Mr. Blonde

So glad to hear that the infamous Zoe at the Blue Iguana is still there making sure that everybody has a drink! Can't wait to meet her in Dec. :tropical-drink:

She's so sweet, and she busts her butt all over the Lido deck.

just a quick question for Anytime Dining - did you go right to dining room or somewhere to check in

To your assigned dining room. There will be a hostess at the front and you give her your info, and she'll give you a pager that will alert you when your table is ready.

Like I said, this won't be as thorough as most of the reviews on here, but I will try to hit on the things that I think are important.

This was a honeymoon cruise. We both had only been on Carnival one other time, and that was the Paradise in 2012.

Saturday, Embarkation day- What a hassle getting from Tampa to Port Canaveral. What should be a 2.5 hour drive ended up being over four hours due to some horrendous traffic in Plant City(Strawberry Festival) and the Disney area. We used Cruisetime parking in Merrit Island. It was $49 for the week, and the shuttle to the port was less than 10 minutes. I was stressing, because our arrival time was supposed to be 12:30-1:00, and we didn't arrive to the port until 1:45. But the embarkation process was super smooth and fast. Maybe ten minutes at the most?

Since the rooms were ready, we decided to check the room out. I booked this cruise rather late, so of the room in our price range, selection was limited. We were literally the lowest and first room at the front of the ship #1210 with a porthole. The hilarious thing about it being our honeymoon, is that it had two twin beds that couldn't be together. :') :')How romantic. Being that we are in our late 40s, sleeping apart was no big deal, so we were fine with it.

We headed up to Lido to get something to eat, she went for the marketplace to try a little of everything, I settled on fish tacos at the Blue Iguana Cantina. I'm a sucker for Hot Sauce bars. The infamous Zoe(who I read about recently in a hilarious review on here) must have noticed how thirsty I was, and she informed me her bar(tequila) had Dos Equis on tap. :hearteyes::hearteyes:We had a couple drinks and then, sadly, it was time for the Muster drill. Honestly, that used to be so much worse than it is now. Dr. E(cruise director) made it enjoyable, and we were comfortably located in the Showtime theatre. After Muster, we went back to the room to change to get ready for the deck party, which was a blast as always.

As for dinner, we usually avoid the MDR, but on the first night, I always like eating there. We both got salads, Sweet and sour shrimp, and chocolate melting cake. It was good, no complaints. I love the my time dining, because I hate being on a schedule. It was only about a 15 minute wait when we got to the MDR.

After dinner, we did some pictures and headed to the Alchemy bar, my favorite spot on the ship. Really cool drink menu, and the band that played there most of the week is really good. I think their name is The Sea Six. They do a lot of 70's soul and funk tunes, and they have a horn section. Just a really good sound. We headed to the night club Vibe after that. We were a little old compared to most of the people there, but it was still a good time.

I'll continue later. I probably won't do a day by day type review, but I will talk about what we did at the ports, different restaurants and bars we experienced on the ship, etc

I will be reading. Going on Magic in April, first time with Carnival. Did you do western or eastern?

Eastern

I'll probably get this thing going tonight or tomorrow morning. It won't be as detailed as some of the great reviews I read on here, but I'll do my best. I have to figure out how to get pictures on here, as well.

One day! Four more hours of work. :rolleyes:

We just got off the Magic on Saturday and we also were told that we could not purchase a bucket when you have cheers. I’m not really sure of the reasoning however.

 

 

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I would guess so you can't share it with people who didn't pay for Cheers.

What's the latest you can order the Cheers package and still get the discount?

She found it! Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but my post was moved and I didn't know where it was. Thanks for all the replies.

Deep breath

 

When was the last time she used it? On a cruise? Has she checked the pockets of that luggage?

 

 

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Yes, it's definitely in this house somewhere, and she's not panicked. She's sure we will find it, but I'm panicking, and would rather just order it, even if we end up finding after, I don't care about the $100.

We just got married Saturday, so we're understandably a little frazzled.

My wife, who never loses anything, can't find her birth certificate. We live in Florida, and she was born in Massachusetts. I found a website where they can overnight a new one to you, (http://www.expressvitals.com ) but I can't figure out if this is going to be one that cruise will accept, or is it just some type of copy. Anybody familiar with ordering these online?

Huge hockey fan here as well(obviously lol). I’ll be on the magic on March 10th, so hopefully I can see my Hawks, or any hockey for that matter

I'll be on that same cruise. I imagine most people that week will be the March Madness games. In my experience with cruises, live sporting events are very hit or miss.

San Juan Part 2:

 

The drinks tasted extremely weak, but that was likely due to Zoey’s obsession with making us alcoholics than anything they did wrong.

:'):'):'):'):') I'm dying

Zoey pulled no punches with the drinks either. While we found the entire ship to serve stronger drinks than I'm used to, she was particularly generous with the good stuff, causing us all to be rather tipsy after just a few rounds of pitchers.

 

Note to self...find Zoey as soon as I board on March 10.

Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed the review. I enjoyed the Wagyu steak very much, but I still prefer the spice rubbed ribeye. Overall, we enjoyed the new menu. :cool:

I loved every second of your review. We're going on the Magic March 10th for our honeymoon. I especially like the shots of you with a beer in your hand, because that is what I'm so looking forward to. :D

Hello folks! Just back from a really nice weekend on the Majesty. After many cruises on the old Monarch, I was excited to get back on a Sovereign Class ship. Overall she is in very good shape for her age and the crew was very friendly. I liked her many updates, and I'm hoping they keep her around for a few more years since I prefer the smaller ships.

 

Embarkation went very smooth and we were on board less than a half hour after parking. Our cabin was spotless, and our cabin attendant did a great job. The regular rooms are tiny on the old Sovereign Class ships, so we had the beds separated to give us a bit more room to walk around.

 

Prior to sail away we had a Cruise Critic meet up in the Schooner Bar. It was great to see many old friends and make some new ones at the same time!

 

We didn't eat in the dining room at all this cruise. The food and service in the Windjammer was good as usual. I purchased the beverage package since we had some OBC to spend, service from the bar staff was excellent throughout the cruise. We spent each evening in the Schooner Bar, I thought Oliver did a good job keeping things fun in there.

 

I stayed on board during the day in Nassau, we just relaxed up on the pool deck. We did go ashore at Coco Cay though and spent some time at the new floating bar. Due to the low tide it was floating in about six inches of water, but it was fun nonetheless.

 

Overall it was a great little cruise. I didn't do a full review since I mostly just relaxed and occupied the various bars and lounges the whole time. But I'll be happy to answer any questions. I also took a few pics to share with everyone.

Stupid question, but don't you need your sea pass card at that floating bar? How do you get it there if you have to swim to it? Does water not ruin those cards?

Once I overheard a bartender being questioned by a supervisor about a passenger's consumption. Apparently he was averaging 30 drinks a day. :eek:The bartender told his supervisor that everyone in the passenger's party also had the drink package so he didn't think he was sharing. That's some serious drinking.

I'm pretty sure that was me.

We are sailing out on Friday too on the EOS, watching the weather channel and it looks like we'll be sailing right on scheduled. Storm will be moved north by then. Looking forward to a beautiful weekend cruise! :D

Awesome. Thanks for the answers everybody. I got nervous. I asked on another board and I got this reply from someone:

"I would say be prepared for a cancellation. Official NHC forecast and most model runs keep Joaquin in the area of the Bahamas through Friday. Forecast confidence with the overall storm track has been low since there has been such a spread in model runs in the initial run-up of the storm.

Outside of the storm, there is a lingering cold front/upper low along the east coast and southeast. It's going to be a windy/rainy generally bleh environment out to sea through at least early Saturday. Things clear up Sunday and beyond."

I'm supposed to depart from Port Canaveral on Friday morning.

Should I be prepared for a cancellation? :mad::mad::mad::mad: