It’s no secret that we went on a cruise.

It was pure bliss.

Well, after the first 2 nights.

Then it was pure bliss.

Let’s just say, when you travel during hurricane season, you are almost guaranteed to have at least a little rain.

…and maybe some rocky waves.

We traveled on the Carnival Magic (October 2018). Like always, we booked this cruise last-minute directly through Carnival. We left from Miami and our ports of call were:

• Amber Cove, Dominican Republic
• St. Thomas, USVI
• San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

Stateroom

We stayed in a deluxe ocean view stateroom on the first floor. Many people don’t like the thought of staying on the first floor, but there are so many great things about it – like, being able to get on/off the boat quickly because you don’t have to wait for an elevator to take you to the gangway.

This was by-far the biggest stateroom we have ever stayed in. There was the massive window sill that you could sit on and watch as we pulled into port. We also had a king-size bed (could be separated to be 2 singles), a couch that turned into a trundle-bed and a bunk above the couch. On top of all of that space, we also had a double restroom – 1 full restroom with a shower and a 2nd one with a sink and tub/shower. Across from the couch was the desk area, and beside that, we had 4 separate closets.

So, even though you don’t spend very much time in your cabin, this one was more than enough room to party.

Food

Most people know that I’m partial to NCL because of the food (amongst other things), but I have to say, Carnival did not disappoint. The very first thing we tried was Guy’s Burger Joint – DELISH!!! I think I had a burger/fries every single day.

The dining room was ok. I wasn’t super wowed by it, but it was decent. There was only one night where I took one bite and was turned off by it – they offered to bring me something else, but after that first bite I was finished eating altogether. Except for dessert.

Yes, dessert.

I stayed sugar-free for this cruise, which is honestly getting so much easier. The sugar-free options were absolutely stunning! There was not one that I didn’t like! I should’ve asked what they sweetened them with because there were no adverse side effects that followed. If you’ve ever over-eating a sugar-free dessert, you know what I’m saying.

All in all, the food was delicious.

Ship

Here is where I get a bit partial. I don’t care for smaller boats, skinny boats, large boats or older boats. Maybe I’m a boat snob, I don’t know. Anyway, I find smaller, skinnier, older boats is where you’ll probably find the most opportunity to enjoy sea-sickness. Not my cup of tea, although I don’t get sea-sick very easily. Then, large boats seem too much like a floating city and I don’t want that either. I still want to know that I’m cruising the ocean.

So, all that to say that this boat was one of the rockiest I had ever been on, although I don’t think it was entirely due to its size. I’m still trying to do some research into stabilizers and what makes some boats rockier than others, comment below if you have any insight. I’m sure the tropical depression we were cruising into had some to do with that (we enjoyed storms for a few hours for the first 2 nights), but it wasn’t the first time we have traveled into a tropical storm/hurricane either.

As far as the layout of the ship, it was pretty decent. Everything was easy to find and get to. The water slides were a lot of fun, but made me dizzy for sure! My absolute favourite deck was the Serenity deck (adults only), because they had hammocks/swings, cabanas, padded lounge chairs and a beautiful breeze that kept us from overheating.

Spa

I’m saddened to say that we decided not to get the spa package, although it was quite reasonable with their couple’s rate. We did tour the spa, though, and it had a few steam rooms, salt rooms and a thalassotherapy pool. My only qualm – and my deciding vote on not purchasing it – was that the views were extremely limited. I guess the peaceful view of the ocean is a big deal to me when I’m relaxing.

As for the gym, I didn’t actually go. AHHH! Shocker, I know, but we decided to take the stairs all week, which was a lot of exercise since we were on deck 1.

Ports of Call

This section could be a whole blog post on its own, so for now I will give a very brief summary.

This was the first time we visited 3 of the 4 ports as we have been to St. Thomas a few times before. I love St. Thomas and feel comfortable enough to hail our own cab and head to the beach for some snorkeling. The taxi was $10/person each way.

I was most disappointed with Amber Cove because we didn’t book an excursion and the port was locked down so we couldn’t charter any locals to do anything. We walked around the shops in the port, but I didn’t feel like we got to see anything of value.

My favourite was Old San Juan because we could walk everywhere on our own. It was stunning with all of the colourful buildings and the forts were simply amazing! It was $7/person for the forts and it only took us (less than) 20 minutes to walk between them.

Grand Turk was also a great highlight! I love the beach, and the water was crystal clear. Simply stunning. The beach is literally right off the pier (and goes on for miles), but I was grossed out by the thought of swimming directly in front of the cruise ship. Also, it was crowded, so we walked down the beach and rented some peaceful beach chairs for $5 each. It’s not beneath me to pay for peace when I’m at the beach.

Final Thoughts

I absolutely enjoyed this cruise. I probably won’t sail on the Magic in the near future, but I will absolutely book with Carnival again. It wasn’t my favourite all-time cruise, but it did rank up there in my top picks. I was pleasantly surprised.