We booked this cruise for Thanksgiving 2016 and chose the Magic because we were bringing our granddaughters ages 9 and 12. This ship was recommended by many for that reason. I have to say the girls had a great time with the kids activities and groups on board. We hardly saw them except for dinner. I think they would have given this cruise a 5 from their perspective.

For my husband and I we have done many Carnival cruises and cruises on a few other lines and this one was just okay for us. We felt the staff on board the Magic lacked the friendliness of our other cruises. We have never had an issue getting waiters for drink service by the pools but we did on the Magic. I even tried a $5.00 tip and said please stop back by in a while but that waiter never came back. We ended up always going to the bar ourselves to get drinks.

I also felt the food in the dining room was just so/so. I look forward to dinners in the dining room but was left disappointed this time. The one constant that is always good is the chocolate melting cake. Lunches were crazy long lines but Guys burgers were worth the wait. We waited in line 45 minutes on lunch for the Mongolian Grill just to be let down, limited selection and honestly not that great. We didn't get to any of the shows so I can't comment on them. We had a great time in the piano bar which had the feeling of a place everyone knows your name...don't miss it - the singer was great and she made it a lot of fun. The CD on board was the Rev, Dr. E and he was pretty funny and tried to make the cruise entertaining. He did a good job of getting people engaged in activities and did a really nice veterans tribute. Read more