Quick review of Recent MAGIC 7 Day

[valandemmy]

Although I love the very long and detailed trip reports I get to read on here, I am not talented enough to write a 14 page write up...so you get the quick and dirty version.

 

Vacationer's =  Me (42), Wife (38), two Kiddos 17 and 10...this makes our 12 cruise  9th with Carnival

 

Cruise:  7 day out of Miami going to 4 ports we had never traveled to ( Amber Cove, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk)

 

Pre-Cruise -  A very tiresome 13 hour drive from Tennessee.  Stayed at the La Quinta Hotel...We have stayed here all 3 times we have went out of Miami and we really like it....free shuttle to the port (10 bucks per person to get back), free hot breakfast...and free long term parking for your car.

 

Embarkation - So this was our first cruise since they started the "check in times",  Our check in time was 1230 to 100...our shuttle got to the port at 1130 and we were on the ship within 10 minutes. There were no lines anywhere...we only stopped to have ID's checked and were walking on the ship before we had a clue.  (when we arrived there was a early/late line and an ontime line....we went to the early/late line as we should have and it was crazy quick...couldn't believe how fast it was.  

The also seem to have stopped asking about recent illness form as we did not even have to stop to fill one of those out.

 

Cabin -10th floor as soon as you got off the elevator's room 10268 was unable to get a suite but did get a balcony and it is just what you would expect.  The first night of our neighbors were sitting on their doubled balcony at Midnight playing guitar and singing as loud as they could...contacted security who was there within 5 minutes and never heard from them again after 11 at night...a few mid afternoon songs though...lol  

 

Cruise Director -  MarQ is probably the best CD we have ever had.  Always easy to be seen and always having a good time...and he was funny as hell

 

Food -  MDR we ate here 3 nights...food was just OK.  Service was rather slow and seemed Disorganized.  Italian pay to eat place (sorry can't remember the name)...this place is 15 bucks per person..but the food was pretty damn fantastic and the service was AMAZING. Ended up tipping 20 bucks on a 30 dollar meal because we were so impressed with the service.  Buffet was ok...GUYS was FANTASTIC as usual...was not able to try Pig and Anchor because each time we went the line was like 4 miles long...I am assuming it was good based on that 

 

Drinks-  Had the Cheers program.  Although, we did not always manage to get our 5 drink per day minimum in to meet the break-even point...we also got lots of soda's, and 4 or more specialty coffee's per day...so we figured it worked out well for us. 

 

Entertainment-  we were fairly disappointed in the shows. Watched the first one and thought, perhaps it was a bad night so we decided to try to second show and NOPE...the male singers were unbelievably bad and only one seemed to be able to dance very well.. female performers did do much better...but the balance between the two was just too far off to be enjoyable.  The Hasbro Game show was fun and my 10 year old got to compete in it.

 

Ports/Excursions -  Amber Cover -  Ocean World -  All four of us loved this place.  They did Dolphin Shows, Shark Shows, Snorkling, Seal Show and a small beach area (not on the ocean...just there own beach area you can swim in.  They have food/drinks etc...but we were only there for a little over 4 hours so did not eat or drink while there.  

St. Thomas -  did not have an excursion...did lots of shopping off the boat and walked around and took in the sites.  

San Juan -  Another no excursion...We walked and walked and walked...this place is BEAUTIFUL.  Although I am sure there is still plenty of devastation throughout the island you can not (I could not) find it anywhere we walked.   We walked to the forts and walked around and the view from the top of that thing was AMAZING.  Then walked through the streets and took in the sights and sounds...really one of the pretties places I have been.

Grand Turk -  we did the HOME AWAY FROM HOME -  this was really really nice.  Small beach house offering only 30 guests (we only had 28), amazing private beach, and it was all inclusive, including snorkeling gear, Kayaks, Water trampoline.....The food was probably second best (behind the Italian) all week long...The bar is pretty basic Island punch, rum and cokes, and local beer...no frozen drinks (which wouldve been nice on the beach lol).

 

I think thats it...I would be happy to answer any questions.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[blarko]

I had MarQ as CD in September on Elation.  Agree that he’s the best CD I’ve had as well.  Always visible around the ship and very entertaining and funny.

 

How was debarkation?  What time were you off the ship?

[valandemmy]

For some reason we were down to one gangway and there was a pretty big bottle neck. We were supposed to be off between 830 and 930.  But didn’t get out until a little after 10. 

 

 

[Bernardo62]

Thank You for being short and to the point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Enjoyed your post.

 

 

[robertlanajean]

Great review. We'll be on the Magic in May so I appreciate the info. 

 

Would you do the drive again? 13-hour drive is rough. We did it once on a trip to Orlando with family (group of 7). It's right on the edge of the drive/fly debate for us depending on group size.

Did you make reservations for the Italian restaurant before the trip or on board? You have me curious now.

Noticed a lot of us on here from Tennessee. Well represented on the ships!

 

 

[blakesta12]

Thank you for the review!  We will be on the Magic March 17 so this makes us excited! Flying into Orlando from Huntington, WV to Orlando, so we will only have a little 4 hour drive down from Orlando to Miami.

[telli01]

Thanks for the review!  We are sailing on March 3rd and driving in from NC.  What was the location of the LaQuinta you stayed at?  This sounds like a good option especially for leaving the car there all week.  Thanks! 

[heffy2]

I was on the Jan 13th sailing, and I totally agree, the production cast was awful. 

[valandemmy]

2 hours ago, robertlanajean said:

Great review. We'll be on the Magic in May so I appreciate the info. 

 

Would you do the drive again? 13-hour drive is rough. We did it once on a trip to Orlando with family (group of 7). It's right on the edge of the drive/fly debate for us depending on group size.

Did you make reservations for the Italian restaurant before the trip or on board? You have me curious now.

Noticed a lot of us on here from Tennessee. Well represented on the ships!

 

 

 

My wife refuses to fly...So yeah, if I want to cruise out of Miami...usually we do Port Canaveral or New Orleans..but wanted to go to some places we had never been.

 

As for the restaurant, we made ressies on board and it was almost empty with a 630 reservation.  Would highly recommend it for just 15 dollars (you get two appetizers, one entree and one desert).

[valandemmy]

1 hour ago, telli01 said:

Thanks for the review!  We are sailing on March 3rd and driving in from NC.  What was the location of the LaQuinta you stayed at?  This sounds like a good option especially for leaving the car there all week.  Thanks! 

 

LaQuinta Airport East https://www.expedia.com/Miami-Hotels-La-Quinta-Inn-Suites-Miami-Airport-East.h49876.Hotel-Information

 

 

[valandemmy]

16 minutes ago, heffy2 said:

I was on the Jan 13th sailing, and I totally agree, the production cast was awful. 

They were honestly the worst I have seen on a ship...I told my wife the best part of the shows was the Lip Sync Battle...which used cruisers and not staff members...lol

[ChosenOne]

Odd question but do you remember if the lamps at bedside in your cabin were the new type with the USB ports in them?  I am going on Magic in 2 weeks and have an aft balcony & I CAN'T WAIT to get out of this sub zero temperature crap we have going on around Chicago!

[valandemmy]

5 minutes ago, ChosenOne said:

Odd question but do you remember if the lamps at bedside in your cabin were the new type with the USB ports in them?  I am going on Magic in 2 weeks and have an aft balcony & I CAN'T WAIT to get out of this sub zero temperature crap we have going on around Chicago!

 

Unfortunately they did not have them...my kids complained all week about ONLY two places to charge our phones and we forgot to bring a power cord

[Gilligan and Ginger]

56 minutes ago, valandemmy said:

 

LaQuinta Airport East https://www.expedia.com/Miami-Hotels-La-Quinta-Inn-Suites-Miami-Airport-East.h49876.Hotel-Information

 

 

We're coming from Clarksville, but decided to fly.  We are staying at this same hotel due to the convenience of the both the airport and cruise terminal shuttle.  I was wondering how the signup for the shuttle to the port works.  We don't arrive until 9pm the night before, so I'm hoping we don't miss out if it's a first come first served sign up.  Thanks in advance for any insight.

[valandemmy]

56 minutes ago, Gilligan and Ginger said:

We're coming from Clarksville, but decided to fly.  We are staying at this same hotel due to the convenience of the both the airport and cruise terminal shuttle.  I was wondering how the signup for the shuttle to the port works.  We don't arrive until 9pm the night before, so I'm hoping we don't miss out if it's a first come first served sign up.  Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

You sign up when you get there.  That being said...I have called them before during a previous trip and the "signed me up" for a selected time slot.  

[Gilligan and Ginger]

24 minutes ago, valandemmy said:

 

You sign up when you get there.  That being said...I have called them before during a previous trip and the "signed me up" for a selected time slot.  

Thanks for the info!  I may try giving them a call the day of checkin.  

[TheBuick]

Thank you very much -- you hit the key points in your report that we had questions about...!

[Florings]

Thanks for your review!  Agree with you on San Juan....simply lovely!

[swimducky21]

21 hours ago, valandemmy said:

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Was this through Carnival? If so, how much was it? 

[Engineerstar]

I would like to know about where home away from home is and the cost please. Thank you!!!

[valandemmy]

1 hour ago, swimducky21 said:

Was this through Carnival? If so, how much was it? 

 

1 hour ago, Engineerstar said:

I would like to know about where home away from home is and the cost please. Thank you!!!

 

Yes the excursion was through carnival and the cost was close to 100 per person. Welll worth it not to have the crowds IMO