First Time on a Carnival Cruise ... Never again!

Item: Carnival Magic
Rating: 3.1
Author: gdemarco7

Carnival Magic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

gdemarco7

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 77

Overall rating:

3.1 out of 5

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 10, 2018

Ship: Carnival Magic

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10258

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Very unlikely that we will do Carnival again. This is more of a budget cruiseline, as the quality of the food, entertainment and look of the ship was below average.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Embarkation was pretty straight forward although we were faced with a very long line up and waited about 45 min. before getting on.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

After 7 cruises, this was our first Carnival cruise and as most people advised me, it was definitely very basic and food was not very good. Buffet had a very limited variety of food and everything accept pizza and sandwiches were shut down at 3:00 leaving you with very limited choices. The main dining room dinners were good and absolutely loved our waiter!

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

Where was the entertainment? Previous ships we got to notch entertainment and broadway type shows. I can't think of any of the entertainment that stood out. They definitely need to work on that. Cruise Director Dr. E. was fantastic I must say and I looked forward to his cheery good morning!

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Cabin was good and especially loved the bedding, very comfortable.

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

4 out of 5

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic

1 out of 5

We didn't get off due to the high winds :-(

Thumbs Up 2

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

3 out of 5

Have done St. Thomas many times, was sad to see all the devastation from the hurricane.

Thumbs Up 3

San Juan, Puerto Rico

4 out of 5

We loved Puerto Rico and took a tour of the city. It has a lot of history and culture and looked very european! Would love to go back!

Thumbs Up 8

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5

Beautiful!! Spent the day in the ocean with the ship in our background. We had fish swimming all around us. We had a great day!

Thumbs Up 18

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

We took our own luggage and couldn't believe how quick we made it off the ship. Definitely the best disembarkation thus far.

6 Comments

Pancake1974 6 years ago

Carnival has the best food, RC has the worst.

Thumbs Up 0

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eorzo53 6 years ago

Plenty of people love this ship, i cannot wait to board it in 10 days. Carnival never disappointed me so far and i know how to use my resource and enjoy every minute of my vacation. Remember you dictate if you will enjoy your time or pick on every little thing. I rather take 2 trips a year than pay double.

Thumbs Up 5

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RN47441 6 years ago

I have been on several carnival ships and there is always several different types of food available all the time. We sail on the Magic in 24 days and I can't wait. Carnival never disappoints!!!

Thumbs Up 3

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nursejennysue 6 years ago

I loved the Magic!

Thumbs Up 2

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Diamondmz 6 years ago

I also went on the Magic and had a totally different experience than you did. You didn't take advantage of any of the other experiences on that magnificent ship. FUN TIMES probably would have assisted you a little better. I hope you would give Carnival another shot and not base this cruise on future ones! Good luck! 😊

Thumbs Up 1

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MrsRJ811 6 years ago

I've sailed the Magic twice and booked again next year. This is a great ship. We had a blast hence the reason we decided to book again. Sorry your expectations weren't met. The eateries do not shut down at 3pm. There's a lot more than the buffet, pizza and the deli.

Thumbs Up 3

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Other reviews of this sailing

Absolutely loved Magic. Had a cove balcony, although the ceiling panels were trashed by the previous occupants from jumping up and down on the beds and hadn’t been replaced. Great all round.

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