We sailed from Galveston on the Magic in late October. The cruise, service, and overall experience was the best so far in my limited cruising. We chose to stay away from the Lido deck and all of the mayhem around the buffets. With the brunch available in the Southern Light dining, a late breakfast and then dinner in the Northern Lights fit the bill perfectly. If we did need a snack or a quick bite, room service worked nicely. It was nice to avoid the lines, especially at the Mongolian Wok where the lines were ridiculous. Two comments seem to stand out as a blot on the experience. The first is smoking in the casino. When is Carnival going to go smoke free. Even at a no smoking table or slot, smoke migrates from the smoking tables and slots. The whole room, and my clothes afterwards, have the stench of smoke.

The other thing is the "Never Undersold" statement from the "Fun" shops. After I made a purchase, I found the exact same item for just more than half of the purchase price I paid. I found no policy statement as to the "Never Undersold" policy and when the Cruise Director stated the "Fun" shops would not be undersold, there was not an explanation. I contacted the company contracted with Carnival responsible for the "Fun" shops. To my dismay, I was told that the item had to be available from a store with a physical address and they would not honor the "Never Undersold" policy with pricing from a internet company. While I doubt I will pursue this further, I wanted to alert everyone to a vague policy that seems to protect your purchase when in fact it may not. As stated earlier, my overall cruise and dealing with the Carnival crew was the best I have had to date. This blot will not keep me from using Carnival again, but I will be very careful about purchasing items from the "Fun Shops" in the future.