Just off magic quick overview

[jamesr3939]

Just off NYE cruise on the Magic. Not to beat a dead horse, but here are some quick observations.

 

Galveston: Arrived night before stayed at Hampton Inn on Seawall right across from the Walmart. If you need any last minute stuff you can get it at the Walmart.

 

No booze at CVS (our first stop into town), but the Specks just a block further south has any sort of booze you would want. Didn't look at the Walmart for booze.

 

Drove down Sea Wall Blvd to Woody's for a drink. They don't serve food but it's a fun place to have a drink. It always reminds me of the road house in the movie Porky's.

 

Dinner at Cajun Greek, which is always excellent. They do deliver, which I hadn't noticed the last time we ate there.

 

Parking: Galveston Park & Sail directly across the street highly recommend. No so much for arrival but for departure. I dropped others and luggage at terminal and then went to park. Traffic was horrible and by the time I got out the terminal lot, parked, and walked back they were already inside and DW was waiting for me. Brother and SIL went on through and were waiting for us in the lounge for zones to be called. They had zone three and we got four.

 

Embarkation at Galveston: we had 10:30 - 11:00 arrival time. They are serious about this. You will stand in line or mill around waiting if you show up early. We were right on time and walked through an uncrowded check in process. We went up to the lounge and found it packed, not sure where everybody came from.

 

They boarded the VIP and FTTF first, then called by zones. We were called at 11:30 and onboard by 11:45.

 

At check in, I had one bottle of champagne in my backpack and they just sent me over to a security desk to check and make sure it was still sealed.

 

We had bought a small bottle of tequila the night before for the hotel and I wrapped it in some clothes and put in checked bag. It made it to the cabin with no problem.

 

SHIP: We had a spa balcony on deck 12 and our room was ready. Several other decks still had the fire doors closed.

 

Magic is a very nice ship and easy to get around. We spent deck days on the Serenity. It wasn't as quite as on the Dream, which had no music and very little cocktail servers. Magic had plenty of both on Serenity Deck.

 

Cabin seemed to alternate between warm and nice. We kept the control turned all the way to cold and closed the curtains when on deck. Since we were on deck 12 there was no overhang for shade. For the most part it was comfortable.

 

Mini-fridge was cold, not like other comments I have read of it being to warm. I had bought eight cans of beer for the room and I was able to get four at a time inside and just replaced one when I took one.

 

Electric plugs had two 120V on the desk and one 240V. There was the shaver plug in the bathroom. I looked around the bed but couldn't find any and nothing under the desk. I did take a surge protector without any issues.

 

FOOD/DRINKS: No drink package this time and glad I didn't. Service was very spotty outside of on deck or when you went to seek it out. We sat through the comedy show with never a server showing up. I spotted only two servers for the entire show room. Yes, I could have walked up to the showroom bar, but I think that's bad form during a performance.

 

DW commented that since we were paying for drinks no big deal, but if we had a drink package it would be. Could it be a way to enhance profits by not making drinks easily available?

 

Red Frog was very disappointing, first night we thought we would grab a quick bite there for dinner. First, it was going to take 30 minutes for any food as their galley was out of commission. Second, the beer glass was warm and felt sticky.

 

When I commented to the server she said they ran out of glasses because due to Texas law the only draft beer they can sell is the Red Frog so they got hit hard with draft beer drinkers. We had one drink and went to YTD.

 

Got high pressure from every bar to buy doubles and top shelf brand. After getting my first $15 Bloody Mary since Maui, I watched what they were doing a little closer.

 

American Table menu was fair on selection and most was tasty. We did YTD twice, Cocina de Capitano, Chef's Table and Steak house. My brother screwed up and had booked early seating. We tried to change him to YTD, but they couldn't do it. We ended up going to early seating with him twice around 6:30 PM and had no problem sitting with them. It might help he was at a table for ten and there was always two empty seats even with us.

 

CC, CT, and SH were all outstanding. We pre-booked all except CC which we booked onboard. CC was pretty full and we had to work around their open times. If you want to do it think about doing reservation 1-2 days out.

 

DEBARK: We did self assist and luckily deck 12 was called as first off. The schedule said 8:15 but they started calling at 7:45 for decks 11 and 12. They went top to bottom decks every 15 minutes.

 

We had been given zone six tags that would have allowed us to stay on until 10:15 AM. But we had to drive brother and SIL to HOU for a 12:30 PM flight, so we did self assist. They wanted us out of the cabin by 8:15 AM. My brother had gone to deck three showroom around 7:00 to wait. We headed out from cabin when they called us and meet them walking off.

 

We walked our luggage across the street and were in the car on the road by 8:20 AM.

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions I can try to answer.

[Cruise, J.D.]

Thanks for the review! I was looking at staying at the Hampton Inn too. How was it? Was there a reason you didn't do the park-n-cruise package?

 

One more question - how easy was it to get inside the terminal with others standing in line? I've read of worries that those who arrive earlier than their reserved time may end up blocking the entrances.

 

Thanks again :)

[High Seas Texan]

Thanks for the review! I was looking at staying at the Hampton Inn too. How was it? Was there a reason you didn't do the park-n-cruise package?

 

One more question - how easy was it to get inside the terminal with others standing in line? I've read of worries that those who arrive earlier than their reserved time may end up blocking the entrances.

 

Thanks again :)

 

I too am curious about getting into the terminal now with staggered check in. I am sailing the FREEDOM in 19 days (yay!) but this will be my first time with the staggered check in procedure. I have 10:30-11:00 as my slated time. I am also a Platinum cruiser, so I think I could arrive anytime, but not sure. I have read there are limited signs on where to go now, and people milling about and not letting others pass...so curious on how well this is working now. Thank you for your review. Good notes. I have sailed the MAGIC twice and for the most part enjoyed her. I like the Italian restaurant option and love the Steakhouse and Chef's Table. I am not thrilled with the changes in the main dining room with American table. Pity. Another question: Did the MDR have tablecloths or bare tables now? Thanks for your posts!

[portlandpete]

Did you have FTTF because you were able to get to your cabin pretty early?? Thanks for the great review!!

[hughvh]

Does the Magic stay on Central Time when in Grand Cayman?

 

I'm trying to book a tour with Capt. Marvin.

 

Hugh

[Leisure Larry]

Does the Magic stay on Central Time when in Grand Cayman?

 

I'm trying to book a tour with Capt. Marvin.

 

Hugh

 

 

Hugh,

 

I just booked with Captain Marvin and they insured me the Magic stays on Central time. Thus Cayman time would be 1 hour later than ship time. Hope this helps.

[crusinpsychRN]

How was the food?

[jamesr3939]

No table clothes. Food overall was pretty good in the MDR.

No FTTF, we lucked out I guess when we printed our doc’s.

People were blocking the line, but there weren’t that many. There were two lines one for VIP, FTTF, and Suites and the other line for everybody else. Since I went to park the car and everybody else in the party was already inside, I just cut under the ropes and got in line behind about ten people who were getting checked at the door. I was actually probably in with the 10:30 – 11:00 group.

I didn’t really know about the Hampton’s park and sail. But my brother had a fairly tight flight time out of HOU and we needed to drop him off, so we didn’t want to have to wait for any shuttle. Hampton Inn was nice, I would stay there again.

We stayed on Galveston time the entire cruise, but didn't do GC.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[BallFour4]

I too am curious about getting into the terminal now with staggered check in. I am sailing the FREEDOM in 19 days (yay!) but this will be my first time with the staggered check in procedure. I have 10:30-11:00 as my slated time. I am also a Platinum cruiser, so I think I could arrive anytime, but not sure. I have read there are limited signs on where to go now, and people milling about and not letting others pass...

 

Sailed the Triumph on NYE and can tell you our experience. This was our 25th, and we are platinum. We arrived at 10:30 and checked our bags curbside. The ship was an hour late arriving so we weren't called to board until closer to noon. They called weddings and then platinum and diamond. The rest of those in the terminal crowded around the cue and made it like we were cutting line to step over and around them. One or two even wanted to exchange pleasantries.

 

You will like the Freedom, it brings back great memories of the Conquest and most recently our trips aboard the Glory.

 

Have a great vacation!

 

.

Edited January 9, 2016 by BallFour4

[fedexretiree]

 

What was the dress code like in the MDR..

Can men wear nice jeans and a polo shirt every evening for dinner

[BallFour4]

Short answer is yes. Shorts and a polo do for all nights except Cruise Elegant. A few more men wear ties and/or jacket in winter sailings. It's not necessary.

[Qchell]

Did the spa rooms on the Magic have the teal interior decor you see in all the pictures or was it the standard Carnival stateroom decor?

 

We were on the Dream a couple of years ago and I admit to being a bit disappointed that our spa room did not have the pretty teal decor.. it was still the regular decor.

 

We are booked on the Magic in 2017 in a spa room, can't wait!