Rare Beamafar Posted October 14, 2017 #1 Share Posted October 14, 2017 Just back from our Med cruise on Magnifica. There were a number of 'firsts' for us on this cruise: 1st 9 night cruise, 1st Lisbon embarkation, 1st time to only have the basic drinks package (we usually have premium) and 1st time onboard MSC in the Med with so few English-speaking passengers aboard. (We did experience this once before but that was on a Grand Voyage from Brazil). We found that a 9 nights cruise was far better than a 7 night one for relaxing into the cruise. We've been saying for some time that 7 nighters are far too rushed and it feels like you've only just unpacked when it's time to pack up again. Embarkation was a breeze in Lisbon. One very surprising thing was that the porters didn't have luggage tags. I had printed 2 but wanted to send an extra hand-luggage bag with our 2 suitcases; that wasn't possible. Luckily, I had printed the tags that I did as I sometimes don't bother! There were so few boarding there that there was literally no-one else checking in when we arrived at 11.30 ish. Our Fantastica balcony cabin, 10166, was ready, too, and our Voyagers Club "gifts" of tote bags were on the bed, along with our cruisecards and Daily Program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 14, 2017 Author #2 Share Posted October 14, 2017 (edited) Our cabin: I had pre-ordered the wine & water package because I wasn't keen on the house wines that are included in the basic drinks package, so we headed off to the lounge where the vouchers were to be collected. However, mine weren't there! I was asked for the paperwork showing that I'd ordered them, but I had left it back in the cabin, so we decided to leave and go to lunch and sort it out later. We were allowed to dine in the MDR. In fact, when we were in Genoa, where the majority of passengers embarked/disembarked, an announcement was made that those embarking could have lunch in either the buffet or the MDR - another first for us. Usually they don't allow 'embarkees' to lunch in the MDR. As I had no wine vouchers, I opted to have one of the house reds. It was fine (can't remember the name) so I said to DH that I wouldn't pursue the vouchers and would make do with this particular wine for the duration of the cruise because I hadn't prepaid for the wine package, anyway. However, on entering the MDR for dinner that night, I was approached by the crew member I'd dealt with earlier that day - she had found my vouchers! We had 3 formal nights. Very few dressed formally on any of them. The food offerings were very good on the first 2 'Elegance' nights, but were so poor on the 3rd that we opted to pay the extra and have the T-bone steaks. Edited October 14, 2017 by Beamafar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 14, 2017 Author #3 Share Posted October 14, 2017 I ate about half and DH polished it off! I'm only sorry I didn't take a photo of the bones after he'd finished LOL! More to follow, including photos of the menu and food offerings from Oriental Plaza Speciality Restaurant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riclop Posted October 15, 2017 #4 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Did you miss the YC ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 15, 2017 Author #5 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Did you miss the YC ? Nah .............. we're used to being in steerage! ;) Gonna have to postpone this report .................. there's a mother of a storm heading our way, the likes of which we haven't seen in 50 years so I'll be busy battening down the hatches today. Heaven knows what's ahead of us. :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff&Louise Posted October 15, 2017 #6 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Hope you survived the storm.....:o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 15, 2017 Author #7 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Hope you survive the storm.....:o Thanks .............. TBH, we have no idea what to expect. It'll be hurricane force winds! More than likely, we'll lose power so probably no internet for the next while. If that's all that we've to contend with, I'll be happy. Heading out now to stock up on essentials. No power means no water as we have our own well. Now I know how the islanders in the Caribbean feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bra_BE2014 Posted October 15, 2017 #8 Share Posted October 15, 2017 I ate about half and DH polished it off! I'm only sorry I didn't take a photo of the bones after he'd finished LOL! More to follow, including photos of the menu and food offerings from Oriental Plaza Speciality Restaurant. What a beast, looks delicious! Hope you and your family are okay after the storm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 15, 2017 Author #9 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Thanks, Priscila. We're expecting it to hit sometime tomorrow morning. There's never been a hurricane this far east in the Atlantic before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay888 Posted October 15, 2017 #10 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Take care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted October 15, 2017 #11 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Enjoying your trip report and the photos. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidari Posted October 15, 2017 #12 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Bea ... Hope it misses you guys as well as us, though going off the amount of rain we have had I doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 15, 2017 Author #13 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Thanks, Jay & Keith. Dave .............. we're in the south-east where it's expected that some of the strongest winds will hit as well as the south and west. While you'll get a fair whack, I think we're more in Ophelia's path. A lot of comparisons being made to cyclone Debbie that hit Ireland back in '61 (before I was born) when 18 people were killed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1fifthavenue Posted October 15, 2017 #14 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Thanks for the review so far Bea, stay safe during the storm Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashling Posted October 16, 2017 #15 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Hi Bea, I hope hurricane Ophelia was kind to you today. Keep safe Best wishes, Ashling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CruiseIreland Posted October 16, 2017 #16 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Great to see your review, Bea! I'm guessing your power is out as south & southeast were hit hard. Hope all is well with you and you stay safe this evening. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norwegian Cruiser 73 Posted October 16, 2017 #17 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Greetings from Norway and welcome home Bea :) We hope you stay safe in Ireland during this storm which we also experience here in Norway. Hurricane force on the west coast last night. The T-Bone steak looks delicious:):cool: Last year on RCI they also offered us a pay option in the MDR. Very interesting to see that also MSC have started to offer this option in the MDR. Thank's a lot for your review so far, I'm looking forward to read more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 21, 2017 Author #18 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Thanks for all the good wishes, folks - really appreciate it. :) So, we had a power cut for 73 hours which meant no water, too. Thankfully, no damage to report but still without water from the tank due to an air-lock (I'm assuming) even though the tank is actually full! Very frustrating not being able to shower. We're expecting a man to call this evening but storm Brian is blowing a gale at the moment so it'll be interesting to see if we lose power again. Ken & NC ................. hope you both weren't too impacted by Ophelia and that all is well with you. Tim ............... I enquired about the Black Card complimentary dining for a 2 nighter - yes, you can avail of it. Also, I asked our waiter about purchasing the drinks package and he said that it would be available to you to purchase on board. I hope to continue the review after the weekend ................... when I've recovered! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darcy15 Posted October 21, 2017 #19 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Stay safe Bea :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CruiseIreland Posted October 21, 2017 #20 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Glad you're back online, Bea. No power and water is miserable! Hope you're recovered now! All good up here, bit breezy now but could have been much worse. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 21, 2017 Author #21 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Glad you're back online, Bea. No power and water is miserable. See you had flu too! Hope you're recovered now! All good up here, bit breezy now but could have been much worse. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Ken Thanks to both you and Darcy! Glad to hear you're OK, Ken. I was wondering how you were faring in your neck of the woods. Fortunately the last 24 hours haven't been as bad here as was expected (or feared - by me, anyway!) I was so afraid the power would go again - we tend to have outages every time we have gales. We're still having to fill the loos with buckets and no water for showering as we seem to have a blockage preventing water coming down from the tank in the attic. At least we have the "mains" water coming in from the well so we'll just have to muddle along with that! Another problem was an airlock preventing the hot water feed around the house, but we managed to clear that this evening. It's been a long week since Monday, that's for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyboy Posted October 24, 2017 #22 Share Posted October 24, 2017 Thanks for the feedback and the nice photos. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare little britain Posted October 25, 2017 #23 Share Posted October 25, 2017 ............... I enquired about the Black Card complimentary dining for a 2 nighter - yes, you can avail of it. Also, I asked our waiter about purchasing the drinks package and he said that it would be available to you to purchase on board. I hope to continue the review after the weekend ................... when I've recovered! Thanks for the confirmation [emoji6] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 25, 2017 Author #24 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Gosh, it's hard to get back into review mode! I think I'll do "Live from" reports in future! Anyway ..... We had 2 evenings in Oriental Plaza to enjoy our Black Card complimentary dining. Here's the menu we were offered: As there was nothing on this that appealed to me, I asked if we could select items from the main menu (we had done this before on our previous Magnifica cruise). No problem, we were told. Here's the full menu listings: Sent from my SM-G935F using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 25, 2017 Author #25 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Sent from my SM-G935F using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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