Carnival Magic April 8th Eastern Caribbean Cruise Review

Thanks for the fun times. I see that when you were in St. Thomas the casino was open on the ship. Was that true or did you notice?:cool:

Never went to the casino and didn't keep track, sorry :D

Reading your review and it is like a preview of our cruise on the Magic In June. Amber cove my hubby and twin boys are doing the Terracross excursion, in St. Thomas we are all going on the Trunk Bay excursion and in San Juan we plan to the forts and Old San Juan shopping. Sounds like lots of fun.

That's awesome! They will LOVE the Terracross excursion!

It was a short (but uphill) walk from the pier. I had a map with me...if you Google you'll be able to find one easily. We could have taken the trolley; however, it was a little crazy near the port (2 ships disembark at the same time) so we opted to walk instead :-)

Excellent! I thought that might be the issue with the trolley. Since it will August, however, heat way win out over trolly lines ;).

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Wednesday – San Juan (continued)

After lunch we discovered that the WaterWorks works! So the kids spent lots of time playing there before we got ready for another elegant night. I’m thankful that Carnival wasable to make the repairs in time for my kids to use all that Waterworks has to offer. It was one of the reasons I decided on the Magic after all!

We made sure to go to dinner earlier (5:45pm) than the last elegant night to hopefully miss out on the 45-minute wait like the last time! We were able to make it right in with no wait at all. It was tonight that we met our favorite wait staff. They did a FANTASTIC job. Here they are…

Food for tonight:

After dinner we caught the Dine-In Movie: Hidden Figures. It was a great movie! Tip: When you are ready for the movie don’t forget to grab yourself a blanket. They hand them out by the towel hut.

Thursday – Grand Turk

We received an announcement early this morning from the captain that there was a boat in distress and that maritime law requires that the closest ship come to its aid. He explained that this would delay our arrival time to Grand Turk. I got up, headed to see my favorite person and relaxed a bit on the balcony. This was probably the port I was most excited to see. After breakfast we heard from the cruise director…we were back on track to Grand Turk and would only be about 45 minutes late. They decided to extend our time atport to make up for it. By the time we arrived there was already a Carnival ship docked and the place was crazy busy. I really don’t know how they were going to fit everyone on the same island!

We scheduled another Carnival excursion for today:

Rays, Conch & Reef Snorkel

This tour takes you on a guided snorkel tour of the beautiful Caribbean reef experiencing first-hand the beauty of Grand Turk’s underwater world. With a myriad of colors on display, you will see an abundanceof tropical fish and vibrant coral as you snorkel the clear, turquoise waters. Your experienced tour guide will introduce you to some of the exciting marine life around Grand Turk such as sharks, rays and turtles. With the help of your tour guide snorkel for Conch Shells that will after be prepared into a fresh Conch Salad. Before boarding your boat to enjoy this local delicacy you will have time at Gibbs Cay to swim and play with the friendly rays.

When we arrived we had about an hour or so to do some shopping before meeting for our excursion. After everyone was accounted for they marched us down the beach to awaiting catamaran type boat and off we went. Our first stop was intended to look for conch shells which, IMHO, was acomplete waste of time. There really was nothing to see or do. After about 15 minutes of floating looking at sand they gathered us back on the boat and went to a coral reef. This was 100% better and I wish we would have had more time here. After only about 20 more minutes of snorkeling it was time to get back on the boat and we headed to Gibbs Cay.

It was obvious that the sting rays were used to people and they were all over the place. Our guidewas able to hold one so everyone could get a look and he asked for all the children first…which I appreciated!

While everyone was checking out the sting rays the other guides were busy on the shore preparing our Conch salad and explaining to everyone how it’s made.

Back on the boat! On our way back to the ship everyone helped themselves to rum punch, water, and Conch salad. After it was all said and done I would have preferred more snorkeling…especially for the high pricetag. I am thankful that I wasn’t one of the folks from our boat that had to try and find an empty beach chair…because…goodluck!

Beach was packed!

The boat:

Thursday – Continued

We headed to dinner after we were back on board and askedfor the same wait staff…they were just as good as the previous night.

Following. Good review so far. Thanks

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Friday – Last day at sea

When we boarded the ship the first day we knew we had to sign up for the “Behind the Fun” tour or we’d miss out. So as soon as we walked onto the Magic we headed to the excursion desk and signed up! We had never done anything like this before and thought the kids would find it interesting. I had gone back and forth during the days leading up to the cruise. It’s a hefty price tag for a family of four! We ultimately decided to do it because we weren’t sure if we would have another opportunity in the future and this was more of a vacation for the kiddos…so here, take my money.

Carnival’s ‘Behind the Fun’ Tour

For those who want to get an insider’s look at the inner-workings of a Carnival ‘Fun Ship’, Carnival has created ‘Behind the Fun’,a guided tour that provides guests with a unique insight into the company’s shipboard operations.

‘Behind the Fun’ is offered fleet wide. The informative tour offers participants a behind-the-scenes look at a wide range of ship board venues that are normally off limits to guests. During the tour, key ship board personnel, including the captain, chief engineer, chef de cuisine and other department heads, share their vast knowledge in their particular area of expertise.

‘Behind the Fun’ begins with a stop backstage in the main show lounge where participants can see exactly what goes into creating Carnival’s award-winning revues. The tour then moves on to normally restricted areas such as the laundry room, crew galley and dining room, crew gym and crew training center.

Next it’s on to the expansive main galley where talented culinary artists prepare upwards of 12,000 meals and snacks a day for Carnival’s guests. The tour also includes a visit to the ship’s bridge and engine control room and informative Q&A sessions with the captain and chief engineer, respectively.

In addition to a comprehensive overview of Carnival’s shipboard operations, ‘Behind the Fun’participants receive a number of commemorative gifts, including a custom-made‘Behind the Fun’ baseball cap and lanyard and even complimentary photos with the captain on the bridge.

We met everyone in the steakhouse at 8:30am. They had beverages and assorted breakfast pastries for everyone.

Audi was our tour guide and he happened to be on his last week of his contract before going home to India. He was extremely nice and informative. My kids would ask me to repeat what he said every once in a while because they sometimes had a hard time understanding him with his accent. Also, they had difficulties with other staff members as well but I think they got the gist of everything.

I don’t want too much detail here because surprises are nice. After it was all said and done we got to see the kitchen, engine control room, entertainment staff’s dressing room, crew dining room and training center, laundry room, and the bridge. They do not allow you to see the crew cabins. Of course the bridge was the best part. The captain actually let my daughter push the button that blows the ships horn.

You get a treat from the chef when you return to your room and a picture of yourself with the captain to keep later that same night.

After our tour we headed to Guys Burgers (the French fries are amazing) and the Tandoor for lunch. Tandoor is an Indian food buffet tucked away at the back of the ship. This buffet was rarely busy and had some of my favorite food on the ship. Tip: Make sure to stop at the Tandoor for lunch at least once while on the Magic, you won’t regret it.

Dad took the kids to a magic show while I took a nap and then we had more WaterWorks/Pool time before dinner. We weren’t able to sit in Joel’s section tonight because we didn’t want to wait. Dinner took forever and we missed Joel the whole time.

After dinner we rushed to the America Rocks production…it was really good, I’d recommend it! Afterwards we stopped at the Redfrog Pub. The Redfrog Pub had some of my favorite drinks from the cruise:

The Ting-A-Ling (I also really liked Red's Painkiller!)

Then it was time to go back to the room and pack :loudcry:

How much was the behind the fun tour??

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How much was the behind the fun tour??

 

 

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I believe it was $90-$95 per person.

I apologize if this has been asked already but I just came across this review. We are doing Magic in Dec and are taking Cortrans. Can you tell me what time you got to the port after being picked up?

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thanks so much for the review. we will be doing the magic western Caribbean in October. Did Tandoor have nan? if so, I will be lunching there every day. :D

I hope you do come back to your review.

Was Tandoor open on embarkation day? did you try the Italian restaurant at all?

Were there movies every night outside?

we too have booked a cove balcony.

was the iron room combined with the laundry room, or were they two different places?

Thanks again!

Really enjoyed the review!! Have sailed on the Dream, but just booked a trip on the Magic in 2018, looking forward to it!

We were on Magic this past December and will be on it again this coming December, love this ship! Will miss it when it leaves PC but looking forward to booking the Breeze our of PC for at least one cruise next year.

 

This review bringing back super good memories and pix, we were in regular balcony on deck 7, midship port side, perfect!

 

Cant wait for rest of review...

The Magic is leaving PC? The Breeze is leaving Galveston? Where did you learn this info?

The Magic is leaving PC? The Breeze is leaving Galveston? Where did you learn this info?

It was announced awhile back. Summer or fall of 2018. You can book cruises on Breeze out of PC now

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