1st Trip with Carnival

Good afternoon. After several cruises with DCL we felt it was time to switch since they were pricing us out of the wallet. Just booked today our Aug 2019 8 night cruise on board the Carnival Magic. We added prepaid gratuities to our reservation. What on board would cost us extra besides alcoholic drinks so we know what to expect & help us plan. Does Carnival have drink/beer/soda packages? Any photo packages we can look into? Are their any restaurants that cost extra outside of your included nightly dining rooms. All & any info would be very helpful. TIA!

Good afternoon. After several cruises with DCL we felt it was time to switch since they were pricing us out of the wallet. Just booked today our Aug 2019 8 night cruise on board the Carnival Magic. We added prepaid gratuities to our reservation. What on board would cost us extra besides alcoholic drinks so we know what to expect & help us plan. Does Carnival have drink/beer/soda packages? Any photo packages we can look into? Are their any restaurants that cost extra outside of your included nightly dining rooms. All & any info would be very helpful. TIA!

Welcome to Carnival! We were on the Magic last year and will be on her again next month. Things that will cost extra on the ship are drinks (of course), but they do have Cheers, which includes alcoholic drinks, along with sodas and speciality coffee drinks. We have never purchased so not sure of exact details, but there is good information on Carnival's site about the Cheers package. You can also get the bottomless bubbles, which is just for sodas. Once again, never purchased, but can find info on Carnival site. If you spend anytime in the casino you will need money. Also, there is a charge to play bingo. Magic does have the steakhouse, which is a $35 charge and the speciality italian restaurant, $15 charge for dinner, free at lunch. We never buy pictures so I can give you any info on that. There are a few good recent reviews of Magic on here with lots of pictures if you are interested. The most recent one I have read is by Jamman54 - great pictures of the ship. I hope you enjoy your first experience with Carnival.

Thank you very much. 1 more ? Do you happen to know if you are assigned the same dining room for dinner each evening or is it rotational dining.

Thank you very much. 1 more ? Do you happen to know if you are assigned the same dining room for dinner each evening or is it rotational dining.

You'll have the option of selecting Assigned dining where you would eat at the same table, with the same people and waitstaff at either the early or late seating, or Your Time Dining, where you can go to the designated dining room between 5:30 and 9:30 and be seated at an available table. Occasionally at peak times, you may be have to wait for a table to open up if you are on YTD.

oh, one more thing, if you like bottled water take advantage of Carnival's cheap 12 packs and order them online before you cruise. THey will be in your room when you arrive. The mini fridge in your room will keep the cold but it takes a day to get down to cold enough (so far ours have always gotten plenty cold but some folks report theirs never did. Open the door to the little cabinet the fridge is in to encourage air flow and help it cool). it's like 4 or 5 bucks for a 12-pack and easier than carrying your own cans or cartons of water (You are not allowed to bring bottled water on board - only things in cans or cartons.) You CAN bring one 750ml bottle of wine per legal adult. Pack in carry-on, not checked luggage.

the water on board is good and free and you can fill up as many jugs or cups as you have but it's easier to grab a bottle for me especially to take off ship when going into port. We always bring a few in our bag on excursions.

My boss wasn't - he's been on several DCL cruises and they decided last summer to go on the Sunshine and had a great time.

 

OP, chances are you will have a fine cruise too. Other things that cost extra: wifi plans - 3 levels from social only to full internet. IF you don't have a need to communicate off ship or connect for emails or anything you can skip that.

 

You can download the HUB app now and see a countdown timer until your cruise sails. Once on board you can view ship maps, set reminders for events you want to attend, see your sign and sail account info to keep track of what you've spent so far. all that is completely free but if you want, you can pay a one-time fee of 5 dollars per device to enable chat so you and your sailing partners can chat back and forth while on board. This is outside of any wifi plan and doesn;t require any internet plan to be purchased.

 

We love the steakhouses on Carnival ships and always go at least once per cruise but this year on our next cruise we have also booked the Cehf's Table which is a special wine and food night with a few other people and a chef (or two? I dunno it will be our first time). It's 95 bucks a person on the magic (less on some other ships). Includes some wine and behind the scenes tour and multi-course meal.

 

Another fun thing if you have kids (or even if you don't!) is the Dr Suess breakfast - 5 bucks a person when we went a year ago. Features Suessical food and costumed characters and yes, green eggs and ham are there. Fun picture opportunity and the food is fine if not gourmet. My wife and I are in our 50s and 60s and we went without kids and were not the only ones. We had a blast but I'm into corny fun vacation things.

 

Sign up for Chef's table from your cruise manager online before your sailing as it goes pretty quick. Sign up for Dr Suess once you get on board at guest services or find the sign-up table on the first day. They only do each a limited number of times with limited number of people.

 

time on a cruise is better than time not on a cruise so have fun!

I'm sure the 3 things im going to miss is the lack of a photo package from what ive been reading, no split/2nd bathroom & not having unlimited soda & juice at no charge.

oh, one more thing, if you like bottled water take advantage of Carnival's cheap 12 packs and order them online before you cruise. THey will be in your room when you arrive. The mini fridge in your room will keep the cold but it takes a day to get down to cold enough (so far ours have always gotten plenty cold but some folks report theirs never did. Open the door to the little cabinet the fridge is in to encourage air flow and help it cool). it's like 4 or 5 bucks for a 12-pack and easier than carrying your own cans or cartons of water (You are not allowed to bring bottled water on board - only things in cans or cartons.) You CAN bring one 750ml bottle of wine per legal adult. Pack in carry-on, not checked luggage.

 

the water on board is good and free and you can fill up as many jugs or cups as you have but it's easier to grab a bottle for me especially to take off ship when going into port. We always bring a few in our bag on excursions.

Thanks for the tip about ordering water. Will def keep that in mind!

OP, if you do decide to try the steakhouse, go on the 1st night and receive a free bottle of wine or fifty percent off a bottle from their list. Also, each 21 yrs old and older passenger can bring a bottle of wine in their carry on. And if you enjoy soda, you can bring a 12 pack per person. My husband and I will be going on our first cruise in July and will definitely eat in the steakhouse, eat at the Seuss breakfast, and order water to be in our stateroom! Hope you have a fabulous cruise!!!

I'm sure the 3 things im going to miss is the lack of a photo package from what ive been reading, no split/2nd bathroom & not having unlimited soda & juice at no charge.

jazzycat,

Considering the price difference between CCL & DCL, your unlimited soda & juice was NOT at no charge...but what do I know?

I'm sure the 3 things im going to miss is the lack of a photo package from what ive been reading, no split/2nd bathroom & not having unlimited soda & juice at no charge.

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Welcome to Carnival! A luxury line it's not, but it offers a lot of fun, as many activities as a person could want, and plenty of quiet spaces to read, watch the mesmerizing ocean, or just sit and contemplate.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

jazzycat,

Considering the price difference between CCL & DCL, your unlimited soda & juice was NOT at no charge...but what do I know?

That I know, its more just the convenience of self serve without having to wait & give tip each time

Jazzycat20, enjoy your 1st Carnival cruise. The Magic is a great ship and hopefully you will make good memories.

I still remember my first time.......(on Carnival).

Disney is the only cruiselines I know that does rotational dining.

You pick anytime or traditional (6 or 8)

That I know, its more just the convenience of self serve without having to wait & give tip each time

Lol, one of the things my boss liked most about the Sunshine was the self-serve beer station. But I don't know if Magic has that (or if you care about beer). I look forward to trying that if I ever get on a ship that has them. I think they plan to roll them out to more ships in the future.

There is unlimited coffee, tea and lemonade on the Lido deck and in the morning they have other juices as well. Most folks don't like the tea and the coffee is pretty bad too but I've heard that a half (unsweet) tea and half (overly sweet) lemonade comes out pretty good. I'll try it in 80 days on the Miracle. Coffee is much better from room service and in the dining rooms for breakfast. At dinner they bring you a carafe of chilled water and I like it. I'm fairly picky about water and theirs is good. At home I drink water most of the time anyway so that's no big deal for me. My wife likes a soda now and then but she still isn't sure if she would drink enough to get the bottomless bubbles. we're thinking about it for the next cruise since it's 8 days - the longest one we've done so far.