This was a great cruise. The ship is in good shape, food was decent (not great), the entertainment was good, the ports were interesting and beautiful and we had lots of time to relax. I think we might need to do this one again!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Our embarkation experience in Miami was great. We showed up at our designated time. The lines were fairly short and moved well. It was much quicker than our previous embarkations in Galveston.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
My husband & I both felt that the buffet and main dining room food had gone down in quality compared to our previous Carnival cruises. Service was good. The Blue Iguana cafe was still really good.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We did do some of the trivial pursuit type game things during the day - they were ok. The hosts determine how fun it is - we had one good one and one not so good one. We did use the hot tubs on deck 5 - they were nice!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We really enjoyed the PG comedy club shows, the song/dance shows, Love & Marriage show and the occasional poolside events. We enjoyed most of the smaller musical groups we heard. We also did the dive-in movies a couple times. Love that they hand out blankets & popcorn for this. We felt like there was always something to do if we wanted to.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our service was very good in our room, in the buffet, in the dining room. Staff was always friendly and seemed very focused on making our experience on the ship a good one.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
I really love this ship layout. I love that there are at least a couple of decks you can walk the length of the ship on easily. I did notice a few signs of wear in the upholstery in the dining room, but for the most part, the ship is still looking good. I also noted that the long corridors in the buffet were never greasy/slippery like they have been on previous Carnival cruises we have taken.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
I really loved our room. It was on the Lido deck so it was simple to access the pool and buffet. It was close to the main big batch of elevators, so we could get down to the main lobby & our dining room easily. It was quiet - never heard any noise from our neighbors or the Lido deck late night parties. The room itself was nice, everything worked well. Bed, bedding and pillows were all very comfortable! The views from the cabin were excellent as well. We were on the shore side at every port.
Ship tip
Either get the earliest or latest debarkation time you can. We found that the people who had the early times actually waited and didn't go when their time was and clogged up the debarkation for the people who went at the correct middle times. Our debarkation was a hot mess.
We liked St Thomas. It was beautiful and clean - the people were very friendly. We wanted to go to Magen's Beach, so we caught a taxi at the pier and paid $8/ea to take the 20 minute ride to the beach. It cost $5 to get into the beach park. We chose to just lounge on the beach with our towels, but there were lounge chairs and other amenities for rent as well as a restaurant. The beach was nice but the water was colder than we expected (it is the Atlantic side of the island vs the port side on the Gulf of Mexico and also the day was partly cloudy). There were bathrooms as well. There was a designated area for taxi pickup for a ride back to the port and there were plenty of taxis waiting when we wanted to go back. If we go back, we would probably choose a different beach to visit on the Gulf of Mexico side.
We liked this port - it gave you some nice choices of beach or a city experience within close proximity. We ended walking out of the cruise terminal and catching a city tour bus (1 hr 15 min long) for $15/person. The driver drove us by some historic parts of San Juan, took us out to Condado (the ritzy portion of San Juan) and then up to the fort on the point. We had about 15 minutes here (would have liked a lot more time here) and then dropped us off at the Old Town portion of San Juan within easy walking distance of the ship. The streets are really cute - lots of eating out choices and shops. We got our best deals of the trip on souvenir t-shirts for the family here. There was also a Starbucks here which didn't hurt =)
We did a 2 hour snorkeling excursion through Grand Turk Diving Company here. I did like going through them versus the big Carnival ones because our group was small (4 of us) vs the 25-30 people on the bigger boats. The port also had a cruise pool resort similar to Amber Cove that was nice and free (clean bathrooms) - you could buy drinks & food. The beach here looked nice, but we were too tired out from snorkeling to hang out there - maybe next time. They also had shopping that looked similar to the stuff in Amber Cove. Didn't really get a good feel for what the island was really about because everything was concentrated around the beach.
Not great - we did checked luggage and got a tag 1/3 of the way into the checked luggage range. We went when our time was called and the lines were crazy - all the way up the stair wells to the next floor - people not able to get off the elevators. I think people took the early numbers and then didn't go when their numbers were called and ate breakfast instead. The terminal was quite congested as well (for luggage pickup & customs). There was a clearly marked line for GOES travelers, but they used it for regular cruisers. Quick tip - if you have GOES, you need to tell the actual customs people directing traffic and they will escort you to a shorter line. (we found out after we waited in the goes line for 25 minutes)
@buckeye, I think GOES is the system replaced by TTP (Trusted Traveler Program), operated by the US Customs and Border Patrol. You can apply for sort of a FTTF for shorter lines when returning to the US.
Do you have pictures of the ports/shore side from your balcony?? We are on the same side on our balcony during our upcoming cruise on the Magic, same itinerary.
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