RDDAILY

We left the residence, and stopped at a hill overlooking several mountains with trees.  The guide told us that they filmed Jurassic Park, Part 1 in that area.  Danny was a bit disappointed. He thought he was going to see dinosaurs, not just some hills   We then continued driving, and stopped at the beach again.  This time, we were told we would be there for around 20 minutes, and could jump in the water.  My husband and Danny got in.  Ryan and I just dipped our toes!  We then dried off, and continued back towards the ranch.

We stopped at a second private residence.  They had several animals you could hold, including a tarantula, parrot and snake!  My kids are obviously braver than I am.  They held all of them!  They also had a small shack where you could buy souvenirs.

We then continued to drive, and eventually stopped at a private residence.  Again, we were offered water and soda to drink.  At this residence, they showed us how they made tobaccos, and coffee.  We noticed several large windmills in the area.  Our tour guide told us that a large, American company had recently gone in and started installing windmills to help with the electricity in the area. 

There is a photographer that follows you throughout the trip. He took excellent photos, and the price was reasonable. $40 for the pictures (they give you a thumb drive with pictures of only the people in your group), and an additional $20 for a video.  While at this residence, he shows you the pictures and you decide if you would like to purchase them.  He then goes back to the ranch to prepare the thumb drives.  I purchased the pictures only. There were 38 in total of just our group of four.  I thought it was definitely worth it, especially since we couldn't really take any pictures while driving the ATVs.

Thursday – Amber Cove

Before the cruise, I researched things to do in Puerto Plata, which is the closest major city to Amber Cove.  I thought about doing the cable ride and touring the town, but my oldest had been asking about when we could do an ATV tour for a while.  I thought this would be the perfect place to do it! 

Carnival does an ATV tour, but my five year old was too young to do it.  After checking out several companies and reading reviews online, I decided to go with Marysol Tours.  They allowed Danny to do it, and they were much better priced than the Carnival tour, since they charge you per machine, not per person. 

It was $80 per ATV, up to two riders.  I e-mailed them, and reserved two ATVs for that day.  I sent payment through PayPal, and received a confirmation from them right away, which included a map of where they would meet us, and things to bring (sunglasses, bandanas, sunblock, etc.).  We were supposed to meet them at 8:30.  We did not tell the kids about the tour, since we wanted it to be a surprise!

I set my alarm for 6:30.  This was the only day that I knew we were going to have to get up early!  We finally made it out of the cabin around 7:15, and headed for the main dining room for breakfast.  We were walking off the ship and onto the pier around 8:10. 

Just a word of warning, it is a long walk from the pier, to the area where you meet the driver that will take you to the ATVs (or to any other tour not organized through Carnival). These tour companies are not allowed in the port area.  It took us about 20 minutes. You have to walk down the long pier, through the shopping area, down a walkway where the taxis are, then down a long street that leads to a security station, then to a parking lot. The guide from Marysol Tours was waiting there for us with a sign. We walked a little further down the street, and got into a pick-up truck with benches in the back. It was only about a five minute drive to the ranch where the ATVs are located. Anyone that had not driven an ATV before was allowed to test it out with one of the tour guides.  It’s very easy to drive. You accelerate by pressing a button on the right hand side handlebar, and break by pressing a pedal on the floor.  The entire time, you are driving in one straight line with the other ATVs, so it was perfect for my five year old since you couldn't really speed.  Ryan rode with me, and Danny rode with my husband.

We had a guide in the front, and the mechanic in the back, making sure all of the ATVs worked, and that there were no stragglers. We brought our own bandanas and sunglasses, and you will need them! You can buy bandanas from them, and they rent goggles to wear. All of the roads are super dusty. In fact, our tour guide told us it had not rained in that area for almost two years! 

We left the ranch, and drove through several dirt roads.  We stopped at a beach, and were offered water to drink.  It was a beautiful area, with a great view of our ship! 

2 hours ago, icedancer43 said:

Love reading your review and seeing the pictures. We are on this itinerary in September. I know you said you utilized the app for schedules, but any chance you have a copy of the kids club schedule and/or the funtimes you can post? Thank you for your time in posting this review!

Hi there!  Yes, I do have the Fun Times and the kids club schedules for the 3-5, 6-8, and 9-11 year olds.  I'm planning to add them to the end of the review.  I just have to figure out how to upload them!  Simon London was our cruise director.  He was a lot of fun!

53 minutes ago, lucy2mb said:

I am enjoying reading your review.   We will be going on the Magic to Bermuda in September.  I know there is a violin trio that plays in atrium, but would like to know if there is a band with saxophone and brass instruments on the ship.

Thanks!  You will love it, she's a great ship!  There was a band playing one of the nights in the Ocean Plaza area.  I recall that they had brass instruments.  I know they had music in that area every night, but I'm not sure if it was the same band, or if they had different ones playing. 

9 minutes ago, wanderlust0713 said:

Do you remember which night was the second formal night?

Hi!  Yes, it was Thursday night (the day we were in Amber Cove).  We had the filet mignon for dinner at the main restaurant that night.  It was delicious! 

Around 4:00, we decided we were starving and we should start heading back to the ship to get some food.  We stopped for a few minutes at the NASA exhibit, then started walking back to the ship.  They had made an announcement that morning that anyone over 16 years old needed to have a picture ID, in addition to their sign and sail card, to get back on the ship.  I was glad that I could use our driver’s licenses, because I really did not want to take our passports to shore. 

In the end, they did not even ask for our license to get through customs, only the sign and sail cards. 

We got back on the ship, and went to the deli to get some sandwiches.  My husband and I both had the grilled ham and cheese, and the boys got grilled cheese.  They were all very good!  Plus, we all agreed that the fries from the deli were better than the fries from Guy’s Burgers!

We got cleaned up, and the boys went to the kids club.  We picked them up around 8:30 and got some pizza for dinner.  We wanted to turn in early because we had to get up early the next day for our ATV tour!

One word of warning for anyone swimming in the area: there are boats that will come in right up to the shore to pick up people for excursions, then bring them back.  They drive pretty fast, and don’t really seem to care that there are people swimming in the area.   It was a little bit scary to see!  You can see one parked right up on shore in this picture, plus a couple more anchored out in the water. 

Topher and Calypso (the Jack’s Shack mascots) were out and about playing with the tourists.  Topher started digging and digging right next to Ryan and Danny, then he would stick his head in the hole.  Then he would dig some more, then stick his head in the hole again.  After a couple of minutes of doing this, he pulled out a crab!  Then, he chomped on it

The boys got a kick out of it!! 

I saw a post on the Jack's Shack page just a couple of days after we returned from our trip, asking the tourists to please not throw sand up in the air for Topher to jump and grab (he's the white doggie).  Apparently, he is 12 years old (no way I would have ever guessed this. He runs around and plays like a puppy!)  All of that jumping is causing him to develop arthritis, and is just not good for him.  We did not do this, but did see other people throwing sand up in the air for him to catch.  So if you visit the area, please be aware and be gentle with him.   

We hung out in the water for a bit.  The spot we were at had some seaweed, but it was a little bit further out in the water, not on shore like in other spots.

Wednesday – Grand Turk

When I started researching things to do in Grand Turk, my first thought was to rent a golf cart and just drive around the island and stop at any interesting places we found.  But, I had read so many mixed reviews about the companies that rent the golf carts… and I knew the Pride would be in port with us, so I was afraid of renting one ahead of time, then showing up and the company telling us they did not have one for us.  We did walk out to the area where they have the taxis, and saw a company advertising golf cart rentals.  But as I figured would happen they did not have any available. 

In the end, we decided to walk over to Jack’s Shack.  My boys love animals, and I knew they would really enjoy playing with the dogs there.  Plus, my mom was house/dog sitting for us, and I had told her I would find a place with wifi to text her that day. 

The walk over to Jack’s Shack wasn’t bad.  Maybe around ten minutes.  There were a lot of people on the beach selling all sorts of stuff… from boat tours, to jewelry, to renting chairs and umbrellas.  It did get a little annoying to get stopped by someone every couple of seconds.  To avoid it, we just started walking closer to the water. 

I was a little bit disappointed in the water at Grand Turk.  The pictures I had seen showed this beautiful, blue water.  But that day, the water was full of seaweed.  We walked just a little past Jack’s Shack, and were basically the only people in that area.  We were still able to get wifi reception from the restaurant.

We had a note in our cabin that they were going to be cleaning the balconies on our deck the next day (Grand Turks day).  The note said it would start around 10:00 AM, and we should not leave anything on our balcony. I made sure to bring in all of the clothes I had drying out there. 

I was a bit worried, because I took two bathing suits for each of us, for four to five days of water fun!  So, thanks to the advice of the wonderful CC community, I bought some plastic beach towel holders that I could use to dry our clothes on the balcony chairs.  They worked out great!  I bought a pack of eight for a couple of bucks on Amazon.

After lunch, the boys wanted to visit the water park area.  It’s fairly small, but has some cute water splash areas.  They played there for a bit, then went back to the beach.

Around 3:00, we were ready to leave.  We started walking back to the area where you get the tenders.  The lines were super long!  It was hot, we were full of sand everywhere, it just was not fun!  It took almost an hour to finally get back to the ship. 

As we were leaving the island, I noticed that it seemed like there was a lot of construction going on. I mentioned to my husband how great it would be if they built a dock there so that you wouldn’t have to use the tenders.  Well, a couple of days after our cruise, I saw an article online that Carnival is indeed working on building a dock on the island!  That’s the construction that we saw.

We got back on the ship, and went to the room to take a shower and rest.  We went to dinner in the main restaurant that night, then spent some time playing shuffleboard at the Red Frog Pub.  We headed to bed around 11:00.

Tuesday – Half Moon Cay

We had a note in our cabin that said they would be handing out tender tickets Tuesday morning, starting at 7:45, at Ocean Plaza.  Around 8:00, I went down to get our tickets.  The line was pretty long, but it moved quickly.  It took about 10 minutes to get the tickets.  Please note (since many people ended up having to leave the line and go back to their room):  Although not everyone in your cabin has to be present to get the tickets, you will need everyone’s sign and sail cards.  You will get one tender ticket for each person in your room.  They are in half hour intervals.  So, you can select 9:00-9:30, 9:30-10:00, etc.  You will get a little plastic card with a number on it.  You just wait for the number to be called, and head down to deck 0 to board the tender.  We were in no rush to get off, so I selected 10:00-10:30. 

Around 9:00, we headed to the main dining room for breakfast.  I really enjoyed the food there, and the service was always excellent.  I ordered scrambled eggs, but did not really like it.  They always seemed to be a bit too runny for my taste.  I ended up sticking with made to order omelets the rest of the cruise.  

After breakfast, we went back to the room and got ready to head down to the tender.  As you exit, they take your tender ticket from you.  Since this is Carnival’s private island, you only need your sign and sail card to get back on the ship.

The tender ride was fairly short, maybe around 5 minutes.  We got to the island and started walking down the beach.  We selected a couple of chairs by the pirate ship bar.  I had brought some toys for the boys to play with in the sand, and two small inflatable rafts for the water. 

Let me just take a minute here to say…. this is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen!  And I’ve seen plenty of them!!  We live in Florida, which is surrounded by beaches.  And we’ve been to several islands in the Caribbean.  But this beach was just breath taking!  The water was so calm and transparent.  And the sand was like baby powder.  I wish it would have been a little less crowded.  I considered walking further down the beach, but it was just way too hot, and there were no beach chairs once you got that far down the beach.

Around 1:00, we decided we were hungry and wanted to try out the BBQ lunch.  I had no idea where it was located, but saw some people coming to the beach area with food from behind the pirate ship.  So, we walked that way.  If you are standing on the beach, facing the pirate ship, you take the little stairs to the path right behind it.  You then turn left, and you will see several huts with picnic chairs and benches.  That’s where the food is located.  They also had two stations with ice, water, tea and lemonade.  The boys got some burgers, and I got a fried rice that was pretty good. 

On ‎8‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 9:14 AM, darwinsrule said:

And finally someone posts a detailed 6 night cruise.  We are on the Magic in two weeks and the lack of detailed reports over the summer has been killing us slowing.  It's been 18 months since our last cruise so we are beginning to have involuntary twitches.  Obsessive planners so please share everything you can.  And THANK YOU. 

LOL!  You will love the Magic.  I hope you have an awesome cruise!

On ‎8‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 9:50 PM, fyree39 said:

Great review! I agree with most of your opinions to this point. I'll get to enjoy a Guy's burger in just a few weeks. 🙂

Thanks!  I'm so jealous.. I'm still dreaming about those burgers 

On ‎8‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 6:36 PM, caryatid said:

You are off to a great start!  I also have two little boys (6&9), so I love family trip reports!  Looking forward to hearing more, we've never been on a ship as big as the Magic, but I'm planning on booking the Breeze for Spring break this year! 

You will love it!  There's so much to do on the ship, they will never get bored!

Monday – Day at Sea

We woke up around 9:00 and decided to try the Sea Day Brunch.  We walked to the restaurant and there was a bit of a line, but it moved quickly.  I had a made to order omelet, and my husband had the steak and eggs.  He said it was delicious!  We went back to the room and the boys changed into their swimsuits.  They played in the Waterworks area for a while, then spent some time in the Sports Square playing mini golf the other games there.  By 2:00, we were all starting to get hungry.  We got some Guy’s burgers, and took them back to the room.  We sat out on the balcony, and enjoyed the delicious food, and beautiful view of the ocean. 

I had seen on the Hub App that from 5:00 to 6:00, they had half price games at the arcade.  My boys absolutely love arcade games.  I’m pretty sure I should be part owner of Chuck E Cheese considering all of the money I’ve donated to them      I took them to the arcade, and they played several of the games.   You just swipe your sign and sail card, and it gets charged to your account.  Their favorite game was a Pac Man air hockey game.  It starts out like regular air hockey with one puck, but then all of a sudden it drops like 20 more small pucks onto the table all at the same time.  It was so much fun to play!

After that, we went back to the room and started getting ready for elegant night.  Once we were ready to go, I opened the Hub App and made our reservation (we had any time dining, and you could make a reservation on the app before heading to dinner).  We got to the restaurant and they had our table ready.  We got the lobster for dinner.  It was yummy! 

After dinner, we stayed around the atrium for a little bit listening to the violin trio play.  Then we went to the room and got ready for bed.

Soon, it was time for muster drill.  We had ours in the Northern Lights Dining Room. It was pretty quick and painless!!  After muster was over, we took some time to walk around the ship and explore the different decks.  The boys loved the sports deck, and spent a lot of time playing miniature golf, foosball, and the other games there. 

I also discovered one of my favorite things of the entire cruise… the Mango Magic at the Red Frog Pub!  My husband and I are not big drinkers, so we did not get the Cheers package.  But, we do enjoy a frozen cocktail every once in a while.  Holy cow, that Mango Magic was amazing!!  And the boys loved playing the shuffleboard and foosball game there.  Happy parents + Happy Kids=Win!!

A few things that I forgot to mention before (sorry, I thought pregnancy brain was bad, but mommy brain is waaaay worst!!)  We brought two boxes of soda onboard.  We just put it in our carry on and it went through security with no issues.  I also purchased two cases of water through the Fun Shops.  They were waiting for us in our cabin.  Lastly, I wanted to sign up for the Dr. Seuss Breakfast on the last sea day.  Once we were onboard and got off the lunch express elevator, there were several tables set up just outside the elevators.  They included spa services, specialty dining, and there was a table for the breakfast.  They had two times: 8:15 or 9:45.  I did not want to wake up early on our last full day onboard, so I opted for 9:45.  Just FYI - once you make the reservation, it's non-refundable.  So, make sure you'll be able to make it if you sign up.  The charge appeared on my account the day before the breakfast. 

HUB APP

I downloaded the app on my phone and my husband’s phone before we got onboard.  I have to say, we both loved it!  As soon as we were settled into our cabin, I opened the app and logged in.  You’ll need your folio number (it’s on your sign and sail card) and birthdate.  Once we were logged in, I bought the chat feature for both of us ($5.00 for the entire cruise, not per day). The first day, the chat feature was hit or miss.  But after that, it worked great.  As long as the app is running on your phone, the messages will come in.  I also loved that you could see all of the activities happening that day, and could mark the ones you wanted to attend.  You would then get a pop up reminder for it.  It also showed the food venues that were open, and you could see the menu for that night at the main restaurant.  And, you could check your account to make sure all of the charges and your balance were correct.  After returning from our cruise, I saw an article from Carnival stating that they will soon be adding the kids club schedule to the app. 

That night, we checked out the food at the buffet for dinner, but again, did not really like what they had.  We ended up having pizza.  That’s it for our first night onboard the Magic!  Thanks for following along!

As soon as the announcement was made that the rooms were ready (around 1:30), we walked to our cabin.  We were in balcony cabin 7386, mid ship.  I selected this cabin on purpose because I knew that being mid ship, we would feel less movement.  I had also read that if you were going to be in a mid-ship balcony, it was better to be on the side of the Red Frog Pub, as opposed to the side where the Pig and Anchor BBQ was located.  I had read in several reviews that apparently the smoke from the BBQ restaurant traveled up to the balconies.  In hindsight, I’m not sure that was a good idea!  The BBQ restaurant was only open until 2:30 on sea days.  Red Frog Pub, on the other hand, was open late every night.  We could hear the band playing music, and people talking loudly right below our balcony.  It was no big deal as long as the balcony door was closed, but just maybe something to think about for future cruises! 

This was our first time staying in a balcony cabin, and we all absolutely loved it!  We had such great weather during the week, and the seas were super calm.  It was great to just sit out on the balcony and enjoy the beautiful ocean.

32 minutes ago, sprint180 said:

Beautiful family.  You only live an hour from the port?!?!  I would have way more cruises under my belt.  Good thing I live in the middle of the US.  Can't wait to read more.

sprint180 - Thanks!  We're an hour from Ft. Lauderdale, but only 20 minutes from Port of Miami     Yes, it does make it pretty convenient for cruising!!!

Although we really enjoyed our cruise, I think my biggest complaint about the Magic was that the food at the buffet was just not that good.  The buffet offerings were not much, especially when compared to what we had on the Mariner last year.  The Mariner had a large buffet area, with different stations offering pasta, meats, ethnic foods, etc.  In fact, we did not eat one single meal at the main restaurant on the Mariner.  The Magic had a small buffet with salad, one soup, and a few hot dishes.  And what they did have, we did not find very tasty.  For this reason, we ended up eating most of our meals at the main restaurant.  All of the meals we had at the main restaurant were delicious.  And to be honest, I much preferred eating there since it meant I did not have to be getting up to get food for the boys.  I loved being able to just sit down, relax, and have my food brought to me! 

My second complaint was the layout of the food venues on the Lido deck.  Outside the Tides pool area, you had Guys’ Burgers on one side, and Blue Iguana Mexican on the other.  As soon as you walked past them, you had the entrance to the Lido Buffet.  Inside the Lido Buffet area, you also had the Deli, and Wok.  Then, as you walked out of the Lido Buffet, at the back of the ship, you had the Pizzeria.  So basically, everyone that was eating burgers, Mexican, Deli, Wok, or pizza, had to sit in the buffet area to eat.  Plus, the lines from the deli and wok mixed with the lines of people getting food at the buffet.  It was just too chaotic and crowded for my taste. 

Our check in time was 12:00 – 12:30.  I figured if we left home around 10:45, we would get to the port around 11:45.  By the time we dropped off our bags, parked, and walked from the parking garage to the entrance, it should be around noon.  And that’s just what we did!  There was a long line to check in, but it went pretty quickly.  We were on the ship around 12:30. 

My original idea was to grab lunch as soon as we got on board at the Pig and Anchor BBQ.  Well, as soon as we walked on board, they put us on an express elevator to the 10^th floor!  We did not feel like walking down five flights of stairs with our carry-on luggage, so we settled for lunch on the Lido deck.  My husband wanted to get something from the buffet.  We walked in there, and it was a mad house!  The lines were crazy long, and you could not find a table to sit at.  We walked around the entire buffet area twice, and finally were able to grab a table as someone was leaving.  I checked out the food at the buffet, and was not impressed by the offerings.  My husband grabbed a few things from the buffet, and I grabbed the first of many Guy’s Burgers for the boys and I.  Apparently he was a little bit jealous of our yummy burgers, because he ended up getting one for himself! 

 Burgers and ice cream… yum!!

Before the cruise, I downloaded the Carnival Hub App, and the Port Everglades App.  Both came in very handy!  I checked the Port Everglades App the day before the cruise, and it said that the Magic would be docked at Pier 26.  Since we had never been to that Port, I checked WAZE for the driving directions.  It let me select Pier 26 as the ending address, which was great, because Port Everglades has three different entrances!  By doing it this way, WAZE led us right into the luggage drop off area for the cruise. 

I also debated for several months whether to park at the port, or in one of the outside parking lots near it.  In the end, I decided that parking outside just was not worth the time and hassle.  I did not feel comfortable having to leave my car keys with some stranger, then having to lug our luggage on a shuttle to the port, then back again at the end of the cruise.  The parking lot at the port was right across from the pier and covered.  It’s $15 per day.  We ended up paying $90 for the entire cruise.  It was definitely worth it to me.

Hi fellow Cruise Critic members!  We recently returned from a family cruise on the Carnival Magic.  I love reading all of the member reviews and learn so much from them.  I wanted to do a review of our cruise, and hopefully help some of our fellow cruisers out there who may be going on the Magic, or to any of the cruise ports we visited. 

First, a little bit about us.  We live in Miami, so we have lots of cruise ports to choose from!  Our family consists of myself, my husband, and our sons Ryan (10) and Danny (5).  This was our fourth cruise (second one for our kids).  Last year, we decided we wanted to do a short cruise to test out if the kids liked it.  I booked a five day cruise on the Mariner of the Seas.  Needless to say, they are now hooked!   A couple of weeks after that cruise, I booked our cruise on Carnival Magic.  I was able to get a great deal on a balcony cabin.  There were several firsts for us on this cruise: first time visiting the ports on the itinerary, first time cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale (we’ve always gone out of Miami), and first time staying in a balcony cabin (spoiler alert: we loved it and I’m not sure I can do another cruise without staying in one again!!!)

Our itinerary was as follows:

Sunday, July 28 – Board Magic at Port Everglades

Monday, July 29 – Sea Day

Tuesday, July 30 – Half Moon Cay

Wednesday, July 31 – Grand Turks (we went to Jack’s Shack)

Thursday, Aug. 1^st – Amber Cove, Dominican Republic (we did an ATV tour with Marysol Tours)

Friday, Aug. 2^nd – Sea Day

Saturday, Aug. 3^rd – Back at Port Everglades

More to come soon!