Back from Carnival Magic July 9th, Never Again!

[leedm]

You have the right to express your opinion and you did so. I may not agree (which I don't) but that's what makes Cruise Critic what it is, a place to exchange viewpoints. I was on the Magic on a May 7 cruise and had a very good cruise. The crew that I dealt was very friendly and helpful. That may not have been the case with those who served you.

 

In any event, thank for your comments. Will review future replies to see if others agree with you.

 

OP, sounds like you will be happier with another cruise line, but I bet not. :rolleyes:

[CalifGirl67]

I love Royal and wanted to try Carnival so what ever! Royal is in a class of there own. I know were bed bugs come from! And I have a right to express my opinion just like everyone else but at least im not rude when folks say they don't like Royal!

[clearwaters]

We normally cruise on Royal but decided to try Carnival, needless to say we will NEVER go on Carnival again!

 

To start the cruise off our shuttle couldn't enter the port other then driving around in circles because there was a security beach which was said to be a Bomb threat at first and even the bomb squad came out. After we could finally get into the terminal everyone was told to wait outside then we were guided up to another area were we had to wait for a couple hours until they secured the area, after this ordeal we were then told it wasn't a bomb but a can of something that was spraying in a suit case. Better safe then sorry. Once this was over then we could go inside and get ready to board the ship. In my opinion Port Canaveral is the best port there is.

So once on board we went to our cabin and put our other bag in and headed to eat at the buffet as we waited to leave the port.

 

1st issue Staff and lack of knowing anything when asked and lack of friendliness. This ship had the worst staff I have ever encountered on a cruise. They never smiled,spoke or new anything if you asked them a question. Some were even rude. The only staff member we encountered that was very friendly was our room guy, he was awesome all the time. Spoke to us by name and had a friendly attitude.

 

2nd issue Pools, For a ship that hold 4,500 people and only have 2 swimming pools is ridiculous and what makes it worse is that only 1 pool was ever open at a time. I was only able to enjoy the pool 1 day when in a port because it was not crowded.

 

3rd Issue FOOD, the food at breakfast was the best and made to order omelettes were awesome, best meal of the day everyday. Guy's Burger Joint,Blue Iguana & BBQ place also had great food as well as the 24 hr pizza. We ate all these places several times and they were really good.We also ate at the steak house on wed night for our 20th anniv and it was very good. Now for the buffet, the food was lousy in my opinion with the exception of the desserts and the sandwich bar that had pastrami and corned beef, in fact that is what I hate most the time after trying the other food 1st. I also enjoyed the ice cream machine daily. The buffet was not opened long enough if you wanted it and then only one side would be open at times and you would have to walk a long distance just to get food if you wanted it. Terrible buffet all around except breakfast.

 

4th issue, I believe Carnival Magic has bed bugs because every night when we went to bed and got under the sheets I was always really itchy like something was crawling on me but I couldn't see anything when we looked. On the last night I actually got bit by something and ended up sleeping on top of the covers so the ship is not very clean.

We stayed on the 11th deck in a spa room and had access to the spa which was great, very relaxing and enjoyable. We stayed in 11242 and it was quite noisy at times, kids running up and down the hallway,noise from deck above etc. We were still able to sleep, just a lot of noise.Room was nothing fancy, pretty plain and basic.

 

Entertainment was just ok, nothing special. We did enjoy a few dive in movies and Dr. E was great. The comedy shows were also very funny and we enjoyed them as well. Party's on deck were also ok, I overheard several elderly folks complaining about the type and sound of the music and about it being way to loud. The entertainment staff were friendly.

 

Sadly there was a medical emergency with a passenger suffering a heart attack and dying(At least thats what we were told by several crew members) which caused the itenerary to be changed and the Honduras port being skipped and went to key west fl instead. The ship was diverted near miami to get the ill patient medical care. My prayers are with the family.

 

So we went to Key West Fl, Belize, Cozumel & Costa Maya, We had already been to Cozumel but still enjoyed it as well as the other ports. Really liked Key West and would like to go back there. The ports were the best part of the cruise, other then that the cruise was pretty boring. No adult area other then if you want to nap in a hammock or chair and use a jacuzzi, that is Magic's "adult" area.

 

And to top it all off, my hubby got sick on thursday afternoon and was up all night puking his gut out, not sure if it was from the food or what caused this. I know he wasn't sea sick so the food may of been the issue. Not sure because i was fine the entire time.

 

After being on 3 Royal ships, there is NO comparison with Carnival. I would never go on another carnival ship nor would I ever recommend one to anyone I know. You really do get what you pay for and Royal is in a class all its own. My brother is a Carnival cruiser and he bragged to me about how good they are but now I know for myself, not worth bragging about.Anyway, this is my small review, Happy cruising!

 

 

Royal, Royal, Royal. We have sailed Royal and every cruise line had its good points and its bad points for us. We like Carnival. And we can afford more. That said, sorry you didn't like Carnival. More space for us. Bye, Felicia.

Edited July 18, 2016 by clearwaters

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Califgirl67,

 

You drove around in circles for hours because security was at the beach?

 

I see you liked the fact the your cabin steward called you by name but seems like you couldn't be bothered to learn his.

 

Our "cabin guy" was great.:rolleyes:

 

Enjoy whatever cruise line you cruise next.

 

Bill

[mpk22]

I was on this same cruise and a die hard Carnival cruiser. Although, I don't agree with your overall dislike of Carnival, I can say honestly that the service during the first formal night dinner and first sea day brunch was less than stellar (not Carnival like) and appeared the staff was short. Yes, the pools were packed and three times one of the pools was closed because of bodily fuilds, but it was not one pool open the entire cruise. I have always thought more pools are needed but with the waterworks, serenity area and spa cabins mineral pool there was plenty of options. I was also in a spa cabin on deck 11 and did not hear any of the noises your are claiming but I was on the other side of the ship. If you had a problem with the bed or thought there were bed bugs did you tell you room steward?? I have no doubt that issue would have been looked into and corrected if needed. Not sure what you mean by the cruise was boring as there was always something going on. We ate at the Steakhouse too and my daughter got sick the next day. She got the NY strip. What did your husband order?? All the staff that I encountered were nice, always said hello and we very accommodating. Food across the board was great, so not sure about that comment either. This is why I do not post or read too much into others reviews, maybe Royal is where you belong but for those questioning the Carnival Magic, I enjoyed my 20th cruise so much I booked my next one while on board.

Edited July 18, 2016 by mpk22

[quickrate]

I understand we all have different preferences but you lost me with all crew members were unfriendly accept for your room steward. 24 Carnival cruises and have never had a bad crew. Most go out of their way to smile and be friendly. I bet if you would have said hi and smiled they would have smiled back.

Pat

[Rudyard]

I don't think a anyone's accusing you of lying, but there's plenty of hyperbole in your review. Not a single smile or word from a staff member the entire week? Really? That's got to be a first on any cruise line.

 

The incident with the shuttle would have happened no matter what line you were on since a bomb threat most likely effected the entire port. That can't be put on Carnival.

 

As to the buffet, a little bit of research would have let you know that many regular Carnival cruisers consider the buffet to be hit or miss. My last cruise it was great on the first day and went downhill from there. There are enough other dining venues that I won't let that stop me from cruising Carnival again. I've only been on one RC cruise and remember, as someone else mentioned, times outside of regular dining hours when parts of the buffet would shut down.

 

What happened when you reported the possibility of bedbugs? You did report it, right? I can't imagine anyone putting up with that for seven days without reporting it.

 

I'm far from a Carnival cheerleader (looking at Vision of the Seas for my next cruise if the dates work), and I'm not going to go as far as to say you went into it looking to have a bad time, but I'm wondering if your Brother made it out to be more than it actually was. If he's a huge fan of Carnival he may have exaggerated how awesome it was going to be.

 

In closing, it seems from your review that you had a better time than you led us to believe. I see more positives in your post than negatives, yet you let the negatives influence future decisions. What is going to happen when something negative happens on Royal? Hello NCL?

[CruisingAgain]

We've paid twice as much for cruises on Disney and Celebrity and enjoyed the cruises. We could still afford to do that if we wanted to. But we found that we like the people who cruise on Carnival. Down to earth, real people. Not above-the-rest-of-you types. Sorry you didn't like Carnival. I think it best you go back to where you will be happier (Royal or whatever).

[BeachChik]

I love Royal and wanted to try Carnival so what ever! Royal is in a class of there own. I know were bed bugs come from! And I have a right to express my opinion just like everyone else but at least im not rude when folks say they don't like Royal!

 

Clearly you don't know where they come from because in your first post you say you were bit so the ship isn't clean. It's actually the prior guests that wouldn't have been clean.

 

Royal, carnival and Norwegian are all mass market lines that cater to the same demographics. They are the least expensive of all the cruise lines for the more budget minded passenger.

 

I don't doubt that you may have encountered a bad crew members here or there. Just like any business there is always going to be a few bad apples. But to imply that in entire week not one single crew member was pleasant is far fetched. And if that is really the case I would question your interactions with the crew that made every single one rude.

 

And sure you have the right to your opinion just as everyone else has the right to comment on that opinion.

Edited July 18, 2016 by BeachChik

[hftmrock]

Yes I do believe they had bed bugs in my room because I itched every night and then ended up with a bite that wasn't there before going to bed.

 

 

to be fair... if you had bedbugs, there would have been multiple bites in a cluster or a line but not 'a bite' . I have never heard of bedbugs where they itched someone but did not bite and finally a few days later there was 1 bite

 

this in no way sounds like bedbugs. Sounds more like a mosquito bite

Edited July 18, 2016 by hftmrock

[Retired LEO]

After being on 3 Royal ships, there is NO comparison with Carnival. I would never go on another carnival ship nor would I ever recommend one to anyone I know. You really do get what you pay for and Royal is in a class all its own.

 

Can't blame you one bit. You do get what you pay for. Lesson learned. We'll welcome you back to Royal with open arms.

[BeachChik]

Can't blame you one bit. You do get what you pay for. Lesson learned. We'll welcome you back to Royal with open arms.

 

So when Royal is less expensive then a comparable carnival cruise (and yes this absolutely does happen) do you still get what you pay for? Is it suddenly a lesser product because it costs less?

 

I really don't care what lines people sail but let's be realistic here. Royal is not Cunard. And really no line is better then another as it all comes down to personal preference so let's stop acting like your preference makes it somehow superior to another's.

[CalifGirl67]

1st of all there was a typo where I typed "Beach" rather then "Breach", yes we drove around in circles a few times before they stopped all traffic then we sat in line till everything was cleared for us to go forward. This didn't contribute to me not liking carnival magic because we had no control over the situation and they handled it the right way in order to keep us safe.

As far as crew, yes we spoke to many of them and some were nice but not over the top, most times when we asked a question, they were clueless and some were rude so not all, not as friendly as I thought they could/should be.

I have no idea if in fact it was bed bugs, I just mentioned it because of all the itching and then the one bite. I don't know much about bed bugs and yes I told our steward abut it as well as the ac not cooling which I failed to mention in my op, complained everyday about how hot our cabin was but it was never fixed etc.

Sure you can comment but why be rude about it? I'm just telling my thoughts about a cruise we took.

Edited July 18, 2016 by CalifGirl67

[SeagoingMom]

Although nothing justifies rudeness (if responses to your post have indeed been rude), it is a pretty common reaction here on CC for those who are fans of a cruise line (or particular ship) to react defensively at negative reviews of their preferred line/ship. And phrases like "never again" tend to set people's teeth on edge, as well -- readers respond viscerally to this sort of extreme negativity, unless they, too, have had a miserable time on the same ship or line -- then they will likely cheer you on.

When you wrote "never again," I expected a much more scathing review than what you actually wrote -- though bed bugs alone would be a deal breaker, IMO, and I would not have stayed one second in a cabin I thought had them!

 

You did not enjoy your cruise. You intend never to cruise on Carnival again. You have communicated this pretty clearly, and readers who are looking to learn from others' experiences in order to decide whether to try Carnival will consider what you've posted, along with the responses your post has engendered, and draw their own conclusions.

For friendlier responses, post your comments on the Royal board -- I imagine many fellow "Royalists" will likely fall all over each other agreeing with you! :rolleyes:

[nealstuber]

Yes I do believe they had bed bugs in my room because I itched every night and then ended up with a bite that wasn't there before going to bed. I!

 

 

We sailed Magic when she was new out of Galveston, we found the staff to be all business. Certainly not rude, and doing everything when it should be done - just not the in the "Fun" Carnival way we were used to. We had a nice enough cruise, but we've done 4 Royal and a Princess since.

 

With respect to the bed bugs, have you considered other possible causes? DW sometimes has a itchy reaction to certain sunscreens that she does not use at home (or it could be the stockings that never get worn at home). Not saying it couldn't have been bed bugs, but there a many other possible causes of the symptoms you describe.

[Triple TJ]

Got off of Oasis two weeks ago and the buffet was often at one side and both sides closed by 9pm. Plenty of places to eat but got tired of always paying extra and wonder if that is a reason for early buffet closing time. I would be hard pressed to say never again with any cruise but after my last two cruises on Royal (2015 & 2016) I am pretty tired of them for a while and will be returning to Carnival after a three cruise break.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cruizinisthebest]

1st of all there was a typo where I typed "Beach" rather then "Breach", yes we drove around in circles a few times before they stopped all traffic then we sat in line till everything was cleared for us to go forward. This didn't contribute to me not liking carnival magic because we had no control over the situation and they handled it the right way in order to keep us safe.

As far as crew, yes we spoke to many of them and some were nice but not over the top, most times when we asked a question, they were clueless and some were rude so not all, not as friendly as I thought they could/should be.

I have no idea if in fact it was bed bugs, I just mentioned it because of all the itching and then the one bite. I don't know much about bed bugs and yes I told our steward abut it as well as the ac not cooling which I failed to mention in my op, complained everyday about how hot our cabin was but it was never fixed etc.

Sure you can comment but why be rude about it? I'm just telling my thoughts about a cruise we took.

If you weren't sure the bites were bed bugs, then I don't understand why you said..."I'm pretty sure we had bed bugs."

 

Never again will you sail Carnival then I'm not sure why you would even bother. Had you gone on a cruise on any line and made such statements- most counter to other people's experience - you would get similar backlash.

 

It's always good to write a review when you're not fire up because you disliked about it. It just never goes over well. I do agree with the previous poster, repost on Royal and you'll have a chorus join in. Although I will say people are not always into the damn near complete trashing of any ship. I always say people should pick the trip they want, go, and see things for themselves. I would have missed out on an awesome vacation had I let all the bad talk about the Sunshine stop me from booking her. Better luck next time.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Edited July 18, 2016 by cruizinisthebest

[caishaga]

I was on this cruise and yes the lido food was not great but otherwise I had a good time!! Staff was really nice and a port isn't worth someone's life so we got over the itinerary.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[elliair]

There must be a full moon tonight....:confused: Other than the fact you both had issues (if that's it, I stand down), I see nothing in common with the two posts...

 

Or yours. :cool:

[cruisegirlkat]

Dear OP, I am sorry so many posters are being so rude. You are right about being allowed to express your opinion about the experience you had on your cruise. I have to agree with you about traveling on Carnival. I just sailed on the Sunshine from June 30th to July 4th and I also realized that I won’t ever go on another Carnival cruise again. I have been on 38 Princess cruises and have never been as disappointed as I was with Carnival. As you said the breakfast was very good in the MDR, but only mediocre the rest of the time. The buffet was the worst, very few choices and closed very early everyday. On Princess, whether it was one side or both sides there were many types of food choices and always seem to be open. Don’t even get me started on the Italian place in the back of the buffet, which was the worst Italian food I’ve ever had.

 

Our room stewardess was the best and very friendly, everyone else was just so-so. As far as the entertainment, it was a joke. I felt like the singers were there because they couldn’t get a job on a Princess ship. Thankfully the comedian was very good. I will definitely stick with Princess going forward. Please don’t feel too bad about what the others say, I understand they are defending their favorite cruise line. Good luck in the future.

[Club Disney Chandler]

Thank you elliair! Wow, the comments on my post are so rude! SO I guess because I didn't like my carnival cruise I am lying about my experience? How rude of you folks that "Love" carnival to act this way because my experience was terrible! We each have our own opinions about a cruise and your rude comments just shows the type of person(s) you are.

 

I said our room steward was the nicest but the other crew were not very friendly as I stated. Yes I do believe they had bed bugs in my room because I itched every night and then ended up with a bite that wasn't there before going to bed. In my opinion the food sucked with the exception of those places I did eat that was decent food.

 

Again, too each there own but I will stick with Royal!

 

 

I'm sorry to read you didn't enjoy your cruise, it's a bummer when you anticipate a vacation and it doesn't live up to your expectations.

 

However, before you start accusations of food poisoning and bed bugs, I urge you to think about 2 things. If your husbands illness was a result of food poisoning, there would have been many more instances and these boards would be lit up with those posts.

 

Also, did it ever occur to you that you may have had an allergic reaction of some kind, to the detergent used on the ship? If there were bed bugs, you would have had a lot more than 1 bite after the week. Once again, if this was a wide spread problem, these boards would be lit up.

 

We've enjoyed 4 great Disney cruises and just finished our first Carnival cruise. We actually enjoyed it more than we expected. We knew it was going to be different than our Disney cruises and we were right, not better or worse, just different.

 

I hope your next cruise meets your expectations.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[moongal]

I am sorry also that you are getting such a backlash over your review. You had good things to say in addition to the bad.

 

I don't understand how anyone can be so locked into a brand. I have only had 2 sailings, both on Carnival, so I have nothing to compare my experiences, but I can compare my 2 experiences which were very different.

 

I've been on the Magic and the Liberty. The crews on the Magic seemed very friendly (this was last year) and most seemed friendly on the Liberty but I did run into a few who were downright rude while on the Liberty. (Wasn't just me either... Several people around me were commenting on the rudeness we encountered)

 

I thought the food on Magic was great, food on Liberty was just meh.....

 

As for bedbugs.... There were 7 of us traveling on this trip on the Liberty, my sister and my niece had an inside cabin, and had trouble with some kind of itching going on. They mentioned to their steward who changed sheets, and kept offering to change numerous times, and had what looked like bites on their legs. Since it was just a 4 day cruise they tried to make the best of it but when they got home they totally took all the precautions to make sure any bed bugs were not brought into the house. Left their luggage outside, put the clothes into plastic bags to bring into washer, washed on hot hot hot several cycles n hot dryer. Threw away everything else like shoes, hairbrushes, anything that couldn't be washed. Kept luggage in hot car in Texas sun for several days ( heat kills bedbugs supposedly).

 

Did they really have bed bugs? Who knows? But it could happen.

 

My point in all of this is just because you have a great experience ALL THE TIME, every cruise, doesn't mean that sheet can't happen sometimes.

 

With all that, I did have a grand time and will sail carnival again, just don't see why everybody had to be so upset that op had a less than stellar experience.

[dchoney]

I was on this cruise as well and have to agree that I won't be returning to the Magic either. Having sailed on the Breeze three times, I was looking forward to sailing on the Magic. However, it truly was not my favorite ship/cruise. This won't stop me from cruising on Carnival because I absolutely love Carnival and one less than expected cruise doesn't change my opinion of the company as a whole. My primary issues included the subpar food in the main dining room each night, very long food lines, the fact that cups constantly ran out near the beverage machines and weren't replaced in a timely manner (not a total big deal just a pain in the butt to have to go and find another machine), the huge fight that happened right in front of me at the Pizza spot on the last night (while not Carnival's fault, it was really scary to be on vacation and witness a young adult male punch another person in the face and then have a group of individuals tussling and fighting), and the biggest reason is missing out on winning a $2200 cash drawing in the casino because I wasn't present when they called my name! Just kidding about that being a reason I didn't like the Magic but it did hurt since I pretty much spent the majority of my time in the casino and decided to do laundry in the middle of the day and not pay attention to the cash drawing schedule :rolleyes:

 

The crew was great and very friendly. The food in the main dining room was subpar and unfortunately not very good. By the time it got to the table, it was generally luke warm to cool and didn't really taste that great. I enjoyed all other food venues so I certainly didn't go hungry. Dr. E always makes a cruise fun. He is so personable and really gets the guest engaged and involved. Loved him!

 

We just made it on the ship before the "hair spray" incident but thought Port and Carnival did a great job with the safety scare. I did watch people standing outside in the heat for several hours, so I know that it wasn't a good experience for those that did not make it on the ship prior to the Port being shut down. I also felt that the Captain kept us informed regarding the medical emergency and the impact on the cruise. I'm happy to report that the individual that had the heart attack wrote on our roll call that he is doing much better. I was very concerned about him and his family and could care less if we missed a Port or had to divert to Key West. In fact, I really enjoyed Key West since I had never been.

 

My cabin was on the Lido deck and I loved it. It was quite and I enjoyed my balcony for the most part. Unfortunately, several individuals decided to smoke from their balconies and that made it less enjoyable since I'm a non-smoker. I didn't call to report it because I didn't want to be that person. However, it did make me have to go back in my room as opposed to staying out and enjoying.

 

The bottom line is that this particular sailing wasn't one of my favorites but I will continue to cruise on Carnival. My next cruise is on the Sunshine in October and I am looking forward to it.

[sheila59]

It's a shame you did not enjoy the ship, like all cruises everyone has a different expirance and expectations. We have cruised with lots of different cruise lines and all have good and bad. We did a 12 night transatlantic on RC Oasis after it came out of dry dock, it was the worse cruise ever. Yet most of my cruise friends adore the ship, maybe if we had sailed around the Caribbean the whole cruise might have been different, but when I wrote about my family of 6 expirance like you many people got annoyed that I had voiced something they had not expirance do and never agreed with. I have to say we have only sailed on one other Carnival ship the conquest and I fond that very lacking in the pool dept. But on that ship the crew where the most polite crew we have come across, that is one of the main reasons we are sailing on the Magic.

I wouldn't right them off, give Carnival another go, we never gave up on RC after our bad Oasis cruise, in fact we sailed on the Harmony just after and it was fantastic, but the prices on the new ships are a lot higher now.

[IndyDenise]

OP, If you even had a THOUGHT that your room had bedbugs why oh why would you continue to sleep there without checking? They leave signs you can spot ( blood smears, fecal matter, etc )

 

I would have pulled back bedding, checked behind the bed, lifted the mattress, used a flash light to look into dark areas.....in fact I do all of that BEFORE I unpack anywhere.

 

So what other signs did you see ...other than itchiness ( which I attribute to salt air, sun, etc ) ?

 

Food is subjective, I get you don't like it. Crew not friendly? A whole boatload of them? That I doubt. Port issues? Better safe and error on the side of caution. But bed bugs? Sure it happens ( though I don't think you had them ) BUT to be so sure it is so and then still sleep there...well.....yuck just yuck.