Recent Carnival Magic Cruisers : What shape is she in?

[Timmay77]

I keep seeing posts about the poor shape the Magic is in. Can anyone confirm this? The daughter and I love going on cruises, but the wife is less than thrilled. I chose this cruise (June 6, 2020) because of the itinerary. Based on the reviews I am seeing, I am considering moving to another ship/cruise. If the Magic really is in bad shape, I do not wish to expose my wife to less than excellent conditions to sour the taste of cruising even more. We are trying to convince her in to booking more! We are still 8 months out from our cruise, so conditions will only get worse........

 

I am seeing rumors that the Magic will go to dry dock September 2020? Is this accurate? Of course it is, AFTER we cruise. LOL. My luck.

 

For those that will say "cruise without her" not an option. We are a tripod, we only stand together. (family joke)

[thesmiths]

We were on her in May, 3 Generations.

Had a blast. Love the Magic..

 

We are just off the Sunrise, I read all the BS about her before we cruised.

We had an excellent cruise..

 

Your worrying over nothing.

Go have FUN.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by thesmiths

[wms99]

A steel ship in a salt environment. hmmmmmm. If you look for rust, you will find rust. If you look to be offended, you will be offended. If you just look to have fun, you will have fun. It's all about perspective.

 

 

[RjayB]

I think you are asking too early...8 months is a long time!    She could be in crappy shape now, but could be pristine by June next year 🙂

[TNcruising02]

I cruised on the Magic in June and had a great cruise.  However, some people pay a lot more attention to certain things, so if your wife is very picky then she might not think everything is in excellent condition.  You may want to sail on one of the newer ships.  While I was fine with everything, I have read trip reports where people have listed a lot of things that bothered them that didn't even cross our minds when we were on the cruise.  

My cabin was very clean every day.  I was able to relax in a nice lounger while not at the ports.  The comedy shows were great.  Food was good.  I liked that they had a wide variety of music playing in different parts of the ship.  If I was travelling with an extremely picky person, I would probably pick one of the newer ships.  My cruise was great though.

Edited October 15, 2019 by TNcruising02

[havanadaydreaming]

I'd say you can find some wear in common areaa with eagle eyes but overall the Magic was more than fine. We enjoyed our Sept sailing and the crew was superb. 

[dctravel]

We were on the Magic in August and had a wonderful time (review here, if you are interested). We found her to be in good condition, even with a little wear around the edges (like carpet in the elevator lobbies). To us, that didn't distract from the friendly crew who said hi to us at every opportunity, or the very clean staterooms and public areas. In August, they were going a great job of keeping everything clean and in working order!

dctravel

[Palmetto Pilot]

Is the Magic still having air conditioning problems? Sewer smell on deck 7?

[MzOhioLady]

I have sailed on the Magic twice. Once when she first sailed, going out of Galveston and now last month in September out of Fort Lauderdale. I really like the Magic. My room steward was Excellent and so was my wait staff in the Main Dining Room. My husband who is very new to cruising even said he Loved the Magic. The Itinerary we chose was the Key to another Great Cruise on Carnival. Not sure what your wife is looking for or expecting but we had a Blast and would do it all over again in a Heartbeat.

[jcearth]

We just got off the Magic a few weeks ago - I had two noticeable issues while on board. 1) We had connecting cabins.  The temperature in our kids cabin was much lower than ours, which never seemed to be able to cool off.  We like it cool when we sleep (around 68-70) but our room seemed to be more around 74-76.  Our room steward was able to get us a fan, which helped considerably.  2) I noticed the "smell" a little more than usual on this cruise.  I have been on around 15 cruises, and most of them have had some sewage type smells on them at various places and times, but this was probably the most that I noticed it out of all of my cruises.

 

Outside of that, I thought that the ship was fine, and we had a great time.  Again, one of our cabins had a nice, cool temp, and I am sure that many people did not have a "smelly" experience, so your mileage may vary on board.

[Timmay77]

I really appreciate all of the replies. Very encouraging. 

 

We are booked in a balcony on deck 11, hopefully we won't notice any of the sewage smells.

[TNcruising02]

9 minutes ago, Timmay77 said:

I really appreciate all of the replies. Very encouraging. 

 

We are booked in a balcony on deck 11, hopefully we won't notice any of the sewage smells.

We stayed on deck 10 and thankfully didn't experience any weird smells.  Deck 11 is a great location.  Our favorite place to lounge is on the padded chairs on deck 11.  The cabins on decks 10 and 11 make is so easy to get to the buffet, coffee machines, Guy's, Blue Iguana, pool, and loungers.  I really like using my cabin bathroom instead of the public ones, so a cabin on deck 11 is very convenient. Anyway, I think you will really like the location.

[MzOhioLady]

2 hours ago, Timmay77 said:

I really appreciate all of the replies. Very encouraging. 

 

We are booked in a balcony on deck 11, hopefully we won't notice any of the sewage smells.

We had a Interior Cabin on Deck 6 (Mid Ship) and I didn't smell any sewage smells. Our AC worked a little too good. We thought it was very chilly in our cabin so we adjusted the Temperature and from there on it was pleasant in the room. The Piano Bar and Karaoke were a lot of fun on our sailing. We also caught a few good movies on the Lido Deck at night, plus FREE Popcorn and a Blanket were all you needed to make the movie more enjoyable. Add a run to the Ice Cream Machine and you have a perfect night with FREE Munchies!! 

 

There were a few deck parties as well and the DJ for our Sailing was on point, he and the Cruise Director really got everyone involved. Lovely Doubley~!! LOL. 

 

Various Staff were always wiping, cleaning, sweeping up everywhere so I thought the Ship was pretty clean throughout.

 

I hope you stick with your sailing that you have booked and the Wife enjoys herself. 

[Jamericannn]

I will be on her in less than 2 months and will let you know. Rust around the edges is the least. I have been on a ship just just a few weeks after dry dock and still see rust. It did not stop my cruise fun one bit. Even the people who I were with who were complainers had a blast

[cdm289]

Sailed on her in March and had a wonderful time.  We were in an aft cabin on deck 9.  No smells.  As we walked around the decks there were always employees cleaning.  I would definitely sail on the Magic again.  No complaints.  

 

John Heald will be sailing on the Magic in a few days.  I am sure he will have lots of pics and videos if you follow him on Facebook.  

[Benwar]

I’m booked on the same cruise as you and I quit worrying about all those negative reviews! Most of them come from someone that has never reviewed in the past.

 

We saw the same negative reviews when we booked the Miracle this past June and had no issues at all with that ship. 

 

Have fun!

[MasterMason]

Carnival Magic entered service August, 2010. Ask yourself how old is your family car, and what condition it's in after 9 years of constant continual service by authorized company service personnel. The ship is maintained on a daily basis by dedicated staff, and bought into drydock when mechanical/cosmetic updates are needed.

 

"She's tore up plenty, but she'll fly true".

[Timmay77]

I appreciate the replies, but all of the people making the obvious comments about the ships age, salt water, rust (I never asked about rust??), etc, aren't really necessary. You are pointing out the obvious....... I have been on ships that were 20 years old and looked new. It all depends on how the ship is holding up to the thousands of people weekly getting on and off. That is why I asked for recent passengers to post. All cruise lines care for their ships in different ways. Carnival isn't known for top shelf. I think this question is perfectly valid.

 

Light me on fire for this post if you want, I have just never understood why people have to make snide comments. It just brings down the mood of a "vacation forum". 

[Jamericannn]

1 hour ago, Timmay77 said:

I appreciate the replies, but all of the people making the obvious comments about the ships age, salt water, rust (I never asked about rust??), etc, aren't really necessary. You are pointing out the obvious....... I have been on ships that were 20 years old and looked new. It all depends on how the ship is holding up to the thousands of people weekly getting on and off. That is why I asked for recent passengers to post. All cruise lines care for their ships in different ways. Carnival isn't known for top shelf. I think this question is perfectly valid.

 

Light me on fire for this post if you want, I have just never understood why people have to make snide comments. It just brings down the mood of a "vacation forum". 

 

Maybe people misunderstood your question because of the way you phrase it. Be thankful for the replies even if they do not directly answer your questions and then explained (rephrase) what you meant.

[rukkian]

6 hours ago, Timmay77 said:

I appreciate the replies, but all of the people making the obvious comments about the ships age, salt water, rust (I never asked about rust??), etc, aren't really necessary. You are pointing out the obvious....... I have been on ships that were 20 years old and looked new. It all depends on how the ship is holding up to the thousands of people weekly getting on and off. That is why I asked for recent passengers to post. All cruise lines care for their ships in different ways. Carnival isn't known for top shelf. I think this question is perfectly valid.

 

Light me on fire for this post if you want, I have just never understood why people have to make snide comments. It just brings down the mood of a "vacation forum". 

I am interested as well, we go in March, like you, it is because of the itinerary.  I am always interested in being as informed as possible, but don't plan to switch at this point.

 

Following along just to hear all opinions, good or bad, and understand your frustration, but I will say that this forum is way better than some other places I go to.  There are certain carnival groups will outright attack you if you even hint there may have been something less than perfect that has anything possible link to Carnival at all.

[mrpayroll]

Was on Magic the end of September and thought it was fine. As a matter of fact , we are also going again on it in two weeks. Didn't notice anything out of the  ordinary. 

[Countrygurl]

Will be sailing the Magic in less than 10 days.  I can't wait.  I don't care about rust or if the carpets are sworn.  As long as the ship is clean and odor free, I'm a happy cruiser!

[Timmay77]

 

7 minutes ago, rukkian said:

I am interested as well, we go in March, like you, it is because of the itinerary.  I am always interested in being as informed as possible, but don't plan to switch at this point.

 

Following along just to hear all opinions, good or bad, and understand your frustration, but I will say that this forum is way better than some other places I go to.  There are certain carnival groups will outright attack you if you even hint there may have been something less than perfect that has anything possible link to Carnival at all.

 

I am on MANY auto forums, so I deal with it regularly. It just never makes sense to me. I filter it out anyway, so really, it is just a waste of space and clutters up the thread, which is my main issue with it.

 

 

1 minute ago, Countrygurl said:

Will be sailing the Magic in less than 10 days.  I can't wait.  I don't care about rust or if the carpets are sworn.  As long as the ship is clean and odor free, I'm a happy cruiser!

 

I am not concerned about that small stuff either. Rust and worn carpets aren't a concern. You will find that on any public property, not just a cruise ship. I am more concerned about actual functionality issues I have been reading about. AC not working, sewage systems breaking down, entertainment shows/acts being canceled, etc.

[TNcruising02]

1 hour ago, Timmay77 said:

 

I am not concerned about that small stuff either. Rust and worn carpets aren't a concern. You will find that on any public property, not just a cruise ship. I am more concerned about actual functionality issues I have been reading about. AC not working, sewage systems breaking down, entertainment shows/acts being canceled, etc.

I did not experience any of those things when I cruised on the Magic in June of this year.

[dctravel]

2 hours ago, Timmay77 said:

I am not concerned about that small stuff either. Rust and worn carpets aren't a concern. You will find that on any public property, not just a cruise ship. I am more concerned about actual functionality issues I have been reading about. AC not working, sewage systems breaking down, entertainment shows/acts being canceled, etc.

Interesting. We did not experience any of these issues on our August cruise, nor did we hear about others having issues with the AC or sewer system. In fact, all of the published activities seemed to go off without a hitch and the staff was really engaged. The only time we smelled odors was right before there was a clog in the drain by the deck 10 laundry room. As soon as the engineering staff got that cleaned out, no more smell issues that we noticed.