Just back from the Magic... a few thoughts

[Knights on the Beach]

1 hour ago, BroadwayGirl said:

Yep and this isn’t the first one. They haven’t been the only ones with clickbait titles like boarding being refused (they had to take a test) and other drama headlines like this is how cruisers are treated, etc. I refuse to subscribe to those channels that do that. 

My DIL and I were watching some ParoDeeJay videos last month and stumbled on a JJ Cruise video.  We watched about 5 minutes of it and turned it off - they're super annoying drama queens who whine about everything.

[ray98]

Yup....those guys annoy me so much I actually blocked their channel because it kept popping up in my Youtube cruise feed.

[hurricane0226]

1 hour ago, BoozinCroozin said:

With all the talk about boarding times not being adhered to at the ports, I reached out to Carnival and they messaged back. They said they have been strictly adhering to arrival windows at the terminals and not allowing people in if it was not their boarding time. I trust y'all who have been through before some canned garbage response like that. 

 

Carnival is forcing this protocols down our throats (I agree with them), they need to be force fed a bit of it as well to strictly enforce their arrival time windows.

Was on the 8/7 magic cruise, and there were alot of people there, we had a 10:30-1100am check in but looked like everyone there had the same, and no one was turning anyone away, they were just welcoming us back.

[Frank12]

10 minutes ago, hurricane0226 said:

Was on the 8/7 magic cruise, and there were alot of people there, we had a 10:30-1100am check in but looked like everyone there had the same, and no one was turning anyone away, they were just welcoming us back.

That's how it was on the 8/12 one also. It was a madhouse. The terminal was so full by 11:30 they shut the doors and would not let anymore people in.  Tons of people who were there at the correct time were lined up outside in the hot sun for 30-45 minutes.  There is no way everyone already inside the terminal had 10:30 or 11:00 check in times!

It was the only bad thing about the whole cruise! 

[hurricane0226]

6 minutes ago, Frank12 said:

That's how it was on the 8/12 one also. It was a madhouse. The terminal was so full by 11:30 they shut the doors and would not let anymore people in.  Tons of people who were there at the correct time were lined up outside in the hot sun for 30-45 minutes.  There is no way everyone already inside the terminal had 10:30 or 11:00 check in times!

It was the only bad thing about the whole cruise! 

sure was, hope they fix it.

[BoozinCroozin]

7 hours ago, hurricane0226 said:

sure was, hope they fix it.

 

7 hours ago, Frank12 said:

That's how it was on the 8/12 one also. It was a madhouse. The terminal was so full by 11:30 they shut the doors and would not let anymore people in.  Tons of people who were there at the correct time were lined up outside in the hot sun for 30-45 minutes.  There is no way everyone already inside the terminal had 10:30 or 11:00 check in times!

It was the only bad thing about the whole cruise! 

I messaged Carnival on FB. Their response was that it was not happening at any of the US ports they sail from. I guess a message to John Heald is necessary now to get a real answer.

[Frank12]

4 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

 

I messaged Carnival on FB. Their response was that it was not happening at any of the US ports they sail from. I guess a message to John Heald is necessary now to get a real answer.

They are so full of it!  They were checking to make sure you had boarding passes, covid cards and passports in hand but not one person actually looked at the boarding pass to verify check in time.

[Knights on the Beach]

There are a LOT of people with 10:30 - 11:00 check-in times in our 8-26 FB group.  We checked in online 16 days ahead of the cruise date and people who just booked the cruise a day or two ago are saying they also got 10:30 - 11:00.  It seems crazy.

[matymil]

On 8/16/2021 at 7:34 PM, Frank12 said:

• Cruising on a reduced capacity sailing will spoil you! Plenty of lounge chairs and no lines...even on debarkation!
• The crew is as glad to be back as you are. They were wonderful!
• Based on things I had read I expected less than stellar service in the MDR. Not the case on the Magic! We never spent more than an hour or so at dinner and the food was fantastic!
• Masks were really a non-issue. Compliance from the guests was way better than I expected.  The strictest enforcement was the casino and the Lido buffet.  Definitely not a deal breaker for us.
• I expected the first few months back to be mostly veteran cruisers who missed it as much as we did, but I was really surprised at the number of blue cards I saw.  This is a strange time for folks to be trying their first cruise ever, but definitely a good sign for the cruise industry!
• As a final thought I will repeat....cruising on a reduced capacity sailing will spoil you!

This is awesome to hear! We are going next month. Thanks for the feedback. Just curious, we have never been on a Dream class ship. Is there something they upgraded or added to the Magic during the drydock we should look for? (aside from the paint job) 

[Thenagers]

On 8/16/2021 at 7:47 PM, ladychater said:

Do you know what percentage they sailed at?  I saw a video from JJ Cruise today where they said that both the Horizon and Mardi Gras were so crowded that they feel that Carnival is unsafe right now.  Were you in the theater or in the Piano Bar?  They said people were packed in like sardines in those places, among others.  I'm sailing on the Panorama in November and this all has me nervous.

You have to consider that JJ went on the first Horizon and Mardis Gras sailings. I think future Horizons went down some and Mardis Gras is a new ship. Lots of hype. I also think numbers will be down because of the new masking. This can make a difference to many. From what RCL says they can still make a profit at 50 percent. Hopefully Carnival can as well. 

[Thenagers]

On 8/17/2021 at 6:00 PM, pogoism9 said:

 I was never subbed, but what part of this doesn't scream clickbait?

 

 

I think what pisses me off the most is, the day before, they had posted a video about all the stuff they were doing on Mardi Gras, not a mask in sight. If you felt that "unsafe" would you continue to run around without your mask?

 

 

I watched some of the livestreams from Horizon and Mardis Gras. They actually said numerous times that social distancing was a problem. They even talked about the Quest game on Horizon. Yikes! This wasn’t something they said out of the blue. I was jealous of Carnival cruisers because our July cruise was on RCL.  I think Carnival is making changes since then. 

[Frank12]

7 hours ago, matymil said:

This is awesome to hear! We are going next month. Thanks for the feedback. Just curious, we have never been on a Dream class ship. Is there something they upgraded or added to the Magic during the drydock we should look for? (aside from the paint job) 

They added a non-smoking casino with a small bar on deck 4 Aft. They also put new black felt (instead of the old red) on all the table games in both casino's.  That was the only major changes I noticed.

I'm sure they did a lot of painting and carpet replacing like they do during most dry docks.

[jetsfan58]

Thanks for this information. I believe this information makes us all look forward to our upcoming cruises even more. It also appears that most passengers are following the rules which will keep us all safe and continuing to Cruise. 

 

Great Commentary Cruise Nuts.

[jimbo5544]

On 8/16/2021 at 7:47 PM, ladychater said:

Do you know what percentage they sailed at?  I saw a video from JJ Cruise today where they said that both the Horizon and Mardi Gras were so crowded that they feel that Carnival is unsafe right now.  Were you in the theater or in the Piano Bar?  They said people were packed in like sardines in those places, among others.  I'm sailing on the Panorama in November and this all has me nervous.

How did they determine not safe?

[Frank12]

4 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

How did they determine not safe?

They are health experts.🙄🤓

[jimbo5544]

8 minutes ago, Frank12 said:

They are health experts.🙄🤓

LOL, never ceases to amaze me

[Anyislandwilldo]

Can't wait!!!  We board the Magic in Oct and so pumped to cruise again.  The closer we get, the more exited I become.  😃

[Frank12]

4 hours ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

Can't wait!!!  We board the Magic in Oct and so pumped to cruise again.  The closer we get, the more exited I become.  😃

We've been on Dream and Breeze, but not Magic prior to last week.  

It was a great cruise.  Meals in the MDR were off the charts!

Enjoy!

[matymil]

14 hours ago, Frank12 said:

They added a non-smoking casino with a small bar on deck 4 Aft. They also put new black felt (instead of the old red) on all the table games in both casino's.  That was the only major changes I noticed.

I'm sure they did a lot of painting and carpet replacing like they do during most dry docks.

I saw they do not have a sports bar. If you wanted to watch Monday Night Football on the Magic, where do you think would be the best place?

[Frank12]

10 hours ago, matymil said:

I saw they do not have a sports bar. If you wanted to watch Monday Night Football on the Magic, where do you think would be the best place?

Red Frog Pub and Casino bar had sports on TV. (Tennis, cricket and soccer) but I'm sure they will be showing football when the season is here.  RFP will be less smoky if that is a factor for you!

[jetsfan58]

I have an inquiry for anyone who really knows the facts regarding the Carnival Pre Cruise Covid Testing procedures. To date, I have been Blessed not to have contracted the Covid 19 Virus and/or have to be tested as a close contact to anyone. 

 

1). I understand the 3 day rule. If we are sailing on a Saturday we need to get the testing done on Wednesday. 

2). What about passengers that do not reside in Florida? I am assuming that they get tested in their States of residence?

3). Do you tell the testing facility that you need a Pre Cruise Test?  What testing facilities perform the tests for free? I was told if you did not have the Covid symptoms then the tests are not free?

4). Does the testing center provide you with Hard Copy shoeing the test results? Do they email or text the results to your cellular telephone?

5). What forms of test verification does Carnival accept?

 

These are the procedural issues that we all need to understand.   

 

Yes I know I did ask this same inquiry on another topic. I am trying to get real answers from Cruisers that know. Thanks, in advance, for your professional and/or first hand experience responses.

[Joe817]

Testing must be done within that 3 day window before cruising. It doesn't matter where you live. 3 days is a hard and fast rule. It is irrelevant where you live and where you cruise from.

 

We didn't tell the testing facility(in our case, CVS) anything except we wanted a quick antigen test. They didn't ask why we want one.  CVS provided it to us at no out of pocket expenses.  We had no symptoms at all. 

 

For us, we arrived at the CVS test site about 5 minutes before our appointed time. The wife's appointment was at 1pm. Mine was at 1:10. We were out of the parking lot at 1:20. Easy peasy. 

 

No hard copy result was given to us at testing site. It was emailed to us about 2 hours later, with a text message notifying us it was available. I hope that answers your questions. 

[Anyislandwilldo]

On 8/19/2021 at 2:13 PM, Frank12 said:

We've been on Dream and Breeze, but not Magic prior to last week.  

It was a great cruise.  Meals in the MDR were off the charts!

Enjoy!

I've been on the Dream and the Breeze so far.  Loved the Dream.  We have the Dream booked in 2024 for the Panama Canal.  Can't wait!!

[matymil]

14 hours ago, Frank12 said:

Red Frog Pub and Casino bar had sports on TV. (Tennis, cricket and soccer) but I'm sure they will be showing football when the season is here.  RFP will be less smoky if that is a factor for you!

Awesome. Thank you. Last time i was at the red frog they did not have football

[matymil]

On 8/19/2021 at 5:16 AM, Thenagers said:

I watched some of the livestreams from Horizon and Mardis Gras. They actually said numerous times that social distancing was a problem. They even talked about the Quest game on Horizon. Yikes! This wasn’t something they said out of the blue. I was jealous of Carnival cruisers because our July cruise was on RCL.  I think Carnival is making changes since then. 

I tired to sit through this. It was awful, they obviously have an agenda.