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Fresh off Magic Review

shdixon

By shdixon,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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shdixon

shdixon

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Hello all,

I just got off of Magic this morning, sitting in airport for hours so I decided to write my review. Im open to any questions and hope I can be of help.

 

I enjoyed the ship, not too large. My last Carnival ship was Dream so the ships are similar. I sailed on RCCL allure last year and I found that ship to be too large for no reason, so Magic was just right for me. Easy to navigate. I always choose deck 8 so that I can walk up to the lido or down to the most active decks without relying on the elevators.

 

Cruise Director. I never comment on this because most times I dont care and never know their names. I thoroughly enjoyed Reverend Doctor E. Full of energy, very funny, and put a unique spin on all he was involved in. I looked forward to his morning announcements.

 

 

Food, better than the past cruises. My food was actually hot, not warm. Ate in main dining room 5 times and enjoyed my selections there. Not amazing but good.We ate at the italian restuarant, well worth the $15 and food was very good. We had nona meat balls, caesar salad, rigatone and steak. all very good, great presentation. The garlic parmesian bread they start you out with was amazing. Only thing I did not like was salmon carpaccio (sp). It was so cold I thought it was frozen, and the "sauce" that came with it...no clue what it was.

We also tried the steakhouse which was the best steak on ship. Main dining steak is like applebees in comparison. Rib eye is huge, feel bad for not being able to eat it all. It was delish. Oysters also excellent. We shared the Art journey desert. I didnt want to get it but glad we did. Once they cracked the shell whay was inside was amazing. I have a video but dont know how to share on here. Or maybe it should just be a nice surprise lol.

 

 

Enjoyed all my drinks, island tini, kiss on the lips, mocha chocalate get away, spicy chipotle pineapple martini

 

 

Ports

Amber cove- we did the VIP beach club excursion through Carnivam. Thoroughly enjoyed, All inclusive, bar service good but not great but didnt let that affect the day. There was a buffet with many options, a crepe bar, and a ceviche bar . Well worth the money if you like to eat or drink. Bartender on beach ignored us but attended to people sitting on both sides of us. Once I politely called him out all was good. We tip well so he just missed out on a little money in the beginning. Tour guide, and driver were awsome. Wasnt as hot or sunny as I like but you make do. The beach beds are very comfortable and presentation is inviting.

 

 

PR- Best weather the whole trip. Couldn't get the food tour so we just shoped at the local street vendors and dined at Mojitos, a 5 minute walk from port. Good food, most of it affordable. I ordered a grilled pork chop meal, 2 pork chops rice, beans, salad, $10. Good portion. Husband order empanadas and calamari, $20. Just funny how my whole meal was much cheaper than his two good, but simple appetizers. He could have got that at home.

 

 

St Thomas. We normally go to Meghans bay but when we got off it was raining so we got right back on boat. I find it pointless to go to the beach on a cloudy rainy day. I need sun and heat.

 

 

Grank Turk. Sigh. When we got off ship we saw a cool little beach area, crowded but nice. We purchased a day pass at Bohia Dive Resort and were looking forward to it. We found it through our travel agent with a 2 for 1 deal.

Getting a cab was not as expected. We should have done our homework. Very few private cabs. Most cabs are shared vans. No big deal, just wasnt prepared for that. Our driver turned me off. There was a family that wanted to go to a specific place. After he made the first two stops he talked that family out of going where they wanted to go saying there was nothing there. I didnt like that. Seemed slick to me and he probably just wanted to get back to port to pick up more people. Hes a taxi, take the people to where they want to go and if they get there and dont like it, charge them to take them somewhere else or let them find another taxi to where they want to go.

We arrived to the resort. Not a resort. A run down beach club that Im told had rooms. So sad for people that stay there. We enter the lobby and there was a hard to see step, stumbled and fell on my hands. Staff member standing there didnt even blink. Didnt care. Most who are trained in customer service would have said " ma'am are you ok "even if they didnt care simply because you dont want someone to be injured on your property. She just looked down at me and rolled her eyes. Ok. Cool. I mentioned this to the lady in charge and she just said " oh they are not as polite as people in US and canada, where are you from"? I told her Im from NYC, I know rude so thats no excuse but thanks. Luckily everyone else was pleasant.

The pass comes with loungers, lunch, and a rum punch. Anything else you have to pay for. Not cheap. Pina colada cost me $12 much more than ship. They only have 2 home like blenders so it may take a minute to get drinks. It was not was not I was expecting. Beach was nice. Water was cold but beautiful. Sand was not free of seaweed and rocks but still very soft. While laying on the beach or taking pictures I made sure not to look behind me. Behind me was a big open run down yard, and what I believe was a non functioning pool. A pool which is not for day pass users anyway. Its not the end of the world, just unexpected. This is not a resort. Its someones unkept backyard on the beach, but you make the best of it. I travel often and never give bad reviews but this place is not worth the visit. The showers were broken so they placed large buckets there in its place. all the guests took turns standing in the same bucket and cleaning themselves in the same water. Ill pass. Point me to the bathroom.

Lunch time. Lunch very good. Could not eat outside on the deck 100 flies were after my food. The server was nice enough to let us eat inside, which is only designated for hotel guests.

I learned something about Grand Turk from driver on way back to ship. Grand Turk is small 7 miles long. Not many hotels so that place may actually be a resort to the people there. Most hotels have no more than 30 rooms, but you will not find a large higher end resort. You have to visit other T & C islands like Provinciales, which is a lot more modern and developed.

Beautiful beach, good food, resort just a little bootleg.

 

 

Shows I enjoyed the Flix show, the love and marriage show and all the name that tune shows and singalongs. Good mix of music that all ages could enjoy.

 

 

I didnt win in the casino but enjoyed the games slot games they had.

 

 

Cabin Stewert. Not the best. He only made the bed. We kept the rest of the room tidy but if anything was out of place i.e an empty plate with crumbs or something fell on the floor, he did not move it. My husband ordered me a sushi platter. There no Bonsai on this ship so sushi was AWFUL. After a few bites I couldn't take it anymore so I covered left it on my table and left a note on it to please discard if possible. He still left it so I put it outside on my own. He only cleaned the bathroom and made the bed all week. Luckily we are not slobs. The first day he asked us if we wanted morning OR afternoon service. I said both. He kept talking about OR so again, I said BOTH,Thank you. Our shower was clogged the first day and he promptly called someone to come fix. He does the bare minimum but didnt ruin my trip and not enough for me to fight a gratuity or go complain.

Despite the good, great, and few eh moments. I had a wonderdul time. I have no loyalty to any line, I cruise RCCl, Norwegian and Carnival, based on who is going where I want to go. But I look forward to my next Carnival cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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paulanddarnell

paulanddarnell

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Thinking about a cruise on the Magic. Curious about privacy and the balcony with that Promenade deck. We like deck 8 also. If you had a balcony, can you comment on that? Did it seem weird to have that deck down there when you went out?

 

 

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shdixon

shdixon

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Thinking about a cruise on the Magic. Curious about privacy and the balcony with that Promenade deck. We like deck 8 also. If you had a balcony, can you comment on that? Did it seem weird to have that deck down there when you went out?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

To be honest there wasnt much going on below ours. A few chairs (not loungers) and A few yards away was a hot tub but the few people in that one paid us no mind. Keep in mind,many days it was not that warm so the low activity could have been due to that

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shdixon

shdixon

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Omg, I love Dr. E! He was the cruise director on my very first cruise a few years ago and I still talk about him! We are on the Magic in Jan 2019. I hope he will still be on it then!

Oh wow, I thought he was brand new. I loved him . My huband called him my "boyfriend" most of the cruise because I raved about him so much.

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serene56

serene56

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Thinking about a cruise on the Magic. Curious about privacy and the balcony with that Promenade deck. We like deck 8 also. If you had a balcony, can you comment on that? Did it seem weird to have that deck down there when you went out?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Most of your time will be sitting--looking out. Not looking down.

Deck 6 will have the privacy issue as those people walking the promanade can see you stting on the balcony.

We are booked for Feb 2019 into cabin 8441

No across the hall neighbors. Firedoor is located there. between cabin space and away from public noise areas.

convenient location for stairs and elevators. The only time i gotta travel is to get to the show lounge

 

Be mindful of booking a connecting cabin as you just dont know whats going to be in the cabin-- an older couple who cant hear who will listen to the TV at blaring volumns (dont take that chance)

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Mich3

Mich3

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Thank you for the info. We are on this ship in a couple weeks to Western Caribbean instead. The will be our first time from Port Canaveral. Was the boarding process smooth?

 

Also, did you happen to notice what time the Coffee Shop opens in the morning? My husband is an early riser.

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Cookie2boys

Cookie2boys

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Omg, I love Dr. E! He was the cruise director on my very first cruise a few years ago and I still talk about him! We are on the Magic in Jan 2019. I hope he will still be on it then!

 

I was on the Magic last month. He mentioned he was going to the Pride but did not say when. Glad I got a chance to cruise with him as the CD.

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mDag

mDag

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Thank you for the info. We are on this ship in a couple weeks to Western Caribbean instead. The will be our first time from Port Canaveral. Was the boarding process smooth?

 

Also, did you happen to notice what time the Coffee Shop opens in the morning? My husband is an early riser.

 

The coffee shop opened at 6, if I remember correctly (just off the Magic 1/6 sailing). There was often continental breakfast out right next to it at 630 or 700 too.

 

I thought embarkation at PC was good. Although, we were in a suite, so pretty much just walked right on. The other lines didn't look that bad.

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Mich3

Mich3

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The coffee shop opened at 6, if I remember correctly (just off the Magic 1/6 sailing). There was often continental breakfast out right next to it at 630 or 700 too.

 

I thought embarkation at PC was good. Although, we were in a suite, so pretty much just walked right on. The other lines didn't look that bad.

 

Thank you! We will have priority boarding, too, although at some ports it has still been chaos. We are looking forward to PC.

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beshears

beshears

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I just found your review, and glad I was able to read it. We are to do the Magic (first time) going the Western direction the end of March. There were 8 of us that took the very same itinerary that you did last year, before all the disaster. What a beautiful sight (I had been there a couple times) for my 3 sons and 3 d-i-ls to see. In regard to Puerto Rico, I had been there several times and found it beautiful, but had never gone "inside" the fort. I was so glad my sons (there was a drizzle of rain, but not bad, and warm) decided they wanted to check the inside of the fort, which we did. Oh my the view and pictures we took.

 

At this point, I don't have any questions, but it is possible that others will be asking, and it may be a question that eventually I might have ask. :)

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