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

[cruisinskier]

After our routine breakfast on the back of Lido, we gathered the troops and headed off for our 8:00 tour with Rome in Limo. As soon as we disembarked, Giovanni was waiting with our sign and was easy to find. Only 8 of us headed on this tour today. Two headed off to do Capri on their own and 2 others were staying on the boat to enjoy a down day.

 

Giovanni had already heard that there was some labout issues at Pompeii this morning so he had rescheduled our day. First stop was now to be Positano on the Amalfi Coast. We had about an hour drive to get there.

 

 

Giovanni loading us into the vehicle

 

 

First stop was an overlook which had all these locks on the railing. Apparently it was a custom that if lovers closed a lock on here their love would last as long as the lock remained closed....so there were hundreds of locks here

 

 

Positano

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Giovanni was a true professional. He was able to tell us exactly what the highlights were in Positano and sent us off to see them. He found great spots to park so we were close to the village while others were parking and walking long distances down to the village. I do not think the large tour buses could get into the spots we went with RIL.

 

After we had explored Positano, we met up again with Giovanni and started heading out of town. At just the right spot Giovanni pulled over to the side of the road and said he had somethign for us.....we all got out and Giovanni poured us each a glass of his homemade wine. It was awesome!

 

 

 

Salute

 

 

He also had some snacks which he pulled out on the way back to Sorrento. Here are the views from where we had stopped above Positano...

 

 

 

The roads carved in to the sides of the cliffs

 

 

[cruisinskier]

After a short scenic drive, we were back in Sorrento where we shopped for an hour before having a great lunch at a local restaurant recommended by Giovanni.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered down to the harbour front and found two ships tendered here (I think they were the same ones as the day before in Messina but I could be wrong....). But this was a very scenic port area....

 

 

 

 

 

So how many scooters can you fit in one parking lot???

[cruisinskier]

After a great lunch at Tasso, we were back in the Benz and on our way to one of the spots I had been looking forward to for months.....Pompeii. Now I ended up taking a few hundred pictures at Pompeii and the pictures truly do not so it justice. So for anyone thinking of going to Italy, make sure you go to Pompeii....it truly was amazing to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chariot tracks worn in the stone

 

 

[cruisinskier]

The "menu" at the brothel

 

 

 

 

The not to subliminal indication of what happened here....

 

 

Mount Vesuvius in the background

 

 

[cruisinskier]

The Bathes

 

 

 

 

The early version of a fast food restaurant

 

 

 

 

Inside one of the better preserved homes...

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

[TravellinGranny]

I just wanted to take the time to thank you for your time & effort on posting this rich review.

I was supposed to be on this cruise, but due to personal issues, did not get the chance, and had to cancel everything from the cruise to hotel reservations. So, you can see, this review allows me to travel vicariously through your eyes.

Thank you again for sharing.

[cruisinskier]

Our tour with Rome In Limo was coming to an end and Giovanni had been a true professional. He had provided us with extensive knowledge of the area (he lives in the Sorrento area) and had also gone above and beyond a few times (shared his personal wine as I had stated earlier and he provided each of us with a bottle of water for our Pompeii tour).

 

We had also arranged for a private tour guide for Pompeii (100 euros). RIL had arranged for Maria to be our Pompeii guide. She has been a Pompeii guide for 14 years and had extensive knowledge of anything related to Pompeii and the general area. It was truly worth the extra funds for our private guide given we were able to fully maximize the 2 hours or so we were at Pompeii. She knew not only what to tell us and where to go to see things, but also which areas would have lines and how to best avoid them. Overall this was money well spent (especially split 8 ways) and we learned much more with Maria and never would have seen half of what we did if we had tried to do this on our own. The Pompeii grounds are fairly spread out and you can easily walk past things if you are not aware of what they are.....

 

After a great day, our RIL tour came to an end and Giovanni dropped us back at the Naples port....but not before he gave us a bottle of Limoncello for us to enjoy (we had no issues bringing this back on board).

 

We had our normal sailaway gathering on the back deck, our late dinner seating in the dining room and called it a night early. We had a great day and tomorrow was going to be another one as we docked in Civitavecchia and had booked RIL again for a Rome tour......

 

 

Naples and Vesuvius

 

 

There goes the pilot

 

 

Goodbye Naples, and Sorrento, and Positano, and Pompeii. It was a great day!

 

 

We had a nice sunset this evening

 

 

[lives to cruise]

cruisinskier

 

Thanks so much for this wonderful review. It really is one of the best I have ever read.

 

May I ask what type of camera you used? We will be doing this cruise in October and I am looking a purchasing a new camera for it. Your pictures as so clear and beautiful.

[cruisinskier]

I just wanted to take the time to thank you for your time & effort on posting this rich review.

 

I was supposed to be on this cruise, but due to personal issues, did not get the chance, and had to cancel everything from the cruise to hotel reservations. So, you can see, this review allows me to travel vicariously through your eyes.

 

Thank you again for sharing.

 

Laura, so sorry to hear that you had to cancel your cruise. Glad I am able to do a little thing like post a review to help you. Hopefully one day soon you will get to rebook that cruise :)

 

Jerry

[cruisinskier]

cruisinskier

 

Thanks so much for this wonderful review. It really is one of the best I have ever read.

 

May I ask what type of camera you used? We will be doing this cruise in October and I am looking a purchasing a new camera for it. Your pictures as so clear and beautiful.

 

 

Sallie, thanks for your kind comments. My camera is a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V. I had purchased it just before this trip as my previous camera died. It is bascially a higher end point and shoot camera. Whatever you purchase, make sure you use it lots before your trip....I felt like I was still learning how to use it during the trip :eek:

[TravellinGranny]

Laura, so sorry to hear that you had to cancel your cruise. Glad I am able to do a little thing like post a review to help you. Hopefully one day soon you will get to rebook that cruise :)

 

Jerry

Who knows....maybe the Breeze. BTW.....Loved Pompeii when I was there. It truly is great to get a personal guide to avoid all the masses.

[imatexan]

Hey Jerry -- can you post or email me a direct link to your pics? I didn't get your email added at the goodbye party in Red Frog :(

[katybugg]

Hi all. Thanks for your kind words of support. I will try to post a few more notes / photos over the next few days however we are still in Barcelona and looking to maximize our time here. There is lots of Magic info I want to share and I have to say that planning is the key to a European vacation. We had a great tour around Barcelona today but I will share those details with you in due course. Thanks again for your support and I hope to post some more tomorrow. For now though it is off to bed as tomorrow is another busy day :D

I love your pictures. Do you mind if I share a couple of your photos if I give you credit for taking the picture. I fully understand if that is not possible. Loving the review.

[mooshipalmdale]

Love, love, love your review!!:) We leave June 12 from Barcelona on the Magic. We are doing 2 tours with Rome in Limo, 1 tour with Astone in Sicily and 1 in Naples with Johnny's Tours. Your photos and stories have us all so excited!! I already went and bought limicello!!

 

Thank you so much for sharing!!:)

[magiccruiser]

You mentioned in your review of Sicily that they were setting up for a Carlos Santana concert at the Greek theater in Taormina in June? Any idea when in June? I'm on the June 3 Magic cruise and have a tour set up with Astone as well. I'm just hoping that the concert won't cause a problem for us when we visit (although I would love to see Santana!)

[realtrip]

You mentioned in your review of Sicily that they were setting up for a Carlos Santana concert at the Greek theater in Taormina in June? Any idea when in June? I'm on the June 3 Magic cruise and have a tour set up with Astone as well. I'm just hoping that the concert won't cause a problem for us when we visit (although I would love to see Santana!)

The concert is July 22.

[TheGirlNextDoor]

Your pictures and review are just AMAZING! I almost feel like I am on that trip myself. I can hardly wait to cruise on the Magic! I'm drooling.

[cruisinskier]

Hey Jerry -- can you post or email me a direct link to your pics? I didn't get your email added at the goodbye party in Red Frog :(

 

Hi Kimmy, please post your email address and I will send you a note. Thanks. Jerry

[cruisinskier]

You mentioned in your review of Sicily that they were setting up for a Carlos Santana concert at the Greek theater in Taormina in June? Any idea when in June? I'm on the June 3 Magic cruise and have a tour set up with Astone as well. I'm just hoping that the concert won't cause a problem for us when we visit (although I would love to see Santana!)

 

Hi Magic. I remember seeing variou sposters around town for a few different events. As indicated, i was off a little on the Santana concert as it is July 22. In searching some on the web, it appears there are various events planned throughout the summer at the Teatro Antico. These include numeorus concerts (Joe Cocker is July 26), a film festival, Operas (Aida is Aug 7, 10 & 12), and various family events as well. For more details search the web (I found them on an events page under Villa Carlotta Taormina).

[imatexan]

kimmy@imatexan.com Edited May 21, 2011 by imatexan

[Buckeye Geo]

cruisinskier::)

 

Thanks so much for posting those wonderful picture and your review. We will be cruising on the Magic in October

[GreenZolie]

Over 32,000 look-sees! Wow! And I contributed to about 100 of that number, lol. Your photos and reviews are FABULOUS.

 

I hope to sail the Magic next year, but of course it will be out of Galveston, not out of a European port, as your sailing was. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and photos with us. I especially appreciate all of the land shots. They are worthy of a travel brochure.

 

And the Magic - OMG, she is gorgeous. I cannot wait to sail on her. Thank you for giving us a taste of what is to come!