Great cruise with awesome staff. It would’ve been much better if it sailed out of any other port.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
This is what really put a sore spot on the trip. Norfolk cannot handle a ship this size. I’d actually be surprised if they could handle a Fantasy class ship based on their performance. Boarding took 3.5 hours (12:00-3:30). Boarding times were useless. Debarkation took 4 hours (8:15-12:30). I’ve boarded 11 cruises and I’ve never spent more than 1 hour car to ship except for this cruise and one where the ship arrived 12 hours late due to a medical event. Ports I’ve cruised out of include Charleston, Canaveral, Lauderdale, Norfolk, & Seattle. This is the absolute worst one.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Most of the food was amazing as usual, but the cakes on the ship were extremely dry. I kept hoping it was just a fluke but every day the cakes were like Brillo pads.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
They have removed quite a few events that they had pre-covid and now it’s mostly sales events. The pools were constantly sardine cans, but the fitness center was generally wide open.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The comedians on this ship were kinda sad. I’ve been a cruises where maybe one just wasn’t as funny but both were quite dry and I’m pretty sure most passengers could’ve done better. The music productions were also quite tragic. I didn’t watch the flick production per previous reviews but I did see the rock one. As a classic rock enthusiast I was disappointed. The singers, for the most part, couldn’t sing. One was quite high on himself, relative to the others. I also was surprised how loud they thought the music needed to be. I’ve been to rock concerts, and I work at an airport and I rarely have my ears ring quite as bad as they did after this production.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The staff on this cruise did a phenomenal job. They always knew my name and went out of there way to make each day as good as it could be.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
I really enjoy the Dream class design, primarily because of the wrap around promenade deck. They currently have the front part of this deck marked off for a crew area, which is fine, but it kinda defeats the purpose of a wrap around deck. There is also very few shaded outdoor spots relative to Conquest, Destiny (Sunshine), and Spirit class ships.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Great cabin, but without a cover over the balcony you can only enjoy it during the part of the day when the sun is blocked by the ship.
Ship tip
Be prepared to wait in long lines, and get to the port ASAP regardless of your boarding time (they don’t care). Also, with restaurants, for sit down you’ll want to hit the reserve button as soon as it opens, for buffets you’ll want to hit them about an hour after they open.
Just like embarkation the debarkation was plagued with long slow moving lines. They disembarked based on muster station (if you are smart enough to know what that is) and my station was unfortunately E4, which is the last one. We weren’t cleared off until 10:00, which just got us into the next set of waits like boarding.
Thanks for the honest but still upbeat review. I love the Magic and it seems you enjoyed it too. Our comedian made fun of the dry cakes earlier this year so that’s an ongoing issue. Everything else went well for us. Good thing I didn’t go through VA.
Thank you for taking the time to share your cruise with us. Glad that other than embarcation and debarcation you had a good time. Apparently the port does make a lot of difference. I sailed the Magic out of Miami and from arrival in the terminal to sitting on the Lido was just over 20 minutes. The Magic is my favorite ship.
As far as the shadeless balcony you need another PVP. Mine talked me out of moving to the spa deck on the Conquest for that reason. I'm good at choosing cabins but I always run it through Matthew first.
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