Trip Report: MSC Magnifica: Northern Europe: 24th September, 2018

Hi all, I thought I would report back on our recent cruise on Magnifica, sailing out of Southampton on 24th September.

Mon 24/9/18:

Flew uneventfully from Dublin with Flybe. Small aircaft, turbo prop, hand luggage very tight. Take off delayed by 50 minute and gate changed a lot before we boarded.

Southampton Airport to ship:

Caught the U1C bus outside terminal to city. Checked with driver that he could drop us near cruise terminal. He confirmed he could but we checked again in the city and he was thinking of another terminal. The bus trip was about an hour due to road works and traffic. Got off and walked a bit along the dock road, we could see the ship but no signs as to where gate is. Asked two lads who turned out to be heading back to the ship and followed them. FYI, the gate is Gate 10. You can see the big red former flour mill 'Solent Flour' from the road and the gate is there, just opposite Ikea.

Embarkation:

Boarded easily as almost no-one in terminal. Boarded about 5pm and went straight to stateroom, a Fantastica balcony on deck 9, midship. Nice room, some wear on sofa but otherwise good, with dreaded shower curtain in bathroom. Steward introduced himself soon, Mohammad, and he kept the room in great nick all week.

Dining:

We are MDR diners usually. Our seating was 20.15 in Il Quattro Venti. Early seating was 17.45. Our tablemates were two British couples, Welsh and English, all lovely people and we enjoyed our meals with them all week. Our waiters were very busy but kept up the service and wine pours every night. As we always say, food is subjective, so our subjective opinion is that the meat was better on this cruise than other MSC ships. I'm a red meat eater and the first night the sirloin steak was excellent. On subsequent nights, I had sliced prime rib, veal shank and sliced filet and it was always generous and tender. Sides could be very small but I have long ago learned to also order the vegetarian side order along with my meat. My wife is a fish eater and her experience was more varied. Her orders of calamari and cuttlefish she found overcooked and salty. In fact, her seafood linguine had no fish in it whatsoever. We did not complain as she was not going hungry and it was just a ladle snafu. When she ordered the king prawn main course, I also ordered it and gave the prawns to her. This overcame the small portions of prawns. On the other hand, her mains of salmon and sea bream, as well as the swordfish that accompanied the medley, were excellent. The menu is 3 course but you can order multiple of each course(well 2 anyway).

Buffet was good in the morning, with English 'Bangers' which were actually very good and the bacon came in both streaky/crispy and back(not overcooked). Lunch buffet was ok if you hit it before the main carving ran out. We only hit the lunch buffet one day and were too late for the Roast Beef but there were plenty of Yorkshire Puddings, the biggest I have ever seen, but quite tough. The roast pork replacement was very good. We believe the evening buffet was not great but did not visit it for dinner. We did use the buffet at 10.30 on Amsterdam night as we returned late but it was poor, a few sandwiches and, of course, pizza. We ordered room service breakfast one morning and it arrived entire and on time. It is all cold food but no ham or cheese. We supplemented with a scrambled egg run to the Buffet.

We both celebrated our birthdays on the cruise and, on each special day, a letter and card was slid under the door with an offer of 20% off Oriental Plaza and a cake (each). We were going to OP anyway, so we turned up at 8.30 and booked for 9pm same night. We need not have booked as it was never busy. They apologised that they could not do the cake at short notice but we didn't want it anyway. The menu is extensive but, to my inexperienced eyes, confusing, a combination of Sushi/Sashimi, Nigiri, Thai, Chinese and other Asian foods. We sampled spicy soups, spring rolls, satay prawns, Pad Thai, Cantonese Fried Rice, a lobster parcel, followed with Deep Fried Ice Cream and Lychee fruit. Portions were good and tasty. Total bill was €31 including 20% discount and 15% gratuity added. Good value. The dishes are priced as a surcharge, not full a la carte prices, so ranged from €3.50 to €5. The food and service was good but we think the concept is confusing and could be busier if it was a simpler Chinese or Teppanyaki restaurant.

Next time - Entertainment, Ports and the rest.

Hi Ken. Sounds good so far ... looking forward to reading more. :)

Sounds good so far Ken ... :D

Thanks for the report.

Glad you enjoyed this cruise Ken. Looking forward to your port reviews.

Being on the same cruise, and first time MSC'ers we thoroughly enjoyed it as well. We enjoyed the MDR for dinners as well. All were good except i wasn't keen on the cuttlefish either. Breakfast buffets were excellent. Plenty of variety, sometimes a bit cold though. I questions the expectations of those that bash the food, as we found good variety, fast service in MDR and pleasant staff all around.

One thing we were extremely impressed with was the cleanliness of the ship. Always cleaning they were, guys out first thing in the morning sterilizing the railings and all round the ship.

I'll do a full review later, but wanted to chime in on your review.

Looking forward to reading more. :D

Just back! Apologies for the delay. Hi David, great to hear from you. I hope you've gotten over any jet lag from your trip!

Port 1: Le Havre:

Clocks went on 1 hr overnight and we made good use of the drinks package so we were a bit fuzzy on getting up!. We had no real desire to visit Le Havre itself. I had been there 40 years previously as a callow youth and was not impressed then. So, by luck we linked up with Lambo62 on the Roll Call and agreed to share a taxi to Honfleur. We met at Guest Services and walked off the ship. Almost immediately, a taxi pulled up and he showed us the fixed rates, 3 hours trip, Honfleur and back, €125. We agreed and hopped in. He pointed out the Pont Normandie, not for the faint hearted as we crossed over. Note for drivers, it's tolled and €5.40 each way. The journey was 30 minutes each way and through a misunderstanding on my part, the taxi driver agreed to push our pick up time to 1400hrs, giving us and extra hour in Honfleur.

I did not really know what to expect but Honfleur blew us away. It is so beautiful, it threatened to overshadow Bruges which was due up next day. We spent a delightful couple of hours wandering the harbour and the streets and churches before enjoying a quayside coffee.

The taxi was at the appointed spot well before time and, as I think we were all footsore from walking, we headed back about 15 mins early. Great day in Honfleur. Thanks David for organising this and it was a pleasure to meet you and Kathy. I hope I can load some photos! Here goes:...eh..maybe tomorow.

Up Next: Bruges and a bust up with a tram conductor! Fit Bit score today: 11,988 steps: 5.81 miles!

Hi Ken, we had over 15,000 steps that day! I agree the cruise critic roll call worked out well for this port. A shared taxi was more economical and convenient that the ships bus! We enjoyed Honfleur very much. Honfluer has to be one of the most picturesque places we have been to. Sitting in a french cafe, enjoying a glass of wine and a panini overlooking the water was lovely. I took so many pictures that day, and the weather was perfect.

I did a review on cruise critic for MSC but will likely hijack your thread along the way.

Attempting to load photos from Honfleur:

Can anyone see those photos? I can't. I clicked on the attach image icon and copied and pasted the URL from Shutterfly. Any ideas why it didn't work?

Some highlights of Honfleur

Finally figured it out!

Welcome back, Cruise Critic! The new forum looks odd but I suppose we'll get used to it. I will continue with the report and try loading pics again. I can't see the previous photos so I may re-load.

Bruges

We docked at the port of Zeebrugge on Wednesday 26th September. After a leisurely breakfast, we left the ship and stepped onto the free port shuttle which drove us all of 100m to the terminal building! On exiting the terminal, we walked around the corner of the building and, with directions from a helpful port worker, stepped onto the main road and turned right to walk about 500m to the tram stop. You can see the church by the tram stop from the ship and the street. As you stand on the tram stop, the tram will come from your left. Buy a ticket onboard(tip; board at the front to buy your ticket from the driver, not at the  back like the idiot writing this; "Oops! Excuse me! Sorry! Ha Ha ! Good job I'm thin, ha ha! Ooops! Excuse me..." If you are with a companion, s/he can board further back and keep you a seat. There are a few stops but you arrive at Blankenberge station in about 10-15 minutes. The trains run every hour at 6 mins to the hour. €5 return for cruise passengers. I can't help wondering what the regular fare is! As you exit the station, there is a tourist information office. Picked up a city map and walked out te door. It's a big station and a big plaza. as you exit the station, the road you're looking for is diagonally opposite you. Follow the crowds. The street you're looking for is called Oostmeers and we followed it until I went wrong. As a result, we doubled back ion ourselves and visited the area around the Begijnhuisje, a former convent and still a place of reverence and quiet. Back on track, we wandered the streets until we got to the two main attractions, the Burg and the Markt. These areas are breathtaking and worth visiting.

On the  return trip, we left early enough to allow us to miss two or three trains and still be back on time. On arrival at Blankenberge station, we had a wait of about 20 mins for the tram. We waited at the tram stop, just opposite the kisk. On boarding the tram, I asked the driver for 2 tickets and he exploded with " YOU SHOULD BUY THEM AT THE SHOP!", "Oh, sorry, I didn't realise that! Can you sell me a ticket?" "I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO SELL YOU A TICKET WHEN THERE'S A SHOP!" "Oh, will I get off and buy a ticket at the shop?""NO, HERE ARE YOUR TICKETS! Grumble, mumble blah!!" Needless to say, when we were leaving the tram, I thanked him loudly but added a Gaelic blessing as well!

Bruges was amazing and easily done DIY. Total transport cost; €11 pp. Steps on Fitbit: 20,696 Ship tour(drop off in Bruges) £31stg pp.

Correction to Day 2 steps in Honfleur: 15,489 (honest, not competing David!)

Will try to load pics later;

Next up! Amsterdam, Coffee and croquettes, and new friends..!

Hello,

   My review of Bruges is almost identical! We were to meet my cousin that i hadn't seen in 40 years at a square in Bruges. Unfortunately we slept in a bit, and were a bit late but the day was still great.  We too took the port bus to the station. I had printed directions to get to Bruges from a forum post. Tram to Blankenberge, train to Bruges simple as easy to do, and as Ken said, much more economical than the ships excursion.  We were worried a bit if we were at the correct tram pick up,  had it read just wait in front of the church steeple it would have been spot on.  The train ride was fairly short and easy. Like Ken, we stopped for directions at the tourist info, "follow the park", he said, that was not the best advice as we got somewhat lost. Finally met up with my cousin at the Z'stand square he had mentioned and spent a lovely day exploring the city. My father is from Aalter a town about 20 minutes from Bruges, so they were excellent guides!  Another fanatastic day weather wise we really lucked out.