Just off the Magic

[Canadacrew]

Will you be posting your navigators?

 

[Tink113sMom]

So very sorry you missed Castaway Cay... we too missed it on our first cruise but until subsequent cruises did not know just what we missed. Try it again, you will not be disappointed!

 

[Ready4NextCruise]

Will you be posting your navigators?

My DW stated in another post that she would try to scan the navigators and get them posted. Hopefully this should occur soon.

 

[caribbeandreaming]

My DW stated in another post that she would try to scan the navigators and get them posted. Hopefully this should occur soon.

I'm the OP's DW and I'm going to scan and post Navigators later today. Stay tuned

So very sorry you missed Castaway Cay... we too missed it on our first cruise but until subsequent cruises did not know just what we missed. Try it again, you will not be disappointed!

This was our 3rd cruise so, unfortunately, we knew what we were missing I had really wanted to see the island decorated for Christmas. However, this cruise has made me not want to sail around this time of year again. I did feel really bad for the people who have never been to CC - they were the ones that missed out the most.

 

[yesallours]

. . . But I'm realizing I probably can't plan ahead as much as I would've liked, that's ok. I May change my Palo Dinner night from night 2 to night 1 so as not to miss the formal night dinner (that was one of our favorites the last time). Definitely hard to know when to plan that. I thought all the regular rotations were the first 4 dinners (each restaurant plus Pirate night). How was the new restaursnt that replaced Pirate Cay? Some kind of South American menu or decor?
I think any special ticketed events will be changed for our cruise first, as it's the one right after they take down all the holiday stuff. We will miss that, as most of our cruises have been in December. But that's ok. Most important thing is we will be on the ship at all!! Still will be fun to see a navigator or two, but I realize that won't help anyone in January much with specific planning.

 

[DitkaFan]

You'll see everything ... to shorts (yes, even on formal night) in the dining room.

Oh the horror I just want to say how I love the dress code police, they always make me laugh when they come out of the woodwork

 

[allison0523]

Were there life jackets by the pools for children to use? How was the chair hogging by the pools? We are going on the Magic in February. Thanks.

 

[bfamilyx4]

Were there life jackets by the pools for children to use? How was the chair hogging by the pools? We are going on the Magic in February. Thanks.

on the magic there are life jackets by the children's pool

 

[Ready4NextCruise]

Were there life jackets by the pools for children to use? How was the chair hogging by the pools? We are going on the Magic in February. Thanks.

Yes, there were swimming vests for younger kids near the AquaLab pool. I'm unsure if there were vests at the other pool, as we never visited that pool.

I honestly never tried to get a chair by the pools, but the crowd for chairs was significantly less than when I travelled on the Fantasy (where I felt I needed to get a chair very early in the morning). I always saw open chairs when I was on the pool deck. This could have been to weather though, as some of our days on the ship were somewhat windy and cloudy.

 

[bonnieappetit]

We are sailing on The Magic on Sunday What kind of beverage seminars did they offer? We did a champagne one once that we really liked.

 

[Ready4NextCruise]

We are sailing on The Magic on Sunday What kind of beverage seminars did they offer? We did a champagne one once that we really liked.

The following tastings were done on our cruise. My DW and I did a Mixology at Keys (Bagus and Laura at Keys are awesome) and highly recommend.

• Mixology
• Beer Tasting
• Martini Tasting
• Tequila and Margarita Tasting
• Wine & Chocolate
• Whiskey Tasting
• Stem to Stern Wine Tasting
• Cognac Tasting

 

[bonnieappetit]

The following tastings were done on our cruise. My DW and I did a Mixology at Keys (Bagus and Laura at Keys are awesome) and highly recommend.

• Mixology
• Beer Tasting
• Martini Tasting
• Tequila and Margarita Tasting
• Wine & Chocolate
• Whiskey Tasting
• Stem to Stern Wine Tasting
• Cognac Tasting

Thanks so much! Wine and chocolate sounds good to me. Do they offer these seminars only on sea days?

 

[hipmommy]

I'm the OP's DW and I'm going to scan and post Navigators later today. Stay tuned

Where will you be posting them?

 

[Ready4NextCruise]

Thanks so much! Wine and chocolate sounds good to me. Do they offer these seminars only on sea days?

No, there is usually 1 or 2 tastings each day on the cruise. However, many tastings are only offered once. Therefore, I suggest you go to Guest Services when you board and get information on the first day.

 

[Headed4Fun]

- We did the following excursions:
Cozumel - Cozumel Beach Break (Playa Mia)
Grand Cayman - ended up doing an island tour and the turtle farm after our original excursion was cancelled.
Jamaica - Dunns River Falls and Sky Explorer

Thanks for the great feedback! We are sailing in February and have also booked the Sky Explorer/Falls trip. My son and husband would love to do the bobsled, but my daughter is too short/young and I didn't think it would be wise to split up.

Question: Any idea if the bobsled excursion groups ride with this one and some people just get to do the bobsled? Would there be any chance that all 4 of us would ride the same bus, and then we would split off so hubby/son could do the bobsled while my daughter and I ride the sky explorer back down the hill? We would all want to do the falls together, but after that, it would be fine for me if my husband and son went off to do their thing!

Also, for GC - what did you think of the turtle farm? We are also booked for the island tour/turtle farm, but we thought about just doing the farm on our own by taking a bus straight to the farm! Our kids are 4 and 8 so I don't know how they'd handle the 2 hour bus tour.

Thanks again!!!

 

[mtquinn]

LOVE these reports, thank you! Going in a year on there Magic for a five night-er, and I we have never been on a Christmas themes cruise. DD's (14 and 11 when we sail) will be so thrilled with the special activities (gingerbread house decorating is one of their favorites).

Kinda bummed to hear CC's water temp will most likely be cold, though. This is going to be an issue, as I planned for us to snorkel, and there is no way I'm freezing my bum off in cold water.

How much was the turtle farm excursion, may I ask?

 

[Ready4NextCruise]

Thanks for the great feedback! We are sailing in February and have also booked the Sky Explorer/Falls trip. My son and husband would love to do the bobsled, but my daughter is too short/young and I didn't think it would be wise to split up.

Question: Any idea if the bobsled excursion groups ride with this one and some people just get to do the bobsled? Would there be any chance that all 4 of us would ride the same bus, and then we would split off so hubby/son could do the bobsled while my daughter and I ride the sky explorer back down the hill? We would all want to do the falls together, but after that, it would be fine for me if my husband and son went off to do their thing!

Also, for GC - what did you think of the turtle farm? We are also booked for the island tour/turtle farm, but we thought about just doing the farm on our own by taking a bus straight to the farm! Our kids are 4 and 8 so I don't know how they'd handle the 2 hour bus tour.

Thanks again!!!

The short answer is that your husband and son should be able to do the bobsled (for an added cost) while at Mystic Mountain.

The bus system in Jamaica was very good, and well organized. Your bus should only contain people who are part of your excursion. In other words, people who bought the bobsled excursion will be on another bus/van. However, this shouldn't be a problem for your family.

The Sky Explorer part of the excursion is done at Mystic Mountain. The bobsleds and zip lines are also at Mystic Mountain. Mystic Mountain requires a ride on a chair lift to get there (Think of it as a ski lift). That's the Sky Explorer excursion (along with lunch). I believe the people who bought the bobsled excursion also ride the chair lift up to Mystic Mountain. The only difference is that these people also paid to do the bobsleds.

So, if your husband and son want to do the bobsled, you just need to buy tickets when you get to the top of Mystic Mountain (I think it's $22 for 2 rides, but not 100% sure). I was also thinking of taking my oldest DS to the bobsleds on my visit, and just told the tour guide. She actually asked while while we were there if we wanted to ride (This was to ensure she knew where people in her group were, as everyone needs to ride the lift back down to get on the bus). You just have to make sure your husband and son have enough time to ride (the bobsleds were not crowded the day we were there, but I've read on these boards that it can be busy). Again, I would just talk to your tour guide and inform them you'd like to do them if there's time.

Hope that answers your question.

Regarding the Turtle Farm, I thought the part we saw was great. Note that we only saw the front part of the turtle farm, however. There's a larger park (I think it includes a water park) for an additional fee that we did not pay, as we were on an island tour, and only had 30-45 minutes there. Most feedback I've read on the Turtle farm has been positive, but you may want to open a new thread to ask for better information than I can provide, since I only saw a small portion of the farm. There's a dolphin place across the street from the turtle farm that is also interesting if you have the time.

I agree long tours can be very difficult for kids. We were actually scheduled for a glass-bottom boat ride that day, but it was cancelled due to rough water conditions. Fortunately, my kids did well during our tour (which was about 2 hours).

 

[Ready4NextCruise]

LOVE these reports, thank you! Going in a year on there Magic for a five night-er, and I we have never been on a Christmas themes cruise. DD's (14 and 11 when we sail) will be so thrilled with the special activities (gingerbread house decorating is one of their favorites).

Kinda bummed to hear CC's water temp will most likely be cold, though. This is going to be an issue, as I planned for us to snorkel, and there is no way I'm freezing my bum off in cold water.

How much was the turtle farm excursion, may I ask?

Everything I've heard about the turtle farm has been positive, but we didn't do the Disney excursion to the turtle farm, so perhaps others can answer this question better than I.

Our excursion was cancelled while at GC due to rough water conditions, so our family did an island tour with a stop at the turtle farm. We really liked it, but did not have access to the entire park.

 

[caribbeandreaming]

I'm the OP's DW and I'm going to scan and post Navigators later today. Stay tuned

Where will you be posting them?

I tried scanning the Navigators, but all we have is a black and white scanner and the one I did scan didn't turn out well at all and was barely readable. A color one would be much better and I'm working on trying to find one I can use.

 

[Northof54]

Love all the great information!! We are doing the Magic 7 night Western Carib in May (2015)! This will be our first ever cruise and we are very excited. I have been scouring the Cruise Line forum soaking up any and all of the information I can.
I have a couple of questions and am hoping you guys will have the answers!!
On Castaway Cay during our cruise, all of the Cabanas are already booked! Are there other open air shelters or umbrellas that we will be unable to duck into to get reprieve from the sun?
Did anyone do a stingray excursion at any of the ports?
We are in stateroom 6508 - Has anyone on here stayed in this specific room? Reviews?
We are thinking about inquiring about an upgrade at port - just to a veranda room. Tips? We won't be terribly upset if we are unable to get one and we are not willing to shell out a bunch more money either. However, I read that in some cases, waiting until we are on the ship to inquire about an upgrade is usually offered at a much lower rate and sometimes for free. Has anyone experienced this?
And one last question/inquiry - I have noticed that there are specific threads/groups set up for specific cruises. Where can I find if there has been one set up for the Magic in May.
Thanks,
Kari