Magic cove balcony, did you find it stuffy?

[bizeemom4]

I was in Cabin 2285. It was a guarantee cabin assignment. DO NOT BOOK.

[cellfree]

We have booked a Cove Balcony on the Magic but not until October 2022 out of Norfolk VA for three overnights in Bermuda, such a long time to wait. Although do have other cruises booked before then. Anxiously awaiting our next cruise!

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 1/29/2021 at 4:15 PM, hockeyluver said:

We had a cove on the Dream , our first and last.   We missed the sun,  the view and the breeze.  Our last full sea day  it was a bit rough out and could not enjoy the balcony at all,  we were getting quite a bit of sea spray and we were more than half way back.  We will stick with our higher deck balcony, next cruise we are on deck 14 😮

 

Most folks don't realize this, but the amount of sea spray (really mist) you get is fairly minimal way up front (for normal sea state conditions), and tends to maximize about mid-ship.  The bow hits a wave and waters sprays up from sea level (duh), the larger drops fall back, but the smaller droplets gets aerosolized as a mist.  It takes a while to drift up, and by then, the front quarter of the ship is past the "spray" (really mist), and the middle half of the ship is enjoying the fullness of the mist, as-it-were.

 

We were in the port-side most forward cove on Breeze like a couple of other posters, and experienced almost no mist/spray.  It was glorious!  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

This video shows what it looks like with a very calm sea state, and you can see where the cove balconies start under the very first lifeboat:

 

 

[crazy4themouse]

We have been in 2276 several times now, and it's a great location! It's a few staterooms behind the forward lifts, under the lobby so nice and quiet at night, and in a spot with no lifeboat overhead so you get this amazing view of the stars at night and a bit more sun during the day, but still pretty shady with no direct sun and still cozy feeling. You really feel like you're the only people on the ship when you sit out there. 

 

And bonus: Depending on how your ship "parks" in ports, you have a 50/50 chance of being on the side that has front-row seats for the best show onboard -- the drunken pier runners at the end of a port day, lol. 😄 I guess better than 50/50, as #2276 is on the port side and we were on the pier-facing side every time. 🙂 

[evandbob]

Just be aware that the proximity to the water makes it seem to zoom by the ship really fast, and this can affect anyone who has motion sickness or inner ear issues. That closeness may also present higher spray and salt issues on the cove balcony than one on a higher deck.

 

I'd rather pay a little more for mid ship, mid deck balconies, cabin above and below, way more peaceful than some noisier coves.  JMO, YMMV.

[JMKreno]

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Cove balconies. It's actually a reason we try to stick with Carnival (that said, we HOPE our Oasis OTS cruise goes in October...) when all things are considered.

 

We love the proximity to the water the most, but the added shade from above makes them very pleasant to sit out and relax on during the day. I take many good naps out there compared to the regular, more exposed, balconies.

 

We try to book them any chance we can and have on the Magic & Vista. 

[Joe817]

8 minutes ago, JMKreno said:

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Cove balconies. It's actually a reason we try to stick with Carnival (that said, we HOPE our Oasis OTS cruise goes in October...) when all things are considered.

 

We love the proximity to the water the most, but the added shade from above makes them very pleasant to sit out and relax on during the day. I take many good naps out there compared to the regular, more exposed, balconies.

 

We try to book them any chance we can and have on the Magic & Vista. 

Right there with you JM! We spent a LOT of time on our balcony, watching the waves go by. And you get a fantastic look at that beautiful cobalt blue water. We were on the Dream, but it's a sister ship to the Magic. In fact, we were so taken by the cove balcony, that we booked another one, but this time on the vista. 🤞

 

 

[marshhawk]

On 2/12/2021 at 7:01 PM, F27TW said:

He;s gonna fish off his balcony ???  

No, you cant fish from the ship....just a running joke in our family, especially since i love to fish...DH? not so much.  What would you do with a fish anyway?

[BrotherCraig]

We love the cove balcony and always our FIRST choice when we cruise.  We had two cabins together on the Magic, both Cove, and the cabins were 2415 and 2417.  Loved them.  No issues whatsoever.  We love being close the water, we love the roomier balcony that the Cove has, and we love being close to the dining room and Gangway. Another bonus is being a short hop up the stairs to be on the main deck and Atrium.  

 

We also had Cove twice on the Breeze (sister ship) and no issue at all with either of the cabins other than having a camera outside of our balcony.  Wasn't a big deal for us.  Nothing to hide.  On the Breeze, we had 2400 (kind of under the galley area but no issues).  We also had 2306.  Loved the cabins.  2306 had the camera.  I believe the Magic has the same.

 

On another note with the Cove, it has been a little extra to have a cove balcony than a Lido balcony believe it or not.  We paid more twice.  Also again for the Mardi Gras cruise coming up for Cove over regular balcony.  Thought that was odd.

Edited May 13, 2021 by BrotherCraig

[Cruising with kiddos]

On 1/28/2021 at 3:21 PM, versuco said:

On the Magic we booked stateroom 2309 which had a vent blowing hot, smelly air on the balcony making it unusable.  It smelled like an incinerator.  You could not even open the balcony door as the pungent odor would permeate the cabin.

I would agree on the Magic.  We were in 2385 and In-laws in 2309.  Same issues several years back.  My father-in-law went and talked with guest services just to let them know (not asking for anything), but Carnival did right by us and we each got a pretty nice OBC.  It was nice as the balcony was completely unusable due to the smell.  My mom was in 2365 on that same sailing and had no issues with smell at all.  Though she didn't sleep well the first night due to load banging...once she realized it was just the galley above, she was able to tune it out.

That being said, we LOVE coves and book them whenever we can, we just now look for reviews on the cabins and at pictures of the ship to try to avoid areas that appear to be near these types of vents!
 

[versuco]

18 minutes ago, Cruising with kiddos said:

I would agree on the Magic.  We were in 2385 and In-laws in 2309.  Same issues several years back.  My father-in-law went and talked with guest services just to let them know (not asking for anything), but Carnival did right by us and we each got a pretty nice OBC.  It was nice as the balcony was completely unusable due to the smell.  My mom was in 2365 on that same sailing and had no issues with smell at all.  Though she didn't sleep well the first night due to load banging...once she realized it was just the galley above, she was able to tune it out.

That being said, we LOVE coves and book them whenever we can, we just now look for reviews on the cabins and at pictures of the ship to try to avoid areas that appear to be near these types of vents!
 

We also love the coves and book them every chance we get.  This was the first time we had any issue with one.   They did try and compensate us by giving us 30% off a future cruise.  That was a nice gesture but did not really make up for not having a balcony as we spend lots of time there (we social distanced before it became popular).  The ship was full and they could not move us to another cabin.

 

We have 2277 booked on the Vista in June, 2022,  hopefully it will not have any issues.

[Cruising with kiddos]

18 hours ago, versuco said:

We have 2277 booked on the Vista in June, 2022,  hopefully it will not have any issues.

Can't promise, but my niece and her husband had 2309 on the Vista in December of 2019 with no issues.  The rest of our crew was on the Port side of the ship for that cruise.  Best of luck on your Vista cruise!

 

 

18 hours ago, versuco said:

we social distanced before it became popular

We too social distanced before it became popular, so we were super bummed with the balcony issue, but we were able to find a few quiet spots on the ship so it helped.

[silvercrikhix]

Old thread but oh well.
We’ve had a cove once. Great for privacy, a bit bigger balcony, port days (no elevator to get on & off), views in port for pier runners! & the closeness to the water. We didn’t like being so far to lido and other things. = Lots of elevator time. Lol