zzmmmommy

Is there a place where I can see a table/chart of all the different cruise lines and itinerary's offered. A few years ago I was able to go on the Oasis for 5 nights, they were having a special sailing. I am trying to find if there are any of these special sailings in November or December/January of 2019. Not specific to the Oasis, but we are looking for one of the larger ships that are possibly having a special 4 or 5 night sailing.

Thank you!

Sorry- I didn't even realize I did that. Oops!

It appears zzmmmommy re-animated the dormant thread earlier today.

 

I have no issue with that, I do it myself to ask related questions, but I usually make sure to indicate the thread is old. In this, yeah, sometimes a post in a thread can look like new stuff, when it is in fact ancient history (in terms of forum posts).

Did you have any luck reaching anyone? I sent a very detailed to the corporate office and have not received any type of response. Was John Heald helpful? Thank you.

I just got off the Magic - the Pig and Anchor only seemed to be open 1 or 2 days during the week,unless we missed something. My husband was upset! He was looking forward to eating there and was very happy to try it!

I just got off the Magic, balcony cabins 2283 and 2285. The sewage smell was awful - I wish I had read some of these messages before, the ship made it seem like they had never had this problem before. The entire hallway was awful, but one of our rooms (2285) was definitely the worst within the entire hallway. I am so angry that I didn't see these messages earlier. There were hours when we couldn't be in the rooms because the smell was so awful. They told me that they were closing our room for the next sailing and needed to do some work on the pipes. I wonder if this is really the truth.

We were also asked about cleaning in the morning of at night, I didn't realize this was a change of the way things were. We only had night cleaning- it really was a non-issue except when we needed something, the room steward was nowhere to be found (if we needed towels during the day or things like that).

Now that I am home and doing laundry (dreaded!!), I am reminded of something else we noticed, having been on so many RC ships. On Royal there are staff everywhere with antibacterial pumps reminding you to wash your hands. There are people wiping down the handrails and elevators and everything ALL the time. We never saw this on the Magic. There were hand sanitizer machines but half were empty and nobody reminding you to use them. I was surprised about how little they were cleaning the handrails and elevator buttons - things that constantly get touched. Someone mentioned on here that there was a post about people getting sick a few weeks ago so I was crazy with my kids...just another FYI.

A few side notes...The Carnival Hub is great for communicating with my kids around the ship- I loved this! But, the menus were never right for dinner and some of the activities were missing from the What's Happening portion.

Lots of people were complaining that the My Account on the hub had charges that weren't correct - I can't say if this is true or not, we didn't really buy anything so it was easy to see if our charges were correct. However, if you are someone who makes purchase throughout the cruise you should keep checking your account.

Be careful in the game room - the ticket machine to redeem your tickets is flaky and we would swipe our card, my kids would take forever to make their choices and then the machine would erase our tickets. I know, something so silly but I wish we had realized this day 1 :).

We just got off the 7 day Carnival Magic EasternCaribbean. Here is my review…I will try and be short but detailed. I have never been on Carnival with my kids (14, 12, 9, and 9). We have only done Royal – and we have been on almost every ship except Harmony so we definitely had high expectations.

Our rooms were perfect location – room 2283 and 2285. We had a cove balcony in each room. The location couldn’t have been more perfect. It was so easy to go to the dining areas, getting on/off the ship at port. We were right near the elevators, yet there was very little noise coming in from outside.

However, there was a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE problem with the sewage system from day 1 and our rooms had the worst smell ever. There were times when we couldn’t even go outside on the balcony. The last 36 hours on the ship were horrendous- for about 8 hours we couldn’t even go inside the rooms because the smell was so horrible. The staff acted like they had never heard this before. We woke up today (thankfully we were leaving) and the toilet in room 2285 had leaked and the entire bathroom was flooded. At first guest services told us, and all the other people all on our floor, that this was the first time they have ever had this complaint. I found that hard to believe. But, after this morning they then said that they have been having problems with the plumbing and room 2285 was where the pipes ended and that was why the toilet and shower flooded. Ugh! Thankfully we could use the bathroom in our other room 2283. Not a good ending. DO NOT book a room on deck 2 along that hallway with rooms from 2280-2300. You will regret it!

Other things…we never did an excursion at any of the ports,we didn’t feel it was necessary for us. I don’t regret that at all. My kids enjoyed being on the ship when there were not so many people so they could enjoy the slides and ropes course. We got off on each port and walked around a bit:

Puerto Rico – walked to the forts ($7 for each adult and free for kids

Grand Turks – walked around a little bit if you need excitement then you should do an excursion

Amber Cove - we did the pool and slides that were suggested on here, the zipline was only for 14 year olds- but for $20 he was able to go as many times as he wanted to (it was great)

It did rain one of the days at sea- wasn't great, and not the ships fault but I did wish they had more activities around for us. We had 3 days at sea and the first day at sea was great - sunny and we were able to be outside. The last 2 days were cold and rainy, I thought they could have had more alternative activities for us.

My kids wouldn’t do camp- we did go and see the camp but my kids had no interest

We ate at the Lido deck for breakfast and lunch – staff were great, no complaints (we did all get food from either the Italian place, burritos,Guy’s burgers) and then all met back to eat together

Dinner we always ate at my time dining – service was great! We asked for the same staff every night and we loved it.

Shows were okay- hard to compare to the Oasis, but the cruise director (Dr. E) is amazing! He made a huge difference in the entertainment and the finale night of the Lip Sync Battle was just hysterical. Comedians were great also, I enjoyed their shows.

Other than my room situation my only other complaint was thesmoking. I have never been on a Carnivalship so I didn’t realize how much smoking is allowed on board. There is a large smoking area right under the kids water works area, so if you are sitting outside the water works area on deck 12 you can completely smell the smoke from 11. Also, the casino allowed smoking everywhere. There is 1 blackjack tablethat says no smoking, but it is right in the middle of all the smoking tables so it really doesn’t help. I complained/inquired on day 1 and was told by the casino supervisor that Carnival allows smoking all over- and it is his number 1 complaint. It really ruined the casino for me (which I guess is a good thing!).

Overall we had a great time, the Magic ship was a lot of funand the kids enjoyed the water slides which was the main reason we went. I did enjoy the shows better on Royal, but Dr. E made up for it. On the other hand,the way the sewage system problem was handled really ruined the last 2 days. Waking up today to a non-useable bathroom wasn’t helpful either ☹! The only compensation they offered was to comp us any spa or gift shop purchases that we had during the week, but we didn’t have any! I must write a letter and call Monday.

Conclusion – it was a great ship but stay away from Deck 2and the cove balconies on the odd side of the ship. The other hallway (even side) did not haveany issues.

Thanks for all your help and hopefully we will cruise again!

Thank you all! I don't think we need to visit a beach (we live in South FL)- kids would rather do the water slide and try the small zip lining when we first get off. We aren't crazy about driving and being far from the ship so the idea of just walking off and doing what is right there is perfect for us. Thank you!

Any suggestions for Amber Cove excursion? Nothing extreme- 4 kids (ages 6,9, 12, 14).

Not interested in any ATV or type of excursion like that- friend had a horrible accident 2 years ago while on a cruise and I can’t shake the fear.

Any of the beach or resort passes have enough activities for the kids? We loved Playa Del Maya in Cozumel last year- anything similar?

Thanks!

Where can I purchase Carnival Cruise Cash at a discount? I am assuming this is similar to buying a gas card at Publix valued at $50, but paying $40 for it. Any advice? I guess it is short notice...we leave tomorrow!

Oh no! Where did you hear that? We are going next week.

Someone on another group is saying there’s a huge flu outbreak on the magic right now with over 600 sick? True or false?

Thank you everyone - great tips! Some of the excursions look outrageously expensive, especially when there are 6 of us. I appreciate your ideas...thank you!

Any suggestions for an excursion on the Carnival Magic - Eastern Caribbean. We are going to San Juan, DR, and Grand Turk. My kids range from 9-14- we are not the most adventurous...no ATV riding or things like that. One of my kids is very hesitant so something on the calmer side. Thank you!

Do you happen to know what room numbers you had? We have 2 cove balcony's and I am nervous. We were once on a Royal cruise and right next to the engine room. It was the worst vacation I have ever had.

Hi! I am looking to take my kids (4 kids) on a cruise in April. I have a few requests and I am having trouble finding the right balance. We have done a few 3-4 night cruises and my kids are always underwhelmed. We would like one of the bigger/better ships but not 7-8 nights. Are there any ships that do 4-5 nights that have some of the wow factor of the bigger ships (water slides, rock climbing, etc)? We need 2 rooms so cost is a huge factor. The 7 and 8 night ships are just too expensive. Any advice? We can leave from any of the ports in Florida. Thank you!

Oops- I meant he can't miss an entire week of school. :)

I wish we could take a 7 day but I don't think my oldest can miss an entire week of school. His teachers wouldn't be very happy with us!

We just came off the Ruby Princess with our large extended family (all ages- my kids were the only little ones in the family)- not impressed and very little for the kids to do. I was hoping to find something more geared towards them.

Celebrity Constellation and Ruby Princess have been doing four day cruises from FLL, Thurs to Monday. go to their websites and sign up for email specials. EM

I wish we could take a 7 day but I don't think my oldest can miss an entire week of school. His teachers wouldn't be very happy with us!

We would like to take our 4 children on a cruise anywhere between now and the very beginning of March. We can't go on a 7 day, 5 day would be the max and it would need to be Thursday - Monday (my kids can't miss that much school). It seems like end of January is cheaper then February...any advice? We need 2 cabins for the 6 of us so price is definitely important!

Also, I can't seem to find any of the nicer ships leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami - they all seem to be 7 day. Can anyone recommend a really fun 4-5 night cruise out of South Florida for my family?

Thanks so much in advance!

I looked up Disney - nothing available those dates. Anyway, I think I might feel kind of guilty going on my first Disney cruise without the kids :)

I only have my inlaws from the 16th - 20th...nothing more. To leave from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale would be the easiest, but it seems like there aren't many choices.

If this was your first vacation, without children, in 11 years, which one would you choose? Destinations are not important - Key West, Cozumel, etc. That we don't care about, we care more about enjoying the shows, food, casino, that kind of stuff.

My husband and I have been given the chance to take a cruise, without our children - first night away in 11 years!!! But we only have January 16-20. We live in Fl and can leave from any port here, but we can't travel elsewhere. I can only seem to find 2 Carnival ships - the Victory and Ecstasy. We were hoping for some more choices. I can't seem to find anything else. Does anyone have any suggestions, are we missing a cruise? Thx!