11/6-11/14 Carnival Magic 8 night southern Caribbean

[gnocchi_mommy]

Checking in from on board the Magic, pre-sail away 

 

Background, we drove in from Virginia Beach (in a bloody Nor’easter, St Augustine as a stopping point was a dumb idea last night!). We mostly cruise Carnival with the occasional RCCL cruise. My husband is gold and I’m platinum, and this is our first cruise post-Covid. I booked on a casino offer and combined with some great FCC/OBC (from both cancelled Covid cruises and a cancelled Mardi Gras cruise back before Covid when the yards were running longer than expected) We do CHEERS every time we sail, we like to drink, are not big on the lido buffet and actually prefer the smaller dining options like Blue Iguana and the seafood shack and of course the Italian restaurant! We are gamblers and big piano bar fans. I don’t unplug underway, I like my phone. This is my third time on Magic, and ironically enough our last cruise was Feb 2020- on the Magic. So that’s the basics.

 

EMBARKATION: We arrived at port at 9:30 am with a 10:00-10:30 A02 boarding group. Parking was a breeze, and the previous group was still pouring into the parking garage when we arrived.

 

At the building here in Port Canaveral, things got a little wonky outside. There are two roped lines. We were very early and anticipated waiting but we didn’t anticipate not knowing where to stand. So we followed the other early birds to the left hand side- the longer rope area. Mistake!!! There were NO signs. We ended up in the general boarding line by accident as did most of the others around us. Then people started showing up and lining up on the right hand side. A nice employee clued us all in and opened the rope and some of us made it over to the priority line (suites, Diamond and platinum) but then she had to leave and the next employee didn’t allow any others into the first line. Then we stood

and listened to people in both growing lines start to grumble about how tightly we were all packed in (zero social distancing) and how confusing the lines were. We didn’t have much time to get too annoyed because then the doors opened - yay! They were confirming that printed docs showed priority/platinum/Diamond and a 10:00-10:30 check in (it was now 11:00 but not a huge deal imo)

 

The screening and security area was super fast and efficient! Show your Covid test, vaccine record, and passport and breeze on in. 
 

I have seen others report that there’s no priority for Diamond and platinum anymore but this was not the case at PC, they ushered all suites, platinum and diamonds to the second floor lounge. We waited maybe 10 minutes and then they waived us all on at once. I heard them announce A01 for the downstairs people as we were going through the door to the hall leading to the gangway so we definitely had priority. We were on by about 11:15.

 

For as good as our experience was, people in our cruise group who arrived later reported lines longer than the ship that seemed to move at snails pace. A lot of frustration and someone said at one point one of the employees threatened to call security or the cops over some angry line standers. Again, that wasn’t our experience but we got there super early. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gnocchi_mommy]

First stop was Guys, no line at all!

 

Cabins were supposed to be open at 1:30 but we snuck back after our burger to drop off our bags and the cabin steward was fine with that. Grabbed our room cards and then headed out to explore. Magic looks the same as before with one big change- a new smoke free casino on deck 4. It’s smaller than the regular one but bigger than I imagined for some reason. Then we hit the Red Frog pub to test our CHEERS. Yep, they worked!

 

Muster- OMG this is fabulous now!!! Took maybe 3 minutes. Us and one other couple. There’s a good safety brief on the cabin TV so you can still get lots of info. 
 

Port note- just saw the Liberty departing! Empty? I’m assuming it’s being brought into service now and that’s why but I’m not up to date on all the ships schedules so not sure.

 

Cabin- not much to wax poetic about or complain about. It’s a nice standard sized (for a cruise) balcony, up forward on the port side. It’s clean and bright. Our steward seems nice and he brought us an extension cord for a CPAP upon request. The AC seems to work fine (I know some people on previous Magic cruises have had complaints about that but here on deck 7 it’s working great)

 

Thats it for now, I’ll add in more later! Bon voyage!

[Jamman54]

Wow another review in the works! I'm in heaven! We will be following along. Have a GREAT cruise!!! 

[SeaBrz]

Another follower here! Will be boarding Magic on the 14th so couldn't ask for a more recent review lol! I'm local here and glad the weather cleared up for your sailing today. As you found out during your drive down, the FL coast was like a monsoon all day yesterday. Happy sailing and can't wait to read more. 🥂

[mrpayroll]

Looking forward to following along as you cruise this week.

[Bostwick girl]

We got off Magic this morning. Glad to see things cleared up, it was nasty this morning. Glad I brought jeans and my jacket, a lot of people didn’t. Couldn’t figure out why the parking garage elevators only had one working. 
I think the Liberty is just in for provisioning to my knowledge not cruising until Feb 14.  We had a good cruise, but weather was crappy in Belize, our friends cancelled their snorkeling excursion as did a lot of people. The violin group Electric Waves is really good, best was the Magic Rock Band. This was our third cruise on Magic since the restart and will be going again January 15th, which will be our Diamond cruise. People talked about the Platinum and Diamond get together on other ships not being good, ours was great! It was at 3:45 on the last day. There were over 700 platinums and 62 diamonds so they had it in the theater. Drinks were order what you want and flowed freely.  Enjoyed the smoke free casino and the main casino is certainly better now that you have to be actively playing to smoke. Food was good, both MDR and lido buffet and Steakhouse. FYI, they were out of oysters for the second time. 
 

[Harleydidi]

5 hours ago, SeaBrz said:

Another follower here! Will be boarding Magic on the 14th so couldn't ask for a more recent review lol! I'm local here and glad the weather cleared up for your sailing today. As you found out during your drive down, the FL coast was like a monsoon all day yesterday. Happy sailing and can't wait to read more. 🥂

We will be on there with you on the 14th also!!

[gnocchi_mommy]

We spread the wealth around the ship tonight.

 

Casino- honestly I have always loved carnival casinos and have dropped a lot of $ over the years (and have had some great casino offers as a result) but I am not a fan of the new casino set up. Every machine is one of those huge digital screens, forget the  good ole .25 machines or even the old hot shots type machines. These are all huge and new and not easy to get lost in. I cruised 2/2020 last so I’m not talking about back in the olden days. Anyway, I tried my luck anyway, I dropped $50 and left with $40 so I didn’t exactly lose my shirt but these machines are just not for me. Everything, even penny slots, have large minimums. Meh. One upside, way less smoke!! They have banned smoking unless you are actively gaming and one side of the casino is seriously smoke free.

 

Alchemy bar is busy but outstanding as usual!! These bar tenders never stop moving!!

 

let’s talk crowd size- we should be about 80% full but where are all the people??!!?! Everything seems half empty! Except the casino I guess - but it’s an Elite cruise so that’s to be expected. But seriously, this crowd is a little older, I’ve seen exactly one child, and they dissipate into thin air. Super uncrowded.
 

Piano bar- if you cruise a lot and do a lot of piano bars you know these are both hit and miss and it’s based on personal preference. I do not love the current piano singer. The crowd was super subtle and quiet and he sang mostly ballads. 

 

Dinner- we were super pedestrian! My husband and I split a Quatro pizza and a Reuben from the deli. The hub app now allows you to preorder your pizza for pick up!! And it was as delicious as ever!!! The deli was also really good. 
 

Comedy show- was packed. Mask and sip was verbally enforced from the host on the stage but not sure if they enforced in reality out on the floor. Bar was pouring well, comedians were funny. Had a drunk chick flash the comedian, that was a first in carnival for me… was a good show overall though!

 

Strings band in the atrium was outstanding!!!

 

Bars- The bar tenders at the Red Rum Pub were probably our favorites, they were attentive, chatty, and fun. Also had a great bartender at the atrium bar, young woman from Russia I believe. Piano bar and comedy club servers were overwhelmed and slow, which is pretty par for the course.

 

Platinum and Diamond gift - picked up from pixels. It was the luggage tag again. The new pin is nice though, different then the older ones.

 

Got my $25 credit at the casino as well, was deposited in my player bank. 
 

In general, the ship impresses us as very clean and service has been surprisingly quick! 

 

 

 

 

[matymil]

43 minutes ago, gnocchi_mommy said:

We spread the wealth around the ship tonight.

 

Casino- honestly I have always loved carnival casinos and have dropped a lot of $ over the years (and have had some great casino offers as a result) but I am not a fan of the new casino set up. Every machine is one of those huge digital screens, forget the  good ole .25 machines or even the old hot shots type machines. These are all huge and new and not easy to get lost in. I cruised 2/2020 last so I’m not talking about back in the olden days. Anyway, I tried my luck anyway, I dropped $50 and left with $40 so I didn’t exactly lose my shirt but these machines are just not for me. Everything, even penny slots, have large minimums. Meh. One upside, way less smoke!! They have banned smoking unless you are actively gaming and one side of the casino is seriously smoke free.

 

Alchemy bar is busy but outstanding as usual!! These bar tenders never stop moving!!

 

let’s talk crowd size- we should be about 80% full but where are all the people??!!?! Everything seems half empty! Except the casino I guess - but it’s an Elite cruise so that’s to be expected. But seriously, this crowd is a little older, I’ve seen exactly one child, and they dissipate into thin air. Super uncrowded.
 

Piano bar- if you cruise a lot and do a lot of piano bars you know these are both hit and miss and it’s based on personal preference. I do not love the current piano singer. The crowd was super subtle and quiet and he sang mostly ballads. 

 

Dinner- we were super pedestrian! My husband and I split a Quatro pizza and a Reuben from the deli. The hub app now allows you to preorder your pizza for pick up!! And it was as delicious as ever!!! The deli was also really good. 
 

Comedy show- was packed. Mask and sip was verbally enforced from the host on the stage but not sure if they enforced in reality out on the floor. Bar was pouring well, comedians were funny. Had a drunk chick flash the comedian, that was a first in carnival for me… was a good show overall though!

 

Strings band in the atrium was outstanding!!!

 

Bars- The bar tenders at the Red Rum Pub were probably our favorites, they were attentive, chatty, and fun. Also had a great bartender at the atrium bar, young woman from Russia I believe. Piano bar and comedy club servers were overwhelmed and slow, which is pretty par for the course.

 

Platinum and Diamond gift - picked up from pixels. It was the luggage tag again. The new pin is nice though, different then the older ones.

 

Got my $25 credit at the casino as well, was deposited in my player bank. 
 

In general, the ship impresses us as very clean and service has been surprisingly quick! 

 

 

 

 

We just got off the Magic last month. When you say you're not a fan of the new casino setup, do you mean the new smoke free casino on deck 4 cause we loved that? 

[BoozinCroozin]

Thanks for the initial report. The Embarkation part is what is killing me with Carnival. They need crowd control before the terminal. If it is not your boarding time, send them away from the terminal. Instead, selfish people without arrival times cramming everything up. It is a simple process. Leave or be denied boarding at YOUR loss. We just received a 10AM arrival and I think there will be 100s of people with 12:00PM boarding flooding the terminal. Scan the people arriving early, tell them it was their only chance, and if they are back before their time, they cannot board. 

[jimbri]

Great photos!

[riviera]

Just off Magic on No 6th.  It was a great cruise except for the rainy Belize day.

Thought the boarding process was very slow and we are Platinum with a 10:30 boarding time.

Probably not on board until after 12

Was not told you have to pick up pins and gift now.

Loved the pizza, iguana grill, seafood shack and italian.   Dining room and Lido nothing exceptional stood out.

Of course, we sure didn't go hungry..

We had a cove balcony.  Really enjoyed it but that sewage smell that seems to permeate all over

Magic was especially strong out on the balcony on some days  PHEW{{

I also noticed that no one was enforcing hand washing or sanitizing as you enter dining areas and

several times the hand sanitizing machines were empty. Many people were unmasked at the buffet line and no one said anything.  Felt a little unsafe about the protocols not being enforced.  

But overall, a good cruise and glad to be back on board. 

 

[boomhower]

I'll be heading out when you get back, also planing a live review as well. 

[BoozinCroozin]

20 minutes ago, boomhower said:

I'll be heading out when you get back, also planing a live review as well. 

We'll be embarking when you are debarking then.

 

[gnocchi_mommy]

8 hours ago, matymil said:

We just got off the Magic last month. When you say you're not a fan of the new casino setup, do you mean the new smoke free casino on deck 4 cause we loved that? 

No, the actual games. They repositioned everything on the cage side of the casino and replaced most of the machines it seems. Maybe they moved all the machines I loved to the smoke free 😅 I will check it out tonight snd see if it feels more like what I love! I did a quick walk through yesterday but didn’t actually pay attention to the machines themselves. 

Edited November 7, 2021 by gnocchi_mommy

[silversneakers]

5 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Thanks for the initial report. The Embarkation part is what is killing me with Carnival. They need crowd control before the terminal. If it is not your boarding time, send them away from the terminal. Instead, selfish people without arrival times cramming everything up. It is a simple process. Leave or be denied boarding at YOUR loss. We just received a 10AM arrival and I think there will be 100s of people with 12:00PM boarding flooding the terminal. Scan the people arriving early, tell them it was their only chance, and if they are back before their time, they cannot board. 

Best time to board ship is in the afternoon when all the major crowding has been moved onto the ship. I like to get there around 2pm and can just walk on without crowd aggravation.  People think if they don't get there early they will run out of food (LOL).  

[lazydayz]

Loving your review.  Ours is coming up in three weeks.  Looking forward to our return to the Magic.  

[Bostwick girl]

6 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Thanks for the initial report. The Embarkation part is what is killing me with Carnival. They need crowd control before the terminal. If it is not your boarding time, send them away from the terminal. Instead, selfish people without arrival times cramming everything up. It is a simple process. Leave or be denied boarding at YOUR loss. We just received a 10AM arrival and I think there will be 100s of people with 12:00PM boarding flooding the terminal. Scan the people arriving early, tell them it was their only chance, and if they are back before their time, they cannot board. 

We just got off Magic yesterday. Our embarkation was a little chaotic, but it was because for some reason, they didn’t allow anyone in the terminal until just after noon. Our arrival time was 12-12:30, we arrived at just before, unloaded and waited for our friend to park. Time she got back the lines were just beginning to go in. DH uses mobility scooter so looked like they were allowing them on so we got in that line. We had him, our Diamond friend and we’re platinum. Can’t really say what time slots the long line had, assuming they were the ones who should have been first, but guessing they were all mixed up. Didn’t really take long once we got in the door. We’re on board, dropped luggage and on lido getting our traditional blue margarita before 1:00.  This was our third time sailing since startup. Seems like there’s always something causing a backup, but have been on board just within our arrival window or just after.

Debark yesterday was another story. Didn’t take too long to get off, but because of scooter, had to take elevator. Still only one so took a little time. Got thru facial recognition and got our luggage with our porter, and out the door to parking garage. Guess what, only one of those elevators was working! Porter said he didn’t know why, they were working earlier in the week. Anyway, we were loaded up, paid the parking and on the road by 9:10.

 

[tinkerbell1984]

Have they announced the capacity yet? Curious!

[cyclist_guy1]

8 hours ago, silversneakers said:

Best time to board ship is in the afternoon when all the major crowding has been moved onto the ship. I like to get there around 2pm and can just walk on without crowd aggravation.  People think if they don't get there early they will run out of food (LOL).  

this exactly except for running out of food part. we like boarding in the afternoon too.

[zelldriver]

We are doing this cruise on Magic in Feb. Looking to see what the

ports are like concerning any covid changes.

[silversneakers]

14 hours ago, tinkerbell1984 said:

Have they announced the capacity yet? Curious!

I think Mardi Gras is going full capacity this week so possibly other ships too!

[gnocchi_mommy]

18 hours ago, tinkerbell1984 said:

Have they announced the capacity yet? Curious!

Someone told me last night 77%

[gnocchi_mommy]

We had a 25 hour day yesterday thanks to the time change, but it felt longer 😅 

 

Spent a good amount of time just people gazing in the early day- then caught the Jags game on deck. That was fun, they had the volume cranked and with the way the deck is walled in it had a stadium effect. They had games available in the Red Frog and multiple games on deck.

 

 

 

Lunch at the Mongolian BBQ was so good! The line formed early and the wait was long so if you try it out, just be patient.

 

One of the fun things we did was a Scottish dance lesson led by the cruise director. I’m pretty much the least graceful human being ever born and have zero coordination (years ago in the military my nickname was actually Grace - for an ironic reason lol) but I managed to follow along okay and he was a lot of fun!

 

Dinner was the Italian restaurant, $15 upcharge, well worth it IMO. I think I actually enjoy it more than the steak house even (although we will also be doing that later this week) Our server was super friendly and on the ball. We did the arancini appetizer which is delicious- you have to get it, I had the short ribs which were okay but I’ve definitely had better, my husband did some pasta dish that honestly looked a little suspicious, but he said was delicious. I did the lemon polenta cake and creme dessert and he did the salted caramel cookie thing- all wonderful.

 

Best surprise of the night and my big tip if you will be on the Magic- the Viva Variety! Show in the main theatre with Melissa McLaughlin. This was her very first show ever and she was AWESOME!! She sings tunes from the 40s to modern times and man- she has serious vocal chops. She slayed Whitney! She interlaces her act with humor and personal stories and it just felt like an intimate show, that left us smiling. She’s brand new so maybe this is why or maybe it’s because it’s an Elite cruise so the casino was busy but the theater was only maybe 25% full. Go!!! 
 

One more quick thing- last night was elegant night, and I’d say about 50% of the ship was dressed up. Not many were full gowns or tuxes though, mostly nice pants w/ dress shirts, some with jackets and nice but fairly casual dresses on the ladies. 
 

Throwing in our old people attempts at selfies, haha, we were somewhat dressed up though. 

 

[gnocchi_mommy]

Oh quick post about our room, we are on the 7th floor all the way forward (port side) and we can see right into the bridge. It’s usually empty over here, this is what’s a look out might be stationed when searching for something or navigating in and out of port. So funny moment when we left the pier, I was outside gazing happily at the water and I look up to see three ships officers smiling down at me and waving 😅 I didn’t get a picture of that darn it. Just mentioning though because while we think it’s a neat spot (my husband spent many of his 30 years in the Coast Guard in cutter bridges so it’s like home for him lol) I know some might be uncomfortable with that possible lapse in balcony privacy.