Carnival Magic Review

Last year we did the Halloween cruise aboard the Carnival Magic.  It’s been a while, but I’ll try to give you some of my impressions of the ship.  This was a really fun and unforgettable cruise.

We were on deck one and had a Deluxe Ocean View stateroom, cabin 1245.  I really enjoyed this room even if it was at the bottom of the ship.  The window was large and deep, and I was able to actually sit in it and watch the ocean go by.  Next best thing to a balcony room!  Also, this room actually had two bathrooms. This was our first time with a Deluxe Ocean View.  One bathroom was the normal cruise ship bathroom, with a toilet, a sink, and a small shower.  The other bathroom had a sink and a small bathtub/shower, which was absolutely wonderful.  I love baths.  The tub looked tiny, but it was actually big enough to relax in.  I do wish that there had been a toilet in that one, but it was great when we were both getting ready at the same time.  And as always, the mattress and pillows were the best ever.  I would love to get my hands on one of those mattresses, Carnival needs to sell them. You can buy the pillow online, but I’ve never found a mattress. Anyway, I would highly recommend the Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom.  Our steward was good, he kept the room clean and made sure we had our towel animals.  We decorated our room door with Halloween decorations, and had decorations in our room, along with a bowl of Halloween candy for the steward.  He seemed to like that.

We always enjoy meeting new people on a cruise ship, which is why I was not pleased with the hostesses at the Main Dining room. We had Your Time Dining, and when we went to the dining room on the first night we asked to be seated with other people, like we always do.  We were informed that they could not seat us with anyone else, that we had to have a table for two.  We’ve never had that happen before. Normally we would be asked if we minded sharing.  Same thing for the second night.  We finally insisted around the third night to be seated with others and they seated us at a table for 10…. with ONE other older gentleman who was traveling alone.  He was very nice and we enjoyed his company, but how embarrassing to be at that big table alone for the entire dinner.  I was not happy with that hostess.  The waiter was very nice though, and we ended up requesting him the rest of the trip. I think he felt bad for us.  The next day there was an older lady traveling alone asking to be sat with someone.  They were saying no to her, and I told her that we’d be happy to sit with her.  It just happens that the older gentleman from the night before walked by alone, and we invited him to sit with us.  Thankfully it was a table for four, not 10. I saw the two of them during the rest of the cruise spending time together, so I like to think that they made a friendship that trip.  I don’t remember their names, but who knows?  The food was good in the main dining room, and of course the chocolate melting cake was delicious!  I’m trying not to order that as often.  And I always like to try new things each cruise.  The waiters were attentive and friendly.   And on Halloween my waiter brought me some “Scary Cake”.  So much fun.  I’ll post a picture below.

 

The Lido buffet was the usual, with the usual food.  I don’t know why, but Carnival cannot cook plantains right.  They need to let them ripen.  Other than that, the food was fine.  It wasn’t horribly crowded, and there was room to sit.  I love Guy’s Burger Joint.  They have the best hamburgers ever.  And this was our first time trying Guy’s Pig & Anchor BBQ.  Very good. And of course the Sea-day brunch was excellent, as usual.  We even tried the High Tea for the first time on our sea-day.  It was okay, but they’ve cut out the good teas and you have to pay extra for them.  It’s just plain tea, and a few small cakes, etc.  Nothing all that exciting.

 

Halloween was so much fun.  We’d been looking forward to this party all year. I even made us pirate costumes.  I love Halloween, and usually I’m handing out candy and watching everyone else have fun, but I got to party on this cruise for a change.  They decorated the ship with Halloween blow ups all over the ship.  They had a big costume contest, and there were Halloween activities everywhere.  They had Halloween backgrounds for pictures, and people were dressed up in every imaginable costume.  I liked the life size Ken and Barbie in a box.  There was a great Captain Hook, Barney Rubble and Betty.  There was even a transformer.  I have no idea on how he packed that costume.  It was crazy fun.  At the big costume judging one of the entertainment staff was dressed as Rufio from Hook.  And his real name was Rufio.  I’ll post his picture below.  Nice guy.

The entertainment was pretty much the same as you see on all the Carnival Ships.  They tend to use the same shows everywhere, so they get boring.  We don’t really go to the welcome aboard show anymore because we’ve seen it so many times.  Halloween night entertainment was a nice change of pace.  The Reverend Dr. E was the Cruise Director, and I loved him.  He was especially funny Halloween night, dressed as the Johnny Depp Mad Hatter.  He was one of my favorite Cruise Directors.

The Carnival Magic is a large and very nice ship.  It seemed pretty smooth on the water. It has a great “adults only” Serenity area, it has one of the best miniature golf courses I’ve seen on a ship, plus it has a rope course.  I’d never seen one of those on a ship before.  It also has a movie screen on the pool deck, you can watch movies on a lounge chair in the evening, and watch the stars at the same time.  Carnival will provide a blanket and popcorn for your additional comfort.  It’s very tastefully decorated, and has lots of places to sit down and relax.  They have enough computer kiosks to go around, I never had trouble finding an empty computer.  We ended up buying the $5 internet plan for one day.  That way I could keep in touch with my family.  We also managed to find free wi-fi in a couple of the ports, and could use our phone in Puerto Rico, since it’s a US Territory.