Carnival Magic Review (Cove Balcony) January 19-26, 2014 with pictures

[2Okies]

Reading the ship reviews is one of my favorite things to do on this board, so I was eager to let you know about our experience.

 

 

We just got off the Carnival Magic which went to Roatan, Belize & Cozumel. This was our first cruise in January. While we LOVED the prices, we didn’t particularly like the “iffy” weather in January. We only had about 1½ days of good deck weather where we could actually sit in the sun on deck and enjoy relaxing in a deck chair.

 

 

First, I’ll tell you about our stay in Galveston. We used Priceline, and ended up with Galveston Beach Hotel which is right on the Seawall & 17th, and is an EXCELLENT hotel! We were so pleased, and we only had to pay $70/night! We had a balcony that looked right out on the ocean. I believe all their rooms have balconies. It does not serve free breakfast, but does have a dining room where you can buy breakfast. We went to Denny’s about a block East of the hotel which was a lot cheaper. I believe this hotel does offer free cruise parking to guests that stay at the hotel, and their parking is behind hotel in locked fence area. You have to have a code to enter the gate. We had already made previous parking arrangements or we might have considered it.

 

Inside our room with 2 queen beds.

 

 

Our Balcony

 

The view from the balcony

 

 

More to come.....

[2Okies]

Anyway, from Galveston Beach Hotel you only had to drive north on 17th to Harbor Side Drive to any other parking place to get to the ship. We chose Park-n-Cruise because it has covered parking (in an actual inside garage). We parked, pulled our 3 pieces of luggage across the street to the terminal & turned them into the porter and entered the terminal building. On return, we were some of the first to disembark after the VIP’s, and we were across the street & in our car heading home by 7:30AM.

 

 

 

Check in was a breeze. We have passports, and that makes things go so quickly. We were directed to the waiting area, and had to wait until about 1 to board the ship. The cruise before us had arrived late because of fog.

 

Lunch first day: Once on the ship, we went directly to the Italian restaurant, by-passing the Lido buffet which was busy. (stairs to this restaurant is located in the Lido, behind one of the buffet lines). The restaurant is free every day at noon, but costs $12/person at night. They give you “menu” & you check off what kind of pasta, sauce, meat, bread & salad you want. It comes in a bowl. Its very tasty. Then downstairs for dessert at the buffet.

 

 

 

No pictures for any of these things - sorry!

 

 

To be continued!

[2Okies]

Cabin: After lunch we checked to see if our room was ready, and it was. We were on deck 2 in a Cove balcony for the first time, midship in room 2338. It was right by the mid-ship elevators. It was a very quiet room, and we only occasionally heard any noise from above at night, but all was quiet after about 11:30 or 12AM. It was awesome being that close to the water. One day I did see dolphins, but they were more towards the front of the ship. Last year we were on the 7th floor in a balcony, and I think our room might have been just a little bit bigger. If we remember correctly, I think our bathroom might have been a little bigger. However, the size of the Cove’s bathroom was just fine. We were just 1 floor down from our dining in Southern Lights. Being at midship on 2 was pretty smooth, even though we had a few bumpy rides during the week.

 

 

Room 2338

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Cove Balcony

 

 

 

 

The only disappointment with this room is that our steward wasn’t the best. We’ve always had super service, but this time was not as good. I never even met the steward all week. My DH talked to him once the first day. We passed him in the hall a couple of times, but he never really engaged us, other than a hello. He would never fill our ice bucket – and we’ve never had to ask for that on any other cruise. We finally left him a note to please fill it every day. A couple of times I put dirty towels in the floor, and he hung them back up! Our bed was made every day, but the sheets would always be scrunched up at the foot, and I would have to pull them down & retuck them to make it comfortable. We had one small water glass in the bathroom, and he never replaced it all week – or brought another for my husband to use. Our deck windows or door were never wiped down, and looked pretty bad by the end of the week, to where you couldn’t see out of them very well. The banister of our balcony always had salt on it, even after he had just cleaned – so I don’t think he ever touched the balcony at all. However, we would walk by other rooms being cleaned and saw the stewards cleaning the glass, etc. I guess the service could have been worse, but it definitely wasn’t the best we’ve ever had on ship.

 

 

To be continued!

[Salt Wind]

I LOVE reviews! Mike and Tracy are favorite! Can't wait to read this one! ;)

[KPfromCT]

Great start!!! Thanks for doing a review:D:D

Our last room steward on the Breeze, was awful. Same types of things and we had never run into these issues before, but like you, it didn't ruin our cruise, by any means.

[Beachlover76]

my cabin is 2337 in just 17 days..hope I don't get this steward. Do you remember his name?

Edited February 5, 2014 by Beachlover76

[2Okies]

Sea Days: We decided that January may not be the most ideal time to cruise if you want to enjoy much time on the deck. We probably had a total of 1 ½ days at sea that we could really enjoy without getting chilled.

 

 

 

We discovered the BBQ place on deck 5 about midship during sea days. They had sliders and hotdogs. The sliders cooked over charcoal were delicious! We ate there every sea day except the last one – and that was only because the weather was so cold & windy outside they didn’t have it open. We also loved the salad bar just inside the door from the BBQ. You can choose the type of greens, meat, toppings & dressing. It was only open at lunch and was so good!

 

 

 

My DH enjoyed many of the onboard activities such as morning dodgeball tourneys (even winning a medal as MVP the last day!) He also did the bag toss, ring toss, and a few games. Oh - and he judged the Miss Carnival contest! He also ended up on stage w/the juggler. We were both called up to help the magician. We also were on stage for a couple of silly games.

 

 

 

There is plenty of life onboard ship to keep everyone occupied! Even when the weather outside was less than agreeable.

 

 

 

DH playing dodgeball

 

 

Me on outside exercise equipment

 

 

 

DH judging the Miss Carnival contest. Something he can check off his bucket list!

 

 

 

Some nice person on the ship took our picture on the ship in Roatan

 

 

 

 

 

My hubby dragged me along to be onstage w/the Magician

 

 

 

Hubby onstage w/the juggler. Never laughed so hard!

 

 

 

More to come....

[5Hawkeyes]

Did you park at Galveston Park n Cruise? When you say right across the street do you mean that literally? We are parking there and I'm just trying to gauge if we should drop off our large suitcases and wheel our carry-ons across the street or if we could just wheel all our luggage across the street. Thanks for your help!!!

[2Okies]

my cabin is 2337 in just 17 days..hope I don't get this steward. Do you remember his name?

 

 

No :). I never met him - remember? ;) You will be on the "odd" side, so I bet you won't have the same one - unless they move around.

[Shaded Lady]

do you mind telling me how much your parking cost?

[2Okies]

Did you park at Galveston Park n Cruise? When you say right across the street do you mean that literally? We are parking there and I'm just trying to gauge if we should drop off our large suitcases and wheel our carry-ons across the street or if we could just wheel all our luggage across the street. Thanks for your help!!!

 

Yes - LITERALLY across the street. What we did is pulled our car in from the East going West into New Strand (which looks like an alley actually - but is a street 1 block South of the Harbor road), and just a few feet down is a gate, and that is their office. However, there were guys in the "alley" watching for people. We stopped by the gate, unloaded our luggage (we only had 3 rolling suitcases, and I had a beach-bag type carry-on w/our valuables (cameras, ipads, passports, money, etc) and I stood there w/it by the gate while they directed my husband where to park. Then he just walked back down to me & we walked to the end of the alley back towards the East, walked North about a block to the Harbor road, and crossed the road (you have to cross the railroad tracks - but that isn't a problem). You will see many people going back & forth across there.

 

Once we were across, there was a porter that offered to take our luggage for us that we were checking onto the ship, so we didn't have to walk very far at all. We turned to the left and walked down the sidewalk to the terminal building entrance.

 

Park N Cruise is very convenient. You will especially appreciate when you get off the ship, because you don't have to wait for a shuttle.

[2Okies]

do you mind telling me how much your parking cost?

 

I think it was about $70. You can find them online & make your reservations far in advance (and that is advised if you want covered parking). You can see their prices there. Just google Galveston Park N Cruise.

[5Hawkeyes]

Thank you so much!!! It's great to hear a detailed description and to know we picked the right place to park. I really appreciate it!!!

Thanks

[wantocruisemore]

Enjoying your review!!!!!

[LVDFW]

For priceline, how many stars did you pick? Also was the $70 your bid, or was that your all-in price?

[2Okies]

Dining Room: We ate every evening meal in the Southern Lights Dining Room and sat at a table for 8. We had 3 other couples at our table, and we all came every night. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the food. I don’t think we had anything we didn’t like. Our waiters were very good, and they always remembered our choice of drinks, bread, etc. , and all of our names. We had a table by the window – which really doesn’t matter much in January because it was always dark by 6pm – our dining time, and you couldn’t see anything anyway. The only disappointment, from our table, we couldn’t see anything going on in the middle part of the dining room, so when they had the waiters sang we couldn’t see anything – just hear it. That was a little disappointing. Other than that, we really enjoyed the dining room. The food was great every night.

 

 

Elegant night lobster plate

 

 

 

DH enjoying his lobster!

 

 

 

 

 

My DH loved elegant night's meal where he ate 6 lobsters + the shrimp! If you don't know already, you can order how much of anything you see on the menu, as many starters, main courses, desserts, etc. And, its a lot of fun to try the "Didja menu" - as in "did you ever try this?" They have things like escargot, alligator, sushi, etc. Its usually things you've never tried, but have maybe wanted to - but didn't want to pay for it if you didn't like it! It doesn't matter here, because you can try away!

 

 

Sushi on the Didja Menu

 

 

 

 

 

DH always ordered 3 starters: Shrimp cocktail, Fruit cocktail & Ceasar Salad

This is a plate of the first two

 

 

 

 

Fried shrimp plate.

 

 

 

 

Waiters singing in the dining room. I had to get up and go take this picture as we couldn't see them from our table.

 

 

 

 

Brunch in the Dining Room

 

Because we are past cruisers, we received 2 tickets for a free drink (alcoholic or soft drink), that were available only during brunch. We didn’t go to redeem them until the last day at sea. They have two drink stations set up outside the Southern Lights dining room. We didn’t realize that you really didn’t have to eat brunch to get the drinks. Just a FYI for anyone who gets these free tickets! We did eat there for brunch, but we weren’t that impressed with the selection. Mostly breakfast type dishes, and we were there closer to lunch. We would have rather had the buffet selections or the sliders or salad on the 5th floor!

[2Okies]

Spa: This was the first time on a cruise that I got to enjoy the spa. I had a "Tip-to-Toe" massage one of the Sea days when they run ½ price ($139). It ended up costing me $160 (which included a 20% automatic gratuity). It was an awesome massage, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, afterwards, they try to sell you all the products they used on you once it is over, but I just said a polite “no” and left .

 

 

 

If you have the money to do it - I would highly recommend. It was very relaxing.

 

 

 

Usually, every night near the taste bar (Ocean Plaza) they had a little table set up w/a couple of the Spa workers, that were advertising the latest specials. That is how we found out about the discounted massage and I signed up there.

 

 

Sorry - no pictures! :D

[2Okies]

Overall, we really enjoyed this cruise. We met some wonderful people. Our dining-mates were all very nice, and we had things in common with all of them.

 

 

 

Our table

 

 

 

Our Awesome Waiters!

 

 

 

 

We met others during excursions or around the ship. We exchanged phones & emails with some of them, because we want to keep in touch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little more to come...

[2Okies]

One of the most fun things to do on the ship is pose for the professional pictures. On the first couple of cruises I took, I didn't realize you could pose for all the pictures you wanted for fun! Its your choice if you want to purchase any of them (displayed on Deck 4), and there isn't any pressure to purchase. However - the pictures are $22 for an 8x10. I wish they would figure out a way so you could by a digital copy of everything you had taken for a reasonable price! To me it seems a waste of money to print all those pictures when most are not purchased!

 

Anyway, here were the 3 we purchased:

 

 

And, then there's the one we took with the Cruise Director, James :eek:, and Assistant Cruise Director, Dee. (No, they didn't always dress this way - this was after the "Legend" show the last night!

 

[2Okies]

The only downside to this trip was the weather wasn’t ideal the entire time, but not enough to spoil the trip. You make your own fun. We feel we are on vacation, being treated like royalty, eating super good, getting entertained – so what is there to complain about?

 

 

We hope you have a wonderful cruise on Carnival's Magic too!

Ricky & Dinah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have links to reviews of all the ports we visited, and the excursions we took to Roatan, Belize & Cozumel in my signature line below. They have pictures too! Visit those links to find out about the ports.

 

 

 

 

 

Magic is a great ship. We heard she will dry dock next February for about 40 days to be fitted with the new upgrades.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Sailing!

 

 

 

[2Okies]

For priceline, how many stars did you pick? Also was the $70 your bid, or was that your all-in price?

 

Actually, my daughter helped me do it, as she had done it before (I was chicken!) I'm pretty sure we put in 3 star - I think that 4 star is about the highest they have on Galveston, and the 4 stars are very pricey. I think we did put in about $70 if I remember correctly. I was nervous to try it, but very happy w/the results! I think the final cost w/taxes, etc was around $70-80, because we split the cost w/our grown kids who were with us, and our part was $35.

[2Okies]

Thank you so much!!! It's great to hear a detailed description and to know we picked the right place to park. I really appreciate it!!!

Thanks

 

You're welcome!

[2Okies]

Enjoying your review!!!!!

 

Thank you! :)

[stvntra]

For priceline, how many stars did you pick? Also was the $70 your bid, or was that your all-in price?

 

Here is what it says on Galveston Park N Cruise - not sure why you would go through Priceline and pay $70 when you can get it for much cheaper. Also the gated parking prepaid is the first numbers - i.e. $35, etc. and the indoor parking is the 2nd number - i.e. $40. A 7 day on the Magic is from $50 to $65 total for the week ($50 being the Gated Parking and $65 being the indoor parking). Maybe I misunderstood the question or the OP or they were referring to the hotel and not parking?? Not sure - just trying to help though. :) But we are doing this very soon for a quick 4 day trip and we are only paying $40 for indoor parking. Anyway, hopefully this will be helpful: :)

 

Galveston Park N Cruise offers a personal touch by being a family owned and operated business. We are the closest parking lot to the cruise ship terminal. Our gated lots and carports are first class but for those who want the best, we offer the ONLY secured INDOOR PARKING available. For your convenience you may first drop off your luggage and passengers at the terminal. Porters will be there to assist you. Or you may come directly to our lot and park, then just simply walk across the street to begin your fun. We look forward to you parking with us!

 

Gated, fenced and well lit

 

Surveillance cameras

 

Easy access to cruise terminal

Secured Indoor Parking available for additional fee.

 

Prepay and SAVE up to $6 off DriveUp Rates

 

Prepaid

Gated Parking Prepaid

Indoor Parking

CCL Triumph 4 Day $35 $40

CCL Triumph 5 Day $35 $45

CCL Magic 7 Day $50 $65

RCCL Navigator 7 Day $50 $65

Edited February 5, 2014 by stvntra

[MichelleChell]

We use indoor at Galveston Park n Cruise and love them. It is so close to the terminal that even my kids were able to roll there suit cases across the street and one of them was 5!