Carnival Magic Review

25th anniversary cruise

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Magic
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madthumper
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: May 2016
Cabin: Cove Balcony

We did this cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary. We picked this cruise because 2 of our kids, not actually but we adopted them anyway, were working on this ship. We are not fans of the Western Caribbean and haven't been there in several years but since our friends were on this ship the itinerary was not important. Embarkation went smoothly as usual but that may be because we are platinum level and Port Canaveral has a great system for that.. We went from check in to walking right on to the ship at around 1030 A.M. We tried our first cove balcony on this trip, cabin 2273. The cabin was amazing and if you like to see and hear the ship going through the ocean then this is the cabin for you. The life boats overhead provides shade on the balcony. We did your time dining and only had to wait one night for a table for about 15 minutes. Food was very good but as a fan of ice cream, on 6 of the nights the ice cream had a freezer burn taste to it. On our anniversary we ate at the steak house. A truly great experience, if you have never tried it believe me it is well worth the extra cost. It also has a nice and quiet bar to enjoy a relaxing drink at. You have to try Guy's pig and anchor lunch on deck 5. The best lunch we had, well worth the wait which was about 20 minutes. As I said our "kids" work at the Alchemy Bar and that's where we spent much of our evenings. The only bad thing I can say about the Alchemy bar is the location. It is next to the live music stage and if you want to carry on a conversation be ready to yell because you cannot hear the person next to you when the band is playing. The band is very good but should not be next to the Alchemy bar. For the ports our kids treated us to lunch in a Croatian style restaurant somewhere downtown but cannot remember the name or the location. Belize, we did the Starfish island excursion through Carnival. Great excursion. Picks you up on the ship and the island is like a private island except without the crowds. I think there were about 50 of us that had the island to ourselves. Mahogany Bay, did the flying chairs over to the beach and spent the day at the beach. Without the chairs this would have just been another beach day but the chairs made it different. Costa Maya, nice port, you can sit by the ocean but you cannot swim there. The coast line is too rocky but it does have a pool similar to the one at Grand Turk and there are plenty of chairs and loungers for everybody. The bad side is the vendors, way too aggressive, I was walking slightly ahead of my wife trying to find something to drink. I turned around and she was gone and when I found her she told me one of the vendors actually grabbed her arm and guided her into his shack to show her some ear rings. Overall a great cruise and this was our first time on the Magic and besides the Alchemy bar's location the Magic is a great ship. Disembarkation did not go as smoothly since we were never told when to leave even though we were in the Platinum members area as instructed.

Cabin Review

Cove Balcony

Cabin 7C

Great for listening to the ocean. Right above the water line and great for watching the ship cut through the waves.

Port Reviews

Port Canaveral (Orlando)

We always park off site across from the Raddison hotel and never have a problem with this company.

Cozumel

Went to one restaurant with friends which was very nice.

Roatan

The flying chairs over to the beach area gave this otherwise a normal beach day a nice twist.

Costa Maya

The only reason I gave this a very good is for the area itself. Right on the water, nice lounge chairs and umbrellas along the water or by the pool. The vendors in this area are way too aggressive.

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