Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Just off the Magic

wenocancer2

By wenocancer2,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

 Share

Recommended Posts

wenocancer2

wenocancer2

Posted
Posted

Hello All,

 

I want to start out by saying this review is my opinion.  Someone may have been right next to me on the same cruise and have had a totally different experience based on their likes/dislikes.  This is my perspective and I’m just stating my opinion in hopes it will help fellow cruisers with ideas or answers to questions or concerns they may have.  On this sailing, it was my husband and me, my daughter (21), my son (18) and my sister and brother-in-law. 

 

Embarkation:  We received notice the day prior that they would be fixing one of the gangways so all assigned arrival times would be delayed by one hour.  We had 12:30, so now we had 1:30.  My husband and I are Platinum so no worries.  We didn’t have a choice of arrival times with our shuttle from our hotelm so we ended up getting to the port at 12:30 any way and walked right on.  We were able to take our kids into the priority line even though they had their own cabin and are adults.  My sister and her husband went in the regular line and actually got on the ship before us.  Oh well.

 

Ship:  I loved it!  Thought the décor was awesome.  Full of Caribbean blues and greens--just what I like.  It made all the areas bright and tropical to me.  Loved it all.  Now, what I didn’t like was that we had a balcony on Deck 8 and the smoking deck was below us.  Many, many times when we were on our balcony, we could smell smoke.  Also did not like that on this type of ship, you are looking down at a deck, not the water from the balcony.  This also means that people on that deck (which includes hottubs) can look up at you on your deck.  Gone are the days of going out on you balcony in your underwear or less!  My love of the décor outweighed the negatives though, so no problem. 

Sure there is wear and tear in areas around the ship, but nothing bad at all and staff was very good at cleaning up.

 

Staff: Loved MarQ, the cruise director.  Upbeat and full of joy and seemed to really care.  On the last night in the lobby after the lip sync battle, he was performing and found a lost little girl.  He didn’t miss a beat in his ability to look after this girl while looking for her parents and entertain the rest of us.  Seems like a real good guy.  Lots of energy.

We had Your Time Dining and the wait staff was very attentive as well.  Some delays, but they are busy, so I don’t complain.  I’m there to relax so resting between courses is sometimes a welcomed opportunity.  I will say we were (like many people are) disappointed with the attire allowed in the dining rooms.  Especially baseball caps.  Really?  My son even suggested that one level of the dining room be for those not dressed appropriately, and the other level for those who are.  I just really don’t need to see your long underarm hair in your tank top while I’m eating my filet mignon. 

 

Food:  Not disappointed at all.  But again, it is such a welcome to not have to cook or cleanup for meals that honestly, it doesn’t take much to impress me.  It was a joy to watch my kids try different things and discover new tastes.  We ate lunch at the Italian restaurant, which was good.  Simple, but good.  We also had dinner at the steakhouse one night.  Fantastic!

 

Entertainment:  This is really all dependent on your taste and style.  I didn’t see all performers, but the violin trio was great.  The piano bar (Greg the Piano Guy, I think) was good, but kind of a one-trick-pony.  All the songs kind of started to sound the same.  The dancers and singers were definitely not what they used to be.  First thing to do to improve it would be to increase the number of dancers.  You should not be able to watch a show and think to yourself “Hey, where is that other male dancer?” because you know there are 8 and that’s all you got.  Singers were fine.  Nothing to write home about, but they did their best. We had seen the shows before, so after the second time watching the same 8 people on the stage, we stopped going.

 

Ports of Call:

Belize-In our opinion, if you don’t have an excursion planned, it doesn’t really pay to go ashore.  They don’t want you venturing out beyond the shopping area at the pier so it was like walking in a small area of shops that was way too crowded.  We have been to Belize before and did an excursion and that was fine. Wouldn’t get off the ship without one planned on any future cruises.

Cozumel-Been there several times.  We were at a different pier this time.  It was fine, spent the day shopping right at the pier and at Senior Froggs.  Had to do some walking to get there, but that was not a problem for us.

Grand Cayman-We did the Escape Room on our own and had a blast.  We love those!  It is totally within walking distance and they were all ready for us and even let us start early because we got there early.  I would recommend Locked Inn Escape Room to anyone who wants to try it.  We just e-mailed them and set everything up.  After that we went to Royal Palms.  Crowded but nice.  Much smaller than I expected, but was a beautiful afternoon, none-the-less.

Roatan-Fabulous!  Couldn’t have loved this more!  We spent the day at Infinity Resort, which we booked ourselves as well.  Kenny our driver took us all around the island which was like driving through a rainforest.  Just gorgeous.  The resort was beautiful.  Exactly like the website looks.  We all had massages at the Tranquility Spa right within the resort.  Glorious!  Best massage I ever had.  My kids went out snorkeling on the reef.  That was their favorite part of the cruise.  Of all their cruises actually.  My daughter said she would even consider visiting this resort directly. 

 

I think that summarizes most of what I wanted to capture.  If you have any questions about what I wrote or anything on Magic, don’t hesitate to ask!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nessz79

nessz79

Posted
Posted

Thank you for the review!  I love your positivity- we often find it difficult to be upset with a cruise, but some people are much harder to please. We're doing the Eastern itinerary in March.  We have a balcony on deck 10- hopefully the smoke doesn't make it all the way up there.

 

I totally agree about the entertainment/shows being subpar anymore.  Especially after sailing Royal Caribbean, I determined that the evening shows are *not* why I sail Carnival :).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Florings

Florings

Posted
Posted

Thank you for your review.  Loved the Magic and booked her again for October of this year!  Same cabin...

 

Love the décor as well.  The steakhouse wonderful and all the food pretty good.  Except I just don't think the chocolate buffet on the last sea day is very good anymore....

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nevada19

nevada19

Posted
Posted

We are going on this same cruise leaving this Sunday.  I was wondering if on one of the Formal nights in the dining room are they serving Lobster?  I know you can purchase Lobster any night, but want to know if it is on the regular menu for a Fomal night.

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
brookeq

brookeq

Posted
Posted

We are going on the magic in march.  Thanks for your review.  We are going with my husbands families.  Their kids are older and can't miss school so we have to go over spring break.  I am a bit nervous about the crowds.  

I am glad to hear that they have a violin trio.  We really enjoyed the trio on the conquest last year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kcdancerkc

kcdancerkc

Posted
Posted

Leaving on Sunday....thanks for your review.😎

 

did you see any comedians? 

 

did you travel through ft lauderdale or Miami?   Wondering if any TSA proceedures, staff effected yet.  

though anything could be different when we fly out the29th.

 

when we last flew from Florida the TSA main first entry point person was sooo drugged up!

 

But when we had a bereavement flight change in 2015 they really helped us in Pensacola.

 

sorry to babble, tired from packing phase one 😱

Link to comment
Share on other sites
five.

five.

Posted
Posted

Many thanks for the review. Particularly liked your take on balconies. I've never gotten a balcony, but if I do, I'll remember this post hopefully and know to pay attention to smokers and above and below. I also really liked the sound of the Inifinity Resort and the massage idea. My wife isn't a huge fan of massages on the ship. So I like the idea of a resort.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wenocancer2

wenocancer2

Posted
  • Author
Posted

LEE CRUISER: Our room number was 8362.  I should also mention that I have a keen sense of smell so maybe it wouldn't bother some, but I could smell it.  We also had a table on that smoking deck and I think people stopped at that table to smoke or use the ashtray.

 

kcdancerkc: We flew into Fort Lauderdale and actually through Atlanta to/from Milwaukee.  When we got home we saw the news reporting on the terrible lines in airports and my husband and I just looked at each other like "how the heck did we not see any of this?"  We had no problems AT ALL!!! 

We did see 2 or 3 of the comedians and they were all funny.  I just wish I could stay awake longer to enjoy the late shows every night!

 

Five.: Definitely check out the Infinity Resort and their spa (Tranquility Spa).  The prices were great and the resort beautiful.  They were standing at the Pier with a sign with our name on it.  Couldn't have worked out better at all.  Esmeralda was the name of the person who we were e-mailing.  She made it easy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mexicobob Great Review Rare

mexicobob

Posted
Posted

Enjoyed your good review.  Think your son is on to something about dining room attire.  This is a great idea.  Designate one dining room for come as you are...  and another for people who have a little class.  This will happen eventually.  May mean that some of us move on to other cruise lines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
woodsy64

woodsy64

Posted
Posted

Thanks so much for your review, we are sailing on Magic on the 27th so it was great to read a positive review.  I have been reading lots of reviews which talk about long line ups for restaurants and venues.  Did you have any problems with this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PhillyFan33579

PhillyFan33579

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Csh2145 said:

Did you attend the Platinum party and if so did you take your guests?

 

Last several D&P parties we have attended they had staff checking invitations at the entrance to the lounge. They would still let you in without the invitation as long as you had a platinum or diamond S&S card. From talking to CDs on several ships, they are enforcing no guests at most D&P parties due to the number of D&Ps on the ship. It would not surprise me at all if at some point in the future Platinums were no longer invited to these parties, similar to the way Golds were excluded in the past.  

Edited by PhillyFan33579
Link to comment
Share on other sites
evandbob

evandbob

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 1/18/2019 at 8:33 AM, five. said:

Many thanks for the review. Particularly liked your take on balconies. I've never gotten a balcony, but if I do, I'll remember this post hopefully and know to pay attention to smokers and above and below. I also really liked the sound of the Inifinity Resort and the massage idea. My wife isn't a huge fan of massages on the ship. So I like the idea of a resort.

 

After enjoying Tabayana Beach several times, we inquired about Infinity Bay right next door and found out we could book a room there privately with one of the owners or through the hotel itself.   Flew non stop from Miami on a 737.  Wound up staying there twice, once a week in September, a few years later in February.  Great place, snorkel right in front of the hotel, walk down the beach to see what restaurant specials there are each evening.

 

When we were land guests, we had a different perspective, and couldn't wait for those pesky cruisers to get off our beach.  We especially enjoyed days when no cruise ships docked!

Edited by evandbob
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...