Carnival Magic review: April 30 - May 7 - Western Caribbean

[ryano]

Can anyone tell me where the Carnival pom poms are sold at? :D Im now a BIG fan!

 

Here is the review I promised a few days ago. Sorry its kind long. I tried to break it up so its easy to read. Hope you enjoy :)

 

Carnival Magic Review – 4/30/16 – 5/7/16 – Western Caribbean

 

Introduction: Ryan here from North Ga. Im 46 years old, paraplegic and this was my 6th cruise but only 2nd with Carnival. I have mostly been a Royal Caribbean cruiser since 2008 but lately have been pretty frustrated with their gimmicky “sales”, increased prices in EVERYTHING, outrageous drink prices and what I feel like has been a downward spiral in quality of product for the prices charged. I decided to look into something different and started looking at Carnival Magic because she was being moved to Port Canaveral which is my favorite port to sail out of. I am SO GLAD I did! This was my best cruise YET! Carnival Magic is an awesome ship with an awesome crew and everything about this cruise was absolutely excellent. My mother and my 5 year old nephew joined me on this cruise and we all had a really good time.

 

The ship: I cant say enough about how impressed I am with Magic. She truly is a great ship. A little “different” décor wise than what Ive been use to too but that doesn’t really matter to me. She is incredible in her own way, pretty easy to learn your way around and navigate throughout. I felt the ship was pretty accessible overall. I did however miss the lifts for the swimming pools and hottubs that Royal has for mobility impaired guests. Magic was recently in dry dock and you could really tell it. All the public areas had new carpet, the ship was recently painted all over and she was shining like a new penny. I was so impressed with the ship and service received that I booked another cruise on her next year going to the Eastern Caribbean. 517 days away :(

 

The Cabin: We had accessible cabin 4J #10204 which is all the way forward looking out the front of the ship. This was a great cabin and a good location. There was plenty of room for the three of us and my wheelchair, our luggage and the rest of our stuff. Really nice bathroom setup too. One or two nights we could really feel the motion being up high and that far forward but we actually enjoyed it and thought it helped us sleep even better. Only one small problem upon entering our cabin in that we noticed the bathroom floor flooded in water but that was immediately taken care of an no other incidents throughout the cruise. No big deal. Our cabin attendant I Gede was most excellent and one of the best I have had yet. I felt he deserved more than the prepaid gratuities so more is what he got.

 

The food: Overall, I was really satisfied with the food options. I had been reading all the complaints about the quality, the American Table menu etc so I tried to keep my expectations in check. While I found that the American Table menu was a little limited in choices, I never had problem finding something I liked every night I ate in the MDR and thought that most of the food was as good as Royal Caribbean with some things being better. Our waiter Aquino was great! The Lido Marketplace was fine. We mostly had breakfast there and I was able to get omelets cooked to order eggs just like I was able to on Royal Caribbean. There were always lines which is another thing I haven’t been use to in the buffet but they moved fast so no big deal.

 

We tried Guys burgers several times. We enjoyed it  What makes them even better is they are included in the price of the cruise fare whereas Johnnie Rockets on Royal Caribbean is now 6.95 per person now I believe. The burgers were just fine and everything most people say they were. I liked the fries as well.

 

I also got to try the Guys Pig and Anchor BBQ smokehouse on both sea days. It was pretty good BBQ for a cruise ship and the sides were great. Another PLUS for being included in the cruise fare.

 

Pizzeria De Capitano was great! I hit this place up several times over the cruise! While I have read a lot of complaints about the pizza, I thought it was wonderful. It’s the thin crust pizza I love and is made fresh whereas Sorrentos on Royal Caribbean is just awful. I don’t even rate it as high as most frozen pizzas at the grocery store. If you don’t like Carnivals pizza, you would even eat the pizza on Royal. Its THAT bad.

 

Prime steakhouse; All I can say is OMG! This place was superb! It blew Chops away in every aspect. Prime steakhouse is everything Chops USE to be. I have not been impressed with Chops lately and am really turned off by them charging $18 - $20 more for a “better” steak on top of the 35.00 pp surcharge. The service in Prime was excellent and the food was really good. My steak was cooked perfectly, was so tender and I really enjoyed the sides. I left Prime feeling very satisfied. The last two times I left Chops, I was very underwhelmed.

 

Cucina De Capitano: Another excellent venue with great food and service. I had the Caesar salad, meatballs appetizer, Chicken Parmigiana and enjoyed it very much.

 

Again, overall, I was very happy with the food on Carnival Magic. It is every bit as good as Royal Caribbean with some things being even better.

Edited May 9, 2016 by ryano

[ryano]

Continued:

 

 

The Entertainment: I really cant comment much on this. I didn’t do any shows at all, no comedy club etc and mostly just found myself in the Red Frog at night listening the guitar man or over in Ocean Plaza listening to the Alterr Band or 50 shades of groove both of which I really enjoyed tremendously.

 

The ports: Ive been to Cozumel several times so we just got off the ship and went to the dock area shops and enjoyed a lunch at Ponchos Backyard and then back to the ship we went. In Belize, I stayed on the ship. I was told by Carnival when I booked the cruise that due to me being mobility impaired and in a wheelchair I would have to stay on the ship as the tenders could not accommodate me. Come to fine out, that was wrong. Im ok though. We didn’t have an excursion booked and if you have seen one Diamonds International, Cariloha or Senor Frogs you’ve seen them all right? LOL. In Roatan, we booked a “Best of Roatan” tour through Victor Boddens which included a stop off at his Monkey Business and a personal tour of the island with our guide Atony. This was great! My nephew really enjoyed this part of our trip. I highly recommend Victor Bodden tours . In Costa Maya, we were only there a few hours so we disembarked, did a little shopping and got back on the ship.

 

In closing, I must say that Im very impressed with Carnival Magic. So much so, that I am looking forward to another cruise on her next year. As I said before, there really is nothing I can find that I consider a “negative” about this cruise. The service was excellent and the food was really good. It really frustrates me that there are people that feel they need to belittle Carnival to make themselves feel better. I truly wonder if they have ever even been on Carnival cruise before. Carnival does a great cruise at a very good price. It is MY opinion that you get the very same or even better on Carnival as you do on Royal Caribbean for a much better price. Our cruise sold out WEEKS in advance so they must be doing something right. They sure have made me a big fan and I can see myself returning to Carnival again and again in the future.

 

Thank you for reading my review. I apologize for it being kind of long. I will post a few pictures and be glad to answer any questions I can.

 

Ryan.

Edited May 9, 2016 by ryano

[RuthlessBoss]

Very nice, thank you:)

[Clarea]

Nicely written Ryano, thanks.

[ryano]

Very nice, thank you:)

 

Nicely written Ryano, thanks.

 

Thanks for reading guys :) It sounds a little "cheeleaderish" I guess but it really was a good cruise. I cant find a negative thing to say about it.

 

Bob, I still love me some Royal Caribbean. Their ships are incredible. Just a little frustrated with them right now and feel they are pricing me out. :o Price, unfortunately, is a big factor in cruise selection for me. I still want to experience an Oasis ship one day!

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you for your review, we got off the same cruise and I been so busy with serious real life issues here haven't gotten he chance to write mine, but we found quite the opposite in the food can you tell us whether you had anytime dining or set dining times? We had anytime dining perhaps this is why our experience was not good, just curious?

 

Did you know the inspectors were on our cruise all week. :D

[ryano]

Thank you for your review, we got off the same cruise and I been so busy with serious real life issues here haven't gotten he chance to write mine, but we found quite the opposite in the food can you tell us whether you had anytime dining or set dining times? We had anytime dining perhaps this is why our experience was not good, just curious?

 

Did you know the inspectors were on our cruise all week. :D

 

We had Your Time Dining with excellent waiters. Never had to wait over a minute for a table except for one night when we requested our same waiter and his tables were either full or needed cleaning. Our wait was only about 10 minutes.

 

What inspectors? :confused:

[ryano]

Various pics I took

 

 

 

 

 

[ryano]

 

 

 

[ryano]

 

 

[FrogFritter]

Thanks so much for your review. I look forward to the pictures. We sail this itinerary in 341 days lol but I am obsessed already.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[tncruisergurl]

Following

[ryano]

This was me on the second formal night at our Meet and Mingle right before everyone started showing up. I was really impressed that the Cruise Director "Dr E" showed up to this event along with a officer from the Bridge. These guys seemed really interested in our thoughts whether they were or not. On Meet and Mingles on Royal, they just send a "cruise director staff" that seems bored and wants to get out of there.

 

 

This was my nephew Kaidens first cruise. He was absolutely blown away and had himself a big time! Carnival crew was SO good to him.

 

 

 

 

 

[tinkerbell_82]

Great review!! I'm so glad to hear you had such a good time. We board her on Saturday and can not wait! :)

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

Thanks for the review I am looking at the Magic for next year.

[ryano]

Sailaway out of Port Canaveral.

 

 

WAY off the coast of Belize. What a LONG tender ride! :eek:

 

[Cruisegirl6]

What time did you average going to the MDR I wonder if we went too late and thats why our experiences were opposite, love the photos!

[ryano]

What time did you average going to the MDR I wonder if we went too late and thats why our experiences were opposite, love the photos!

 

It really varied :o One night was as early as 6:30 but then another night was as late as 8. I guess we just got lucky with a great waiter! I heard other complaints. My mom took my nephew on the first night while I went to the steakhouse with some friends and said it was a zoo in there!

[Cruisegirl6]

You were very lucky we spent the second and third evenings in the MDR and could not go and eat there any longer it was just so bad in many ways, which I will write in my review...we did go to the steakhouse the remaining 4 nights and as always excellent! ;)

[portlandpete]

Love your review! Your nephew is a cutie! I would appreciate it if you could let me know what the music was like on Lido deck? Was it a DJ or live music? Thanks!

[ryano]

Love your review! Your nephew is a cutie! I would appreciate it if you could let me know what the music was like on Lido deck? Was it a DJ or live music? Thanks!

 

Thank you! :) They had both! Sometimes it was a DJ and then sometimes it was live. They played a variety of music the whole cruise out there. Something for everybody :0

[ryano]

Another thing I would like to add that I have seen a big argument over is the once a day or twice a day cabin service. On Magic currently, it is TWICE a day. We were never even asked. Its just what it was. I even told our cabin attendant one night that we didnt really need anything and he could take a break from our cabin that night if he wish. he still came in after we vacated the cabin and tidied up and turned down the beds and made a towel animal.

 

he was one of the best Ive ever had on any cruise.

[dacsmom]

Thanks for the review, Ryan, I appreciate the comparison. I too am coming back to Carnival after several years with Royal. My Adventure cruise in October just did not wow me. I frequently sail solo, the double points are great, but the prices are really not that good anymore. The Vista is supposed to have accessible pools from what I have read.

[SMSACE6]

thanks for your review and photos! Magic is still on my list of possibilities for next year. I am on the one hand wanting to try something new, different cruise line, yet I am still happy enough with Carnival, and so far the price on Carnival keeps reeling me in, and I find the staff and service on Carnival to be very good. Time will tell what I do next year. But I appreciate your review and comparison very much.:)

[travel33]

Thanks for the review and pictures :)

Was wondering if you stayed on ship time while in the different ports, or did you have to adjust to their time? Thanks!