A medium-sized Magic reveiw/Modified Eastern 11/4-11/11

[HolySpearit]

UGH I typed up a whole thing and CC deleted it. The level of rudeity.....

 

Anyways, we're back, quicker one today I promise and thanks as always to anyone reading along! I do want to wrap this up tomorrow!

 

Today we're at HALF MOON CAY

 

This one was one of our substitute stops for St. Thomas/San Juan and I was pretty excited about it. We were supposed to be in port 8-6, Captain made an announcement we'd be leaving at 5 instead. Fine by me, it's dark at like 5:30 anyways.

 

Finally got down to the showroom to await our tender (note: saying tender always makes me want a chicken tender real bad. They should serve chicken tenders upon the tender boat> Note to self to suggest this to John Heald) about 9:45. Waited about 15 minutes, it was painless and I thought fairly well organized. The "cat herders" in the showroom definitely knew what they were doing. Ride over also painless.

 

Not much to say here that hasn't been said a million times. This place is beautiful. We spent almost all day in the ocean. We camped out just beyond cabana #8 which I would recommend. It's close enough to the pirate bar where you can still see what's going on but far down enough that it's way less crowded and quieter. It's also close to bathrooms. No problems finding a chair even though we didn't make it to the island until about 10:30-10:45

 

Activities are held at the pirate bar such as limbo, tug of war, and in theory some swim relay thing that were going on but I never saw anyone doing any Olympic style swimming so who knows.

 

Island BBQ is downright atrocious. I don't like all that food sitting out with flies all over it (remember my crippling fear of Mr. Salmonella). It is free. It tastes worse then free. D got a burger that was straight raw in the middle. Not rare, straight ice cold and raw. He tossed it after one bite and this man is a human garbage disposal who will literally eat anything so I know it must have been bad. I ate tortilla chips. I'd skip eating here entirely tbh. Load up at breakfast and eat when you're back on the boat.

 

Beer from the pirate bar also wasn't very cold as the day progressed. D got a bottle of water that was "beach temp". Ick. I understand logistics on ice might be hard but I feel like this needs improvement. You can get a can of pop and then grab a glass and some ice from the ice machine thing near the buffet that helps a bit.

 

Cruise Directory Mat was hanging at the pirate bar most of the day, we chatted briefly once, super nice guy.

 

No idea what happened but this place cleared out about 1:30. Maybe it was the BBQ. We stayed until about 3:45, we were not the last boat but crew was starting to load stuff up. Zero line for a (non-chicken) tender. Walked right on.

 

Overall this place was gorgeous. Water color was insane, sand soft and it truly is paradise. Paradise with warm beer and crappy food, but paradise none the less. Really missing it today when it's a balmy 22 with a windchill of 10 here in frozen hell today :loudcry:

Edited November 21, 2017 by HolySpearit

[HolySpearit]

A few photos from the day.

 

The ride over on the non chicken. Little wavy but nothing too bad!

 

Seriously I could stare at this water color all day. How does this even exist?

 

In the afternoon, there was a Carnival employee sitting in front of us who I'm assuming had the afternoon off. (I'm gonna put in a request to my boss to send me to HMC on my days off. Somehow I don't think he'll go for it). Anyways, he put a big old "I miss you" in heart and was taking a bunch of pictures before jumping in the ocean for a bit. I thought it was so sweet. It's so easy to think of these people just as workers, people doing their job, cleaning your room whatever. But these are people with friends, family, significant others whatever half a world away. I can't imagine being away from home as long as some of them are. I kind of wanted to chat with him a little about his life, but the last thing I want to do is talk to customers on my days off so I let him be. I hope they liked your photos, kind sir, and I hope you enjoyed your time off!

 

Sun starting to get low. You can see how much it had cleared out.

 

And the super cliché photo op from the bench. It's so pretty, but a bit crooked after my warm beers. WHOOPS!

[Likacruisa]

Liked your review. Got off magic as you got on. Ditto on most of your comments other then your rental car part as we drove to the port. Even agree on your Radisson experience and my wife and I being 76 found the layout and lack of elevators and parking location a real drawback. Thought we were in the 50’s when we got in the room.

 

Over all the Magic cruise was a very good one as we go for a good time and don’t sweat the small stuff. We normally prefer a smaller class ship but this cruise seemed as if it was not fully booked even though it was. Cruise on!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[crusinpsychRN]

I went the week after OP. Most Lido food wasn't hot. Did you experience that?

 

I wanted to talk to the Captain about shortening the halls--geesh!

[HolySpearit]

Liked your review. Got off magic as you got on. Ditto on most of your comments other then your rental car part as we drove to the port. Even agree on your Radisson experience and my wife and I being 76 found the layout and lack of elevators and parking location a real drawback. Thought we were in the 50’s when we got in the room.

 

Over all the Magic cruise was a very good one as we go for a good time and don’t sweat the small stuff. We normally prefer a smaller class ship but this cruise seemed as if it was not fully booked even though it was. Cruise on!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Glad I'm not the only one, thanks for reading and glad you guys had a good time!!! :D

 

I went the week after OP. Most Lido food wasn't hot. Did you experience that?

 

I wanted to talk to the Captain about shortening the halls--geesh!

 

I will have to check with D and get back to you. I mostly stuck to salad and baked potatoes on the Lido buffet so hotness wasn't really something I was TOO concerned about or noticed. And no kidding on those halls, definitely going mid-ship next time haha!

[HolySpearit]

OH!!! And while I was talking about Island BBQ I realized I never mentioned during food...

 

 

The Pig and Anchor BBQ

This was the only place we ever really encountered significant lines/wait times outside of the Mongolian wok. Took about 10-15 minutes to get through a long line. There is a pop (soda for all you non-Midwesterners) and beer stand right before you get to the food so you can get some limited drinks if you'd like. It gets crowded out there as there's people sitting on the lanai area (is that what that thing is called? with the hot tubs?) eating too but I didn't find the wait dreadful, it helps that you're outside and get a nice view while waiting. I can see it being dreadful in the middle of summer when it's hot.

 

I had a little bit of pulled pork (told you I'm a lazy vegetarian), it was actually not bad! D had the chicken (he really liked it) and the sausage (he most certainly did not like it). Mac and Cheese was ok. Cole Slaw was ok. BBQ sauce was actually pretty good, I am a sauce freak (legit, sauce is my second favorite food. I love sauce lol) and this did not disappoint me. Bourbon Brown Sugar was very good if you like sweeter sauce. Also tried the Sriracha one (good and not too hot) and the Carolina one (good but I love vinegar, D did not like it but he hates vinegar).

 

Overall I'd vote it's worth a trip, wish it was open longer (Open sea days only, I believe 11-2?)!

[HolySpearit]

Ok we're back! Anyone reading? Probably not, I don't care I'm going to finish this up as I am not a quitter!

 

A quick break from ports to talk briefly about

 

MUSIC/PLAYLIST PRODUCTIONS

Music overall we felt to be a little lacking overall on the ship. The Ocean Plaza afternoons was usually populated by "Acoustic Jams with Viviana". I don't know in what world that is "jams" but ok. It was quiet and kind of dreary. Her voice wasn't bad but it's loud/crowded down there and I don't think it was the best choice.

Nights in the Ocean Plaza usually featured "Six At Sea" or something to that effect. This place was usually POPPIN at night, with a lot of people, people dancing etc. The lead female vocalist had a good voice.

Polaris Trio was a popular group in the Atrium. We saw them a lot in line for dinner and getting drinks at the bar. They were pretty good and played like Violin versions of some more popular songs (Coldplay, Celine Dion etc).

 

Playlist productions. Ohhhhh playlist. I'm going to preface this by saying I am not intending to mock anything. I have TERRIBLE taste in music (fun fact: my screen name is not a public way of showing I have Jesus in my heart, but rather a tribute to my own hero and favorite human the legendary Miss Britney Spears so yeahhhhhhh you can see my taste level here) so take this as you will.

 

Tip 1. Drink before the shows. Drink a lot. It improves them immensely. We did.

Took in Flick. I don't get this show. It's like songs from movies and interpretive dance. Is this dude watching movies? Directing movies? On some kind of drugs and thinks he's in the movie? I am either not cultured enough or was far too drunk to understand this and it was kind of boring to me. Singers were ok. Dancing was off at parts. I don't care about this, I expect High School Musical level production, not Broadway here.

 

We also took in 88 Keys. Omg. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if anyone was sitting next to us (we were up in the back not directly near anyone so I don't think so) and you heard me (I tried to keep it very quiet). We were pretty lit for this show after about 3 casino drinks and another in hand. This show starts off in a piano bar and we're singing and dancing to Elton John and oh yay fun! Then I have no idea what happened but oh my goodness. The main guy like gets mad or something and starts pounding the wall (aka the projected background) and suddenly the bar is gone and there's LASERS! And people in Spandex prancing about! I DIED. I literally laughed so hard I cried. It was what I imagine a bad acid trip in the 80's to be like. I was 100% here for it and would 100% recommend you down a few drinks and go see this so you too can appreciate this glorious mess of a production. I LOVED IT.

 

Didn't go to the piano bar but it was always crowded. Patrick the piano guy sang a bit before 88 Keys and I had on complaints. So would suggest it if you are into the piano bar, we just personally are not.

[HolySpearit]

This will go quick I promise.

 

NASSAU

Had never been here, everyone complains. I kind of see why. We'd been spoiled by Carnival owned ports up until this point and the return of pushy vendors was as irritating as I remember. 4 boats in port including the Magic, The Pride, an NCL boat I don't recall what it was, and the MSC Europa 2. We had just watched the Europa 2 episode of the Mega Cruise Ships show so I felt I was in the presence of a celebrity.

 

I wanted to see Atlantis but did not want to pay to see Atlantis so we decided we'd just go visit their casino for a bit. Taxi over was $4 and a short, yet absolutely packed ride. Lost money quickkkkkk that casino there made the ship casino look like a free for all. Decided to call it quits on that. Walked around the shops area (there is a smaller area inside with higher end shops such as Gucci/Tory Burch etc, and an outside area with more uhhh "pedestrian" type shops for those of us not arriving via the Europa 2.) Took a taxi back. We were back on board by about 1pm for a 4:30 departure. Overall Nassau felt as MEH as I have heard and while I understand vendors have to make a living, seriously, don't touch me. Like I hate them pulling my arms and trying to steer me in after we've already strongly told them no. If we come back here, I'd book an excursion through the boat (although none really looked appealing to me) or just stay on the boat (which I think a lot of people did based on the amount of people on board when we were back early). Side note we did talk briefly to a police man in the port and he was very nice and very terrifying looking. I would not recommend Bahamian jail, I bet it's scary.

 

A few limited photos in no particular order:

 

Pride heading out for the night ahead of us

 

NCL and the Fancy Pants Europa 2. I'd love to sail you someday, fancy MSC boat!

 

Obligatory light house shot

 

Beautiful sunset if nothing else today.

[Clarea]

Emjoying the review and photos.:)

[LNNLNNLNN]

Enjoying this review...great job..we are sailing in May and hopefully won't have to need the halls shortened as we are in the middle.. Lol..:D

[HolySpearit]

Boo I typed up my final post but the angry anti smoking and gambling demon of cruise critic (or possiblyJesus) deleted it. We’re in the middle of turkey day shenanigans here so might have to wait a few days, I know you’re all just dying with anticipation (I jest).

 

My first and last photo are also reversed on the last post, my B.

 

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! :hearteyes:

[Drazil65]

Tandoor: I lied, we didn't eat here either. Not sure why.

Too bad...by far some of the best food on the Magic and probably would have satisfied your vegetarian side perfectly....;p

[HolySpearit]

Tandoor: I lied, we didn't eat here either. Not sure why.

Too bad...by far some of the best food on the Magic and probably would have satisfied your vegetarian side perfectly....;p

 

I keep hearing this!! Every time we’d go get pizza I’d look at it and make a mental note to go there for lunch the next day. That mental note was apparently automatically erased during cruise sleep. Guess we’ll just have to go visit the Magic again and try it! :D

[watermelonqueen99]

I kind of wanted to chat with him a little about his life, but the last thing I want to do is talk to customers on my days off so I let him be.

 

Over our 8 cruises, we have always found that the crew LOVE to chat about their life/family back home! They just light up.

 

 

Grand Turk is so beautiful, so sad to see the damage. HMC is one of our favorite ports ever. Still enjoying your review!

[beshears]

Enjoying your review, and especially the pictures. We are planning on doing the Magic in March of next year.:)

 

You mentioned the "bread basket," oh yes, I am NOT a bread eater, but some of those breads are very good. The picture of the French toast covered with Chero's, was really different.

[beshears]

It just dawned on me, and I forgot to ask, when I posted a few minutes ago.

 

Do they still have the $10.00 or $15.00 sale, close to the end of the cruise?

[iexpLORIt]

We sail on the Magic over Christmas (I can't wait!), and this review has made the wait *almost* bearable! Thank you for your wit, your honesty, and for sharing! Reading this has been the best 45 minutes I've spent in a long time!

:hearteyes:

Lori

[crunchymomma]

You had me at “1. It's very pink and very pineapple-y in the rooms. I felt very Blanche from Golden Girls.”

 

 

 

 

 

Any reviewer who expertly weaves in a Golden Girls reference, is extremely talented! Can’t wait for the rest. :')

 

 

 

I Couldn't agree more!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Optimusprime2529body]

It just dawned on me, and I forgot to ask, when I posted a few minutes ago.

 

Do they still have the $10.00 or $15.00 sale, close to the end of the cruise?

Yes, they do. It had a lot of attendence for the cruise. I think it started on the first day at sea, and lasted until the night of day six.

[Optimusprime2529body]

I will have to echo a lot of the reviews the thread leader posted. So, other than actually bumping into them, we saw the same events and had just about the same experience.

 

I really compliment Carnival on its Salute to Veterans. I don’t know if it was just because Veteran’s Day was on the last day of the cruise, or if they do this every single cruise, but I enjoyed meeting veterans in the lounge area aft and it was attended by the Cruise Director.

 

Half moon Cay

We had a great time in the sun. We did not get off with the crush of people. The little sun cabanas on the beach were occupied quickly. However, we found a shade tree right on the beach next to the pirate ship, and the fellow passengers watched our stuff as we watched theirs, so we got a chance to frolic in the water with the ship in the background, dance at the pirate ship and watch the games played there. I was almost drafted for the “Baywatch Contest”. I also got a burger that was medium on the inside - a pink center. When I pointed this out to one of the crew, they took it, got another and brought a cooked one to the picnic table. CARNIVAL CRITIQUE: Either have more drink filling stations or have bottled water and sodas FOR THE GUESTS FOR FREE. Trying to get water or lemonade was an adventure with lines going the wrong way or people jumping from once ice machine to another slowing down the process. We took in the sights at the gift shop trap, then went down to the beach. Carnival photographers were hard at work here also. No problems with the tenders back to the ship.

 

Nassau

Read the posts on TripAdvisor. I am not a fan of this port. Would have preferred to remain on the ship, but wifeprime wanted to roam and get magnets, PLUS she did not want to go alone SO... We started our day playing basketball and walking the track. This, we were on deck watching the docking procedures. The Carnival Pride out of Baltimore was right behind us. The Magic is at least three decks taller. So, I knew that it would be crowded - and it was. The only thing worth watching was the crowd surfing that we got a chance to do. Some poor guy was so drunk, he could not walk, and his friend was tired of dragging him to the boat. He wandered over to the Pride. We also had some people who met the inside of a Jamaican Jail as they tried to take something for free or not pay for something. I guess there were cruisers without home training...

 

Day at Sea

Wifeprime went shopping. I found a quiet place on Serenity. Very lively and met some TARHEEL fans up there and a Vet who served in a hole with me in OIF/OEF. We watched as the ship’s course took us out to sea, back down towards Turks and Caicos, another two turns toward the NW, back across Nassau toward Florida and then a slow lumber directly toward Port Canaveral. We had room service for our last night. The couple in the cabin next to us entertained us as one of the peeps in the ship’s brig belonged to them, so all of their family had to vent loudly for most of the evening.

[PnkFldFan]

K I worked for an hour, that's acceptable, right? :halo:

 

CABIN

We had cabin 7463 on this trip, which is an aft view extended balcony on the starboard side of the ship. Thoughts:

1. A LOT of movement back here. I'm not sure if this was the result of a very windy cruise all around, or being on the back of the boat but yikes. First night out and last night in was AWFUL, and it was not relaxing motion, only way I can describe it (shield your eyes, kids) was it felt like I was getting pounded repeatedly into a headboard without any of the fun stuff that normally goes with it. Ginger and Bonine helped with the "Did I drink 10 drinks and somehow just forget????" feeling but it did not help with the fact that it would wake us up every 10 minutes. Very tired the first and last day of the cruise.

2. Room size was good, lots of storage (we had 3 closets)

3. Our deck chairs were very, very dirty with what look like soot and white paint (??? I thought it was bird booboo but upon closer inspection it was not and it seriously looked like paint, no idea where it came from). You had to put a towel down or your shorts would look like you had a most unfortunate mishap after you sat in the chair (ask D about that). They cleaned our balcony on day 3 and the 2 sit up chairs were cleaned but the lounger remained dirty the entire time. Didn't use it anyways so didn't say anything. IMO, that balcony is too small for 3 chairs.

4. AC was FREEZING. D likes the room temp at appx "arctic" and the controller definitely went there.

5. Leave your fridge cabinet door open

6. Can confirm sign is "snoozing" only

7. Had the keypad safe, worked great.

8. No robes, we didn't ask.

9. There was a cigarette butt on our balcony upon checkin, so clearly there are rude rule breaking smokers who smoke on the balcony. I am not one of them.

10. Room was quiet. 7 is sandwiched in between stateroom only decks and we had zero noise complaints from neighbors or otherwise.

 

STEWARD

Our room steward was Rayden (Raydan? Raydon? something like that) and was perfectly adequate. Met us the first day, we requested night only service and he was usually there sometime between 6:30-8. Greeted us by name every time we saw him. Zero idea who his assistant was. Made us towel animals. Destroyed them the next night which like I am an adult I should be ok with that but :( I LIKE THE ZOO OK? He seemed busy. Can also confirm they know who pre-pays tips (we did, and gave him extra at the end because D is a messy person who leaves socks everywhere). Generally no complaints here and I don't mind once a day service. Of note, he did ask us "morning, evening, both?" so ask for what you want.

 

Love the review! I was wondering if the room stewards know who prepaid gratuities if that made a difference in service?

[HolySpearit]

Love the review! I was wondering if the room stewards know who prepaid gratuities if that made a difference in service?

 

They do know. He had a clipboard on his cart I saw one day that listed who all was in a cabin, if they were celebrating anything (honeymoon birthday etc), what service was requested, and if tips were pre paid.

 

As far as impacting service I am not sure. We just cruised the 2 of us so I really have nothing to compare it to. Sorry that’s not very helpful!

 

And I promise a quick end and post cruise is coming in the next couple days I WILL FINISH THIS!

[HolySpearit]

Ok we're finishing up here!

 

DISEMBARKATION

We chose to do self assist here which in hindsight was probably a mistake. Rayden was knocking on our door at 7:30 to make sure we were awake. Luckily (?) we had already been up most of the night due to the aforementioned movement in the ship the night before so we were basically ready to go. Took the stairs which led to D carrying 100lbs of luggage down 4 flights of stairs but oh well, he got some new muscles from it. Hit a small line but nothing too bad. Customs was quick and easy, probably took about 30 minutes from the time we left the room until the time we were leaving the cruise terminal. No complaints.

 

POST CRUISE

Picked up our rental at Port Canaveral Enterprise, again no issues at all here, shuttle was already there when we got off the ship. Hang a right when you exit the terminal and the rental shuttles are there.

 

Straight to Starbucks for a quad shot mocha so I could weep tears of joy at having acceptable coffee again. Stopped at Bagel 13 in Cocoa Beach for some breakfast, it was good and I would recommend it.

 

We had a room reserved at the Four Points Sheraton in Cocoa Beach. At this point it was about 10:30am. We figured never hurts to asked, called and asked if we could check in early and they said no problem so shout out to them! Checked in and immediately took a very long nap.

 

I enjoyed this hotel quite a bit. It's modern and somewhat "sterile" if you will. But our room was huge, it's right in the middle of everything, and it was very clean. Parking is $6/night but there's also a ramp so you're not left with a 9 mile walk like you are at the Radisson. Pool looked extremely tiny if that's important to you. We paid about $30 more here than we did at the Radisson and it was absolutely worth it in our opinion, we liked it much better and would definitely recommend it. We will personally stay here again if we ever cruise out of Canaveral again (looks like we might be in 2019!)

 

After our beauty sleep, we drove up to Titusville and had dinner at the self proclaimed world famous Dixie Crossroads for some dinner. It's so cute! There's shrimp statues! And they have top hats on! And those corn fritters they give you ommmmmmggggg. Our adorable and young enough to be my son waiter (who was very interested in our life in the frozen tundra of Minnesota and shocked anyone would voluntarily live there. I know sir, I know) just kept bringing them and we ate a LOT. Possibly paid for that later but I REGRET NOTHING! Cute place worth a stop if you don't mind a 20ish minute drive.

 

Flew back home the next morning around noon. No problems dropping the rental at MCO and we were suddenly back home. At least my cat cared for about 2 second that we returned!

Edited November 28, 2017 by HolySpearit

[HolySpearit]

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

Crowds: I know people have complained about crowds on the Magic. We personally didn't find this to be much of an issue. Yeah there were a couple lines we ran into but I was never really to the point of annoyance with it.

 

The Crowd: I know my fellow passengers and I have a "WalMart of the Seas" rep to live up to, but I had no major complaints with my fellow passengers either. 95% of people were polite. People of all different races, ages, backgrounds etc were getting along. Met a lot of interesting people. We overheard numerous people commenting about how everyone seemed to be friendly and getting along, leading to D and I deciding the cure to any tensions in America is simply to send everyone on vacation a couple times a year. Vote HolySpearit 2020, ya'll.

 

We did have a couple instances of "can I just get a..." in the buffet line, most commonly at the salad dressing area. I don't know how you forget the most important and delicious part of the salad but ok. Whatever, I let the dude get his ranch dressing.

 

2 instances in the pizza line of 2 people in front of us, then suddenly 4-5 more people from their group just joined them vs going to the back of the line. I just gave them the stank eye like the real passive aggressive Minnesotan I am.

 

RANDOM TIDBITS:

- I'm fairly certain Magic is in the process of converting photos to the new digital process. Pixels had what looked like some construction going on. Last day of the cruise, the Fun Hub on deck 5 immediately outside the casino had the computers removed, a Pixels sign went up, and there was workers installing what appeared to be iPad stands. While I am happy about this, I am very curious about why they would ever choose this location. It's right outside the casino and as I discussed, smoke is an issue. I am hoping there is more than one location if this is the case.

- Deck 5 is C-O-L-D. Seriously if you're spending time at Ocean Plaza, bring a sweater. I am always freezing but D was also cold and he never is. We had to walk outside to warm up a few times during trivia and talked to 2 other people that were doing the same thing.

- Rode the elevator with the captain one night and accordingly we are basically BFFs, FYI.

- Tiles in the Lido deck can get slippery. Anyone remember 2002's legendary viral video "Scarlet Takes a Tumble"? Almost had a dramatic reenactment one night starring me, but luckily I'm apparently still young-ish enough to keep myself upright. Basically wear shoes with at least some minimal grip vs $1 Old Navy flip flops. Learned that lesson quick!

 

Overall, I would not hesitate to cruise Carnival again, the Magic again (some day maybe I'll meet the mythical Dr E!), or do this itinerary again. It wasn't perfect but nothing in life is. My suggestion would be go, have a good time, let the small things go, remember you're on vacation and everyone else is too. You look for something wrong, you're going to find it. Focus on the positive and make some memories with your friends/family/significant other/whatever. In the end that's what you'll remember.

 

Can't wait til the next cruise, and thank you for reading!!!! :hearteyes:

[beshears]

This is such a great posting, and LOTS of good answers in regard to different areas on the ship, etc. I believe someone will be cruising around Christmas time on the Magic, so maybe they will give us their review as well.

 

When I get back from ours the first week in April, I plan to write a review as well.:)