Photo Review of the Magic 4/12/15 Sailing

[Raven Days]

Note: This is the most negative review I have ever written. Normally my reviews are either very positive or balanced between positive and negative. I apologize in advance for its length. I am a detail oriented person.

 

About us and our hotel….

This was my 9th cruise all on Carnival and my third time on the Magic. Our destination was Key West, FL; Freeport and Nassau, Bahama’s. I had previously been to the Bahamas on my first cruise on the Fantasy in 2003. With me on this cruise was my son (27), his fiancé (25), my daughter (25), her husband (28), their four children (8, 7, 2 and 11mo) and my friend. My son and his fiancé live in Oklahoma and had flown from OKC to Hobby. I and my daughter and her family live in San Antonio and we drove down in two cars. We all arrived the night before and stayed at the SpringHill Suites on Broadway in Galveston. This was my second time staying at this location and I will be staying there again in September for my cruise on the Freedom. I highly recommend this hotel to anyone staying in Galveston. It’s only a mile or so from the port, directly off of Highway 45. I had three rooms at the hotel. I arrived at 1pm and was able to check in one of them. I had used Marriot’s rewards check in app that allowed me to pick my check in time. I dropped my son in law, my friend and the grandkids and I and my daughter headed back to Houston to Hobby to pick up my son and his fiancé.

After getting back to Galveston and getting the other two rooms checked in, we all loaded up for lunch/supper at McAlister’s Deli on Seawall. We did not want anything fancy and since we have a couple of picky eaters it was the best bet. After eating we headed back to the hotel and there we stayed until the next day.

 

The View from my hotel:

 

[Raven Days]

Embarkation Day….

 

I would love to say it went smooth….but I would be lying. I and my daughter took the bags to the terminal and dropped those off at 9.30 and that was the easiest part of this day. After eating a hot breakfast at the hotel, the ten of us loaded into the two cars and headed to the port at 10.30. As I was waiting there, my car started to overheat. $%^*ing GREAT! So I hurried up and shut it down and waited until the line started to move. As the line moved I would start it and then turn it off when we were stopped. It got all the way to the red area and the temp light came on and I nearly had a panic attack. Thankfully the line moved rather fast. As I was sitting there, one of the DPS officers noticed my license plates. He pointed out my Gold Star Spouse plates to the others. As I passed him, he saluted my car. I cried. I am the widow of a fallen solider. Not many civilians know or understand what those plates mean. They see the Gold Star and they think I have done something great to get a Gold Star. I did nothing. My husband did. But enough of that. As I started moving, my car began to cool. I pre-paid for two parking spots at Galveston Park N Cruise so I did not have far to go. I was able to park my car rather quickly and they parked my daughter’s car directly behind mine.

 

I would have to worry about my car when I got back. We walked back to the terminal and met up with our family. I had bought three Faster to the Fun for each cabin. They had already opened up the security lines and we moved through those quickly. I had a carry on with six bottles of ginger ale. The scanner told me to go to the check table, but it was full and everyone was waiting on me….so I skipped it. No one noticed and I have never done that before. No excuses. I just did not want to wait and I figured if someone saw me, I would apologize and let them check my six bottles.

We moved up the escalator and this is where the real “fun” began. Actually it was more like a cluster F$%K to be frank. We were directed to the FTTF line to get our Sail and Sign cards. My son and his fiancé went first. This was both of their first times cruising. Getting them signed in was a breeze for the most part. My ex-husband was supposed to be on this cruise as well and in my son’s cabin, but my ex-husband was a no show. We knew he was going to be a no show. He had a cardiac ablation a couple weeks prior to the trip and his doctor nixed all travel. There was a bit of a hitch since my son and my ex-husband have the same first and last name, they did not know who was who. It took them a few minutes to figure it out and to the get the alert removed from the cabin and to give them their Sail and Sign cards. My ex-husband was to have brought oxygen with him so they put a medical alert on the booking. I had bought a Carnival Gift Card and the rep was able to load that to my son’s account fairly quickly. I think it might have taken 10 minutes to get them checked in…Myself and my friend and my daughter and her family? Not so easy.

 

Two of my grandchildren were booked into my cabin. The other two grand kids were in my daughter’s cabin. I was next up to check in. They could not find our cards. So the lady made new ones. After she made the new cards, she found the ones that had been pre made. She gave me the first set to use and took back the new ones she had made. I thought all was well, until it wasn’t. About that later. My daughter and her husband and two of their kids were up last. One of the grandkids Sail and Sign cards was not his. It belonged to some other random person. So they made him a new card. The lady checking me and my daughter was the same person and she would get side tracked and confused and it took nearly 30 minutes to get us checked in.

 

After we were all checked in, I went over to the FTTF area….or where it used to be that is? It’s no longer there. There is no more FTTF area. Those who purchase FTTF are sat with everyone else and you get to fight your way through when boarding is called. Because even though they announce umpteen times that boarding is only for Priority guests (Diamond, Platinum and FTTF) there will always be those 20 or so people who think that does not apply to them. If that lady told ONE person that they were only embarking FTTF, she told 20. And people got pissed! She announced several times that they would start special assistance and zone boarding once we were all boarded. Evidently that meant, ok folks line up and get on! Because that is what happened. But I will say they were sending them back.

 

When it came time for embarkation….none of our cards worked. Well my son and his fiancé did, but no one else’s. That was another big delay. Evidently when the lady made our new cards she canceled out the first set. We had to wait to have a supervisor come over and over ride all the cards to allow us to board. Once on board we had to go to guest services to have them “fix” whatever needed fixing to allow us to go off and back on the ship later. So far not the best start, but whatever, we were all on board and I did not let it bother me. We got to our cabins. I had booked all balcony cabins on deck 7. My daughter was in 7378, I was in 7376 (we had the balcony divider opened between our cabins) and my son was in 7368.

 

 

My cabin (7376)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2015 by Raven Days

[Raven Days]

I would like to take this moment to apologize to those in the cabin next to my daughter’s and my cabin and above and below us. I never realized how loud 4 kids were until we put them in a cruise ship cabin! The baby (girl) likes to squeal. A lot. The toddler (boy) likes to yell. My oldest grandson who is 7, likes to make lots of noise, which includes jumping around. The only quiet one was my oldest granddaughter who is 8. So I am very sorry to those who had to endure. I did my best at keeping the volume down. Thankfully we wore them out during the day so they went to sleep pretty well at night.

[Raven Days]

The food…..Tandoor, MDR, Lido, Cucina del Capitano Restaurant and Room Service. ***Warning....Negative Statement Ahead****

 

This was the biggest disappointment and most negative topic that I will post about. The first night in the MDR set the “mood” for all successive nights. I was given a dose of penicillin with my bread. Ok, well maybe not, but I did get moldy bread. My son’s fiancé noticed there was a dark spot on my bread and she told me to look at it. I picked it up and sure enough, there was a spot about the size of a pen, of mold. I showed it to our head waiter. He took it and showed it to his assistants and they proceeded to argue over who was responsible.

 

The food was ok. For the most part it was edible. My daughter ordered my son (as a gift) the rack of lamb. It was over cooked. My son in laws fried chicken was under cooked. The warm chocolate melting cake was more like hot chocolate with a crust. Out of the 7 nights, we ate in the MDR 4 nights. The others we ate on the Lido or ordered room service. The food on the Lido was good. It was actually better then what we got in the MDR. What really stood out was the Tandoor for lunch. We ate there twice. Another stand out was the Italian restaurant. We had lunch there one day. I have yet to have dinner there, but I will eventually. It’s really good. It’s free for lunch but there is a small charge for dinner. I would highly recommend it.

 

Breakfast was either the sea day brunch or the breakfast in the MDR and I ordered room service twice for breakfast, once for our first port and for our last day. I only have a small complaint for room service and it was corrected quickly. Our first port day I ordered breakfast from room service. I ordered coffee. I got sugar, cups, spoons, creamer….but no coffee. I called them and let them know and it was brought to us with in about 10 minutes. The rest of the time room service was fantastic. I really liked the chicken wrap. Room service was very fast this cruise. I do not think we waited more than 15 minutes each time we called.

 

I paid for the Seuss at Sea breakfast for our last sea day. There was ten in my group. I made that clear and being charged $50 ($5 x 10) should have set off clues for those who set up the tables. We were shown to a table that sat 6. So what to do with the other four? They wanted to seat them a few tables over. Uh. No. I want my family together. It made no sense. I booked for 10 people. There was a 10 top that they gave away when I was trying to explain to the person who was seating us. But she was either not listening or was not understanding. I finally asked for a manager. I was getting upset. I was not going to seat 4 of my family at a different table. The manager came over and she was so very nice. She had them make up a larger table that fit us all. I am deeply grateful for her and her kindness. She did not have to do that. But she did and she made our day. The food was interesting and the kids loved the characters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2015 by Raven Days

[Raven Days]

 

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

 

 

That is all of my food photos...

[Raven Days]

Warning...here comes a negative statement...if you dont like to read negative statements about Carnival....mosey on past this post and wait for the Sunshine and Flowers post...

 

The Lido Restaurant Floor and the Fall….

 

As I mentioned, the food here was better than what was in the MDR. However, there should have been signage that says “Enter at your own risk”. One night I had to go to the Lido restaurant to pick up my 7 year old grandson who was misbehaving at Camp Ocean during dinner. As I was walking through the restaurant, it was like walking on ice. As a matter of fact, I have walked on ice that was not as slick as that floor. I was wearing skid resistant shoes and I was still slipping and sliding. I nearly fell three times. I went to Guest Services to let them know and he acted as it was just no big deal. I have never seen a guest services person on a cruise ship as apathetic as this man. He really did not care one way or the other. I could have been talking to a sign post for all of the concern he showed. The next morning I went with my son and in law, my youngest grandson and the baby to the Lido restaurant so we could feed the kids. As I was walking in from the aft elevators to the restaurant, I slipped and fell. Hard. I was not injured, other than my pride that is. One of the restaurant waiters came to see about me and helped me up. There were three elderly ladies that had entered behind me and one of which slipped as well, but she was able to catch her balance and stay upright. As I was walking away, I overheard several people who said that they had nearly fallen as well. I went back down to guest services later that day to let them know that I had fallen and to ask that they do something about the floor.

 

As I mentioned above, this was my third time on the Magic and the first time I ever noticed that the floor was so slick in the Lido restaurant. When I went back to guest services I got a different person to talk to. She was slightly more concerned…mostly cause I was angry by then. Like I said I was not injured, but what made me mad was that I had been carrying the baby up until we got out of the elevator but she wanted her daddy, so I handed her over. I would have been carrying the baby when I fell, otherwise. I could have injured her. And what happens if some older person falls and breaks a hip or something else? The guest services lady called the head of housekeeping services and she came and talked to me. I want to say she was very concerned and very very nice and took her time to talk to me and I appreciated that.

 

Evidently they know there is a problem. She assured me they are working on a solution. The next day I got a letter apologizing for the issue. After that I was extra careful walking in the Lido restaurant. I also noticed that they put up yellow slip hazard signs as well at all entrances. I am not mad because I fell. Again the only thing injured was my pride. I did let her know that there were positives to my concerns as well. I told her that my cabin steward, Hamid, was the best one I have ever had. I felt so sorry for that poor man. I did my best to keep my cabin clean and my daughter did with hers as well. We gave him extra money since the baby and the toddler did make a mess. He was kind enough to bring me bio hazard bags for dirty diapers and was very nice to the kids. One night I left a glass sitting on the vanity and the baby reached up to pull something off and the glass fell, breaking on the floor. I picked up all the glass and asked that they come to vacuum up the tiny shards. I felt so bad asking them to come after hours. I have to say they were outstanding in their service. I also never left another glass near the edge either. Lesson learned. I was not used to having a baby and a toddler full time anymore. I had forgotten how hard it is being a mom to little ones.

[Raven Days]

Key West, Freeport and Nassau. ***Some negative but mostly the Sunshine and Flowers I promised...***

 

Easily my favorite port of this cruise was Key West. I would love to go there again, but sadly I probably will not on a cruise. Mostly because of Freeport. In Key West we purchased the City View trolley tour. They offer a military discount, its takes $1 off the price per person. It was a nice tour and I enjoyed getting see Key West.

 

In Freeport. I. Wished. I. Had. Stayed. On. The. Ship. I have NEVER in nine cruises ever felt that way about a port. I do now. We got a taxi to go to Port Lucaya MarketPlace for 5 of us. My son’s fiancé turned out to be the smart one and stayed on the ship and went to the spa and the three older kids stayed in Camp Ocean. We were quoted a price of $10 pp round trip. The baby was free. Getting there was no issue. Getting back however, turned out to be another story. When we got there, the driver told me that since the “lady” was busy with another van full of people, just to pay him $25 and we could pay the rest on the return trip. That was fine and I did it. Bad move.

 

The shops at Port Lucaya were rather expensive and I noticed that no one was willing to haggle. That was different for me. I am used to the vendor at least dropping a dollar or two off the price. But not here. My daughter had her hair braided. It was to have only been 8 braids and that was what was agreed on and at $3 per braid the price should have been $24. I walked away with my son to have a drink and when I got back, my daughter was visibly upset. The lady had put 15 braids in and was charging her $45. There was nothing to do but pay it. Another lesson learned.

 

I wanted to walk down to the beach and take photos. I did not want to spend time at the beach. I walked down to the Grand Lucyan Hotel and asked a porter if there was beach access to take some photos. He said, sure about 1 mile that way…pointing away from the hotel. Ok dude. Sure. Whatever. So I walked to the front door of the hotel, and proceeded to walk through the hotel and out the door leading to the beach. I walked around and took some photos and then back into the hotel and took more photos of the hotel. I used to manage hotels and love to see how different brands are designed. It’s like a hobby of mine. I have been in much more exclusive hotels than this one. I walked in that door like I belonged there and did want I set out to do and left. I was by myself and only spent about 20 minutes total there. It’s a very lovely hotel and I would love to stay there…but it’s located in Freeport and I have vowed never to return to Freeport. So I will not be staying there.

 

After meeting back up with my family we decided we wanted to return to the ship. We went to the Casino where we were dropped out and let them know we needed a return taxi. The “lady” turned out to be the manager of the taxi service in Freeport. She asked me for our tickets and I told her what had happened when we were dropped off. She told me that she was sorry but the driver did not work for her. Well he worked for her 2 hours before. So it’s funny that now since the price is higher, he suddenly no longer works for her and she will not honor his word. She wanted to charge $7pp to get back to the ship. NO. I was told $10 pp round trip. That is what I agreed on and that is what I am going to pay. I was very loud and told her in no uncertain terms that I felt it was a scam and that I did not believe a word she said. My son and my daughter both joined in and she finally agreed to the original terms. I had tried to pay the first driver $50 and get the tickets for my return trip, but he told me that it would be ok and to just let the “lady” know. I was not asking for anything other then what we agreed on in the beginning. Evidently I was not the only one not impressed by the “lady” and her company. There was a couple in a motorized scooter who had been told the same thing and now they were being charged more too. I will be honest, at one point I was willing to pay whatever that woman wanted as long as I got back to the ship. But thankfully my son and my daughter backed me up and we got back to the ship in one piece and for the agreed upon price.

 

On to Nassau. Here all I wanted to do was go to the Hard Rock Café and get my shot glass and return to the ship. After the day before I was afraid that Nassau would be more of the same. But I was wrong and I was happy with Nassau. After you get past all those guys wanting you to buy a tour, it’s actually pretty nice. Today it was just myself, my friend, my daughter, and her husband. We left all four kids on the ship. My son and his fiancé had a Carnival tour that morning. I had planned on doing a walking tour but after the State Departments safety announcement for Nassau, I changed my mind. We ended up walking down to HRC and from there we went to some of the shops and to the Pirate Museum and to Christ Church Cathedral. After that we walked back to the ship via Pompey Square and along the shore. I would go back to Nassau.

 

Sailboat in Key West...the water is so pretty!

 

 

The Carnival Ecstasy docked behind us in Key West.

 

 

The next few are just various places I saw on the Trolley Tour

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

More Key West....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

Lots of air traffic in Key West...

 

 

[Raven Days]

More of Key West...

 

A panoramic view of Key West.

 

 

Pirates Matey Arrrr!

 

 

 

 

 

And the good guys!

 

 

[Raven Days]

Freeport

 

An old Carnival ship renamed the Grand Celebration

 

 

Another cruise ship...I have never heard of this one before. Of course I had never heard of the one above either.

 

 

Port Lucaya Marketplace

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

Area near the Casino....drop off/pick up for Taxis

 

 

Grand Lucayan Hotel and Resort

 

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

Nassau

 

Beautiful Sunrise

 

 

Entering into Nassau Harbor

 

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

NCL Breakaway

 

 

 

And the Carnival Pride

 

 

 

The Magic

 

 

All Three.

 

Edited April 22, 2015 by Raven Days

[Raven Days]

Getting Closer....

 

 

I took a lot of photo of Atlantis....

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

I visit every Hard Rock Cafe in every city/country I go to...

 

 

[Raven Days]

Christ Church Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

Christ Church Cathedral cont...

 

 

Pirates of Nassau Museum

 

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

Pompey Square

 

 

Conch and Puffer Fish

 

 

 

Back on the Ship

 

 

Whale Tale of the Pride

 

[Raven Days]

The Wreckage

 

 

 

 

[Raven Days]

Camp Ocean, Guest Services, The Spa, FTTF and The End.

 

I want to thank those people who work at Camp Ocean. They did an awesome job with my grandkids. They are truly wonderful people.

 

Guest Services.. Here again is another reason for complaint. As I noted I purchased the Seuss at Sea breakfast. I was given a receipt that showed the day and time and the location of the breakfast. I took it to my cabin and laid it on my night stand. From there I do not know where it went. I have no excuse and I know I am fully responsible for keeping up with it. I called guest services the day before the breakfast to ask what time the breakfast was scheduled. There were only two times. I knew that. I also knew that I had chosen the later time. The woman who answered the FTTF “special phone line” said that the ONLY time for the breakfast was at 8:30am. No. That is not correct. I knew that I had chosen a later time. I asked her, if she was certain and told her that I knew I had chosen a later time. Her response was that “Yes, I am certain” and “will that be all”. Ok. Lady. I see how this is going to play. So I said nope and hung up.

 

I called back 30 minutes later, after searching again for the receipt. I got the same lady. This time I was a bit more forceful in my assertion that I knew that there were two breakfast times. She put me on hold and came back and said its 9:30. “Are you sure?” Yes. Ok. I am not convinced. She was certain it was 8.30 when I called 30 minutes earlier. I let it go. That night I went down to guest services to get change for the laundry. The guy that was working the desk was the same one from the night I reported my near fall on the Lido. I figured what he hello. I would give it a whirl and see what time he tells me. To my surprise he asks for my cabin number and tells me the time is 9.45 which by the way is the correct time as verified later that night in the next day’s Fun Times. I asked him was that found in my cabin notes? He told me yes. OMG. So the lady I talked to earlier could have just pulled up my cabin number and knew what time I was booked for.

This seemed to be the pattern at guest services. Again, this is my third time on this ship and either I was in a daze on prior sailings and never realized how terrible their customer services skills were or this crew gave less than a rats behind. I am going with the latter.

 

The spa….On the first sea day, I, my daughter and my future daughter in law all went to the Lady’s Pamper Party. We liked what we saw and we were offered a great deal. Five services for $99. It included a neck, back and shoulder massage, a foot massage, a mini facial, full body exfoliation, and an eye treatment. Oh MY God. It was the best money I have ever spent. Now mind you I ended up buying some of the Elemis products so I spent a bit more, but I think it was still worth it. This was the first time I have ever been to the spa, but it won’t be my last!

 

FTTF…..I bought FTTF for all three cabins. All three were ready when we boarded. Our luggage was in our cabin before we set sail or directly afterwards. I used it several times to visit guest services. And I used it for disembarkation. Until I reach Platinum status I will continue to buy FTTF for my cruises.

 

Even though I had some disappointments and a couple of bumps, it was still a great cruise. I love Carnival and I can’t wait until September when I sail on the Freedom. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Raven Days

[MrsPhoenix91]

Thank you for posting your review and beautiful pictures. It seems you had a lot of issues on this cruise, but still enjoyed yourself!

[sjcruiser]

Thanks you for the post, and the photos. I think your review is the first post where I've seen the setup and food items for the Seuss at Sea Breakfast. My sister booked it last year, but overslept ad missed it. This year we have three children going, and I think I'm going to book it for them/us. Thanks again!!!

[Sooner-Cruisers]

I was on the same cruise, I'll get around to doing a review eventually. (Spoiler alert: We had a great time);)

 

I was hoping to see a mention of the alert that happened on Friday or Saturday. Did you ever hear what that was about?

 

My husband mentioned the slippery floor, I hadn't noticed , but did after he said something. Glad you weren't injured!

Edited April 22, 2015 by Sooner-Cruisers