Marauder40

4 hours ago, leedm said:

We sail on the Magic Sept 28, 2019. Can you the names of the current Captain, the Hotel Manager, the Chief Eng. and Cruise Director

 

Thanks

 

The cruise director was Simon London.  The cruise we were on was the last cruise for this captain.  The captain is taking some time off and will become the captain for the Panorama.  They said this was the last cruise for SEVERAL crew members.  The only ones they said specifically were the head chef and the sound technician (since he was in the theatre at the time and he is leaving for the birth of his child.)

1 hour ago, mommio said:

I keep checking back to your review!  Waiting to find out what the "yellow stuff" was lol!

 

Only editing on my tablet/phone today.  Will try to get a small update up tomorrow.  Maybe the next section will include that since I can come up with a few topics that don’t  need the ability to add pictures.

I did forget to mention that on our first sea-day while my son was waiting for his swimsuit to dry so he could go on the ropes course, all of sudden they cleared the pool, drained it, and refilled it.  I highly suspect someone left a personal souvenir in the pool. 

The topic for today is on-board activities with kids.

Camp Ocean Sharks

We had a feeling before going into the trip that my son wouldn't be happy with Camp Ocean.  He is 11 years old which puts him at the top of the range for Camp Ocean.  He also hates doing anything that identifies him as younger.  He hated the fact that he had to wear that green wristband that shows his muster station.  We had an agreement with him that he would at least have to give Camp Ocean a try.

On the first day they had an open house where you were supposed to just get an overview of the club and verify your information in the system and signup if you didn't already do that.  We signed up in advance but when we got there the computer flagged us as not having signed up in advance, but then when they went into the records themselves it showed we had signed up.  I think they need a little work on their system.  They also told him about the Sharks and were able to look in the records and let him now how many other Sharks there were.  He felt a little better when we left there.

That night they had a "mixer" that if the kid showed you needed to bring at least one parent.  That was a bust.  There was maybe 10 kids there.  We tried to play on one of the systems, it turns out that each system only has one game.  They have a label on the monitor that says what game it is, but there is no method of switching the games on each system.  Of course the systems that had the good games were already taken.  We figured we would take ANY game that would work with two controllers.   Most of the ones that were left didn't work at all or you couldn't get the second controller to work.  So my son volunteered to play a board game with me.  He found the game Sorry.  The game was beat up.  The board itself was in 4 pieces (not a travel set, a broken board) so you had to put it back together.  There is no way that more then two people could play the game since only one color had enough pieces, you could make enough pieces based on the second player being ALL of the other colors since there were so few of any other color.  Not a good advertisement for a kid who already didn't want to be there.

There were two other events we convinced him to try out.  The first one he went to he said he was the ONLY 10 or 11 year old and that all the games they played were geared to the 9 year old.  He really wanted to win something so he tried two of the trivia events.  One was the emoji trivia and he didn't like that at all.  The second was a generic trivia thing and he said that it was again mostly 9 year olds playing games and they never got around to the trivia.  One thing that made us nervous was that if your kid is allowed to sign them-self in and out, they are supposed to tell them where they are going when they sign them-self out.  This time when he signed himself out he told them he was going to the "Southern Lights Dining Room" since he was meeting us there.  He told them exactly that, and they wrote "lounge."  Sort of defeats the purpose of doing that if they don't even write what the kid tells them.  That was the last event he attended since he had no interest in going back. 

His basic impression of the Sharks was that the only people that ever showed up were either on the video games the entire time and didn't want any interaction or were the 9 year olds and that ALL of the games and fun were geared to them or even the younger groups.

Club 02

Club 02 had us more nervous then my daughter.  My daughter is pretty shy, but she is also VERY energetic so the two together can make it difficult for her to meet new people.  The first day on board, during the day they have a time where they want a parent to come with each child and verify the information and put a Club 02 sticker on their badge.  They were late getting ready for that but we quickly verified our registration and they answered any questions either my daughter or I had.  

That night she went to the mixer based on numerous suggestions from here.  She came back crying.  She said that ALL the people that were there were rude, cussing like crazy, and the only music they played was rap music.  She hates rap music.  Nobody talked to her even though she tried talking to people.  She didn't like the vibe at all.  She didn't want to go back at all.  We convinced her to try some of the day activities because it might be totally different.

She went back for a day activity and she said it was totally different.  The people that came out for the day activities were totally different from the ones that came out for the night ones.  She even tried another night activity and left pretty fast because NONE of the nice people went to it.  She loved the teen bingo, trivia, and scavenger hunts.

Pool and WaterWorks

The first sea-day my son and I were able to get out to the pool area pretty early.  My wife and daughter went to both the Morning Show and the a couple shopping shows.  I am a person that needs to stick to shade since I burn pretty easy.  I was able to find a place on Deck 11 overlooking the pool and put down our towels and stuff.  I was however surprised by how much of Deck 11 is actually a smoking area.  I thought that other then the nightclubs and casino that the other areas would be small.  An entire side of Deck 11 is a smoking area, so we had to avoid that section.  My son and I were quickly able to use both slides and then use the pool for awhile.    No lines at all.  I took a ride on each slide and he did several rides on each.  He played around while I watched.  Things were great on the first sea day.  By the time things were starting to get crowded it was lunch time and they wanted to do other things.

On each of the port days son just wanted to check out either the aft pools or hang out in the whirlpools on Deck 5.  He had no problem finding space each of those times.  One day my wife and I were able to find a place on Serenity Deck close to the water slide and able to see our kids use the water slide while we relaxed there.

On the last sea we got a later start, not only did we get up later but I attended the Morning Show and the Disembarkation show.  When we got to the pool there was no space.  We had to walk halfway down deck 11 towards aft before finding a place anywhere near the pool.  The lines for the water slide were long and the pool was packed.  I then tried the aft pool and it was just as packed.

I all of sudden remembered why I prefer land-based all-inclusive vacations.  If there is one thing that makes me not cruise again it will be this.  I did stay at my lounger and relax and let my kids run for the water slides.  Even my son didn't feel comfortable getting into that pool with all those people in it.  They did both watch the hairy chest contest.

Sky Park  

On the first sea-day my son wanted to do the ropes course.  We had a little bit of wind and lighting in the distance so it was closed for awhile but when it opened up he asked if he could go and he was told that he could go in his bathing suit but it had to be TOTALLY dry.  So he sat with me on the side of the pool until it dried then went on the course.  The first day he only did it once because the weather went downhill again and started to lightly drizzle after he got on it and they cleared the course.  The second day he got on it again and did it twice more.  He was proud of himself, but I did mention to him that he was cheating a little by holding onto his safety strap a lot, that he should only be holding onto the ropes course itself.  He quickly got back on and did each of the complete paths without holding onto his safety strap.

I think he did the course a total of 6 times, I did it once and my daughter did it twice.  Everyone loved it.

One of the times we were up there we also tried the mini-golf.  It is fun just to have it, but it is totally in the sun and all the holes are just 2 par holes.  Not very challenging.  When my family played I just watched since I didn't have sun screen on.

My daughter did the course twice, once with us and once with the daytime members of Club 02.

Trivia Events

Based on watching Parodeejay my kids REALLY wanted to win a "ship on stick" so we attended several Trivia events and Trivia-like events.  Most of them were pretty well run.  They were quick and kept interesting.  The only problem was that we were never able to win any of the games where only one person wins.  My daughter thought she would win the Harry Potter trivia game, but it was VERY well attended, standing room only.  The winner of that one had every question right AND had to win a face-off question against someone else.  Both kids were able to get one of the Carnival medals from trivia because of the Trivia pursuit version of Trivia, they were on the winning team. 

The one exception to well-run events was when they played Hasbro Cranium.  The ship's host didn't really know how the game worked so they called for a guest to run it.  Not only is the game a little confusing, if the person running it doesn't have the right personality, the game becomes real boring.  Several teams left in the middle because they got so bored.  They were disappointed they didn't win a ship on a stick but they had fun and at least had the Carnival medals.

Two weeks ago, on the Carnival Magic, I had no problem pouring wine into the glasses in my room and taking that to the MDR.  Since the glasses are really water glasses and not wine glasses, you can easily fit the equivalent of two wine glasses in the glass.

I figure that instead of doing the day by day review, after the first day I would split things more into topics.

This post will be about food.  Overall we liked most of the food that we had in the MDR.  We were officially assigned to the late seating in the main dining room.  We tried to wait-list for early but were unable to get it.

Lido Marketplace Buffet

We were actually majorly disappointed by the buffet.  We tried to eat breakfast here on the first day and were disappointed.  Even though we got up pretty early,  there was always a long slow moving line.  It was pretty easy to figure out why the main buffet line was moving so slow, they put the things like syrup, cereal and other things like that at the end of the line instead of somewhere else so people that are able to quickly get food off the buffet line itself, hold up the entire line putting on syrup, getting their cereal and other things.  If they moved all of that stuff to a fixing table of some type I am sure things would speed up a lot.  The food on the buffet at breakfast was very average if not bad.  Both the scrambled eggs and the pancakes were horrible.  Some of the things were OK, like the different forms of Eggs Benedict.  The omelet station line moved way to slow to give it a try.

That was the only meal we actually ate there.  At different times we would take a look and either not want to eat there or not want to deal with the slow lines.  We were actually surprised by the fact that mid-day the ENTIRE buffet shuts down and the only things that are open food-wise are the pizza place, Guys and the Blue Iguana (not including pay places.)  We thought they would leave a couple things open, like either the deli, salad place or the desserts.  Desserts on the buffet actually surprised us as well.  The first evening they had lots of cakes, and we liked tasting them.  Another day they had lots of different chocolate desserts, but other then those two times, the desserts on the buffet were pretty disappointing.

Blue Iguana Cafe

My wife decided not to do the breakfast buffet  and got the breakfast burrito.  She loved it but there was usually a pretty long slow moving line.  We never tried lunch because we eat that style of food a lot and wanted to branch out more.

Guy's Burger Place

All of us tried Guy's Burgers at different times.  They were good, but in our opinion they weren't anything special.  The lines varied at times.  They basically make entire trays of burgers at a time.  If a tray was ready, they could move pretty fast but as soon as they completed a trey the line ground to a halt.  Also, except for my son, everyone in our family likes burgers done medium, unless you want to wait for a special order, all the burgers are done medium well or well done.   I am sure the burgers are better then what you would normally get on a cruise line, they are better then all the fast food chains and places like 5 Guys, but if they had to compete with other places that specialize in real burgers, not sure they would even place.

Guy's Pig and Anchor

The biggest issue with this place is it is only open for limited hours on sea-days.  Everyone in my family except me ate there.  In Maryland we have a chain that specializes in barbecue that we eat a lot called Mission BBQ.  Based on the feedback from my wife and everyone else in my family the food wasn't any better then Mission BBQ.  Never felt like making my way down off Lido deck to deck 5 to get stuff that I can easily get back home.

Pizza

We tried the pizza place a couple times, usually when everything else was closed or most things were closed and we didn't want a burger.  The pizza is average.  When it is the only thing open the line can be long and depending on what is ready at the time it can move very slow.  We are honestly surprised that during the day when it is the only thing open they don't have more people working there.  We understand that during the off hours (i.e. morning, late night) they might not have lots of people working there but you would figure they would send a couple more people there to work when they are the main food option.

Southern Lights Dining Room

After the first day, this is where we spent all the rest of our breakfasts and dinners.  For dinner we had the 8:15 seating.  The food was good.  We were also surprised by the amount of food that was supplied with each entree.  Based on previous reviews on the first day a few of us ordered more then one main entree and we quickly found out we didn't need to do that.  After the first day we stuck to one or two appetizers and then usually only ordered one entree per person.  

The food was better then we expected.   The service was great.  Our waiter, Ma, was great at figuring out what we liked.  She was also very accommodating when had to either rush our dinner to get to a show or one of us had to maybe even take a dinner or one of us had to show up late due to something going on elsewhere on the ship.   Honestly all the food was good, not great, but good.  The steak was better then we expected based on reviews we had read.   They were also very friendly during ssssssssssshowtime and encouraged my daughter to dance along.

The only issues we had were that we had a small table for four away from everything.  If you think about the dining room and instead of going in the main door, you go in the right door, our table was right in front of that.  Other then our own waiters you couldn't see anything during any of the ssssssssshowtimes.

Breakfast was much better then on the buffet and you never had a line to wait in or find your table. 

We never had any problems finding something good to eat with the selections on the menu, including for my daughter who is real picky about what she eats.  The only surprise on the menu was that since one of our elegant nights was the port day at Amber Cove, they never really featured Dominican foods on the menu.  They only used the standard elegant night menu on that night and the next day the featured section was just generic Caribbean.  

General Comments on Food

We were surprised at how little was focused on cleanliness for the guests.  Previous things we had seen online talked about crew making sure people either cleaned their hands or used the sanatizer.   None of that was happening on this ship.  They had the sanatizer machines and washing stations, but very few people were using them.  They have the things on the back of restroom doors so you don't have to touch the handles, but based on the bins, you could tell very few people were using them.  There were little stickers on the water/drink areas that mentioned you shouldn't refill your glass, you should use a new one, but you would see lots of people doing that and refilling their own water jugs at the spigots, including putting the lip of the bottle where they actually drink against the spigots.  One time my daughter was refilling her water bottle the proper way (using the ship cups to fill up her water bottle) and someone came up to her and told her to just put the water bottle up to the spigot.  She told them why she was doing it that way and even pointed to the sticker and the person was shocked.

At least two of the blue things on the Lido deck where you can use water to wash your hands were broken.

Another thing that may have an effect on the food.  In the MDR on the last day they mentioned that this was the last cruise for the head chef.  Not the one in charge of just that dining room, but the entire ship.  Things could change based on the new chef.

All in all food in MDR was better then we expected.  It was on par with the all-inclusive resort we visited with my family in the Dominican Republic.  Food at the buffet was worse then we expected.

Lots more to come, probably will try to put up one post a day.  Our itinerary was Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, and Amber Cove.

Things coming up include:

* What is that yellow stuff on the balcony?

* Problems with Club O2.

* Problems with Camp Ocean Sharks

* Lost prescription glasses in Margaritaville

* Daughter's new addiction to shopping/free stuff

* Big 3/Zip-lining adventure in Amber Cove

Finally getting around to writing my review for my cruise on the Carnival Magic.  This was my family's first cruise ever.  As a family we have been to an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic and with my wife I have been to Sandals in both St. Lucia and Jamaica.  We are a family of 4, with a 11 year old son and a 15 year old daughter.

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale on the 10th and stayed at Embassy Suites.  We took an Uber between the airport and the hotel and had absolutely no problems with the ride itself.  It did take a little while to make our way from where we picked up our luggage to the ride-share pickup location.  It was annoying making our way through numerous people offering to give us a ride even though there were large signs in the area talking about not taking rides from unofficial sources.

Embassy Suites

We picked Embassy Suites because several years ago I use to have lots of business trips to Ft. Lauderdale and would stay at either Pier 66, Embassy Suites, or the Marriott Marina (now Hilton Marina.)  Based on reviews and the fact that there were 4 of us, I liked the fact that we could have two separate rooms, "free" breakfast, and close to stores.  The rooms were exactly like I remember, other then new flat screens, nothing has been updated in the room since I was there YEARS ago.  The rooms are in need of updating.  For lunch we walked around and actually went to Hilton Marina.  Probably would stay there next cruise.  Since it was a Saturday, we went to church and then had the Uber drop us off at the beach area for dinner. 

After dinner we returned to the hotel and turned in.  While the kids got ready for bed I quickly walked to a nearby liquor store to pick up my two 750 ml bottles of wine.

Breakfast was OK, nothing special, but we would later find out it was probably better then the breakfast buffet on Lido, much less lines and similar quality things like pancakes. That morning we had no problems calling an Uber for drop-off at the Port.  Just make sure you download the port app to know which terminal your cruise ship is docked.  Uber needs that info, can't just enter Port Everglades as your destination.  Also make sure you keep your passports out in the Uber.  EVERY person in the car needs a picture Id to get through port security, so if your kids don't have drivers licenses, they need their passport.

Embarkation

The Uber dropped us off right at the terminal. Our bags quickly were turned over to the porters and we got in line.  We were surprised that there was nothing telling us where to go, but we just followed everyone else and got in the long line.  We had a 12:00 check-in time  and didn't have FTTF.  It was 12:00 so we were right on time for our check-in time.  The line wound toward the side of the building but moved very fast. Once we were in the terminal itself there was only a 5 minute line to see the people that check your passports and boarding passes.  Another 5 minute line for the x-ray machines (I held up the line a little because I didn't realize my wallet had a metal lining.)   After that we had our pictures and went straight for the ship, only stopping a few times when people had to again check/scan our boarding passes.  Other then stopping at those points we just kept walking, no lines at all.

We kept walking up the escalators, up the ramps and soon were on the gangway to the Magic.

By 12:30 we were on the Magic. A little confused since the only people to greet us were people handing out safety forms and handing out spa raffle forms.  There was someone with a sign that told us to ask him if we had any questions, but through this board and Youtube sites like Parodeejay I knew what to do.  My son who had been doing tons of research was actually amazed at how small the atrium looked compared to what he thought it looked like based on videos and I had to tell him how different angles and lens make things look.  We quickly took our pictures in the lobby and made our way to the elevators.

We went to the express elevators to 5 and 10 and based on feedback from people on here, instead of going to the buffet we gradually made our way to the Italian restaurant.  Stopping for things like the pictures in front of the life-rings, pictures off the side and things like that.

Cucina del Capitano

After activating our Hub app and looking at ship's maps we made our way to Cucina del Capitano.  At first they assumed we knew the drill but as soon as they found out we were first timers they explained everything.  The restaurant was almost empty.  We made our way to the table and sat down, filled out our forms and quickly decompressed from the rush and hurry of what happened. I highly suggest this instead of the buffet on the Lido deck, much better then the rush and lines in the buffet area.  The food was good and the options were great for a variation of appetites.  My wife is Italian so has her wants, my son just wants to check EVERY box he can and my daughter is a butter pasta type person.  All were able to get what they wanted and the food was pretty good for what it was, just quick stir-fry type Italian.  The fact that it was so quiet and an easy place to store the carry-ons made it worth its weight in gold.

Room 2254

After lunch we made our way to the room.  It was a cove balcony room.  My wife is prone to sea-sickness so we purposely wanted a room as low and middle of the ship as possible.  We also specifically wanted a balcony since she figured being able to see out and get air would be better if she had issues.  We were a little nervous about noise since we were right next to the forward elevators.  

The room was exactly like we expected.  I had to do the mandatory bed bug check and my wife had to do the room whip-down.   Of course there were no bed bugs or that would have been brought up much earlier in this review.  We did find a couple dusty areas (top of TV and top of a picture frame) but for the most part it was clean.

We then went and looked around the ship, getting our baring and things like that.  Muster drill was no problem at all.  We had the upper level of the middle dining room.  There were only announcements for two cabins that were late and they were found pretty quick.

After muster drill half of us went back to the cabin to watch sail-away and the other half went to the atrium for the sail-away party.  Due to an incoming rain storm they moved the sail-away part to the atrium.  It was a little crowded there but my daughter loved it.

14 minutes ago, Roscoe13 said:

If your father and father in law ever cruise together then put them as cabin mates on paper.  Problem solved. 

Doubt they will ever be on the same cruise.  My parents like long north bound cruises, my in-laws like short south bound trips without having to fly.

10 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

If you make exceptions, the problem becomes where do you draw the line. It’s much easier from a business perspective to have a hard and fast rule with no deviations. The other key point to stress is Cheers was designed to benefit Carnival, not guests. 

I think there would be a way to draw the line, if someone in the room doesn't EVER drink for any reason like pregnancy or doctors reason, etc. have a clause written into a contract that says if the other person in the room is ever caught with drink then the person has to pay the full cost of the package, otherwise they only have to pay Y.

I am saying this as someone that can't really use it since my wife is someone that doesn't like to drink BUT she does like to sip my drinks occasionally which would be a violation.   I have two sets of parents that would buy a single person package if it was available since both my mother and my mother in law don't drink at all.  Since they don't my father and my father-in-law don't have the package they barely drink so the cruise line makes a lot less.

I personally wish they would allow some valid exceptions to the rule.  I can understand not allowing an exception if someone just promises not to drink any, but what about scenarios where one person is pregnant or one person really doesn't ever drink.

I believe they are talking about the donuts and the cupcakes that are available for sale at the coffee shops.  They looked real good, but from what I could tell they seemed to have the same exact ones all week and slowly went through them.  

My family didn't buy any, we were tempted but resisted figuring that we had plenty of free desserts.  The people that did buy them didn't seem to be to impressed.

9 hours ago, phoneman69 said:

Leaving Sept 14th 2019 on the 8 day cruise. Should be same ports you stopped at. Looking forward to more. I know you said Muster drill was quick and in doors, what time did they run it?

When I was on 2 weeks ago the muster drill was a half hour before departure time.

4 hours ago, licram said:

What are the debarkation talks and where are they held and what time ?

I went last week on the Magic.  They are held during the last full day of your cruise.  As was said they suggest one person per group attend.  They also replay it on one of the stations all day after if you can’t attend.  They just go through the entire process of getting off the boat from putting out your luggage to getting off the ship.  They go over customs rules, the different luggage groups, where and when to get your tags etc.  

Can't wait to see your review of Grand Turk.  I was on the Carnival Magic the same exact time as the Pride while you were there.

Was on the Magic last week.  At Grand Turk we had a cove balcony right between the two gangways.  Right before they removed the gangways when they were leaving, first from the rear gangway they brought out a large blanket of confiscated shells and sand and dumped it on the dock.  It had maybe 20 shells from small sizes all the way up to the conch shells.  Then from the front gangway they brought a much larger blanket full of the same thing including some bottles that were filled with sand.

They actually were joking about how much was confiscated.  One of the workers from the ship picked up one of the shells and you could tell he wanted it himself, but one of the officers saw him and told him to put it down.

10 hours ago, Ellaleah said:

Any talk of what will be done in the next refurb in 9/20?

I brought up the refurb and nobody was sure about what it would entail.  Some figured that it would probably mean the larger Guy's Pig and Anchor and things like that. However at least a couple people said there is talk about it going into refurb at the end of this year instead of next year.  Not sure whether that was just rumors or not.

Just got back from there.  14 at the port but the excursions allow down to 8.  We did the Big 3 adventure that included Zip Line over the Ocean and a ropes course.  My 11 year old son and 15 year old daughter both had fun.  The only problem we had was the 11 year old wasn't happy with the ropes course because due to his age they "forced" him to do the lower/easier rope course and he hates having to do things that show he is younger.  He wouldn't have been able to do the upper ropes course because the things would have been to far apart from him.  He did the ropes course on the Magic SEVERAL times.

Just got off the Magic on Saturday and it was my families first cruise.  Don't know what brand the toiletries are, shampoo and body wash are in large dispensers in the shower.

Unsure about the quality of the Maple syrup but I highly doubt it is real maple syrup.

Wine, single bottle of 750 ml sealed wine allowed per adult.

Rum, yes you can buy a bottle of rum but it will be taken when you board at the port and returned to you at the end of the cruise.  

Tea, I think they only give you cheap tea free, but you can purchase more expensive bags.

I know the Club 02 experience can change cruise to cruise but my 15 year old daughter's experience was different from most on here.  We just got off the Magic on Saturday.  My daughter is energetic but shy at the same time.  She tried the mixer on the first night and came back to the cabin crying because everyone ignored her and most of the people were very rude and she said they played all rap music (definitely not her favorite.)

We told her to give it a second chance during the day and she said it was a TOTALLY different environment during the day.  In her words, "All the nice people seem to do the daytime activities and they skip the evening activities."

Just got off the Magic on Saturday.  Had a 15 year old girl and an 11 year old boy.  The 11 year old HATED the kid's club because he was the upper end of the Shark range.  He said every time he went to the Kid's club everything was geared towards the 9 year olds in the lower end of the range.  

He loved the Sky Course.  He loved the water slides.  In the evenings he liked going to the PG comedy club showings, the Hasbro game night (my daughter was selected for the show) and the Flick show in the main showroom.  He wasn't a big fan of the America Rocks show. He quickly got bored with the Dive-in movies.  We had late dining so didn't really have to entertain him for long in the evening before he got so tired he wanted to go to bed.  Any other specific questions feel free to ask.

2 minutes ago, kcparrothead said:

 

Hi!  I was wondering if they were serving the new Brunch menu.  I am hearing conflicting things.

This was my first ever cruise so don't have experience with the old Brunch menu, but I did a search online for what the new menu looks like and that WASN'T the brunch menu that I saw in the MDR.

Just got off the Magic on Saturday so if anyone has anything they want to ask feel free to ask.  Just one recent development was that it was the Captain's last cruise on the Magic.  He is taking some time off and then will be the Captain for the Panoramic.  They also mentioned that this was the last cruise for SEVERAL crew members.  Not more specific other then the cruise director Simon London mention that the sound tech was leaving because his wife was having a baby within the next couple days.  In the MDR they also mentioned that it was the Head Chefs last cruise on the Magic also.  Stayed on Deck 2 in a Cove Balcony cabin, 2254.  Port side, VERY close to the forward elevators.

Thanks for the replies.  We already have the patch and plan on starting on it the day before.  The reason she is worried about seasickness is because she barely can ride ANY ride at Disney anymore without having issues.

We are going on the Magic this weekend.  First cruise ever for the entire family.  I am the type that wants to book the excursion in advance but my wife is real nervous about that.  

She doesn't want to book an excursion and then get locked into it.  She is afraid that maybe her seasickness or the weather or some other reason will cause her not to want to do it and not be able to get a refund.  We know that if the weather is horrible they will cancel the excursion but she is worried that the weather could be bad but not bad enough for the excursion to get cancelled or that her seasickness will cause her not to want to do anything else or something like that.

How bad is it to wait until say a day before to book the excursion?  I don't think the ones we are looking at will fill up (Amber Cove, either dolphin experience or bigger zip-lines.)  It is also the last stop on our trip so will have time to book the excursion while on the cruise. More worried about huge cost increase or something like that.  Since this is our first cruise and this is Amber Cove where some of the excursions can be an hour away from the port we are looking to stay with the Carnival excursions.

Any tips?