Carnival Magic B2B Review- 6/10-6/24

Just got off our first leg of our anniversary B2B on the Magic! Will give you a detailed review after we return next Sunday, but I'll give you some highlights here regarding things that are frequently discussed on the boards:

1) Chogs were few and far between. We never had to search for a seat, even in Serenity! Best seating by far was on Deck 5 next to side hottubs- almost empty even on sea days!

2) Cappuccino and Espresso were still on the "free" part of the dinner menu. There was no asterisk noting there was a charge. Although we didn't personally order it, sat next to tables that did and never saw them sign anything for it.

3) Ice was delivered by stateroom steward twice each day.

4) No daily shrimp cocktail yet. Escargot was NOT on the menu, except in the Steakhouse. Magic menu still has "Comfort Kitchen" selections listed separately, not as just another entree choice.

5) Tried two drinks suggested on the boards- Kiss on the Lips and Mocha Chocolate Getaway-- both winners!

6) Although DJ was on the Lido, live band music was at Ocean Plaza every night. Plenty of musical variety.

7) Embarkation was less than an hour from dropping off our luggage, parking the car, riding shuttle, embarking and even getting to our cabin! Amazing! (11:37-12:30)

Will do more details later! Enjoy!

Thanks for the report. We sail the Magic July 15th, so looking forward to your final review. You mention that there is a band in Ocean Plaza. Did you happen to catch their name? What type of music are they playing? Thanks in advance!

Glad you are enjoying your cruise. We sail in 2 weeks. A few quick questions.

What is the best night to book the steakhouse? (worst mdr menu)

What room did you have? Any must dos?

Thank-you

Look forward to the full review, thanks & enjoy the rest of the trip!

Thanks for the update! Looking forward to your full review! Have a great cruise!:)

Thanks for the report. We sail the Magic July 15th, so looking forward to your final review. You mention that there is a band in Ocean Plaza. Did you happen to catch their name? What type of music are they playing? Thanks in advance!

Two groups play in Ocean Plaza, depending on the night. Music Society is one. They really accomodate the people there. First night (June 10th) was mostly country/2-step, but rarely after that. Journey, CCR, and lots of others. When they found out we chacha, they started playing at least one each time we were there. Last night it was a lot of 50s/60s rock because so many people were dancing to that.

The other nights it's the show band with Jo Jo, a singer.

Glad you are enjoying your cruise. We sail in 2 weeks. A few quick questions.

What is the best night to book the steakhouse? (worst mdr menu)

What room did you have? Any must dos?

Thank-you

We booked steakhouse both weeks on Tuesday-- our least favorite menu in MDR. If you book embarkation night, you get a free bottle of wine.

We have a spa balcony, and LOVE the thassolotherapy pool and steam rooms.

Haven't done the sky course (ropes) yet, but will do so!

A couple more tidbits--

Past Guest Party is alive and well. But, we are gold under both old and new program, so don't know if everyone is still invited yet or not. We haven't seen any Red cards, only blue/gold/platinum, so I'm guessing the new past guest party rules have not been implemented yet.

Fun Farewell party is indeed gone.

Anytime Dining (even though we've had it before) was horrible. Waited over an hour for our entree the last night. We have Southern Lights late seating this week-- have been done with dinner in less than 1.5 hours every night so far.

Back to cruising! (It has been windy and rainy since we left Galveston...had some sun today, but long gone now. Hopefully better in Jamaica tomorrow!)

A couple more tidbits--

 

Past Guest Party is alive and well. But, we are gold under both old and new program, so don't know if everyone is still invited yet or not. We haven't seen any Red cards, only blue/gold/platinum, so I'm guessing the new past guest party rules have not been implemented yet.

 

Fun Farewell party is indeed gone.

 

Anytime Dining (even though we've had it before) was horrible. Waited over an hour for our entree the last night. We have Southern Lights late seating this week-- have been done with dinner in less than 1.5 hours every night so far.

 

Back to cruising! (It has been windy and rainy since we left Galveston...had some sun today, but long gone now. Hopefully better in Jamaica tomorrow!)

Thank you so very much for taking time out of your vacay to answer my question. I so appreciate it! Keep having fun and don't "win up" all MY money in the casino (Bwahahaha). Have Fun and hopefully the weather will get better! C.

Was there chocolates at turndown?

Was there chocolates at turndown?

Yes, chocolates every night.

They also still have the hurricane glasses.

Back on land! (boo- of course, with Debbie in the Gulf, it may be a good thing!) Will post more info ASAP.

Tidbit of the day-- like the new Breeze, you have to insert your Sail-n-Sign card (or a playing card or whatever) in a slot next to the light switch to make the cabin lights work. I think it's a great idea! I'm sure it saves on electricity. When you take your card out, the lights do stay on for a couple minutes.

Thanks! Looking forward to the rest when you return. Hope you have an awesome second part of your cruise:cool:

Back on land! (boo- of course, with Debbie in the Gulf, it may be a good thing!) Will post more info ASAP.

 

Tidbit of the day-- like the new Breeze, you have to insert your Sail-n-Sign card (or a playing card or whatever) in a slot next to the light switch to make the cabin lights work. I think it's a great idea! I'm sure it saves on electricity. When you take your card out, the lights do stay on for a couple minutes.

Wow!! I never heard of this...so you just leave your card in there, until you leave the cabin, take your card out, and the lights go out? INGENIOUS!!! Good to know! Thanks!:)

Welcome back! Our DD & our new SIL are heading home from their Honeymoon on the Magic. Mom & Dad have to wait til Dec to go. :eek:

They had a blast. Didn't even mind the rain in Cozumel. Had a very relaxing week.

good job

We were on the 2nd leg of this.

We did get a past guest party invite. We got gold cards. Under the new system we are red.

We had early seating in the southern mdr. Wonderful service. Last cruise we did atd but this really makes me consider doing assigned seating for the future.

Glad you had a good trip! Nice concise ONfire--thanks. Love your user name, by the way.

2nd load of laundry is in the washer already! I promise to do a detailed review with pictures...but I just can't help myself posting some thoughts as they come up! :)

Secret doors- there are 3 or 4 of them- decks 11, 10, and 8? I can't remember. I do remember one them is a side entrance (all the way forward) not a door straight ahead at the end of the hallway.

The casino covers both starboard and port of the ship- not just one side like on Conquest, Fantasy, and Ecstasy (the other CC ships we've been on), so if you want to avoid it, you either take a different floor or walk outside. Strangely enough, there was not the usual overpowering smoke smell. (No offense meant-- we are just not smokers.) Most tables in the casino bar had "no smoking" signs on them. That was interesting.

Menus (including room service menu) was on the TV, as well as sail and sign account information. We've had this on Conquest before, but had to input our folio information then. Everything came up automatically on this ship. Much easier system to work with-- lots of info on that "channel."

B2B and wine- we took 4 bottles on with us on the first leg knowing they'd probably take 2, which they did. We were upfront and explained the B2B and not wanting to leave them in the car-- we were treated with utmost respect and not made to feel bad at all. They were not delivered to us the last night. We had to go pick them up from the nightclub the last morning between 6:30 and 8:30 am. This was the case with all confiscated/sealed alcohol.

If you have specific questions- let me know. Had a great time! The Magic is, well....magical!

OK- going to try to start the review with photos! Hope the photos work.

We didn’t leave too early on Saturday, June 9th because we wanted to eat dinner in Houston. The day started with making/eating bacon corn griddle cakes (Yumm! Check out this recipe on Pinterest!) and leisurely finishing up on the packing. We left home about noon.

After one stop in San Antonio, we were on our way. We stopped at Bucee’s in Luling for gas, but didn’t even go in to peruse the amazing tourist-trap selections. We had snacks in the car for on the way to keep us from starving before an early dinner.

We arrived in Houston and still had some time to kill before going to the new Chama Gaucha at 4:00 for dinner. We stopped at a Men’s Wearhouse to get a new black cummerbund, then just sat in the parking lot of the restaurant and waiting. Unfortunately, the website was incorrect on opening time—they didn’t open until 4:30. We were able to go inside and relax in comfy chairs while we waited, though. After eating, we were treated to a special chocolate mousse cake, compliments of the staff, for joining them on our anniversary adventure.

After dinner we drove the last 20 miles or so to League City and checked in to Candlewood Suites. Wow- almost a full kitchen in the room, but cooking was out of the question! We were on vacation.

After watching TV for awhile, we decided to go to Party City or Hobby Lobby just down the street to get supplies and make door signs. This was not in our original plan for the trip, but decided to go for it. Without scissors, glue, and such, it was tough, but was accomplished! We made a sign for our door and also a Cabin Tag poster, a ship-board activity I’d read about on CC. (More on this later!) Finally got to bed after 11:00.

The next morning we had leftover chocolate mousse cake for breakfast. Couldn’t wait to get on the ship and have our lunch!

Our embarkation was amazingly fast! We dropped off luggage at 11:37 with the porters outside. Then we went to the parking lot, parked, rode the shuttle back, and then stood in lines for security, check-in, and pictures. Once onboard, we were able to immediately go to our cabin. When we go to Cabin 11210, it wasn’t even 12:30 yet! Amazing time! We’ve never boarded that quickly. Even better, we had all of our luggage by 2:00! One more note about embarkation…they now take a facial recognition photo, which someone told us was for homeland security, but later found out the Magic uses a new photo-purchasing system in which you can view your photos on a touch-screen monitor and it will pull up some of the photos by facial recognition. Having been on several cruises before, we didn’t intend to purchase any photos, but did try out the system. For photos taken around the ship at the various photo stations, they would scan your Sail-n-Sign card to “tag” those photos to you, but others (like in the dining room and getting off the ship) they used the facial recognition system. The touch-screens for viewing/purchasing pictures were in the photo gallery. (Yes, they still have the traditional printed copies you can peruse and purchase as well.)

So…let me fill you in on our spa balcony cabin. The cabin size is the same as any other cabin not in the spa area. We selected this cabin because we are not smokers and wanted to have a smoke-free balcony environment. (To each his own…) The wall color on the Carnival website isn’t very accurate. The accent wall was a beautiful green with tropical paintings hanging for artwork.

The cabinetry is a lighter color than usual, and the safe is in a lower cabinet, not in the typical small cabinet beneath the TV, which makes sense since the TVs are flat screens attached to the wall.

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OK- don't know why some pictures posted and others didn't show except for their IMG code. I'll have to resize as well!

OK- try again. Here are the pictures that did not show-- door sign, cabin pictures...

As a spa cabin, we received Elemis toiletries. (These were not replenished daily like a hotel, even though I removed them from the bathroom daily. They were replaced 3-4 times during the entire 7 days.) The usual shampoo/shower gel was still in the shower as well. Our "goodies" were toothpaste and shampoo samples, Axe shower gel, and I don't even remember what the last item was.

Our cabin was the on the 11th floor, port side, all the way forward except for one suite. Here is the view down from our balcony. My husband forbade me from taking a picture of the man in the bright purple speedo that lounged in the chairs directly below our cabin daily!

(Continuing to try resizing to a better size...please forgive!)

Spa cabins also have special " spa towels." They are best described as textured, not flat. Not much difference, but I guess I feel special just knowing they are special towels! :) In other aspects other than those already posted, the bathrooms are exactly the same as regular cabins.

The tvs in the staterooms have the capability of checking detailed Sail and Sign transactions, checking menus (no longer have room-service menus in binders in rooms...only breakfast door hanger menus), ordering movies, etc. Much faster/easier system than we had experienced on the Conquest.

One of the coolest things was the slot next to the light switch. You had to insert your Sail-n-Sign card to activate the lights in the room. (or a playing card, piece of cardstock, whatever) Great energy saving feature!

Closets are the same as usual- 3 doors, 1 with shelves.

They were really full trying to pack in 2 weeks worth of clothes! We did bring extra hangers with us rather than request more from the cabin steward, since ones from home take up less room.