Just Off Carnival Magic June 23rd

[whciv]

I plan to write a full review, but here are a few highlights. We cruised the Carnival Magic from Galveston on their Jun 16 to 23 Exotic Caribbean itinerary. This included the ports of Roatan, Belize and Cozumel.

 

EMBARKATION

 

We drove to Galveston and parked at EZ Cruise Parking. Nothings special here. Parking lot looks a little rundown, but the who really cares... its just for our car. The run a good shuttle service and loaded/unloaded our bags. Quick ride to the pier and they handed our luggage to a porter. Never had to pick up a bag at all. The terminal is easy to navigate and we waited in line to check our bags for liquids and then for about 25 minutes to check-in. Without FTTF you board much like you do with Southwest Airlines. They give you a plastic card with a boarding number and you sit in a room waiting for your number to be called. We waited about 45 minutes, but it didn't really feel that long. By the way, they do check your liquids closely to make sure you are not bringing alcohol or more than your allotment.

 

SHIP

 

Magic is a very nice ship... and quite large. Once we were on board we decided to see if our room was ready. We didn't really expect it to be since it was only 12:30pm, but to our surprise it was ready. We unloaded our stuff and headed to the Italian restaurant as we read it was free and easy to access the first day. They have a simple lunch menu and the place feels a bit like Macaroni Grill. Pick a pasta, pick a sauce, pick other topping and it comes in a big bowl. Very good... and as I said FREE for lunch.

 

As mentioned, Magic is a huge ship (130,000 tons). You will find yourself walking and walking to get to places. The cabin hallways have that movie effect where it looks like the hallway keeps stretching. Our cabin was on deck 9 aft which meant we had to walk a bit. The elevators work well and never felt very crowded. We did have a couple of rides where the doors delayed opening for about 30 seconds and it scared us a bit. Wouldn't want to get stuck in an elevator while at sea. The pools are nice (salt water) but seemed a little small. On most days they were crowded with folks bobbing up and down in place rather than swimming. Looked a bit like lobsters in a boiling pot... including the red skin :) . The waterworks area was very nice, but also a bit crowded. My wife and son waited about 20 minutes or so to ride the slides. TIP: Go through the waterworks to get to the stairs for the slides. The other surface is WAY HOT.

 

The public areas on Magic are all clean and very nice. Should be, the ship is only a couple of years old. I spent time in the casino and besides the smoke, it was nice in there. I must say I don't really like the electronic money system that much. You have to use your sign & sail card to manage your winnings. I suspect some folks lost their winning since they didn't know this before going. They are there to help, but it does take a few minutes to setup. Login, setup your PIN, decide where your credit come from.... Maybe its just me, but I prefer seeing my money. The show lounge was nice, but the shows were only okay... when they had them. On our cruise the Spurs were playing Miami for the basketball championship. This served as the entertaining for 2 nights in the show lounge. Nice and cheap for Carnival.

 

We had a small inside cabin. It was probably the smallest cabin we have ever had, but it worked out. We had our 17 year old son with us and he slept in the bunk. I was a bit worried if the bunk would hold him, but all worked out fine. Lots of storage with 3 separate closets. More storage space than most cruise ships. The bathroom was the smallest part. The shower was ridiculously small and shaped like a triangle. They use a curtain which I found stuck to my butt most of the time. If you drop the soap, better just wait until you get out of the shower to get it. The water pressure was excellent and the hot water worked great. The room has a fridge and we asked to have it cleared so we could use it for our drinks. The beds were quite comfortable and felt very clean. We had read that some rooms get hot so we requested a fan before sailing. Our room stayed very cool and the fan provided great white noise.

 

The Magic has a great outdoor movie screen. We watched parts of a few movies while sitting on deck. If you ask at the bar they will give you popcorn.

 

Pros and Cons of the ship features. PROS: Lots to do, very clean, great outdoor spaces including basketball and waterworks, lots of whirlpools, casino was nice, Serenity area for adults was great, easy to find tables at lido buffet and lots of open space to get sun. CONS: Obstructed views from dinning room, inside lounge space with views was hard to find, lots of kids (both pro and con), some inside areas were hot.

 

DINNING AND FOOD

 

We found the MDR (main dinning room) food to be average to good on the ship. Not great, not bad, but good. Some dishes didn't have as much flavor as we expected. Don't get me wrong, it was good food but I would rank it a 6 on a scale from 1 to 10. We did eat at the steakhouse one night and that meal was a 10+. Great food and service.

 

We had anytime dinning which is served in the Southern Lights Dinning Room. We found a great waiter on the second night and asked to be seated in his section. TIP: The hostess knows exactly which section and table you used each night so feel free to request. Our MDR service was a 9 out of 10. I would even say 9+ on many days. They really go out of their way to know your name and have your favorite items ready when you come into the dinning room. For instance, we like to drink Arnold Palmer's (half tea / half lemonade) and they had this ready every night. TIP: When reading the menu feel free to order a couple or three appetizers. In the old cruising days we had 3 of them... soup, salad and appetizers. Nowadays they are all listed together. We just ordered 3 or 4 each. They are small so you really aren't eating that much food. We normally saved our eating for the MDR and not during the day.

 

PORTS OF CALL

 

We loved all of our ports... especially Roatan. The wind was quite high the day we were in Roatan so we couldn't dock at Mahogany Bay. I had read that this happens quite often... and it happen to use. Very disappointing, but the other dock was nice. We did an island excursion and then went shopping around the dock when we returned. We prefer to spend our money in the local shops so we headed out of the secure area and onto the street. I felt very safe, however you will pickup Honduran kids acting as tour guides. They were all very sweet and mainly just complimented us told us about the area. All of them were very polite and friendly. I did tip them about $10 and would do it again. I spend $10 in 30 minutes in the casino so I can certainly support the kids working for clothes and food. They don't beg at all... they just ask for a small tip. We tried to do this same thing in Belize City, but that port was scary. You cannot leave the port area shopping as the city is quite dangerous. We tried and were told "Leaving is Not Recommended". We saw locals pushed up against the gates selling their stuff under them. It was kind of strange and you hear a voice saying "hey, you want to buy..." but you cannot tell where it comes from. Then you seen a guys face poking out from under the gate showing you his stuff. We also did a snorkel trip in Belize that was very nice. The water was very choppy the day we were there, but the fish were beautiful. Our last stop was in Cozumel. What can I say, Cozumel is Cozumel. They have greatly improved the shopping area at the pier. I also think the water in Cozumel is the bluest.

 

DISEMBARKATION

 

Since we were driving back to San Antonio we didn't rush to get off the ship. We slept until 7:00am and then showered and had breakfast. They called our floor about 9:00am and off we went. No problems. The longest line is with customs and that lasted about 15 minutes.

 

Sorry for any typos or grammar... wrote this pretty quick. If I had to sum up our whole cruise I would say "Better than I expected". This was our 25th cruise and we know that Carnival caters to the younger crowd. They are not like Celebrity (although they own them) but the experience was much better than what I remember from 2008. Our ship only had one small problem and that was the loss of hot water for a few hours. No big deal. I do think Carnival is trying to mend their reputation and we were impressed. I would do this cruise again in a heartbeat.

 

:):):):):)

[want2sail13]

Overall, did the ship feel crowded. I am sailing on her, and am a bit worried about crowds.... ?

Were the pools the most crowded areas?

[whciv]

Overall, did the ship feel crowded. I am sailing on her, and am a bit worried about crowds.... ?

Were the pools the most crowded areas?

 

 

Yes, the pools are by far the most crowded areas. I was always surprised to see hundreds of folks greased up and laying out like lobsters in the sun. The waterworks area was also somewhat crowded, but no different than your local public pool. The rest of the ship never felt super crowded. When the buffets first open you do have your 'food zombies' crowding the areas, but most of this dies down. We had 1500 kids on our ship and yes, you could tell. Most were well mannered, but there were a few that pressed elevator buttons and knocked on doors.

[sjcruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[04acruise]

Did you use the Internet package? Any idea of the different unlimited packages and prices? Can't wait...less than 2 weeeks to go!

[whciv]

Overall, did the ship feel crowded. I am sailing on her, and am a bit worried about crowds.... ?

Were the pools the most crowded areas?

 

Did you use the Internet package? Any idea of the different unlimited packages and prices? Can't wait...less than 2 weeeks to go!

 

We didn't buy the internet package. I didn't even want to think about my email for the week. I did see the package cost about $135 for the week. I asked a few folks and they said the performance was okay. Not sure its worth it to me.

[cruiserlarry]

 

The Magic has a great outdoor movie screen. We watched parts of a few movies while sitting on deck. If you ask at the bar they will give you popcorn.

 

 

Just curious what movies they were showing....

 

thanks

[whciv]

Just curious what movies they were showing....

 

thanks

 

We didn't see everything, but here are a few.

 

In room, we watched:

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

Hope Springs

Batman Dark Knight Rises

Paranorman

Brave

 

 

Outside Theater:

Skyfall

The Notebook

Remember the Titans

A James Bond Night with lots of different Movies

Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides

[DebJ14]

We didn't see everything, but here are a few.

 

In room, we watched:

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

Hope Springs

Batman Dark Knight Rises

Paranorman

Brave

 

 

Outside Theater:

Skyfall

The Notebook

Remember the Titans

A James Bond Night with lots of different Movies

Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides

 

 

I hope they change the movies on the TV's before we go in August. We watched Timothy Green and Hope Springs over and over on the Freedom last month.

[taylorjeanne84]

Thanks for the review! We sail on the Magic in August. If you don't mind sharing, how much did you pay for parking?

[whciv]

Thanks for the review! We sail on the Magic in August. If you don't mind sharing, how much did you pay for parking?

 

I paid $45 by booking online. EZ Cruise runs specials and just sent me another promo code. Try booking with code JUNE and you will get $9 off of the normal $50. They are very eager to get your business.

[taylorjeanne84]

Thank you so much for sharing!! That's a great deal.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[guy&paula]

Did you use the Internet package? Any idea of the different unlimited packages and prices? Can't wait...less than 2 weeeks to go!

Hi 04acruise, we are on the same cruise...:) are you part of the roll call?

[Keith1010]

Very nice review even for the brief one as you said.

 

Did you get the sense that most of the passengers from Texas? Were a lot of families on board?

 

Keith

[whciv]

Very nice review even for the brief one as you said.

 

Did you get the sense that most of the passengers from Texas? Were a lot of families on board?

 

Keith

 

Hi Keith,

 

Yes, lots of families. The boat was full of teens and preteens. We met folks from other states, but I would guess 70% are from Texas. Lots from Houston (of course) but also from Dallas, San Antonio, the valley and even El Paso. Most folks were very nice. Texans tend to be very friendly, but you do have a few that get a bit ugly. I hate to see folks treating Carnival staff like they are servants. We thanked every person who helped us and even the folks we saw cleaning the ship.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[want2sail13]

Thank you. :)

Will probably stay away from the pools then.

I think we will have to do waterworks.

It looks like our sailing is full, so it will be crowded

[Bhnrfam]

Great Review! Can you tell me how you went about requesting a fan? :)

[whciv]

Great Review! Can you tell me how you went about requesting a fan? :)

 

I emailed Guest Services for the fan. They go fast so I wanted to make sure we got one. It was very nice to have.

 

About the crowds. We too were worried about being on a crowded ship. There were quite a few folks, but I never really felt crowded. Even the food lines move quite fast. If you time your eating you won't have to wait at all. The rest of the time the ship didn't feel overly crowded... with the exception of the pools. We are not the type to bake in the sun so it didn't bother us.

[Bhnrfam]

Thank you! :D

[smyliecruising]

I called carnival as I am taking a magic cruise in January, and they(he asked his supervisor) said they had never heard of fans being given out and couldn't give me guest services email:(

Did I just get a new call center maybe? We love the noise. He told me to bring a fan and I thought that was taboo? Maybe I will just try on another day and see if I get someone who knows something about this because we love the noise of a fan!

[smyliecruising]

Thank you for the encouraging review and the June promo code. It worked for me!

[NicNac4498]

Nice Review, but just FYI Carnival does not own Celebrity. Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity.

[whciv]

I called carnival as I am taking a magic cruise in January, and they(he asked his supervisor) said they had never heard of fans being given out and couldn't give me guest services email:(

Did I just get a new call center maybe? We love the noise. He told me to bring a fan and I thought that was taboo? Maybe I will just try on another day and see if I get someone who knows something about this because we love the noise of a fan!

 

Don't bring a fan they will take it. I emailed the same group you do when you have a medical issue. They told me they would request the fan but there was no guarantee. We had a fan the day we arrived. Just be persistent and they should request one. You can wait until your on board but they run out fast.

 

Hope this helps.

[whciv]

By the way, anyone looking to park at EZ Cruise parking in Galveston they just sent out a new coupon. Use the code JULY when booking on their website and you can save $10 off of their normal $50. Their service is excellent and this is the best price I've seen in Galveston. :):)