Our MAGICal Western Cruise 4/14/18

We just got back from our cruise on the Magic. I’ll start this review off by saying that we have a fond place in our hearts for the Magic since we got married on the ship last year in May.

To make it easier on myself and since I forgot to jot things down daily I’ll review the cruise by sections instead of by day.

Embarkation: we are so lucky since we live in Melbourne which is about 40 minutes from the Port. We brought our son who is 2 so if anyone has traveled with a toddler they know that packing with a toddler can be....stressful 😆We left to go to the port quite early because of this. Every time we packed something he would unpack it...

We arrived at the port around 12ish. My sister dropped us off and the porter took our luggage (and we tipped him 😉). We went right into the late/early line since our arrival time was supposed to be 12:30-1:30. We waited in line for about 10 minutes, went through security and immediately boarded the ship. We could not have asked for anything easier than that. We didn’t bother checking to see if our room was ready. My mom who is platinum checked and hers was ready.

We went to the Lido and went upstairs to the Pasta restaurant which was empty. The lunch is free but it’s a limited menu and it’s just ok. Kind of just bland pasta. It reminded me of spaghetti that you get at school. After lunch we went to our room which was ready. We had a Deluxe Ocean View (room 1371). It was VERY spacious. We liked it a lot more than the balcony we had last year. The window that you can climb into was a hit with our toddler! My husband saw the steward once the whole cruise and requested once a day service in the morning. There were no robes but we didn’t mind. They take up a lot of room and it’s to hot to put one of those on.

More to come!!

We just got back from our cruise on the Magic. I’ll start this review off by saying that we have a fond place in our hearts for the Magic since we got married on the ship last year in May.

To make it easier on myself and since I forgot to jot things down daily I’ll review the cruise by sections instead of by day.

 

Embarkation: we are so lucky since we live in Melbourne which is about 40 minutes from the Port. We brought our son who is 2 so if anyone has traveled with a toddler they know that packing with a toddler can be....stressful 😆We left to go to the port quite early because of this. Every time we packed something he would unpack it...

We arrived at the port around 12ish. My sister dropped us off and the porter took our luggage (and we tipped him ). We went right into the late/early line since our arrival time was supposed to be 12:30-1:30. We waited in line for about 10 minutes, went through security and immediately boarded the ship. We could not have asked for anything easier than that. We didn’t bother checking to see if our room was ready. My mom who is platinum checked and hers was ready.

We went to the Lido and went upstairs to the Pasta restaurant which was empty. The lunch is free but it’s a limited menu and it’s just ok. Kind of just bland pasta. It reminded me of spaghetti that you get at school. After lunch we went to our room which was ready. We had a Deluxe Ocean View (room 1371). It was VERY spacious. We liked it a lot more than the balcony we had last year. The window that you can climb into was a hit with our toddler! My husband saw the steward once the whole cruise and requested once a day service in the morning. There were no robes but we didn’t mind. They take up a lot of room and it’s to hot to put one of those on.

 

More to come!!

Following...on her in 2 weeks!!!:cool:

I'm on her in 4 weeks and love reading reviews!

I do like the OV rooms, my kids love lying in the window. lol

Dining: the food compared to last year was 100% better. I’m not sure why because the menu was similar. We ate at the buffet every morning when it opened and there were really never any lines, probably because it was so early. The first day I tried the scrambled eggs and they were AWFUL. I can’t even pin point why but the texture was wrong. I stuck with hard boiled eggs the rest of the cruise . The other items were the regular breakfast items you see and there was always a nice selection of fruit and yogurt. My husband had the burritos from Blue Igauna most days and he loved them!

For lunch we either ate at the buffet or Guys Burgers or both . The lunch they offer at the buffet is hit or miss. My son loves the beans and cheeses so that was a plus. We did frequent the deli often and you were allowed to customize what you wanted. Who eats mayo and mustard on a grilled cheese? We had the soft serve ice cream about 800 times this year. Last year we didn’t have it once. My son went nuts for it and so did we!

We ate at YTD every night. The service was really great. After the first day they always brought my son a few bowls of fruit to munch on. Make sure to ask for a kids menu if you have little ones with you. They don’t offer it outright for some reason.

We learned our lesson from last year and learned to order more than one appetizer or main dish in case it was either to small or not good. I don’t think I had one dish that I didn’t like this year. The desserts were always amazing and we did order Multiples of those as well.

We had the pizza a few times this year and never had to wait in line and it was always delicious.

On the first sea day we had pig and anchor and honestly it was not worth it to wait in that line

More to come!

Following, thank you, we're doing the Magic western next week!

... We had a Deluxe Ocean View (room 1371). It was VERY spacious. We liked it a lot more than the balcony we had last year. The window that you can climb into was a hit with our toddler! ...

On our last Dream cruise we got a Deluxe OV too, and loved it. Kinda missed the fresh-air balcony, but only a little bit. Yeah that big deep windowsill was great.

Did your stateroom have two bathrooms, with a mini-tub in one? On Dream that was extra-special-nice. (Maybe I shoulda read on before asking...)

... The first day I tried the scrambled eggs and they were AWFUL. ...

Same on our last Dream cruise. But we learned on the second or third day that we could ask for fresh unbroken eggs. The cook had them right there under the counter for anybody who knew to ask. Maybe they were meant for frying, but the cook never seemed to mind no matter how we wanted our eggs done. I really, really hope Magic (next week for us) offers the same option. That pre-scrambled mix mess is, like you said, awful.

For Aussie cruises on Elegant Night do they offer Taz crayfish or spiney lobster? It seems a waste if they ship them in.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Forums mobile app

YTD....may I ask what time did you usually go and did you ever have to wait long?

Thank you SO MUCH for all of your details so far!

On our last Dream cruise we got a Deluxe OV too, and loved it. Kinda missed the fresh-air balcony, but only a little bit. Yeah that big deep windowsill was great.

 

Did your stateroom have two bathrooms, with a mini-tub in one? On Dream that was extra-special-nice. (Maybe I shoulda read on before asking...)

Yes! I forgot to mention that. Our son still hated taking a bath though. We loved having the extra bathroom to get ready in though. It also meant an extra bathroom for my son to go into and pull all the tissues out of the container under the sink :cool:

Same on our last Dream cruise. But we learned on the second or third day that we could ask for fresh unbroken eggs. The cook had them right there under the counter for anybody who knew to ask. Maybe they were meant for frying, but the cook never seemed to mind no matter how we wanted our eggs done. I really, really hope Magic (next week for us) offers the same option. That pre-scrambled mix mess is, like you said, awful.

I wish I would have known that. I’m sure they will do it for you. The staff was so accommodating 😊

YTD....may I ask what time did you usually go and did you ever have to wait long?

 

Thank you SO MUCH for all of your details so far!

We usually went at 6 since we had the little one with us. If you go at 5:45 then you have to wait in a long line. We usually went at that time and took pictures (5:45ish) and then waited for the line to clear and went in about 6:10ish and never waited. We also requested the same wait staff every time. Ketut was awesome! Ask for him if you can

Next up is Internet! I pre-purchased the basic social media package for $28. We wanted it so we could use Facebook messenger (which we never ended up using). Last year we cruised with about 25 people for our wedding so it was hard to keep in contact and the messenger worked great for that. This year it was my husband and son and grandparents who didn’t want to purchase the package. In a way it was nice to be able to disappear and not have everyone know where you are on the ship

iMessage worked sometimes. When we were at sea my sister was messaging me from home and I was able to message back but it took forever compared to messenger.

I only have Facebook on my phone so I can only rate how well that worked. It was spotty at best. I’m an early bird so when you go on 5:30am it was a little faster. Sometimes you have to open the app put down your phone and come back for the posts to load. Also, if you want to read articles that are on Facebook think again, you will most likely need the higher package. Some articles opened but most didn’t.

Carnival HUB app. Coolest app. You can see what is going on throughout the day, look at the menus for the restaurants, look at your pictures that were taken every day and night...I’ll get to Pixels later....review your account summary , book excursions etc.

All in all I would still get the cheap plan. It was nice to keep up and be able to post but also nice to dis -connect from the world everyday

More to come!

I wish I would have known that. I’m sure they will do it for you. The staff was so accommodating

Great! And one thing about writing reviews is sometimes you can get some helpful feedback too. Helpful for the next time I mean. We just got lucky while we were still on the ship. It was one of the passengers in line ahead of us who told us we could ask for fresh eggs.

But please don't let us slow you down/break your rhythm with too many questions.

First stop Cozumel!

So I’ve been to Cozumel before. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been taking cruises since I was a kid. It has been sometime since I’ve gone though and my memory was foggy on what it was like.

The weather that day was WINDY. We didn’t have an excursion booked and my mom insisted that we walk to town and it wasn’t far. 3-4 miles isnt far but when you are pushing a stroller and 25 mile/hour winds it seems far . So we get to town (where the Disney ship is) and all it is is stores and people asking you repeatedly to come to their store. After a few hours of this i wanted to scream. They never stop asking if you want to come in. We eneded up taking a Cab (Van) back for $12. We went back to the ship for some lunch and then went back to the port area to walk around. The port area was very clean and nice but again everyone asks you to come to the store . Maybe I was just tired and cranky but it was annoying me

If I were to ever go back to Cozumel I would definitely book an excursion. I’m sure we could have taken a cab to the beach but the weather was not good for a beach day.

Second stop Belize!

Ah Belize, I had such fond memories of this place. The last time I was in this port was about a decade ago. We went snorkeling and had a blast! I was also single with no children and life was much more carefree back then!

Since we have our toddler with us I didn’t really have any interest in the excursions offered. A 45 minute bus ride with a cranky toddler didn’t sound appealing. I figured the port would be ok to walk around, from what I remember before it was....The only good thing about this port was that my kid fell asleep in the stroller on the tender ride over

We walked the port area which took 10 minutes and then got right back on the boat to come back. They changed the port since the last time I was here and I am not sure what they did but whatever it was they made it worse !

If you want to go to Belize book an excursion or stay on the boat!

Next stop Mahogany Bay!

This was my FAVORITE port! I wish the boat just docked here the whole time. The port area was Beautiful. It reminded me of Disney or Epcot. They had beautiful landscaping and everything was well taken care of. Once you are in the main area of the port you take a right and walk down a path to the beach. This beach is free and so are the chairs! You can rent various items: floats, kayaks , inner tubes etc. A lady I met in the bathroom said she paid $70 to go to the same beach that we went to for free

We relaxed on the beach for most of the day and then went shopping. Again I can’t stress how much we loved this place.

Last stop Costa Maya!

This is the one stop that I booked an excursion on. It was the biking and glass bottom kayak tour.

We had to be at the port (pier) at 7:15. Since the pier was 100 miles long we left early and it was still dark out. We get the meeting spot which reminded me of Disney. It was roped off and there were signs of which line to go in. Our tour guide informed us that since the winds were so high that we could cancel because the kayaking part would be considered advanced. Of course we insisted that we were advanced and would still go. I will add here that the last time I went kayaking was 10 years ago and my husband has never been . We had to wait for the rest of the people to show up and fill out the waiver. We didn’t actually leave until about 8:15ish. We walked to the back of the Port area and picked out our bikes which were beach cruisers and a helmet. They went over hand signals and safety stuff as well. We then took a 3 mile bike ride through the streets of Costa Maya. I’m not sure if I’m spoiled because I live in Florida but I could have done without the bike ride. The “scenery” wasn’t great. There was trash everywhere.

We finally made it to the hotel where the kayaks were waiting for us. What I didn’t realize was that we were kayaking in the ocean! I’ve only gone in lakes and rivers and never with windy conditions. It was tough and we saw some neat stuff (Coral and Fish) but again we are from Florida and are spoiled. After about 20-30 minutes it was over and they let us either swim or walk around. We chose to walk around to town. Every person we passed asked if we wanted a massage. It was like Cozumel all over again but with massages . We eneded up turning back and it was time to go. We rode back to the port and walked around for a bit. The area was really nice and had a pool and a dolphin area but it was very crowded and that was with only our ship in Port. You might be able to get away with not doing an excursion on this one and hanging out at the port but if you don’t like crowds it might not be your thing

Geezzz I’m long winded!

Long winded?? Nooo don't even go there! :p Love your review so far, I'm hanging on almost every word :)

Really enjoying your review. Will be on the Magic in the fall and just can't get enough. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Next up Entertainment!

Last year we didn’t go to one show. Our son was - year and a half and was just to much of a handful at that age. He is really Into music and so we figured he would enjoy them.

88 Keys was fantastic! My son was enthralled and clapping along the whole time. The only bummer was that the show was cut short due to technical difficulties. It came back a few days later but we came in late and I think they were still having issues with it.

Flick was weird in my opinion and my kiddo wasn’t digging it so we left. It is animated and there was interperative dance and I just didn’t get it. If that’s your thing though you will like it. The singers and dancers were amazing....I couldn’t do it

Rock of Ages ( I think that’s the name) was good. Some of the music choices could have been better but that’s just preference. They give you those glow in the dark necklaces in the beginning and you would have thought my son won the lottery.

The cruise director changed from Dr.E to Cookie. I isn’t really care for Dr. E for some reason. Cookie was HYSTERICAL. His mannerisms and personality were over the top! He really made the cruise better

Dr Suess Parade was really cute but something about it freaked out our son so we had to cut it short. We also paid for the breakfast that my son refused to go to. Guest Services said they would still charge me for it even though we didn’t go. I made a face but didn’t argue it because our son was having a meltdown at the moment. In the end they did remove the charge...maybe she felt bad

All In all the entertainment seemed good. There was always live music going on somewhere on the ship. The lido deck was always hopping (is that what kids say? LOL) we don’t drink or care for loud DJ music so we avoided that area all together

Next up Pools!

I just want to touch on this. I’m not complaining (which means I most definitely am) but why are the pools so small now? I remember when they were the length of the deck and not just a little circle. I would have loved to have gone “swimming” but it would have been more like standing next to some stranger drinking a bucket of beer. It’s just weird to me that they are so little.

Waterworks area is really cool and the kids love it...and adults

On the last sea day I was able to escape while our son was napping and go to the Serenity Area. Who thought that it was a good idea to put the serenity deck above the waterworks which is above the very loud lido deck? To top it off it was so windy I had to pile all my stuff next to me and keep my arms draped over it so it wouldn’t fly away. That coupled with the noise was anything but relaxing. I left within the hour with a headache

Enjoying the detailed review!

Next up Pixels!

I’m sure this is a generational thing but I would much rather prefer a digital copy of a picture. My mom on the other hand has walls dedicated to photos and she has method on which ones she buys etc etc. I would rather have the digital copy so I can print at my leisure and when it is needed.

I was excited when the packages came out but honestly didn’t want to spend $250 on it. I don’t even remember if that came with all the digital copies or not. How many 8x10s could one person need?

I budgeted myself $100 on pictures. I made sure we dressed up every night so we had a lot to chose from at the end. I’m glad I did this because the photographers were not the same as last year. I had so many amazing pictures from last year and I really think it had to do with the photographers. They were German I think and very meticulous about how you posed and in turn we had a lot of great pictures to chose from. This year they photographers didn’t really tell you how to pose or what to do and it all felt very rushed.

On the last day they started offering 10 pictures (8x10) and digital copies on a USB along with 2 canvases for $199. I just couldn’t see spending that IMHO.

I went through my pictures over and over and picked 6 I really liked and bought the mobile download of them which was $14.99 each. Still cheaper than hiring a photographer at home so I’ll take it .

Another cool thing is they did away with the actual pictures that you can look at and have IPads all over the ship now that you can look at your pictures on instead. Now when they take a picture of you they ask for your room number and it goes right to your HUB app or the IPad. How cool is that? So if you get your pictures done at 6pm then usually by 9pm they are on the app!! No more waiting for Pixels to open at 5 to go look.

I am really interested in how you handled the pictures. If I am understanding what you said, you did not buy a package but at the end you chose six pictures for $14,99 each? But you did not get hard copies, they were digital? Did they give you a USB or did you bring your own?

I am really interested in how you handled the pictures. If I am understanding what you said, you did not buy a package but at the end you chose six pictures for $14,99 each? But you did not get hard copies, they were digital? Did they give you a USB or did you bring your own?

Yes! I decided against the package since I didn’t need the hard copies, the wall hangings or the USB.

I purchased the mobile download for $14.99 a picture (download) that is all you get.

You need the HUB app to do this. Once you purchase them you open the app and go to purchased pictures > download. They then go directly to your gallery on your phone. My mom did this as well but she didn’t have the app. The morning we got back to port she downloaded the app and was able to download the pictures.

If you want the USB pictures they are 19.99 each without the pictures and I believe 21.99 with the pictures (printouts).

In my opinion a USB is not needed but some might find it easier to print pictures that way.

Hope this helps !

Enjoying your review!