Carnival Magic review April 23-30, 2016

[DKNE]

Our family of 4, 2A and 2 kids (11 & 12) decided to book a cruise this spring, as we thought waiting till January to go on the Vista was too long of a wait!

My parents also booked this cruise with us! We both had cabins on Deck 10 (lido deck) ours was the very front of the ship and my parents were a balcony. Loved the lido deck, zero noise and easy access to everything. First time on Lido deck and would def book it again. This was also the ships first time sailing out of Port Canaveral and going to our itinerary, so that was kind of neat. We had Dr E as cruise director and he was absolutely fantastic. I never really paid attention to cruise directors in the past, but having Matt Mitchum last year on the Breeze and now Dr E, I can say that they really do help make your cruise so much more fun with all their funny quirks. Can't wait for the Vista in January, which we are sailing with Matt Mitchum again !

 

We actually left on the Thursday to make our way down to Florida. We stayed at the Best Western Lake Buena Vista resort near Disney Springs (with the intent of going to Disney Springs that day) but we had a super early morning flight (6am) so we were pretty tired once at the hotel. Kids went swimming while the adults chilled. The hotel was 'ok'. We used aeroplan miles for the hotel, so can't complain too much. No breakfast included. We went a bit of shopping prior to dinner. Did not go to Disney springs, as it poured rain. So we had an early night as we were all tired and excited for the cruise the next day.

 

Day 1 ~ Embarkation day!

Woke up and went to Mc D's for breakfast before heading to the port. We dropped off the rental car and we were at the port by 10:30 (even though our boarding pass said 12:30-3). We were group #7 ! We were on the ship by 11:45 am !! Went to the buffet for lunch and by 1pm our rooms were ready (even though they say 1:30). We were on the Breeze last year, so the two ships are pretty comparable (with the Breeze having nicer decor) but all other amenities were great. We really enjoyed the Magic, there were 4,500 on the ship. A ton of big groups. We were on a sailing with only 96 kids on our sailing, while the prior week had over 900 kids on that sailing! yikes! However our kids still managed to make some friends and hang out with them.

 

We had 'your time dining' for the first time. Loved it. We never felt rushed and we went for dinner anywhere between 6:15-7pm and never waited for tables. Our first night dinner, we sat in an area where the service wasn't too great (they brought out the kids meals and my dh meal), while my parents and myself had to wait 45 minutes for our meals. It seemed ridiculous. The whole 'service' was not the best. They did bring out a piece of pie and a candle and sang 'happy anniversary' to my dh and I. The following night we asked to sit in another section and our waiters were like night and day and were absolutely fantastic (I Wayan, Ezra and Rupling) We asked to sit in their section for the rest of the week, and had a great week with them.

 

Day 2 ~ Sea Day

Literally sat around and relaxed. It was sunny out and weather was perfect. My mom, dh and I decided to go to the shore excursion tour info (even though we didn't buy any) but we entered our names in the draw to win 1 of 24 shore excursions they were giving away. I WON !! I won a shore tour for San Juan, Puerto Rico (couldn't believe it, as that was my birthday that day as well!) Perfect !! Lunch was at Blue Iguana, so yummy. I never had it on the Breeze but really enjoyed it. Kids enjoyed themselves on the rope course, the sports deck area and the waterworks. Something for everyone. This night the waiters brought me a birthday cake and sang for me. That was great. That night we got back to our room and our room steward wrote 'happy anniversary from your steward GEE' on our mirror. What a nice surprise. And GEE was one of the best cabin stewards we've ever had. He also left us a complimentary bottle of wine and a spa gift card. WOW, so touched!!

 

Day 3 ~ Amber Cover, Dominican Republic

Pulling into port, it was really overcast and cloudy. Dr E did mention that the dock was like 'the green mile' and it was super long. They do have guys that will take you back and forth on the dock (they pull you by bike and you are in a cart ~ forget the name lol) and they work on 'tips'. We walked the dock. We only went to the Amber Cove area. Still a lot of stores with nothing in them, but its a work in progress. We went to the pool area and rented an umbrella ($10), pool chairs are free. Kids and dh went down the water slides abit and they also went on the zip line. $6 per kid all day and $12 per adult all day. You do not even need shoes, they will attach your flip flops to your harness so you don't loose them and my son went down with only a bathing suit and no shirt. Just stayed around pool area, swim up bar (drinks were nice and potinent!) Not sure of cost of drinks, as my dad splurged for me lol. Then it monsoon rained!!! We actually stayed in the pool to keep 'warm'. It just downpoured like no tomorrow. Once the rain let up, my parents went back to the ship around noon. We stayed another 2 hours when it started to drizzle abit. Walked around shops, bought a couple souvenirs. Took pics by the 'Amber Cove' big sign and took a ride back to the ship as it started to rain again.

 

Day 4 ~ St Thomas

Arrived in port at 12pm. Norwegian Escape and the BREEZE was in port with us. Captain had to paralel park between the 2 ships. It was an overcast.... on again and off again sunny kind of a day. Once off the ship, flagged down an open air taxi (total mayhem there!) and for $9 per person, he took us to Coki Beach. By the time we got there, the beach was pretty packed, but we found an area by the rock area (to the right of the beach) Fed the fish food, it was super cool having the fish eat out of your hands and the kids had so much fun. We had lunch there (just had hotdogs $8 for fries and dog, $5 for just a hotdog ~ service took a long time!) Didn't reserve a taxi back, but there is a dispatcher when you arrive and hanging out there all day and when you want a taxi they call for one. We waited less then 5 minutes. $9 return trip. I had asked the driver to take us back to the ship by the way of Skyline Drive, as I wanted that awesome view of the ships and everyone on the open air taxi was so thrilled for that pit stop (we tipped the driver extra$!) He dropped us off in Havensport shopping area and we shopped for abit and made our way back to the ship. We set sail at 7pm. The Escape was to leave at 6pm, but they didn't leave till after us. The Breeze was still in port too. So we were last to arrive and first to leave lol

 

Day 5 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Arrived to yet again, overcast cloudy skies. As we pulled into port, the skies opened up. However the MSC Divina was pulling into port, and they had to close our gangway while they docked next to us. We waited for 45 minutes for our gangway to reopen. I had won a shore excursion for this port, so we found our driver easily, the 'bus' held about 25 people. We had the 'top 10' of San Juan tour. It was really interesting, learned a lot about San Juan, saw some beautiful sites and views. However we could not go to the forts as their was a military presentation going on and even though our driver 'tried' to drive into the forts, there were tons of police presence and told us 'no' can't go in. The traffic was chaotic. So it was sad we didn't go to the forts. The tour was $69 per adult, $59 per kid. 3.5 hours, but ours ended being just over 4 hours due to traffic etc. It was a nice tour, however if we had to 'pay' for it, we probably wouldn't have done it.

After being dropped off in town, we walked the streets for shopping. San Juan was not like I remembered it back in 1990 (my first time there) it was really poor and a ton of homeless people on the streets. A ton of shops were closed up and there wasn't really any 'deals' as per say. We went to 'touch of gold' and the 'deal' we got was $899 for a gold chain for my dh. We passed.

However we did go to Barrachina's, the birthplace of the Pina Colada. Seeing it was my birthday that day, I treated myself to a Pina Colada lol and we ordered lunch. As it was another overcast day, the waitress wanted to sit us inside 'in case it rained', I told her I came to sit outside and insisted, and we sat outside on the patio. So glad we did, as it didn't rain while we were there. We ordered a sampler platter for $22 and it had grouper fritters, calamari, turnover, pork in a pastry, shrimp, stuffed plantains, and other things I can't remember. Kids had grilled cheese and fries for $8.99 each. My pina colada was $7.50.

After our late lunch we headed back too the ship, tons of vendors along the sidewalk selling things. Sailed out of San Juan and saw the Royal Caribbean 'serenade of the seas' (sailed on her in 2008) in the middle of the ocean just sitting there, not sure why! Because it was my birthday that night, my daughter told the waiter to bring out a cake 'on my mommy's real birthday' lol, so they brought out another cake and sang again. Again, our waiters were awesome!)

 

Day 6 ~ Grand Turk

Arrived in Grand Turk at 12pm - 6pm. Spent the morning relaxing and hanging out on deck, while approaching Grand Turk. And it was super sunny and blue skies....our first day of true sun lol

We were really super lucky as we made our way down the gangplank they closed it off after us and then let us off but everyone else had to wait and we were one of the first 17 people off the ship!! Totally awesome. We spent the day at the beach right at port. Had so much fun. Chairs were free, umbrellas or 'cabana' were $20 to rent. Margarittaville was right behind us so we grabbed lunch while in port. My daughter got her hair braided for only $25! And they did an excellent job! Left the beach area to do some shopping, not many stores to go into, but enough to grab a few souvenirs. We had to be back on board for 5:30 and we were at the loooong line up by 5:10. We got on the ship at 6pm !!! And we asked how many people are after us and they said over 100 more people to go. CRAZY !! But we all made it lol

 

Day 7 ~ Sea Day

Literally did nothing, relaxed on deck chairs on deck 12 and had lunch at the Pig and Anchor seaside bbq. It was super yummy. The workers serve you, unlike the seaside bbq on the breeze where you served yourself. Mind you, being served, the lineup went super fast!! My daughter and I went to the towel animal learn how to make. That was fun, and then my daughter went up on stage with Dr E and made towel animal friends (along with other passengers too). She had so much fun. Final night dinner all the waiters sang 'goodbye' to us. So sad. Always do not like the last day, but its gotta end sometime.

Because this was the inaugural sailing out of Port Canaveral they had people fill out little papers that said 'the best part of my cruise was________' and put it in a balloon. There were hundreds of balloons on a net, that they later released that night from deck 10 to the atrium area. It was so packed and 'loud' as in when the balloons dropped everyone was popping them and it sounded like a wack load of fireworks going off. A lady next to me got my sons 'best part of the cruise____' how ironic is that, and my son also found one of the balloons he filled out. It was really neat.

 

Day 8 ~ bye bye day

We did self debarkation. If you put your luggage out the prior night, they didn't start doing debarkation until about 8:45 or 9am. We needed off by 7:45. They started self debarkation with deck 12, and we were deck 10, so we were off by 7:45 no problems at all. Waited maybe 15 minutes at customs and were in a shuttle to the car rental by 8:10am!! Rented a car, took my parents to the airport (they had an earlier flight) at 10am and then we headed to Disney Springs. We hadn't been there in 4 years, and wow has it ever built up. We ate lunch at T-Rex restaurant. Kids liked it and so did we as it was over 90 degrees out, sunny and super hot! lol Our flight was at 9 pm, so we were at the airport at 4:20 and literally took 2 hours to check in, check our luggage and wait in the loooooong security lines. We were eatting dinner about 6:30pm at McD's ! lol

 

Overall ~

Loved the Magic. We had a great cruise, really no complaints about anything.

We went to some of the shows at night. My daughter got chosen to go up and assist the 'Magicians' show and she was thrilled to no end. There was an illusionist show (was pretty good!) and my dh was chosen to go up at the end when the illusionist was in a handcuffed cage and he had to confirm he was handcuffed. So when the girl came to get my dh, he put his fist in the air and said 'yeah baby' LOL Saw the Carnival Legends show. It was good. They had passengers 'audition' to be part of this show, and it was basically a karokee and some of them were really super good and others well.........they were brave to get up in front of everyone and perform.

I participated in Bingo once ($20 for 3 cards). Did some on board shopping but there wasn't a whole lot that caught our eye. Played in the casino 1 night (only $20)

Did a ton of 'pixels' gallery photos. I am really into photography so I made sure we did a ton of portraits to choose something decent out of all of them. They are quite expensive. I did suggest making 'collections' for those that purchased a lot of sheets. We bought 14 portraits and cost us $303 !!! They did tell me that Vista has gone 'digital', so you only print what you buy. And that the other carnival ships will follow suit soon. Prices are 8x10 $21.99, port pics and dining room are $17.99 and 'fun shots' were $13.99. This is each!!

 

We had a fantastic time. And now can't wait for the Vista! I will see if I can add photos to this later on !! If you have any questions, please do not hestitate to ask. I would love to help out any of you who have questions ! :D

Edited May 4, 2016 by DKNE

[ncovert]

Thank you for taking the time to post. Always fun to read how others experienced there vacations. Sounds like the four of your got by pretty well. Makes me want to book something for our family. Guess at least I can live vicariously thought you. Again, thank you for taking the time to post your review

[DKNE]

Thank you for taking the time to post. Always fun to read how others experienced there vacations. Sounds like the four of your got by pretty well. Makes me want to book something for our family. Guess at least I can live vicariously thought you. Again, thank you for taking the time to post your review

 

Your very welcome !! It was the kids 3rd cruise. They love cruising. And now that they are older, it makes it enjoyable for everyone as they are old enough to go do certain things around the ship while us adults get to relax!!

[cocacola86]

We just booked today for next April going to Belize, Costa maya, Cozumel and Maghony Bay on deck 12 in a spa balcony. Does the magic have that comfort kitchen? Any recommendations on what to do in each port, my wife can't walk very good so the Mayans are out. We're both red in the Vifp I have 20 days she has 13, i will hit Gold will they give me the Gold card when I check in

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[DKNE]

We just booked today for next April going to Belize, Costa maya, Cozumel and Maghony Bay on deck 12 in a spa balcony. Does the magic have that comfort kitchen? Any recommendations on what to do in each port, my wife can't walk very good so the Mayans are out. We're both red in the Vifp I have 20 days she has 13, i will hit Gold will they give me the Gold card when I check in

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

I am not sure what the comfort kitchen is your asking? Is that in the Lido buffet?

As for your ports next year, I've only been to Cozumel. We took a tour with a taxi and he took us to a tequila place where they made tequila, some historical stops along the way and stopped in Paradise Beach. That's what we did there. I am sorry I can't help you with your other ports.

Our whole family is red in VIFP, a ways to go to get gold I think! :D

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[mykindaparty]

Cocacola86,

 

In Cozumel, you can take the city tour thru carnival, in Costa Maya stay on ship, it is a very long pier to walk, although they have a tram you can wait on to carry you back and forth, really nothing to see or do there. Belize, there is a tour thru carnival also, mahogany bay, go to the taxi stand and tell them you want a island tour with little walking and its 40.00 per person and your driver will take you all over the island and see really interesting stuff. Hope this helps some. Enjoy your cruise!

[Miss Kellybean]

Thank you for the review! My family and I are on the June 4 sailing with the same itinerary. May I ask, which nights are the Cruise Elegant nights?

[JaniceB]

Thanks for the review, enjoyed reading it.

[CatgirlNC]

Thanks for the review! I’m going on the Magic next February, same ports, and I’m really looking forward to it. I might have to try Barrachina’s when we stop in San Juan. On our cruise last month that also stopped at San Juan, we did the Bacardi tour, which was fun, but then we just went straight back to the ship for lunch and didn’t try any local restaurants.

[mistyinca]

Thanks for the review! I can't wait for ours in November. Do you have the FunTimes to post?

 

Thanks!

[Trumpster]

Was on the same cruise as OP. It was almost a perfect cruise and had a blast.

 

I have the fun times on PDF files for the trip. I will try to link them later or I can email them later, they are at home right now.

 

Also Elegant nights were Sunday (the first sea day) and surprisingly Wednesday (San Juan)

[martinhughes1]

We were also on the Magic that week too. Second cruise out of Port Canaveral for the Magic, first running that itinerary. The first cruise was an out and back to Nassua that left the Wednesday before and returned on the 23rd.

Very large ship with many things to do. We ate at the steak house for dinner last Thursday night and had exceptional service and food. It was mine and a friend's wife's birthday last week so we splurged on the extra $35 a person.

My friend and I were sick with some sort of grastro illness that we noticed the morning we docked on Grand Turk. This was my 12th cruise and I never had any illnesses before this cruise. Some passenger on our ship must have brought it on-board and was not very hygienic in preventing spreading their germs. Our wives were not happy with our condition as they knew we wouldn't want to do much. We soldiered on though and went through with our horseback riding excursion in Grand Turk which was kind of short, but nice since we were able to ride through the water up to our waists.

We too recall the heavy rains in Amber Cove last Monday and had an ATV excursion scheduled which Carnival allowed us to cancel. We took a taxi into Puerto Plata for a couple of hours and some local cuisine for lunch. The town was quaint and our driver was very proud to show us around his town. With my rusty Spanish and his broken English we managed to enjoy our little tour of the local area.

In St Thomas we jumped on an open air taxi and toured the island. Our friends had never been to St Thomas and we had been there 3 other times before. We had the banana daiquiris at Mountain Top, ate lunch at the Green House in Charlotte Amile. The lobster salad sliders were fantastic.

In San Juan there are two forts and we toured the smaller Castillo de San Cristóbal near the town square. We walked to the larger Castillo San Felipe del Morro where the was a Medal of Honor ceremony in progress. You could still walk into the fort and do the tour. We decided to walk some more through the streets of Old San Juan and continue our self tour. We had Mojitos at Mojitos which I have found to be the best drinks I have had because they grind up the mint.

All in all this trip was awesome because we spent the time with some great friends of ours. The Magic is a beautiful ship. Don't forget to try the BBQ on sea days at the Pig and Anchor. Not bad BBQ for being our in the middle of the ocean.

[Trumpster]

PDF's for day 1 Fun Times attached

193237.PDF

193416.PDF

193451.PDF

193520.PDF

[nina_930]

PDF's for day 1 Fun Times attached

 

Thanks so much. I have been waiting for these to be posted somewhere. Glad you had a good time. Thanks for the review too!

[Trumpster]

More fun times

 

Day 2

193922.PDF

193941.PDF

194014.PDF

194035.PDF

194054.PDF

[FrogFritter]

Thanks for posting your review. We are taking the kids (DS12 & DD11) on their first cruise April 2017 on this ship, Western itinerary though but glad your family had a great time. We are looking forward to seeing the kids experience this.

[RCmommy]

EEk, I am excited for October.

 

How did your kids find the camp staff?

 

(On our first cruise there were only 49 kids on board!)

[Trumpster]

EEk, I am excited for October.

 

How did your kids find the camp staff?

 

(On our first cruise there were only 49 kids on board!)

 

We found them serious and efficient.

They were not as personable as some I have met on other ships. But they were pleasant enough.

 

One Ms. Butterfly was on the Breeze last year and remembered my older girl.

[DKNE]

Thank you for the review! My family and I are on the June 4 sailing with the same itinerary. May I ask, which nights are the Cruise Elegant nights?

 

Formal nights were day 2 and 5 (so Sun and Wed)

[DKNE]

Thanks for the review! I’m going on the Magic next February, same ports, and I’m really looking forward to it. I might have to try Barrachina’s when we stop in San Juan. On our cruise last month that also stopped at San Juan, we did the Bacardi tour, which was fun, but then we just went straight back to the ship for lunch and didn’t try any local restaurants.

 

Barrachinas was within walking distance of the ship, on Fortree road or something like that. We actually asked a police officer on the road where it was and they couldn't speak english, so we asked another tourist !! :rolleyes:

[DKNE]

Thanks for the review! I can't wait for ours in November. Do you have the FunTimes to post?

 

Thanks!

 

I do have all the fun times, but will have to try and figure out how to post them !! :p

[DKNE]

Appreciate the feedback.

 

Your welcome ! :D

[DKNE]

Was on the same cruise as OP. It was almost a perfect cruise and had a blast.

 

I have the fun times on PDF files for the trip. I will try to link them later or I can email them later, they are at home right now.

 

Also Elegant nights were Sunday (the first sea day) and surprisingly Wednesday (San Juan)

 

Thanks Trumpster, if you can post the fun times that would be awesome.

[DKNE]

We were also on the Magic that week too. Second cruise out of Port Canaveral for the Magic, first running that itinerary. The first cruise was an out and back to Nassua that left the Wednesday before and returned on the 23rd.

Very large ship with many things to do. We ate at the steak house for dinner last Thursday night and had exceptional service and food. It was mine and a friend's wife's birthday last week so we splurged on the extra $35 a person.

My friend and I were sick with some sort of grastro illness that we noticed the morning we docked on Grand Turk. This was my 12th cruise and I never had any illnesses before this cruise. Some passenger on our ship must have brought it on-board and was not very hygienic in preventing spreading their germs. Our wives were not happy with our condition as they knew we wouldn't want to do much. We soldiered on though and went through with our horseback riding excursion in Grand Turk which was kind of short, but nice since we were able to ride through the water up to our waists.

We too recall the heavy rains in Amber Cove last Monday and had an ATV excursion scheduled which Carnival allowed us to cancel. We took a taxi into Puerto Plata for a couple of hours and some local cuisine for lunch. The town was quaint and our driver was very proud to show us around his town. With my rusty Spanish and his broken English we managed to enjoy our little tour of the local area.

In St Thomas we jumped on an open air taxi and toured the island. Our friends had never been to St Thomas and we had been there 3 other times before. We had the banana daiquiris at Mountain Top, ate lunch at the Green House in Charlotte Amile. The lobster salad sliders were fantastic.

In San Juan there are two forts and we toured the smaller Castillo de San Cristóbal near the town square. We walked to the larger Castillo San Felipe del Morro where the was a Medal of Honor ceremony in progress. You could still walk into the fort and do the tour. We decided to walk some more through the streets of Old San Juan and continue our self tour. We had Mojitos at Mojitos which I have found to be the best drinks I have had because they grind up the mint.

All in all this trip was awesome because we spent the time with some great friends of ours. The Magic is a beautiful ship. Don't forget to try the BBQ on sea days at the Pig and Anchor. Not bad BBQ for being our in the middle of the ocean.

 

Great added review. Sorry to hear you weren't feeling good, but made the best of your cruise anyways ! :)