Carnival Magic 8 Day Eastern Caribbean Ports of Call: St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, Grand Turk

February 2022

Some of the ports on our cruise itinerary had paused cruise ship visitors before our cruise, so we were not 100% sure if any of our port stops would be changed. Locations were starting to reopen right when we left on our cruise, and Carnival Magic ended up stopping at all the original ports.

St. Maarten from Carnival Magic spa cabin 12038

St. Maarten 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

We love this island! The people are great, and the beach within walking distance is beautiful. You can take a water taxi ride to the beach area for $7 roundtrip, if you prefer. We wanted to walk through the shops first, so we did that, and then continued out of the cruise terminal, then down the sidewalk to the beach, which is an easy walk of about 1 mile, one-way. 

Beach in St. Maarten in front of Kalua Bar & Restaurant

We rented our chairs from a friendly guy with chairs in front of Kalua Beach Bar & Restaurant. We paid $15 for 2 chairs, and an umbrella right by the water. You could also rent chairs that came with rum punch (I do not know if it was unlimited, as we did not purchase that). The beach and water in this area is beautiful! When you walk farther down the beach, toward the shopping pier and downtown shops, the sand becomes more like the beach near the cruise port in Grand Turk with crushed shells. It is still a nice beach; the sand is just not as soft as it was where we were seated. You can enlarge any photo in this post by clicking on it.

Above: some of the crushed shells on the beach near the west end
Below: looking east from in front of our seat in front of Kalua

With the chairs we rented, we were also allowed to use the bathroom in the bar, and the wifi code. The wifi signal was not strong enough to use by the water. There are benches along the sidewalk by the bar, so we used it there before we left for the day. A bucket of 5 beers with ice from Kalua cost $12, and the guys renting chairs were eager to please. 

View while on our walk back to the cruise port in St. Maarten

We stopped at Amsterdam Cheese & Liquor Store on our way back to the ship for complimentary tastings. This store is just outside the cruise terminal, so it is not far to carry purchases back. There is a public restroom outside at this location. Everyone on this island is extremely friendly, and the prices are fair. Payment was not expected to use any of the restrooms. When we politely declined sales by people on the beach and when leaving the cruise terminal, we were not resolicited.

Two of the ships docked in St. Kitts February 2022

Carnival Magic Cruise: 8-day Exotic Eastern Caribbean from Port Canaveral

February 2022

Carnival Magic in Grand Turk February 18, 2022.

We went on a 7-day western Caribbean cruise on Carnival Magic from this cruise port in 2018. You can find additional info about the Magic in that post, and more photos in the 2018 Carnival Magic Facebook album. 

Booking and pre-cruise

This is the first cruise we have been on that we booked after the pandemic started. We had two cruises that cancelled, and Carnival was giving on board credits for rebooking a cancelled cruise. I was not initially interested in booking a replacement cruise, as we still had two B2B cruises in November and December 2021 that did not cancel. My husband talked me into it because he could not give up the $600 on board credit! We did let the first cancellation, of the four cruises we had booked prior to COVID-19, go by the wayside when that one cancelled. I was also not excited about this cruise because it was replacing our trip on the newly upgraded Radiance (which we did not get to go on), and we had already been on the Magic a few years ago. The itinerary was a plus though, as it was pretty much the same as the one on the cancelled Radiance cruise.

Many folks in the Facebook group for this sailing said they received wonderful upgrade offers for minimal cost, although we did not receive any offers. Online check-in for diamond and platinum guests opened up 16 days before the cruise, and boarding zones went quickly. We checked in before 8:00 AM, and received boarding zone A03.

View of Port Canaveral from Carnival Magic spa cabin 12038.

Arrival and check-in at Port Canaveral

Our arrival appointment was for 10:00 - 10:30 AM. We arrived about five minutes after 10:00, and the terminal area was quite full. It only took us a few minutes to complete check-in, and then we were directed to the general waiting area. It appeared that there was a VIP waiting area in this terminal that became full right before we completed check-in. An agent walked behind the person completing our last check-in step right before we finished, and told everyone, "No more diamond and platinum." When the boarding process started, guests were called in the following order: guests with suites, diamond guests, and then zone A01. We did not see anyone move toward the boarding area until zone A01 was called. The agent had told us all to board when zone A01 was called (our son had boarding zone A01). We were on board around 11:00 AM. 

Departing Port Canaveral; view from Carnival Magic spa cabin 12038.

Spa balcony cabin 12038

Our son's room steward on deck 6 was just finishing his cabin after we boarded, although our cabin was not ready until after 12:30 PM. 

Carnival Magic spa cabin 12038.

This is a typical spa balcony cabin; however, there are a couple of things worth noting. Deck 12 is the first floor under serenity deck, and there is no roof over the balconies on this floor. I suppose this is nice if you want lots of sun, and the view is better without the roof. However, without a roof, there is no shade, and you cannot sit outside when it is raining. If the balcony door is open when it rains, the floor and foot of the bed will get wet. It rained at least three different times (for only a short period) during our cruise. 

This cabin is not in a quiet area like we expected for a spa floor. We could hear noise from lido deck when on the balcony, or if the balcony door was open, and the overall noise in this room seemed much noisier than we usually experience. We could hear our neighbor's phone ring, commotion inside their rooms, and one day they blared their music on the outside balcony when apparently everyone was inside the cabin (we could not hear any voices). The music in the video above is much quieter than the volume had been right before I started recording.

Dining room breakfast: Corned Beef Hash above,
Masala Dosa below.

Food and beverages

Again, check out my previous blog posts for more details about dining options. Following are a few things that were new on the Magic since 2018, or that I did not write about before.

Breakfast

• Dining room breakfast is still my favorite meal! Corned Beef Hash and Egg was different, and I tried a new item; Masala Dosa. Although Masala Dosa was flavorful, mine did not look anything like the photo posted on John Heald's page. The photo John posted looks more appetizing than what I received (my photo above).

• Sea Day Brunch was extremely packed every morning, and the check-in app was not working correctly two of the days. The salad tower continues to come out differently every time, and the bagels and tomato portion are not included unless you request it. Pancetta Scrambled had good flavor, except I could only eat a small portion of it because it was extremely salty.

Pancetta Scrambled at Sea Day Brunch on Carnival Magic.

One negative about the breakfast foods on this ship, is that the eggs were always undercooked unless they were scrambled. Although I do not like overcooked eggs, I do not like the whites runny either. The Broken Egg Sandwich ran out while eating, as the inside was not cooked. Egg whites were runny in all of the following dishes: Breakfast Board (supposed to be soft boiled), eggs-over-easy, Breakfast Bowl, and Eggs Benedict (at breakfast and brunch).

Lunch

• Guys Pig and Anchor was only open on sea days, and on the day we boarded. The least busy time was right after we boarded, and when we went through a patch of rain one afternoon.
• Cucina del Capitano was open almost every day at noon (no charge for lunch).
• Guys' Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, Carnival Deli, Seafood Shack (extra charge), Pizzeria, and Lido buffet were open every day.
• Sushi (extra charge) and Light Lunch in Ocean Plaza were not open every day. You can check location hours for each day in the app, if you want to plan your meals. I tried to visit Ocean Plaza for lunch the day we were in St. Kitts, and neither location was open.  
• Tandoor, which I loved in 2018, is no longer on this ship.

Complimentary house wine in steakhouse first evening.

Carnival Magic Cruise with John Heald - For Fun's Sake #1

February 2018, Carnival Magic from Port Canaveral

View from our dinner table aboard Carnival Magic FFS cruise

What is FFS, and how do you join?

This was our first time joining the FFS group. Although this was our 15th Carnival cruise, I had only learned about FFS cruises a few years ago. At that time, the cruises were called Blogger's Cruises, and I thought it was a group of bloggers that cruised together with special blog events, or something. Since I maintain a few blogs, I inquired about joining one of the cruises to see if it was something I could become a part of. The reply I received then was vague, and it was not until this year, when the name was changed to FFS, that I fully understood what Blogger's/FFS cruises are. 

FFS stands for "For Fun's Sake." The name of the group has been officially changed to, Cruise with John - For Fun's Sake. Apparently a lot of people, like me, did not understand that the Blogger's Cruises were for anyone interested! The official word I received, says, "John started these sailings with guests that followed him on his blog and so he opted to originally call them blogger's cruises; even though no one was actually a blogger other than himself. Now most everyone follows him on his Facebook page."

When a [Blogger's] FFS cruise is set, the 500 guest spots are filled on a "first come, first serve" basis after the sign-up date starts. We had our Magic cruise booked far in advance, and I did not learn that it had become the official John Heald/FFS cruise until after the 500 spots had already been filled. I sent an email to John/Mischelle with our names asking to be waitlisted, and hoped for the best. About three months later, less than 10 weeks prior to our cruise, I received an email saying we were in! This was very exciting for us because we had met John back in 2003 when he had been cruise director on the Triumph. Also, our adult son enjoys all the Carnival events and activities more than pool or sun lounging, so I knew being part of this group would mean more for him to enjoy. I have provided a link to the FFS 2019 cruise below.

FFS events page 1

FFS activities onboard

We received a weekly schedule of events in our cabin upon arrival. We were able to attend several events, although not as many as we would have liked, because of other activities or excursion plans that we had.

Carnival Magic Cruise ~ 7-day Western Caribbean [Cozumel Plus] from Port Canaveral

February 2018

Sunrise from Carnival Magic cabin 7455

This is a long post, which covers our experience on the Carnival Magic. You can find additional photos in the Carnival Magic album on my Facebook travel page. I will have separate posts for the ports of call, and information about John Heald's For Fun Sake (FFS, formerly called bloggers cruise) activities. Being on this cruise to join the FFS group was an exciting coincidence for us, as we had this cruise booked long before it became designated as a FFS cruise.

Pre-cruise

We checked in online and printed our boarding passes, as usual. This was the first time we experienced "setting an appointment" for our arrival time. We have Platinum status, so I am not sure if we actually needed to schedule our arrival; I chose the first time slot available when I checked us in. 

We purchased the Cheers package, and one Carnival shore excursion beforehand. A better shore excursion price was offered through a different company, so after booking the excursion through Carnival, we filled out their "Best Price Guarantee" form. You can find details for their price guarantee in one of my previous blog posts. There was not much price difference; we received an onboard credit of $5.49 per person. The Cheers package cost including the 15% gratuity was $57.44 per day. Carnival raised the daily price to $59.74 (with the 15% gratuity) at the end of 2017, and it is 10% higher, if you purchase it onboard.  

Arrival and check-in ~ Port Canaveral

Our appointment time was scheduled for 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM, and we arrived around 11:15 AM. Everything was well marked for Priority Boarding, and we were on board in less than 20 minutes. Priority guests had already boarded when we arrived, so we were ushered into the priority lounge, where we had no wait to check-in, and then we boarded the ship. Our son was not able to board with us this time, even though we had our reservations linked together, so were not able to get our boarding photo taken together.

View from Carnival Magic cabin 7455 at Port Canaveral

Balcony Cabin 7455, category 8B

I did not take as many photos of our cabin as I usually do. We had this same cabin on the Carnival Breeze, and the layout is exactly the same. The furnishings in the Breeze cabin were a bit more deluxe than this one. For example, the in-room chair on Carnival Magic was a straight-backed chair with cushioned back and seat only, rather than the soft cozy seat and footstool on the Breeze. You can see the room layout and balcony photos for the Breeze cabin in that blog post.

Carnival Magic cabin 7455; balcony door open, bathroom door on right

Carnival Breeze ~ 8-day Exotic Southern Caribbean, February 2013

Carnival Breeze in Aruba

Check-in

Our check-in at the Port of Miami was the smoothest we have experienced since becoming Platinum guests. We arrived around 11:30 a.m., and were quickly routed through the Priority lines. We got held up briefly at the check-in counter because our son was with us, and he is not a Platinum guest. Our PVP had told us that if we tied his account to ours with the same credit card, he would be able to board with us. We did this online a couple of weeks before the cruise; however, when we got to the check-in counter, his sail and sign card was not ready with ours. The employee helping us had to ask another employee for assistance, and then they made his card right then.

The VIP lounge area was fairly full; we found the last two seats together, and our son stood. Coffee was available on a table in the room, although there were no restrooms in the lounge. We had passed the restrooms outside the lounge and around the corner before we entered. When I went out to use the restroom a few minutes later, there was a wait for the single room. All of the priority guests were already boarding and gone from the VIP lounge when I returned (except for my family members who were waiting for me!). If I had realized we were going to board that soon, I would not have left the lounge.