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

[cruisinskier]

I am so excited for our trip in under 3 weeks! We have 4 RIL tours planned. What is the customary tip? I have heard a lot of varying amounts. There are 4 of us. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks.

 

Did I say Awesome review!!

 

Hi Bobby, tips as you know are a much discussed item on CC. From all we read there is no specific customary tip amount and although we did read that tips are genarally lower in Europe, it basically boils down to what each individual feels comfortable with based on the service received. In our case, we typically tipped 25 euro per couple (75 euro per vehicle) which we felt was well deserved. I am sure others will have opinions that this was either too high or too low but it is what we felt was right so that is what we did. Have a great trip!!!

[cruisinskier]

If you put in an IV line, you can mainline the pictures a lot quicker :).

 

(Yes I too am addicted :) )

 

Thanks for all your work on the review!

 

The signs in the Lido are nice.

 

Too bad they used orange again in the cabin...

 

Again, thanks to everyone for their ongoing comments. I truly appreciate it and wish I had the time to respond directly to all of you.

[cruisinskier]

After about 4 hours on our own, we all met up again as it was time to head back to the port. The lineups to get back onboard seemed the worst this day for some reason.....

 

Once onboard, our routine stayed the same where we headed up to deck 11 aft for sailaway.....and then it was time to get ready for our dinner in the Steakhouse!! Today was Mother's day and my wife and SIL both had wanted to take their mom to the Steakhouse to celebrate. We had a great meal, the food and service were very good (although I have to say that Chops on RCCL is still my favourite).

 

There were a few items we did not like about the Steakhouse, mostly to do with location. Firstly, it is located on deck 5 which happens to have the walkaround deck...so you would be having dinner in this special place only to have someone walk by just outside the window. The other issue is that Prime Steakhouse is located right next to the Spotlight Lounge which is where they do various shows including Superstar karaoke...and we could hear the thump. thump, thump of the live band through most of dinner. These 2 items combined do not set up the ambience you want from a high end venue for that special meal. As I said the food and service were both great, but the location not so much....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pilot boat escorting us out of Livorno

 

 

Moving in to pickup the pilot...

 

 

Got him...

 

 

Goodbye Livorno

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

People walk by right outside those windows....

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a special dessert for Mom on Mother's Day (they also gave out roses)

[cruisinskier]

After dinner we returned to our cabin and found a gift!! A replica of the coin from the Magic. Each ship has a coin that is welded onto the ship...for those interested here is a link to the coin ceremony.... http://carnival-news.com/2010/08/30/carnival-magics-major-construction-milestone-marked-with-traditional-coin-ceremony/

 

The gift was a nice touch but as we looked at it, it was to celebrate the first sailing from....GALVESTON??? Not sure if this is what we should have received or not but it will be interesting to see if people on the first cruise from Galveston receive a coin from the inaugural?? We never did identify exactly where the coin is welded on the Magic????

 

 

 

 

 

 

[regjr13]

Thank you for taking the time to post these amazing photos. I will be on the Carnival Magic in September and I am truly looking forward to it. Thanks again!

[cruisinskier]

We decided to head back out and wander around the ship a little at night as we had not really done that yet, at least not to the outside areas....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

After wandering around for a while we decided to call it a night....it had been another amazing day of seeing historical sites and Rome in Limo had delivered strongly on all 3 of the tours we did with them. Tomorrow was to be a day on our own in Monaco.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[duluthga]

Awesome review and great job with the pics. My sony seems to always blur. Must be getting old!

[BobbyD]

Hi Bobby, tips as you know are a much discussed item on CC. From all we read there is no specific customary tip amount and although we did read that tips are genarally lower in Europe, it basically boils down to what each individual feels comfortable with based on the service received. In our case, we typically tipped 25 euro per couple (75 euro per vehicle) which we felt was well deserved. I am sure others will have opinions that this was either too high or too low but it is what we felt was right so that is what we did. Have a great trip!!!

 

Thanks! That info helps!

[cruisinskier]

Well it was finally upon us....our last full day of the cruise. We had explored lots of new ports and were looking forward to another one in Monaco. We had no formal tours booked but the plan was to find our way to Eze and then to explore Monaco. Well, the captain tried to dock 3 times before we got the announcement....we would not be going to Monaco today due to high winds.

 

Up early to see the sunrise

 

 

Monaco...as close we as would get

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Monaco....

 

 

In the end, a day at sea was not unwelcome news as we had just finished 4 full, very busy days of back to back tours. Everyone onboard seemed to take it in stride. And to make it better, after about an hour at sea the winds calmed and the sun got warmer and we had a great day at sea, especially for early May. We had a very leisurely breakfast in the dining room, just because we could. And we would just take this day to realx, enjoy the sun, and get ready for our 3 days in Barcelona....but not so fast. We still had a full, fun day!

[solo2011]

Hello, Cruisinskier, Thank you for all all the great photos and the awesome review. I'm also booked to do my tours with Rome In Limo can you tell me how the payments at he end of the tours are handled i want to make sure i have enough bills in the right denominations. Thank You:)

[lucyintheskywithdiamonds]

Thank you so much for the great pics and the review!:)

[cruisinskier]

Hello, Cruisinskier, Thank you for all all the great photos and the awesome review. I'm also booked to do my tours with Rome In Limo can you tell me how the payments at he end of the tours are handled i want to make sure i have enough bills in the right denominations. Thank You:)

 

Hi solo, we basically paid the driver at the end of the tour the amount that we had been quoted plus a tip. In our case for some of our tours we had 2 drivers so i paid them individually. I don't think they really cared what denominations as long as it adds up.... Glad you are enjoying the review and have a great trip!

[cruisinskier]

So there is one area of the Magic that I have not really shown much of yet and that is where we spent most of this new found sea day....the pool area and Carnival Waterworks!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

OK, so for those of you who are thinking of the waterslides but are hesitating, we will show you now that anyone can do these waterslides. My in-laws were with us on this cruise I have have to say overall they are pretty cool people. Well they decided that they were going to do the slides....and they ended up with a quite a group of staff who wanted to come and watch. From the dining staff who had served my father-in-law the gluten free meals all week, to the Lido hostess, and then a couple of bartenders, they all showed up at 2:00pm to watch the big event.....and at age 75 and 73, I would think that they are probably the oldest to do the magic waterslides to date!!!!

 

 

Climbing up...

 

 

He made it down...

 

 

 

And so did she....

 

 

The survivors...

 

 

And not to be outdone, my SIL on the bowl...

[cruisinskier]

So after their successful waterslide adventure, there was only one thing we could do.....celebrate!!

 

 

 

 

The rest of the afternoon we relaxed and enjoyed the down day, we read some, we played mini golf (2 level course), we had a few beverages and we made the very best of our surprise sea day. That night we had dinner as usual in the Southerm Lights dining room and we said goodbye to the staff who had treated us well all through the cruise. We went and purchased a photo as we typically do on each cruise, we spent a little time in the casino, and somewhere in there we spent some time packing up....our cruise was almost at an end :(

[rlyans]

I hope you keep it coming? I'm looking forward to hearing about Barcelona. We are going in to Barcelona 4 day before our july!17 cruise on the magic. So please tell us all you can about Barcelona and the best things you found to do!!! Thanks for sharing, rlyans

[Prairie_Gal]

Too bad you missed out on Monaco. Can't wait to hear about Barcelona.

[mooshipalmdale]

Love your review. We are doing 2 Rome in Limo tours also. One with Marios in Sicily and one with Johnny's in Naples. Am getting so excited!!

 

We leave next week for Europe and will be traveling for 12 days before our June 12 Magic cruise. I am debating if I should pack suits for the men or not. Would they be out of place in dress shirts and ties for elegant night instead of suits?

 

Thanks!!:)

[cruisinskier]

I hope you keep it coming? I'm looking forward to hearing about Barcelona. We are going in to Barcelona 4 day before our july!17 cruise on the magic. So please tell us all you can about Barcelona and the best things you found to do!!! Thanks for sharing, rlyans

 

Hi rlyans, given you have asked for it I will provide some info and pics from the Barcelona days shortly......have a great trip!!

[cruisinskier]

Love your review. We are doing 2 Rome in Limo tours also. One with Marios in Sicily and one with Johnny's in Naples. Am getting so excited!!

 

We leave next week for Europe and will be traveling for 12 days before our June 12 Magic cruise. I am debating if I should pack suits for the men or not. Would they be out of place in dress shirts and ties for elegant night instead of suits?

 

Thanks!!:)

 

Hi moo, You will enjoy your tours with RIL...they will treat you very well!! With regards to men's suits, that is an ongoing question for the Europe itineraries given baggage allowance limits. We only had one formal night on our 9 day cruise given the length of time in ports.....however all 6 men in our party did bring suits and ties. I would say that over 75% of the dining room had jackets on from what I vaguely remember. I know some on our roll call rented tuxs from Carnival to avoid bring suits so that is another option. In the end I am sure they would be fine in shirts and ties but our cruise was mostly in jackets....could have been an inaugural thing as well?? We also wore them to the steakhouse so as to get an extra wear out of them.....

[cruisinskier]

Well, the final morning of our cruise had arrived. We were not in a big hurry to get off the Magic as we were staying in Barcelona for 3 days post cruise. We tried to sleep in some but the announcements started around 6:30 am and seemed to be louder than they had been all week?? So around 7:00 we dragged ourselves out of bed, had a quick shower and headed to the buffet. We had a leisurely breakfast and I have to say the Lido was not the least bit crowded....totally different from the days where everyone had to be out of their cabins early morning and brought all their stuff to breakfast with them. I think a large number of people did carry off with their own luggage.

 

We enjoyed breakfast and hung out around the back of Lido awaiing our number to be called (we were one of the last as we were not flying out and not doing a cruise tour) and around 9:00 our number was called. When we arrived to "ding" off the boat for the final time, there were no more than 10 people in line....one of the shortest lines ever. We made our way to the luggage area and again it was nicely organized by number, we found our luggage and we were off. We knew that our hotel room would not be ready in the morning so we had arranged a tour with Barcelona Day Tours to take us and all our luggage from the cruise port around town for 4-5 hours and then drop us at the hotel....and it seemed to be a great deal for 37 euros pp!!

 

When we arrived outside we could not locate our name...but within 5 minutes they arrived and we loaded up to go explore Barcelona.....

 

 

Barcelona Port...another true working port

 

 

The Panama flag flying while we were docked in Barcelona

 

 

One last look at the Magic from the terminal

 

 

Our tour bus for the day.....lots of room for the 12 of us!!

 

 

And storage for all our luggage...