Newbie Cruises the Caribbean: Review of Magic 3/15-22 Cruise to Bahamas

[Beachiekeen]

Hello Cruise Critic! I am back from my first ever cruise and ready to write my review. I love writing reviews and trip reports because it helps me relive the experience as well as help others. Win win! I got sooo much good advice and help from this forum so I definitely want to pay it forward.

 

Hubby (40) and I (45) love to vacation and try to take three trips a year. My daughter jokes that we just go to work in between vacations and she’s not too far off. I am not sure how we got on the subject of cruising—hubby had been on two with mixed results and I for one wasn’t sure I ever wanted to take one as I wasn’t sure I would like it. The thought of the tiny stateroom didn’t sound so appealing and I was also afraid I would feel “trapped” on board. I was also afraid of things like inedible buffet food, seasickness, being stranded at sea with overflowing toilets and no electricity—I had all kinds of visions running through my head, none of them pleasant.

 

But somehow I was able to put all my fears aside and agree to a cruise as one of our vacations this year (along with Vegas, which is a must for us every year). I decided to give cruising a chance.

 

Hubby’s BFF (42) decided to join us. The three of us have vacationed together before and had tons of fun. The BFF has been on previous cruises and it sounded like fun to him so the planning began.

 

Since some of you are probably getting bored by now, here is a picture of me and hubby to spice things up:

 

 

This was on the ship the first day before sail away. Don’t we look so relaxed already?

 

We decided to pick a relatively cheap cruise out of Galveston so that we could drive and not have the expense of flying—since I wasn’t sure I would even like cruising, we really wanted to keep it as inexpensive as possible. We decided on Spring Break since that is normally a week we take off for vacation (hubby is a teacher so we try and work around his scheduled breaks).

 

The boys didn’t want to do the Western/Mexican itinerary so that pretty much left us with the Bahamas and Key West which we were excited about since the boys had considered going to Key West for their 40th birthdays, but we ended up in Vegas instead. Since I’m a beach girl, the Bahamas sounded great to me.

 

We really didn’t research any of the ships, we just picked a date, itinerary and price we liked and voila, we ended up on the Magic. We booked an Early Saver rate and carefully chose one of the two remaining 4J cabins—through our internet super sleuthing, we found out that those cabins actually have 35 more square feet than regular interior cabins, as well as a window. Both of those things sounded good to me since the thought of the cabins made me feel slightly panicky. (I tried to convince hubby to get a spa cabin but I failed. I love spas and the thought of getting to use one every day sounded awesome. But he wanted the extra square footage which I couldn’t disagree with.)

 

However, a few months later, the Halloween sale happened and since we couldn’t live with the fact that the price was so much lower, we gave up our 4J and agreed to let Carnival choose our room (which is known as a guarantee room or GTY to most of you reading this) in exchange for a lower rate. We saved several hundred dollars by doing this. We did, however, upgrade to an ocean view since they are also slightly bigger and have a true window with a view.

 

I waited on pins and needles for weeks wondering what room we would get or if we would possibly be offered an upgrade.

 

As the days and months ticked down, I discovered this forum, started a roll call, and began researching everything from how to choose an excursion to what kind of adhesive to use on door decorations.

 

Would my research pay off? Did the upsell fairy call? And most importantly, did I dress up for Elegant Night? Stay tuned….

Edited March 23, 2015 by Beachiekeen

[tkportersat]

We were getting off when you were getting on....hope you had a great vacation :) We had a blast!

[Beachiekeen]

So during our planning, I went on a mission to convince hubby that we needed to drive to Galveston a day early and spend the night. I told him this is what all the cool cruisers did. But hubby didn’t want to spend the money. He wanted to drive down the day of but I was envisioning all kinds of terrible scenarios like the car breaking down, flat tires, etc. But a little research showed that getting a hotel in Galveston on Saturday, March 14 for one night for under $100 would be no easy task.

 

So I discovered on the Home Ports forum a previously unknown-to-me town called Texas City which was only 20 minutes from port. And wouldnt you know it, they just happened to have a lovely Comfort Inn for $89/night. Sold! Thank you CC!

 

Our lovely room at the Comfort Inn:

 

Hubby works on Saturdays but he agreed to move his schedule around so we could leave in time to be in Galveston for dinner. BFF agreed to drive so hubby booked and paid for the parking online at Park N Cruise and we were finally set.

 

We booked our excursions, chose our dining time, made reservations at the steakhouse, and pretty soon, we had nothing to do but wait.

 

Next up….finally on the road to Galveston.

[Sooner-Cruisers]

We will be on this same ship and itinerary in a few weeks, I can't wait to read all of your review and your thoughts on the ports. Thanks!

[Beachiekeen]

We set out for Galveston around 2:00 on Saturday the 14th. Dallas weather had been downright brutal for the past month and we were ready to get the heck out of there. I felt bad that some of my fellow roll-callers had made the drive down Friday in the 40-degree pouring rain. Luckily for us, we had nary a sprinkle and only a little traffic through Houston.

 

We arrived in Texas City and checked in, then drove to Galveston for dinner. It was an easy drive and I highly recommend the Comfort Inn in Texas City—they welcome cruisers and they have a fairly big breakfast buffet.

 

In case you were wondering, Galveston on a Saturday night in mid-March is nuts. By some miracle we found parking but everywhere we tried to eat was over an hour’s wait. We finally ended up eating in the bar at Joe’s Crab Shack.

 

I tried to get a shot of the Pleasure Pier while we walked. I didn’t do such a great job.

 

Back at the hotel, I carefully laid out my cute sail-away outfit and packed my tote bag:

 

The next morning, we’re off!

[PurdueChefAmber]

Great start! Looking forward to the rest of your review! That is a cute sail away outfit!

[Tannison]

Great review so far! Looking forward to reading the rest. We are on the Magic in June.

[Beachiekeen]

Thanks PurdueChefAmber--I thought I did pretty good on that one!

 

So we had FTTF but were really unsure when we should arrive at the pier. I told the boys the earliest I had read of anyone ever boarding was 10:30 am. I had originally thought we should be at the port by 10:00 but then decided maybe that was too early. These guys are not the most patient waiters and hate lines. I should have mentioned that although both DH and BFF had cruised before, they had never cruised on Carnival out of Galveston. So they were no help.

 

The baggage area is not well defined really—at first we saw signs and then we didn’t. I saw a bunch of guys in floral shirts standing around and as we are walking by, a guy in a red shirt comes out of a dark room and says, here, give me your bags. Which DH and BFF do. And I am panicking thinking, who the heck is this guy, is he really a porter? Why isn’t he wearing a floral shirt like all the others? I think hubby showed him that we had FTTF but I’m not really sure, I was too busy panicking. I was convinced he was some sort of bag gypsy and we’d never see our bags again. My only consolation was that he was going to be very disappointed when he opened our bags.

 

By the time we checked our bags and started through the terminal, it was just before 11:00 am and the sign I saw flashing said “Now boarding all passengers.” Well shoot, maybe we could have gotten on earlier then, I thought. We went ahead and went through the FTTF line and it was a whirlwind—there were no lines at all and we just breezed through so fast I barely had time to take it all in. I was surprised that they take your picture when you get your sign and sail card—I had not known about that.

 

They told us our room would be ready so that is where we went—Room 1451 on the Riveria deck, aft. Yes, that’s right—the dreaded Riveria. BFF was on the Riveria too just a few doors down from us, which was convenient. It was so nice to be able to go straight there and drop off my 12-pack of water hubby was carrying for me as well as check everything out. This is one of the few times FTTF came in handy (but more on that later).

 

So the Riveria deck--it definitely has it's cons. We were right over the engines apparently. We could hear and feel rumblings going on, especially when we came into port. It was akin to an earthquake really. Although I've never actually BEEN in an earthquake, I still maintain that this is what it feels like. And on the first night, I could actually feel myself rocking back and forth. I got used to it though and actually slept great every night since I was being rocked to sleep! But if you have any issues with seasickness, then this is not the deck for you.

 

Hubby had warned me for months that the room would be small. But actually, we were both very pleasantly surprised. The room felt really big to me, I loved having the window (I just wished it was cleaner) and we had TWO bathrooms (only one with a toilet) and one of the bathrooms had a tub. Which if you are a woman, you really need—I don’t know how you are supposed to shave your legs otherwise, because I tried in the other shower and it wasn’t pretty.

 

Here are the pics of our room:

 

 

 

Our window--not much of a view yet. I actually wasn't able to look out of it until the second or third day, I got too dizzy!

 

 

Much to hubby’s embarrassment, I was determined to decorate our door. I think I did pretty good for my first time.

 

 

Isn’t it so cute? I was actually disappointed that I didn’t see more doors decorated once I got there.

 

So then we went down to BFF’s room, Room 1461. I immediately noticed the difference between the two and if hubby had any illusions about us ever booking an interior on a cruise, I put those right to rest. But for a single person, the room was not bad.

 

 

Our luggage wasn’t there yet and were ready to go explore and have that first frozen drink!

Edited March 23, 2015 by Beachiekeen

[Jenny in TX]

Looking forward to the rest of your review! We love the Magic.

[BigB0882]

Loving your review! I am going on this itinerary but on a different ship so I am really curious to hear how you liked the ports and what excursions you tried. Thanks!!

[Beachiekeen]

So we made our way down to the Lido deck as we all needed our first pina colada stat.

 

 

Mmmm, delish. I was ready to go exploring but DH wanted food so he hit the Lido buffet.

 

 

Ok, so let’s talk food for a minute. I might as well get this out of the way right now. If bad Carnival food reviews offend you, then you better skip this post. Because with a few exceptions, that is about all you are going to find here.

 

I read numerous posts where people said “I don’t cruise for the food.” Or “I can always find something I like.” Translation: “The food is bad and I choose to overlook it and enjoy my cruise anyway.” Which is fine, I get that. But make no mistake, that IS what people mean when they say that.

 

Hubby and I like food. A lot. We have been known to plan entire vacations around where and what we will eat. Now I understood that clearly, on a ship with 4,000 people, we would not have the same experience as on our usual vacations. So I went into this week with very low food expectations.

 

And they were met wholeheartedly. The Lido buffet was, in a word, inedible. The only saving grace on the entire thing was boxed cereal. Even the orange juice tasted like a cocktail-type of juice-drink, not fresh squeezed. I quickly realized that Cheerios would all I would be having from the buffet. On a port day when the lines weren’t too long, I did get an omelet and it was edible. But overall, the Lido buffet gets a D-.

 

I’ll just go ahead and give a quick rundown of the other things we had and get it out of the way.

 

Pizza Pirate: cardboard with some sauce and pepperoni. There might have been some cheese, I’m not really sure. Grade: D

 

Off the Grill: We got hamburgers here one day when we were too hungry to wait until 8:15 for dinner. The hamburger brought back memories of my middle school cafeteria. But I was starving and ate the whole thing. The fries were ok though. Grade: C

 

Carnival Deli: Got a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a pickle. Very edible. Grade: B-

 

Tandoori: Ok, now we’re talking. Finally, something with flavor. This wasn’t bad and I would have eaten here every night for dinner if it had been open. Grade: Solid B+

 

Mongolian Wok: hubby said it was ok, not as good as the Tandoori though. Plus the lines were always way too long. I wasn’t brave enough to try it.

 

Oceanside BBQ: Hubby and BFF got a snack one day and weren’t fans. I decided to just have a Twilight Zone for lunch.

 

Red Frog Pub: We went here several times for the boys to have a beer. We also had our roll call M&G here where I had a frozen drink and two appetizers and it was a long wait for both even though it wasn’t very crowded. It was all just ok not great and the drink was by far the worst I had. The female bartenders here were also not very friendly at all on any of the times we visited. Grade for food and service: C

 

Sea Day Brunch: hubby wasn’t a fan but I liked what I had fine, plus they served real orange juice and it was a much nicer environment than the Lido Marketplace. We only ate here once on the second Sea Day though. Grade: B+

 

Prime Steakhouse: We had high hopes that our $70 meal would be awesome, however, it was just ok. My salad was overdressed and dessert wasn’t good at all. The entrée and appetizer were ok and certainly some of the better quality of food we had. Grade: A-

 

Main Dining Room (MDR): This gets a mixed review. The first two nights were not very good and we were so disenchanted that we skipped the next two nights. I learned to get a salad and baked potato with every meal so if my entrée wasn’t good, I would at least have something. But it finished stronger at the end and we loved our waiters—they went a long way in making it a better experience than it really was. Grade: B

 

As far as drinks go, all I had were frozen ones and they varied greatly depending on who made them. My favorite drinks were from the casino bar and Serenity bar. They were so weak that the boys finally just got virgin pina coladas saying they tasted the same and were cheaper. But I don’t mind weak drinks so I enjoyed all of mine. But you won’t get any kind of buzz drinking these that’s for sure.

 

Ok, so if you’re still with me, I’ll continue with day one and the pictures I took on the ship.

[watermelonqueen99]

Loving your review! We board the Magic for the second time in 34 days, same itinerary you did. You are right....the food is awful, especially the Lido buffet! I said the same thing in my review last year!

 

Can't wait for more!

[BigB0882]

Sorry the food wasn't the best. The food was my biggest complaint on my cruise (my first) because I had entirely wrong expectations going in. I am happy to hear that the Tandoori was your favorite. I love Indian food and can not wait to have it on the Dream in 13 days!!

[Beachiekeen]

So the rest of the afternoon was spent exploring and getting to know the ship. I found it easy to navigate as a first-time cruiser and although there was a lot of walking, I was surprised to find that even walking the length of the ship wasn’t as far as I thought it would be.

 

Pool and water works:

 

 

 

Aft pool:

 

 

Ropes course:

 

 

Seating (somewhere--can't remember what deck now):

 

[Beachiekeen]

Serenity Deck:

 

 

 

 

 

[Beachiekeen]

Showtime Theater:

 

Ocean Plaza:

 

 

Piano Bar:

 

 

[Beachiekeen]

Prime steakhouse and menu:

 

 

 

 

[Beachiekeen]

Red Frog Pub:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seating next to Red Frog:

 

 

I'll continue tomorrow!

Edited March 24, 2015 by Beachiekeen

[pirate4me2]

Thanks for doing this! Magic is on my list of ships to cruise.

[Beachiekeen]

At around 2:00, we headed to our room expecting our luggage to be there and we planned to unpack and rest until the safety drill. We were disappointed to find it wasn’t there.

 

We decided to go check out the spa and I inquired about a possible day pass. They told me they only sold 50 passes so if 50 people came and bought the passes for the whole week (which is what they tried to get me to do), there would be no passes the day I wanted. I had wanted a pass for one of the last sea days, but I never ended up making it back there. I knew I wouldn’t go to the spa every day, so buying the weeklong pass didn’t make sense. I did make a nail appointment for the following day at 1:00 since I had not been able to get my nails done before the cruise. However, I was not allowed to use the spa amenities with my appointment. Bummer.

 

We went back to the room (still no luggage—grrrr) and rested until the safety drill. I loved how everyone clapped when it was over and it felt like the cruise really began! After the drill, we again checked on the luggage (still not there), then went up to Deck 11 (Panorama Deck) for sailaway. I got the drink special but I can’t remember what it was. It was good though.

 

 

We sat in a seating area until we felt the boat moving and then went and watched from the rail.

 

 

 

After sail away, the boys went down to guest services and I went back to the room and found our luggage there at 5:00 pm. I had checked our roll call thread and saw that one of the roll call members also did not have luggage around 3:00 pm and got a refund of their FTTF. So that is what we did too. The nice thing was, they still allowed us to use FTTF (like at the guest services line) even though they gave us a refund. But getting our luggage early was one of the main reasons we got FTTF and not having it until so late was disappointing.

 

So I don’t know if we would get FTTF again or not. It was very nice to be able to go straight to our room and not have to stand in line at guest services. But it did not help us as far as the luggage, embarkation or even disembarking—since we were on deck 1, we had the earliest slot for getting off the ship and thus didn’t need it then either.

 

So we spent the next hour or so unpacking and getting settled, then hubby and I went up to the pool deck and to the back of the ship for sunset.

 

 

 

 

I loved seeing our first sunset from the ship and the rest of the week, we tried to never miss it.

[BrotherCraig]

Thanks for the great review so far. I will be on the Magic for the first time in May. Disappointed to hear about the food. We loved the food on the Liberty and the Ecstasy. Heard many people say the food is not very good on the Magic -- so I guess I am going in with low expectations. Got spoiled on the Liberty.

[Beachiekeen]

We met up with BFF and decided to try our luck in the casino.

 

We found a Wheel of Fortune machine which we love to play in Vegas and just like in Vegas, we pooled our money--$20 each for $60 in play. We played our money down to $9 and then got a spin and won $400! Woo hoo! Even though we gambled a little more later, I made sure hubby and I came home winners!

 

 

 

We celebrated at Red Frog and then went down to freshen up for dinner. We had the late dining in the Southern Lights dining room. I was surprised to find we had our own table. I had thought we would sit with other people.

 

 

On night one I had the Caesar salad, beef brisket and warm chocolate melting cake.

 

 

 

 

It was all Ok, not great. The dessert was the most disappointing—it was like eating raw cake batter. I wasn’t a fan.

[Beachiekeen]

Hubby got the flat iron steak.

 

 

BFF got the southern fried chicken.

 

 

So after dinner, we were all 3 pretty tired and just decided to have an early night. When we got to the room, I had my first towel animal waiting! (I don’t mind telling you—I loved these and looked forward to them every night.)

 

 

That night I slept like a baby with the ship rocking me to sleep!

 

Here is the Fun Times for our first day. I hated that we missed the Welcome Aboard show.

 

 

 

[reerun25]

Enjoying your review so far!

[Beachiekeen]

We slept until 8:30 am and went down to the Lido deck for breakfast of boxed cereal and juice drink. I tried to sit by the window but didn’t quite have my sea legs yet and changed places with hubby.

 

We made our way to the Serenity deck and found 3 loungers with some shade. We got there around 10:00 am and I would say we scored some of the last loungers on the deck.

 

Hubby and I got in the hot tub and I enjoyed a Kiss on the Lips which was some sort of mango/peach concoction. It was yummy and was probably my second favorite drink, although I didn’t get it again.

 

 

I reluctantly drug myself away around noon to go get ready for my 1:00 nail appointment which would be followed immediately by my 2:00 M&G at the Red Frog Pub. My nail appointment went fine but the nail tech was not very friendly.

 

I told hubby to meet me at Red Frog knowing I would be rushing to get there by 2:00. I was only about 5 minutes late and luckily my sweet hubby had greeted those who had already made it. I met 5 of those on our roll call—we had a pretty active roll call and I thought more might show but I understood that you really have no way of knowing where you will be or what you will be doing at 2:00 pm on the first sea day.

 

I had some appetizers and a Caribbean Colada—this was my least favorite drink.

 

 

We visited with the roll call until around 3:30, then moved outside for a bit chatting with a couple hubby had met from Austin. By 4:30, I was fading and needed a nap so we went back to the room and I slept until 6:45 yikes! So then it was time to get ready for elegant night. I wore a long flowy black dress and hubby wore a suit.

 

 

Hubby and I in the dining room. We found our pro pictures later but I had my eyes closed. We never ended up doing any of the posed pictures. Oh well, money saved I guess!

 

Tonight’s menu was the prime rib and baked potato—my prime rib was mostly inedible. The baked potato was good though. I also got a Greek salad.

 

 

 

Hubby got the shrimp and lobster tail and actually ate two of them so it must have been OK. BFF got both entrees and liked his prime rib better than I did.

 

For dessert I got the cherries jubilee and it was again a major disappointment. It was supposed to have a brandy sauce and I thought they might even flambé it at the table. But it came instead as canned cherries next to vanilla ice cream and there was no sauce at all that I could taste, zero.

 

 

Strike two on the MDR dessert.