Magic 7 Day Eastern Review

[jam19872016]

Climbing up to 12, exercise equipment.

 

 

Basketball court.

 

 

Mini Golf.

 

 

Ropes Course.

 

 

 

Jogging track.

 

[jam19872016]

More cabins at the front of 12.

 

 

Entrance to the spa.

 

 

The stairs and elevators that run from the spa cabins on 11, up here into the spa.

 

 

Second level of the spa is on 14. I did not get a picture of the thalassotherapy pool because there was someone in it and it seemed weird. Here is the Tepidarium.

 

 

Aroma Steam Bath.

 

 

Lanconium.

 

[jam19872016]

Relaxation room.

 

 

The Waterworks.

 

 

 

 

On 15 is Serenity, which is way too close to the water park.

 

 

Next up is our first sea day.

[jam19872016]

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

 

Thank you for getting off the ship in a timely manner, I loved being on the ship at 11! Thanks for following along.

[travelqueen101]

Thank you for getting off the ship in a timely manner, I loved being on the ship at 11! Thanks for following along.

great pictures. Thank you for sharing. My cruise is in August.

[CruiseMomTX]

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.

 

 

 

Glad you're enjoying!

 

 

Thank you!

[AAAAmerican]

Thank You for the Review as all await more which is not a chore nor a bore, as we all adore.

[proudpatriot07]

I got off the ship today and am already enjoying reliving it through your review! Ours was also a premier cruise as well, and I can't wait to read more about how the rest of your cruise went. You took some great pics (I didn't), and as someone who reads these reviews before going on ships, I think that's awesome- thanks for doing it.

 

My husband thought Cookie made too many announcements, especially on our last sea day. He did make a lot of announcements but I almost wonder if this is a Carnival thing and not him personally. It seems like cruise directors in general make more announcements than they did in 2009-2010 when we started cruising. I didn't interact with him much but his Q&A was kinda fun.

 

I wish Carnival would promote the salad bar on Deck 5, along with the contenental breakfast, or either turn them into something different. I never saw anyone using them and the lines were always crazy on Lido. I didn't even see many people eating the Guy's BBQ when it was open... but that burger line...

[MSarahM]

Going on the Magic next month. Thanks for the detailed review!

[pooksma]

Love the pics! Yes, 2020 is a LONG way out. Next year our son graduates high school and its going to be an expensive year (including tuition for whatever university he ends up going to) so we decided to wait and take a cruise on our own.

 

Keep the great info coming!

[Cruisin4fun_vacationtime]

I love all the photos!! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

Sent from my H1711 using Forums mobile app

[jam19872016]

great pictures. Thank you for sharing. My cruise is in August.

 

Thank you!

 

You're welcome :)

[jam19872016]

Thank You for the Review as all await more which is not a chore nor a bore, as we all adore.

 

You must love the Dr.Suess breakfast lol. Thank you for the kinds words :)

 

I got off the ship today and am already enjoying reliving it through your review! Ours was also a premier cruise as well, and I can't wait to read more about how the rest of your cruise went. You took some great pics (I didn't), and as someone who reads these reviews before going on ships, I think that's awesome- thanks for doing it.

 

My husband thought Cookie made too many announcements, especially on our last sea day. He did make a lot of announcements but I almost wonder if this is a Carnival thing and not him personally. It seems like cruise directors in general make more announcements than they did in 2009-2010 when we started cruising. I didn't interact with him much but his Q&A was kinda fun.

 

I wish Carnival would promote the salad bar on Deck 5, along with the contenental breakfast, or either turn them into something different. I never saw anyone using them and the lines were always crazy on Lido. I didn't even see many people eating the Guy's BBQ when it was open... but that burger line...

 

 

You are probably right about corporate dictating the constant announcements but I don't remember being as bothered by them on past trips as I was this time. It is no doubt one of the harder parts of their job finding the balance between revenue generating spokesperson and entertainer, and he just didn't seem to land on the right side of it. Maybe it is the accents, most of them have charming accents that are pleasing to listen to and Cookie....well he didn't.

 

I thought the same thing about the food places on Promenade, it is very under utilized. They need something there that will draw more people off Lido because Lido was crowded. After Vista and Epic my tolerance for busy lido decks has been built up and by comparison it wasn't that bad, but I don't remember it always being so busy on Conquest class ships like it was on Magic.

 

I don't know what they could do. Bonsai Express would be nice, but I don't think it would draw that many people. I'm not sure how big the galley is and if it could support it, but maybe if they would expand the menu at Red Frog and have something similar to O'Sheehans on NCL that would likely draw a lot of people. Of course they would have to ditch the a la cart menu for a complimentary one, and I don't see Carnival going that direction.

[jam19872016]

Going on the Magic next month. Thanks for the detailed review!

 

You're welcome. Have a great cruise :D

 

Love the pics! Yes, 2020 is a LONG way out. Next year our son graduates high school and its going to be an expensive year (including tuition for whatever university he ends up going to) so we decided to wait and take a cruise on our own.

 

Keep the great info coming!

 

I hope next year flies by for you and you are on the Magic before you know it! I know it will be so worth it when it does finally get here.

[jam19872016]

I love all the photos!! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

Sent from my H1711 using Forums mobile app

 

You're welcome. Happy to do it :)

[jam19872016]

Day 2: Fun Day At Sea

 

I seem to recall a post recently asking about a claim they had heard about the Magic not handling rough seas well. That person heard correctly. All night there were sounds of violent crashes of waves smacking the side of the ship and the ship seemed to shake violently side to side. I enjoy the rocking at night, I always sleep so peacefully even with the crashing sounds. This was during the storm Alberto and even though we were pretty far away, I expected the scene outside to be of a pretty angry sea. Here is what it looked like.

 

 

It was a grey day outside, but the seas did not justify the way the ship was carrying on. I did have a pretty high room so I no doubt felt more motion than lower decks, but the sounds along with the ship being jarred side to side were felt throughout the ship for most of the day. Other than the Sunshine, I would say this ship is the worse ship for handling rough seas that I have been on. Nothing that bothered me, and certainly nothing overly dramatic, but it is something to note and was certainly unstable to be in just moderately bad weather.

 

I never did receive my platinum drink coupon but I did not bother to ask for it because I am not really a morning drinker and I love going to brunch anyway you don't need to lure me in with a free drink :)

 

I ordered the mac and cheese with bacon.

 

 

This was just not as good as I remember. The bacon was too soggy, although that is probably a personal preference, and the noodles were just blah.

 

For dessert I had the double chocolate brownie.

 

 

The food this trip was off to a rough start at least in the dining room. Although I enjoyed Guy's BBQ and the wonderful cakes on Lido, dinner last night and now brunch fell below the awesome standard they had set for themselves. Thankfully for the rest of the trip most of the food was excellent overall with only a couple exceptions.

[jam19872016]

Today was a sea day and the casino had lots of activities going on to keep their premier guests occupied this afternoon.

 

10:30AM: Snowball Drawing

12-3: Fireball Raffle (open to everyone with at least 100 points)

4: Matilda the Cash Cow

 

 

I spent most of my afternoon here hoping to have my name called. I didn't :(. I made a few pit stops inbetween drawings (I got more cake from Lido, I think I hit up their cakes every day, so so so good). I also quickly and in near record time once again blew through my daily casino budget. I went ahead and made the executive decision to sit the rest of this cruise out. It was just sucking up my money too fast. I was only 90% committed to that decision but I did end up sticking with it.

 

Except for my free play that I still had available, more on that later.

[jam19872016]

Some items back in the room.

 

Towel elephant.

 

 

My mom is like a big kid with these towel animals. On Norweigan, we only got three in 7 days and two of them were on the same day.

 

Platinum treats.

 

 

Bubbly from the casino.

 

 

After the drawings in the casino were over we decided to make use of our spa room and try out the thalassotherapy pool. It was pretty crowded when we got there but thinned out after a couple minutes and we stayed in for around 30 minutes. It was too warm to use for any longer than that.

 

After that we tried the heated loungers. These were too hot for us to sit on for more than a minute or two. We peeked in the other treatment rooms but again, the heat was a bit too much for us.

 

So I realize the point of these amenities is to soothe pain and relax you with heat. But the only thing I was able to use was the pool which was nice but I would not pay for it again. In fact, sadly, we did not come back the rest of the trip although we intended to. I am 0-2 in paid upgrades that I made much use of. Just like the balcony, I am glad I tried it but I guess I am just a regular inside cabin kinda guy. That is a good thing I guess, leaves more money to cruise more often :)

[jam19872016]

Tonight was elegant night and we waited till a little after 6:30 to head to dinner. We were informed of at least 30 minute wait time for dinner tonight. In all my times of using YTD this was the only time I have ever waited more than 5-10 minutes (which is also rare, and only at peak times). I did in fact wait about 30-35 minutes tonight, but this was an exception and not the norm for YTD in my experience.

 

Waiting in the atrium.

 

 

I still feel like my camera is losing pictures and adding to this theory is that I am missing tonight's menu. What are the odds I forgot to take them? Anyway, these are from my last Carnival cruise on the Vista but they are the same menu we had.

 

 

 

 

For my starter I had the fried oysters which were fantastic.

 

[jam19872016]

For my main I ordered the lobster and the spaghetti carbonara.

 

 

 

The lobster was pretty good. That carbonara...yum! Continues to be my favorite Carnival MDR dish! Compare that to NCL's version.

 

 

Carnival's wins hands down.

 

For dessert I had the creme brulee and the WCMC with two ice creams.

 

 

 

Both were very good. NCL's signature dessert is the warm lava cake, and it is almost as good as Carnival's WCMC.

 

 

Dinner tonight was very good and the service was also great. As I said there was a wait to get in tonight, but that was the only time we had a wait all week.

 

There was one final drawing tonight at 11. Luck of the Card. I've been called three times in these drawings and two of them have been on Luck of the Card. It was not meant to be tonight though. After the drawing I retired to the room with a little TV and called it a night. Tomorrow would be our first port of call - Amber Cove.

[jam19872016]

Day 3: Amber Cove

 

Today we are in Amber Cove. This is the second time in this port for the both of us. I took a quick walk to the front of deck 11 for some pics of Amber Cove.

 

 

 

 

Today was Memorial Day and they had a giant flag on display in the atrium.

 

 

I was looking forward to trying the new port day breakfast menu. Although it was available on my last cruise on the Vista, I was not up early enough so this would be my first time to try it out.

 

I ordered a broken egg sandwich with a side of turkey bacon and chicken sausage and a yogurt parfait.

 

 

 

I'm not a big breakfast person. But everything was so good. They have really stepped up their game at breakfast with this new menu. That along with the new cakes and Carnival is making some very nice improvements with their new items. I really never imagined I would be raving about a breakfast like this, but this was very very good.

[jam19872016]

With a full belly I met up with my mom (who is always up before me) at the library and we headed off into port.

 

There were no plans today or any day for that matter except to browse around the shops and do a little shopping. I was just tagging along, I very rarely buy souvenirs.

 

Some pictures around the port area at Amber Cove.

 

 

 

 

 

Returning to the Magic.

 

 

Hey! Nice aft!

 

[jam19872016]

Back on board I had a towel animal and my platnium gift.

 

 

There weren't many activities planned for those who stayed on board or only got off for a short time like us. There was nothing from 9-1 and no trivia until 130. I enjoy a good port day marathon session of trivia but that was not meant to be this cruise. I entertained myself with some TV this afternoon.

 

Lunch today was the Mongolian Wok. The line was manageable since most people were off the ship. It was very good so good that I braved the line later in the week. I also got more lido cake :)

 

Some sail away pictures of Amber Cove.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Tonight's show was Country Road. My mom loves country music and when researching this cruise, I was excited to see a country music show and that it played on Tuesday which would fall on her birthday. Of course things change, and it was now shown on Monday but I was still glad there would be a country music show for her.

 

 

During the pre-show, they would play a song and then shove the microphone in front of an audience member to finish singing it. I have a pretty extensive knowledge of country music songs. I even have two ships on a stick to prove it. I am not the kind who enjoys the spotlight and I am sure they can pick up on my body language. I avoid eye contact with them and I am sure my face says pick me and I will throw you overboard. But I did sing along because I knew them and enjoyed them. And despite my clear indication don't you pick me, my mom thought it was funny to point at me.

 

So they picked me.

 

I sucked it up and sang the song for them. I mean what was I going to do I couldn't be a bad sport about it. Totally embarrassing but whatever not the end of the world.

 

But my mom wouldn't let it go. She kept trying to have them pick me again. This time they got the hint each time and didn't pick me again. But there were not many people really participating and I was worried about being picked again. I gave my mom a stern "Stop now" so that she would get the point.

 

I did not yell. I don't feel like I was out of line. I was firm so she would understand I was serious, but I did not scream or holler or in anyway act inappropriately. She pouted for a second and them stormed off. I swear it is like dealing with a child sometimes.

 

She later said she was trying to enjoy herself and I told her to stop so she left. Well what about my enjoyment. I want to sing along and that is it. I don't care to sing for the whole crowd. Period.

 

Anyway, I was now alone and trying to enjoy the show. But honestly, it kinda sucked. They really could not sing at all and the "story line" was sorta lame. I would say give this show a try only if you are a country music fan and you are not on the Magic. Oh yea, and if you don't have a pouty mother with you.

[jam19872016]

After the show I tried a few places to find my mom and she didn't turn up anywhere I looked. After searching for a bit I went on to dinner without her. When I showed up, she was already there. We argued for a bit which I am sure was fun for the couple at the table for two three inches away.

 

Tonight's dinner menu.

 

 

 

 

For my starter I ordered the seared tuna and the spring rolls.

 

 

 

Both were very good. I do wish they offered a different sauce with the egg roll because I don't care for soy sauce. I may see what else they have next time.