Carnival Magic Review

Inaugural Carnival Magic Cruise - May 1, 2011

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Carnival Magic
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Scott1975DC
10+ Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: May 2011
Cabin: Spa Interior

This ship was nice and obviously brand new when we got on. Boarding was a breeze. Everything smelled like it was installed yesterday, which for most things, they were. We had an Inside Spa room which was a fine size. Unlimited access to Spa amenities was nice. Issue was they weren't ready for us and there were no bed skirts, but that was fixed when I asked for some and they got them for us. (Without the skirts it looked like you were camping on cots.) I would say though, don't do a Spa level room if you don't use the Spa a lot. Not worth it since you are at port so much anyhow. The rooms aren't any different from other inside rooms, except a little different in decoration and you get "upgraded" amenities. Just bring fancy shampoo, lotion, etc. and you'll be fine in any cabin. They are also so high up and far away from everything else on the ship that it gets to be a pain if you want to make a quick trip back to your cabin from say, the casino/club/dining rooms. Secondly, and I think this was an issue for all inside rooms. There was no arm chair or small couch to sit on. So you have to sit on your beds, or the small desk chair there is in the room. Odd for a new ship, something I normally have only seen on the oldest Royal Caribbean ships still around (tiny rooms).

The ports themselves were all nice, except Messina, Sicily. That's like the Nassau stop in the U.S. You can stay on the ship and not miss anything. It's not real clean and not super safe from what we heard. We got off and were back on in under two hours. We missed Monaco, which was disappointing, but you can't control the weather. The extra day at sea was welcomed for pool side sunning.

That brings me to the pool area. For such a big ship, the areas to sun in are not that plentiful. There are so many other large chairs or overhangs or large screens, that good seating can be hard to find. The Serenity adults-only area was always full when at sea, but as a previous review said, there were hardly any people on the seats with books/towels/shoes in their place. The bar service was also slow in terms of servers walking around asking for drink orders. Which if you cruise a lot, you know this can go either way. Either you are harassed constantly for a drink order or not at all seemingly. So, it was what it was. The Serenity area is nice as it was kid free. BUT, that annoying dump bucket bell ringing constantly HAS to go! It was not very serene with that going off every minute or getting stuck ringing. The bucket broke quite a bit and would just ring and ring.

Cabin Review

Spa Interior

Cabin 4S

Oddly missing a small couch or sitting area. Good location near Spa/Fitness Center. Quiet.

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