My Take on the Carnival Magic: Sept 22-29 Review

This is my second attempt at this review the first one froze up on me and I was unable to finish it so here goes.,,This Cruise was chosen by DH and DD. Costa Maya, Roatan Honduras, Belize and Cozumel. DH and I drove down the day before and we had booked the Park, Cruise and Breakfast at Radisson at the Port. My cousin and hubby flew in from Vegas and arrived at the hotel shortly after us. After settling into our rooms we walked across the parking lot to Kelsey’s Italian and Pizzeria. It was our first time eating there but the food was good and we enjoyed the time to catch up with each other before going back to our rooms. Our room was nice and the bed was very comfortable. We slept well and by morning we were very well rested. We went down and had breakfast which was included in our stay. It was so nice to have more options such as waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and your way omllets and eggs. After breakfast we went back to our room and gathered our things and went down to the lobby to wait for our shuttle. Our DD, SIL, and 2 grandsons had arrived and they had taken advantage of the hotels Parking and Shuttle. We waited for a while in the lobby until the lady called our names for our shuttle. The driver placed everyone’s luggage on the shuttle before allowing us to board. It was a quick process and we were on our way to the port by 11:30ish. Once we arrived at the terminal and bags that were being checked had been given to the Porter we started through the line to security. DH and I became Platinum this cruise so we were able to enjoy the perks of the priority line. Once through security we were passed on through to boarding the ship thanks to a new process I’m guessing. (Not sure, but it was nice). Once on the ship DH and I went straight to our cabin. We had chosen interior cabin 2323 on deck 2 for this cruise. My cousin and her hubby had a cove balcony a few cabins up from us and our DD and her family had an ocean view cabin on the opposite side from us. Just enough distance to keep the oldest grandson (7) from coming to our cabin on his on haha. Immediately upon entering our cabin we knew we would have to have a fan to cool the room. It was the hottest room we’ve ever experienced on Carnival ships and it was hot the ENTIRE cruise. I found our room steward “I MADE” and asked him for a fan along with an extension cord for use with my BiPap machine. I also filled out the slip for morning and evening service along with extra pillows and asked for a bucket of ice for DH’s wine. He and his assistant were wonderful the whole cruise. Well, I will try to continue the review a little later today, time for a break for now.

Interesting beginning. I'm looking forward to the rest of the story.

Looking forward to your review... Did the fan help keep it cool?

Sorry for the break. Now on with the review.

This was our first time on Magic so the first sea day we sent checking out this ship. We went to waterworks to watch all the fun our grandsons were having. Some of the adults along with our 7 yr old grandson enjoyed the slides. While our 16 month old grandson enjoyed splashing and playing in the kiddie area. The boys had a great time.

We ate breakfast most mornings in the dining room. The atmosphere is so much nicer than the buffet and I like the fact of knowing I don’t have to wander around looking for a table. Lunch was a “fend for yourself”. Some had buffet, some had Guy’s and some had pizza. Throughout the cruise we enjoyed most all of the food. The new cakes on the buffet were so much better than the usual. We had “Your Time Dining” for dinner. We had some good staff. A couple of nights things went really slow but it is what it is. The food in the dining room the nights we ate in there were “ok”. DH, myself, my cousin and her hubby celebrated DH’s birthday in the Steakhouse. The service and food was delicious as usual. I had the lamb chops and they were perfect. DH had the Cowboy Ribeye and he said it was great. We were so full we didn’t have room for dessert but we did have a couple of tables around us that ordered the “Art at the Table”. It was neat to see. DH and I had pizza for dinner one night and it was really good.

The CD for our cruise was Malcolm “woo hoo” Burn. We thought he was a great guy. He was very friendly, charismatic, and funny. He seemed like an all around good guy. We went to, I believe it was call the Dr Seuss parade. The children had so much fun. Malcolm and all the others along with Thing One and Thing Two and of course the Cat in the Hat were magnificent. We also went to the final Lip Sync Battle and once again Malcolm and his gang did an amazing job with two terrific cruisers battling for top billing.

Now to talk about the ports we visited. Our first port of call was Costa Maya. We had never been here so we were excited to check it out. We spent our time walking around and checking things out. We finally made it around to the pool. DH and our oldest grandson enjoyed a swim while the rest of us sat at a table and shared some chips and salsa. After some time, everyone was ready to head back to the ship so I stopped back by a shop I’d found and purchased an ornament to hang on my Christmas tree. I try to get one from every port we visit. Afterwards we went back to the ship.

Our next port was Roatan Honduras.

DH and I had purchased the Relax on the Beach excursion. DD and family walked along the path to the beach. Of course they got there before us but we did have a great view along the way. Once we arrived on the beach we were taken to our clam shell that came with our excursion. The guy that seated us was Mario and he was so nice when I asked if our daughter, her hubby and our 2 grandsons could be seated closer to us. He brought chairs down to a small clearing and placed them there about 4 feet from us. “Thanks Mario”. DH loves to snorkel so obviously that’s what he spent the day doing. I only got into the water once that day since about 5 minutes after we got to our clam shell I fell almost face first. I landed hard and the ankle I broke a few years ago and had to have surgery on to repair swelled and turned every color imaginable. BUT leave it to a 7 year old.....As I’m getting up with everyone trying to help me and I’m telling them I’m ok I can get up myself my grandson has a look on his face of disgust. I asked him what was wrong and he says.......”YOU hit my leg as YOU fell!”. Oh, thank you so much for your concern as you are watching your MeMe picking herself up off the sand!! Hahahahaha He is definitely a mess!! Anyway, we had a wonderful time. I enjoyed swimming with the boys and we had our photo made with the “Lifeguard lady” to commemorate our visit to Mahogany Bay.

Our next day was a port stop at Belize. We chose to stay on the ship as we really didn’t find an excursion that interested or accommodated all of us. We figured we’d do the pools and hot tubs BUT that didn’t happen. They had closed the pools and some of the hot tubs we didn’t check all of them and we never asked why the pools were closed. So, we just relaxed in the cabin and spent some time exploring the ship.

Cozumel was our next port of call. We enjoyed walking around town and exploring the shops. We had a terrific lunch at Poncho’s Backyard. After lunch and spending time enjoying each other’s company we headed back to the ship. It was a great day too.

Our next day was our last day at sea. We figured we would be lazy today. Had a late breakfast and went to Sportsquare for some of the adults to do the ropes course but it was closed. Then we decided to take the boys to the kiddie area of waterworks and the others were going to use the slides, however the whole thing was closed. They were painting everything in the waterworks area under the slides. This was very disappointing especially to the boys. I understand they must do maintenance but it would of been nice if they would have waited until the 29th since they were not picking up passengers until the 30th when they moved Magic from Port Canaveral to Miami. Oh well, it didn’t ruin our cruise. Again it is what it is.

Debarkation was a breeze. The line for customs however was a lot longer than we’d even seen in all our cruises but that was ok too since we were going to be catching our returning shuttle to the Radisson to get our car.

All in all we had a fantastic time together and really enjoyed being on Carnival Magic.

Now, just need to talk DH into booking our next adventure.

Happy Cruising Everyone!

Looking forward to your review... Did the fan help keep it cool?

The fan did a wonderful job keeping the room cool. As a matter of fact, DH told me yesterday that he can’t believe the “2” oscillating fans we use in our bedroom don’t cool as well as the little fan they brought us on the ship. Lol

Did you hear other from other floors complain about the AC?

Did you hear other from other floors complain about the AC?

We don’t recall hearing anyone else talking about it but it was almost like as soon as you turned down our corridor there was a difference in temperature.