A Magic-al Western Caribbean Review - 11/25/2017

Hey fellow cruise addicts! It's been awhile since we have taken a cruise, so I'm excited to share our recent Carnival Magic trip with you! We decided on this trip to celebrate my graduation from the police academy. After 9 long months, I needed a vacation!

This will be a very long and detailed review with a ton of pictures. For those that enjoy it, I have a lot of food porn to share. The majority of shots of this cruise were taken with my iPhone 6S. I took my DSLR, but never even pulled it out of the safe this cruise. Since I was using the Hub App, I always had my phone on me anyways. The shots from Belize were done with our Kodak Playsport Underwater camera/camcorder.

Please be patient with me as these reviews can take a while to finish. I was typing up as much as possible throughout the cruise, but still have a bit to finish. I will try my best to not take too long though. Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I will answer to the best of my ability. I hope you enjoy the review!

A little background information:

Our cruising party consists of myself and my husband (I'll refer to him as J from here on out to make things easy). We're both in our early 30s and from Tallahassee, FL (go Noles!) This sailing was our 9th Carnival cruise, but only our first time on the Carnival Magic. We had only been to most of these ports one other time (with the exception of Cozumel). Our honeymoon cruise on the Carnival Dream in 2010 was actually this exact itinerary, so we were excited to explore the ports again.

We booked a Past Guest Special Early Saver rate for this cruise in a Deluxe Oceanview Room. About 2 weeks after we booked, someone must have canceled because a L-Shaped Balcony opened up. I called my PVP and upgraded for only $220 We got two different price drops totaling $80, so in the end, I only paid $140 for the upgrade from the Deluxe OV to the Balcony! I somehow was able to keep it a secret from 6 months that I upgraded our room, so J had no clue until we got on the ship (or so I thought...)

We are huge fans of FTTF, so that was the first thing I booked. I was shocked that there were still spots available because the ship was already pretty full when we made our reservation. For only $50 a stateroom, it gets us onboard the ship quicker and in our rooms earlier. Completely worth it for us.

The ports visited on this cruise were:

Cozumel (9am-6pm) - Salsa, Salsa, and Margaritas excursion through Carnival

Belize (8am-5pm) - Cave Tubing through CaveTubing BZ

Roatan (9am-6pm) - Pirates, Birds, and Monkeys of the Caribbean through Carnival

Costa Maya (7am-2pm) - Stayed on the ship

Following. And congratulations on your graduation. My husband went through the police academy in 1998 and it was very grueling.

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Nice upsell! Will be following along.

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We too were on this sailing. First cruise with Carnival since 2012. Been doing the Oasis class ships with Royal. Dining room was much better than when we did the Dream several years ago. Didn't care for the buffet, and the wait at the Mongolian grill was very long and it was very smokey. Ventilation was terrible at the wok. Took a long time on embarkation day for the luggage crew to free up the elevators for passengers. Some of the elevators were still closed at 3pm. Burgers at guys were very good. Pulled pork at Pig and Anchor was pretty good but I didn't care for the way they prepared the collards.. Ship was beautiful and Dr. E was the best cruise director I've experienced in 26 cruises!

We too were on this sailing. First cruise with Carnival since 2012. Been doing the Oasis class ships with Royal. Dining room was much better than when we did the Dream several years ago. Didn't care for the buffet, and the wait at the Mongolian grill was very long and it was very smokey. Ventilation was terrible at the wok. Took a long time on embarkation day for the luggage crew to free up the elevators for passengers. Some of the elevators were still closed at 3pm. Burgers at guys were very good. Pulled pork at Pig and Anchor was pretty good but I didn't care for the way they prepared the collards.. Ship was beautiful and Dr. E was the best cruise director I've experienced in 26 cruises!

Oh my goodness. The non-ventilation of the Mongolian about gave me an asthma attack one day. It was horrible.

Following. And congratulations on your graduation. My husband went through the police academy in 1998 and it was very grueling.

 

 

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Thank you! It was hard, but one of the best things I've ever done.

I know some people don't like long reviews, so before I start, I'll post my general thoughts and cliff notes.

Embarkation/Debarkation: Embarkation was super quick. We were through check-in and on the ship within about 30 minutes. Debarkation was super smooth and we got off the ship earlier than most.

FTTF: FTTF was completely worth it for embarkation. We got checked in within about 10 minutes. As soon as they boarded diamond, platinum, and suites, we were heading on to the ship. Our luggage was also delivered earlier than others (around 2:30pm) which was nice because we were able to unpack before muster. Priority tendering was a huge perk because we didn't have to fuss with getting a tender ticket. During debarkation, we got off way earlier than we would have without FTTF because everyone else in cabin's near us had Zone 18.

Ship: The layout of the Magic was super easy to get used to. You can't go front to back on decks 3 or 4 (the galley is in the middle), so make sure you're on a different deck (we usually went up to deck 5). There were a lot of people on the ship and you noticed that in regards to lines, especially in the Lido, but it wasn't a huge problem. Overall, we absolutely loved the ship. The decor isn't as in your face as other Carnival ships and it has a ton of awesome amenities and dining areas.

Room: We were in room 8462, which is a L-shaped cabin. We had the same style of room on the Carnival Dream, so I was excited to try it out again. The cabin is smaller and a little more cramped than other balcony cabins (there is no couch), but the balcony more than makes up for it.

Dining: There are so many dining options on this ship that we didn't have the time to try them all out! Most of them are included, but there are a couple for pay options. Our service in the dining room was outstanding and we really enjoyed the new options on the American Table menu. Guy's Burgers was delicious as was Blue Iguana. The Pasta Bar was just okay. Didn't love Pig & Anchor and the wait was ridiculously long.

Entertainment and Activities: Dr. E was the CD for this cruise and hew as amazing! So full of energy and a lot of fun. The shows were amazing and the musical acts throughout the ship were great! There were some days where I felt they didn't have enough activities provided (usually mornings on port days), but we always found something to do.

Cozumel: We did the Salsa, Salsa, and Margaritas excursion for the 2nd time and loved it just as much as the first. If you are a foodie, I highly recommend this tour!

Belize: I can't say enough good things about Cavetubing BZ. Great company and they provided an excellent excursion.

Roatan: We booked the Pirates, Monkeys, and Birds excursion through Carnival. In my opinion, this excursion was oversold and a little too crowded. But overall, the excursion was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it.

Costa Maya: Since it was such a short port time and there weren't really any excursions that interested us, we decided to stay on the ship.

Following along :) I loved the Magic, and that was before the addition of Guys

Congratulations on graduating from the police academy.

I really like the Magic and am enjoying your review.

thanks for your review! will be following. So happy to see another one of the ship that I next want to sail on . Not sure when or if ever will be able to, but still happy to read all reviews. thanks again for doing a review.:)

Following! Love reading reviews on our favorite ship! And yes, Dr. E is amazing!

Friday, November 24th (Travel Day)

Okay, enough Cliff Notes! Let's get this review started!

One of the perks of living in Florida is that we're only about 4 hours from Port Canaveral. We woke up, drove the dogs over to the boarder and then made our way to the airport to pick up our rental car.

We finished packing up the car and hit the road around noon.

Any time we go down to Central Florida, it's a tradition for us to stop for lunch at Krystals in Live Oak. We don't have a Krystals in Tallahassee, so it's our treat to ourselves.

My mom and step-father live outside of Melbourne, so we were spending the night at their house instead of getting a hotel room. We got there around 5pm and enjoyed some delicious Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner.

We tried to get to bed as early as possible since we still had a bit of a drive in the morning.

Saturday, November 25th (Embarkation Day)

I was so excited for the cruise that I was up before the alarm even went off. Nothing is better than waking up to a nice breakfast made by my mom. 😃

It's about an hour drive from my mom's house to the port, so we got on the road about 9am. The rental car was due back at 10:30 and since we had FTTF, we wanted to get to the port as early as possible to take advantage of our priority boarding.

We dropped our car off at Enterprise around 10:15am. They're located about 5 minutes away from the cruise port and have a shuttle to take you over to the ship. Returning the car was super quick and then they directed us inside to wait for the next shuttle. The shuttle arrived about 10 minutes later and we all go loaded up. Before we knew it, we had a view of our home for the next 7 days!

We were dropped off directly at the terminal and our bags were unloaded from the vehicle by the driver and given to the porters. Make sure to have your luggage tags on your bags ahead of time and stand at the trailer to grab your carry-ones so there is no confusion as to what should go with them and what should stay with you.

We were dropped off around 10:45am and walked straight through check-in. The FTTF line was super short and there was no wait at all. The Magic is still giving Sail and Sign cards at check-in. Once we checked in, we were directed to seat in the FTTF waiting area until called. After all the priority cruisers were called, they called FTTF and we were on our way to ship.

We officially stepped foot on the ship at 11:15am! I love walking on a new (to us) ship and checking out the lobby. It was already decorated for Christmas!

*Picture taken later in the cruise*

Great review so far...the Magic is our fav ship been on her 2x with 2 more coming up very soon...:D We will miss her when she leaves next year but looking forward to the Breeze coming into PC...I am glad you mentioned the Salsa, Salsa excursion as this is one we are considering in Coz, we have been to Coz many times and are looking for something different so cannot wait for the details....

Great review so far...the Magic is our fav ship been on her 2x with 2 more coming up very soon...:D We will miss her when she leaves next year but looking forward to the Breeze coming into PC...I am glad you mentioned the Salsa, Salsa excursion as this is one we are considering in Coz, we have been to Coz many times and are looking for something different so cannot wait for the details....

I'm definitely looking forward to the Breeze. I'm sure we'll love her just as much as the Magic!

Salsa & Salsa is great. I highly recommend it! There will absolutely be more details (and pictures) to come.

One of the perks of FTTF is that your room is ready as soon as you board the ship. This is one of the major reasons we book FTTF because we hate dragging our bags all around the ship until the rooms open up.

Unfortunately, we arrived at our room to find the door still open and that it hadn’t be serviced yet. One of the stewards walked up and asked if we were FTTF. When we told him we were, he said he would have the room ready in 15 minutes. We decided we might as well head up to the Lido deck and grab lunch before the crowds got on board.

We easily got a table in the back of the Lido restaurant and I watched our bags while J went and grabbed his food and then vice versa. Thankfully since the ship wasn’t crowded, it wasn’t too big of an issue. We both enjoyed Guy’s Burgers for lunch and then some caramel cheesecake for dessert.

It had been about 30 minutes at this point, so once we were done eating, we headed back to the room. Unfortunately, J had already noticed that we were in a balcony room when we came down before so there wasn’t really any surprise. Then, when I mentioned it to him that I was trying to surprise him with the balcony, he thought we had one booked the entire time. Welp, so much for my surprise! lol

The balcony I booked was one of the L-shaped cabins. There are a very limited number of these rooms on the ship (4 on deck 6, 2 on deck 7, and 2 on deck 8). They're located to the very aft of the ship. What makes them special is that the rooms are a little smaller (no couch), but the balconies are extra long (like double the size of a normal balcony). The bathroom is also located near the bed instead of in the hallway with the closets. We were booked in room 8462 on the port side of the ship.

You still have the traditional hallway as you walk in that has the closets. There's also a little nook near the door, which was perfect for keeping our shoes. There’s a little chair there, but we just used it to hold beach towels and bags.

You have the standard desk and bed in the main area of the room. Because of the odd shape, you just have a small table instead of a couch.

The bathroom is located right near the bed, which I actually prefer instead of it being in the hallway. The only downside is that if you turn the light on, it brightens up the entire sleeping space. So I brought a battery powered night to keep in there which worked out well. It has a motion sensor so it turned on automatically when we walked into the bathroom.

The bathroom is your standard Carnival bathroom. We found there to be tons of storage for our stuff. I do wish there was a little more shelving in the shower because I like to bring my own shampoo and conditioner. We made do with what we had though.

Now the best part of the room is the amazing balcony. We had two regular chairs, a table, and a lounger. We were surprised by how dirty the chairs were when we walked out there and then realized that it was actually just paint splatter all over them. One of the awesome things about this balcony is that even though it isn’t an aft wrap, you can still see both the side of the ship and the aft.

Overall, we loved the stateroom. The balcony is absolutely amazing and we didn't really miss the couch much. The location was also awesome because we were only 2 floors below the Lido Deck and 3 floors above the Promenade. Since the room was further aft on the ship, the Promenade doesn't stick out as far, so we had more privacy and a better view looking down at the ocean. It's also a lot quieter back there because you don't get as much random foot traffic. The biggest downside is that there was a smoking area on deck 5 a little forward of our cabin, so a lot of the smoke drifted up our way (especially when the ship was docked). The yellow umbrellas in the picture are where the smoking area is.

The Carnival Magic has the new card reader slot to keep the lights/power on in the room. We brought an extra card with us to leave in the slot so that we could charge things while we were out of the room. Our steward had put one of his cards in it though, so we didn’t end up needing it.

Our room steward had left our copy of the Fun Times in our room, so we glanced over those to see what was going on the rest of the day. Since they don't have the tear off section on the Fun Times anymore, it made them kind of a pain to carry around. We downloaded the Carnival Hub app before the cruise, so we ended up using that the majority of the time. I brought the Fun Times home with me, so I will try to scan and upload at some point.

After we got settled into our cabin, it was time for our Noles to play, so we headed to the Red Frog Pub to see if they were airing the game. They only had the Georgia v. GA Tech game on. We asked if they could change one of the TVs, but they said all 3 had to be on the same channel. That was a little frustrating. The Casino Bar was airing the game, but it’s a smoking area, so I didn’t want to breath all of that in. Unfortunately our cabin TV didn’t have ESPN, so we didn’t get to watch any of the game. My BFF kept us updated on the score through text though and we ended up winning!

Subscribing! We'll be cruisin on the Magic this Christmas,cruisin the western as well. We've been on the Dream( which I think we were on the same cruise) and the Breeze ,which is our favorite as of now. Figured why not complete the trifecta! Looking forward to the rest of the review.

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One of the perks of FTTF is that your room is ready as soon as you board the ship. This is one of the major reasons we book FTTF because we hate dragging our bags all around the ship until the rooms open up.

 

Unfortunately, we arrived at our room to find the door still open and that it hadn’t be serviced yet. One of the stewards walked up and asked if we were FTTF. When we told him we were, he said he would have the room ready in 15 minutes. We decided we might as well head up to the Lido deck and grab lunch before the crowds got on board.

 

 

 

 

We easily got a table in the back of the Lido restaurant and I watched our bags while J went and grabbed his food and then vice versa. Thankfully since the ship wasn’t crowded, it wasn’t too big of an issue. We both enjoyed Guy’s Burgers for lunch and then some caramel cheesecake for dessert.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the review, that was a burger, YUKKKKKK

Terrific review and also loved the photos.

Keith

Navybaby, did you try the warm chocolate melting cake? It was so good. One night in the dining room they had frog legs , and me being an old Florida country boy I ordered them as my appetizer. Well guess what, they were naked. Not breaded and fried, just plain Nasty. I'm ready to go again. Doing a 3 day in Feb. for my recent retirement on the Disney Dream and taking all of the kids and grands with us to celebrate.

Enjoying the review and photos!