MAGIC - Our Photo Review of the Inaugural Sailing of the Magic

[cruisinskier]

And then it was time for lunch. As has become habit for me on vacation, I tried a local beer :D

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

We wandered a little more after lunch, I bought a tie (apparently the men's neck tie evolved from the Croatian scarf which was part of their military uniform in the 1600's), DW had been told by a friend that the apple gelato (Jabuka) was the best they had ever had....so DW had some and agreed it was very good. By now the weather was getting to us so we grabbed a taxi back to the boat and decided on a little nap.

 

We awoke and took a few shots from the balcony before we headed to our normal deck 10 for sailaway...and just as luck would have it, the weather was starting to clear up. The good news was that this was all the rain we had on our entire trip. Here are a few more pics from the Dubrovnik port and sailaway....

 

 

 

 

A panoramic shot looking out from the port

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Dubrovnik

[cruisinskier]

After dinner in the Southern Lights dining room, we decided to check out a few of the bars. We started out at the piano bar but we left after a couple of songs. It just did not seem to have the energy of the duelling piano bar we had enjoyed so much on the Epic.

 

Next we went next door to the Spotlight Lounge. This lounge was the home of karaoke, the Punchliner comedy club, and various receptions throughout the cruise (Farewell party, etc). Tonight was karaoke so we grabbed a drink and sat down. I have to say that some were really good and others, well I admire their courage!!!

 

In the Spotlight lounge we were served by Zenobia from Peru. She took very good care of us but after about 30 minutes it was time to move again. We ended up going to the Ocean Plaza which is a very unique. There was a very good live band playing (Blood Power) who had everyone up dancing. We ended up staying here for a few hours and when we first sat down, who came to serve us but Zenobia...turns out this is her normal work area and she was just helping out early in the Spotlight lounge. Again she took very good care of us. As we were listening to the band, we could also hear the piped in music through the ship speakers and this was very distracting. We asked Zenobia if anything could be done and about 10 minutes later the background music was gone!! From the Ocean Plaza we made a quick stop at the casino on our way to bed.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fin]

Repeating self--really enjoyable photos! Just sent link to the person with whom I would like to take the same or similar cruise.

 

You take the same kind of pictures I do, only much better!

 

Thanks again for the postings.

[cruisinskier]

Ocean Plaza

 

 

 

 

 

Plaza Cafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Showband

[rnvattes]

I just read another review (Glory, maybe??) which had Blood Power on their trip and also said what a great band they were, and how they had everyone up on their feet!

 

I wonder if we would be lucky enough for them to be on our trip...

[cruisinskier]

Plaza Bites

 

 

 

 

Plaza Bar

 

 

 

 

Blood Power in Ocean Plaza

[cruisinskier]

The main Fun Hub area in Ocean Plaza....there were numerous small Fun Hub locations scattered around the ship

 

 

 

The Promenade Deck just outside Ocean Plaza (this is where the hot tubs are and where the BBQ was yesterday

 

 

 

[Meyer2]

Meyer2, we found it was a very convenient spot for the room. Just 2 quick floors up to food in Lido, pools,etc. Also, just 3 flights down to the Promenade with the Red Frog, Ocean Plaza and the Casino. We also found the area of the room very quiet. Enjoy your cruise in December!!

 

All good info, thanks so much!! Also, I enjoyed the additional review & pictures.

[idjaffe]

And this has us SOOOOO READY! Love the review.

 

MORE, PLEASE, NOW - MUST HAVE :) !!!!!!!

[richstan]

Thank you for sharing your memories~

[SliverQueen]

Love your pictures and review! What kind of camera are you using?

 

Thanks,

 

Mandy

[cruisinskier]

Love your pictures and review! What kind of camera are you using?

 

Thanks,

 

Mandy

 

Hi Mandy. The camera is a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V. It is a 16 megapixel with a 10 times optical zoom. I had bought it just prior to this trip and overall I was very pleased with it but still trying to figure out some of the settings. It really is just a higher end point & shoot camera. I had bought it to replace an aged Canon Powershot G3 which I had for years and it took great shots but was about 10 years old. Thanks for letting me re-live our vacation :D

[bugeater2]

I am sorry you gave up on the piano bar so early. I recognized the Ron Pass in the picture right away. By far the best piano man in the biz

[tea4ular]

Dubrovnik is way more beautiful than I ever would have imagined! Good for you for going exploring despite the weather. Can you imagine having missed that

 

I thought these exact things!

[Joie]

Love the ship....can't wait to sail on her...BUT am disappointed in the itinerary for her. Same ol' boring ports as the Conquest was.....have done them soooo many times already.

But sailing on her will be an adventire of its own.

[Chief Cruiser]

Extremely interesting review. I was totally amazed at the engineering and arcitecture of the buildings in Venice and the Magic! Amazing and mesmerizing photos. Throughly enjoying this review and most definitely looking forward to the remainder! :)

[lucyintheskywithdiamonds]

Amazing shots!! hope you don't mind i've saved many of them to "my pictures". when i get there i can concentrate on taking pics of the locals since i already have a collection of the sights! thanks again:)

 

there's no way i would be able to take such fantastic shots w/ my teenie little camera!

Edited May 17, 2011 by lucyintheskywithdiamonds

[cruisinskier]

Given this was our last scheduled day at sea we decided to have a leisurely breakfast in the main dining room. We usually try each cruise to have 1 or 2 breakfasts in the dining room as it is just much more civil than the buffet. It also helps with portion control. After breakfast I went to one of the cabins of our group. They were in cabin 6208 which is an accessible cabin as he uses a motorized scooter. They had some water issues the first night when they took a shower as water was not draining and as a result the carpet was soaked, etc. It was later determined that the 3 plugs in the 3 drains in the shower had not been removed at the end of construction (they plug them to keep debris from going down the drains). As a result they had a very wet room....the type of thing you may find out on an inaugural cruise. Carnival did arrange to have the carpet dried via a Shopvac and air driers. They also provided some compensation which was nice as they were first time cruisers and this was not the best start to their cruise. Here are some photos from their room if anyone is interested in accessible cabins.

 

 

Notice the different card reader which automatically opened the door. There was also a button to push inside the cabin that would open the door to exit

 

 

 

 

 

The entrance was much wider (note the room for the scooter) but there was no couch in this room

 

 

Desk / Cupboard area

 

 

Everything was level including access to the room, access to the bathroom and to the balcony (these were the drains that caused the issues)

 

 

 

 

They didn't have the same shelves for storage around the sink...but the razor plug was much lower than in our cabin

[cruisinskier]

Next we headed to the gym again. This morning the gym was much busier and I had to wait about 15 minutes to get an elliptical machine. After the work out, we spent a bit of time in the cabin reading on the balcony. We then went back to the dining room for lunch.

 

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is that 2 of the people in our group have celiac disease and as a result required a gluten free diet. Carnival has a program where each night at dinner, the person in charge of special diets on board (Alina from Romania...and she was fantastic!!!!) would stop by our table with the next day’s menu. The 2 who required the amended diet would select from the same menu and then these items would be prepared especially for them in a gluten free manner. They were also able to make most desserts gluten free including crème brule and the warm chocolate melting cake. These meals are only available in the dining room so that was why we did lunch on the sea day in the dining room....we actually did all 3 meals in the dining room this day.

 

After lunch we spent most of the afternoon lounging on the aft deck of the Lido.

The Tides Pool on embarkation day

 

 

 

 

And on a sea day

 

 

 

 

There were lots of deck chairs along the sides of the boat

[cruisinskier]

After a few hours I decided to wander around the ship some more....here is what I found

 

The Warehouse...a large video arcade

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

Art on display in the conference centre

 

 

Vibe Night Club

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Your Time dining was on the upper level of the Northern Lights Dining Room

 

 

 

 

There was a small bar beside the Northern Lights Dining Room that I don't think anyone found...speaking with the bartender I was the first one she had seen in 2 hours. So if you want a quiet spot, go to the Escape bar