Carnival Magic Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was our first cruise. We chose the eastern Caribbean on recommendation from friends who are seasoned cruisers. Overall, our trip was fantastic! We took a couple of days to explore the Port Canaveral area and found it to be a quite friendly place with an abundance of things to do. We booked a hotel through Go Port Canaveral, and parked our car there for the week. A shuttle took us from the hotel to the ship and embarkation was crowded, but smooth. Disembarkation went even faster, as we chose the self assist option and were off the ship before 7:30. Instead of waiting for the shuttle we took a taxi waiting already at the port and were on the road home by 7:45. The Magic is a beautiful, huge ship. There was always something going on, from music in the Piano Bar, dancing in the lobby, or the Dive In movie on the Lido deck. One of our favorite decks was Serenity, just for the peacefulness of watching the ocean slide by while doing absolutely nothing! We were impressed with the multitude of dining options, and never had a bad selection of food in the main dining room. We did my time dining and loved meeting new people each night. The buffet was not our favorite at lunch or supper, as we found it bland and mediocre compared to other choices. Guy's Burgers was one of our favorites for lunch, and the Blue Iguana was also an excellent choice. Our ports were Amber Cove, Dom. Rep., St. Thomas, VI, San Juan, Puerto Rico, & Grand Turk. Favorite was Puerto Rico and least favorite was Grand Turk due to two ships being there and it was far too crowded. We are already in the process of booking our next cruise!
Cabin Review
Interior
Our cabin was much more roomy than we imagined it would be. Our room was cleaned twice a day, and a bucket of ice was delivered both times. Hardly worth mentioning is the fact that we did not get a towel animal after the second night. We did not know if this was something we had to request. It did not bother us enough to ask, just a curiosity that arose when fellow passengers talked about which one they got each night at dinner.
Port Reviews
Port Canaveral (Orlando)
Friendly, courteous, and efficient. Embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly despite the crowd.
Amber Cove (Puerto Plata)
We did the Lifestyle VIP Resort. Would definitely partake in this again. Did not pay for the upcharge of this same excursion as we enjoyed the same things minus a 'private' beach. Most of the guests with us said they would not pay extra in the future. We had unlimited use of the pools, open bar, and buffet lunch that was delicious.
St. Thomas
We took a taxi to downtown St. Thomas and browsed the open air market and shops for a while. We took a taxi back ($4 per person each way) to the Paradise Point. I enjoyed that very much. Our travel companions were not so impressed. The view was worth it for me, however the $21 per person to see it was not so impressive. The line to ride back down was extremely long and many people were upset about line breakers and having to wait so long.
Grand Turk
I give this less stars because the Carnival Glory was in port this day also. Both ships disembarked at roughly the same time, and the crowd was horrible! For us, there did not seem to be very much to do other than sit in wall to wall chairs along the small stretch of beach or stand in wall to wall people in the pool at Margaritaville or in the ocean. We had however heard of Jack's Shack, a local place further down the beach. We walked maybe ten minutes and found it and ate jerk chicken there. It was very tasty and worth the walk. The water here was beautiful. If we go to this port again and there is more than one ship we will choose to not disembark like many of our travel companions chose to do.