This was a REALLY fantastic cruise for us. We've sailed before on the Magic and this was my 4th cruise (first as an adult and without kids along) and my girlfriend's second. The last time we sailed, we had an interior room, along with 2 kids - that was cramped. This time around we sprung for a balcony room on Deck 7; we loved the balcony so much, we aren't sure we will ever cruise without one, it is definitely worth the extra money. Deck 7 was great as it's buffeted by a floor of rooms above and below it so no extra sound and the rockiness of the ship overall was at the least we've ever felt.

We had the faster to the fun option and my reviews on that are mixed. What it's DEFINITELY good for is being able to go RIGHT to your room as soon as you get on the ship. This enables you to be unpacked and already be poolside with food and drink by noon. Which is a fantastic option and totally worth it. I just don't know how good the other benefits of FTTF were; yes we did get right on the boat...but...the last time we sailed without FTTF and we also got right on the boat. It's nice for the priority tender option while in Grand Cayman...except our excursion wasn't until 11 am; the priority tenders are only 7 am until 9 am and cmon...I'm on vacation...I'm not gettin up at 6 am to make a priority tender to a place that isn't awake yet. So none of the other benefits really made a difference for me but like I said, just getting to your room and having your bags there is worth the money. Oh actually disembarkation was helpful with FTTF; if you take your own bags with you and just walk off the boat, thats the fastest way to get off, BUT, if you check your bags the night before, and then wake up on your day of disembarkation and just take it easy, get ready, and then go down to the dining room and enjoy a last hot breakfast (while docked there at the Galveston port), then you can casually make your way to the holding area and when they start exiting people from the group who checked bags overnight, FTTF gets called first. So yes that was handy just for the sense that it enabled us to chill out for disembarkation and gave us time to enjoy one last breakfast before getting off ahead of most of the pack.

We had the late dining and LOVED our group of waiters, headed by Swatra, and also included Wayan. They went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we needed every night. Wayan especially took care of one of our party who was gluten-free, showing her the menu from the next night always, so she could pick out what she wanted to eat, and they would look ahead and try to make it gluten-free for her. The food was pretty good - some things were really stellar, and then some things were just ok. I can't suggest enough that during Sea Days, you eat your breakfast/lunch in the dining room which serves a fantastic Brunch. I had steak and eggs several days and the filet mignon was really quite good. MUCH better than the slop fest which is known as the Lido buffet. The Lido buffet wasn't too bad. You just have to realize what its strengths are and what situations it's good for: if you're eating lunch or dinner straight off the buffet, I would suggest you're getting the Walmart of your cruise dining experience. Why do that when there's so many other tasty things to eat on board? Guy's burgers are FANTASTIC as are the fries. The Iguana taco bar is great - the little tacos are especially amazing. Fish and Chips has some great options. The Mongolian Wok was "meh" for me - no pineapple or shrimp or string beans in stir fry?? Cmon. The Deli makes a good sandwich. The pizza during the day, we found to be pretty good, and the pizza at 2 am we found to be pretty damn NOT good. So when is the buffet a good option? We had late dining at 8:15 pm so a couple nights we swung through the Lido and loaded up a snack plate to take back to our room before we got ready for our real dinner. The fruit and salad was always good in there and the desserts were usually good enough. The late-night snacks on the Lido were a great option too; from 11:30 pm until 1 am, grilled ham and cheeses, and fruit, and cookies, and brownies, and other snacks were set out by the aft pool by the pizza. I found the Chocolate Extravaganza to be a huge disappointment. They announce it like it's an actual event but then it's just that the dessert counter has a chocolate theme to it and they have a chocolate fountain set up - nothing better than anything they would serve for dessert at dinner. Maybe I was slightly biased because when I did Holland America, they had huge entire room chocolate buffets at midnight. We stumbled across the Taste Bar one of the last few days and enjoyed the tasty snacks served there. It's in a semi odd location; people milled around us and saw us eating and seemed really confused as to where we got the food or what it was for. Read more