My View: Carnival Magic November 2016...A picture heavy report

Although this is a bit late, I thought I would share my views on Carnival Magic. We returned just before Thanksgiving from the 8-days Southern Caribbean Cruise, visiting Aruba, Curaçao and Grand Turk.

This will be more of a picture memories 'review', but I will try to throw in a few tips in red.

A few notes: Two of my three cameras had issues that cause some of the pictures to be over-exposed (Nikon S8200 - retired after the cruise), and my best camera could not be used much (Nikon D40X) since the lens froze several times. So, the pics are not the best.

Not to worry.... I bought a new Nikon P900 for the next cruise :D

Also, I will be going back and forth between my computer and iPad. Typing contents will be done from the computer, and pictures from the iPad app... so, if you do not see the pictures at first, I post them about minute late through the edit feature on the boards.

As always, the sad part is that my countdown now says:

Signing on. Love reviews with lots of good pics. Thanks

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Signing on. Love reviews with lots of good pics. Thanks

 

 

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Thanks for following along!

Excellent! We are on the Magic in 167 days!!!:D:D

Patiently waiting for more.......

Thank you!!!

A little background:

We are a family of 3 (12-year old son), and traveled with my parents this time. This was our 22nd cruise. We are not cruiseline loyal, but lean more toward sailing Royal Caribbean, when the price is right.

We are 'glass half full' people and I am one of the believers that there is no bad cruise (except maybe being stranded at sea without power or really bad seas in a storm). We know how to avoid crowds and we make the best of every cruise.

There is a lot of value in cruising different cruiselines, as we find they all have their pros and cons.

A few of the pros of Carnival that we found this time:

Excellent customer service

Good variety food in the lido buffet

Great crepes at night in the lido

Loved the Waterworks and Ropes course

Cove balcony (will list details and cons later with the pictures of 2309)

Overall entertainment, but especially "Dolce" and "Music & Magic"

Movies under the stars

Free coffee (rewards card - will elaborate later)

Spa gift card (will elaborate later)

So, here we are in Marineland on the way down to Port Canaveral:

My dad and I:

My husband (aka DH on CC):

My mom (taken during the spa tour):

DH and I on the balcony:

Looks like we're in for a fun review.

We're going back on Magic later on this year.

The only complaint I had about her are the horrible seats in the main theatre. I could not get comfortable in those seats in any way, shape, or form.

Excellent! We are on the Magic in 167 days!!!:D:D

Patiently waiting for more.......

Thank you!!!

Looks like we're in for a fun review.

 

We're going back on Magic later on this year.

 

The only complaint I had about her are the horrible seats in the main theatre. I could not get comfortable in those seats in any way, shape, or form.

Thanks for following along! Enjoy your countdown :)

Plan B: I will try to type and post photo's on the iPad. For some reason the spacing gets messed up (double spacing on browser) when I go back and forth. It will be a bit slower, but hopefully I will get a bulk of the review done today.

:)

Following along!

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Day 1: Port Canaveral

We stayed at the Radisson to use the park & cruise package. The shuttle is always very organized, and you can sign up for a time slot as soon as you have a booking with Radisson. That way you do not have to rush to the hotel to get on a list...

We got "Faster to the Fun" for both cabins. Boarding was very easy and we were able to drop our things off in the cabin (one of the things we like about FTTF). When we purchased FTTF, it was still $59 per cabin. Closer to the cruise, the price jumped to $79. I don't think I will pay that much...

Walking onto the ship, we got a sneak peek of the cove balconies:

The port from our balcony:

Norwegian Epic And Aida Vita were also in port:

Bon Voyage!

Our first sunset at sea:

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Following along!

 

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Welcome to my virtual trip [emoji846]

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Great pictures so far.

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As mentioned before: We were in a cove balcony - 2309. It is one of the better locations, according to my research, as we did not have a lifeboat right above us. Tip: There are six cove balconies on each side of the ship that do not have the large lifeboats above them. See this picture:

Our cabin:

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Great pictures so far.

 

 

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Thank you!

The bathroom (with the "dreaded" curtain) ;)

My favorite cabin hack: Magnetic hooks for jackets, beach bags, hats, and wet swimsuits:

As gold members, we got a bottle of water each:

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We were also on this cruise. Fantastic cruise. Can't wait to see it through your eyes. We were in an inside spa this time. Great room. Had a cove balcony on the Dream and loved it. Hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did ours.

Following along, and loving the pictures. We're leaving in 6 days on the Magic and cannot wait!

Cabin pros and cons:

We liked the midship location, and we LOVED being so close to the water. Contrary to the majority opinions on Cruise Critic, we spend a LOT of time on the balcony - especially on sea days.

Unfortunately, this ship class has a design flaw that sometimes causes a sewage smell on certain parts of the ship. We experienced it minimally on Dream. However, on this balcony, there were several hours a day we could not use the balcony due to the smell. Guest services was extremely apologetic and accommodating. They gave us a bottle of wine and a $100 onboard credit. They admitted that the air from an exhaust was picked up by a ventilation fan (my words and understanding of their explanation).

Disclaimer: My DH says I have a "super sniffer", so don't let this withhold you from booking a cove balcony! If I had a 'do over' for the same price, I would pick the same balcony (but maybe on the port side to see if they had the same issue).

Tip about the balcony: If you travel with friends and plan to open the balcony divider between the two balconies, do not book 2315 with 2309. That divider does not open. The one between 2309 and 2305 does open though...

The side that does not open - that steal door is propped open. I assume they close it during emergencies:

The side that does open:

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We were also on this cruise. Fantastic cruise. Can't wait to see it through your eyes. We were in an inside spa this time. Great room. Had a cove balcony on the Dream and loved it. Hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did ours.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise also! I amost upgraded my parents to a spa cabin, but they got such a great deal that it was just not worth it and prices never dropped enough. :)

Following along, and loving the pictures. We're leaving in 6 days on the Magic and cannot wait!

Thank you! I hope to get this done before you leave. Safe travels!

After dropping things off at our cabin, we followed the crowd to the most popular venue at embarkation time... Lido Marketplace.

We found the selection here to be very good - we always enjoy the deli sandwiches, soup selections, and Tandoori...

New cruisers or new to Carnival cruisers may not know: You can get coffee, tea, hot chocolate, lemonade, and water 24 hours a day in the Lido buffet area (Not to mention 24 hour ice cream/frozen yogurt): I must say, after skipping Carnival for a couple of years, the ice cream quality has really declined. This was a disappointment, but there were many other sweet treats to enjoy.

The Marketplace (these pics are a bit poor... sorry)

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What time did you get to the port?

Also I love a good post and trip report with tons of photos and you're doing a great job. We leave on the magic on 28 January and it'll be my first trip on the magic and I can't wait. I've been on other ships

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Tip for embarkation day: Find a seat in Cucina del Capitano. It is above the aft portion of the Lido Marketplace, and there is usually extra seating available.

Tip: They also serve free lunch here on Sea days. They had delicious selections!

The stairs to Cucina del Capitano:

Look for this sign by the dessert station in the back:

It is a beautiful venue!

They have seating for larger groups too:

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Going out the aft doors of the Lido buffet, you can find Tandoor - with excellent curry dishes!

There is additional outdoor seating:

If all else fails, there is always (very greasy) pizza:

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Time for a little break here... will be back later with many more pictures [emoji846]

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