MAGIC - Our Photo Review of the Inaugural Sailing of the Magic

Hello fellow cruisers. As I type this, we are onboard the new Carnival Magic enjoying an unscheduled day at sea. We were unable to dock in Monaco today due to high winds resulting in the Port Authority in Monaco closing the port....however we are making the best of a sunny day at sea. And while we wanted to see Monaco (and Eze), after 4 straight days of touring all day we can use a sea day to rest up a little.

First let me introduce ourselves.....myself and my DW are both 47 and this is our 7th cruise, our second cruise with Carnival, and our first time to Europe. We have had a great cruise, knocking numerous items off of our bucket list!! We selected this cruise for numerous reasons including the itinerary, the price and the opportunity to experience a brand new ship.

We travelled as part of a group of 12 friends and family members ranging in age from 22- 88. Our group included one individual with mobility issues who required a motorized scooter and two individuals with diet restrictions requiring gluten free meals. I will provide more info on these custom items later in the review.

To this point I have taken over 2,000 pictures on this trip and while I will not bore you with all of them here, I will post some to assist in showing you details of the Carnival Magic and the ports we visited.

Pre-cruise, we spent 3 nights on the island of Murano, just across the harbour from Venice. I have to say this was a great choice as we were able to spend lots of time in Venice while experiencing the true Italian hospitality on Murano (at a much lower price than Venice). We will be spending 3 nights in Barcelona post cruise returning home on Friday. Based on availability of internet and also time, I will try to post some more before we return home. However once we are home I will post full details of our trip.

Overall I have to say the inaugural cruise on the Magic has been a very enjoyable experience. I have been pleasantly surprised as to how ready the Magic was for our sailing. While the cruise was not perfect, there were only limited issues and no worse than any other sailings. I will provide more details later but we have had a great cruise on a very enjoyable ship with mostly great weather and visited some amazing places!!! I am sure you all have questions and once we return home I will do my best to answer them. This is my disclaimer that what I say here is my opinion and I will try my best to provide facts and whatever details I can.

Stay tuned for more details to follow over the next few days and for all of you with future cruises on the Magic you can look forward to a great cruise.....

Enjoy the rest of your cruise! Looking forward to your review :)

thanks for taking the time to write... looking forward to hearing about all the ports and adventures with the public transportation! happy to hear you're having a great time.:)

can't wait to see the pics. i loved murano.

Hi all. The internet connection onboard is very slow today. Given it became a sea day I think there are lots of users today...

Here are a few pics to get us started...

Yay, finally some Magic news! Can't wait for more!

cool!

Loving this.... can't wait to hear all about it. Keeping an eye on Zydeco too!

Yay, finally some Magic news! Can't wait for more!

have you seen these pics?

http://www.zydecocruiser.com/CarnivalMagic/May_01_2011/index.htm

Thanks for taking the time to post some pictures and give us news on the Magic.

Can't wait for the review.

Looking forward to your review! Keep the great pics coming!!

Our trip started Wednesday April 27 as we departed from Toronto and flew via Air Canada to Heathrow and then via British Airways from London to Venice. All flights were uneventful and on time. Upon arrival in Venice, we gathered our luggage and set out to find the Alilaguna ticket office. This is located inside the terminal on the left hand side just after exiting the luggage area. We purchased our one-way tickets to Murano for 7 euros pp. We then proceeded to walk to the dock which was a easy 5 minute walk to the left when exiting the terminal. There is a sheltered walkway most of the way and you can take luggage carts from the terminal down to the dock. Within 10 minutes we were on our way to Murano which is the first stop (Murano Colonna) on the Alilaguna blue line. Upon arrival we set out to find Murano Palace, a small bed & breakfast type of inn that would be our home for the next 3 nights.

Woohoo! I love to read all about the ship and the ports. Thanks for posting! Can't wait to hear more!:)

Looking forward to more!

Great start, OP! Looking forward to reading more & seeing more beautiful photos :)

Thanks so much for posting your review and pictures. We be on board the Magic in less than two weeks.

We just booked the Magic for next year and can't wait! Can you verify there are really conch fritters in the Red Frog Pub? :D hehe

We booked a Cove Balcony and are so excited to be down near the water. Have yourself a fabulous time...can't wait to see more pics!!!

We're booked on the 1st. sailing out of Galveston 11-14, can't wait to see the rest of your pictures.

Doug

We just booked the TA cruise so my interest level in all things Magic just went up.

Thanks for sharing. We are on the Magic TA and also on the Breeze inaugural so your review is a two-fold interest for us. Looking forward to more as you find time to share more.:):):)

We're booked on the July 24th sailing out of Barcelona. Can't wait to read all about your trip!!

Excited to see more pics!!!!!!!

Thanks for posting. Can hardly wait to read your review and all about the Magic and the ports you visited. We will be sailing out of Barcelona in July. Rlyans

Nice review so far. Can't wait to see more...

We're booked on the July 24th sailing out of Barcelona. Can't wait to read all about your trip!!

good morinin' sunshine.. consider joining the roll call:)