Magical Thanksgiving Cruise

Greetings Cruise Critic! I typically spend more time on here reading your posts as opposed to actually providing input, but at the direction of the group I was traveling with this past week I am obliged to actually provide input!

We were a group of 10 sailing on the Carnival Magic departing 11/18 for a Thanksgiving cruise. We were originally set to sail to Amber Cove, San Juan, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk which everybody was extremely excited about. However, due to the hurricanes we were rerouted to the Western Caribbean - Costa Maya, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. To be frank, we were all a little disappointed at the itinerary change but this disappointed was quickly washed away by the realization that we were still cruising and spending Thanksgiving together. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that my continuous thoughts and prayers are with the fine folks in the Eastern Caribbean who are still dealing with the aftermath of the Hurricanes. We cannot wait to return to these ports and be able to spend money again to provide a little help toward the huge rebuilding process currently underway.

The Travel Squad:

- My wife plus our soon to be son who the wife is currently 5 months pregnant with. This was our 10th cruise.

- My parents who were on their 9th cruise.

- The in-laws who were on their 1st cruise.

- My sister plus 2 of her friends who were on their 6th, 2nd, and 1st cruise.

Travel to/from the Port:

Relatively uneventful drive from Virginia to Port Canaveral (and back) outside of some holiday traffic. We stayed in Daytona Beach at the Hampton Inn beside the Speedway - a great location to avoid the higher cost of hotels in Cocoa Beach. My sister plus her friends flew in from New York and experienced no issues. They stayed at the Hampton Inn near the Orlando airport and took a shuttle over the day of the cruise. We parked at the port (reminder they are not giving that away). All in all it was a smooth travel to/from the port.

More to come on the ship and our visits to the ports...

Enjoyed your first post and look forward to more.

Keith

Following!

The Ship:

This was our first trip on the Dream Class and I would say it will not be the last. Most of our time on the ship was spent at Serenity Deck during the day and at either Alchemy Bar or Red Frog Pub at night so those will be some of the focus points in the below.

Cruise Director - Ladies and Gentlemen you MUST without a shadow of a doubt sail with the Good Rev Dr. E. He brought the FUN everywhere he went and always had a smile on his face. The absolute best cruise director we have experienced. His level of hilarity is off the charts. Cruise with him and you will not be disappointed.

Serenity Deck - Never any issues on our end finding chairs to allow the group to relax and enjoy the sun together. The bar service was excellent and I only wish I was still sitting up on the deck drinking a beer.

Alchemy Bar - This was the first cruise I went outside of my Manhattan comfort zone and tried drinks off the menu. Let me say everything I tried was delicious and packed the appropriate punch I expected.The entire squad spent a lot of time here listening to live music at the Ocean Plaza before dinner each night. A wonderful time was had by all and a shout out to each of the bartenders for always engaging us in conversation with a smile.

Red Frog Pub - With the ship not having a true Sports Bar, we were able to get our Football fix via the TVs at Red Frog while consuming a few pitchers of Red Frog Red. We also spent time sitting outside, which was very enjoyable.

Guy's Burgers - Delicious as always. I talked this place up quite a bit to our new cruisers in the Squad and it did not disappoint. Anybody currently on board please enjoy a Ringer for me.

Guy's Pig & Anchor - Our first time enjoying this dining venue and let me say I was very impressed. We will certainly befinding our way to this place again on future cruise. The pulled pork and MacDaddy mac n cheese were my favorites. I also highly recommend the sausage.

Deli - I was excited to try the new menu and it did not disappoint. Now to be clear they pre-prepare the sandwiches and then toast them when you order. Note you can still customize to the extent they have the fixins available, but to me the menu change was a huge improvement.

Dining Room - Let me say this was the absolute best food and service we have experienced at the dining room. We always eat inthe Dining Room each night of our cruises and pick a set time in an effort to maintain the same wait staff. The Chef currently on board the Magic is excellent and I will find a way to figure out what ship he/she is on in the future to select our next cruise. The wait staff was excellent - Chris engaged us every night in conversation, called us by name, and always ensured the food was to our satisfaction. We could not have had a better Dining experience.

Main Show Lounge - The shows have slowly been improving over the past few cruises we have been on and these were excellent. You could tell this group enjoyed performing together! The only comment is that I still would love more live music. A couple of nights include the live music...I am hopeful this will eventually be back to every night including live music.

Stateroom - This was our first Spa room and it was enjoyable. With the wife being pregnant she was unable to partake in some of the perks of the room...so I made sure to lie to her and tell the Thermal Suites were terrible. I must say I am not a spa person but did really enjoy time in the Thermal Suite rooms. The wife did get a treatment, which she said was amazing. She also greatly appreciated their attentiveness to her being pregnant and efforts toward working around that small hurdle.

Up next will be the ports...

Always room for another Magic review and you are off to a great start. Looking forward to reading the rest! :D

Costa Maya:

This was the wife and I's second visit to Costa Maya. Thanks to the Ports of Call board we were able to find Maya Chan Beach prior to our last cruise and decided to spend the day there. Maya Chan is not the kind of place that you only visit once...so we ensured the entire Squad that a day at Maya Chan was the best way to spend our day in Costa Maya.

Let me tell you, as before Maya Chan did not disappoint. You are met with a smile as soon as you leave the port area and find the Maya Chan folks. Next up is a taxi ride that is always "interesting". To be frank the road as soon as you leave the Mahahual area you are on a sand road that is not the best in the world. But do not be dismayed...the ride is worth it for what is waiting you upon arrival. David greeted us with a smile and next thing we know we are sitting in lounge chairs beside a handwritten "Welcome Back" sign with a cup of Rum Punch. The sun shined all day, time was spent floating in the water, paddle boarding, snorkeling, and relaxing. The drinks flowed all day and the bartenders/wait staff always tried to make sure we had everything we wanted.

The highlight is always the home-cooked Mexican style lunch that Maya Chan puts together. Steak, pork, chicken, and fish tacos with all the toppings will leave you plumb and ready for an afternoon nap on the beach.

Talking with everybody from the group, this was the highlight of our trip. If you are looking for a relaxing day at the beach in Costa Maya, do yourself a favor and go to Maya Chan!

Roatan:

As you all know Carnival docks at Mahogany Bay which provides an excellent opportunity for a beach day. Our entire squad would be a group of "beach bums" so this seemed the most appropriate way to spend the day. However, the wife and I had a surprise up our sleeve for the rest of the unsuspecting squad...

During our previous trip to Mahogany Bay we noticed there is a "Grand" Cabana located at the far end of the cabana area. This unit sits elevated relative to all of the rest of the cabanas and appeared to provide space for a larger number of people. After a lot of researching and spending time tracking down the Beach Manager at Mahogany Bay via email prior to the cruise, we booked this large cabana for the entire squad.

Let me say this move proved crucial as it provide a space for us to beat the storm that passed through during mid-morning. After the storm passed we spent the rest of the day floating in the water and enjoying time together. The cabana also provided a space for the wife to get out of the afternoon heat and relax in an air conditioned space. The amenities included:

- AC

- TV which stayed glued to sports all day for us to get periodic updates

- Safe

- A refrigerator full of beer, sodas, and water

- Snacks

- Lounge Chairs - we supplemented the number of chairs with extra from the nearby beach area

- Floats to use in the water

- Johnny the Waiter who is the absolute man and kept us full and refreshed all day once the beer/snack supply was diminished. The moment we asked him to turn the rain off it stopped which was pretty wild!

If you have a larger group I would recommend renting the cabana. Overall Mahogany Bay was a relaxing day for the entire group.

Greetings Cruise Critic! I typically spend more time on here reading your posts as opposed to actually providing input, but at the direction of the group I was traveling with this past week I am obliged to actually provide input!

 

We were a group of 10 sailing on the Carnival Magic departing 11/18 for a Thanksgiving cruise. We were originally set to sail to Amber Cove, San Juan, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk which everybody was extremely excited about. However, due to the hurricanes we were rerouted to the Western Caribbean - Costa Maya, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. To be frank, we were all a little disappointed at the itinerary change but this disappointed was quickly washed away by the realization that we were still cruising and spending Thanksgiving together. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that my continuous thoughts and prayers are with the fine folks in the Eastern Caribbean who are still dealing with the aftermath of the Hurricanes. We cannot wait to return to these ports and be able to spend money again to provide a little help toward the huge rebuilding process currently underway.

 

The Travel Squad:

- My wife plus our soon to be son who the wife is currently 5 months pregnant with. This was our 10th cruise.

- My parents who were on their 9th cruise.

- The in-laws who were on their 1st cruise.

- My sister plus 2 of her friends who were on their 6th, 2nd, and 1st cruise.

 

Travel to/from the Port:

Relatively uneventful drive from Virginia to Port Canaveral (and back) outside of some holiday traffic. We stayed in Daytona Beach at the Hampton Inn beside the Speedway - a great location to avoid the higher cost of hotels in Cocoa Beach. My sister plus her friends flew in from New York and experienced no issues. They stayed at the Hampton Inn near the Orlando airport and took a shuttle over the day of the cruise. We parked at the port (reminder they are not giving that away). All in all it was a smooth travel to/from the port.

 

More to come on the ship and our visits to the ports...

Thanks so much for your post - me and hubby looking @ going on the Magic in February of next year and I started searching to see reviews of the ship. We will also be driving down from Virginia and thinking about staying a little away from port to save $ as we just retired in March. Can't wait to hear more of your review. Sounds like you all had a great time.

Bonnie

Loving your review and will be following your adventures.

great review, thanks for the input

We spotted the cabana you got in Mahogany Bay. How much was the rent?

Enjoying your review.

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Following.

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Belize:

This was the first port where the group split up to go separate ways while ashore. The wife and I elected to do a Sit n Sip tour of the city while the rest of the squad went Zip-lining with Ziplining.bz.

Sit n Sip:

Our typical activities in a port would involve a beach or snorkel excursion, but since Belize would require us to take a second boat ride to a beach we elected to give this city tour a try. We tried to do this during our last call in Belize but ended up having Mother Nature get the best of us and rain-out the tour. We were determined to do it this time around and it ended up being an amazing tour. Our tour was the first to go out for the day, so they let us (read ME) sit on the bike and get in a couple of drinks before starting the tour. The wife did the non-drinking version of the tour (obviously) but they also had plenty of water and juice for her to drink.

The tour itself involved us pedaling around the city for about a hours time and included a 20-30 minute stopover at one of the Belize city parks which also is beside the Sit n Sip storefront. Both the guide (bartender) and driver provided us excellent information on the city, its history, and threw in a lot of knowledge on the current lifestyles in Belize. Overall we felt the tour to be a good value and really opened our eyes to a lot of what Belize has to offer on future calls to the port. The drinks were flowing the entire time which certainly provided for a lot of fun and humor during the tour. I would highly recommend the tour to anybody looking to see what the City has to offer. Note you do NOT have to pedal the entire time and the even have seats that do not have pedals.

Zipling.bz

The rest of the squad decided they wanted to zipline during the stop in Belize. With the wife being pregnant we figured this would not be the best thing for her to do thus our splitting up. From everything I heard each and ever one of the rest of the squad loved the zipline and would highly recommend it to anybody. There was a 1 hour van ride to the zip line area that included a quick City tour. Lunch was also included which everybody ranted and raved about!

We spotted the cabana you got in Mahogany Bay. How much was the rent?

Enjoying your review.

 

 

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It was $495 for 8 people and they added another $20/person for the extra 2 people...so $535 total.

It was $495 for 8 people and they added another $20/person for the extra 2 people...so $535 total.

Not bad for the privacy and the refreshments provided for the size of your group.

Thank you for the response.

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Cozumel:

In Cozumel we decided to spend another day at the beach. Normally we would have made reservations at Nachi Cocom, but our ship was only scheduled to be in port from 7 AM to 3 PM meaning we would lose out on some of the benefits of the all inclusive side at Nachi by not being able to stay all afternoon. Therefore, we made our way to Playa Palancar and had a beautiful and relaxing day. Round trip taxi was $20 per person and the padded lounge chairs were $5 per person. Note if you don't want the padded lounge chairs the plastic outdoor table chairs are free.

The beach area was extremely nice and we had our pick of chairs as we were the first to arrive. To tell the truth, we actually arrived around 8:30 and were able to get in before the beach area actually opened as it typically does not do so until 9:00. Be sure to keep this early arrival idea between us! We did not partake in any of the offered additional scuba tours the beach has available but it seemed everybody else had a good time on them.

The beach has a bar/restaurant that served up delicious chips and guac that I would certainly get again. The jumbo margarita packs quite the punch which several in the group enjoyed. Overall a beautiful day at the beach. Spending Thanksgiving day on the beach enjoying time with family and friends was the best thing we could have done and sure beat being at home where the weather was cold!

Not bad for the privacy and the refreshments provided for the size of your group.

Thank you for the response.

 

 

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It was worth every penny - just over $50/person to get away from the crowds, have a cool area to relax, and all the other amenities seemed reasonable. The area was quiet with respect to people but still was close enough to the bar where we overhead the live music that was playing. They also gave us chair lift wrist-bands.

Thanks so much for your post - me and hubby looking @ going on the Magic in February of next year and I started searching to see reviews of the ship. We will also be driving down from Virginia and thinking about staying a little away from port to save $ as we just retired in March. Can't wait to hear more of your review. Sounds like you all had a great time.

Bonnie

Bonnie - I would highly recommend the Magic. This was by far the best food we have had in recent memory on Carnival. The Good Rev Dr. E was the bomb dot com - I'm not sure if he will still be on the ship in February but if he is that would be a huge bonus. The ship is beautiful and never felt outrageous overcrowded to us.

Closing Thoughts:

The good news is that all of the new cruisers that are with us will be going again. Each of them thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and can't wait to go again in the future. All of the previous cruisers in the group loved the trip as well. We have some (including me) that still see minor cut-backs here and there...but overall I feel that Carnival is making good steps in the right direction toward adding value in areas they previously took it away. We will certainly be cruising Carnival again in the future and can't wait to see what they keep doing to make cruising even better than it is today.

The bad news is that with the baby on the way we may not be able to cruise next year...but alas that is the way life goes sometimes and the excitement of the baby is much bigger than cruising.

One quick item - I would be remiss if I didn't mention that one sad moment on the cruise was no Bitter n Blanc on the dinner menu! Ahh I knew to expect that it wouldn't be there...but that didn't keep me from hoping for a surprise! Obviously this is ok as the rest of the food was excellent!

I hope you have enjoy my quick review here - feel free to ask any questions! Cheers and Bon Voyage on your next sailing!

It was worth every penny - just over $50/person to get away from the crowds, have a cool area to relax, and all the other amenities seemed reasonable. The area was quiet with respect to people but still was close enough to the bar where we overhead the live music that was playing. They also gave us chair lift wrist-bands.

We paid something like $15 for the chair lift at the entrance.

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Terrific review/trip report.

Keith

Costa Maya:

 

This was the wife and I's second visit to Costa Maya. Thanks to the Ports of Call board we were able to find Maya Chan Beach prior to our last cruise and decided to spend the day there. Maya Chan is not the kind of place that you only visit once...so we ensured the entire Squad that a day at Maya Chan was the best way to spend our day in Costa Maya.

 

Let me tell you, as before Maya Chan did not disappoint. You are met with a smile as soon as you leave the port area and find the Maya Chan folks. Next up is a taxi ride that is always "interesting". To be frank the road as soon as you leave the Mahahual area you are on a sand road that is not the best in the world. But do not be dismayed...the ride is worth it for what is waiting you upon arrival. David greeted us with a smile and next thing we know we are sitting in lounge chairs beside a handwritten "Welcome Back" sign with a cup of Rum Punch. The sun shined all day, time was spent floating in the water, paddle boarding, snorkeling, and relaxing. The drinks flowed all day and the bartenders/wait staff always tried to make sure we had everything we wanted.

 

The highlight is always the home-cooked Mexican style lunch that Maya Chan puts together. Steak, pork, chicken, and fish tacos with all the toppings will leave you plumb and ready for an afternoon nap on the beach.

 

Talking with everybody from the group, this was the highlight of our trip. If you are looking for a relaxing day at the beach in Costa Maya, do yourself a favor and go to Maya Chan!

already have this booked for my next trip super happy to see you loved it

Great review! I agree with your assessment of the good Dr. E. He was the most entertaining cruise director we've ever sailed with...in 24 cruises!

May I guess, with your screen name, that it's appropriate to say "GO HOKIES!!!" ?;)

Thank you for the excellent review. I'm curious about your itinerary change as we are supposed to go to about those same eastern ports this weekend out of PC. We don't mind if it's changed to western, but it would be nice to know in advance. When did you find out about the change?

Thank you for the excellent review. I'm curious about your itinerary change as we are supposed to go to about those same eastern ports this weekend out of PC. We don't mind if it's changed to western, but it would be nice to know in advance. When did you find out about the change?

I was also on this cruise, so I can give a bit of insight. We were formally informed of the change on October 10, so a bit more than a month in advance. The change was due to the damages at the eastern ports from the hurricanes. Most, if not all ports are back open and while there aren't guarantees of no changes at specific ports due to current weather conditions, I wouldn't expect any major changes at this time.