Day by day, from onboard the Magic

[PenguinLife]

These are a few of my impressions of our cruise on the Carnival Magic, I don't intend for this to be a detailed review, just some bits of information that I will write down as the cruise goes on.

 

Day 1,

 

We arrived at the Galveston cruise terminal at 10:25 am, things were busy, but not as bad as previous cruises out of Galveston, lots of guest from last week's cruise were still loading up so the drop off/pick up line was its usual packed mess. The new entrance is a big improvement over our last cruise out of Galveston 11 months ago, they now have over twice as many x-ray machines , we had no wait in lines to board at all, lots more counters open for check in, sign and sail photos now taken in the terminal with about a dozen photogpraghers working taking the ID pictures and scanning S&S cards with portable scanners, no more photo taken at the ship end of the gang plank, it is all done in the terminal building.

 

So far (I have been onboard for 8 hours), the crew seems nice, but communication is questionable, many do not speak English very well, including the girl that was on the PA system all afternoon

 

Now for a couple of random tidbits that I have not seen mentioined in any other Magic review, etc.

 

The TV has an interactive information system including room service menu with online ordering

 

Now for the BIG NEWS the Room Service on screen ordering includes 4 "HOT SANDWICHES"

 

Also on the interactive TV menu are : messages, ships directory, safety video, dining menus for the MDR and casual dining however it is messed up, showing ports of call days for the other itenerary, still no more crowding around the MDR door to see whats for dinner, overall a good start, but they need to work the bugs out

 

Speaking of bugs, there are computer hubs scattered all over the ship where people can get internet access, or do on board messaging, social media stuff, I can't tell you much about them, as it is not working, if you try to log in from a notebook over wifi, the registration system fails repeatedly, and if you register on a ships computer (being asked different questions than the wifi registration, like folio number , ... it seems to work, but when you go back to log in you get a no such user message)

Back to the random tidbits now, I think everyone has heard about the slot by the door you have to insert your sign and sail card into to make the room lights work, others have said any magstripe card will work, well that is not true, either that or the 2 random non-credit card cards I tried just don't work.

 

Another thing I noticed right away in the cabin that I have not read anything about is the toilet, in particular the toilet has a very narrow seat on it, it is about the same width as the rim, not something we Americans are accustomed to, and while we are in the bathroom the showers are 5 sided with walls on 3 sides and wrap around curtain, it makes the most of the space, but seems smaller than our other Carnival cruises on Conquest and Ecstasy.

 

I am not planning on saying much about the food, lunch was on the Lido deck, food from the buffet was about the same as our other Carnival cruises, of course no trays anymore which is a pain, portion size was also small, the grilled chicken breast I had was almost bite size, I would estimate 1-2 ounce slice, typical U.S. casual dining portion is 4-6 ounce, large boneless chicken breast is 7-8 ounce (can you tell I work in the wholesale food business back home?). The crew seemed attentive at clearing tables, etc. even with that the place was packed all afternoon (no MDR lunch offered on day 1, unlike shown on the online Funtimes from a couple of weeks ago)

 

Well I guess that is enough for now, time to get ready for the first dinner in the MDR, even though I have sat in there twice today, once fo the muster drill and once to get a table assignment changed.

[Karen_N]

PenguinLife Thanks so much for posting! Very interesting. We are on the Jan 1st cruise.

Had not read anything yet about the lights. We might have been in the dark all week.

Looking forward to MORE!!!

Enjoy your cruise.

[scubalisa]

PenguinLife,

 

Is the ship sailing smoothly? Do you think the thruster problems have been fixed?

 

Do plug in appliances work (nightlights) even when the lights are turned off?

 

Is the popcorn with the outdoor movie at night complimentary?

 

Is there hand sanitizer in the buffet area?

 

Thanks so much for the information. I hope you have a fabulous cruise!

 

Scubalisa

[PenguinLife]

First the canned follow up

 

An end of the day follow up

 

 

Dinner was fairly good, maybe a little lower quality than in the past, lettuce wedge was a bit marginal, and the fried shrimp in the sweet and sour shrimp were a bit over done, the servers seemed to be over worked, always rushed, but doing there best. Service time was typical of our past cruises, we had a late seating 2 top table, total dining time was about an hour and fifteen minutes, starter course was a little slow showing up, but the timing of the rest of the meal worked out well.

 

 

After dinner we walked the enclosed deck areas, lots of photographers, not too pushy, not many people taking pictures. We went to the welcome show at 10:30, it was a typical welcome show, preview of things to come, James the CD did a good job,

 

 

Seating in the forward lounge is very straight back, something not good for those of us with a bad back (broke mine L2 14 months ago)

 

 

 

It is now 11:59pm, so day one is over

 

 

Now to answer questions

 

card controls cabin lights only, removing card starts countdown timer to lights off

 

outlets keep working all the time, so does air conditioner unless balcony door is open

 

on the outlets there are 2 instead of the usual 1 120V outlet side by side

 

Don't know on popcorn, too cold out tonight

 

plenty of hand sanitizer everywhere

[luckybecky]

Thanks for posting! Looking forward to reading more. You commented "no trays anymore." No trays at all to carry your food and drinks in the buffet area? Am I understanding that correctly?

 

That seems nuts. Seems like at a buffet I always have about six things I'm trying to carry at once, with plate, drink, butter or condiment packets, small plate with fruit or salad to accompany my main dish, silverware, etc. And that's not even with hitting the dessert station yet. So you have to make multiple trips to get everything? What about taking a meal back to your stateroom?

 

Please keep posting. It's great to read your impressions during your cruise.

 

Becky

[Ykgorbie]

I have also been wondering about the trays. We had trays on our Miracle cruise last month. Are they only available on some ships now ?

[pe4all]

Thanks for the blow by blow! Just curious - what are the 4 hot sandwiches? I remember having grilled cheese and (I think) warm roast beef/brie on our August Miracle cruise. Just wondering what the other 2 are??

[pyroguy]

I have also been wondering about the trays. We had trays on our Miracle cruise last month. Are they only available on some ships now ?

 

Can't speak to the Magic, but we just got off the Liberty - and there were no trays there either (in the Lido Buffet). The did have pretty large oval plates though. For parents with small kiddos, that won't help.

 

Here's a tip though. Order room service. It comes with a tray. Keep it with you and use it in the Lido buffet if you need a tray.

[cruise_girl2002]

i was just on the magic (12/4-12/11) the no tray thing never bothered me. the plates are large enough to put ALL your food on. portions small?? not when i was on. decent enough to fill you up. the toliet felt normal to me as the other ships i have sailed on lol. i really loved the magic. would love to sail her again

[crusinpsychRN]

I have also been wondering about the trays. We had trays on our Miracle cruise last month. Are they only available on some ships now ?

 

We had trays on Inpsiration in November.

[Sarapdot]

I also just got off the Magic (Dec 4th sailing)

The card slot in the cabin for the lights was a small pain, we ended up putting an expired visa gift card in the slot and it worked for us.

No trays, just large oval plates. They always seemed to be big enough for me. You did have to go put your tray down and come back for a drink though.

Toilet seats seemed normal to me also. We were in an aft ocean view cabin, the thrusters were loud and rattled the walls when on but it wasn't anything that ruined my vacation.

The food portions seemed large enough for me also.

I highly recommend the Red Frog Pub, we spent lots of time in there. The soloist Timmy is great.

Oh and go to Cucina and try the fried cheese balls....so yummy!!!!

Have a great trip!! :)

[PenguinLife]

Day 2

 

Morning: The cabin was reasonably quiet duirng the night (front most cove balcony on starboard side), except for a banging sound in the distance, a dull thud thud thud. The view from the cove balcony is all that it is claimed to be, I would much rather be here than way up on deck 11, or 12 with a balcony. Some reviews claim the cove balconies can be wet, so far we have not experienced much of that, going out in the early pre-dawn hours there was a certain amount of sea spray getting to the balcony, but it was just enough to want to wipe off the chairs before sitting.

 

I had an early breakfast in the aft MDR, well somewhat early it was before 9 am, while my wife slept in. The aft MDR was less than 1/3 capacity the whole time I was there seated with about 8 or 9 other people. There was a certain level of disapppointment expressed around the table as we waited for nearly an hour for our food to arrive, this disappointment ranged from thinking the ship is too big and hard to find your way around, to the quality of the show last night (I think the words were amatuerish, by an older woman on her 38th cruise). Breakfast when it did arrive was moderately acceptable all around, although once again portion size was on the small side, my ham and cheese omlet while tasting good looked as if it were made with 1 x-large egg, or 2 extra small ones. Food presentation was rather plain as I had this tiny omlet on a giant mostly empty plate with no decorative garnish or anything.

 

After breakfast I walked around the Lido deck for a bit, weather much warmer today, probably up to the low 70's by 10 am, then back to the cabin to meet my wife as she was on her way out to find breakfast, so off we went to the Lido deck breakfast buffet, where I ended up eating my second breakfast of the day. There was a short line at the outdoor buffet which was serving french toast, pancakes, etc. So we each ended up with french toast, my wife tried the berry french toast, and I had a slice of the plain. We then proceded to look for a place to sit, the buffet area seems to go on and on with lots of tables, unfortuneatly they tended to be occupied, maybe it will get better later in the week as people have their fill of all you can eat. The food was good, and the french toast slices were large and thick partly making up for the mini-omlet I was served in the MDR. After my second breakfast of the morning we walked around the ship, and I do mean around the ship, Deck 5 has a wrap around deck that goes nearly the full length of the ship, which brings me to another of my pet peeves, the fake plank deck with the painted on black outlines, I can appreciate how much easier it must be to maintain this vinyl semi rubbery fake wood floor, it may even be more slip resistant than real wood, but can't they do something better than this golden orangish brown color.

 

I am now back in my cabin watching the clouds and waves go by, on this nice mostly sunny warm day, it is noon and time to start considering lunch options even though I am still full from my second breakfast.

 

More later.

~

[PenguinLife]

Now for some replies to the questions that I have composed offline, sorry if I missed anyone

 

Sailing has been smooth, but ship does seem to have a bit of a shudder to it, particularly in aft MDR

 

As mentioned in todays update, the portion size for breakfast in the MDR seemed small, but was much better at the

Lido buffet.

 

As others have said, big oval platters, but no food trays on the Lido deck.

 

drum roll please, as I find the TV remote for the hot sandwich list:

 

Grilled Cheese with American cheese on choice of 4 breads

 

Grilled Rueben with Corned Beef

 

Chicken Fajita with greens, jalaeno and tomato in a wrap

 

and Hot Pastrami on Rye

 

Also one odd thing at night and the early morning hours a room service breakfast menu is also shown on the interactive tv, but can not be seen during the day. Nothing I saw new there, cereal, breads and fruits.

 

 

 

Going to the CC Roll Call meet at 2 pm today, published in the Fun Times

[SuntanaGirl]

Loving the daily updates. I'm on in 75 days and can't wait. I'm starting to get really excited the more I read about the ship and the positive experiences people are having on board. I don't mind the negatives, I'm going to look for the best while on board. Keep the updates coming.

[atruetexan]

Thanks for the info. Will you be posting the daily fun times?

[txskier]

cool review!!

[Shirley&Dale]

I also just got off the Magic (Dec 4th sailing)

The card slot in the cabin for the lights was a small pain, we ended up putting an expired visa gift card in the slot and it worked for us.

 

No trays, just large oval plates. They always seemed to be big enough for me. You did have to go put your tray down and come back for a drink though.

 

Toilet seats seemed normal to me also. We were in an aft ocean view cabin, the thrusters were loud and rattled the walls when on but it wasn't anything that ruined my vacation.

 

The food portions seemed large enough for me also.

 

I highly recommend the Red Frog Pub, we spent lots of time in there. The soloist Timmy is great.

 

Oh and go to Cucina and try the fried cheese balls....so yummy!!!!

 

Have a great trip!! :)

 

 

Also cruised with sarapdot. had a great time, agree with everything. Red Frog was great, so were both specialty restaurants, Cucina and Steakhouse.

[dawnvan]

I am really enjoying your review as you go. thanks for taking the time.

[misguidedangel]

You must go and do Cucina del Capitano at lunch it is simply delicious!!!!!!!

 

Have a burrito at the burrito bar......

 

Do yourself a favour, get a Fishbowl from the Frog.....you'll have a good time drinking it!!!!!

 

Why not look for the ships coin..I'll give you a hint where it is....it's near a "serene" place *BG*

[PenguinLife]

the rest of day two,

 

 

The CC Roll Call meeting went ok, a dozen or so people showed up, it was nice to put some names to faces

 

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, lost a few dollars in the casino, mostly on a hook the ipad type game t

hat is very popular, tends to block traffic through the casino with onlookers.

 

Dinner was our first Elegant night, there was a good level of participation with the MDR fairly full and lots of people dressed up, I am only going to comment on men's clothing as womens is far too complex. Most men were in suits, some wore a tux, while others went with a button up shirt and tie, some just a dressy turttle neck, only a few were out of place with T-shirts, and jeans (I only counted 6 or 7, 4 of which were at one table all wearing sports team fanware of some type complete with baseball caps).

 

We went to see the Illusionist show after dinner, it was in a very small bar (Escape Bar) and very impressive, mostly card and rope tricks, but very good, and up close and personal.

 

A lot of people have commented that this ship rolls a lot, which it does seem to do more than one would expect in

the calm water we have seen.

 

 

 

Day 3

 

Another smooth night on the water, the water has been the calmest of any of our cruieses so far, with mostly 1-2 foot seas.

 

We just docked in Key West, docking went very smoothly, never heard the thrusters, but from the water being stirred up I assume they were used, I watched the approach to port and initial dock line exchange from the balcony.

 

Off to do port stuff will update all of you later.

 

 

 

I will try to scan the fun times when I get home if there is interest

[Butlersplace]

Our family sails Magic in 102 days. This is interesting info-THANKS! Would love to hear more and see the funtimes...

[happy cruzin]

These are a few of my impressions of our cruise on the Carnival Magic, I don't intend for this to be a detailed review, just some bits of information that I will write down as the cruise goes on.

 

Day 1,

 

We arrived at the Galveston cruise terminal at 10:25 am, things were busy, but not as bad as previous cruises out of Galveston, lots of guest from last week's cruise were still loading up so the drop off/pick up line was its usual packed mess. The new entrance is a big improvement over our last cruise out of Galveston 11 months ago, they now have over twice as many x-ray machines , we had no wait in lines to board at all, lots more counters open for check in, sign and sail photos now taken in the terminal with about a dozen photogpraghers working taking the ID pictures and scanning S&S cards with portable scanners, no more photo taken at the ship end of the gang plank, it is all done in the terminal building.

 

So far (I have been onboard for 8 hours), the crew seems nice, but communication is questionable, many do not speak English very well, including the girl that was on the PA system all afternoon

 

Now for a couple of random tidbits that I have not seen mentioined in any other Magic review, etc.

 

The TV has an interactive information system including room service menu with online ordering

 

Now for the BIG NEWS the Room Service on screen ordering includes 4 "HOT SANDWICHES"

 

Also on the interactive TV menu are : messages, ships directory, safety video, dining menus for the MDR and casual dining however it is messed up, showing ports of call days for the other itenerary, still no more crowding around the MDR door to see whats for dinner, overall a good start, but they need to work the bugs out

 

Speaking of bugs, there are computer hubs scattered all over the ship where people can get internet access, or do on board messaging, social media stuff, I can't tell you much about them, as it is not working, if you try to log in from a notebook over wifi, the registration system fails repeatedly, and if you register on a ships computer (being asked different questions than the wifi registration, like folio number , ... it seems to work, but when you go back to log in you get a no such user message)

Back to the random tidbits now, I think everyone has heard about the slot by the door you have to insert your sign and sail card into to make the room lights work, others have said any magstripe card will work, well that is not true, either that or the 2 random non-credit card cards I tried just don't work.

 

Another thing I noticed right away in the cabin that I have not read anything about is the toilet, in particular the toilet has a very narrow seat on it, it is about the same width as the rim, not something we Americans are accustomed to, and while we are in the bathroom the showers are 5 sided with walls on 3 sides and wrap around curtain, it makes the most of the space, but seems smaller than our other Carnival cruises on Conquest and Ecstasy.

 

I am not planning on saying much about the food, lunch was on the Lido deck, food from the buffet was about the same as our other Carnival cruises, of course no trays anymore which is a pain, portion size was also small, the grilled chicken breast I had was almost bite size, I would estimate 1-2 ounce slice, typical U.S. casual dining portion is 4-6 ounce, large boneless chicken breast is 7-8 ounce (can you tell I work in the wholesale food business back home?). The crew seemed attentive at clearing tables, etc. even with that the place was packed all afternoon (no MDR lunch offered on day 1, unlike shown on the online Funtimes from a couple of weeks ago)

 

Well I guess that is enough for now, time to get ready for the first dinner in the MDR, even though I have sat in there twice today, once fo the muster drill and once to get a table assignment changed.

 

 

We used an old (empty) gift card and my sister did in her cabin too - and they worked perfectly. A much better option for us than trying to remember to pick up the S&S card - on your way out!! ;) :D

[happy cruzin]

You must go and do Cucina del Capitano at lunch it is simply delicious!!!!!!!

 

Have a burrito at the burrito bar......

 

Do yourself a favour, get a Fishbowl from the Frog.....you'll have a good time drinking it!!!!!

 

Why not look for the ships coin..I'll give you a hint where it is....it's near a "serene" place *BG*

 

ABSOLUTELY!!! Fishbowls were definately a great part of our cruise ;) :D

[mrsbean1990]

What is the "fishbowl?"

[PenguinLife]

More Day 3

 

The ship's gangway was positioned mid ship instead at the usual forward position because Magic is too long to fit

at the pier in Key West and hangs off both ends, this caused a bit of confusiion with people not listening to th

e anouncements and going down the wrong elevator. The security screening process went fairly fast, they seem to

be using a new computer facial recognition system for quicker processing.

 

I am not going to say much about our activities in Key West since I intend this to be mostly about the Magic, we did the usual tourist stuff, conch fritters, key lime pie, tram tour...

 

Re-entry to the ship started using 2 sets of double gangways was we were approaching the ship at about 2 hours pr

ior to departure, one thing I noticed that was new (at least I had not seen it on our previous cruises) was a can

opy tent on the dock with water coolers and cone cups for the returning passengers while they waited in line to b

oard.

 

After getting back on board I went to deck 5 and soaked in one of the large hot tubs until just before we cast off from the pier (my back did not appreacite some of the bumps from an hour and a half riding around on a tram). The hot tubs are much larger than I have seen on other ships, I would estimate they have comfortable capacity for

about a dozen people, maybe more. Like most such hot tubs, they were only mildly warm and could use more jets.

 

I watched our sunset departure from the front of deck 5, from there I could feel the vibration of the bow thruste

r (we did a 180 degree pivot off the pier with lots of escort boats, coast guard, pilot boats, etc. barely clearing one of the channel markers) Carnival Ecstasy was docked at the Navy pier and we passed her on the way out exchanging horn blasts, Magic's horn is an Extremely low pitched, almost subsonic rumble that you more feel than hear, where Ecstasy has a much higher pithced bass note.

 

More people onboard have commented on the ships motion, even though we are still having fairly flat seas, with st

rong winds (forecast calls for 25 mph winds in the morning in Freeport), the motion is not is not so much or pitc

h or roll, but a rapid side to side shudder, it feels like the ship moves side to side about a foot with a period

of about .5 second, it is worse from mid ship to the aft.

 

Dinner in the MDR was much less crowded tonight with something less than 50% capacity, serving time for the meal was still around an hour and twenty minutes.

 

Nothing much else to report on today.