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Carnival Magic Review June 4-11; Eastern Route

teacher2cruiser

By teacher2cruiser,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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teacher2cruiser

teacher2cruiser

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My husband and I (teachers in our late fifties) just returned from our cruise on the Carnival Magic. We had a great experience. This was my tenth cruise and his ninth. We had a thirteen hour drive to port, and we stayed in Ocala at a Hampton Inn the night before we embarked. We had dinner at Harry's Bar and Grill in Ocala and turned in early excited to be cruising the next day. It was a great meal, and the hotel would have been fine except the morning of the cruise we had only partial electricity and that meant no air conditioning. Thankfully, though, we had a nice cool ride to the port!

We arrived at the port at 10:30 and parked in the regular terminal. ($128.00)

We had an absolute painless registration and boarding. We didn't purchase FTTF, but a lady told us to get in that line anyway, and away we went. Our lunch was at Guy's, and it lived up to the good reviews that I had read. We traveled with my husband's sister and her husband, and we had side-by-side balcony cabins on the seventh floor. We were in our rooms before 1:00, and our luggage was there around 5:00. We were pleased with being on the seventh floor, and we rarely took elevators since we were close to the middle of everything going on.

(to be continued)

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teacher2cruiser

teacher2cruiser

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I was concerned about the size of the Magic since this was the biggest ship for us, but I will certainly sail on the Magic again if possible. The size of the ship just afforded us many more options in food and entertainment. We only experienced long lines for dining on the formal nights, and the first formal night was longer than the second. We chose "any time dining", and we ate in the dining room every night, so I can't comment on the restaurants that had an upcharge for dinner.

 

We attended the show in the theater three times as well as the Love and Marriage show, and we never had trouble finding a seat. Our balcony cabin was on the seventh floor and we were able to walk anywhere we wanted to go. Our cabin steward was Antwan, and he was as good as we've ever had. We saw him frequently in the hallway, and he cleaned our rooms twice daily, and brought fresh towels each time. We used the Kiosks for redeeming our gift cards and the television in our cabin for keeping check on our onboard account.

 

As previously stated, each evening meal was in the dining room and we were scheduled for anytime dining in Northern Lights. We ate breakfast once in the dining room, and the remainder of the days we just grabbed something quick at the Lido buffet. We tried a variety of options at lunch. The first sea day we ate Guy's Pig and Anchor BBQ. It was without a doubt the best BBQ we had ever had on a cruise ship. We had pulled pork and sausage that were excellent. The potato salad was tasty. Other side items we tried were good, but not outstanding. The line was long, but it moved quickly. We did notice that later it appeared that you could just walk up without much wait, so I would keep that in mind. One day we went to the Italian restaurant for lunch (no charge for lunch), and this was great. We were given a list, and we checked our type of pasta and the sauce etc. This was a very pleasant quiet lunch experience. I highly recommend it. We had tacos at Blue Iguana once for lunch and that was good, but not great. Guy's burgers was our most visited and favorite lunch stop.

to be continued...

( I will be happy to answer any questions)

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teacher2cruiser

teacher2cruiser

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I have no complaints with the MDR. Our service was good. We thought we might miss the white tablecloth atmosphere with the new American Table menus, but we didn't. Some dressed for dinner, and some didn't. I noticed no difference with this cruise than any of my others in the past. Same for formal nights, some really dressed up, but most not so much. Some of our favorites: flat iron steak, baked onion soup, creme brulee, popcorn dessert(?), grilled salmon, spaghetti carbonara, lobster and grilled shrimp, the fresh fruit plate, and Carnival's warm chocolate melting cake.

 

We enjoyed frozen yogurt ice cream cones several times.

 

Being past guests, we had 2 liter bottles of water and welcome back pins in our cabin upon arrival. We had pre-ordered 2 12-packs of water and a six pack of Diet Coke from the Fun Shops, and they were also placed in our cabin. A night or two later, a coupon for each of us to have a free drink on the last night was left for us. I do miss the past guests party, but it's nice to be appreciated either way.

 

We usually enjoy time in the casino win or lose, but this time even though I was $200 ahead, we decided not to go back because it was just too smoky! Probably the heaviest smoke we've ever encountered in a casino, and living in Mississippi, we've visited quite a few. That casino needs a filtering system or something.

 

On the last sea day we enjoyed the Serenity Deck. So peaceful! We didn't use the spa, but I did walk through it, and it was beautiful and so quiet! If you use the Serenity Deck, go inside on that deck and use the restroom - lovely.

 

Dr. E, the cruise director was very entertaining. He seems to love his job and stayed upbeat the entire cruise.

 

We enjoyed the couple in the Atrium as well as the band near the Alchemy Bar while having pre or post dinner drinks. We weren't impressed with the guy at the piano bar, and we do usually enjoy spending time there.

 

I purchased the social media package for $25 on the first day, and I was able to keep up on Facebook and Facebook messenger for the entire cruise.

 

We bought a couple of photos, and each night there was a frame special for 4.95

 

Just a side note - I've heard others talk about their rooms not being cool enough. We kept our curtains closed when we weren't in our cabin and while not using the balcony. It definitely helps!

 

The Ports:

 

Amber Cove - We purchased the Serenity VIP Beach Resort excursion through Carnival. While the beach was in fact serene, the bedding for lounging was comfortable, the lunch and the drinks were lacking. All of the drinks seemed watered down and they weren't cold. Ice seemed to be almost non-existent. Only a local draft beer was offered, and it was borderline warm. The buffet was far from delicious. The advertising and reviews made this seem more than it actually was. (I was expecting something like Nachi Cocum in Cozumel, but it wasn't even close.)

 

St. Thomas - We booked an independent excursion with Sunny Liston online. We had done this a few years ago, and Sunny didn't disappoint. It was a fun informative tour with time for shopping and beach. The ride up the mountain was fun and the views were awesome. He stopped periodically for photo opportunities. You can search Sunny Liston Tours online to find out about booking.

 

San Juan - We weren't sure what we were going to do here, so we got off the boat and found a guy trying to book his bus by the pier. The tour company's name was San Juan Happy Tours and he was offering a city wide tour of Old and New San Juan for $20. We decided to take a chance and after a shaky start, it worked out but not with this driver. He sat our party the same time as many other guests and the bus was completely full except for 1 seat on 2 rows. After waiting patiently for almost 10 minutes while this guy was trying to fill 2 spots on a bus something strange happened. There was a rebellion, as first talk by all passengers led to actual action and we all agreed as one to exit the bus and look for another one. As we exited, another tour operator with the same company asked what the problem was and we told him we were not going to wait an indefinite amount of time for this guy to fill 2 spots on a bus, this guy offered us a spot on his bus and said he would start the tour as soon as we boarded his bus and he was true to his word. We would love to have seen the look on the original tour operator's face when he returned to an empty bus :D .

 

The tour itself was nice, lasted around 2 to 2 1/2 hours and we hit spots all over the city and stopped around 3 times while our guide constantly gave us information about the city. At the end of the tour he dropped us off in Old San Juan to walk the streets fairly close to the port. We ended up in several stores and bought a few souvenirs before returning to board the ship. There were some handmade items near the ship that we took advantage of too.

 

Grand Turk - We booked a tour the night before on the ship for Grand Turk. As this was our first time at this port, we decided to do a tour of the island. There were not a lot of options for tours, but we booked a tour called Rainbow Calypso Tram Tours which was not even listed on the Carnival website but was added late. The price was $30 a person. We enjoyed learning about Grand Turk's history and we had a nice and informative tour guide. People not interested in the history of the island would have probably found the tour boring and hot but being teachers we enjoyed it and took it for what it was. A lesson about the history, geography, and culture of the Turks and Caicos Islands. After the tour (2 hrs), we went in a few shops and made our way to Margaritaville for a few drinks and some fun. BTW, if you are a beach or pool person there is absolutely no reason to pay for an excursion to a beach. There is plenty of FREE beach space with lounge chairs right by the pier and Margaritaville with its huge pool is also right by the pier. We really enjoyed our stop on Grand Turk, beautiful waters and lots of nice shops.

 

We loved the Carnival Magic. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer honestly. Cruise Critic has been a great resource for me.

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tayzia00

tayzia00

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My DH and I were wondering about the internet packages they offer on Magic. We will be cruising July 23rd and wondering how much they are for the week. You mentioned you had the social package. Do you remember what the other packages were and how much? Did you like the social package for the price? loved your review by the way :D

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teacher2cruiser

teacher2cruiser

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We (wife and 4 boys) are on the Magic in August. Did the ship feel crowded overall? Experience long lines? Pools seem small and heard chairs are hard to come by....

 

Thank you

Never felt crowded except maybe on embarkation day mainly because everyone congregates in the same place (Lido Deck).

 

Guy's Burgers seemed to always have a line, but it moved fast, and there are actually 2 lines which some people don't realize, usually the line that goes into the buffet is the shorter one.

 

There will be a long line at Guy's Pig and Anchor BBQ (Deck 5) on both sea days, in fact people will start to line up 30 minutes before it opens....but the line moves fast as they serve you instead of it being self serve which would slow it down considerably.

 

You will wait for a MDR seat on elegant nights if you have Anytime Dining and you show up between 6:30 to 7:30...one night we waited almost a hour, the other night about 10 minutes...any other night it was little to no wait...

 

There seemed to always be chairs of some kind on the Lido deck or Deck 11 somewhere, but if you want one poolside you will have to get there early (if you wait til after 10:30 or 11:00 AM on sea days you may have to go up a deck or to the very small pool at the back of the ship).

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teacher2cruiser

teacher2cruiser

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My DH and I were wondering about the internet packages they offer on Magic. We will be cruising July 23rd and wondering how much they are for the week. You mentioned you had the social package. Do you remember what the other packages were and how much? Did you like the social package for the price? loved your review by the way :D

 

I didn't pay attention to the price for the other packages, but I think you can find that on carnival.com. For my needs FB and FB Messenger were worth what I paid. It worked fine. Thanks for the kind words about the review. Cruise Critic has been so helpful to me in the past. I hope I can help others.

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