Carnival Magic 8 Day Eastern Cruise Review

[jam19872016]

Day 5: St.Kitts

 

Today we are in St.Kitts. This is my fourth time visiting the island of St.Kitts but like yesterday I will not be getting off the ship.

I started my day off with a frappe from the coffee bar. I love that it is open all day instead of closing during the afternoon like I am used to. I am not sure if that is unique to this ship or if all ships are now keeping it open on port days but I like it. 

 

Next I got a small bite to eat from the buffet for breakfast then took some pictures of the island from the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

The Fascination was with us in port yesterday and again today.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

I went light again for lunch because tonight I would be doing something extra special - The Chef's Table. I got just a small plate from the buffet and even skipped dessert!

 

 

 

 

Again the food on the buffet was very good. I was not sure what to think about the cheddar bbq turkey muffin at first. The texture was weird and it had a different taste to it, but it was actually pretty good.

 

I attended one session of trivia today, 50's and 60's music. I didn't do so well, after all that music is before my mother's time. That is my excuse anyway, don't ask my why I can never win 90's music trivia either cause I have no answer for that one.

 

The rest of the afternoon I just hung out anxiously awaiting my upcoming Chef's Table experience.

 

I have done this one time before. I won it in a drawing in the casino so went on their dime and the experience was one of the highlights of all my cruises and hands down my best cruise dining experience to date. It is not for everybody, certainly not either of the people I travel with. My mom cannot eat a lot of food at one time because she is diabetic and instead must eat small meals every couple hours. My friend I usually cruise with is way too picky of an eater to ever think about trying different foods. According to her, I know what I like so why would I eat anything else? Um okay. I love being adventurous with my foods, so cruising solo I knew this would be a perfect opportunity and reserved myself a spot to enjoy the Chef's Table.
 

[jam19872016]

I'm going to stop here because I don't have all the photos from Chef's Table uploaded yet, and the hotel Wifi is being spotty. It will take me a couple days to resume posting because I am leaving tomorrow for a 2 day cruise 😮. Then I will get to play catch up at work so it may be next weekend before I continue. Thanks for reading along everybody.

[pooksma]

Will wait patiently for the Chef's Table report as it is something I am interested in. Have a great cruise!

[cruisin4Becky]

I have your review bookmarked and am happily reading it! I cant wait to see what you post next.enjoy your little mini-cruise

 

[jam19872016]

On 8/4/2019 at 9:42 AM, pooksma said:

Will wait patiently for the Chef's Table report as it is something I am interested in. Have a great cruise!

 

 

On 8/5/2019 at 8:36 AM, cruisin4Becky said:

I have your review bookmarked and am happily reading it! I cant wait to see what you post next.enjoy your little mini-cruise

 

 

Thanks for reading along. I will be back tomorrow to continue my review.

[jgallow]

we sail in January...excited to learn more about the Magic! Thanks for your review.

[jam19872016]

21 hours ago, jgallow said:

we sail in January...excited to learn more about the Magic! Thanks for your review.

 

You picked a great ship! Thanks for reading along.

[jam19872016]

Picking up where I left off, heading to the Chef's Table.

 

We met in the lobby at 6:15. The waitress had a printout with our photo and names so she could recognize us when we came down (or up since my room is in the basement lol). We filled out a health form confirming we didn't have any illnesses. Then the chef showed up and introduced himself and led us into the galley.

 

On the Magic, Chef's Table is held inside the galley. This was a very cool experience instead of having it in an annex of the dining room like we did on the Splendor. It was very hard to hear what was being said, but the experience of dining in the galley during dinner service was incredible.

 

 

 

We were presented with a menu of tonight's dinner and had some olives and Parmesan to snack on. I ate one olive just to try, but I was leaving room for the meal to come.

 

 

 

They offered us a glass of champagne to toast with.

 

 

 

There were a couple of items to try before the main event, these are not on the menu so I don't remember exactly all the items in each dish. The first item I am at a complete loss at recalling, but I do remember it had chicken pate in it. It tasted a bit like peanut butter and it was very good.

 

 

 

Not sure what this is either, I was going to write it down but realized I had nothing to write with. It was also good, whatever it was.

 

 

 

This was a shrimp po' boy with bacon ice cream.

 

 

What a strange combination right? It was oh so good, there is a reason why I can recall this one while the others I cannot. Yum.

[jam19872016]

Next we were taken to our table in the galley to have our group photo taken and then enjoy our meal. Some had a view of the chefs plating our courses but unfortunately my back was to that area. It was still a very nice setup with very attentive service, and just to make the food taste extra special there was even a tablecloth on the table 😛

 

From my vantage point I couldn't really get any good photos. In front of me were my table mates, and I was at the end of the table so although I had the galley to my right, I also had all my table mates. I got what I could on my left.

 

 

 

Some wonderful bread before we begin our meal.

 

 

 

Spring Peas & Matcha Soup.

 

 

 

We used the garnish to stir the matcha powder into the soup. Please tell me how a pea soup can be this darn good! I don't care for soup, or peas, but this was delicious.

 

Berkshire Pork Belly, Shrimps
veil of yuzu mustard, crustacean essence.

 

 

 

This was also simply amazing.

[jam19872016]

Next we got up and headed to the pastry area to watch how the warm chocolate melting cake is made. I got some pictures along the way.

 

 

 

Some picture menus they use to create a consistent presentation across the fleet.

 

 

 

 

If you're into that sorta thing, zoom in on the first one and you can see a lot of different picture menus.

 

After the presentation we returned to our table to continue our feast.

 

Slow Cooked Crispy Lamb
roasted beet & port jus

 

 

 

This was the best dish of the evening! Please feed me more of this!

 

Olive Oil Poached Seabass
asparagus & white miso.

 

 

 

If there was one dish that was just ok, it was this one. It was still good but it was the only item I would not make a meal of. That black thing on top was weird and many people left it, I found that if you ate it with the sea bass it tasted better.

[jam19872016]

Quail, Wild Mushrooms and Carnaroli
parmesan, pepper threads, roasted onion jus

 

 

 

But wait, where is the quail?

 

The chef's putting the finishing touches on the quail.

 

 

 

 

 

This was also amazing.
 

[jam19872016]

Next they set up a dome for something else cool.

 

 

 

Smoking the meat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Veal, Crushed Green Apples
light cheese broth

 

 

 

Very close second for best dish of the night. It had a wonderful smokey flavor that was perfectly paired with the sweetness of the apples. Give me this and the lamb and just let me eat myself into a coma please!
 

[jam19872016]

Next we have dessert.

 

Citrus Cream
lime snow, elderflower caviar

 

 

 

 

Delicious.

 

Chocolate Hazelnut
basil moss, cocoa logos, chocolate soil.

 

 

Dinner tonight was a real treat. As we dined we were served wine as well as bottled water. They were not as generous with their pours as last time but still very attentive. Each dish we were served was accompanied with a description of how the item was created. It was a little over two and a half hours start to finish and when it was done we were presented with our group photo as well as the recipe for the warm chocolate melting cake.

 

This was well worth it but I felt like the menu was better on Splendor and cheaper at I believe $75. I would still book this again at this price if the menu were different. It was good but at that price it is an "experience it once" kinda thing. If you enjoy trying creative cooking, this is a must do.
 

[jam19872016]

After dinner my towel animal friend was waiting patiently for me.

 

 

 

I went to see Marcus Monroe perform in the theater tonight. I was pretty sure I had seen him once before but could not remember when. There were two people I was thinking of, one was really entertaining, the other was ok but seeing him once was enough and I was leaning more toward him being that guy but I ended up going to see him anyway. 

 

His act is described as "comedy and juggling". He was so freaking funny. I do think he was the guy I was thinking of because I seem to recall his final routine on the obscenely large unicycle but other than that his material was definitely different and much funnier than before. If you happen to have a chance to see this guy, make sure you go watch him perform he was hysterical.

 

Next I made my way down to the casino to play for a little while. I had this hand dealt to me.

 

 

 

Not to be greedy since I already hit a jackpot, but I am dying over here for a royal flush. I have a 1 in 47 chance right now of hitting for $8000. Today is still not the day for one, I drew a King so at least I got my $10 back. I did ok tonight overall coming out a few dollars ahead for the evening.

 

After I was done in the casino I somehow found room to hit up the late night snacks up on Lido. Don't ask me how. After that I went to bed after a wonderful day highlighted with a fantastic Chef's Table experience.

[jam19872016]

Day 6: Puerto Rico

 

Today we are in Puerto Rico. This is fifth time in Puerto Rico and I did have plans of getting off the ship today. By the time I got up though it was almost 11 and we had a back on board time of 1:30. I had read about a fantastic restaurant in San Juan called Chocobar Cortés . that I wanted to try but I wanted to take my time and savor the experience a little so I made the choice to skip this for now. It is something I want to do on a return trip very soon.

 

I got my chocolate fix at the coffee bar instead enjoying a double chocolate frappe while oogling the Allure Of The Seas docked next door.

 

It was a little early still but I saw people with plates of Mongolian Wok so I made my way up to Lido to see if lunch was being served. Everything was open so I headed to one of my favorites that I had not been to yet for lunch, The Pasta Bar. They informed me they were not quite open yet. Ooops, guess Deck 11 didn't set their clocks ahead like Deck 10 so I walked around a bit and got some pictures of San Juan from the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

The Allure Of The Seas. I think 2020 will finally be the year I make it on an Oasis class ship.

 

 

After that I headed back for lunch. There was a good sized crowd already but the service was good. My battery needed charging so I did not get any pictures of lunch but it was very good. If I could have one restaurant brought onto every Carnival ship I would pick this one, it is a great lunch time option and an inexpensive dinner option. Love this place.
 

[jam19872016]

Tonight was our second elegant night. Tonight's dinner menu.

 

 

 

 

I started with an order of stuffed mushrooms.

 

 

 

For my main I ordered the filet mignon and teriyaki salmon fillet.

 

 

 

 

There are so many wonderful choices on this menu this is the first time I've ordered the filet at dinner. It was very good and rivaled the filet served in the steakhouse. The fish was also very good.
 

[jam19872016]

Dessert menu.

 

 

 

I ordered the grand mariner souffle and the key lime mousse.

 

 

 

 

Both were very good. The souffle was the best dessert of the week!

 

Another A++ for the dining room team for excellent service and the food was outstanding as well. 

[jam19872016]

Tonight's show was Flick and it won't blow your socks away but I think it is one of Carnival better productions. It's one of the few I still go to watch again. The show was enjoyable and the singing didn't ruin it. Honestly, sometimes the singers take an otherwise average show and make it unbearable, that was not the case this week, a pretty talented cast of singers.

 

Tonight's towel animal.

 

 

 

Tonigh they had another Hot Seat Promotion in the casino from 10-midnight. I snuck out in between rounds to the Piano Bar. The PBE was pretty bad but honestly, he was bad enough that it was enjoyable to listen to, if that makes any sense. Plus everyone seemed to be having a good time so it was still a fun way to spend some time outside of the casino - still trying to hang onto as much of their money as possible.

 

I did have another good hit tonight on a variation of Quick Hits that I've never played before. 

 

 

 

Thanks to that nice win I had another positive day in the casino. I headed up at midnight for a late night snack and then turned in after another wonderful day on Carnival Magic. Tomorrow we would be in Grand Turk.
 

[pooksma]

Thanks for sharing the Chef's Table. The variety is amazing!

[jam19872016]

9 hours ago, pooksma said:

Thanks for sharing the Chef's Table. The variety is amazing!

 

You're welcome. The food was all so so good. I have made a mental note to myself though, not to post about chef's table while waiting on dinner to finish cooking. That was torture lol 😄. 

[Jared100]

what a great review! ill be on her in 37 days for the first time.

The new lunch buffet items look amazing!

Questions,

What are the terms of the spa $50 certificate. Does everyone get one?

What are your tips on slots?

thanks!

[E Heffa]

On 7/28/2019 at 4:37 PM, jam19872016 said:

 

 

My room was 1351 on the Riviera deck.

 

 

 

Would this room have had a king bed if two people were staying in it or is it a solo room?  I've never seen a room with only one twin bed. 

[loanshark]

23 minutes ago, E Heffa said:

Would this room have had a king bed if two people were staying in it or is it a solo room?  I've never seen a room with only one twin bed. 

2nd bed is in the ceiling, and can be lowered down to create bunk bed if there were 2 people in the room.  They are sold as "inside upper/lower" on the carnival website, and are considered category 1A.

[cruisin4Becky]

I cant wait for more of this review! What a great cruise so far! I cant wait to see what you post about Grand Turk,one of my favorite ports