Recently off the Magic -- any questions?

[scalesoflife]

Me and my spouse are doing this itinerary on Magic in January.  As someone who has never done the Behind The Fun tour, is it worth it?  And how much was it?

[Pellaz]

18 hours ago, scalesoflife said:

Me and my spouse are doing this itinerary on Magic in January.  As someone who has never done the Behind The Fun tour, is it worth it?  And how much was it?

 

If it's your first time for the BtF Tour and you have any interest in the inner workings of what amounts to a city on the sea, I'd say do it. 

It's $95 per person and takes place in the morning on the last sea-day.   It's a 3.5 hour tour and you see a LOT.   Stops include the steakhouse, the galley, the bridge, the Engineering Control Room, the main theater (typically dressing room and then the actual stage), the beer/soda storage room, the meat locker area, the main laundry, the crew lounge/bar, the training office, sometimes the recycling center. 

You MAY get to see inside a crew cabin but usually there isn't one available, so they will show you photos.  You might get to see the doors to the ship's brig and morgue, and sometimes other bonuses at random.  On other tours I've seen the inside of the captain's cabin once, the captain's private dining room once...things like that.  

You will receive a photo with the ship's captain taken on the bridge and generally another group photo taken on the prow by the ship's bell.    Plus a Carnival string backpack, a BtF exclusive baseball cap, the BtF lanyard (but not the actual pass), etc.  

 

19 hours ago, thesmiths said:

Besides Serenity, Where are some quiet areas to lounge outside on sea days?

 

Are there any bars that are not packed on sea days?

 

We are going on a the Magic in May for our daughters 21st.

 

 

Thank you !

 

 

It seemed quieter along the Lanai decks than up above, and there are four hot-tubs along the sides there.   As someone mentioned the Red Frog Pub (Deck 5, adjoins the Lanai) always seemed fairly empty.   If you'd like to be a little closer to the action there are quite a few loungers and chairs along Deck 11, and the aft pool bar always seemed to have a stool or two available.  We made friends with THAT bartender pretty quickly.  🙂  

[Pellaz]

19 hours ago, EBFURR said:

Thanks for the detailed review! Your cruise sounds remarkably similar to our Magic cruise at the end of August. We had a cove balcony (first) and it was our favorite cabin ever & that includes a 12th deck Spa balcony. We liked the privacy and the closeness to the sea.

 

We enjoyed the ship & ports, having never been to any of these ports in our 25+ previous cruises. At Amber Cove we hung out with some of our new friends that had a poolside cabana. At San Juan we also walked. And walked. We actually made a big circle and wound up back at the ship. I was looking for a cab and then noticed that the ship was right in front of us (downhill too). At St Thomas we took the lift up to the point. It was very quiet up there & we took a few pics and back down to walk a bit then back aboard. Grand Turk was also my favorite and we spent most of the day at Jack's. 

 

The ship was in great shape and we agree that the entertainment was good. We do not go to shows, so we are speaking of the atrium and bar entertainment. There were long lines at the buffet. They really need a better design but we did not go hungry. Main dining was not great for us - slow service and cold food so we opted out most nights. The Steak house and Italian were well worth the money. 

 

This was a bit different for us.  Our food in the MDR always seemed warm (and hot in a few cases).   After getting slow service on two nights we switched teams and had GREAT service. 

There WERE long lines at the buffet sometimes so we went to other places, like the Cucina for lunch, the Blue Iguana Cantina for breakfast (my friends were envious of my breakfast burrito), Guys Pig & Anchor on embark day after the Mongolian Wok.....

 

19 hours ago, EBFURR said:

 

We had a bit of a problem with the spa double charging my wife for her massage and guest services did not have much interest in trying to correct it. It was eventually resolved after we were off the ship. 

 

Someone asked about bars & we found that the Red Frog on the promenade was never crowded in the daytime and they do have inside & outside seating. Serenity never seemed crowded either. 

 

Despite a few hiccups we thoroughly enjoyed the Magic and would gladly do it all over again tomorrow!

 

Us, too.  We're booked again on the Magic for next October.    Can't wait!  

 

[matymil]

Since Amber Cove is Carnivals port, is it a lot like Grand Turk? Meaning you don't really have to stray to far from the port to have stuff to do? We were supposed to go a few years ago but the port flooded :(

[PhillyFan33579]

On 10/24/2018 at 5:30 AM, thesmiths said:

Besides Serenity, Where are some quiet areas to lounge outside on sea days?

 

Are there any bars that are not packed on sea days?

 

We are going on a the Magic in May for our daughters 21st.

 

 

Thank you !

 

 

As someone else mentioned, there are a lot of lounge chairs outside on deck 5. This area has never been too crowded even on sea days when I have been on Magic. 

 

On sea days when the weather is nice, the two bars where I have always found empty seats are the atrium bar and the bar near the aft pool.  Even if the aft pool area is crowded, the bar always has empty seats because the bar area is covered and most people are outside in and around the pool and hot tub enjoying the nice weather. 

 

If if it happens to rain, the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar and Red Frog Rum Bar on the Lido deck usually aren’t too crowded. I have found this to be the case on most Carnival ships that have these bars. 

[krispi]

5 hours ago, matymil said:

Since Amber Cove is Carnivals port, is it a lot like Grand Turk? Meaning you don't really have to stray to far from the port to have stuff to do? We were supposed to go a few years ago but the port flooded 😞

 

We were just at both ports in September. Amber Cove is kind of like Grand Turk, in that you can just get off the ship and enjoy the large, really nice pool there. If you just want to go swimming and use the water slide, there's no need to book an excursion. Unlike Grand Turk, there's no beach at Amber Cove and you can't easily walk around outside the port area - where at Grand Turk you can wander down the beach if you want. 

[Cruisin4fun_vacationtime]

Thank you so much for all the information and Fun Times!

[rukkian]

On 10/21/2018 at 6:35 PM, grandmarnnurse said:

Great review! I will be on the Magic in 2020 but out of Ft Lauderdale for a cruise to the itinerary you will be taking in October 2019, to the Southern Caribbean. I can’t wait! 

We are doing march 2020 out of ft lauderdale as well.  My first carnival in 22 years.

 

Op - thanks for the review, lots of good info.

Edited October 31, 2018 by rukkian

[iriecruising]

On 10/18/2018 at 4:07 AM, Pellaz said:

-- The WiFi was...adequate.  "Simple" things on FB loaded but images were sometimes trouble.  We used FB Messenger onboard to coordinate our dining amongst our 3 separate cruising groups and it worked fine, as did voice calls to the shore using FB Messenger.  WiFi calling "tried" to work:  when I called a friend back in the US the call failed...but he must have gotten something because he called me back a few seconds later.  I got the call but again the call dropped right away.  

 

Can I ask which wifi plan you had? Social Media, Value Plan or Premium Plan? Thanks!

 

[Pellaz]

4 hours ago, iriecruising said:

 

Can I ask which wifi plan you had? Social Media, Value Plan or Premium Plan? Thanks!

 

 

Sure, we had the Value plan.  That's the mid-tier one.  

 

[iriecruising]

On 11/5/2018 at 2:24 AM, Pellaz said:

 

Sure, we had the Value plan.  That's the mid-tier one.  

 

Thank You!! and Thank you for posting the fun times. My kids have been looking through them and are getting really excited 10 days left until we cruise on Magic!