Magic Trans (boy it's a big ocean) Atlantic Review

[capndinghy]

can't wait to read more. Have done several Transatlantic from Barcelona . I am enjoying your photo's as well.:)

 

Thank you again everyone for your kind words. Here are some links to other reviews that I have written, should you be really bored and tired of counting the tiles on the ceiling.

 

Link to Vancouver Hawaii Cruise Review on Carnival Spirit http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1279418

 

Link to Valentines Day Cruise Review on Carnival Ecstasy http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1366626

 

Link to May 8 Mother's Day Cruise Review on Carnval Splendor http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1418952

 

Link to Behind the Scenes Tour Review http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1392822

[capndinghy]

So as our ship slowly sailed into the sunset we continued our party.

 

We toasted to a good voyage!

Magic Canon Elf Photos 022 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

Introduced ourselves to one another.

Magic Canon Elf Photos 023 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

Enjoyed our Cocktails.

Magic Canon Elf Photos 020 - Copy by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

Watched the wharf disappear.

Magic Canon Elf Photos 019 - Copy by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

We danced.

Magic Canon Elf Photos 016 - Copy by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

And had a great time as the sun slowly sank in the West.

Magic Canon Elf Photos 030 by capndinghy, on Flickr

Our Trans Atlantic Voyage Had Begun!

[English Tim]

My main regret was missing those exciting first few days and so missing getting to know you all that bit better, but there's always next time. Cruises are undoubtedly more fun when in a group.

[capndinghy]

My main regret was missing those exciting first few days and so missing getting to know you all that bit better, but there's always next time. Cruises are undoubtedly more fun when in a group.

 

Tim...we too missed you and Rosy during the Sail Away. You were both in our thoughts as you went about your sad duties of making the Funeral Arrangements for your Mum. We are so glad that you were able to join us in Malaga. Your Cocktail Parties were the hit of the Voyage. The fact that we all knew one another made all the difference in the world and truly made this a special voyage across the sea.

[star453]

Fantastic start Chuck:) Can't wait to hear more:D

[mamacat18]

Go Capt'n - Love your reviews!

[Sailaweigh]

Great job, Chuck....Keep it coming!

[capndinghy]

I am loving your review. While I wait for more I will be reading your Hawaii review. Love the pictures. We have a transatlanic coming up next Nov. with a stop in Barcelona

could you tell me the cost of the tapas were the some more expensive then others ( seafood more the veggies) Enjoy your cruise! Waiting for more

 

As to the price of Tapas, I think it depends upon the Tapas Bar. The place we were at all the Tapas were 1.60 Euro each no matter what they were. I think it was a pretty good deal. This Tapas bar is located on the corner of the square at the Barcelona Cathedral. It surely is a fun place to eat!

Enjoy your trip next November!

 

Here are some more Tapas!

[helicopter]

the page on Carnival that let's you see what the fare is for a particular day that your booked:confused: Trying to keep up with fare without having to always enter all the sailing information:eek:

[Sailaweigh]

the page on Carnival that let's you see what the fare is for a particular day that your booked:confused: Trying to keep up with fare without having to always enter all the sailing information:eek:

 

Hope you can figure it out with this...

 

www dot carnival dot com slash BookingEngine slash FareViewer#

[capndinghy]

Our 16 day voyage from Barcelona to Galveston included stops at the ports of Palma de Majorca, Malaga, Spain, Las Canarias, Canary Islands and originally Grand Turk, which was cancelled and replaced with a 2 day layover in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

(more on that later)

 

I decided to put some stickers on our Cabin Door so as to make it easy to find. Our Cabin was kept immaculently clean by our Cabin Steward Alfararie (like the sports car). When he first introduced himself at embarkation I slipped him an extra $40 gratuitiy. I told him this was extra on top of his normal auto tip and I was sure he would take good care of us. The smile on his face told me all I needed to know. I have noticed some reviews complaining about their cabin service. I suspect if everyone is generous, nice, and do not treat their service staff like slaves they too would receive excellent care.

Magic Transatlantic 462 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

Our first port of call after sailing from Barcelona was the city of Palma located on the island of Majorca. Majorca is about 1 nite steaming time (or a 42 minute flight) from Barcelona in the Med.

Magic Transatlantic 014 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

Being the curious tourists we are, Pat and I booked a tour that was to take us by bus around the city and then over the mountains and across the island to a quaint little town called Sollier. So we of course practiced our genuflecting as we passed by the (usual) Churchs and Cathedrals taking a quick tour of Palma before driving over and through th mountains to to Sollie

 

Magic Transatlantic 020 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

 

It was quite scenic and they were having the Saturday morning Bazzaar in Sollier.

Magic Transatlantic 064 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

Pat and I had a great time exploring this quaint little city. The town square was bordered by of course “The Church” as well as several little Cafes and small shops.

Magic Transatlantic 054 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

It was raining on and off so we found this little cafe and joined n with the locals for some cafe and queso (cheese). I love these old places because they REALLY are old. This cafe was probably at least one hundred years old I bet and it had atmosphere.(unlike McDonalds). I really was surprised that none of our fellow fellow floating tourists sampled the fresh food in this lovely little place. (Perhaps they had run out of Euros to unload s?)

Magic Transatlantic 061 by capndinghy, on Flickr

[capndinghy]

We rode back on a narrow guage railroad train that was built in 1912 (I think). This area is renowned for it's citrus and the train allowed the growers to ship their Lemons across the island to the port and thus make Lemonade.

Magic Transatlantic 086 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very scenic ride across and through the mountains as we passed little towns and went through some really long tunnels.

Magic Transatlantic 137 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

Our hour train ride back delivered us back to Palma de Majorca where we boarded our "tourist" bus back to the waiting ship and a nice lunch.

Magic Transatlantic 153 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

I really enjoyed our visit to Palma de Majorca since I have always wanted to visit there and have finally gotten a chance to.

[CapsR1]

This is such an awesome review; love your style of writing. The photos are fabulous as well!

We were in Barcelona this past July 2011 where we cruised on RCCL Liberty of the Seas.

Barcelona was a wonderful city, friendly people, good food and lots to do! Your city pictures brought back fond memories for me.

[capndinghy]

This is such an awesome review; love your style of writing. The photos are fabulous as well!

We were in Barcelona this past July 2011 where we cruised on RCCL Liberty of the Seas.

Barcelona was a wonderful city, friendly people, good food and lots to do! Your city pictures brought back fond memories for me.

 

Why Thank you CapR1! I appreciate you kind words. We too really enjoyed Barcelona as well and the people, food, and scenery is great. They apprecaited my efforts in speaking spanish..as bad as it may be.

[smitty89]

Signing on to this review! Love your style and sense of humor!

[T. Advisor King]

Thanks for the review so far. So much written yet we're still looking forward to your description of the ship. We were on the Magic in July and had a good time.

 

I will make two contrasting comments. First, we booked the Hotel Colon in Barcelona for two nights for two rooms (I don't share well with my kids while on vacation, for obvious reasons) before our cruise. It is about a quarter mile from Las Ramblas. That would qualify as "just off" in my books but perhaps not in others'. We paid a total of $674.24 via Expedia when we booked in March. So that is just under $169 per night, per room. Not sure why your one room was $450 per night. Ours were third floor, facing the cathedral, so pretty much same as yours.

 

The other comment, which I make at the risk of contradicting an expert in his profession, is that we absolutely loved Iberia Air. Our vacation started in Venice. We flew from Venice to Barcelona via Madrid on Iberia and had zero problems. The next leg after our trip was Barcelona to Nice, which again we did via Iberia with no problems. The fare was inexpensive (921 pounds sterling for both sets of flights for four passengers via the Expedia UK website) and my only recollection was that everything was on time or very close. We had no problems and therefore no concerns with the fact we didn't pay double or more to find a direct flight from Venice to Barcelona.

[Eileen2]

Thanks for the memories of Sollier and isn't Palma a treat ? Great Review look forward to reading more:)

[capndinghy]

Thanks for the review so far. So much written yet we're still looking forward to your description of the ship. We were on the Magic in July and had a good time.

 

I will make two contrasting comments. First, we booked the Hotel Colon in Barcelona for two nights for two rooms (I don't share well with my kids while on vacation, for obvious reasons) before our cruise. It is about a quarter mile from Las Ramblas. That would qualify as "just off" in my books but perhaps not in others'. We paid a total of $674.24 via Expedia when we booked in March. So that is just under $169 per night, per room. Not sure why your one room was $450 per night. Ours were third floor, facing the cathedral, so pretty much same as yours.

 

The other comment, which I make at the risk of contradicting an expert in his profession, is that we absolutely loved Iberia Air. Our vacation started in Venice. We flew from Venice to Barcelona via Madrid on Iberia and had zero problems. The next leg after our trip was Barcelona to Nice, which again we did via Iberia with no problems. The fare was inexpensive (921 pounds sterling for both sets of flights for four passengers via the Expedia UK website) and my only recollection was that everything was on time or very close. We had no problems and therefore no concerns with the fact we didn't pay double or more to find a direct flight from Venice to Barcelona.

 

 

T...thanks for you comments. We stayed at the Hotel Colon for 2 nights. I did not make that very clear. So I think you got a better deal there than I did.

 

What American does is code share and partner with Iberia. They sell connections through Madrid showing American Flight Numbers when it is in fact an IB flight. A lot of inexperienced travelers are confused by this, thinking they are on AAL out of Madrid. That is what I saw. I speak spanish and was able to figure things out. Many folks could not and the lack of Iberiia passenger service personell in Madrid made it even more confusing. But hey, the price is right!

[capndinghy]

The Guttersnipes, numbering 23, had a cabin crawl. This is an activity where we all visit various cabins to see what they the different cabins look like. Our group had the whole gambit of cabins consisting of inside 2 bed, porthole only, spa deck (with unlimited spa privledges), balcony, cove balcony (which are really neat, they are on deck 2 and the balcony is very close to the water) and a full size Suite.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 046 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

As you can see some of the folks really went out of their way to decorate their doors. I contest! It was fun, seeing the different typse of cabins.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 054 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

In fact, this door and the door next door to it won th first prizes in a door decorating contests!

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 073 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

A playing card was handed out at each stop. At the end of the 'crawl' the best poker hand wins. Since everyone had kicked in $5 , there was a nice sum for the winner. Wanda and Rex shared the grand prize totally $45 each!

Nice little door prizes were awarded

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 045 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

And even the losers got a goofy hat.

Thank you Lisa & Todd, Susan& Foster, Betsy, Donna&Rick, Deb&Phillip, and John & Pat for so generously sharing your cabins with us.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 065 by capndinghy, on Flickr

[capndinghy]

After our 'group activities' we all attended the Cruise Critic Roll Call Meet and Greet. What an interesting (and boring) gathering.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 078 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

These folks (the self appointed leaders) even had a Bouncer at the door who ejected one of the nicest guys I have ever met. I was later told by the leader that he “didnt' like him”. They then held fort for 1 1/2 hours blowing smoke and inflating their over size egos.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 077 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

This is the fellow who was escorted out of the Meet and Greet by the Bouncer. Does he look like a dastardly menace to you? He sure doesn't to me either!

Magic Transatlantic Voyage 111 by capndinghy, on Flickr

There was no meeting and no greeting due to the almost School like Assembly type atmosphere. In fact some folks talking were admonished to be quiet! I was surprised. I always thought a meet and greet was a gathering to meet new people. Not at this one. What a waste of time.

I will say that James the Cruise Director did stop by along with the Captain, Chief Engineer, and Hotel Director, which no doubt made the organizers feel empowered.

 

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 076 by url=http://www.flickr.com/people/28058889@N06/]capndinghy[/url], on Flickr

 

We Guttersnipes of course did not let that stop us. We gathered in the back of the room and enjoyed libations while we visited and laughed at the folly going on.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 071 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

 

 

Most of the people I did meet later on were great and I really enjoyed having a chance to meet them. Luckily for me, only a few were of the people there were downright nasty, and rude. (They were probably the ones who wanted me to walk the plank.) Our group seemed to be the only people there who were visiting and having a good time with each other.

 

Canon Elf Transatlantic Photos 130 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

I have been told that this Meet and Greet was the exception, not the norm. Most Meet and Greets are gathering where people get to know one another and make new friends!

[JustCruizeIt59]

We had 31 Guttersnipes (you forgot to count some of the spouses), and John Heald posted we had 3,800+ floaters on board. No wonder we could never find a quiet place on board in the public areas during our crossing.

[Sargent_Schultz]

After our 'group activities' we all attended the Cruise Critic Roll Call Meet and Greet. What an interesting (and boring) gathering.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 078 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

These folks (the self appointed leaders) even had a Bouncer at the door who ejected one of the nicest guys I have ever met. I was later told by the leader that he “didnt' like him”. They then held fort for 1 1/2 hours blowing smoke and inflating their over size egos.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 077 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

This is the fellow who was escorted out of the Meet and Greet by the Bouncer. Does he look like a dastardly menace to you? He sure doesn't to me either!

Magic Transatlantic Voyage 111 by capndinghy, on Flickr

There was no meeting and no greeting due to the almost School like Assembly type atmosphere. In fact some folks talking were admonished to be quiet! I was surprised. I always thought a meet and greet was a gathering to meet new people. Not at this one. What a waste of time.

I will say that James the Cruise Director did stop by along with the Captain, Chief Engineer, and Hotel Director, which no doubt made the organizers feel empowered.

 

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 076 by url=http://www.flickr.com/people/28058889@N06/]capndinghy[/url], on Flickr

 

We Guttersnipes of course did not let that stop us. We gathered in the back of the room and enjoyed libations while we visited and laughed at the folly going on.

Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 071 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

 

 

Most of the people I did meet later on were great and I really enjoyed having a chance to meet them. Luckily for me, only a few were of the people there were downright nasty, and rude. (They were probably the ones who wanted me to walk the plank.) Our group seemed to be the only people there who were visiting and having a good time with each other.

 

Canon Elf Transatlantic Photos 130 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

I have been told that this Meet and Greet was the exception, not the norm. Most Meet and Greets are gathering where people get to know one another and make new friends!

 

I think you got this one pegged correctly. I thought it might be long winded and boring.

[capndinghy]

I received the following message to my latest installment:

“I was enjoying this review til the name calling started. Was nice while it lasted.”

I shall make the following disclaimer:

'This review is purely the observations of the reviewer.'

Shold you not like what you read, the solution is easy. The caustic comment above is exactly the attitude portrayed by some on the Roll Call Board. (note: I reread and could not find any name calling, unless Lemming has degraded to that status.

 

 

As one my expect one meets several real Characters on a ship with 3,800 Fellow Floaters. One such person is my new friend Storm'n Norm. Norm is the fellow that the "Roll Call Leaders" ostracized because the leader was afraid Norm's great personality would overshadow the 'leader's control.

Norm is from Australia, has cruised almost 100 times, and no matter where he goes, he has friends. His trademark is goofy hats. I really enjoyed spending time with him and everywhere you would see him, someone would stop him to say hello or to visit.

 

Magic Canon Elf Photos 031 by capndinghy, on Flickr

What a nice guy.

 

Another Character who made quite the name for himself is Les Babie. “Babie”, who dances to the beat of a different drummer, is a flambouyant character who provided quite a bit of entertainment (most x-rated) on our ocean crossing. As you can see by Les' brightly colored hair...he does stand out. Les hosted a wine tasting in his room that for some reason was busted up by security; who told everyone that they could not gather in someone's room. It seem as though Carnival makes up rules as it goes!

Magic Transatlantic 166 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

As we all know the Holidays are right around the corner. It seems that even Santa Claus needs a vacation. I guess he was enjoying some quality time before returning to work with the Elves getting toys (or in my case Coal) ready for Delivery!

Santa Claus by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

One person who made a huge impact on this cruise is our friend (English) Tim and his lovely wife Rosy. Tim, who is from the UK, signed up a year in advance for this cruise and was quite active on the Roll Call Board. Tim single handedly set up two (2) all you could drink Cocktail Parties. These 2 parties were indeed Meet and Greets. I will of course cover them in detail a bit later on. A week before the cruise Tragedy struck Tim's family when his Mum died unexpectedly. So it was with a heavy heart and grief that Tim and Rosey caught up with the Ship in Malaga to finish the rest of the cruise to Galveston.

 

Tim Limbaugh by capndinghy, on Flickr

Rosy

Rosy by capndinghy, on Flickr

To Make matters worse some dirty rotten person stole Tim's camera at the end of the Voyage and he lost priceless photos of not only the voyage, but of his Mum's funeral as well!

 

I have shared out just a few of the many interesting people who made up the passenger list of the Magic on this voyage. What a great group of people!

 

[capndinghy]

Several replys have been removed from my review!!

 

Why?

[Eileen2]

Enjoying your review. Wish we had been on that cruise and in your group. Please tell me why did you choose Guttersnipe for your groups name? I haven't seen or heard that word for years :)