Carnival is going Downhill...Racially Charged Cruise...Low Quality Cruise

Carnival Magic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 26

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Carnival Magic

5 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 20, 2016

Ship: Carnival Magic

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 1339

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

We family (Me, wife, and Four boys 14,12, 6,3) went on a 5 night Cruise on Carnival Magic over the Thanksgiving Holiday .  The scheduled ports were Amber Cove and Grand Turks.  Here is a summary of our experience:
Food:  Poor quality and over crowded.  Carnival was grossly understaffed.  They had one or two people at the Pizza and Burrito Station.  The Pizza consistently had a 30 plus minute line and the same is true for the Burritos.  The meat quality at the burrito station was terrible as we found bones in the chicken and grizzle in the steak.  The Dining room food was also sub-par.  The Thanksgiving turkey was artificial and layered with fat.  It felt like we were eating at a low budget buffet.
Activities:  The teen club was awful.  The racial tensions in there were crazy.  My kids got called "Crackers" and "Honkeys".  My oldest stood up to several of the classless people a few times but he shouldn't have had too.  That should have been handled by the supervision which was often missing.  The basketball court was also unsupervised and often dominated by older racist African Americans.  They often would play full court and tell the white kids or "crackers" that they did not have to share the court with them.  It was also reported that several of the 15-17 year olds were drinking and out of control
Entertainment:  We did not take advantage of most of the entertainment because of our smaller children.  I did witness the main pool entertainment and activities which had an urban theme.  There were "Booty Shaking" contests, rap music, etc.....I was seemed geared towards a certain crowd.
Room:  Our rooms were nice and very well kept.  They did a nice job in that area.  
Guest Services:  I have been on several cruises and NEVER had to use guest services so much.  Somehow my sign and sail was not linked to a credit card so I had to correct that.  Then we were overcharged so I had to go back and correct that.  Then my wife sign and sail got unlinked to the credit card so we had to go back and correct that.  Lastly we were overcharged again and now have to call to try and resolve the issue.  Each time there is a VERY LONG line to speak to someone at the guest services desk.  Complete waste of time and very unprofessional.  
Ports: Amber Cove - Meh....there is really nothing much there.  It is a new port with a nice pool and zip line.  You really do not get to experience the County at the port.  
Grand Turks - Cancelled because of Wind....they replaced grand turks with Nassau Bahamas
Nassau - Bummer for us.  We have been there 3 other times on different cruises.  Straw market, conk shells.  We did a snorkeling excursion here.   It wasn't the best snorkeling trip but my kids enjoyed it.  
Overall, it was a bad trip.  We will no longer be cruising with Carnival.  It seems to me that they are going a different direction.  They seem to be targeting the urban crowd and cutting back financially which is hurting the food quality and the staff needed to feed 4000 plus people efficiently.  

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Cabin was fine. The room Stewart was great.

Ship tip

Spend most of your time at the Red Frog Pub. It's the best spot on the Ship

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

3 out of 5

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic

1 out of 5

Grand Turk Island

1 out of 5
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