Newbie to Carnival needing direction

[kim826]

We were on a recent Princess cruise and I spoke to many people that recommended Carnival. We have taken NCL, Princess, Royal, Celebrity, Holland and Costa cruises previously. Well, we decided to give it a try. We have narrowed our choices to 3, all sailing January 27. The first is the Magic out of Galveston. The other two are the Glory and Valor which both leave out of Miami. Destinations aren't a concern as we've done all of them many times. Can some of you experienced Carnival cruisers give me your opinions regarding the three ships? Thank you for any help you can provide!

[nchikk]

All things being equal, I'd go with Magic...newer ship.

[okgirl]

We were on a recent Princess cruise and I spoke to many people that recommended Carnival. We have taken NCL, Princess, Royal, Celebrity, Holland and Costa cruises previously. Well, we decided to give it a try. We have narrowed our choices to 3, all sailing January 27. The first is the Magic out of Galveston. The other two are the Glory and Valor which both leave out of Miami. Destinations aren't a concern as we've done all of them many times. Can some of you experienced Carnival cruisers give me your opinions regarding the three ships? Thank you for any help you can provide!

 

I haven't sailed on the Magic yet, but will in 31 days and I've sailed on both the Glory and the Valor.

 

Just my opinion....the Magic is a Dream class ship and the newest in the fleet. It's 20K tons larger than the other two ships which are Conquest class ships and those are my favorite class of Carnival ships. The layout and amenities on the Conquest class ships will be almost identical, though the decor will be different.

 

I was on the Dream 2 years ago and while I liked it and I'm looking forward to sailing on the Magic that has even newer and different ship ammenaties the Conquest class is still my favorite.

 

Galveston is my home port and I love sailing from there, but because the Magic is newer it's more expensive. It's also much more difficult to get to Galveston because you have to fly into Houston and then get transportation to Galveston which is another hour or more away depending on which airport you use.

 

I love sailing out of Miami as well, but then air comes into play for me, but it's easy to get from the airport to the pier.

 

If you can afford the extra expense of the Magic, I think you should give her a try. She has lots of extra goodies on her that you won't find on either the Glory or Valor. But if money is an issue then you will still be good to go from Miami as long as the expense of getting there doesn't offset the cheaper cruise fare.

 

Go to Carnival.com and check out the virtual tours of each of the ships. I think you'll be able to see the differences that I'm talking about.

[westcoastfun]

The fog is a issue this time of year in galveston. Just letting you know:cool:

We were on a recent Princess cruise and I spoke to many people that recommended Carnival. We have taken NCL, Princess, Royal, Celebrity, Holland and Costa cruises previously. Well, we decided to give it a try. We have narrowed our choices to 3, all sailing January 27. The first is the Magic out of Galveston. The other two are the Glory and Valor which both leave out of Miami. Destinations aren't a concern as we've done all of them many times. Can some of you experienced Carnival cruisers give me your opinions regarding the three ships? Thank you for any help you can provide!

[luv2cruz44]

I like the Magic as well but also liked the Valor. I've never been on the Glory. The Magic does have some extra features that the other two do not have however, like Deck 5 that goes all the way around the ship, as well as the upper deck. The outdoor barbecue area on sea days on Deck five offers a wonderful lunch option. The same area offers a real complete continental breakfast with waffles and scrambled eggs every morning at breakfast.

 

The Red frog pub is another nice option on the Magic and serves "bar food" for a small price. Also the Italian speciality restaurant for dinners. The same restaurant serves pasta at lunchtime for no extra fee.

[kim826]

Thank you so much for your opinions. I didn't realize the Galveston port would have the airport issue. Good info to process!