7 out of 10

[sushi2]

I'm giving our first-ever cruise a 7 out of 10. It was a 4-night Bahamian cruise on the Magic.

Here are my overall thoughts

The ship:
-Gorgeous ship. Sparkly and clean and new. You couldn't ask for much more.
-Our stateroom (a ocean view on deck 2) was super clean, spacious enough, lots of storage. We liked the location. No complaints whatsoever.

The service:
-Everyone was smiling and friendly, but not overbearingly so. It all seemed very genuine, and I really appreciated that.
-I loved scanning all the name tags to see where everyone was from. I had some nice conversations with a number of the CM's about their countries of origin. This was one of my favorite aspects of the trip.
-Our stateroom host was fantastic. He was there when we needed him, and not there when we didn't. He was magical
-Our dining team was ok. They were pleasant enough, but the service seemed very frantic. There were spilled drinks, spilled food, some mix-ups, etc. Nothing major, but just not 100% polished. I also felt like we were given a salespitch more than once to give excellent feedback on our comment forms. It wasn't blatant, but it was there. Not a big fan of that.

Entertainment:
-The musical shows were great. Top-notch cast. Shows neither too short nor too long. We made it to 2 of the 3 shows and enjoyed them both. The theatre was large and comfortable and had cup holders
-The movie theatre was so-so. The rows were spaced too close together and both hubby and I had to sit sideways because our knees were hitting the seats in front of us.
Also, we found it super annoying that some kids were singing along to the movie. (Especially considering that there were TWO scheduled sing-along movie showings of that same movie later in the cruise.) (Does this always happen? It was really irritating, since a) we hadn't seen the movie before and b) not every child sings in tune )
-We enjoyed having movies streaming on our tv in the stateroom. This was great for some down-time for our kids.

Food
-Hit and miss.
-Overall, we really enjoyed Cabanas buffet breakfasts and lunches. Great fresh veggies, good fish and shrimp, delicious musli, fresh fruit, etc. No complaints there.
-Desserts were mediocre to poor.
-Some items were terrible (potato-leak soup, some awful green salad, the blood-red steak that we ordered well-done for our kids, the luke-warm tea)
-A few items were very good (the chicken breast at AP, the lobster/shrimp skewers at Cariocas, the lunch BBQ at castaway cay, the grilled shrimp at Cabanas lunch)
-Most items were simply under-seasoned and lack-lustre. This was disappointing, as the food sounded great, the ingredients were good, but the results just didn't quite deliver.
-We did appreciate the room service (especially since we had a late dinner seating.)

Castaway Cay
-WONDERFUL. This was definitely a highlight. We had a fabulous time.
-A couple minor annoyances: towels should be available on the island, not just getting off the ship. There were no drink cup lids available on the island -- lids would certainly be helpful for carrying drinks around and keeping sand out of the drinks.

Kids Club
-Initially neither of our kids (ages 5 and 6) really wanted to stay at the club. We convinced them to give it a try.
-Our 5 year old never fell in love with it. He went a couple of times (at our request), but given the choice he didn't want to be there.
-Our 6 year old did ultimately find some game that he absolutely fell in love with and after that did not want to leave the club.
-The Youth Counsellors were wonderful.

Other things:
-No-one got seasick! Yay!!!!
-We had FABULOUS weather. Yay!!!
-Shutters takes some terrible terrible photos. ha ha ha ha ha! I laugh just thinking about how bad some of them were. (We did end up buying one photo, the only one that wasn't awful )

So that's about it in a nutshell. It was a good trip, but it wasn't phenomenal. It was good enough so that we would consider doing another cruise if the price/schedule/itinerary were right, but it wasn't so great that this trip trumps any of our other vacations.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I'm giving our first-ever cruise a 7 out of 10. It was a 4-night Bahamian cruise on the Magic.

Here are my overall thoughts

The ship:
-Gorgeous ship. Sparkly and clean and new. You couldn't ask for much more.
-Our stateroom (a ocean view on deck 2) was super clean, spacious enough, lots of storage. We liked the location. No complaints whatsoever.

The service:
-Everyone was smiling and friendly, but not overbearingly so. It all seemed very genuine, and I really appreciated that.
-I loved scanning all the name tags to see where everyone was from. I had some nice conversations with a number of the CM's about their countries of origin. This was one of my favorite aspects of the trip.
-Our stateroom host was fantastic. He was there when we needed him, and not there when we didn't. He was magical
-Our dining team was ok. They were pleasant enough, but the service seemed very frantic. There were spilled drinks, spilled food, some mix-ups, etc. Nothing major, but just not 100% polished. I also felt like we were given a salespitch more than once to give excellent feedback on our comment forms. It wasn't blatant, but it was there. Not a big fan of that.

Entertainment:
-The musical shows were great. Top-notch cast. Shows neither too short nor too long. We made it to 2 of the 3 shows and enjoyed them both. The theatre was large and comfortable and had cup holders
-The movie theatre was so-so. The rows were spaced too close together and both hubby and I had to sit sideways because our knees were hitting the seats in front of us.
Also, we found it super annoying that some kids were singing along to the movie. (Especially considering that there were TWO scheduled sing-along movie showings of that same movie later in the cruise.) (Does this always happen? It was really irritating, since a) we hadn't seen the movie before and b) not every child sings in tune )
-We enjoyed having movies streaming on our tv in the stateroom. This was great for some down-time for our kids.

Food
-Hit and miss.
-Overall, we really enjoyed Cabanas buffet breakfasts and lunches. Great fresh veggies, good fish and shrimp, delicious musli, fresh fruit, etc. No complaints there.
-Desserts were mediocre to poor.
-Some items were terrible (potato-leak soup, some awful green salad, the blood-red steak that we ordered well-done for our kids, the luke-warm tea)
-A few items were very good (the chicken breast at AP, the lobster/shrimp skewers at Cariocas, the lunch BBQ at castaway cay, the grilled shrimp at Cabanas lunch)
-Most items were simply under-seasoned and lack-lustre. This was disappointing, as the food sounded great, the ingredients were good, but the results just didn't quite deliver.
-We did appreciate the room service (especially since we had a late dinner seating.)

So that's about it in a nutshell. It was a good trip, but it wasn't phenomenal. It was good enough so that we would consider doing another cruise if the price/schedule/itinerary were right, but it wasn't so great that this trip trumps any of our other vacations.

Great review. I've complained (on our comment card) about the lack of leg room in the movie theatre. I assume the sing-a-long was for Frozen? That's a relatively new thing so it hasn't happened to us.

We've given up getting our pics taken onboard -- too much danger of breaking the cameras.

I also agree about the mediocre desserts. DCL chefs could learn a lot from the chefs at the French pastry shop in EPCOT. DCL's food in general is very subjective, but I really think there's a lot of room for improvement.

 

[DahliaRW]

I would guess the "frantic" feeling in the MDRs was probably because it was a 4-night cruise. I know on our 7 night the first night felt that way. The 2nd night was better, but by the 3rd night everyone seemed to have hit their groove - the exception was pirate night but I think that's because they were trying to get everyone through so they could get to the deck party. On a 4 night they get to know you and boom, cruise done (plus pirate night is in there)!

As for Frozen, it doesn't matter if I take dd to a sing a long or not, she will sing. And she won't stop. She's 4. It's how it works. I know it's annoying, but at least you weren't paying for the movie on top of the cruise.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Thanks for doing a great review!
Serving Team: We also felt our serving team was "lackluster" at first. We were on a 5 night. By the end, however, we had really bonded to them and enjoyed them a lot. They weren't "theatrical" like some other teams. But they got to know us and made an effort. On our first cruise we had a server who did the "excellent" pitch. That really annoyed me. Thankfully on my second cruise they didn't even mention it. So I gave them lots of "excellents"!
Drinks on CC: I think that they don't give covers for the cups for ecological reasons, like it would be dangerous for the birds/wildlife. Does anyone else know if that's true? Good reason to bring Tervis-type cups with us.

 

[DahliaRW]

Drinks on CC: I think that they don't give covers for the cups for ecological reasons, like it would be dangerous for the birds/wildlife. Does anyone else know if that's true? Good reason to bring Tervis-type cups with us.

I know this is the reasoning they give for not having them at our local zoo. So I think it makes sense that that might be the reason at CC too.

 

[cris0809]

Yes for ecological reasons. Same reason they don't use lids or plastic straws at Animal Kingdom. Also the concern of them going into the ocean. The wind could sweep them away pretty easily out of your hand or off the beach. Cleanup might be another reason.

 

[sushi2]

Yes for ecological reasons. Same reason they don't use lids or plastic straws at Animal Kingdom. Also the concern of them going into the ocean. The wind could sweep them away pretty easily out of your hand or off the beach. Cleanup might be another reason.

Makes sense, BUT they had straws. Just not lids. So that seemed to not make sense. I would think straws would be more of an issue than lids? I'm guessing of course.

Also, in terms of environment and impact..... we probably used 3 or 4 times as many cups as we would have had we had lids, because we kept getting sand in our drinks.

(Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing. If wildlife safety was indeed the reason, then I'm fine with that. They should probably post up some signs explaining that that's the case to keep people like me from being annoyed )

 

[cris0809]

I typically have a Tervis with me so it's not something I notice. Maybe they were just out of lids? But I can swear that I've been given those "reasons" I mentioned by a crew member a time or two.

I'll have to pay better attention the next few times we're at CC. I do remember getting black straws at the bar in my cocktails.

 

[tessa67]

I would guess the "frantic" feeling in the MDRs was probably because it was a 4-night cruise. I know on our 7 night the first night felt that way. The 2nd night was better, but by the 3rd night everyone seemed to have hit their groove - the exception was pirate night but I think that's because they were trying to get everyone through so they could get to the deck party. On a 4 night they get to know you and boom, cruise done (plus pirate night is in there)!

As for Frozen, it doesn't matter if I take dd to a sing a long or not, she will sing. And she won't stop. She's 4. It's how it works. I know it's annoying, but at least you weren't paying for the movie on top of the cruise.

Oh wow. Just wow.

 

[Missypyxi]

Oh wow. Just wow.

Took my DS to see Frozen 4 times. One was the sing along. He sang. He sang the 2nd and 3rd time, too at the non-sing alongs. I tried to get seats away from others because I knew he would. The songs are just so sing-alongable.