Great time with family - great entertainment, some good excursions
Carnival Magic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 19
8 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 02, 2023
Ship: Carnival Magic
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 1356
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 8 months ago
Review summary
The cruise was fun, I had a great time with my family. The crew on the ship goes out of their way to please and entertain you. The excursions could use some improvement with the exception of Waterfalls Of Damajagua - Adrenaline Adventure, that was outstanding. The cruse ship provides all of the makings for a fantastic time, it's up to you and who you go with to take advantage of everything there is to do.Embarkation
Super fast, friendly embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
There is way too much food. I gained 10 pounds and I walked over 10,000 steps a day. The food is delicious and plentiful. Be careful !
Onboard Activities
There is plenty to do on the ship. Lots of shows, comedians, different types of music, there are casinos, a ropes course, several pools, a fitness center, a really nice spa, great massages. They have overlapping activities making it necessary to choose between events. They also have separate areas/activities for people of different ages (Ocean camp for kids), play/game room for kids, etc. The ship design and activities are coordinated well, despite the ship being fully booked, because the diversity of activities and layout of the ship, it did not seem too crowded.
Entertainment
Great entertainment. The singers/dancers were amazing. The comedians were funny. They had different rated shows depending on the time.
Service and Staff
We were a group of 11 that had a sit down dinner every night, our servers Yholla, Suparthono, and Putu, were amazing, as was Ni.Wayan the omelette master. Johnny, our room steward addressed the issues we had with our room immediately, made sure our rooms were tidy, and checked on us everytime my mom and I were not together.
Ship Quality
The ship was very clean. The staff cleans the boat around the clock. I regularly saw the crew cleaning the elevator buttons, the handrails, the bathrooms, etc. The maintenance team replaced a section of the floor at one point.
They have separate areas/activities for people of different ages (Ocean camp for kids), play/game room for kids, etc. The ship design and activities are coordinated well, despite the ship being fully booked, because the diversity of activities and layout of the ship, it did not seem too crowded.
The only downside to the design of the ship is the smoking casino. There is no way other than going to another floor to avoid passing through it. Even going outside, you have to walk through the outdoor smoking section. Very poor design.
Cabin / Stateroom
The bathroom had issues when we first arrived - extremely slow draining sink and the light would not stay on but Johnny our room attendant addressed them immediately.
Ports of call
We booked an excursion on a Catamaran with Carnival. The walk along the pier to the catamaran was very far in the hot sun. The age range our our group was late 50's to early 80's. It was NOT a pleasant experience.
The activity was fun and the crew was great however the catamaran was EXTREMELY crowded - there were over 70 people. Other catamarans came to the same area with about 2 dozen people. I won't choose the recommended excursions in the future.
Thumbs Up
0
We paid to do the tube ride, zip line and Flying Dutchman excursion. It was a disappointment. They made us do the tubes first, the tube got stuck three times on the way down, I had to kick myself along to get it to continue. Then we went to the zip line where they told me I could not take my camera. In all of the literature that I read, it boasted about 360 degrees views, the best view, etc. etc, no where did it say I could not bring a camera. Then they wanted me to leave my camera in an unlocked locker. AND we had to wait for the 50 person group before us to return before they could take the next batch of people waiting. They split a family so they ended up having to wait 45 minutes to an hour before moving on to the flying Dutchman. The workers were nice but they are either understaffed and/or extremely unorganized. The zip line was fun but only 4 short runs.
The Flying Dutchman was a blast but once again, there was a wait. They have you wait in a bar area. There are tips buckets everywhere.
They won't let you take photos or videos because they want to sell them to you for $15 per photo, if there camera worked. Out of the 3 rides, there was only 1 photo of me and it's blurry.
After we finished the rides, we went to the shop to see our photos and were rushed to the bus. They were in such a hurry, they left 2 guests and we had to return to pick them up.
Despite the Flying Dutchman being a blast, I would never waste my time or money on this excursion again. This excursion was 4+ hour excursion, less than an hour were spent on the rides, the rest was waiting in line.
We didn't do an excursion in Puerto Rico, they did not have good excursions to choose from. Puerto Rico has a lot of great things to do but almost all of the excursions focused on walking tours and/or shopping in San Juan. We walked around on our own.
Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic
This was the best port - there were tons of excursions to choose from. We did the Waterfalls Of Damajagua - Adrenaline Adventure excursion and had a blast, , everyone was so friendly and fun. There is a bit of strenuous walking uphill, downhill, up/down uneven steps but it was worth it.
Disembarkation
Very fast