Just got back from the Magic today and we had a WONDERFUL cruise! This was my first time on a classic ship, so I cannot compare to what it was like previously, but can compare to the Dream and Fantasy. I liked it better than the Dream and as much as, and in some ways more than, the Fantasy.
Food/Restaurants: We loved our servers (Savio and I Ketut) and liked the look of Animator's better than the other ships, but the food on the Fantasy is better. The food in Lumiere's is on par with Royal Court/Palace, but the decor in the Royal's in nicer. I liked the food in Cariocas better than Enchanted Garden, but the decor in Enchanted Garden is nicer. Our servers were much better than we had on the Dream and our Assistant server is the best we have ever had. Our server was on par with our Fantasy server and much better than our Dream server. The selection in Cabanas on the newer ships is better, but tasted equally as good. There are not nearly enough seats in Cabanas on the Magic. If you go at the wrong time, you can't even find a table.
Pooldeck: The pools on the Magic are much bigger, but I do not like the pool deck layout. Everything is sectioned off and there is too much under cover and not enough lounge chairs. The decks on the Dream/Fantasy are much more open and more spacious, but the pools are very small. The new slides are great. The lines are very short; especially for the aquadunk. I am not gonna lie, it is pretty scary to ride and I have a feeling the decided to let adults ride twist and spout because not many people are riding the dunk. I rode the slide 5 times in a row with 0-5 people in line in front of me. The wait between riders is less than 30sec I would estimate. The wait for twist and spout is longer, because it is a slower slide and it is very hot waiting in line, because you are next to the smoke stack. There is no attendant at the top of the slide, just a red/green light and a camera for the lifeguard at the bottom to see what is going on up top. It is a fun ride down and I like it better than the aquaduck on the newer ships. The adult pool is nice, but I didn't get to enjoy it because someone decided to swim laps in it when I was trying to relax and one of the hot tubs was broken and the other was filled with 8 octogenarians who did not look like they wanted a pair of 30 somethings to join them
Shows: I loved all the shows on the Magic. Villains was my favorite before this cruise and now Villains and Dreams are my two favorites.
Rooms: The rooms on the two ships are comparable, but it is nice to have a minifridge on the newer ships instead of the "cooling box" the magic has. Our A/C did not work for the first 4 hours of the cruise, but we had no problems after they fixed it. We also had an issue with the carpet coming away from the wall near the closet. It didn't bother me, but I let them know about it so it could be fixed and they did fix it right away.
Ship Decor: Fathoms and Keys are beautiful, but the night club areas on the newer ships are nicer. Our entertainment director, Tisa, was amazing and the best we have had out of the 3 cruises. The lobby on the newer ships is larger and nicer and cleaner. On the dream and fantasy, I always noticed people constantly cleaning. I didn't notice that on the magic. The carpets had lots of lint and the pool deck had stain all over it. There were scratches on the sides of the ship that have not been painted over (which they constantly did while docked on the fantasy). I wouldn't have noticed these things unless I was looking, but the crew on the dream and fantasy seem to take more pride in the upkeep of the ship.
There were not as many Christmas activities as I expected there to be, but that was not the purpose of the cruise for me, so I really didn't care. The ship was decorated beautifully for the holidays though and there were photo opportunities with santa
Overall we had a great time and I would definitely sail the Magic again. DS cried his eyes out when we got home because he wanted to go back on the boat. The new kids clubs were his favorite because he is obsessed with the avengers.
Any questions? Feel free to ask away
Food/Restaurants: We loved our servers (Savio and I Ketut) and liked the look of Animator's better than the other ships, but the food on the Fantasy is better. The food in Lumiere's is on par with Royal Court/Palace, but the decor in the Royal's in nicer. I liked the food in Cariocas better than Enchanted Garden, but the decor in Enchanted Garden is nicer. Our servers were much better than we had on the Dream and our Assistant server is the best we have ever had. Our server was on par with our Fantasy server and much better than our Dream server. The selection in Cabanas on the newer ships is better, but tasted equally as good. There are not nearly enough seats in Cabanas on the Magic. If you go at the wrong time, you can't even find a table.
Pooldeck: The pools on the Magic are much bigger, but I do not like the pool deck layout. Everything is sectioned off and there is too much under cover and not enough lounge chairs. The decks on the Dream/Fantasy are much more open and more spacious, but the pools are very small. The new slides are great. The lines are very short; especially for the aquadunk. I am not gonna lie, it is pretty scary to ride and I have a feeling the decided to let adults ride twist and spout because not many people are riding the dunk. I rode the slide 5 times in a row with 0-5 people in line in front of me. The wait between riders is less than 30sec I would estimate. The wait for twist and spout is longer, because it is a slower slide and it is very hot waiting in line, because you are next to the smoke stack. There is no attendant at the top of the slide, just a red/green light and a camera for the lifeguard at the bottom to see what is going on up top. It is a fun ride down and I like it better than the aquaduck on the newer ships. The adult pool is nice, but I didn't get to enjoy it because someone decided to swim laps in it when I was trying to relax and one of the hot tubs was broken and the other was filled with 8 octogenarians who did not look like they wanted a pair of 30 somethings to join them
Shows: I loved all the shows on the Magic. Villains was my favorite before this cruise and now Villains and Dreams are my two favorites.
Rooms: The rooms on the two ships are comparable, but it is nice to have a minifridge on the newer ships instead of the "cooling box" the magic has. Our A/C did not work for the first 4 hours of the cruise, but we had no problems after they fixed it. We also had an issue with the carpet coming away from the wall near the closet. It didn't bother me, but I let them know about it so it could be fixed and they did fix it right away.
Ship Decor: Fathoms and Keys are beautiful, but the night club areas on the newer ships are nicer. Our entertainment director, Tisa, was amazing and the best we have had out of the 3 cruises. The lobby on the newer ships is larger and nicer and cleaner. On the dream and fantasy, I always noticed people constantly cleaning. I didn't notice that on the magic. The carpets had lots of lint and the pool deck had stain all over it. There were scratches on the sides of the ship that have not been painted over (which they constantly did while docked on the fantasy). I wouldn't have noticed these things unless I was looking, but the crew on the dream and fantasy seem to take more pride in the upkeep of the ship.
There were not as many Christmas activities as I expected there to be, but that was not the purpose of the cruise for me, so I really didn't care. The ship was decorated beautifully for the holidays though and there were photo opportunities with santa
Overall we had a great time and I would definitely sail the Magic again. DS cried his eyes out when we got home because he wanted to go back on the boat. The new kids clubs were his favorite because he is obsessed with the avengers.
Any questions? Feel free to ask away
Any chance he takes photos on formal night? I was hoping to get DD in her Christmas dress for portraits with the big guy. Also, do you happen to have any copies of Navigators? TIA, we sail Dec 4th! 
How did you know they weren't septugenarians or nonagenarians? They could be really old looking sexagenarians, quinquagenarians or quadragenarians. 
Glad you tricenarians had a great time 
I'm a quinquagenarian ~ !!! Sexagenarian sounds so much better. I guess I have that to look forward to. Sigh. 
It sounds like you are kind of vertical going down? At water parks, I do not EVER ride those slides. A lazy river~ yes, slides whishing around a tube 
My kids would love it though 
