It was magic - or was it? My february 11-18 review

Hello! Hopefully I'm ready to get started with my review of our Carnival Magic cruise - February 11 - 18 - eastern itinerary.

I'm having an issue with pictures and I hope to get that resolved so that I can post some along with my review. I didn't take as many this trip as I normally do though.

First some background. I am Angela and my husband is Glen and we are both in our early 50's. This was our 8th cruise - all on Carnival. Our first was in 2004 and we took a 7 year hiatus (we started fostering and we also added some new additions to our home) and didn't cruise again until 2011. We have averaged about 1 cruise a year -sometimes 2 since 2011.

Glen had a heart attack in December,2013 and in February of 2014 we decided life was short (or could be) and it was time for us to take our first vacation without kids. I know my signature says GeorgiaMomof4, but it needs to be updated. I'm actually a Mom to 6 now because we adopted our 2 foster sons (ages 3 and 2) in August, 2016. We now have children ranging in age from 22 down to 2 and yes, I already know we are crazy so those of you thinking it don't have to say it!

We decided we really enjoyed that first no kids cruise and this made our 3rd - but our first 7 day with the other 2 being 5 days (and my 22 year old daughter who watched the other 4 younger ones for our Magic cruise - said our last 7 day).

We booked this cruise over a year in advance. Carnival was having a great sale and my PVP let me know about it and we decided to book it. Again, this cruise was just Glen and myself along with 2 other couples (Michael and Donna and Ronnie and Lisa) whom we have cruised with several times, one of their sons and his girlfriend (Andrew and Megan) who had never cruised before.

Pre-cruise

We decided in January that we needed to redo our master bathroom to include a walk in tile shower (Glen has some mobility issues and our current shower had developed a crack in the floor pan - so it was time). I told my friend who was helping me that I had to have it done before the cruise - I didn't want to leave a mess and have to come back to it after the cruise.

Well needless to say I spent every evening and weekend day working on that shower (and we also expanded our laundry room at the same time). I was downright exhausted.

I've always been the planner of the group, booking excursions, getting pre-cruise hotels, parking, you name it - I usually plan it. I'm lucky that I have a job that I can do things like that during the day because with the remodel I didn't have time. I got it all done - but wasn't very efficient this trip!

On top of the remodel, I came down with a nasty cold/sinus infection about a week before we left for the cruise. I took antibiotics and even had a shot but was still dreadfully miserable. I think burning the candle at both ends had caught up with me and my immune system was down. Now those of you who are saying "if you were sick why did you go on a cruise and expose everyone else". I was sick but not running a fever and not contagious. I did ask my doctor if he thought it was ok and he said it was fine that I wasn't a threat to anyone else.

As I said before, I work at a great place and have a great boss and she told me to take Thursday off (we were leaving at 4 a.m. on Friday morning to drive to Daytona) so I could rest and finish packing.

Our vacation begins-

At 4 a.m. on Friday morning we began our 520 mile drive to Daytona Beach. Everyone was really proud of me because I was actually ready before 4 a.m. (I'm normally not what you would say an on-time person-just ask Glen). I always have a good reason though - getting the diaper bag, cutting all the lights and tv's off that everyone has left on -you know, Mom stuff.

There was 8 of us so we took 2 cars. We made really good time -stopped for a quick breakfast and made it to Daytona about 11:30 or 12:00.

We own a timeshare in Ormond Beach which is just north of Daytona and I booked us rooms there using our bonus time which saved us a lot of money. Our rooms weren't ready when we arrived so we made a quick trip to the Daytona Flea market to get me some hair clips and Glen a hat for the cruise.

As I had been up until 12:30am finishing packing and got up at 3:00 to get ready to leave, I was pretty tired. After we checked in to our timeshare, I made my way down to a lounge chair and out I went. We all took naps and then Donna and I went on a search for a new swimsuit and whatever else we might run across at the Beall's.

Andrew wanted to take Megan to Alfie's Restaurant in Ormond by the Sea (a place that we always go when we are on vacation in Ormond) for dinner. It is family owned and they have wonderful fish and a wide variety of food for those who don't like seafood. It was wonderful as usual and we made our way back to the hotel because everyone was tired and wanted to get a good night's rest before heading out for our cruise on the MAGIC!

Embarkation Day

We were all up early and ready to go to Port Canaveral. Glen had started feeling bad so I decided for precautionary measure to stop at Walgreen's and stock up on cold medicine, cough medicine, etc. We all know how expensive everything is on the ship!

We left Daytona around 9:15 and made the trip to Port Canaveral. I had made parking reservations at Park n Cruise on Sea Ray Drive. We had used them before and had great experiences so we decided to use them again. I will say that the prices have gone up, but so has everything else so I guess it's to be expected.

This experience with Park n Cruise left something to be desired. I'm not sure what the deal was but it took forever to get to the Port that morning. I don't know if they didn't have enough shuttles running or what it was but we arrived at Park N Cruise about 10:30 if I remember correctly and didn't make it to the ship until about 11:45 which isn't the norm for them.

I had finally snagged FTTF after checking and checking and checking. The only real reason I wanted it was so we could drop our carry on's off as soon as we boarded because like I said Glen has mobility issues. Well, since we were so late getting to the port, it for sure didn't get us on the ship that much faster. Basically, we all got on about the same time- even our friends who didn't have it.

I had also checked with my PVP at Carnival about Glen needing wheelchair assistance getting on the ship. We told them at check in that he might need it and we were diverted to a waiting area. There were SEVERAL people already waiting for wheelchairs and we were told that it might be 30 - 40 minutes before they would be ready for us. We decided that we would just go on and let Glen walk and just stop and rest if we needed to. For those of you who haven't sailed from Port Canaveral they have changed the way they embark and it is quite a long walk to get onto the ship. He did have to stop and rest but made it ok.

Once on board we headed straight to our Cabin 10272. Yes - we had a balcony on the Lido deck - a first for us! Our first 3 cruises we had balcony cabins and then because our family expanded, but unfortunately because our budget did not, we started cruising in an oceanview and when the kids go, they stay in an Interior across the hall. After all, it was just the 2 of us this time and in April we will be celebrating 25 years of wedded bliss - well mostly, so we decided to splurge and do the Balcony on Lido.

I did think it would help Glen too since he wouldn't have as far to walk for breakfast, lunch, etc and to people watch when he wanted to. It did work out well and we loved the balcony cabin once again - we just can't get used to it because it will be back to oceanview's for us!

OK - headed to the dentist so I promise to post more tomorrow!

Can't wait to hear more! I'm almost in the double digits after planning my Magic cruise in January 2016 so it's coming quick. I also got a lido balcony that I'm super excited about. My kids don't know I changed to that room so it's going to be a surprise!

Subscribing - I sail Magic in 80 days!!! Can't wait to hear all about your trip. Thanks for the review :D

Can't wait to read more! I have a B2B coming up.

Good start! Can't wait for the rest of your review! Will be sailing on the Magic in 122 days!

Embarkation Photo

Good start! Can't wait for the rest of your review! Will be sailing on the Magic in 122 days!

Thanks for following along!

Can't wait to hear more! I'm almost in the double digits after planning my Magic cruise in January 2016 so it's coming quick. I also got a lido balcony that I'm super excited about. My kids don't know I changed to that room so it's going to be a surprise!

We really loved our Lido Balcony cabin. Your kids will probably like it too - ice cream is just right out the door!

Subscribing - I sail Magic in 80 days!!! Can't wait to hear all about your trip. Thanks for the review :D

Can't wait to read more! I have a B2B coming up.

Thanks for reading!

Subscribing!

Can't wait to hear more :)

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Nice review so far...I would like to cruise on the Magic again some day.

Cheers and happy cruising.

Can't wait to read more...

Thanks so much for taking the time to do such a wonderfully detailed review! We are sailing on her in May so cant wait to read about your experiences!

After dropping our stuff off and letting some of the others drop their stuff off in our cabin (since we had FTTF we had immediate access to our cabin) - we headed to the Lido deck to grab some lunch.Oh yea - we were already on the Lido deck.Having a hard time getting used to that.

I chose Guy's Burgers and had a wonderful burger. I'm not really wild about their fries, but Glen loves them so I got him some fries and he wanted chili to go with them so I had them add a spoonful of chili. I had potato salad with my burger, Glen fixed him a salad and had his chili fries. I think Michael and Donna both had burgers too - but as little as Michael is he has the appetite of a horse. After his burger, he went foraging for something else too - don't remember what it was though.

We went back to the cabin and it wasn't long until our luggage arrived. I got most of our stuff unpacked and put up before Muster but then we had to head to muster.

Our muster station was actually in the Showtime Theatre on deck 5 I believe. It was great to be able to sit in the nice cool air conditioning and get our muster briefing.One of the staff noticed that Glen had some mobility issues and she put his name down on a special needs paper just in case we had to report to our muster stations during the cruise.She was very nice and helpful.We had to wait on some people to get to where they needed to be, but even with that I think we were only there for about 30 minutes or so total.

After muster we headed up to deck 12 so we could watch sail away. It's always fun when leaving out of Port Canaveral to wave at everyone who comes to the beach and restaurants to watch the ships sail away. Before we knew it we were out in the open sea with another Carnival ship behind us.

We stayed out on deck for a little while and then went back to the cabin to rest a bit and get ready for dinner.

We had early assigned seating for dinner in the Main Dining room. I had emailed the Maitre'd and requested a round table for 8 so I was hoping that he had worked that out for us.

It was time to head to dinner. Let me give you a tip. If you have dinner in the Southern Lights dining room which is aft it is located on decks 3 and 4 - but there is a glitch. We were thinking we could take the atrium elevators and go to deck 3 and walk back to the dining room - that doesn't work. The YTD room (Northern Lights) is located on decks 3 and 4 and you can not get to the aft of the ship on deck 3 from the atrium. So we had to walk up to deck 4 and then go aft and go back down the steps to get into the Southern Lights dining room. It wasn't that big of a deal after the first night because we knew but it was aggravating the first night. I would suggest going about 5 minutes late the first night as it's always really crowded with everyone waiting to get in and no one knowing where their table is on the first night. It really bottlenecks on deck 4 with everyone trying to get to their tables on either deck 4 or deck 3.

We were seated at a round table for 8 (yea!) and introduced to our servers. We had a main server and 2 assistants and they were all really nice. Sorry that I don't remember all their names, except for 1 and his name was Emery.

This was our first cruise with the American Table menu and I'll just tell you now that I'm not a real fan. You can look at me and see that I'm definitely not food deprived nor that picky but I just wasn't that satisfied with the selections on the menu nor the flavor of the food this cruise. I wasn't the only one - pretty much all of us and several other people we talked to felt the same way.

I ended up getting the Flat Iron steak the first night I think and it was ok - I've had better on other ships. I think I had Tiramisu (it wasn't called exactly that but was basically the same) for dessert that night and it was really good!

Service was slow that night which might be expected since everyone is getting into the groove - but unfortunately it remained that way for the remainder of the cruise. I'm not throwing off on our servers, I just feel that they have been given too many tables to try and serve and they are overwhelmed.

I truly miss the days when your servers had the time to chat with you - it was nice hearing about their families and where they lived. The BEST servers we've ever had were on the Dream in April, 2011. We all still talk about them and how awesome they were. I guess they just spoiled us and no one has come close since then.

After dinner we finally did a little exploring. We ended up in the Ocean Plaza and listened to the band #SixAppeal and they were really good. That ended up being our go to place several nights. They played a wide variety of music and were really interactive with everyone.

We did have a little incident that night while we were watching the band. There was a man probably in his mid to late 60's and he was drunk as a skunk. He was up dancing - not really dancing but staggering and carrying on. He fell several times and Michael, Glen and Ronnie helped him up. Once he fell and hit his head on our table (with a marble or granite top). During one song he was up in front of the band shooting them birds. It was getting to the point of ridiculous.

Finally the lead band member went and got security. I guess by then his friends or family that he was with decided they should intervene and got him to sit down, but it wasn't long and he was back up at it again. You know, I'm not a prude by any means and I think everyone should have a good time; however, there comes a point (in my opinion anyway) that his friends or family should have intervened and said enough is enough and lead him back to his cabin to sleep it off. We left a little while after but heard from our friends that security did end up escorting him out of the Ocean Plaza area. By the way - we saw him in Grand Turk in a wheelchair with a banged up ankle orleg. Probably not exactly the way he had planned to spend his cruise.

We didn't hang out long at the Ocean Plaza because really and truly Glen and I were both exhausted and we decided the cabin and those nice comfy covers were calling our names!

More tomorrow hopefully!

Enjoying your review.

We had early assigned seating for dinner in the Main Dining room. I had emailed the Maitre'd and requested a round table for 8 so I was hoping that he had worked that out for us.

 

This was our first cruise with the American Table menu and I'll just tell you now that I'm not a real fan.. I wasn't the only one - pretty much all of us and several other people we talked to felt the same way.

 

Service was slow that night which might be expected since everyone is getting into the groove - but unfortunately it remained that way for the remainder of the cruise. I'm not throwing off on our servers, I just feel that they have been given too many tables to try and serve and they are overwhelmed.

 

I truly miss the days when your servers had the time to chat with you - it was nice hearing about their families and where they lived.

Wife and I traveled with 6 others Jan 21- feb 4 ... first week was early dining,, and it was as you described.. to the point a LOT of people had their tips refunded... servers has no time to talk.. or get to know you.. beef would be placed.. but no au jus, or horse radish.. food went cold waiting for sour cream for the baked potato... sigh,, I don't even like the american menu food.. but I love the main MDR experience.

second week was fantastic.. we moved to late seating,, and got a 12 top at the center aft windows!! what a view .. great service! waiters knew the second night who had Tea,, who had coffee..

Now.. a lot of folks in the table area were from New Zealand.. so there was a lot of chatter with wait staff wrt family, home, what ships they worked on,, and were heading too!

Following1

Subscribing. Very nice start. Thanks for posting.

Enjoying your review so far. We're looking at booking the Magic for November.

Following along. Enjoying your review! We sailed the Magic on her first 3-day cruise from Port Canaveral last year, & have booked her again for summer 8 day to Aruba, etc. Looking forward to reading the rest of your review, thanks for taking the time to write!

Loving your review. We will be sailing the Magic next Saturday, cant wait!!