Magic 7 Day Eastern Review

[jam19872016]

Loving your review and the photos!!

 

Thank you!

 

Enjoying this review so much....especially the pics! Thanks for posting. I am on the July 7th sailing.

 

Almost time to sail now! Hope time does not stand still for you this week, that last week seems to be the slowest ever.

[jam19872016]

If this was a Premier cruise for you can you share more thoughts, pictures, information, etc. on that part too please. We sail on our first Premier in Sept and are looking forward to seeing what its all about.

 

This was a Premier cruise for me. I love the Premiers they are a lot of fun with a lot of special attention provided to their invited guests. The big downside for me is they are almost full price and most ships no longer provide you with cash but rather "casino free play". The Magic provides free play. So there is not much value in it after you have done it the first couple times because they are all pretty much the same.

 

But that first one...Wow! They really make you feel special.

 

To start, if you do not already have priority you will have priority boarding and be able to use the priority line ignoring your check-in time. It is only priority boarding (and I think disembarking also but I'm not sure on that as I have always just done self-assist) your room will not be ready early.

 

When you arrive in your room you will find a couple things. A lanyard that will indicate you are "premier vip" so they can spot you easier in the casino. It will also contain your DOU card. You will have a gift bag with a casino logo item, usually nothing fancy but a nice gesture. It will also contain a list of drawings that you must be present for to win as well as all the onboard perks you will get (like a waived fee to charge your card at the tables, refunded cash advance fee etc).

 

There will be a cocktail party for all premier guests. Usually at 5 in the lounge at the back of deck 5(or limelight lounge on the newer ships). They will walk around passing out drinks or you may order whatever you like and they will bring it. They will also have trays of food. Some of it good, some of it "omg why did they feed me this lol". The time and place will be indicated on your information sheet, and once there they will explain all the ins and outs to you of the premier experience.

 

There will be many drawings designed to keep you in the casino, but most of them you can just show up for and leave if you are not doing good and don't wish to keep throwing away your money. Not that I have any experience with that :evilsmile:

 

Most days you will have something delivered to your room like wine, chocolate, cookies, another logo item. I will have pictures of those as I move through the review.

 

I have heard that Premier's are more crowded than normal in the casino which makes sense, but I have never felt like it was crowded except on the Vista - which felt crowded even when it was closed (very tiny casino).

 

If you earn 2000 points, there will be a free slot tournament on the last day.

 

If you earn 7500 points, you will be invited to the next level up, an Ultra cruise. I have never earned that many points on a single cruise, but I was invited to an Ultra last year and have been invited and will be going again this year. If you qualify in September, the next round of Ultras will be in Spring 2019.

 

Good luck, have lots of fun and don't let them take too much of your money lol.

 

If you have any other questions let me know and I will be happy to answer.

[CruiseMomTX]

This was a Premier cruise for me. I love the Premiers they are a lot of fun with a lot of special attention provided to their invited guests. The big downside for me is they are almost full price and most ships no longer provide you with cash but rather "casino free play". The Magic provides free play. So there is not much value in it after you have done it the first couple times because they are all pretty much the same.

 

But that first one...Wow! They really make you feel special.

 

To start, if you do not already have priority you will have priority boarding and be able to use the priority line ignoring your check-in time. It is only priority boarding (and I think disembarking also but I'm not sure on that as I have always just done self-assist) your room will not be ready early.

 

When you arrive in your room you will find a couple things. A lanyard that will indicate you are "premier vip" so they can spot you easier in the casino. It will also contain your DOU card. You will have a gift bag with a casino logo item, usually nothing fancy but a nice gesture. It will also contain a list of drawings that you must be present for to win as well as all the onboard perks you will get (like a waived fee to charge your card at the tables, refunded cash advance fee etc).

 

There will be a cocktail party for all premier guests. Usually at 5 in the lounge at the back of deck 5(or limelight lounge on the newer ships). They will walk around passing out drinks or you may order whatever you like and they will bring it. They will also have trays of food. Some of it good, some of it "omg why did they feed me this lol". The time and place will be indicated on your information sheet, and once there they will explain all the ins and outs to you of the premier experience.

 

There will be many drawings designed to keep you in the casino, but most of them you can just show up for and leave if you are not doing good and don't wish to keep throwing away your money. Not that I have any experience with that :evilsmile:

 

Most days you will have something delivered to your room like wine, chocolate, cookies, another logo item. I will have pictures of those as I move through the review.

 

I have heard that Premier's are more crowded than normal in the casino which makes sense, but I have never felt like it was crowded except on the Vista - which felt crowded even when it was closed (very tiny casino).

 

If you earn 2000 points, there will be a free slot tournament on the last day.

 

If you earn 7500 points, you will be invited to the next level up, an Ultra cruise. I have never earned that many points on a single cruise, but I was invited to an Ultra last year and have been invited and will be going again this year. If you qualify in September, the next round of Ultras will be in Spring 2019.

 

Good luck, have lots of fun and don't let them take too much of your money lol.

 

If you have any other questions let me know and I will be happy to answer.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and give detailed information!! We are excited. When you post pictures if you have a picture of the schedule/times to be in the casino for drawings I would like to see that. Look forward to more of your awesome review!

 

SaveSave

[carnivaladdix120]

Really enjoying your review!!

[dani85bri06]

Great review! My daughter(she will be 12 at the time), and I will be doing our first Mommy/Daughter cruise August 31, 2019 on the Magic!

[Dmgabe]

Nice job, very thorough. Will point out one small thing though. They do still offer a movie channel for free. It plays a rotating variety between long stretches of previews. Certainly not as good as the old offering of one adult and one kids channel that looped a new movie each day.

[jam19872016]

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and give detailed information!! We are excited. When you post pictures if you have a picture of the schedule/times to be in the casino for drawings I would like to see that. Look forward to more of your awesome review!

 

 

 

SaveSave

 

You're very welcome. I will try to take a picture of my schedule but not sure how readable it will end up being and unfortunately I don't have access to a scanner. If it does not turn out, I do list the events each day.

 

Really enjoying your review!!

 

Glad you're enjoying!

[jam19872016]

Great review! My daughter(she will be 12 at the time), and I will be doing our first Mommy/Daughter cruise August 31, 2019 on the Magic!

 

That sounds great! What great memories you will create. I wish my mom was into cruising more. Or if I can be really selfish, I wish she had taken me on a cruise when I was 12 :D

 

Nice job, very thorough. Will point out one small thing though. They do still offer a movie channel for free. It plays a rotating variety between long stretches of previews. Certainly not as good as the old offering of one adult and one kids channel that looped a new movie each day.

 

It is possible I missed it, but I never saw any channel playing movies this time. Not even the one with the constant stream of previews between movies that I remember from a previous cruise. They had a movie channel, TCM but it was very off the wall movies and not anything that interested me. I ended up watching Tru TV most of the week, the TV bar got set pretty low lol. I will keep a closer eye out and hope that I find it next time.

[jam19872016]

Ship Tour:

 

Decks plans are great for getting a rough idea of the layout of a ship. But I love pictures to help me better visualize the layout of the ship. With that in mind, let me take you on a photo tour of the Carnival Magic.

 

Starting at Deck 1, the first two decks are passenger cabins.

 

 

 

Moving up to deck 3, starting all the way forward is the main show theater.

 

 

 

Guest Services.

 

 

Sail&Sign Kiosk.

 

[jam19872016]

Public comptuers.

 

 

Magic Lobby.

 

 

Looking up.

 

 

Shore Excursion desk.

 

 

Northern Lights MDR.

 

 

[jam19872016]

You cannot walk all the way through this deck, the galley blocks access so you must go up and back down to reach the end of the deck. At the back of deck 3 and 4 is the Southern Lights MDR.

 

 

Video Arcade.

 

 

Club O2 which can be accessed via the arcade or the promenade.

 

 

Deck 4 Promenade.

 

 

Club O2 Promenade entrance.

 

 

Circle C.

 

[jam19872016]

Stairs leading up to 5.

 

 

Conference Center.

 

 

 

I peeked behind that curtain because I am nosy like that. I found this interesting chart.

 

 

That is a pretty ambitious sales goal compared to last year's numbers. Pretty impressive they seem to be meeting that goal. Who are these people buying all this art though?

 

Another conference room, was being used at the moment for crew training.

 

 

The upper level of the Northern Lights MDR.

 

[jam19872016]

Watch where you are walking, these tables were out of my line of sight and I did not see them and walked right into it. Hit the bone just right, and that was PAINFULL. I was sore for days.

 

 

Library. One thing my mom liked about NCL (probably the only thing) was that they had a seperate card room from the library. It was very noisy in here because of all the people playing games.

 

 

 

Pixels, Magic has gone digital.

 

 

 

Seating facing the action down in the lobby.

 

[jam19872016]

The second and third level of the theater.

 

 

 

On Deck 5 now starting in the front. I love the outdoor Lanai, my favorite improvement on the Dream class.

 

 

 

Very little privacy though for those booking balconies.

 

 

Magic trophy case.

 

[jam19872016]

Fun Shops.

 

 

 

 

 

[teknoge3k]

I just got off the Magic last month and will be on her again next May. Following along. :)

[jam19872016]

Looking down towards the lobby.

 

 

 

Hat Trick Casino.

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Casino cont.

 

 

My mom did really well on this machine, located near the cashiers' desk.

 

 

Weekly schedule of events, does not include the private premier events.

 

 

Ocean Plaza.

 

 

 

This station had soup and sandwiches available for lunch on sea days.

 

[jam19872016]

Alchemy Bar.

 

 

Coffee Bar.

 

 

Stairs leading down to four.

 

 

Fun finds shopping desk. Never saw this area manned.

 

 

Former Taste Bar, used on sea days as a salad bar. I would love to see this converted to a Bonsai Express.

 

 

Red Frog Pub.

 

[jam19872016]

Nightclub.

 

 

 

Outside is the Pig & Anchor BBQ.

 

 

Piano Bar.

 

 

Steakhouse. Much smaller than on Conquest class ships.

 

 

Comedy Club.

 

[jam19872016]

Decks 6-9 are all guest cabins.

 

 

 

 

 

Coming out on Deck 10, Lido deck. Starting at the back at the Aft pool which is not adults only on Dream class ships.

 

 

24 hour pizza.

 

[jam19872016]

Tandoor Indian food. So good.

 

 

Looking up towards the whale tale.

 

 

Buffet seating area.

 

 

 

The Deli. Premade sandwiches here.

 

 

Sweet Spot, where you can find those fantastic new cakes. Yummy. Behind it are the stairs that will take you to Cucina del Capitano.

 

[jam19872016]

Buffet. Today was Italian, but it is a different regional special each day.

 

 

Mongolian Wok.

 

 

Heading outside to the Blue Iguana.

 

 

Lido pool.

 

 

Guy's Burgers.

 

 

Towel exchange.

 

[jam19872016]

RedFrog Rum Bar.

 

 

BlueIguana Tequila Bar.

 

 

At the front of Lido is more cabins.

 

 

Elevators, could get very crowded but huge improvement over this last two ships I was on Vista and Epic where they were basically unusable.

 

 

More cabins on deck 11.

 

 

Forward observation deck where I went for sailaway. Just keep walking all the way forward. That's the Seaside peaking around the corner there.

 

[jam19872016]

Also up here is a set of stairs and another elevator that will take you to the spa.

 

 

This here is new, or unique to the Dream class. I have never had this bar blocking my shot down before.

 

 

If this is for safety, I think it is a false sense of security. This bar is not big enough to stop a small child. And if it does, how long can they hold onto it before they fall anyway?

 

Heading outside.

 

 

Seaside Theater.

 

 

Plenty of seating up here if you don't need to be right by the pool action.

 

 

Looking out the back of the ship.