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A Winter Escape: Was there any Magic?

Indytraveler83

By Indytraveler83,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Indytraveler83

Indytraveler83

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Hey all,

 

Time for my annual “Winter Escape” review. Let me start by apologizing for not finishing last year’s review of the Dream. I’ll be honest, that cruise was fairly good, but fully uninspiring. I struggled to recount the tale, as it was “just another cruise” and I was beginning to think I was just getting bored of cruising.

 

Well this year’s trip on the Magic was anything but routine. I’ll tell the tale of the good, the bad, and everything in between.

 

To answer in advance, no I didn’t save my FunTimes. And yes I sailed with John Heald onboard, but I neither saw him nor looked for him.

 

I’ll answer questions as I get them. This review may be a bit shorter and a bit less picture heavy than in the past, that way I might actually complete it in a timely manner!

 

Next up: Pre-trip info and early complications.

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Indytraveler83

Indytraveler83

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The travelers (and issues):

 

Myself (Shaun) and my fiancé (Jake)- This would be our first cruise as Gold members, and our cruise was going well, until our home security system went off the night before the cruise, and our house/per sitter was nowhere to be found. (Turns out it was a false alarm, but left us very concerned about the reliability of our sitter)

 

My Mother and Father- this would be their second Carnival cruise, and they were recently off their 4th Princess cruise. They described their Princess cruise as “horrible” with bad food and bad service, and my mother fell victim to a Noro outbreak on the Princess cruise that she was only recently recovering from.

 

My soon to be sister in law, her 12 year old son and her husband. - All would be first time cruisers, but they left a very sick dog and sick baby at home, causing them to second guess going up until the gangway was pulled. Her husband has not travelled out of the state, and had never flown, cruised, seen the ocean or even a beach.

 

My soon to be Mother in law- This would be her second cruise. Her husband had heart surgery two weeks before cruising and ended up having to no-show at the pier as he couldn’t get his Dr to clear him.

 

As you can see, we all boarded the ship with some serious apprehensions and nerves. I can’t recall a vacation that started on such shaky ground, and as the group coordinator, I was beyond frazzled trying to keep everything together.

 

Would we experience the Magic? Or would Dr E and the rest of the crew not live up to the prescription?

 

Next up: pre-cruise hotel and traveling

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Indytraveler83

Indytraveler83

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Travel day and hotel:

Most of the family met up in Michigan and traveled together to the Detroit Airport to catch a flight the day before the cruise.

While most of the experience flying out of Detroit was decent, the TSA was a bit more confusing than helpful, shouting random things to random people, causing backups as people removed their shoes, then put them back on and repeated.

The flight was fairly smooth, but there were quite a few newbies on the plane, (including the BIL) and I thought that many of them needed a change of pants after a landing in heavy wind.

We landed in Orlando and met a private shuttle from Cocoa Beach Shuttles. The driver was helpful and friendly, and her timing was perfect, pulling up in line at the pickoff area just as we walked out.

As she waited for a spot to free, an overbearing security agent came and asked us what we were waiting for.

“A private shuttle,” I told him.

“With who?”

“Cocoa Beach”

“So get in the bus,” and he pointed to a larger shared shuttle that was loading.

“No, we have a private shuttle,” I replied, pointing to the van that was waiting.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He asked, both condescending and suspicious. At this point I was tired, grumpy and couldn’t understand why he was struggling to understand I was waiting for the van that I had clearly pointed to.

“Private..... shuttle....” I replied loudly, saying the words as slowly as possible, as if I were sounding them out to my great grandmother. Then I quipped “you do know what those words mean, right?”

Thankfully our driver had a spot free up and she quickly started loading us up before the confrontation went any further. The trip to the hotel was uneventful, but our check in at the Raddison on the Beach was painfully slow. Their systems were down (a theme we would encounter often on this trip) and half of the staff just stood slack jawed, helplessly clicking buttons that wouldn’t work. Gracefully management began performing manual check ins, and 45 minutes after arriving we finally had our rooms.

Thankfully the Raddison has a heated pool, which made up for the cool weather. Most of us went swimming, while the rest got a table poolside and started trying to drink the stressful day away.

My soon to be brother in law was hungry, and unwilling to wait for dinner, so he asked he bartender what food they had. They informed him that on the weekends they serve the full restaurant menu poolside.

Full menu. Poolside. Yup.

This quickly led to us scrapping plans to go out to a pizza place nearby and instead we all ordered and ate while dipping in and out of the pool. The bartenders were fantastic, acting as servers, bartenders and wait staff. Our evening flew by, and soon the bar and pool were closing, and we’d all spent a little more on drinks than we intended (another theme this trip would take).

For all the issues at check in, the fantastic pool and well coordinated poolside food and drink made the Raddison a great pre-cruise stop, and the perfect opportunity to unwind from the stresses that led up to the trip.

A good end to a rather rough day...

 

Next up- Day 1: You want drink? Yum! Yum!

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Silent Penguin Excellent Advice! Rare

Silent Penguin

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My soon to be brother in law was hungry, and unwilling to wait for dinner, so he asked he bartender what food they had. They informed him that on the weekends they serve the full restaurant menu poolside.

Full menu. Poolside. Yup.

 

We've stayed at the Radisson a couple times, and I never would have thought of that. Two thumbs up for the hungry BIL. Honestly, I would pay whatever extra it costs to eat poolside than to have the hassle of going out to eat after a long travel day.

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Indytraveler83

Indytraveler83

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Day 1: Getting on the Magic

My PVP insisted that FTTF would be a waste of money on a non-tender itinerary and that Port Canaveral is very efficient. For the most part this was true. Our shuttle arrived right at the beginning of our appointment window and porters took our bags right off the shuttle.

We walked in to a well over staffed security and check in crew, and found ourselves through security, checked in and sitting in our boarding zone within 10 minutes of arrival.

But then their system went down. We were instructed to keep our passports out as we would be checked onto the ship manually. Boarding slowed to a crawl, and we waited another hour and a half before finally being invited to board the ship. This was the first, but certainly wouldn't be the last time we saw Carnival employees rebooting, repairing and tapping on tablets to no avail.

We boarded the ship and took the newbies on a tour of the ship. Most of us were familiar with the Carnival Dream, so it was interesting to compare:

Pros: Having sailed the Dream, I can say the subtle differences in the Magic’s layout pay off huge. The RedFrog Rum Bar and the Guys BBQ on the lanai help spread out the crowds just enough that the lido and aft decks don’t feel as crowded. The sports square having Foosball, bags, billiards and ping pong are a nice touch, and lots of little spaces all over the ship make it feel simply better planned. The brighter, coordinated colors are a welcome relief over the Dream’s deep reds and noir theme.

Cons: The Magic badly needs some paint and carpet. Usually these things don’t affect my cruise, but most of the carpets have deep wear patterns down them and spotty suspicious staining that makes you feel like the ship is much older and in worse shape than it is. I know that Carnival has the ships on a scheduled refurb plan, but this ship looks siginficantly worse than when I sailed the worn out Elation.

I also still can’t get over how poorly designed the Serenity deck is on the Dream class. Due to high winds, Serenity was closed for a good duration of the cruise. For an area that is supposed to be calm and relaxing, they put it in one of the most hectic places on the ship.

Toward the end of the tour, we ended up on Lido, which was surprisingly not as stuffed as I'm used to. We sat down near the Blue Iguana Taco bar as I described food options to the new cruisers. Everyone went their own way, as my mother and father held our spot and found a few chairs.

Now I know everyone's affinity to Guy's Burgers, and several members of our party got them reguarly. However, I personally find them to be a bit much... they taste like a heart attack in waiting!

My secret favorite? Blue Iguana Tacos. I absolutely love the fresh tortilla shells, and the grilled chicken is a bit crunchy and flamebroiled on the top, while still juicy on the inside. I happily got a plate full of chicken tacos and sat back down to the table where my mother was engaged in a conversation with a bar server from the tequilla bar.

Here we met "Zoey," who not only invited us to get a drink, but also gave us a hearty warm welcome to the ship. She seemed genuinly happy to see us (despite never meeting us before) and told us she would happily serve us the entire cruise. My mother then asked if she could make a virgin drink in a Carnival souvineer cup for the 12 year old, and she happily obliged.

We all sat down and ate, and Zoey quickly returned with the first round of drinks in souvineer cups. She then let us know that she would happily serve us pitchers of margaritas from then on, that way we could save a little money on drinks.

Zoey pulled no punches with the drinks either. While we found the entire ship to serve stronger drinks than I'm used to, she was particularly generous with the good stuff, causing us all to be rather tipsy after just a few rounds of pitchers.

At 1:30 we headed back to our rooms to drop off our carry ons, and were pleasently surprised to find our luggage arriving as well. We unpacked and got ready and told everyone to be prepared to report to muster stations when called.

(The SIL thought we said "mustard stations" and was extremely surprised when we reported to the dining room and no condiments were out. We then told her it was a safety drill and she then asked "But... But... what about mustard?" Newbies...)

Next up: Part 2

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Indytraveler83

Indytraveler83

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Day 1 Part 2:

After finally realizing we weren't reporting to a "Mustard Drill" (and once everyone stopped laughing) we sat down in the forward dining room and listened to the normal round of "We can see you on your balcony, you have to come in to the drill" announcements. But to our surprise, they then started calling missing passengers by name over the loudspeaker. This tactic seemed to prove particularly effective, as the muster drill began shortly after the missing names were announced. Dr E introduced himself and went through the normal drill, but phasing in and out of different voices and accents to keep the drill lighthearted and a bit funny.

We then went out for the deck party, where Zoey found us (hunted us down??) and quickly made more pitchers of margaritas appear. Jake, the 12 year old nephew and the SIL started out dancing, with all of us joining shortly after. Dr. E got the party started and we found our fellow cruisers to be a fairly energetic bunch.

Now seems to be a good time to talk a little about "The Reverend Dr. E"

We found him to be fun and high energy, and his interactions with passenger and crew showed that he cares a lot about them. He could be found running and working out on the outdoor track, mingling with guests at the same time about every morning. My one complaint about Dr. E is that he gets so caught up in his “routine” that his hosting skills could be improved. Especially during “name that tune” in the Atrium, he cut the music in and out so badly that it sounded more like a badly damaged record skipping than actual music. He tends to interrupt the flow of music or a moment with his commentary just a little too much.

I'd say Dr. E is my second favorite cruise director out of the 4 I've had, coming in behind "Chris the Flying Scottsman" but well ahead of Jase Apps and the one who never bothered to introduce themselves (seriously have no idea who the CD on the Elation was).

After the deck party we prepared for dinner, arriving at 6 and needing to take a pager. We waited for about 15 minutes before we were seated. One thing I noticed about the Magic's dining room is a severe reduction in round tables. The anytime dining room is mostly 2 tops and 4 tops that they push together and separate to accommodate different sized parties.

I'd like to tell you guys about what I ate. But Zoey's margaritas were affecting me quite severely at this point, and I really don't remember! I do remember the chocolate melting cake was as good as always though...

After dinner some of our party went to see "Flick" and we went to the comedy club. Again... I don't remember all that much. Whoops...

We went to bed shortly after the show, and the room seemed to be moving around far more than normal. Turns out, it wasn't just the alcohol making the room move.

Next up

Day 2: Mother Nature is a jerk

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