What the heck is going on with the Magic????

[mom1965]

We are cruising the Magic on 8/22, all I have heard from people is how bad it is,  teens running through the halls banging on doors at all times of the night, people fighting, cabins dirty, pools dirty, food terrible.  This is so disappointing as we live in New York and it's so easy to just hop on board.  Anybody else experience this,  please have some good comments to make me not regret going.....

[mz-s]

A lot of it is if you go when school is out and people who have never been around civilized society go on a cruise.

[cmukid87]

I guess I haven't heard those reviews.  I wouldn't doubt my sailing on Aug 11 is going to be a disaster.  Only 4 days long, out of NY and school still out.  

[tallnthensome]

18 minutes ago, cmukid87 said:

I guess I haven't heard those reviews.  I wouldn't doubt my sailing on Aug 11 is going to be a disaster.  Only 4 days long, out of NY and school still out.  

I would agree....

[shof515]

I was on the Magic on June 20 to June 28 and never had any issues with my cruise. the only issue if you read the news was they was a fight on the 28, but it did not effect anything

 

i am also sailing on the magic again on Aug 11

[Weeziblu]

I've read some not-so-great reviews recently as well.  I've sailed Magic in the past and really loved her so I'm hoping to have a great sailing in September, especially because we're sailing with friends who are first timers and I want them to have a great experience!

[mouche]

59 minutes ago, mom1965 said:

We are cruising the Magic on 8/22, all I have heard from people is how bad it is,  teens running through the halls banging on doors at all times of the night, people fighting, cabins dirty, pools dirty, food terrible.  This is so disappointing as we live in New York and it's so easy to just hop on board.  Anybody else experience this,  please have some good comments to make me not regret going.....

 

I remember back in 2016 before our Magic cruise, I heard all the negative comments, turned out to be one of the best cruises we ever had, I even remembered the cruise director Dr. E, and that had never happen before or since. The food at that time was also very good, we had no complaints. Don't worry just enjoy your cruise. 

[mom1965]

I did the 4 night - first cruise back in NY in June, it was Ok (not great) we had some issues (plumbing problem, internet, etc) however the guest relations were great about helping.  The cruise director is amazing (Ryan) and we love the Alchemy bar and the piano bar.  It really is the unruly passenger that are the issue for the most part.  Sailing with my grandson on the 22nd who is 28 months old so fingers' crossed that it will be OK!!!! 

[kingston13]

I went June 20-28th and had no issues.  Were there rude people, sure but that is nothing new - there always are some rude people.  Didn't know about the fight until read it in the media.  Everything was good.  I am going again on August 15th.

Don't go into it looking for bad since you will start the trip unhappy.

[pe4all]

Staff was fantastic!  Our cabin was spotless the whole 8 days, a/c worked great.  Lido and aft Pools and hottubs were jammed - people soup.   Suggestion - use the hottubs on the starboard and port sides of the Promenade deck. (deck 5). They were usually empty, or with 1-2 people in there.  Or use Serenity area.

[thunderingherd11]

6 hours ago, shof515 said:

I was on the Magic on June 20 to June 28 and never had any issues with my cruise. the only issue if you read the news was they was a fight on the 28, but it did not effect anything

 

i am also sailing on the magic again on Aug 11

Fights happen.  Its not like they are radomly attacking people like its NYC.  At least not yet.  Have a great time all.  

[IrritatedEllipses]

Been on the Magic twice, never experienced a fraction of that. But, as other commenters have noted, I'm sure that has to do a lot with the time of year. 

[Rudyard]

9 hours ago, mz-s said:

people who have never been around civilized society go on a cruise.

IMO that's likely the reason for all the fights we've seen break out across multiple cruise lines the past few months. Super cheap fares to fill cabins have led to people who normally might not cruise trying it out. Sadly they bring their uncivilized ways with them. Someone I know once describe this type of cruise passenger as a lottery winner who's never set foot outside his home town before. 

[mz-s]

25 minutes ago, Rudyard said:

IMO that's likely the reason for all the fights we've seen break out across multiple cruise lines the past few months. Super cheap fares to fill cabins have led to people who normally might not cruise trying it out. Sadly they bring their uncivilized ways with them. Someone I know once describe this type of cruise passenger as a lottery winner who's never set foot outside his home town before. 

 

"New money"

[Stick93]

10 hours ago, cmukid87 said:

I guess I haven't heard those reviews.  I wouldn't doubt my sailing on Aug 11 is going to be a disaster.  Only 4 days long, out of NY and school still out.  

We are going to have a great cruise - the wild people need 8 days to do damage!

[Riles34]

Sounds like a typical night in NYC! You know the people lol. Complainers will complain and a couple bad reviews should be looked over. I am sure you will be fine and have nothing to worry about. Just do you on your vacation!

[jimbo5544]

Maybe it has more to do with the cruisers than the ship…..

[RaisingJoy]

I was on the Magic 7/18-7/26, and from what I saw club O2 was the problem. I have three teenagers, my oldest went to Club O2 the first night and didn't go back. During an ice breaker they went around the room stating what they liked to, she said the most common answer was "play video games and smoke weed" and staff said nothing. It's as illegal as alcohol in this age group and I don't think they would have allowed them to all say they like to get drunk, but this answer was apparently acceptable. It wasn't her crowd so she hung out with us and relaxed reading on the balcony.

 

One mother told us her teenage daughter was left at her cabin door passed out but doesn't remember what she took. Someone knocked on the cabin door then left her in the hall. There was a fight at club O2, security was called and shut it down. However the teens just gathered in stairways and ran around playing manhunt and knocking on doors, basically being a nuisance so it was reopened. I will say security was everywhere on the ship. We saw them intervene when a parent and grandparent were just screaming at a small child, and again when there was a problem in the hot tubs. They sat outside club O2 a lot.

 

My other teens found friends at circle C and had a great time with them. They made bracelets and had lots of ice cream and enjoyed the freedom of roaming the ship with their new friends. They said many of the kids knew each other and have been on many cruises and the staff knew the kids, so Magic isn't just full of new cruisers. We aren't the type to be in the nightclub, but honestly besides the family screaming at the child, all the adults seemed pretty chill and we didn't have any problems. This wasn't my favorite cruise (it was our fourth Carnival cruise), I found the entertainment pretty boring (the shows were like good karaoke with a theme, just singing with really no dancing or story), the comedians were just OK, and there wasn't much to do besides trivia (the pools were PACKED) but I loved relaxing on the balcony. 

 

Some other thoughts: portions are small in the dining room, after a couple days many in our group were ordering multiple apps or main dishes. I thought it was a nice way to try things but harder on the staff. Food was fine, some dishes were great, only the lasagna was inedible, but the melting chocolate cake was very soupy every night. We had anytime dining and never had to wait more than a few minutes for our large party of 12. Also it's been said before, but Carnival needs another late night food option, lines for pizza were so long after 11PM and that's were I saw tempers start getting heated. We just paid for it through room service, the pizza wasn't as good but my kids LOVED the donut sandwich. Our steward was wonderful and worked so hard, but only having service once a day meant the couch bed in one room was always set up as a bed instead of converting back and forth to a couch. We enjoyed the spa, I love those heated loungers! 

[matymil]

Im glad someone else posted this because i was going back and forth about posting it myself. I got off the Magic last week and don't get me wrong its better than being at work but it was by far the worst cruise Ive ever been on. The teens/pre teens running around, cursing, destroying stuff. People in my cruise group said they got spit on, one persons daughter was drugged and had to go to medical, there was a kid that went missing for 3 days and it turned out he stole someones scooter and was running amok on the ship. My friends 11 year old son (that has a disability) was beat up twice, locked in a bathroom and bullied so bad that was crying, when security approached the parents they gave the my kid would never do that routine. My friend and I went in the hottub after about 10 kids just got out, we saw that they unscrewed about a dozen pieces off the bottom of the hottub and left them on the side. I handed them to the guard who said "i love kids"....they had to shut down that hottub for the entire next day. I also saw a teen throw her lollipop at a security guard on the lido deck, my buddy looked right at her and "that's f***ed up" and the girl just kept walking. I did reach out to Carnival just to let them know whats going on and got a pretty standard response. I understand that they are trying their best but if i would have known my vacation was going to basically be Hunger Games at Sea i would have chosen a different sailing. Never again out of NYC in the summer. Lesson learned

[DCDragonfly]

2 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Maybe it has more to do with the cruisers than the ship…..

The cruisers and the port.  We were on the Magic in May out of Norfolk.  Embarkation was a complete horror show (3.5 hours end to end); debarkation wasn't much better.  The ship itself was OK, though we prefer the Pride.  The cruisers were obnoxious, though not over the top--it was like they'd never been on a cruise before, or even knew how to interact with strangers.  Even with a more sedate crowd, we'll avoid Norfolk in the future--I wouldn't trust them to board a rowboat.

[jimbo5544]

4 hours ago, DCDragonfly said:

The cruisers and the port.  We were on the Magic in May out of Norfolk.  Embarkation was a complete horror show (3.5 hours end to end); debarkation wasn't much better.  The ship itself was OK, though we prefer the Pride.  The cruisers were obnoxious, though not over the top--it was like they'd never been on a cruise before, or even knew how to interact with strangers.  Even with a more sedate crowd, we'll avoid Norfolk in the future--I wouldn't trust them to board a rowboat.

Ports where they doo not have staff that does this on a regular basis are prone to issues with the embark and debark process.  While it is really not a very complex process, the changes for Covid alone can make it tenuous.  Without degrading into a discussion about specific states and the people who live there, we have found as example that boarding in New York and the clientele that sails from there is significantly different than Galveston (just another example).  Add to that the timing of when you cruise (Carnival are the Fun ships and families and children and all the fun that comes with that make sailing this times of year dramatically different than November.   There are times when sail where we choose a cabin location that maybe different because of the number of kids (to minimize the impact of their interaction with us while they enjoy their vacation (example would floors or location with less traffic). JMHO

[MsTabbyKats]

@RaisingJoyCould you please elaborate on the spa.  Was it crowded?  Were you able to use all the facilities?

I'm praying for an "old folks" cruise in Sept....but may want the spa as a retreat "just in case".

[Edhoff]

Here's the problem--PARENTS, PARENTS, PARENTS.

[matymil]

8 minutes ago, Edhoff said:

Here's the problem--PARENTS, PARENTS, PARENTS.

1000% They definitely let them run loose. I know its always bad in the summer and worse in NYC but it seemed to me like maybe covid fatigue played a role. Like it seemed like the parents wanted a break from the kids 

[RaisingJoy]

The teenagers on the ship were out of control. Fistfights at club O2, kids getting kicked out of club O2 for bad behavior but then allowed back the next day, shutting it down, etc. My daughters said many of the kids had been on multiple cruises, the staff already knew them and they knew each other, so I don't think this was all just new cruisers not knowing how to behave. They gathered in groups on the stairs, my daughter was propositioned by one when walking to dinner. Another daughter had a boy put his arm around her, she removed it and said she wasn't interested, and then he and a friend followed her back to our cabin (no it wasn't a coincidence that they just went the same way, she heard him say "Let's follow her" and then they did). I did not feel safe having my teenage daughters wander alone and made them go out together. You weren't there to see the chaos. I feel like Carnival is just accepting this behavior, they had to decide if they're family oriented or party oriented, and I believe they have chosen to just let the adults drink and casino all day and ignore their children. Our cruise wasn't directly impacted except I had to worry about my daughters' safety. We already have another cruise booked from Baltimore in April, if it's more of the same it will be our last Carnival cruise. 

 

As for the spa, we bought spa passes and everything was open. We loved the thalassotherapy pool and the heated loungers,  if I didn't have the kids and husband along I would have stayed there all day! We went in the morning shortly after it opened while the kids were sleeping in, and it was never crowded. We weren't in a spa cabin but we asked our steward for robes and he brought them, I used one going back and forth so I had a pocket for my phone. Also the spa showers have the Elemis products of you didn't bring your own, and anyone can use them. They're located across from the fitness center, and are nice and big, and there are hair dryers there too. I can answer any other questions people may have