Carnival Magic - Eastern Caribbean Review

We just got off the 7 day Carnival Magic EasternCaribbean. Here is my review…I will try and be short but detailed. I have never been on Carnival with my kids (14, 12, 9, and 9). We have only done Royal – and we have been on almost every ship except Harmony so we definitely had high expectations.

Our rooms were perfect location – room 2283 and 2285. We had a cove balcony in each room. The location couldn’t have been more perfect. It was so easy to go to the dining areas, getting on/off the ship at port. We were right near the elevators, yet there was very little noise coming in from outside.

However, there was a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE problem with the sewage system from day 1 and our rooms had the worst smell ever. There were times when we couldn’t even go outside on the balcony. The last 36 hours on the ship were horrendous- for about 8 hours we couldn’t even go inside the rooms because the smell was so horrible. The staff acted like they had never heard this before. We woke up today (thankfully we were leaving) and the toilet in room 2285 had leaked and the entire bathroom was flooded. At first guest services told us, and all the other people all on our floor, that this was the first time they have ever had this complaint. I found that hard to believe. But, after this morning they then said that they have been having problems with the plumbing and room 2285 was where the pipes ended and that was why the toilet and shower flooded. Ugh! Thankfully we could use the bathroom in our other room 2283. Not a good ending. DO NOT book a room on deck 2 along that hallway with rooms from 2280-2300. You will regret it!

Other things…we never did an excursion at any of the ports,we didn’t feel it was necessary for us. I don’t regret that at all. My kids enjoyed being on the ship when there were not so many people so they could enjoy the slides and ropes course. We got off on each port and walked around a bit:

Puerto Rico – walked to the forts ($7 for each adult and free for kids

Grand Turks – walked around a little bit if you need excitement then you should do an excursion

Amber Cove - we did the pool and slides that were suggested on here, the zipline was only for 14 year olds- but for $20 he was able to go as many times as he wanted to (it was great)

It did rain one of the days at sea- wasn't great, and not the ships fault but I did wish they had more activities around for us. We had 3 days at sea and the first day at sea was great - sunny and we were able to be outside. The last 2 days were cold and rainy, I thought they could have had more alternative activities for us.

My kids wouldn’t do camp- we did go and see the camp but my kids had no interest

We ate at the Lido deck for breakfast and lunch – staff were great, no complaints (we did all get food from either the Italian place, burritos,Guy’s burgers) and then all met back to eat together

Dinner we always ate at my time dining – service was great! We asked for the same staff every night and we loved it.

Shows were okay- hard to compare to the Oasis, but the cruise director (Dr. E) is amazing! He made a huge difference in the entertainment and the finale night of the Lip Sync Battle was just hysterical. Comedians were great also, I enjoyed their shows.

Other than my room situation my only other complaint was thesmoking. I have never been on a Carnivalship so I didn’t realize how much smoking is allowed on board. There is a large smoking area right under the kids water works area, so if you are sitting outside the water works area on deck 12 you can completely smell the smoke from 11. Also, the casino allowed smoking everywhere. There is 1 blackjack tablethat says no smoking, but it is right in the middle of all the smoking tables so it really doesn’t help. I complained/inquired on day 1 and was told by the casino supervisor that Carnival allows smoking all over- and it is his number 1 complaint. It really ruined the casino for me (which I guess is a good thing!).

Overall we had a great time, the Magic ship was a lot of funand the kids enjoyed the water slides which was the main reason we went. I did enjoy the shows better on Royal, but Dr. E made up for it. On the other hand,the way the sewage system problem was handled really ruined the last 2 days. Waking up today to a non-useable bathroom wasn’t helpful either ☹! The only compensation they offered was to comp us any spa or gift shop purchases that we had during the week, but we didn’t have any! I must write a letter and call Monday.

Conclusion – it was a great ship but stay away from Deck 2and the cove balconies on the odd side of the ship. The other hallway (even side) did not haveany issues.

Thanks for all your help and hopefully we will cruise again!

I have sailed the Magic three times. Only one evening did we smell sewage. It was in the atrium on deck three. From the deck plans it looks as though it was pretty much above your cabin.

I have read other reports of the same smell from cove balconies in that area.

I am sorry you experienced this but glad it didn't totally ruin your cruise. We really enjoyed our cruises on the Magic.

Thank you for your trip report.

Happy New Year.

Keith

Thank you for the review. We have a a cove balcony booked on the Magic in June (2298). It is on the even side so hopefully we won't have the same issues. I may upgrade and go to a higher balcony based on your experiences though.

Appreciate your feedback! Agree with you that the staff may have just been pretending to know about the smell only for the first time.

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We sailed on Carnival Magic on 12/9 and had similar issues with cove balcony 2309. The balcony was unusable the entire cruise. We noticed on the first day while still in port that warm air was blowing on us from the vents above the balcony, the odor was not that strong, but continued to worsen. It smelt like an incinerator vent. The balcony was filled with the toxic fumes the entire cruise. We could not open the balcony doors without the stench filling the cabin. Guest services was notified after the first night and acted as if this was a new issue. We knew better as other crew members told us this was an on-going problem. We had numerous people come throughout the first few days of the cruise to investigate, but nothing was done to improve the situation. It is a disgrace that Carnival continues to sell these cabins as balcony staterooms when the balcony is unusable. Exposing customers to toxic fumes is not my idea of good customer service. I would not book another cove balcony unless I know there is a lifeboat above it.

The last time we cruised I brought a difusser and Essential Oils. I had Lavender for help with sleep and one called On-Guard for keeping germs at bay. This will also keep your cabin smelling nice. I buy diffussers through Amazon for about $20 and my oils from DoTerra. Hope this helps

A few side notes...The Carnival Hub is great for communicating with my kids around the ship- I loved this! But, the menus were never right for dinner and some of the activities were missing from the What's Happening portion.

Lots of people were complaining that the My Account on the hub had charges that weren't correct - I can't say if this is true or not, we didn't really buy anything so it was easy to see if our charges were correct. However, if you are someone who makes purchase throughout the cruise you should keep checking your account.

Be careful in the game room - the ticket machine to redeem your tickets is flaky and we would swipe our card, my kids would take forever to make their choices and then the machine would erase our tickets. I know, something so silly but I wish we had realized this day 1 :).

That seems to be a common complaint recently, the stinky smell.

I enjoyed your review, thank-you.

Appreciate your review..we are sailing on her in May!!

Now that I am home and doing laundry (dreaded!!), I am reminded of something else we noticed, having been on so many RC ships. On Royal there are staff everywhere with antibacterial pumps reminding you to wash your hands. There are people wiping down the handrails and elevators and everything ALL the time. We never saw this on the Magic. There were hand sanitizer machines but half were empty and nobody reminding you to use them. I was surprised about how little they were cleaning the handrails and elevator buttons - things that constantly get touched. Someone mentioned on here that there was a post about people getting sick a few weeks ago so I was crazy with my kids...just another FYI.

Check out this thread which discusses the sewage smell on the Dream, Magic, and Breeze in the cove balconies.

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2448495&page=3

Now that I am home and doing laundry (dreaded!!), I am reminded of something else we noticed, having been on so many RC ships. On Royal there are staff everywhere with antibacterial pumps reminding you to wash your hands. There are people wiping down the handrails and elevators and everything ALL the time. We never saw this on the Magic. There were hand sanitizer machines but half were empty and nobody reminding you to use them. I was surprised about how little they were cleaning the handrails and elevator buttons - things that constantly get touched. Someone mentioned on here that there was a post about people getting sick a few weeks ago so I was crazy with my kids...just another FYI.

Well. 1stt thing is on every Carnival cruise I have been on(9) that's all I saw was people constantly cleaning. But maybe not on this ship. I will find out myself on February 1. But as far as reminding you to use the pumps. You are an adult. No one should have to remind you to do so, Either you do or you don't.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us! :D