Carnival Magic - 12 Days in Med review....

[TheCaveman]

We found some local wildlife

 

On the ivy wall we spotted spider-cat. Yes, here is Spider-cat.

 

This cat was quite high up the wall....

[TheCaveman]

Below is just the pictures we took walking around teh place:

 

 

Below you can see our destination, the Beach

 

[TheCaveman]

Some local artist work on display:

 

The walk back down the ramp

 

[TheCaveman]

WE went back to the ship, ate breakfast on lido, grabbed our beach gear, and went to the beach, as there was nothing more we could do there.

It was HOT HOT HOT

Beach was a bit odd, or rather just Italian. Maybe it was the language. We went to get two chairs and umbrella and guy chase us away saying it’s a private beach. Now, we are used to rules in Spain, for example, that you are picking chairs whichever you want to, then “beach guy” is coming over and is selling you tickets for chairs and if you want, for umbrella. And you got that for the whole day. So we said to that guy, we want to pay for chairs and umbrella, but he was keep saying its private and we have to leave. So we start walking along the beach and tried another place nearby and same situation happened, guy came and chased us away saying it’s a private. So eventually we saw life guard tower and we just simply asked him, if this is a completely private beach (which we didn’t believe) or what is the story here. He said that beach is divided into private sections with bars and chairs, but you can easily rent a chair if you want to, just instead of walking down the beach, you should go straight to the bar placed in a particular section and pay for chairs. That’s what we did and it finally worked

 

 

Can you see the ship ?

 

finally, we were on the beach.

 

 

[TheCaveman]

As you can see, it was qiute busy, kinda like the lido deck on sea days, but more on that later

 

The Beach were very rockey, as in, sandals came in very handy for the walk down to the water.

 

Lunch at this place were basic, as they had a "siesta" right when we wanted to eat, so we had to settle for this culinary feast

 

[TheCaveman]

Anyway, water was brilliant, warm and nice, but beach itself was rocky. You can’t really walk to the water without shoes. So people are wearing flip flops and taking them off just before they take a dip in. We spend nice day there, was hot, around 32 degrees Celsius / 91'F and we thought it was the hottest day ever……how wrong we were.

 

 

 

Funny looking building that !

 

[TheCaveman]

Anyway, so we walked back to teh ship, and came across this sign....

 

I have no idea what it means ? ? ?

 

Anybody care to take a guess?

 

 

No backflips into the water?

 

 

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

Back onboard, we just relaxed, and went for dinner.

 

 

Starters were Good

 

 

[TheCaveman]

Dod were the "Leombards" dont know where they come up with these names....

 

[TheCaveman]

The movie on the Seaside theatre today were:

 

But, mot my kind of movie, so, i kept myself entertained

 

 

It was a long hot day, as the lido were empty, people were at dinner

 

[TheCaveman]

[rambler57]

Starters arrived

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Idea how you pronounce this dish, came highly recommended by Boris. Well, lets just say, I only ate 25% of it

 

 

looks like linguine with clam sauce.;)

[TheCaveman]

Went to the Destination Unknown show, starring Jason Byrne. A Magic show. Brilliant!! Fantastic!!!!

Well, I have to say, it was so far, the best show we saw on any ship so far.

We went to both comedy club adult shows tonight we well. Jerry Goodspeed was there again with his puppet, was very good.

Again, went to our room, place was spotless, with cute animal, but, still did not meet our room steward. Hmmm, maybe he was a ninja like they say….

 

The movies playing in the room today were:

Little fockers & Secretariat

 

Tomorrow we are in Rome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[KrystalWaters]

Excellent review! I love your photo journalism. Keep it coming! Eagerly waiting for your next installments :D

[rambler57]

Great review, love the pic's;)

[TheCaveman]

One thing I like about John Heald, is that, I asked him a question on Facebook, and he replied.

I asked him, once the ship dock in Civitavecchia for Rome, what time can we be off the ship?

His reply was: as soon as the gangway is secured.

We ordered some room service for breakfast, and it was promptly delivered at 6.

Well, we headed down at 6:40, for the 7am advertised arrival, to be early in the line.

We got to deck zero and, we just walked off…. At about 6:50, great, we were about 15 people already off the ship. There were 3 or 4 other ships already docked, beside us, but they were still getting ready to let people off. So, Carnival wins here by a mile.

Now, we had 2 options, wait for the free shuttle bus to the gates of the port, or walk to the train station ourselves. Hmmm, it did not look “that” far, so we walked.

About 20 min later, we were at the gate. Than, a short walk to the train station (few minutes), got our tickets, and waited for the train.

 

 

And, yes, we did tip

 

 

Milk for the cofee, came is a square carton box, with only a "straw" opening

 

[TheCaveman]

AS we got off, the Photographers were still setting up.

 

We were off teh ship, and i took this

 

 

All the busses lined up, waiting to take people off on there excursions

 

We reached the gate, and headded towards the train station

 

 

Finally we were there.

 

Buying tickets at the station is verry easy, dont do it at teh ticket office, or the machine, just go to the shop in the station, as you will need water anyway, and but it there. Once bought, you have to validate tickets in this yellow box thingy on the wall

 

 

[TheCaveman]

At 7:55, train arrives, and disaster. It was a stampede. People were just going crazy to get on the train. As it is a normal commuter train, there were limited seats, and a lot of people had to stand or sit on floor. DG said it was quite traumatic to her, as she’s claustrophobic and hates crowds. She doesn’t mind standing or sitting on the floor, it’s just the whole crowd, few hundred people or that Is what it felt like, pushing each other to get on the train was traumatising. The journey to central Rome lasted just about an hour.

 

 

And we are onboard, and off to Rome.

 

This guy in front of me kept me entertained, as he used his phone to look at some "interesting" websites...

[TheCaveman]

Now, all parents, please read this section….

 

 

Ok, this is what I observed, and my side of the story. And as you know, there are 2 sides to every story. I would love to hear the other side.

As we had a nice walking tour planned for Rome, our first stop was the Colosseum. As we waited for the train, there were a family next to us, Mom, Dad, and 3 daughters. I am guessing their ages were 11 – 15 but I could be completely off.

They were talking about there excursion to the Colosseum, and I thought great, we will follow them there, so we don’t get lost.

Once on the train, they all sat together, in front of us, One of the daughters, the youngest one, gets up, and stand next to mom on the other side of isle.

As she is doing it, somebody sits on her seat, as there are a lot of people standing.

Than some back and forth talking ensure, that that is her seat, but person who sat down, well keeps that chair.

Now, remember, we are on a commuter train, heading towards Rome, in a foreign country. The family is American / Canadian

After a while, Dad gets up. Little daughter is sitting on moms lap now, as she lost her seat.

 

There were loads of people standing, and sitting on the ground.

Dad goes off, comes back a bit later, and tells family, he found all open seats, family can sit together.

So, off they all went to go sit someware together, as Dad provided for them., except one of the other daughters, who, with her iPod with big earphones, wanted to stay where she was.. AS they were right in front of us, I saw all of this.

So, what happens next, all happens in about 10 seconds

We arrive in Rome, at Roma St Pietro Station, I see daughter, who is alone now, gets up, looking around confused. I am guessing she is around 13 – 15 years old.

Next thing, I see her outside the train, looking around for her family on the platform. This is when I told my DG, that girl is getting off at wrong stop, as I knew we both are supposed to get off two stops later. DG stood up trying to indicate to the girl that she should come back on the train.

The doors close, and train moves to next station.

30 seconds later, I can see Dad & Mom, walking around, looking for daughter.

As they walked past me, I told the dad, his daughter, with the big earphones, got off at previous station

The look on the mom’s face, when she heard, and realised they lost their daughter, well, I will remember it for a long time, Dad, well, I am not sure he believed me. But mother was full of panic. She started crying. Her daughter is old enough and probably wise enough to wait for them at the stop where she get off.

This is the photo I took of the girl on platform as we drove off. - I decided not to post it, as, well, just because.

Mom told tad, I told you this would happen, I told you, and you should come get her earlier. – Something to that effect.

So we arrive at next station, and, they get off. Not sure what happened, but, train was delayed for about 10-15 min, I could see dad walking around looking for daughter

Moral of the story is….

Well, I will say this, as I don’t have kids, and, I do hope the dad reads this.

Dad, you are an idiot.

What was wrong with the seats you had downstairs, and, if you had to move, for some important reason, that only you knew about, you could have told your daughter to join you other side of the train or upstairs, that is your job, to keep your family safe. And not leave her there alone and confused as to which station she should get off.

What I would have done if it was me….

Well, first off, each child will have a phone, to be use only in emergencies, as this was clearly one. And, come on, roaming is not that expensive and the safety of your family should value more than cost of roaming.

And, as you were in a foreign country, on a train you never took before, full of strangers, and you have 3 young daughters…. at least stay within eyesight of each other. Anybody seen Taken, Hostel, Trade, etc.?????

Ok, enough of that….

Back to Rome.

[TheCaveman]

We, got off at the correct station, Roma Ostiense, and jumped on the B-line tram to colloseum.

 

 

Whilst standing here, waiting for the tram, we could feel today was going to be a HOT day.

 

 

When we got of the tram, and out of the station, we were greeted by this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, it took us approx 2.5h to get from the ship, to the collessum

[TheCaveman]

So, arrived there nice and early. But, it was closed today, till 12, for some reason unknown to us. It was strange as we heard some of the people had tickets for a tour starting at 9:30……Italy, get used to it. We were planning to go inside, a well….

Well, not the end of the world to us, we just walked around it,

 

[TheCaveman]

This buidling is truley amazing, and, if you saw Gladiator, well, that was just not a movie set, it really happened in here. all those years ago.

 

 

[TheCaveman]

WEll, like I said, it was closed till 12.... Nobody knew why?

 

We did not hang around to find out why.

 

From the Colosseum, we walk along Via dei Fori Imperiali to Piazza Venezia. From the street, you’ll get great views of the Roman Forum.

 

[TheCaveman]

Roman forum:

 

[TheCaveman]