TATSR

Curious about the water temperature? It appears that the year round temp there is about 85. But we are curious about the water temperature? How was it? Warm? Cool? Cold?

 

 

 

We are cruising in November on the Ecstasy and wondered if we should invest in wet suits?

 

The water was pretty chilly, but I think wetsuits would be overkill. You're actually not in the water very long and a wet suit would make the rest of the trip really hot and unbearable.

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What deck were you on? We have adjoining balcony rooms on the Magic in 2 weeks.

We were in 8269/8271. Elevators were often crowded so we took the stairs quite a bit up to Lido or down to dinner on 4.

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It's always interesting to read reviews from first time cruisers. I'm glad you enjoyed the ship.

 

It's too late now, but the major thing about the clubs for kids the age range of yours is to attend the first night's meeting. They mingle and sort of form groups, then the rest of the cruise tend to hang out together.

 

Thanks for posting your experiences.

That's the part we missed when we were just trying to figure out where everything was. The kids weren't really disappointed, but I think they might have enjoyed it.

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Question, since I see that you went to the PG comedy shows.

 

I have read that they now require you to get tickets, on Magic, for the 18+ comedy, but do you need to get tickets to see the PG ones?

 

Or can you just walk in? Thanks

You don't need tickets for PG shows. We typically left dinner about 7:30 and went to Showtime Theater for a preshow. Shows started about 8 or 8:15 and finished around 8:45. Then we would go to comedy club for 9:30 show. Arriving about 9:00 or so we had no trouble getting good seats. But the room was always full by 9:30.

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Dang! We left dinner before dessert and ran to the deck. Launch canceled at T -:09

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Not a big world traveler, but I thought this would be a fun/interesting adventure for the family. Kids are 13, 15, 18 and have never been out of the US. Typical vacation is visiting family or South Carolina beach.

We chose Carnival Magic 6-day trip to Nassau, Amber Cove, Grand Turk from Port Canaveral

Highs:

• Food. The quality was really better than I expected. We enjoyed eating in the dining room each night and trying new things.
  
• Room. Also better than I expected. We got adjoining balcony rooms and left the door between open. The balcony was shaded most of the time and was always a good place to sit and read.
  
• Movie nights: I know, you can do that at home. But it was very peaceful lying on the deck enjoying a movie with free (unsalted) popcorn. (We saw Beauty and the Beast, Sing, Moana, Hidden Figures, and there were other good choices available).
  
• Comedy shows: We went to two PG shows (Al Katz and John Wesley Austin). Both pretty good sets for the kids.
  
• 18+: My 18 year old son really took advantage of everything 18+. Spent a lot of time at the piano bar and deck parties.
  
• Waterfalls of Damajagua (DR): This was our only shore excursion. Pretty fun if you're in good enough shape to make the climb up.
  

Lessons learned:

• Dang it was hot! This was really the only time I could get everyone together, but if I was going to do it again, I would do it some other time. The fun kid stuff (mini-golf, ropes course, etc) is on the top deck exposed to the sun and gets extremely hot. The beach days were also pretty unbearable.
  
• Dang it was crowded! I know, another "duh!" But forget about lounging in the pool.
  
• Ports matter. When I was first planning this adventure I asked here for advice. Nobody recommended the itinerary that I eventually chose (mainly because of dates and departure port). I think I see why. Walking to Junkanoo Beach in Nassau didn't exactly start things on a high note.
  

Meh:

• Kids clubs. We walked by the 12-14 club and the 15-17 club a few times and virtually never saw anyone in there. I'm not even sure if they had any organized activities. My kids didn't especially want to participate, but it would have been nice for them to have new friends to hang out with on the ship. A first-day meet and greet would have been fine. Maybe they had one and we missed it. I did sign them up when I registered, but I don't think we ever received any sort of invitation or notification of events.
  
• Shows. We went to Flick, 88 Keys, and America Rocks. The kids were underwhelmed with all 3. Can't say that I blamed them.
  
• Internet. I teach online and my wife and son are enrolled in online classes. I decided that we would buy "premium" service for the last 2 days so that we could do our classwork. Service was very sporadic and aggravating.
  

Anyway, it was an interesting experience and I'm glad we did it. I probably won't become one of those serial cruisers, but I already miss my Carnival Melting Chocolate Cake dessert.

For those who have done this through Carnival's provider, can we (me and the teenagers) wear Chakos/sandals? I think I've seen some private providers require closed toes. If that's required I'd rather buy some in advance.

 

Thanks!

TAT

Now that we're back, I'll answer my own question in case anyone else is curious. The Carnival provider (Nature River Park) did not require us to have closed-toe shoes and we did just fine in our sandals. I'm a 49-year old mostly out-of-shape dad and the climb up was a struggle, but not too bad with a couple of rest stops. We also weren't aware that the Carnival provider does about 7 falls (not 12 or 27). It would have been fun to do more falls, but I also assume that it would have required more climbing. So it was a fun adventure and the teens had fun. Lockers were handy (I think $3/small $5/large). There was a guy taking lots of photos/video. When you get through, they do try (pretty hard) to sell you a USB drive with all photos and videos for $55. But there's also a website (http://www.damajaguapictures.com) where you can order digital single pictures for $5 each. The videos are not available on the website. This was a pretty popular excursion. There were several large busloads from our ship that went.

For those who have done this through Carnival's provider, can we (me and the teenagers) wear Chakos/sandals? I think I've seen some private providers require closed toes. If that's required I'd rather buy some in advance.

Thanks!

TAT

Just noticed that there's a SpaceX launch scheduled for 7:30pm. We're on Magic scheduled to leave at 4:30. This is our first cruise; how far away will we be at 7:30? Any chance we can see it?

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Sorry, that's 3 teens, not 13 teens!!

First cruise for any of us. Teens are 13, 15, 18. Dates will be June/July. Here's my decision making process so far:

• Carnival seems to be a good first-time "bargain" experience (compared to Disney, RC, etc).
  
• Prefer port that we can "easily" drive to (from Tennessee). New Orleans and Port Canaveral seem easiest. Also, Magic and Dream seem to be most teen friendly.
  
• Thinking about cheapest balcony room for 2 and inside room for 3 across the hall.
  

Couple of questions:

1. Teen stuff seems to be divided into 12-14 and 15-17. My teen girls (13/15) will probably want to hang out together. Can the 13 year old hang out with 15-17 crowd? How strictly is this enforced?

2. I've barely been out of Tennessee, so I have no knowledge of the ports. Which itinerary looks best?

Nassau/Amber Cove/Grand Turk (6 days)

Amber Cove/St. Thomas/San Juan/Grand Turk (7 days)

Cozumel/Belize/Mahogany Bay/Costa Maya (7 days)

Aruba/Curacao/Grand Turk (8 days)

Grand Turk/San Juan/St. Kitts/St. Maarten (8 days)

3. What else should I know before I make a reservation?

Thanks!

TATSR