Magic 8 day review (Aruba, Curaçao, Half Moon Cay & Grand Turk)

[teknoge3k]

This is my CONDENSED 8 day review for an 8 day voyage on the Carnival Magic to Aruba, Curaçao, Half Moon Cay & Grand Turk. The voyage was on May 25th from Port Everglades.  It's condensed for Cruise Critic for your viewing pleasure.

 

To read the full review complete with menus, Fun Times and more pictures, it's posted on my blog at https://www.love2cruise.org/2019-raleigh/ which begins with day 1, pre-cruise.

 

Background

I booked this cruise back on January 29th, 2018. Carnival was having a $50 deposit + $100 on-board credit then and this itinerary was very appealing to us, so I jumped on it. We've been on the Magic before and really enjoyed it. The Dream Class ships are my favorite. We also enjoy sailing from Port Everglades. It's always been the easiest and most efficiently ran port for us, every time we sailed from there. We booked the cruise directly through Carnival as I run far away from travel agents. Once we booked the cruise, it was time to sit back and wait 481 days. Time would go by fast though since we had 2 sailings booked between then and this one. 

 

We're a family of 4, I am in my upper 30's and my wife is in her lower 30's. We have 2 boys ages 15 & 7, who love to cruise as well. We never exclude them from any vacation we take except our anniversary trips. They always sail with us.  We live in Virginia but literally at the North Carolina state line. I'm 20 minutes from NC. 

 

The lead-up

Leading up to this cruise, we had 2 other sailings as I mentioned so it helped pass the time. For this cruise we decided to get a villa in Half Moon Cay. We always get a cabana but some friends we met on a previous voyage usually sail with us so we split the villa with them. The cost for the villa was $499.99. I was able to purchase this the day it went on sale, May 12th 2018 which was a little over a year from our sailing. We have 1 more sailing before we're platinum, so we always buy Faster To The Fun, which was no different this time. We purchased it the day it went on sale, July 16th 2018 at $99.95. I also paid the entire cruise fare with gift cards from Allstate & AARP, which saved $367.00 just on the cruise fare alone, not to mention the other $200 it saved me on gift cards I bought for on-board spending, taking my total savings to $567. 

 

Pre-cruise

We always like to start our vacations a little early and make the most of them. So on Tuesday, May 21st it was time to leave. On Monday, May 20th it was time to pack and do last minute things around the house such as mow, wash the vehicles, etc. On Tuesday, I woke up, changed the sheets on the bed, took care of all of the last minute things around the house, and went and picked up my boys from school. It was time to head to Raleigh. We go to Raleigh the day before our flight and get a hotel. That way we don't have any issues the following morning for our flights. We booked the Holiday Inn Express on Miami Blvd in Durham through parksleepfly.com at $174.12. This was for 2 queen beds, and allowed us to keep our vehicle there the duration of the trip. This killed me because it was queen beds. That's just a tiny bed for 2 people, in my opinion. I don't know how people do it. Anyway. Our day in Raleigh was fun. We never shop in stores for any reason. All clothes, electronics, groceries, etc comes from online exclusively. So since we had a day to kill, we went to the mall in Raleigh where my son wanted to buy some Air Pods since our dog chewed his first 2 pair up. After that, he wanted to go in Hollister to buy some clothes. After we were done there, we went to eat at Carolina Ale House which was good. After that, we went back to our hotel since we had an early flight the next day. 

 

Wednesday, May 22nd we woke up about 4:15am and got ready to catch our 5am shuttle. We got on the shuttle promptly, and off to Raleigh-Durham International Airport we went. We arrived at RDU about 10-15 minutes later where our driver would drop us off at our terminal. We dropped our luggage with the skycap which we always do, and up to TSA we went. Security was a breeze, we went to buy drinks for the flight, and then to our terminal. We were at our terminal by 6am sitting down, waiting to board at 6:30 for our 7am flight. 

 

We boarded our flight and off to Ft. Lauderdale we went. The flight was right at 2hrs with no issues. I had downloaded some Netflix movies to watch during the downtime on the flight(s). Once we landed at FLL, we went downstairs to the baggage claim to grab our bags. We grabbed our bags, headed out the door and turned right and walked to the end of the walkway to catch an Uber. Once we got stopped where we needed to be, I ordered our Uber. It took all of 3 minutes for Francisco to arrive in his UberXL. He loaded up our bags in his SUV and off to the beach we went. 

 

We had rented a room at the Marriott Beachplace Towers, through Airbnb. We try to use Airbnb or VRBO whenever we travel. I've used Airbnb in Miami & Ft. Lauderdale probably 50 times and loved every single time. This time was no different. Last year our Airbnb was in the Galt Ocean Mile area but we spent most of our time in in the Beach Place area. So we knew exactly where we wanted to be. When we do not stay in an Airbnb, I prefer Marriott properties, or Hilton as a second option. This resort was really nice. They had a game room, a spa, a gym, restaurant, daily activities, free laundry, free wifi, and a ton of other amenities.  It's also in the PERFECT location. It's right on the beach, there's a CVS downstairs, some shops, several restaurants and other activities.

 

Our Uber dropped us off at the Marriott which I knew we were too early to check in. We dropped our luggage off there though, and went to get some lunch.We decided to walk up to Primanti Brothers to get some pizza. We hadn't eaten at all by this point, and I chose Primanti Bros. because they also have breakfast. I like Primanti Bros because they're open 24/7 and right on the beach. They have always had good food whenever we went. We had a little time to kill before our room was ready, so we took our time eating our lunch here, just watching the people. Once we were done, we went into the few shops around Primanti Bros, then decided to head back to the resort.

 

When we were done, I called for Circuit to come pick us up. Circuit is formerly known as The Free Ride. This is a 6 seater golf cart (several of them in the company) that is around Ft. Lauderdale beach that will pick you up and take you anywhere you want to go, for free. Plus tip, of course. It's funded by advertising on the carts. Anyway, Circuit arrived in 10 minutes and took us back to the Marriott. I tipped him $5 for the short trip. 

 

When we got back to the resort, we just hung out around the resort, took naps, etc. Once we woke up, my oldest and I went down to grab some scooters to ride. Around Ft. Lauderdale they have electric scooters EVERYWHERE that you can ride. It's $1 to get started then $0.15 per minute to ride. Him and I both got a scooter and off we went. We rode up and down A1A from Galt Ocean all the way down to Ft. Lauderdale Beach Park. It was $11.75 for the 2 scooters for us to ride a long time.

 

 

My wife had taken my youngest to the game room at the Marriott to play while we were out. Once we were done riding, I sent Circuit a text to come to Beach Place and pick us up and take us to Publix so I could get some drinks, snacks for our stay, and wine for the cruise. Our driver was there promptly, and to Publix we went. We got stocked up with a ton of chips, snacks, sodas, and wine. Then I sent Circuit a text to come pick us up. He was there promptly to take us back to the resort. We took everything to the room, then decided it was dinner time.

 

When we go to Ft. Lauderdale, Lulu's Bait Shack is our favorite place to eat. We love the view, the atmosphere, the food, it's just a great place. The service has started to slack some but we don't care since we're in no rush.

 

After dinner, we just hung out and watched tv in the room. We were tired since we had been up so early. (On days we don't work or go to school, nobody in my house is up before 10am, so 4am was super early for us)

 

Thursday, May 23rd We woke up around 9am and were ready for breakfast. We walked a block down the road to Boccacino Cafe & Pizzeria where we'd get our breakfast. This is right at Las Olas Blvd & A1A and I highly recommend it! My wife and I both ordered eggs, bacon, fried potatoes and fruit. My youngest ordered strawberry french toast which he ate all of. He must have been starving! It was $75 for the 4 of us which was worth every penny. 

 

 

After we finished breakfast, we walked around the corner to Nanou French Bakery & Cafe. My wife loves this place and has to go there whenever we're in the are. This is at the end of Las Olas, right near A1A (where all of the construction is currently taking place). They are an authentic French bakery. I bought some eclairs from there, and my wife bought $50 worth of macaroons. She loves them!

 

 

From there, we went back to the resort, where my wife and youngest would have a repeat of yesterday in the game room. My oldest and I would repeat as well, riding scooters all day. Once we were all done, we met at Haagen-Daaz which is at Beach Place where the resort is. It was $35 for 4 smoothies and man they were delicious. We sat out in the Beach Place courtyard and drank our smoothies. We took naps afterward and just hung out. Finally at dinner time, we walked downstairs to Lulu's Bait Shack to eat dinner. 

 

After we were done at Lulu's, we wanted to do something fun. There's an Escapeology escape room there at Beach Place so we decided to do that. We wanted to do the easiest room, which is "Antidote". It was $125 for the hour. It was a lot of fun, and we did not escape. It was fun though and worth the money. I highly recommend Escapeology. 

 

Once we were done with the escape room, we went to "Wave" which is a  beach store. We bought some stuff here, then went to our room where we'd take shower and hit the hay for the night. This week is FLYING by. Tomorrow is our last day in Ft. Lauderdale. 😞 

 

Friday, May 24th We woke up, and went back to Boccacino Cafe & Pizzeria. We had the same waitress, ordered the same food, and it was just as delicious. After we left breakfast, we rode scooters for a little bit along the beach. Finally we were ready to go do....something. We didn't know what. So I sent Circuit a text to come pick us up. They did and I had them take us to Galleria Mall. It's a very small mall with a very weird layout. We didn't shop much here, just went into Godiva Chocolate to get some diabeetus. After we were done at the mall, I sent Circuit a text to come pick us up. They did and we went back to the resort.

 

We just spent the day hanging out around the resort, the beach and riding scooters some more. It's just a great area and we love it. We did go down to Maui Nix Surf Shop which is downstairs there at Beach Place where we'd buy a bunch more stuff. Once we finished there, we went back to Escapeology where we'd do another escape room. We did "Th3 C0d3" this time, which is a mid-level difficulty escape room. We beat it! We escaped.

 

After we did the escape room, we went over to Lulu's Bait Shack where we'd have our dinner then just call it an early evening. I went to catch up all of our laundry, and spent the night watching baseball. We were sad this was our last night in Ft. Lauderdale, but tomorrow is our cruise! 

 

Now, speaking of baseball, the Super Regionals of the College World Series is about to come on in 10 minutes (as I am typing this) so I am going to watch my Tar Heels play against Auburn in a rubber match to see who advances to the CWS in Omaha. I'll be back later today to continue the review, which will begin with Saturday, embarkation day. 🙂 

 

-stay tuned, more to come. 

 

 

[elcuchio24]

NICE! Thanks we are doing the same itin in Nov except La Romana instead of HMC

[MzShae]

I did Grand Turk, the DR, Aruba & Curacao on the Vista in March 2017. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[teknoge3k]

Ok so my game got out of control before the 1st inning was over so I just turned it off. lol

 

Embarkation Day

Saturday, May 25 is our embarkation day. We woke up around 8am to do any last minute packing. I realized we didn't have enough Q-tips to last the entire voyage so I ran downstairs to CVS to get some. Today was the beginning of The Great American Beach Festival so they had A1A closed to traffic. They had cars lined up and down the road for show, and was setting up a stage for music. My son and I checked out a few of the cars out there, got our Q-tips and went back to the room. By this time, it's about 9am so we're ready to head to the port. I ordered our Uber to pick us up. It took maybe 4 minutes for our UberXL to show up. Elie picked us up in his Chevy Tahoe and off to Port Everglades we went. The Magic was docked at terminal 19. BCSO was directing traffic inside the port area and they didn't seem to really know what was going on. Our Uber dropped us off with the porters where we'd unload our luggage. I gave them everything except 1 piece of luggage with wheels, so I could carry on our 48 sodas on it. At 9:15am there was probably 2,000 people at the port already. The line was snaked back and around the building. Nobody knew what was going on. The person at the front of the line said everyone was in the same line, no priority line, the person at the back said priority was in the front. I just stayed in line. Finally a guy came through and pulled out the priority guests and we went inside of the terminal. This was probably around 9:45am. We went through security and to the FTTF boarding area where we'd sit until embarkation. Finally about 10:15/10:30 we were able to board the ship. Port Everglades was a nightmare and nobody knew what was going on. When FTTF started to board, we all had to fight through all of the people standing up, just to get to the escalator. 

 

Once we got onto the ship, my oldest took the suitcase with luggage to our cabin and dropped it off. I had to go to shore excursions to pick my villa number. I was there maybe 15 minutes until it was my turn. I picked our villa number, then I had to go to guest services to talk to the guest services manager about our meet and greet we had planned. I organized this through John Heald since I was our group leader for our online roll call. She gave me a bag of things, including 2 bottles of champagne, 2 ships on a stick, 4 Carnival medalions, and a few other Carnival items. This was all to give out to our online roll call group. 

 

Once I left guest services, I went up to our cabin to drop the stuff off, and to catch up with the family. We were in cabin 10264 on lido. It was directly across from the launderette, just next to the elevators. From there we all went to eat. Mom and my youngest went to lido, my oldest I have no clue where he was, and I went to Guy's BBQ. After we all ate, mom, my youngest and I went to the cabin to sit on the balcony and just watch them load and unload the ship. Something we love doing.

 

At 2pm our meet and greet for our social media roll call group was scheduled in The Vibe nightclub. I went there since I was the group administrator to greet everyone coming in, and host the event. We had all been chatting for the past year and a half in our social media group and having such a great time. I think 200-300 people showed up to the meet and greet and it was just an awesome time. Our group actually had 960 people in it, which was awesome. No drama, lots of activity, great people. We were the Magical Misfits! 

 

After our meet and greet, it was about time for muster. I ran back to the cabin to grab the family, and we went to muster. Muster lasted maybe 15 minutes in the Showtime Theater. Once muster was over, I ran back up to lido for the sail-away party. Now this was Simon London (Cruise Director) first day as CD on the ship. I am not sure if he didn't know what to do, was busy, but was just MIA. Nothing was going on. I was bummed. So I went back to the cabin where we'd sit on the balcony and watch sail-away from Port Everglades.

 

After sail-away, we went ahead and got ready for dinner. Which basically consisted of my wife using the bathroom and grabbing our soda. 

 

We always do Anytime Dining when we sail because we do not like to be glued to a certain time. We never eat at the exact same time every day at home, so we're not doing it on a cruise either. We got to the dining room and the hostess asked us if we wanted to sit with strangers or by ourselves. Of course we picked by ourselves, so we were taken to our table, which was by the window. It was great. I ordered my usual, 2 shrimp cocktails, a flat iron sirlion and chocolate melting cake, Mickey Mouse style. After dinner, we just hung out around the ship. We were tired so we went to bed fairly early. I think we all were in bed by 11 except my 15 year old. He came in around 1 I think. 

 

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

We hate the Bahamas and refuse to cruise there but Half Moon Cay is different. It's amazing. We've been there a few times before so we knew what to expect. We love Half Moon Cay. It reminds you of a Caribbean port. 

 

With FTTF we had to be in the showtime theater that morning for our priority tender. We got on the first tender and headed over to the island. It was as beautiful as always. Now one thing Carnival really failed on here. When we got there, they said if we had ANY excursion (villas, cabanas included) we had to go to the information hut to sign papers. First of all, this should of been done on the ship that morning or even the day before. NOT waste valuable time on the island. Anyway we did as we were told but then realized, nobody else was stopping there. Everyone ignored it and kept going. In the future, I will to. We went to get on the tram to take us to our villa. We had villa "E" reserved which is between cabana 12 & 13, the furthest down the beach that there is. I want to be away from all of the cruise crowd and noise. I want a relaxing beach day. 

 

The villa was very nice. Upstairs had a large kitchen table, fridge, and a little kitchenette area. It also had 2 loungers, and a bar to sit at. Downstairs had a hot tub, a bathroom with shower, 2 loungers and a little bar. It also included an outdoor shower, 6 floats, snorkel gear, a large bag of chips, plate of fruit and a plate of veggies. It also included 16 sodas and several bottles of water. 

 

 

We spent the day in the ocean just relaxing on floats, frying our skin. Finally when the day was about up, we hopped on the tram back to the tendering area, where we'd tender back to the ship. 

 

We got back to the ship and all took showers and cleaned up for dinner. Tonight was our first elegant night of the cruise. We're not dress up people, so we had no interest in dressing up for elegant night. I put on some jeans, a polo shirt and tennis shoes. (This is my review, how I cruise, what I wear. If you don't like it, I really don't care about fashion police)

 

I opened up The Hub app and checked in for dinner. We were given a table number, and off we went to the Northern Lights Dining Room. We got there and I told the hostess we'd like to sit in our previous servers section, which we did. We sat at the same table as the previous night. We ate the normal, shrimp cocktail, flat iron sirloin and wcmc. After dinner, I was in the $150,000 slot tournament, so I had to go compete in my first round of this. I did, and I advanced. I was one of the top people in my group. 

 

After that, we just hung out around the ship, eating, drinking, and finally went to bed around midnight. We had another early day tomorrow.

 

Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos

We've been to Grand Turk (not "Turks", there is no "s" in Grand Turk) eleventy bazillion times and usually do the same thing, rent a golf cart. We have always rented from Karib in years past, but he went out of business late 2018 so this time I had to rent from Omar Morris, from Grand Turk Adventures. It was $70 for the day. We did the normal, riding through Cockburn Town, and up to the lighthouse. We just rode around, enjoying the island and seeing people we knew from the group. Afterward, we headed back down to Jack's Shack where we had planned to get lunch. It's always good to see John and Janet when we go and of course Topher and Calypso. The problem with Jack's Shack is it use to be so quaint, not very busy and just a great place to go. The problem now is in every cruise group, people tell people "go to Jack's Shack". Well, we were in port with the Conquest and they were there first. Jack's Shack was soooooo crowded. We didn't even get waited on after 25 minutes, so we left to go back to the ship to eat. I think the next time we go to Grand Turk, we'll just stay on the ship. We've been there so many times, and have seen the entire island. It's just nothing there worth getting off of the ship for anymore. 

 

After we got back on the ship, we took shower and rested for a bit before getting ready for dinner. After showers, I checked into dinner on The Hub app, went down, got our table we wanted and ate. Tonight I had a steak from the steakhouse selection. It was good, and I only ordered it since there was no flat iron on the menu.

 

 

After dinner, we went to the HASBRO game show, which is always a good time killer. From there, we went to the Love & Marriage show which is one of my favorites. After that we just hung out around the ship, and made some donations in the casino. We ended up calling it an early night around 11p since we were tired and burnt from Half Moon Cay.

 

Tuesday, May 28 Today was a day at sea. We slept in a little late. Our social media group had a lot of events planned. I wanted to do the slot pull but it was at 9am on our first sea day. No way I was getting up that early. However I did have to get up and go to the second round of the $150,000 slot tournament. I advanced to the third round!!  After that, we had a cabin poker crawl planned. Those who were participating met in the atrium at the assigned time, and we did the cabin crawl. It's always fun seeing the different cabins, how people decorate, and how they cruise. 

 

After that, we just hung out around the ship the rest of the day. I don't think we did anything exciting this day.

 

Up next, Aruba! Stay tuned

 

 

 

 

[grandmarnnurse]

Following. I am on the Magic for my 50th Anniversary in April and this is the same exact itinerary for the second leg of our B2B (April 5–6 days & April 11–8 days) I can’t wait to read the rest of your review! 

[teknoge3k]

Aruba

 This was the port I was most excited about. We were in port from 10am-11:30pm. When we got out of the terminal of shops, there were taxis readily available. I wasn't sure the location of where we were going, so I hopped in a taxi. We had reservations at the Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino. I made these reservations in October 2018. I made reservations so we could go to Flamingo Island. My kids wanted to swim with flamingos. I had to make reservations for 1 night in the Ocean Suites Tower. I booked an ocean view room because we do not like interior rooms. It was $331.42 for the room after AAA & Marriott Rewards discounts. *They have since changed their policy to require 2 nights* ... We got to the resort and checked in. We got our resort pass, went back downstairs inside of the hotel where the boat would pick us up. It's pretty cool seeing a boat come into a resort to pick people up. We hopped on the boat, and off to Flamingo Island we went! 

 

When you get to Flamingo Island, the dock splits 2 ways. To the left is Iguana Island (family friendly) and to the right is Flamingo Island (18+). However if you're not acting a fool, they don't bother you if you're with kids. We went to the flamingo side, saw the flamingos, rested, then went to the iguana side. There is literally NO difference in the flamingo side, and the iguana side. Both sides have flamingos. 

 

 

The island was nice, not crowded at all, very clean, great service. The one complaint I would have is that it's very rocky near the shore. Both sides was like this. Once you went out though, it was fine. Marriott could do a better job maintaining this. 

 

Toward the end of the day we just about had enough of the sun, so we took the boat back to the resort. We went to our hotel room where we'd each take showers and change clothes. We changed clothes and headed out of the resort. We walked all around downtown shopping, and then around the Renaissance Mall shopping. We finally landed at Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar where we'd eat. Lucy's is at the marina near the cruise terminal. It was only $35 for my wife and I and youngest to eat. My oldest wasn't hungry. I wish I had ordered double the food though because we were still starving once we left. It was delicious though. We walked around Oranjestad some more and shopped some more. My son had to go into Louis Vuitton and Gucci while we were there. Finally around 10-10:30, we were tired so we just headed back toward the ship. 

 

Aruba was great and we loved our day there. I cannot wait to go back!

 

 

By the time we finished shopping in Oranjestad, and around the port area it was about 11:15 so we got on the ship, went to grab some food, then ready to call it a night. We had another early day tomorrow.

 

Curaçao

We woke up this morning and went to Southern Lights Dining room for breakfast. Actually we did this EVERY morning, I just forgot to mention it previously. We ate breakfast every morning (port day and sea day) in the MDR. Standing in the long lido lines just isn't for me. Anyway...

 

After breakfast in the MDR, we went back to the balcony to watch us pull into port. We watched them set everything up in the port area as well as tie the ship up. Once everything was done and people started debarking, we went down ourselves. 

 

I had a private driver booked through VIP Tours Curacao. It was $325 for the day. We were in port from 8am-4pm. I saw from our balcony where to meet our driver, so we headed down and to the security gate where we'd meet Patricia who would be taking us around for the day. The first place we went was Hato Caves. I guess if someone has never seen caves it would be fun. They were very proud of their cave though. However we don't live too far from Luray Caverns which is the largest cavern in the eastern United States, so we were pretty bored with this little cave. After that, we went to Mambo Beach Blvd to shop a little. From there, we went to Senior & Co where they make Blue Curacao liquor. I was a little disappointed in this because it was a bunch of museum type exhibits, leading into the shops. I didn't see them make or bottle anything. I may of just missed it, I don't know. We did buy about $200 worth of stuff though. From there,  we went downtown Willemstad to shop some more, and then crossed the Queen Emma Bridge to shop on the other side. After that, we went back to the ship as it was around 3:15. Curacao was lovely though and I'd love to go back soon!

 

 

Up next, 2 sea days, debarkation, post-cruise. Stay tuned!

 

 

[TNcruising02]

This is a great review.  It sounds like you had a lot of fun in Fort Lauderdale.  The Villa at HMC sounds amazing!  I am enjoying reading all of the details you are posting.  I'll be on this cruise in less than two weeks.

[teknoge3k]

Thursday, May 30

Continued from Curacao..

 

Once we arrived back to the ship, I had to play in round 3 of the $150,000 tournament. I did not advance from this stage, boo. I only won a hat and a towel. Stage 3 started payout. Once I was finished in the tournament, I went back to the cabin where I'd shower and change for dinner. Each night to dinner I wore cargo shorts, a polo and sandals with the exception of the 2 elegant nights, which I wore jeans, polo and tennis shoes. 

 

After dinner, we went to America Rocks. We were tired after that, so we just hung out around the ship and eventually went to bed.

 

Friday, May 31

This was a day at sea for us. Once we woke up and went to breakfast, we realized my youngest was sick. He ended up sleeping most of the day while mom sat on the balcony on her phone. They both skipped dinner this night, which was the second elegant night. My oldest and I went and both got 2 filet mignon plates which were absolutely delicious. Mom took my youngest to the ship doctor, where his dx was an uri and inner ear infection. They gave him some amoxicillin and Motrin. The bill was $154.50 which I've submitted to our travel insurance which is RoamRight, that I purchased on insuremytrip.com for $213 for the 4 of us.

 

After dinner, I went to see Flick. Now I've gone to see Flick 4 times on 3 different ships. Every single time there's "technical difficulties" and it's not the full show or it's changed in some way. I am not sure if it's my luck or if Carnival just doesn't have this whole show. In which case they should nix it from the lineup. I've yet to see it. After Flick, I just went back to the cabin with mom and sick youngin' where I'd sit on the balcony with her and relax.

 

Saturday, June 1

This was another day at sea for us. In fact it was our last day at sea, boo. 😞 I woke up and went around to get some more videos for the vlog (which will be posted on my blog page). Mom and Kolbrin (my youngest) went to lido and watched Lego Movie 2. He was feeling better, yay! Kobie (my oldest) was somewhere, no clue where. We hung out around the ship the rest of the day. Finally I checked in for dinner when it was time with The Hub app, and we went to eat. I always keep my prepaid gratuities in place, but gave the dining staff an extra $75 because we liked them a lot. After that, mom and Kolbrin went to watch movies on lido. I went and did our laundry. It was 3 loads, which cost $18. Had I sent that out for Carnival to wash, it would of cost $270. Definitely worth my time to save that money.

 

Once laundry was done, I went to the atrium for the "Fun Farewell with Simon" where they also do the balloon drop. I knew so many people on this sailing from our group, and friends made along the way. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone. It's always a bittersweet night for us. 

 

After that show was over, I went back to the cabin to fold the laundry and get everything packed up. We had to have our bags out by 11pm for them to pick up.  We ended up going to bed around 1 this night.

 

Debarkation Day & Post-Cruise

We had zone 2 for debarkation since we had FTTF. We were told to meet in the Showtime Theater at 7:45 for debarkation. However most pax didn't know how to follow instructions and the terminal was overloaded so they closed the gangway. They didn't reopen it until well after 9am. Once they reopened it, everything went smooth. CBP moved smoothly and quickly. In fact, the CBP agent just asked our names, and moves us through. 

 

Once we made it outside of the terminal, we ordered our Uber and waited 6 minutes for Gennady to pick us up in his GMC Yukon XL (UberXL). He took us to Ft. Lauderdale Airport where we'd get our rental car. I had rented a GMC Acadia from Budget for $261.47. We loaded our luggage up, and off to Miami we went.

We made it to Miami and stopped for breakfast at a Denny's on Biscayne Blvd. We ate our $50 breakfast and then we were off to Miami SeaQuarium. We've always enjoyed the SeaQuarium. I went on Groupon and bought tickets for $110 for the 4 of us. We saw every show they had and all of the animals they had. Once we were done there, we headed back to Ft. Lauderdale. I had reserved a room for the night at the Hampton Inn on Marina Blvd. Now this wasn't a great location and it was pretty far from everything, but at $138.48 for the night, you couldn't beat it. The room and service was great. I know a lot of people stay here or in this area pre-cruise which is great, to each their own. I just don't want to spend all of that money on vacation and stay away from everything. I want good views and things to do. Anyway... We got unpacked at the hotel, and headed back to Beach Place for dinner. We went to Lulu's Bait Shack for dinner again.

 

Monday, June 3rd

We slept really late this day. In fact I don't think we got out of bed until noon. We got up, checked out of the hotel and went BACK to Beach Place (surprise). We went to Maui Nix Surf Shop for some more shopping. Then we ended up going back up to Escapeology where we'd do another escape room. We did Arizona Shootout this time, which is the most difficult. We escaped it, and our name was put on the leader board in 2nd place! 

 

By this time, it was about an hour and a 45min before our flight, so we went to Nanou French Bakery once last time where my wife would get another $75 worth of goodies. Then we went to Ft. Lauderdale International Airport where we'd drop off our rental car and get ready for our flight. We dropped off the car, dropped off our luggage at the Southwest counter, went through security and then stopped at Air Margaritaville since it was still almost an hour before our flight. We all got something to drink and I got fish n' chips. Surprisingly, it was good food. 

 

Then we bought some drinks and such for the flight, and went to our terminal.

 

Our flight was on time, the ride out of Florida had a lot of turbulence but once we made it to the Carolinas it calmed down. We landed at RDU and I called the Holiday Inn Express to come pick us up. They were there promptly and took us back to the hotel to get our 4Runner. We loaded up, and drove the 2hrs home. We were home by 12:30am, plugged in electronics, checked on the house, untangled the Roomba from a rug, took showers and went to bed. It was a great trip but there's no place like home.

 

Final Thoughts

Since we booked the cruise a year and a half out, we had a lot of time to plan. Our social media roll call group was ah-may-zing. I loved the people who were a part of the Magical Misfits. I cannot wait to see some of them again. The Airbnb was perfect, in the perfect location. We love the Beach Place location. Everything pre-cruise gets a 10 out of 10 from me!

 

Ports - The ports are what attracted us to this voyage. Grand Turk was meh but only because we've been there a patillion times. Everything else was fantabulous. Ports get an 8/10 from me.

 

Ship - The ship itself was great. Everything was in working order, no smells, cold A/C in our cabin, it was as great as it was the last time we sailed on her

 

Staff- The staff was very underwhelming this time. The steward wasn't great, in fact I didn't leave additional grats for him on top of the prepaid. The dining crew was great though. The CD Simon London was very underwhelming. He was very nice, very cheerful but he just didn't make it a great cruise in comparison to the great cruise directors like the Reverend Dr. E., Cookie or Mat Seguin. Those guys know how to keep it going. It may just be because Simon is new. Guest services staff was great, especially in assisting with the meet and greet.

This portion of the vacation gets 6/10 from me. 

 

Technology- The Internet on the Magic is MUCH faster than last year. Also The Hub app was MUCH more reliable in terms of the chat feature. No delayed messages, no missed messages, etc. Also the ability to check in to dinner on the app was fantastic. 

This portion gets a 9/10 from me 

 

Overall- We had fun, it was a great cruise and I'd do it again. I definitely want to go back to Aruba! 

 

Our next sailing is on the Fascination, but I think we're going to book another one before that. That's just the only one we officially have at this point. 

 

As mentioned in the first post, if you want the menus / Fun Times, they're on my blog at https://www.love2cruise.org/2019-carnival-magic/ 

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do all that I can to answer!

 

P.S., thanks to BeachBum for helping me out in our roll call for the past year. You've been a big help. 

 

 

[elcuchio24]

Already read the full review! Thanks!

[dctravel]

Thanks for this review! We do this itinerary on the Magic in August. Glad to see how other people handled excursions and their time on the ship.

[jbethel11]

5 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

We have 2 boys ages 15

Could you please ask your 15 years old how Club O2 was, as I hope to sail the Carnival Magic with a very similar itinerary next year. Thanks!

 

3 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

We hate the Bahamas and refuse to cruise there but Half Moon Cay is different. It's amazing. We've been there a few times before so we knew what to expect. We love Half Moon Cay. It reminds you of a Caribbean port. 

 

I agree. Did it appear there were enough loungers for everyone there if you walked by the beach at all?  

 

Great review!

[teknoge3k]

2 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

Could you please ask your 15 years old how Club O2 was, as I hope to sail the Carnival Magic with a very similar itinerary next year. Thanks!

 

I agree. Did it appear there were enough loungers for everyone there if you walked by the beach at all?  

 

Great review!

 

Unfortunately my kids have never done the kids clubs. They tried them once and didn't like them and have never gone back. Every since my 15 year old was about 11 or 12, he's done his own thing on the ships and never gone to the clubs. He's always made friends and hung out with them. He has fun though because he leaves first thing in the morning and we often don't see him again until well after 1am. Sorry I am not much help on this front.

 

As far as loungers in Half Moon Cay, there were plenty of loungers down our way, including in front of our villa. You won't have any trouble at all finding a place to enjoy the day on Half Moon Cay. 

 

 

[jbethel11]

5 minutes ago, teknoge3k said:

 

Unfortunately my kids have never done the kids clubs. They tried them once and didn't like them and have never gone back. Every since my 15 year old was about 11 or 12, he's done his own thing on the ships and never gone to the clubs. He's always made friends and hung out with them. He has fun though because he leaves first thing in the morning and we often don't see him again until well after 1am. Sorry I am not much help on this front.

 

As far as loungers in Half Moon Cay, there were plenty of loungers down our way, including in front of our villa. You won't have any trouble at all finding a place to enjoy the day on Half Moon Cay. 

 

 

Yeah, I understand. I only go to the Teens Clubs to meet up with people and then wander around the cruise. Club 02 is relatively small and is essentially designed to just be a small hangout.

 

Also, thanks for the other answer!

Edited June 10, 2019 by jbethel11

[RDDAILY]

Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise!  We are going on Magic in July and I was planning on renting a golf card in Grand Turk.  Did you rent ahead of time, or once you were already in port?  Thanks for the great review!

[teknoge3k]

1 hour ago, RDDAILY said:

Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise!  We are going on Magic in July and I was planning on renting a golf card in Grand Turk.  Did you rent ahead of time, or once you were already in port?  Thanks for the great review!

 

We always rent ahead of time because they sell out. We were in port with the Conquest. I rented ours back in November and by March they were sold out. (They cancelled on a lot of people who had theirs reserved)

[JaniceB]

Not sure if it is just me, but I can't see you pictures.

[teknoge3k]

1 hour ago, JaniceB said:

Not sure if it is just me, but I can't see you pictures.

 

I am not sure why you can't see them. Try a different browser to see if it helps. 

[teknoge3k]

Here's the video I made of my family on this particular voyage, if anyone is interested. 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by teknoge3k

[jbethel11]

@teknoge3kYou mentioned either in this thread, or another thread that you took advantage of the $49 deposit and $100 OBC. Was that a VIFP Club deal or Early Saver deal? When did you book the deal? Is there a chance it will surface again? 

[teknoge3k]

9 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

@teknoge3kYou mentioned either in this thread, or another thread that you took advantage of the $49 deposit and $100 OBC. Was that a VIFP Club deal or Early Saver deal? When did you book the deal? Is there a chance it will surface again? 

 

Carnival has this promo kinda often. I'd keep an eye out for it. It was an ES deal iirc. I always book ES because I know when I book, I'm not going to cancel. I also usually book a year+ in advance. 

[Saint Greg]

Thanks for the review! Doing basically the same one next year except Bonaire instead of Curacao.

[jbethel11]

5 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Thanks for the review! Doing basically the same one next year except Bonaire instead of Curacao.

Yep, that is the sailing I am considering too! 😁

[beachbum53]

Hi teknoge3k! Finally got around to reading your review. Glad I could help with some of the pre-cruise stuff with the group.  Since we didn't have FTTF, when we did the cruise check-in on the "Manage my Cruise" page, we selected a check-in time of 12:00 - 12:30. The zone number on the boarding passes didn't seem to mean anything, since, as you pointed out, everyone was in a single long line. I liked it better when everyone got to sit down in the terminal and wait for their zone numbers to be called for boarding. Not sure if I like this new system or not. I hope Carnival gets the bugs worked out before our next cruise. No complaints about the cruise. It was a much needed and very relaxing vacation. Debarkation was a fluster cluck. I can't fault Carnival for that. Our CD did the best he could at keeping things under control on the ship. Homeland Security needs to hire more Customs agents. I saw only 3 agents processing debarking passengers. When we finally got to debark, from the time we walked off of the ship, picked up our baggage in the terminal and snaked our way through the long line, it took 45 minutes. Maybe next time we'll do early self-debarkation. Hope to see you guys on a future cruise.

[Debbierpof]

On 6/10/2019 at 2:52 PM, TNcruising02 said:

This is a great review.  It sounds like you had a lot of fun in Fort Lauderdale.  The Villa at HMC sounds amazing!  I am enjoying reading all of the details you are posting.  I'll be on this cruise in less than two weeks.

TNcruising02 - Agree! This is a fantastic review - great details. We are also on the June 22 sailing. Cannot wait!!