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

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

We finally arrived in the Sistine Chapel

 

Well, taking photo's in here is not allowed.

 

There are guards walking around, telling people to switch off cameras,

 

And as more people comes in, and more leave, there is a constant barrage of camera flasses goes off.

 

I was told to switch off my camera, whilst the guard ignored the brunet woman next to me... Hmmm

 

Anyway, I was a good boy, and did not take one picture in there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took a few ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, as I had to be quick, and could not really focus.

 

 

 

I will post 2 better quality pictures, courtesy of Wikkileaks, I mean wikipedia.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both these well knows paintings were painted by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, commonly knows as Michelangelo

 

For those of you that still dont know who he is, it is the same guy who created:

 

 

 

Lastly, here is something I am sure you did not know....

 

In a demonstration of Michelangelo's unique standing, he was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive.

[TheCaveman]

Here is my version of the picture above

 

 

 

 

Now, if you plan on doing a Vatican visit, like we did, we planned to see most of it, but not do the complete tour, as we knew of a short-cut, that, after we have seen the Sistine chapel, we could exit, and arrive at St. Peter’s Square. And save a 40ish min walk around the Vatican’s walls. The whole tour in Vatican’s museums takes at least 2, 3 hours. If you have time to do that, fine. But we didn’t, that’s why we found out about the “illegal” for private visitors route and only legal for group tours, as they are paying extra not to be dragged all over Vatican museums and use short a cut. Anyway, we managed to join a Polish tour group, since my DG was speaking same language as they did. We just went with them and she was just mumbling to me in Polish pretending we are from this group. It worked!

 

 

 

But, I am sure if you are allone, you could just walk down there....

 

 

And, within 30 seconds, you will see this....

 

 

The queue that you can see in hte bottom right hand corner, is the entrance to the cupola on the roof of St Peters.

[TheCaveman]

After that we went to the souvenir shop to get a cross for my sister, as I promised her. And to prove to her it was bought in Vatican, my DG did a photo with a nun who sold this cross.

 

 

 

 

The Entry into St Peters, largest church in the world

 

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

View from the top.

[TheCaveman]

The Copula

 

Here is what it says in the broucure:

Once you have arrived at the Cupola you are able to see over the roof of St. Peter's. In the foreground are the 13 statues of Christ and various disciples and Apostles lining the top of the massive façade. Beyond is St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro), built to be the same size and shape as the Colosseum. From this height the travertine lines set into the square are clearly visible radiating from the central obelisk capped with a cross. The ellipses of the colonnades, each made of 4 rows of Doric columns, is clearly visible from this height, and at the focal point of each are 2 fountains. It is hard to imagine what St. Peter's Square would look like were it full of the estimated 300,000 people meant to be able to gather here.

 

 

 

There are two ways of getting there. One stairs – 525 or so. Second – lift…..and stairs 323 or so. So no big difference. The difference is the last part, as the corridor is very narrow and claustrophobic. DG on a daily basis can handle lifts, but slim corridor, up the stairs, with heat 35 degrees Celsius (95F???) it was too much. She went into panic and wanted to go back at some stage. Unfortunately there were people in a front of us and on the back of us and impossible to turn back. So she has to calm down and go up and she managed that. Well, she did, and the views were worth it.

 

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

 

 

[TheCaveman]

Walking down is much better that walking up.

 

This gives you an idea....

 

 

 

 

WE were right at the top

 

 

And, finally, we are in the square

 

[TheCaveman]

The Swiss Guard, garding the place

 

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

As it was getting late, we headded back to the Ship.

 

This time, it was an uneventfull train journey

 

Once back onboard, we headded straight for the pool to cool off.

 

today's DOD was - the Roman

 

 

We had dinner tonight on the Lido deck, as we could not be bothered to change for a dinner.

[TheCaveman]

There were quite a few ships in port today. Here are they, all leaving, one after another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

 

 

[TheCaveman]

 

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

Than we went to the Showtime Theatre, to check out the Murder Mystery gameshow.

And, we won out first ship on a stick.

Later that evening we went to watch Karaokee, I mean Carnival Legends auditions on the Lido deck

It was great fun, as we watched the drunken people sing, well, they sounded drunk.

I went to the cabin to get something, and when I got there, our door was open, and I caught them, red handed; cleaning our cabin, I finally met our Cabin Steward.

 

 

 

[TheCaveman]

When we finally went to bed, this guy was there.

 

Main movie on Lido deck today was... you guessed it, Gladiator. It was on at 19:30 and again at midnight.

 

Movie on TV was Little Fockers and Despicable me.

 

[TheCaveman]

Can't wait to hear about the cruise from a more 'foreign' perspective! And I love the boxerchips! Never seen those before - so cute! :D

 

May I also ask the name of your hotel and what the rate was? Was the location good?

 

In Barcelona, we stayed at the Hotel Grums

 

http://www.hotelgrumsbarcelona.com/eng/contents/hotel

 

It is a 4* place, with spa, etc

 

We did not use any of the facility's, as we arrived late, and left early.

 

We did stay there again on our return, for 2 more days after the cruise.

 

We paid €120 / $170 for the 2 of us, including breakfast, per day.

 

To us, this is really "cheap" for the location.

 

It was within walking distance of everything we needed.

[Falls Cruiser]

Love your review!! You are doing a wonderful job. I feel like I have just toured Rome. Your pictures are amazing! I've bookmarked your review so I can read some everyday! I hope to sail on Magic someday!

[Kandie12]

Loving the review! Am enjoying all the pictures & little tidbits about the ports & ship you are posting! Carnival Magic will be coming to Galveston & this is the ship we will be cruising on next year's cruise! Love the pics of the ports! :D

[WestCoastCruiser123]

I agree with the last 2 posters. I love this review. I laughed when I saw the towel animal character. I've never seen that before and I know how everyone on here loves their towel animals.

 

Great Rome pics. I'm exhausted from my tour :D

 

That poor little girl on the train. I hope she found someone at the wrong station who could help her. I'm guessing that family will stick together and have an emergency meeting location for the rest of their lives.

[luv cruising 007]

WOW AMAZING! Thanx so much for the time & hard work your putting into this excellent photo review of your fun 12 day med(magic) cruise vacation! This is one of/if not the best photo reviews I have ever read through! Thanx for the great details on the ports(so far) & ship!Im On the edge of my seat waiting for more & your next port! My fav so far, being a Formula one fan is you guys going though the tunnel in Monaco, Wish I was there along with you!:D

[nanuak]

Thanks for the review and wonderful pictures!

[maryann2]

Wewere flying Dublin to Barcelona.

 

Saw our plane, well one of them....

 

Day 3 - Savona. Italy

 

 

So, as this cruise was port intensive and not many options for a beach day, we planned it for today.

 

We got up, we were not hungry, and as we docked right in the middle of town, we got off the ship for a walk around. We walked through the nice, old looking, narrow streets.

 

 

I had to be drinking to much, as i started seeing towl animals everywhere

 

WE stopped for some gelato, that is ice cream if you did not know, before we walked towards St. Peter’s Square

& the Basilica

 

 

 

 

I love these photos starting with the Aer Lingus plane, brings back so many memories. The towel animal on the dock, that has to be a first, and that gelato in Rome.

 

I am loving your review and thank you so much for taking the time to do it. I will be on the Magic next month.

[TheCaveman]

Thanks for all the comments

 

Still loads more to come. We are not even halfway yet.

 

Looking back, we really enjoyed the cruise. 12 Days was the perfect time to be on a ship.

 

There were a few negatives, I will get to them in due course, but, in general, it takes a lot for me / us to complain.

But, I was wondering, as, you who have cruised before, are we alone?

You know as you see the same people over and over, yet never speak to them, what we do, is started giveing them nicknames. So, Penguin-Lady, I will get to her later, Barbie, Chair-hog woman. – Yes, we had the ultimate chair Hog Woman onboard, and, yes, I do have her picture, and I will post in when I get there.

If there were a competition for the ultimate hog, she will win….

I will tell you now about Penguin-Lady.

“They” are on every ship. They go from game show to trivia, always first in line, always eager to win. They are very competitive.

The Naples night, , I went to Showtime lounge, to see the Big Screen Movie Trivia thing. As we wanted good seats for the show.

Anyway, so, the ACD tells us the rules, what it is about, etc.

So, this woman sits next to me, well close-ish. She scoots over, and asks me, if I want to team-up. As, we, and WE being the thing here, stands a better chance of winning if in a team.

Ok, makes sense to me, so we started talking, and, as per my accent, she ask me where am I from, we have the chat, so I ask her, what do we win if we win, what is the prize?

She tells me, a ship on a stick!!!

So I ask her, what is that? – Remember, I won one last night, but I am playing dumb here.

I am foreign after all, and she knows everything about everything. She is one of those people…

So in next 2 min, she explains to me, what you win on every ship, NCL vs Royal Carib, vs Carnival, and tells me carnival ship on a stick is “like” the worst, well one of the worst things you can win,

Anyway, I ask her, if we win, who gets the Ship on a Stick?

And, without a second’s hesitation, she said she, of course.

So, needless to say, we were not in a team.

After they asked the questions, and gave out all the answers, we tallied up the answers, and, I sucked, as I only got like 17 out of 35 correct.

But, one of the questions, I missed the answer. So I asked her, can se please tell me the answer. Well, she refused. She started telling me how this is a competition, and she cant assist other people.

OK

Guess what, she won….

After she got her trophy, as she was leaving, I asked her again, what is the answer to that question. She said, she still can’t tell me, as if that means we “draw” she cant share the trophy with me.

The only reason I wanted to know the answer, is that I was writing them all down.

So I have all the answers to the Big Screen Movie Trivia. If anybody is going on the Magic soon, I will post them all on here shortly, you can print it off, and get 100%, and, piss of one of “them” on your cruise.

We started seeing her everywhere. She was at everything possible where there was a prize involved.

But, the main reason we kept seeing her, is that she was always in the same clothes.

Well, either that, or she had 12 identical shirts.

Even when we had the pleasure to be with her and her poor husband in the People Mover in Venice.

More on that later.

Ok, so, I will be back tomorrow with more photos.

[maryencinitasgal]

I am going on the C. Magic Oct 16, It makes me very eager to go now! You are doing a great job with the review. I can hardly wait for the next parts.