Carnival Magic May 19th-25th, 2019 Short Review

[Kelcash]

Overall, we (my husband and I and my daughter and her boyfriend) had a great time. This was a 6 night cruise beginning in Fort Lauderdale with stops at Half Moon Cay, Amber Cove and Grand Turk. Our last cruise was on the Disney Dream in 2011. Prior to that we had gone on 1, 7 day Princess cruise to the Western Caribbean. 
The Ship/Activities:
The CD, MarQ, was very entertaining. The ship was clean and we saw staff cleaning the common areas throughout the week. Our cabin was perfect (other than some really loud neighbors who liked to congregate in the hall between 2-4 a.m.). Very comfy bed, hot shower, air conditioning worked well. We had a balcony and my daughter had an inside cabin. 
We played Bingo, saw the Love and Marriage Show, 2 comedy shows, went to Quest, watched 1 Dive-In movie, played trivia, went to the MarQ's farewell and 90's Trivia party which was a lot of fun. We had a good time at everything. 
Food:
We had your time dining - used the HUB app to reserve a table and there was never really a wait of any kind. By the time we got to the dining room our table was ready. Dining room food was good - one of the elegant nights filet mignon was on the menu. We ate at Guy's Burgers a couple of times - good but greasy. Didn't love the buffet but we don't care for buffet's anyway. Nothing really wrong with it, but way better on Disney (which you definitely pay for). We ate at the Italian restaurant and it was tasty. The 24 hour pizza was a hit with all of us. There was a line at times but it moved quickly. 
Ports/Excursions: 
Loved the beach at Half Moon Cay. The water was super clear and calm. Enjoyed just relaxing. BBQ lunch was provided - chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, fruit, brownies and a bunch of different type salads. 

We took a private excursion at Amber Cove to the Damajagua Waterfalls through Iguana Mama. We had 12 people in our group and they took excellent care of us. We did the 12 waterfalls trip and afterward they provided lunch (and rum & coke). Highly recommend Iguana Mama. 

We did another private excursion on Grand Turk with Humpback Dive Shack. Also had a great experience. First stop was snorkeling with sting rays and then we snorkeled at a nearby reef (not the wall). We saw a lot of colorful fish and really enjoyed it. Loved that they are environmentally friendly - the captain turned the boat around to pick up a floating balloon and they also don't touch the sting rays or feed them (which is apparently illegal there). The water at Grand Turk was amazing. After our excursion, we walked down to Jack's Shack for lunch and rented 2 umbrellas for the afternoon ($10 each for the umbrellas, the chairs are free). You can also rent floats for $10 for the day. 

We had a really good time on the cruise. Almost all of the Carnival employees we encountered were very friendly. We definitely got our money's worth.

If you have any questions let me know!

[mexicobob]

Enjoyed your review.  Thanks for taking the time to write it.

[LotusLane]

Thank you for the review! I sail on the Magic in 2020.  I've been reading some bad reviews and feeling apprehensive about it.  We have never been on the Magic before.  However, every ship we have been on we have always had a good time.  Thank you for taking the time to write a short review!

[havanadaydreaming]

I'm taking that same ship and itinerary in September, looking forward to seeing the grand turk water.

[hard_eight]

Same ship and itinerary on Sunday! So excited! 

[Florings]

Thanks for taking the time with your review.  We've been on the Magic before and again this coming October.  A lovely, large ship - very well maintained and something for everyone!