Carnival Magic Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,504 reviews

Truly Magical

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Magic
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RockinRob923
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2013
Cabin: Aft-View Extended Balcony
Traveled with children

I would like to start this review by telling you that I was extremely apprehensive about this cruise after I booked it for many reasons. One main reason was that my sister had just returned from a transatlantic cruise on the new Carnival Breeze in November and was not impressed with Carnival at all(she is an avid cruiser who has not been on Carnival for many years). I had begun my cruising years with Carnival, and even had the pleasure of having John Heald as my cruise director (a spoiler for all cruise directors to follow) and had always found Carnival had met my needs and offered a fun vacation at an affordable price.

This was my 10th cruise and 5th with Carnival. I have to admit I strayed from Carnival and tried Royal Caribbean and was hooked. I even sailed the Oasis of the Seas which as far as I am concerned, is one of the most amazing ships ever. Last year, I tried the Norwegian Epic and found that to be an epic fail (pun intended). I always travel with a large group of people spanning many ages (7-84) and we all generally have the same opinion of the ships we sail on. I have become a Royal Caribbean snob and was not sure I would ever sail on Carnival again. Upon my sisters return from the Breeze and her telling me that even die hard Carnival cruisers felt Carnival had dropped the ball with a decline in food quality and service, I was ready to cancel my cruise.I went back to reading cruise reviews and saw a few that frightened me about Carnival as well. Not to mention the week before my cruise the Triumph incident happened and that really threw me over the top. Carnival Corp. has had so much negative press over the last 2 years, you can only imagine how freaked we all were about sailing with Carnival now. I felt particularly responsible because it was my idea to give Carnival another try because the ship and price was so appealing.

Now that I got the background story out of the way, let me tell you about the cruise. It was truly magical! Exceeded all of my expectations and then some. We began our trip in Galveston and stayed at the Hilton Resort. It was a beautiful hotel and they offered a free shuttle to the cruise port. Plenty of restaurants are located right next to the hotel as well.The shuttle got us to the ship at 11:30 and we were able to breeze through the lines at the pier very quickly. We were on the ship in no time ready to start our journey!

Cabin Review

Aft-View Extended Balcony

Cabin 8N
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