Carnival Magic Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We took our children on their first cruise and choose Carnival Magic due to the affordability as well as looking at past reviews of this particular ship. We all had an absolute blast on this vacation. We were so impressed with the staff, cleanliness and food throughout our vacation. During our time on the Magic we were made to feel special by everyone. We had two separate staterooms (one balcony and one interior) and they were both very clean and well maintained. Whenever we had a minor issue (shower not draining or the lamp quit working), it was attended to right away. The food was excellent on the ship. There was only one night that we were a little disappointed in the buffet but overall the food was definitely delicious. The only issue we ran into, not Carnival's fault, was one of our excursions was cancelled the day of but our credit card was immediately credited back and the staff at the excursion desk was so very helpful in getting us booked onto another excursion the next day. The ports that we went to were beautiful and definitely worth going back to. We know that Carnival has not always had the best reputation but I can truly say we had one of the best family vacations ever and our experience with Carnival was a large part of that. We absolutely would cruise with Carnival again.
Cabin Review
Balcony
The cabin was well maintained and roomy enough for myself and my husband. The balcony afforded us gorgeous views, all of the time, and I enjoyed sitting out there every day and drinking my coffee. The cabin was clean and comfortable.
Our children were in an interior room across the hall and their room was also clean and well maintained.
Port Reviews
Port Canaveral (Orlando)
We stayed in Port Canaveral the night before our cruise and it was very nice. The day of the cruise we were concerned when we pulled up and saw the extremely long line waiting. Much to our surprise we got through the line in about 15 minutes. Everyone at the port was friendly and very efficient in getting guests through security and boarding.
Amber Cove (Puerto Plata)
Amber Cover was very nice, almost resort like. We were scheduled for a snorkeling excursion but unfortunately do to weather issues it was cancelled. We were able to spend a couple of hours at Amber Cove before having to be back on the ship and it was nice. Only complaint is that there is not a separate price for someone who wants to zip line just once. My children both wanted to zip line and I had to pay the all day rate ($20 apiece) for them to zip line two times. I think that they need to have both an unlimited rate and a one time rate. Other than that it was very nice.
San Juan
We choose to walk around and explore on our own in San Juan. It was very beautiful and historical. It was easy to walk around on your own and not worry about not being able to get back to the ship. This is the only port we ate lunch at and we enjoyed it very much.