Carnival Magic, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.....

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On 9/3/2022 at 12:09 PM, spazilla1 said:

Thanks for the review, we sail in january 2023 .  We sailed hersister the Breeza and it was great. We will be out of port canaveral by then.  Did you see where carnivalmpassed a curfewnfor kids 17 and under in the cabin by 1 am unless wuthnan adult? Hopefully rhis cuts downmon all the door banging.

 

I had not heard about the curfew. Like I said I guess we were just lucky and really didn't notice many kids. There were nights we were out past 1am and don't remember seeing many kids or kids causing a problem anyway. 

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On 9/3/2022 at 8:56 AM, Crusin Karen said:

I'm sailing her for first time in 2 weeks.  I'm on deck 2.  What's the secret for getting to MDR for ATD?  TIA.

 

Just check in before you go from the room or the bar. No need to go wait with the heard of the people outside of the restaurant. If you have any time dining the entrance will be at the front of the ship in the atrium. 

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On 9/2/2022 at 8:12 PM, jean87510 said:

We are on now and its a zoo.  Buffet long lines all the time with scant selections.  Im used to RCCL and celebrity so perhaps apples to oranges but its really noticeable.  Shows are not good.  Too many people in thermal spa.  No beds or room in thallosotherapy pool at 645 at night, 4pm...and zero enforcement of limiting crowds in there.  People bringing their KIDS in there!  

 

I like carnival.  I like the Bermuda run.  But the shortness of staff plus the increase of gratuities added to 1x a day for room turn down kind of turns me off.  Plus the lack of sales for anything on board is so dumb.  Why can't specialty restaurants offer a sale on port day dinners?  I'd pay for that.  Its sad because I started with carnival and I always liked it.  I guess its because its a 5 day Im currently on and it's just lacking in a lot of areas.  My 4 adult kids are loving it so I guess that's whats important.

 

We are not buffet people at all but I can agree with what you are saying. NCL and RCCL win in the buffet department. 

 

It has been some time since we had a spa room on a dream class ship. I will say we had a spa room on getaway or escape and it was wonderful and our escape from the crowds on the pool deck. 

[Crusin Karen]

9 minutes ago, tap_out said:

 

Just check in before you go from the room or the bar. No need to go wait with the heard of the people outside of the restaurant. If you have any time dining the entrance will be at the front of the ship in the atrium. 

Thanks-what I meant was up one deck, cross ship and down?????   Spirit class so easy without galley mid ship.  I remember being on Dream years ago and it was like a North pole expedition trying to find the MDR lol.  

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1 hour ago, Crusin Karen said:

Thanks-what I meant was up one deck, cross ship and down?????   Spirit class so easy without galley mid ship.  I remember being on Dream years ago and it was like a North pole expedition trying to find the MDR lol.  

 

I believe the only deck without through access is 5. So if you go up one deck you should be able to walk the entire distance to the front of the ship. 

[jean87510]

2 hours ago, tap_out said:

 

We are not buffet people at all but I can agree with what you are saying. NCL and RCCL win in the buffet department. 

 

It has been some time since we had a spa room on a dream class ship. I will say we had a spa room on getaway or escape and it was wonderful and our escape from the crowds on the pool deck. 

It certainly was nice.  I loved the thalossotherapy pool at 8am after my run and a quick shower in the gym.  After that it was overrun and ridiculous.  I have never seen any thermal area oversold and unmanaged like the Magic.  The staff just never enforced any rules.  A boom box with the loungers in the thermal area!  I asked the group to please turn it down as I could hear it through my headphones.  Of course I got a no and the usual I paid for this and blah blah blah.  Even when I went to complain to staff, they just wouldn't enforce it.  I talked to the spa manager and they offered me a massage but I said I don't want that.  I just want rules enforced if they exist.  I paid a lot for 2 spa balconies.  It's insane I can't just relax.  We were lucky we weren't ding dong ditched all night as some other guests were as I believe the ditchers couldn't find our wing or were staying in our hallway.  We ended up doing the sea day brunch, MDR and breakfast MDR for food which I'd never do normally as I like the grab and go concept of the buffet but it was pretty slim pickings.  I was never hungry and enjoyed the food but 1. spoiled by 50% passengers and 2. used to royal and celebrity. We loved Bermuda.  We had a lot of fun on and off ship.  But it was really crowded and Im used to the smaller passenger capacity from 7 cruises since post covid.

Also, Ive read a report in an ongoing thread regarding our medical emergency.  It was a heart attack brought on after the person slipped on the steps and was injured.  No stabbings.  No one fell down a deck.  I know because I saw the person fall.  Saw the ambulance come into port as well on Monday am.

[MsTabbyKats]

@jean87510

Well, my trip is this Saturday (9/10) to Canada and the Canadian cruises are generally "old folks".  I'm hoping to be the youngest on the ship!

So glad DH talked me out of the spa.......all you had to say was "boom box" and there's no need to go into details.

[ChrisCJR]

On 9/4/2022 at 6:15 PM, Saint Greg said:

or a place for movies..like a theater.

 

 

That area is called The Seaside Theater, so it is a place for movies.

[Saint Greg]

1 minute ago, ChrisCJR said:

 

That area is called The Seaside Theater, so it is a place for movies.

 

It's also called the lido deck. For deck parties. If you think you can fit all of the people who go to deck parties in the night club you've never been to a deck party.

[ChrisCJR]

Just now, Saint Greg said:

 

It's also called the lido deck. For deck parties. If you think you can fit all of the people who go to deck parties in the night club you've never been to a deck party.

 

Not wanting to argue, it's coming across that way from you.  It's not necessary.

 

The point is - before the pandemic - they used to do two movies a night.  They no longer are.  We wish they would return.

 

My family would be completely happy if they did a movie inside the theater, where kids aren't playing Marco Polo.  Unfortunately, that's not an option at the moment.  However, the night clubs are, for people who want to dance. 

 

If Carnival wants to make it an option, we'd be OK with that over nothing.  Although, we'd much rather it go to the way it was pre-pandemic.

[Saint Greg]

28 minutes ago, ChrisCJR said:

 

Not wanting to argue, it's coming across that way from you.  It's not necessary.

 

.

 

It was a silly statement that deck parties should be held in the night club.

 

[Saint Greg]

29 minutes ago, ChrisCJR said:

 

The point is - before the pandemic - they used to do two movies a night.  They no longer are.  We wish they would return.

 

 

I just got off of Magic yesterday and I would say there were two movies most days. Let me make sure.

Day 1: The lost city and Dune

Day 2: The Batman

Day 3: Fantastic Beasts and The unbearable weight of massive talent (with a deck party in between)

Day 4: Vivo and Jurassic World

Day 5: Elvis

 

We had two movies every day except for the Batman and Elvis days. Those are 3 hour movies.

 

[ChrisCJR]

37 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

It was a silly statement that deck parties should be held in the night club.

 

 

I mean, in context, it was a joke.  I even said, "A member of our party joked".  So - it was supposed to be a silly statement, that was the intention.

 

They weren't actually saying though, that Carnival shouldn't do deck parties, but that they should do a second movie, like they used to.  Move the deck party later, or in between the movies, and let people use the night clubs during the movie.  That's what they were saying, in context.

 

They don't care if Carnival has deck parties, pretty much all cruise lines do.  However, the reason we were given that night as to why they weren't doing a second film, was because there was a deck party.  They could have had both.  Was never an issue pre-2020.  

[SeaScout]

56 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

It was a silly statement that deck parties should be held in the night club.

 

I've been on cruises where the "deck party" was held in the main atrium. 

[ChrisCJR]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I just got off of Magic yesterday and I would say there were two movies most days. Let me make sure.

Day 1: The lost city and Dune

Day 2: The Batman

Day 3: Fantastic Beasts and The unbearable weight of massive talent (with a deck party in between)

Day 4: Vivo and Jurassic World

Day 5: Elvis

 

We had two movies every day except for the Batman and Elvis days. Those are 3 hour movies.

 

 

Great to hear that they're back!  Thank you for sharing, I know a few people will be really happy to hear this, we'll be on Carnival Magic this November.

 

Our last one - when this joke was made-  was on Carnival Liberty, hopefully they brought them back on her as well.  That one is definitely a theater too, with its stadium seating.  She's definitely a favorite for that reason.  That and the enclosable aft pool, which is great when the weather's colder or rainy.

Edited September 6, 2022 by ChrisCJR

[Jamman54]

40 minutes ago, SeaScout said:

I've been on cruises where the "deck party" was held in the main atrium. 

So have I. It's not unusual for the deck parties to be moved to the Atrium due to inclement weather. Not to be confused with the Cruise Director's Atrium Party. 😎

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1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I just got off of Magic yesterday and I would say there were two movies most days. Let me make sure.

Day 1: The lost city and Dune

Day 2: The Batman

Day 3: Fantastic Beasts and The unbearable weight of massive talent (with a deck party in between)

Day 4: Vivo and Jurassic World

Day 5: Elvis

 

We had two movies every day except for the Batman and Elvis days. Those are 3 hour movies.

 

 

Sounds like you were a lot luckier then we were. Much better movie selection as well. On the day when only one movie was shown do you recall what time it started? My main complaint wasn't really about not having two movies but having them start at 5:30 or 6 pm. 

 

I understand that deck parties are important for a lot of cruisers. I assuming they just started them earlier then usual on our cruise, which is why the movies had to be shown so early. 

[Saint Greg]

20 minutes ago, tap_out said:

 

Sounds like you were a lot luckier then we were. Much better movie selection as well. On the day when only one movie was shown do you recall what time it started? My main complaint wasn't really about not having two movies but having them start at 5:30 or 6 pm. 

 

I understand that deck parties are important for a lot of cruisers. I assuming they just started them earlier then usual on our cruise, which is why the movies had to be shown so early. 

I believe the single movies were 7:30 both times…and both about 3 hour movies.

 

[tap_out]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

I believe the single movies were 7:30 both times…and both about 3 hour movies.

 

 

Strange, completely opposite of what we had. Wonder why the change? 

[Crusin Karen]

3 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

So have I. It's not unusual for the deck parties to be moved to the Atrium due to inclement weather. Not to be confused with the Cruise Director's Atrium Party. 😎

Hey Jamman, after a gorgeous summer here in the Adirondack Mts, we've had 2 days of rain.  I JUST found your MG review!!!  So it's keeping me sane.  Just finished Grand Turk.....tears....a ton of memories on that island.  Hope you and Patti are enjoying your cruise! 🍻🍹

[Jamman54]

33 minutes ago, Crusin Karen said:

Hey Jamman, after a gorgeous summer here in the Adirondack Mts, we've had 2 days of rain.  I JUST found your MG review!!!  So it's keeping me sane.  Just finished Grand Turk.....tears....a ton of memories on that island.  Hope you and Patti are enjoying your cruise! 🍻🍹

Hey Karry! We're having a great time. Just left Portland where, you guessed it,  it rained all day. On to Saint John where it's rumored that it will be sunny tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it. 😎

[Tjcalley]

We leave on her in November out of Port Canaveral. Glad to see this review! The magic is our favorite, we got married on this ship in 2017!

[DrSea]

12 hours ago, tap_out said:

 

Yes we have sailed NCL twice. I think the two 7 day cruised combined they showed maybe 5 movies in the back are of getaway and escape. 

 

We have sailed Royal 8 times. It has been some time and some of the ships may have pool side theaters but they did not when we sailed. Best we got was a movie or two in the aqua theater on Allure. 

 

I know princess puts a big focus on their movies but I think were about 15 years shy of our first princess cruise lol. 

Yea the movie under the stars isn't unique to CCL. This is why I think checking multiple lines will help put things in perspective in regards to cruising. And who knows, may be you will find another line that you like more. To each their own. 

 

Happy cruising!