Just booked the Magic Aug 27th

[thall1719]

Just booked the Magic for Aug 27th 2016 out of Port Canaveral with ports of Amber Cove, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk.

 

It will be my wife and I and our 4 boys 17,13,9 and 5 in two side by side balcony's.

 

I am looking for some help to make this the best vacation ever as it's not often we can take a full family vacation (hard traveling as 6 having to get two state rooms and all).

 

Any help with excursion recommendations at the various ports, We love the beach and sailing.

 

1. Will the kids actually have fun in the kids camp areas

 

2. Are the pools over crowded

 

3. The Casino really that smoky

 

4. Bottomless Bubbles worth it? Should I get for everyone or can we share?

 

5. Prepay the gratuities?

 

6. Long lines for food / waterpark?

 

Love to hear any tips or tricks!!

 

Thank you in advance

The Halls

[AZmike480]

Just booked the Magic for Aug 27th 2016 out of Port Canaveral with ports of Amber Cove, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk.

 

It will be my wife and I and our 4 boys 17,13,9 and 5 in two side by side balcony's.

 

I am looking for some help to make this the best vacation ever as it's not often we can take a full family vacation (hard traveling as 6 having to get two state rooms and all).

 

Any help with excursion recommendations at the various ports, We love the beach and sailing.

 

1. Will the kids actually have fun in the kids camp areas

 

2. Are the pools over crowded

 

3. The Casino really that smoky

 

4. Bottomless Bubbles worth it? Should I get for everyone or can we share?

 

5. Prepay the gratuities?

 

6. Long lines for food / waterpark?

 

Love to hear any tips or tricks!!

 

Thank you in advance

The Halls

 

 

I can speak a couple of these questions:

 

2. The pools didn't seem over crowded to me, we spent the majority of our time laying around the back pool area.

 

3. The smoke in the casino was pretty standard, they have a non smoking area that helps out a little bit.

 

5. We always prepay gratuities at the standard cruise rates, but I do bring cash to tip the room stewards / house keeping staff extra. Their the hardest working least paid people in my opinion and if they do a good job, I'll give them $50 to $100 dollars depending on service. I've never had bad room service.

 

6. Lines can be long during peak time for buffet and food items, but they can easily be avoided. No long lines at the waterpark areas.

 

Mike

[bury me at sea]

My 15 year old granddaughter loved the camp. It was partially the planned activities but mostly making friends her age to hang out with.

 

You will get a schedule for the week the first night. Each evening at dinner she selected what she wanted to do the next day. It's easy to find each other. For changes in plans we used post-it notes in the cabin.

 

Pool is crowded. Casino is smokey. We don't find the bottomless bubbles worth it and spent less by paying per drink. Water, coffee, tea and juice or lemonade are available and free.

 

I pre-pay gratuities just to get them out of the way. I also take a little cash to tip porters and room service since they don't get a share of the pre-paid grats. The service has always been so good that we have tipped cabin steward and dining room staff more on the last night.

 

Have a wonderful time!

[Trumpster]

Just booked the Magic for Aug 27th 2016 out of Port Canaveral with ports of Amber Cove, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk.

 

It will be my wife and I and our 4 boys 17,13,9 and 5 in two side by side balcony's.

 

I am looking for some help to make this the best vacation ever as it's not often we can take a full family vacation (hard traveling as 6 having to get two state rooms and all).

 

Any help with excursion recommendations at the various ports, We love the beach and sailing.

 

1. Will the kids actually have fun in the kids camp areas Depends on your kids, the younger ones more likely but its up to them in many ways, my 9 year old still looks forward to it

 

2. Are the pools over crowded All pool decks can be crowded on sea days, found the aft pool was slightly less crowded

 

3. The Casino really that smoky Yes, and always has that stale smoked in smell, even when no active smoking if going on

 

4. Bottomless Bubbles worth it? Should I get for everyone or can we share? Not to us, remember you can bring a 12 pack of soda per person, if you are big soda drinkers then maybe, but remember all you get are can sodas, might as well bring my own

 

5. Prepay the gratuities? We do but its up to you, I just like to have everything paid for, that way my onboard account is what I have on it

 

6. Long lines for food / waterpark? At times, we had the waterpark all to ourselves in the morning sometimes and others it was crowded, sea days mostly, the buffet can be a zoo at peak times, but lots of free eating options

 

Love to hear any tips or tricks!!

 

Thank you in advance

The Halls

 

Have a Guy's burger, do tea time at 3pm seadays, try tandoor indian food, do the cucina del capitano pasta bar for lunch. Try red frog pub wings. Blue iguana burritos for breakfast.

 

 

Ride the waterslides, do the ropes course. Hope bitter and blanc is served.

 

 

Given the free food I would skip the buffet and hit the other options.

But I must admit , not much of a buffet fan anyway.

[thall1719]

Thanks everyone for the reply's! Not too often we as a family of 6 can get away (expensive) and just want to make sure we make the most of it. I have a bad habit of booking and then living on the reviews boards making myself nuts worrying about the negative reviews.

 

I know you can't please everyone. My wife and I have been on 3 cruises (1 Dolphin and 2 RCI) and loved it! We picked carnival for the kids....

 

Any experience at the different ports: Good beach recommendations..,

Amber Cove, St Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk....

 

Thanks again, really appreciate it!

 

Ps. What are the table minimums in the Casino?

 

Thanks

[Trumpster]

Well in San Juan you should see both forts, easy walks.4 boys should love the forts and cannons!

 

Grand Turk has a beach right by the pier.

 

Amber Cove is too new of a port for many recommendation as of yet. I would like to do the 27 waterfalls (12 for the cruise ship tourists) they have beaches but are away's away

 

St, Thomas has Coki Point and Magens Bay which are both highly reviewed.

Or could do the ferry to St. Johns.

[Trumpster]

check out this review

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=49636865&posted=1#post49636865

[Singer4Him]

August 27th is our wedding anniversary and we love to cruise during that time. The only down side would be if there was anything tropical brewing out there but other than that, it's a perfect time to sail: Most schools are already back in session and it's just before Memorial Day.

 

As for things to do in port, I second the idea of touring the ports in San Juan. I believe it's $5 per person to enter and that includes both forts. I would suggest catching the free trolley to take you to them, if you've never been and don't know where you're going. We tried finding it on our own, since I had heard that it's "right at the port." Well, their "right at the port" and my "right at the port" are two different things. We spent at least a half an hour trying to figure out how to get to the closest one. If you go, be sure to bring some water (it will be REALLY hot that time of year) and wear comfortable shoes because you'll do a lot of walking. San Juan is a port that we would love to get to return to someday.

 

Grand Turk is another favorite. We did snorkeling through White Sands and would recommend it. It was walking distance from the port (the property is adjacent to Margaritaville), was much cheaper than booking through Carnival and there were a lot less people in our tour than with Carnival. I think there was a total of eight plus the two guys from White Sands. They also take you to a small island and you get to play with sting rays.

 

We haven't been to either of the ports that you will be visiting so I can't comment on them, other than to say that they are both on my bucket list.

 

We always prepay our gratuities, that way it's already taken care of when we board, however, we always tip extra to our cabin steward and wait staff.

 

Have fun planning for a sailing on your cruise!!

[Cruise, J.D.]

Ps. What are the table minimums in the Casino?

Thanks

 

$5, except $6 for 6/5 BJ and $10 for 3/2 BJ.