jimbob70

We just booked for April to the Mediterranean and it’s nice to see her coming back online.

We took a break by doing the Panama Canal cruise on the Island Princess in March.  With stops in Columbia and Costa Rica, we went to a couple of places we hadn't been before including the canal itself.  But back on the Magic this March as we are primarily Carnival people.  We're not super big partiers or anything like that, but we do like the laid back style.  The Island Princess was definitely a break, I think I've never seen so many motorized chairs in one place or a ship more deserted after about 9 PM.  Our bar waiters commented on the low amount of bar sales this time of year as compared to the summer Alaska season!

224 on the Carnival Magic, February 29 to the Eastern Caribbean.

We too liked the Victory and thought it had a perfect balance between public space and staterooms.  But removing the aft lounge and replacing it with more cabins and removing 1 level of the main showroom completely changes everything.  We’re not giving up on Carnival but scheduling our next cruise on the Magic.  We’ve sailed on all three Dream class ships and I think they were built from the getgo with enough public space to handle the load.  The updates to the Dream class have repurposed existing spaces ie. The Plaza Bar becomes Alchemy, etc. without changing the platform.  At least as far as I can tell.

Good morning, we are heading out on the Island Princess on March 10 and we purchased several of the canned soda packages so we can stock the fridge with Diet Coke.  I didn't see an option to specify which kind so I'm guessing we can't order the sodas until we're onboard?  Our previous experience with this has been on Carnival and they have the cokes in the stateroom upon arrival. 

On Carnival the rooms for Platinum and Diamond are given priority and are always ready at early boarding. The rest of the cabins are set for the 1 PM "standard." So that might be a direction they could head with this. Our upcoming cruise in March will be our first with Princess, we did book a club suite and in addition to the dining already mentioned, I would add the priority boarding to the list. Arrive any time instead of the time they assign to you. We are staying the night before in Ft. Lauderdale so we will taxi over there at the earliest time possible.

Appropriate to spend eternity on the ocean floor vs. demolition at a scrapyard. That's the romantic in me, I think of ships as living breathing entities.

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The Festivale in March 1989 out of San Juan doing the southern islands. Great experience, and started us on a lifetime of cruising, mostly Carnival. She went to the scrapyard in Alang a few years ago.

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All I can tell you is we stopped in Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Costa Maya. It's Magic.

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That's why they called it the Magic. We also sailed on March 4 but went to the Western Caribbean!

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We were also on the March 4 sailing. Great cruise. IMO having sailed the Dream, the Breeze and now the Magic, there is nothing particular to this class of ship (Dream Class or Super Destiny) that would cause the Magic to have any more or less smoke in the Casino than any other ship in the fleet.

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We were on the March 4 cruise and everything was great. We also took the Behind the Fun tour and I can tell you firsthand that everything below is not only shipshape, but they are consistent winners of the fleetwide sanitation award.

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Festivale 1989. RIP, last port Alang. If you don't know about Alang, Google is your friend.

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10 days, 20 hours... I know because I just checked the app!

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Thank you, we are on the March 4th sailing (western) so this is very timely for us!

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At our TA the cruise is paid direct to Carnival via my credit card, the charge is there instantly, and Carnival sends the commission back to the TA. So there is never any question that your cruise has not been paid for, you have your booking # and cabin and your zero balance on the official Carnival document when you leave her office. That's the way it works here.

Incentive for the TA is repeat business, I have a file a foot thick over there!

Not knocking the Carnival direct method, just don't have any reason to change now. Use what works the best for you.

We have used the same TA since the 1980's for our cruises and trips out to Las Vegas and the islands. Personal service, and in the very few times we have had any issue at all while traveling, she has intervened with the cruise line or package provider on our behalf and things got squared away in a hurry. One time she got us on the list for dinner at the captains table and we got selected. That was very special. She is always up to speed on all the latest discounts and offers.

I've been contacted by a Carnival PVP but don't have any reason to change direction.

59 Days to Carnival Magic March 4, Western Caribbean...

100 days! Carnival Magic March 4, 2017 to the Western Caribbean.

As a Platinum member, married to a gold member, he will not be allowed to go with me. I have traveled many of my cruises solo, so this will not bother me to attend alone. However, there are many women as well as men, who would not go to the party alone. Many would like to be able to get up there and dance with their partners during the party. Is that wrong to want? I wonder why the invitation could not have been for the platinum +1 guess? I appreciate the party, but i hope they will eventually change it where 1 partner will be allowed.

That's the common sense answer, and easy for crew to police at the door. We're in the same category, I'm Platinum and my wife is Gold.

Not a deal breaker, I simply won't attend. Thank goodness she gets to tag along for the early boarding, tenders, and debarkation! That is a perk that we have enjoyed for the last three cruises.

Heh, perhaps my Gold status wife should have to wait an additional hour before boarding on embarkation day.

We'll just skip the party.

4 days, 4 hours, and 12 minutes according to our Carnival Hub App for the Breeze! Booked 11 months ago!

OK, with a little research on recent postings I found playing currently on the Breeze as of Jan. 2015: LYL Harper (caribbean one-man band), Mambo Kings (Latin music in the Atrium), Good Lookins Band (80's hits, Ocean Plaza), and Amy (Solo guitar, Red Frog Pub).

Unless something has changed since my cruise on the Breeze 2 years ago, there were no venues that had a band. There was a solo guitar player in the Red Frog Pub and the atrium had a solo or duo playing, but there were not any 3-5 piece bands anywhere on board.

Seems like I heard there was a cover band playing most evenings in the Ocean Plaza. Maybe a recent cruiser can verify that, if not we're on the Breeze in February and can report back.

I see five of the ships on my list have made it to the scrapyard in the last few years- a lot of great memories though.