Magic 1/11/15 Pros and Cons

[insidethepocket]

Just got back from the Magic and I'll give a little bit of my opinion on some things. I'm not going to write a full blown review because I'm just too lazy for that. I'll start with the good.

 

Pros:

The ship is huge and there was always plenty to do

Deck chairs were plentiful and we never had a problem finding any

Our inside cabin 6393 was freezing cold (pro for my husband but not me)

Muster drill was quick and easy, and in an air conditioned room

The buffet had tons of choices and variety

We made it to Grand Cayman (YAY!)

I loved the anytime dining (or whatever it's called)

Comedians were hilarious

Casino was huge

Cat in the Hat breakfast was pretty cool

Photographers did a really good job

Room service usually took less than 10 minutes to arrive

Swimming with the sting rays was totally awesome

 

 

Cons:

Embarkation was a total joke and it took us nearly 3 hours to get on the ship

Passengers were down right rude (some not all of course)

Food was mediocre, probably the worst I've had on a cruise.

Some things were delicious (potato soup) and other things (any cut of steak) were inedible.

Service in dining room was hit and miss. Dinner was usually great, but breakfast not so much.

Every room service order was missing at least one thing

Shore excursions weren't well organized. Years ago when I was on the Liberty you met in the theatre and then they called your excursion and escorted you off the ship. Every excursion we booked we had to just meet on the pier.

Tender in Grand Cayman sucked

 

Looking forward to doing the Eastern Carib next year!

[insidethepocket]

Oh also, getting back on the ship in Cozumel someone took my mom's and my shopping bags from the Xray machine. If you're reading this we'd kind of like our stuff back :/

[cruisexlife]

I am currently writing a photo review of my cruise on Glory to the Eastern, and it is a lot of work. But thanks so much for your input! Glad you had fun! :D

[Pixelate]

Cons:

Embarkation was a total joke and it took us nearly 3 hours to get on the ship

Passengers were down right rude (some not all of course)

Food was mediocre, probably the worst I've had on a cruise.

Some things were delicious (potato soup) and other things (any cut of steak) were inedible.

Service in dining room was hit and miss. Dinner was usually great, but breakfast not so much.

Every room service order was missing at least one thing

Shore excursions weren't well organized. Years ago when I was on the Liberty you met in the theatre and then they called your excursion and escorted you off the ship. Every excursion we booked we had to just meet on the pier.

Tender in Grand Cayman sucked

 

Looking forward to doing the Eastern Carib next year!

 

With the list of cons you provided, are you still going to consider Carnival for your Eastern Caribbean cruise next year or will you be expanding your options? The food issues would be and were enough to send me searching for variety.

[cruiser fanatic]

Thanks for your review. I agree with you on your observations. One thing I noticed this past cruise is how smelly people were. It was ridiculous. I also got into it with a rude passenger this past cruise.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

Thanks for your review. I agree with you on your observations. One thing I noticed this past cruise is how smelly people were. It was ridiculous. I also got into it with a rude passenger this past cruise.

 

Smelly people...really? And why "get into" any kind of discussion with a rude passenger. Just ignore them and walk away.

 

As an aside...I'm always flabbergasted that people comment or complain about the other people on a cruise. It's not like you don't meet rude and obnoxious people everyday on land. I WILL NOT let the conduct of others tarnish my vacation.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Sweet Dutch Girl

[bury me at sea]

On the Magic twice in the last year. Agree with your comment about the food. We enjoyed the MDR and the brunch, but found nothing but bland, barely edible choices on the buffet. It was sad.

 

Also agree with embarkation process. We had FTTF both times and sailed past incredible lines when we got to the terminal a little before noon.

 

Other than the buffet we really enjoyed the cruise and have another booked on the Magic in June. Bought FTTF immediately after booking.

[cruiser fanatic]

Smelly people...really? And why "get into" any kind of discussion with a rude passenger. Just ignore them and walk away.

 

As an aside...I'm always flabbergasted that people comment or complain about the other people on a cruise. It's not like you don't meet rude and obnoxious people everyday on land. I WILL NOT let the conduct of others tarnish my vacation.

 

Were you there?? Do you know about the specific situation. Security was involved (yes it was that serious). And yes, there was a bunch of stinky people and I haven't noticed that on past cruises. I deal with these kind of people all the time so I can handle it!!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your pros and cons.

[insidethepocket]

With the list of cons you provided, are you still going to consider Carnival for your Eastern Caribbean cruise next year or will you be expanding your options? The food issues would be and were enough to send me searching for variety.

 

Yes, I will still be considering Carnival, but am also open to other lines. Honestly, I never expect totally amazing food on a cruise ship. They had to prepare so much food at once that it will never compare to a super nice restaurant on land. I just know going into it that I probably won't be ordering steak. I don't cruise for the food so as long as I can find some things that are tasty (and I did) then I'm good :).

[douglinc@msn.com]

I agree with you about the food, it's worse on the Magic than any Carnival ship we have been on.

[texast518]

Thanks for your review. I agree with you on your observations. One thing I noticed this past cruise is how smelly people were. It was ridiculous. I also got into it with a rude passenger this past cruise.

 

Angel,Alien, or Prada?

[cruisewithmebaby]

I agree with you about the food, it's worse on the Magic than any Carnival ship we have been on.

 

What about the food was lousy? In all venues or particular ones? Other than the food was everything else good/acceptable? Would you cruise the Magic again?

[douglinc@msn.com]

What about the food was lousy? In all venues or particular ones? Other than the food was everything else good/acceptable? Would you cruise the Magic again?

 

The food in the main dining room was fair at best. Nothing was really bad, just not as good as on other Carnival ships. We sailed the Magic for her 1st. sailing out of Galveston & I kinda laid it off on just coming over from the Europe that they needed to make the switch to American style cooking, but it has not changed. They have an outside Bar-B-Que on sea days that is very good. Yes I would sail on her again, we are leaving 1-25 on her again.

[Maticus22]

Went on Magic a couple years ago and the food was the worst ever.

[insidethepocket]

What about the food was lousy? In all venues or particular ones? Other than the food was everything else good/acceptable? Would you cruise the Magic again?

 

It was hit and miss in all of places I ate. In the main dining room for breakfast twice my omelet was burned. And one of those times they gave my omelet to my mom and I got hers (which we didn't realize until halfway through our meal). The filet mignon was ok, but any other cut of steak was so nasty. I did really enjoy the potato soup, carbonara pasta, and the warm chocolate melting cake. I only ate in the buffet once for lunch (never dinner) and the food was ok. I have nothing to rave or rant about there. Ate at the Italian place for lunch and it was just ok. I found the service to be terrible and the alfredo sauce bland. I constantly saw people around the ship with their menu trying to get reservations set up for dinner. My guess is that that place was not popular. I wouldn't pay to eat there after tasting lunch there and it seemed like no one else wanted to either. Overall, I think the steak was really the only thing that I found totally gross, most of it was just ok.

 

We had a fantastic time on the cruise overall and I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Magic again. However, I wouldn't do that same itinerary or EVER leave from Galveston again.

[cruiser fanatic]

It was hit and miss in all of places I ate. In the main dining room for breakfast twice my omelet was burned. And one of those times they gave my omelet to my mom and I got hers (which we didn't realize until halfway through our meal). The filet mignon was ok, but any other cut of steak was so nasty. I did really enjoy the potato soup, carbonara pasta, and the warm chocolate melting cake. I only ate in the buffet once for lunch (never dinner) and the food was ok. I have nothing to rave or rant about there. Ate at the Italian place for lunch and it was just ok. I found the service to be terrible and the alfredo sauce bland. I constantly saw people around the ship with their menu trying to get reservations set up for dinner. My guess is that that place was not popular. I wouldn't pay to eat there after tasting lunch there and it seemed like no one else wanted to either. Overall, I think the steak was really the only thing that I found totally gross, most of it was just ok.

 

We had a fantastic time on the cruise overall and I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Magic again. However, I wouldn't do that same itinerary or EVER leave from Galveston again.

 

What was wrong with the itinerary? Don't let one bad embarkation experience keep you from sailing from Galveston!

[Teekkanie]

We are going on the Magic in March.

Which nights were the elegant nights? How was the food on those nights.

[lucy200683]

man.. maybe i just have low expectations.. we were on the magic last feb.. and are booking again for this February with the kiddo's! we loved the food.. yes some was better than others.. but overall i didn't find any reason to say it was "worst on any cruise ever"...

 

for the newbies... some insight on magic food.. just my opinion

 

mongolian wok--excellent but the line was always soo long and it is slow! lol

capti del captiano (i know i i totally murdered that)- the italian was good.. not the best ever but for the 12 bucks at dinner we def enjoyed it and the atmosphere

MDR- always found something we liked... and if u try something and dont like it.. or want several they will bring u all u want.. now is the time to try new things when it is all included! :-)

seaday brunch- we really enjoyed this!! went several times.. loved the different options!!

seaside BBQ- was ok.. it was just burgers and hotdogs.. nothing too crazy but we did enjoy it!

steakhouse- didn't try it

roomservice- ordered several times and was always quick and filled our hunger when we were lazy! lol

pizza- enjoyed it! was good.. but again the line was ALWAYS long!! lol especially at night when its the only thing open!

 

 

just have fun.. be open minded and you will have a good time.

Edited January 22, 2015 by lucy200683

[tkportersat]

I have sailed out of Galveston 13 times, why won't you sail out of there again? I know you mentioned something about having a hard time boarding but was that due to fog? Just curious as I have never had issue boarding.

 

It was hit and miss in all of places I ate. In the main dining room for breakfast twice my omelet was burned. And one of those times they gave my omelet to my mom and I got hers (which we didn't realize until halfway through our meal). The filet mignon was ok, but any other cut of steak was so nasty. I did really enjoy the potato soup, carbonara pasta, and the warm chocolate melting cake. I only ate in the buffet once for lunch (never dinner) and the food was ok. I have nothing to rave or rant about there. Ate at the Italian place for lunch and it was just ok. I found the service to be terrible and the alfredo sauce bland. I constantly saw people around the ship with their menu trying to get reservations set up for dinner. My guess is that that place was not popular. I wouldn't pay to eat there after tasting lunch there and it seemed like no one else wanted to either. Overall, I think the steak was really the only thing that I found totally gross, most of it was just ok.

 

We had a fantastic time on the cruise overall and I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Magic again. However, I wouldn't do that same itinerary or EVER leave from Galveston again.

[insidethepocket]

I have sailed out of Galveston 13 times, why won't you sail out of there again? I know you mentioned something about having a hard time boarding but was that due to fog? Just curious as I have never had issue boarding.

 

This was my 5th cruise and I've NEVER experienced such a horrific embarkation process. It took nearly 3 hours and it was chaotic, like the carnival reps didn't know what they were doing, and several of them were rude. On the plus side in the chaos I didn't get my carryon drinks inspected (not that I had anything I was supposed to, but I didn't get slowed down even more). Carnival sent out an email saying not to arrive until between 1-3 pm and apparently this caused chaos. Next time I'm just going to ignore that email if I get it. I talked to a few people that arrived around 10:30-11 and they said they had no problems. I swear there must have been like a thousand people in line behind me, but I barely got on the ship and they were already making the announcement for muster.

 

There was nothing wrong with the itinerary, I loved every stop, but I have no interest in visiting the same ports more than once.