Review: Do You Believe in Magic? June 1-8

[peanutzmom]

3 hours ago, dallasdan said:

Was Serenity crowded?  I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time there in August.

We were always able to find chairs of some sort on Serenity. There are several types of seating - clamshells, daybeds, wooden “loungers,” regular loungers, and cushioned chairs. We would go up there first thing in the morning (before 9am) and were always able to score a clamshell. We’d stay there till lunchtime, then go get some lunch and usually take a quick nap. We’d go back up around 2:30 or 3:00, and usually the clamshells and daybeds were taken by then, but there were always regular loungers and/or cushioned chairs available.

[straitlover1965]

Glad to read this! I am on the same itinerary in April 2025 over Easter. I know ours will be a full ship also, so I hope we have the same luck as you. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the ports.

 

Did you spend any time in the spa? We have a spa balcony cabin, so I know we will be in there quite a bit, especially on the tile loungers and hydrotherapy pool!

[thunderingherd11]

On 6/11/2024 at 9:14 PM, tradewinds traveler said:

We are doing the same itinerary in November.

We are also.  Nov 2?

[peanutzmom]

4 hours ago, straitlover1965 said:

Glad to read this! I am on the same itinerary in April 2025 over Easter. I know ours will be a full ship also, so I hope we have the same luck as you. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the ports.

 

Did you spend any time in the spa? We have a spa balcony cabin, so I know we will be in there quite a bit, especially on the tile loungers and hydrotherapy pool!

Ports, food, and debarkation are coming! Unfortunately my husband brought home a not-so-fun souvenir in the form of COVID, so I’ve been trying to catch up on work, laundry, etc. while also playing nurse!

 

We didn’t do any spa treatments, but we walked through it every day on the way to the Serenity Deck, and it looked and smelled amazing!

[tradewinds traveler]

Sorry to hear about husband. I really hate when my husband is ill. Take care of yourself.

[tradewinds traveler]

6 hours ago, thunderingherd11 said:

We are also.  Nov 2?

Yes. Counting the days.

[peanutzmom]

I’m back! Next time, I’ll be posting about the food and the ports - two things that I know are very important! In the meantime, here’s a quick review on Bar Service.

 

Bar Service: This is probably a place where people will disagree with me, but this was my experience. Let me start by saying that we don’t do the drink package. It just doesn’t make sense for us. My husband is on medication that doesn’t interact well with alcohol and he doesn’t really drink when we’re at home. So when he’s on a cruise, he limits his drinking to 3ish drinks a day - a beer hanging out on the deck, a glass of wine at dinner, and maybe a scotch while we’re at a show or in the casino at night. I’m a 125-lb lightweight, so there’s no way I could be able to drink enough to cover the cost for both of us. So, our experience is from the non-drink-package point of view.

 

Hits- The first big hit for me was that in the MDR, you can now order a glass of wine from your waiter when you order your meal. In the past, I would have to wait for “bar service” to come around, and they were very hit-and-miss, and trying to get a second glass of wine during dinner was even worse. But cutting out the “middle man” led to a much more streamline process.

 

Red Frog Pub on Deck 5 and the Red Frog Bar on the Lido deck became our go-to’s when we wanted a drink. The staff was awesome, the drinks were tasty, and they poured well.

 

Misses - Pretty much every other bar experience. The drinks were all very sweet and had very little alcohol in them, even when I ordered a straight drink like rum and (blech)Pepsi. We don’t order very many drinks, so when we do, we want a full shot of alcohol in them. I ordered martinis that were more juice than they were vodka. Even the Alchemy bar served very sweet, watered down drinks. That’s probably fine for cruisers on the drink package, since they can get 15 drinks a day, but not a great deal for those of us who actually purchase our drinks one at a time. I learned very quickly just to stick to wine, which made me sad. I can crack a bottle of wine at home. When I go on a cruise, I want to have all sorts of fun drinks that I don’t make at home. But when I spend $16 after the gratuity for a drink with practically no alcohol and is so sweet I feel like it’s giving me cavities, that makes me sad.

[Lee Cruiser]

Glad you had a good trip.  Looking forward to hearing details about platinum debarkation.  We are on Magic in September.

[peanutzmom]

Food: One of the reasons that we keep coming back to Carnival is because of the quality and diversity of free dining options. This cruise didn’t disappoint. I’ll break this section down by general hits and misses, and then MDR hits and misses.

 

Hits: Our favorite breakfast was Blue Iguana. We would get a bowl (rather than a burrito) with spicy eggs, cheese, pico de gallo, etc. almost every morning. It was fresh and tasty, and the line was shorter than for the omelet station and was much tastier. I also loved the arepas, and hubby would ask for some of the pork from the huevos rancheros to top off his eggs. 

 

For lunch, we really enjoyed Guy’s Pig & Anchor bbq  on embarkation day! The potato salad was just meh, but the meats, cole slaw, and greens were all yummy! I don’t think many people realized it existed at that point, so there weren’t any lines. I don’t know if it got busier later in the cruise or not, since this was the only time we ate there.

 

We also loved Guy’s Burgers and had it for lunch on two of our Sea Days. We would go into the buffet on the lido deck and get some salads and fruit, then go grab a burger at Guy’s. They were always fresh and hot, and the fries were addictive! 

 

Ice cream and pizza were both hits in the evening hours! Personally, I love the mushroom pizza, and it didn’t disappoint!

 

Misses: The couple of times we went to the Deli were less than memorable - a slice or two of meat, a bit of cheese, light on the condiments. Definitely not worth it.

 

Sea Day Brunch - I really wanted to love this, but I didn’t. Food was subpar, service was slow, and wait time was crazy long. I think we had full dinners, including dessert, in less time in the MDR at night. Hubby’s bagel and salmon was less impressive that what he made for himself on the lido deck, and my chicken and waffles were almost inedible.

 

 

 

We had dinner in the MDR every night. We had Your Time Dining, and we usually checked in as close to 5:30 as possible. We had some great service, we had plenty of good service, and one night we had not so good service. But overall we enjoyed our dinners!

 

Hits: 

Appetizers - Roasted Duck Rolls, Crawfish Strudel,  BBQ beef rolls, escargot

 

Entrees - braised short ribs, roast leg of lamb, eggplant parmigiana, veal schnitzel, beef Wellington, roast duck, hubby enjoyed the Indian dishes several times for dinner

 

Desserts - banana cream pie, cappuccino pot de crème, tiramisu, bitter n blanc, crème brûlée, baked Alaska, pineapple sorbet

 

Misses:

Appetizers - linguini and clams (there were literally two tiny clams the size of my pinky nail, and the rest was just pasta), crab and shrimp cake (it just tasted off)

 

Entrees - BBQ pork spareribs (very fatty and not otherwise flavorful), filet mignon (probably my fault - after 20 years of cruising, my meat was consistently overdone. So,,when I wanted medium rare, I would ask for rare. In this instance, I asked for rare. I received a filet that was seared on the outside and literally still cold and raw on the inside. I actually eat a lot of high quality beef rare or raw - I’m a big fan of beef carpaccio and beef tartare. But this filet was pretty much inedible)

 

Desserts - Grand Mariner soufflé (this used to be one of my favorites, but it was eggy and lacked flavor), Dutch double chocolate pave (it was basically a dry chocolate cake)  

 

[peanutzmom]

I’m so sorry it took this long to get back to my review! No sooner than hubby got over COVID, then our pup had a serious medical condition that has meant a lot of waking up multiple times in the middle of the night to give him meds/take him out to potty/etc. But now I’m back! And writing about ports is one of my favorite things!

 

Ports: This is one of our favorite itineraries, and we’ve been to all of them except Amber Cove multiple times. We didn’t book any excursions, but instead chose to do things on our own for this trip.

 

St.Thomas- We have been to multiple beaches, snorkel trips, and guided tours on our many trips to St. Thomas. This time we decided to do something new and go to Water Island/Honeymoon Beach. We got off the ship ASAP and got a taxi to Crown Bay Marina. Once there, we were able to purchase a round-trip ferry ticket to Water Island. When we arrived, there was a free tram to Honeymoon Beach that worked for tips. We took the tram but realized it would actually have been an easy walk. Once we got to the beach, we went to the little restaurant/bar/beach shack to rent a couple of chairs and an umbrella. There were only a handful of people when we arrived, most from the same ferry that we came over on. It was a relaxing day - enough people not to feel isolated, but not enough people to feel crowded. The beers were cold, the rum & cokes were strong, and the food at the little restaurant was typical beach fare. All we wanted to do was put our feet in the sand, relax, and have some food and drinks. Honeymoon Beach punched that ticket, with amazing views as an added plus. It was easy to take the ferry back and pick up a taxi back to Havensight. It dropped us at the duty-free mall, where we got a couple of cheap souvenirs. Overall, it was a great day!

 

St. Martin - I must admit, this is our favorite Caribbean island, and we have done land vacations several times. We knew right away that we wanted to spend the day at our favorite beach in the Caribbean - Orient Beach. We got a taxi over to Orient Village first thing, and grabbed a couple of coffees at one of the coffee shops. Then we hit the Casino (a convenience store) for some cold water and some chips. We strolled down Orient Beach during the quiet of the morning, which is one of my favorite times. We grabbed chairs and an umbrella at our favorite spot on the beach and spent a relaxing day soaking up the sun. We had a delicious lunch at Bai Wai. This is one of the reasons that St. Martin is one of my very most favorite places! You get to eat amazing French inspired dishes using local fresh seafood while sitting barefoot in a bathing suit and taking in an amazing view! After our lovely beach day, we headed back to the ship.

 

San Juan - It was a bit drizzly in the morning, but that didn’t stop us from heading out. We walked the outside path up to El Morro, then wove our way through various streets in Old San Juan to check out different locations. One thing I can say is DON’T try to eat at Barranchina! There was already an hour wait when they opened for lunch, and the locals said the food was not that great. We walked to the end of Calle de La Fortaleza and found a group of restaurants. We ate at Puerto Criollo, which was still a little touristy, but served at least something like authentic Puerto Rican food.

 

Amber Cove- We chose to stay at the pool area in this port. We paid the $22 for an umbrella, and it was well worth it because there isn’t much shade. The pool and lazy river were nice. We actually had a really reasonable and good meal at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Stand - two hot dogs and fries for $17, which was enough for both of us! After lounging at the pool, we wandered up to the bar at the top of the zip line area for a drink. The view was lovely! Then we headed back to the ship.

 

Debarkation: We have always carried off our luggage in the past. So, I was used to waking up at the crack of dawn, feverishly finishing our packing, then humping it all off the ship at 7am. Since we were Platinum this time, I talked my husband out of it. Priority disembarkation was only an hour later than self- disembarkation, and I’m getting too old to drag out all of those bags! So, we decided to go with Priority Disembarkation and put our bags out the evening before. The next morning, we went up to the Lido deck and grabbed one more breakfast bowl at Blue Iguana. Not surprising, things were running slow with Customs, so we weren’t called to out debarkation station till after 8am. It was fine - we sat in the dining room till our number was called (Group 2). Once we started off the ship, it was so quick and easy to get off, get our luggage, and go through Customs. 

 

Here is something important to know if you drive yourself and sail on Magic out of Miami. They often leave out of Terminal F but arrive to Terminal D. There’s actually a pretty big haul between the two terminals. Since we left out of Terminal F, we parked in the Terminal F, G, and V parking garage. When we arrived at Terminal D, they offered a shuttle to the F/G/V parking garage, but the lines were crazy. So, we chose to walk it. At this point, we had all of our luggage. It was do-able for us - two active 50-something’s with not a lot of luggage. But it was still quite a haul. If we had small children, elderly people, or a lot of luggage, it wouldn’t have been walkable.

 

Final Comments: We loved this cruise! It reminded us why we fell in love with cruising. Was everything always perfect? No. But it was overall a great 8-day experience.

[Hoosierpop]

Great review. Love your format. Glad to hear you liked the live music because it’s one of my favorite things to do in the ship. And my wife loves serenity, so great to hear that too. Going on her in two weeks, so can’t wait.

[five.]

This class of ships are my favorite. Especially like the spa / thalassotherapy pool and the lanai on deck 5. There are weeks where the hot tubs on deck 5 are largely ignored by everyone else. Plus you can switch sides of the ship and stay in the shade, which my wife loves.

[havanadaydreaming]

Great review. 

[cthrn27]

thanks! great info!

[tradewinds traveler]

I enjoyed all of your review, it was so easy to read. Thank you so much. It was so sweet of you to complete the review with your husband having COVID & sick puppy.