Carnival Magic - 12 Days in Med review....

[TheCaveman]

The Beatifull Lido Deck, first thing in the morning.

 

This was around 9:25, just before John's Morning show

 

Can you see why I took these pictures ????

 

 

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

Now, I would like you all to say hi to this wonderful lady….

I do hope she is a reader on here, and will come and comment.

We had the pleasure to sit behind her yesterday, and, today, again, she was out in full force. Not only did she reserve this entire row, and also had seats in the shade reserved.

And, each time somebody came, and asked, she would say some BS that her people just left, etc….

When they finally arrived, Mom and Dad used the chairs, the sons, were dressed, like teenagers do, like you see them at the mall everyday, NOT dressed to use the pool, or chairs, but to impress some lucky girls….

 

 

But, we are on vacation, why get worked up about people like this....

[TheCaveman]

So, we had one of these,,,

 

 

 

Ok, so the russian family.... that kept just as much chairs....

 

 

Russians were coming and going and twice they brought their son, he was like 11 years old. People were immediately looking around for a security and I have to admit they did their job.

Guy came and told people, take your child.

They play stupid, and said, we speak no Americano… so they got a waitress who spoke Russian, and she told them to take child away.

They did.

Two hours later they came back with son and same story again, waiter is coming telling them, kid can’t stay there, they are pretending (as at that stage it was pretending) they don’t understand.

From where I took this picture, I could hear the bald guy tell the waitress, that the kid will be qiuet, and they will hide him – In English

So, the first waitress came back in telling them in Russian to remove kid and not bring him back as this is not the first time.

[TheCaveman]

Stromboli….

So, today they had the final of the Battle of the sexes.

They were looking for 4 guys & girls, over 18, to participate.

After a long and hard competition, involging a lot of stuff in the pool, the Guys finally won it, and, were crowned the best on this cruise.

My reward for taking part was another Ship on a Stick.

The woman, for coming last, or loosing, depending how you look at it, got a medal

We were now approaching Stromboli.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We could see some "activity"

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

 

A lot of people were watching....

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

All this Volcano watching business is tiring, so we got some refreshments. Today's DOD was " Lanai Magic"

[TheCaveman]

After a beatifull, long day in teh sun, we went and got ready for the past guest party.

 

Once back in the cabin, I had to show off....

 

[TheCaveman]

The Past Guest Party....

 

For those of you that have been, you know, but, for those that have not been, here is the rundown...

FREE DRINKS

The End.

 

 

 

 

 

What I really liked this time round, each time I asked, they left 2 of the same drinks for you. Just tip them the first time, as, there were like 10000000 people there, and all of them want attention from the waiters

 

You dont have to tip, you will still recieve a lot of drinks. WE tipped, because, they provided a brilliant service, and, it was free drinks afterall.

 

.

And, as the waiters do not get tipped for this, just slip them something, and, I assure you, like what happened with us, after 25 min, we could not drink anymore.

 

 

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

 

John Heald doing his thing....

 

 

The Captian arrives,,,, Hmmm, who is steerign the ship....

[TheCaveman]

As we entered, they took our invitations of us. All of them went in a draw, and the luckey person that was picked, won a picture of John in a mankini, or dinner at teh Steakhouse. This luckey woman got picked, and, that night, enjoyed a meal there

 

[TheCaveman]

After that, we were feeling very "merry" and headded over to dinner.

 

We met up with a lovely couple from Ontario, Canada, if memory serves me correct.

 

They were like the people you love to sit next to during a meal on a cruise.

 

 

I cant remember, but I think I wnt for the escargot

 

 

 

 

GF had a steak

 

 

[TheCaveman]

After Dinner, we went and got ready for tonights show.

 

Now, when I looked on the Fun times, it just said

 

Showtime:

 

Featuring the Vocal Talents and Brilliant entertainment of CLAIRE GOBIN

 

 

Now, we were not sure what to expect, but, once we left the showtime theatre, after the show, I knew, I just saw the best show that I had seen all week.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4L0aLQCryI

 

That is a clip of her on youtube, she was just brilliant....

[TheCaveman]

We went to the casino, and this time, they gave some of teh money back we donated to them over the last few nights

 

And, this was our companion.

 

PS - We are not big gamblers, we just do it for fun.

 

 

So, we were a littel sad, as tomorrow was our last sea day.

 

But,,, we still had one full day left, and we were going to make the most of it.

 

Todays Big Screen movie was : Shrek 4Ever After

 

And, the movie's playing in the room was:

 

You Again & Secretariat

[English Tim]

Tremendous review, mate and virtually all positives. Great pictures, which bring back happy memories and the anticipation is so exciting.:)

[ratherbecruzn]

Thanks for the wonderful review. I loved all the pictures!

[parrothead74]

Best review I have read yet!

[douglinc@msn.com]

Enjoying your review and pictures, we will be on the Magic 11-14 for the 1st. sailing out of Galveston.

 

Doug

[ladysail2]

Wonderful review! You are a good person to take the high road regarding the chair hogs...it's not easy to sit there wanting a nice spot when the towels don't look like they're enjoying themselves.

 

About how much did you tip when when you went to the Past Guest 'Free Drink' party? You don't have to say exactly...just an 'about' amount. If you don't mind saying, that is ! :o

 

I leave in 3 weeks for my adventure on Magic.....my 'Magic' adventure...LOL Your review is really making me look even more forward to seeing her.

 

Thanks again for taking the time for the pictures and commentary!!

 

Joyce :D

[TheCaveman]

About how much did you tip when when you went to the Past Guest 'Free Drink' party? You don't have to say exactly...just an 'about' amount. If you don't mind saying, that is ! :o

 

 

 

Joyce :D

 

Well, as we were not 100% sure how it will work, I had $15 on me, 1 x $5, and 10 x $1

 

But, i thought it would be this way, and the same servers served 2 rows. So, he served, and came back to us. With the food, it was more like 1 server to 3 - 4 rows ( Approx 20 people per row - But I am guessing here)

 

After he gave us our first round of drinks, I showed him $5, and said once he top us up, it is his, 1 min later he was back, and well, I gave him only $5

 

Another tip, so to speak, is , we sat in the middle of the showtime lounge, on the first seat in the isle, from the main entrance. So, each time they had a refill of all the drinks, they walked past us.

 

Like I said, you do not have to tip, it is a personal thing to do.

[TheCaveman]

Ok, the following few picks, were from a diffrent memory card, and I only uploaded them now.

 

This is when we first met chair hog lady.

 

this was the day after the GF birthday.

 

 

Top left, woman in pink

 

 

 

And, as you can see, she is not as dumb as she looked, as she would move, and lay in diffrent chairs, so that it looked like the ehairs were used more.

[TheCaveman]

CNN was on the telly, and, now, some of you will laugh, but, I was watching, and saw this....

 

 

4 Tropical storms / hurricanes in the Carribean :eek:

 

I felt so bad for all those people that were cruising there, as we would have gone to the Carribran on this cruise as well, but, the Magic won, as it was only a 2 hour flight.

 

and, where I am from, there are no Hurricanes, so it took me a while to realise, it is only 1, and they were showing its path, over the comming days....

[TheCaveman]

We always do, and we did it again on this cruise, we had a DOD every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, for those of you that follow John Heald's blog, and on facebook, you will see that he does mention there is a problem with Chair Hogs.

 

And, they do everything they can to stop it.

 

WEll, in the Funtimes, on the back page, where all that stuff is that you never read, well, it is there....

 

 

And, on the first page, where that blue section is, with Important Message, it is, Watch John's morning show.

 

On the Miracle, it said do not reserve chairs, on the front page, in bold red letters.

 

So, we did not hear a single announcement that is is not allowed.... So, how can you blame first timers, as Carnival never "told" them....

 

And, I have all the Fun times for our 12 Day cruise, There were a lot of days, were it was not even mentioned in the funtimes....

 

Anyway....

[TheCaveman]

So, finally it came, our last full sea day....

 

 

 

I got up at 6 in the morning to get a cabana on the Serenity. As yesterday, 7 was to late

They were all available at that hour, well, but around 85% were.

7 o’clock lots of people start showing up.

 

7:30, all were taken.

We also had lunch on Serenity, most people probably don’t know that they do have lunch food in there.

Very simple like shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, turkey wraps with salad.

Light and tasty food actually.

After lunch we were just lying in cabana and we started writing this review, or at least main points, just to do not miss anything. Yes, we were writing this together, not only me. The GF was helping me a lot.