to keep reminding people that he could see them on their balconies. Finally, we watched a really short video and were released.

 

This was the first time I felt like there were a ton of people on the ship. We headed back to our Cabin and discovered our bags had arrived. We grabbed a few things and went back to the tenth deck to relax on the Serenity deck. I don't think most people realized it was there because there was no one around.

 

 

 

[Dazey18]

Excited to read your review and see your great pictures! I'll be taking my very first cruise in about 3 weeks on Magic so I'm VERY happy to finally see another Magic review!!! :D

[marlat]

Excited to read your review and see your great pictures! I'll be taking my very first cruise in about 3 weeks on Magic so I'm VERY happy to finally see another Magic review!!! :D

 

You will LOVE the Magic. It really is a great ship and we had a fabulous time. I'm headed off to lunch now, but will be back with more pictures after.

[marlat]

There was a load of John Deere combines and tractor in the ship yard and I had to get pictures of them. Remember, my husband is a farmer. :p

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved the feeling as we sailed away. All that excitment and weeks of anticipation were bubbling out of me.

 

 

 

Of course, the drink was pretty awesome, too!

[ladytiger96]

Alright! Another Magic review from an Okie. We live in Enid. We said Dec 2 and have never cruised. So excited!

[1love]

Great start! Can't wait to see the rest of your review and the Magic personally.:)

[marlat]

We hung out and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. About 6:45, we decided to head to dinner. We had thought that Anytime Dining would be perfect for us beforehand. Boy where we wrong. It appeared that everyone else had decided to go to dinner at the exact same time. We waited for about twenty minutes in line before we decided to go somewhere else.

 

Totally last minute, but we decided to go see if they had room for us in the Steakhouse. Sure enough, we got into Prime Steakhouse without a reservation. For our main course, we both ordered the 18 oz. five spiced grilled rib eye steak. It was amazing! Seriously, the best steak either of us have ever had- and we know good steaks. For desert, I ordered the cheese cake (huge!) and Colby got the chocolate sampler. We shared both deserts but couldn't finish either of them. We took the cheesecake back to our cabin and it made a perfect snack the next day.

 

After dinner, we went back to our cabin and changed into our bathing suits and headed to the spa. My husband has back pain and he swore that was the best $249 he spent the entire trip. We relaxed their for about an hour before returning to our room.

 

For some reason, I didn't take a ton of pictures that evening or the next day. I guess the photographer in me was taking a little vacation.

 

Here are a few shots from around the spa:

 

 

 

This was in the hotter room.

 

My favorite part of the spa. I seriously could sit their with my iPad and read for hours... and I did on the cruise. When things got crazy busy other places on the ship, I retreated to the spa and hid. lol.

 

 

 

The windows were pretty awesome in the Spa. You could relax with a view in port.

[marlat]

The next morning, Monday- March 26, was our first sea day. We slept in and went up to the pool deck to have a couple slices of pizza. Yes, a breakfast of champions. We both liked the pizza a lot and had it several times that week. It's just so convenient to swing by and grab a slice, too.

 

 



 

 

At 11:45, there was a Poker tournament Colby wanted to play in. He went to the casino and I walked around looking for a place to sit down by the pool. Well, I couldn't find a single open spot and ended up back in the spa. We traveled during Spring Break and it was so nice to have somewhere to go to get away from the crowds.

 

Late afternoon, we went to the grill and got hamburgers. They were pretty good. Afterwards, we both returned to the spa for more relaxing.

 

Obviously, you can see why I didn't take a ton of pictures that day. We spent it all either in the eating or in the spa. lol.

[marlat]

Monday night was formal night. We got all dressed up and headed towards the dining room.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

I really wanted to watch the sun set before dinner so we positioned ourselves on the deck and enjoyed the show:

 

 

 

[marlat]

Once again, our Anytime Dining was a total nightmare. We ended up waiting an entire hour for dinner. This is when we decided that we would be late dinners on any future cruises.

 

The food that night was delicious. We both ordered prime rib which was great. For desert, I had my first taste of the meltin chocolate cake and fell in love. Colby got the butter pecan ice cream. As pathetic as it is, we both ordered that every single night we ate in the dining room. You can't improve perfection, right? I really wanted to try something else, but I knew it couldn't be better than that cake. lol.

After dinner, Colby went to another poker tournament while I went back to our cabin to read.

[4hunters]

Thanks for the excellent report so far! Please keep it coming. ;)

[marlat]

Here's a few random pictures from around the ship:

 

 

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[marlat]

On Tuesday morning, we awoke in Cozumel. The disembarking process was simple and quick.

 

 

 



 



 

 



 

[marlat]

We got a cab to Mr. Sanchos where we enjoyed a lazy day relaxing in the sun. We had the all inclusive pass which meant we could eat and drink all we wanted.

 

 

 

We took advantage of this and had a great time. We ordered beef fajitas, fried shrimp and a beef quasidilla. The quasidilla was amazing and we almost ordered another one before we headed back to the ship. For drinks, I decided I was going to try the entire menu, but only made it through five before I was feeling too tipsy. I then started layering my drinks with water and felt fine by the time we left. :p

 

 

 



 

 



 

 

[marlat]

We loved Mr. Sanchos and decided then and their we would return again if we ever came back to Cozumel. Luckily, we already have our next trip booked and will be visiting again on Feb. 4th! lol.

 

A few more pictures from Mr. Sanchos:

 

 

 



 

 



 

 



 



 

 

[marlat]

I seem to take way more pictures in port than I do on the ship. Here's some more in Cozumel of the port area:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[marlat]

Once we were back on the ship, we headed back to the spa where we spent an hour relaxing. I then returned to the room to shower and dress while Colb headed to the casino. At this point, he had gambled enough for a free drink card while playing.

 

On Tuesday night, we waited about an thirty minutes for a table at dinner. I had the fried chicken and Colby had the ribs. We both enjoyed them. After dinner, we went to the Serenity Deck where we relaxed and swung in the hammock. It was wonderful and oh so relaxing.

 

That night, we wanted to see Cowboy Bill Martin in the adults only comedy. Well, we arrived thirty minutes early for the show and there were no seats left. We ended up standing in the corner. The show was funny enough, but by this point, we were both exhausted.

 

On Wednesday morning, we arrived in Grand Caymen. The tender process was pretty horrible. We were once again in the crammed Spotlight Theature (hate it) and people were stacked full. After an hour, we finally made it to land.

 

Tendering in did provide me with ample opportunity to photograph the ship:

 

 

 



 

 



 

 



 



 

 

[marlat]

Grand Caymen was our least favorite port and that was probably my fault. I didn't do near as much research here and just assumed we would hang out on the beach. Well, we mostly walked along the beach looking for somewhere to sit down. Our cab driver dropped us off in a mostly private area of Grand Caymen. We could walk along the beach, but all the chairs were private.

 



 



 



 

[marlat]

More pictures from Grand Caymen:

 

 



 

 

I learned a lot from the port. From now on, I will also have a solid plan for the day. :p We finally found a place to order food. We got two cheeseburgers for $45. We expected it to be expensive, but that really surprised us.

 

After that, we returned back to the ship and our beloved spa. We were actually relaxing as we pulled away. That was very nice.

[Cushing985]

Beautiful pictures and thanks for taking the time to write about your cruise!

[texnewbie]

Hey Marla!!

 

Fabulous Pictures... I'm loving them... We're sailing on the Magic on Jan. 13th - 20th for my 50th birthday... So I'm loving seeing all the fabulous pictures of the ship. I've sailed on Carnival Conquest twice but not Magic so I'm really excited to be on her. Our stateroom is on the spa deck and I'm looking forward to spending sometime in there.

 

Sooooo...

 

 

I have a question about the spa package that you bought, ok a few questions...

What's the deal on them, what do you get, and all the other fabulous details?

 

Plus

 

What are those fabulous looking seats that you took pictures of at the spa... Kind of mosaic looking... They look fabulous.

 

The 2 times that we've sailed we've never adventured to the spa so I'm really curious about all the details.

 

Oh by the way, I love Grand Cayman, it's my favorite place. We usually hang out at Royal Palms, it's a restuarant burger and seafood kind of place. Plus a beach front where we just love to sit our butts on the beach all day long... you can see a couple of webcams of the place on http://www.royalpalmscayman.com lots of days I love looking at the webcams because you can see all the ships that are in port.

 

Thank you!!!

Texnewbie

Carolyn