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

capndinghy

By capndinghy,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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CanWeGoYet?

CanWeGoYet?

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I am enjoying this review, and eventually hope to do a transatlantic with Carnival. Thanks for putting up all the pictures, especially of the old churches. That & old castles are what I head for on a port day.

 

It looks like your guttersnipe group had a wonderful time!

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salboz

salboz

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Still sick, but getting better. Just read this review to date and have enjoyed it very much. I like seeing sights that I missed and having extra pictures to show my family, especially the sunrise scenes. Never was up early enough to see any of them.

 

The only objection I have, which is not exclusive to this review, is lumping all cruise critic members under one hat. With over 300 members, the majority were very nice and had lots of fun with several different people. I had never used face book before and didn't know how. (Still don't very much). But Charles and Betsy both kindly gave me some guidance that at least gave me a start. Also, a lot had apparently gone on before I joined so I didn't even know there was such a they and us thing going on. Too bad. Everyone loses when that happens as there were mostly great people in both groups.

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BallFour4

BallFour4

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Wow!

 

Add doing a crossing aboard a ship to my bucket list after retirement.

 

We were invited to spend the night aboard the ship in Galveston the Sunday you guys left, so I uploaded my ship images to Webshots. The link is here:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeusry/sets/72157628129712752/

 

On a side note, from a guy that's on a Southwest flight every Tuesday and Thursday, thanks for many, many safe returns home.

 

Lee

 

.

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capndinghy

capndinghy

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Still sick, but getting better. Just read this review to date and have enjoyed it very much. I like seeing sights that I missed and having extra pictures to show my family, especially the sunrise scenes. Never was up early enough to see any of them.

 

The only objection I have, which is not exclusive to this review, is lumping all cruise critic members under one hat. With over 300 members, the majority were very nice and had lots of fun with several different people. I had never used face book before and didn't know how. (Still don't very much). But Charles and Betsy both kindly gave me some guidance that at least gave me a start. Also, a lot had apparently gone on before I joined so I didn't even know there was such a they and us thing going on. Too bad. Everyone loses when that happens as there were mostly great people in both groups.

 

One of my fellow floaters, SalBoz, quite correctly pointed out that I may be lumping all Cruise Critic people together. Sally is right. With over 300 members on the Roll Call, almost everyone I met on that ship be them Cruise Critic Roll Call folks or not were just wonderful nice people. In fact Sally and I visited at Tim's Cocktail Party and I so enjoyed getting a chance to meet her.

Sally before you joined there were many posts dinegrating those "ugly people" on Facebook. That is when I became, contrary to what 'they' say, aware that there was indeed a "them" and us".

I have already been taken to task by one outspoken person from that group for my comments. I guess she did not like the fact that I pointed out that people were downright rude and made some really nasty comments while on the cruise.

 

 

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J&B in GA

J&B in GA

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One of my fellow floaters, SalBoz, quite correctly pointed out that I may be lumping all Cruise Critic people together. Sally is right. With over 300 members on the Roll Call, almost everyone I met on that ship be them Cruise Critic Roll Call folks or not were just wonderful nice people. In fact Sally and I visited at Tim's Cocktail Party and I so enjoyed getting a chance to meet her.

Sally before you joined there were many posts dinegrating those "ugly people" on Facebook. That is when I became, contrary to what 'they' say, aware that there was indeed a "them" and us".

I have already been taken to task by one outspoken person from that group for my comments. I guess she did not like the fact that I pointed out that people were downright rude and made some really nasty comments while on the cruise.

 

 

Hi Chuck,

 

Great photos and cruise review. DW & I were also members of the CC Roll Call and although we joined late, after much of the nastiness had subsided, we still met some very nice people from both the Gutersnipes and Magical Pond Hoppers while on-board the Magic. We remember seeing you and Pat several times, at Tim's cocktail parties, around Ron Pass' piano bar and our favorite pre-dinner hang out, The Red Frog Pub. Sorry we didn't introduce ourselves when we had the opportunity.

 

We joined this cruise by recommendation of a mutual friend, who wears "Funny Hats" ! :D We sailed with them last year on a Princess TA and were dinner mates at the Southern Lights MDR late seating, maybe you saw us there, as we had many visitors, especially the last night, when all of us wore funny hats. ;)

 

Take care, thanks for posting, and we look forward to reading the rest of your installments.

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capndinghy

capndinghy

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As the sun rose in the East our ship made its landfall with Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Pat and I had orginally booked a tour there but we just did not feel like going, so we didn't. (Isn't vacation fun) We had been up at the crack of dawn 3 days in a row, plus still dealing with the Jet Lag and time change.

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Magic Transatlantic 445 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

We did go for a walk around the surrounding port area. There was a brand new Shopping Mall located right at the Cruise Terminal Area so we mangaged to spend the rest of your Euros.

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Magic Transatlantic 215 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

There was Ho Ho (Hop on Hop off) bus service nearby. The HoHo are tourist buses running in most European cities that will take you on a tour. You can get off at your leisure and then reboard the next bus, assuming it isn't full. *I believe the Hoho fare was $16E in Las Palmas. We decided to forego the HoHo ride since there was a long line.

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Magic Transatlantic 472 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

After our brief stint ashore, we returned to the ship just in time for (yes you guessed it) lunch. Cheapsake that I am (plus I had spent all of my Euros at the Mall) I decided a Lido Lunch was in order.

 

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Magic Transatlantic 201 bycapndinghy, on Flickr

 

 

 

Pat and I usually had lunch in the Lido Dining area. Since most people were

ashore, the Lido had lots of room. We found that normally the Lido Area was Jam packed during peak Breakfast (8AM) and Lunch (12Noon) dining times. There were long lines and a real shortage of tables. One thing that made it worse was that many people would take over dining tables to have their Stupid Card Games. It never ceases to amaze me the audacity of some people. Hence the term Ugly American.

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Magic Transatlantic Voyage 010 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

One quite popular eating venue was the Delicattesan. Located on the aft area of the ship I found the sandwiches and the service as well quite good. One could get either hot of cold made to order Sandwiches and yes there were Potato Chips too!

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Magic Transatlantic Voyage 016 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

The Carvery Lunch Selections were good as well.There was a different speciality offered each day including Roast Beef, Ham, Turkey, Lamb, and other cuts of meat.

 

We did eat Lunch in the Main Dining Room once. The food itself was pretty

*good, however the service sucked. *It took almost 2 hours to eat lunch the time we were there, so we blew it off. *I think there was a lot of training of new personel on this Cruise.

 

We found if we timed our dining a bit after the peak old fogey (free-bee) food rush, the Lido was not too crowded. Overall I found the dining on the Lido Excellent. We did not partake in the CapitanCuppercino Italian Restaurant because Pat cannot tolerate any gluten and that is all Pasta is. However, everyone we visited with who had eaten there spoke very

 

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capndinghy

capndinghy

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Hi JanBGa -

I am glad you are enjoying my slowly evolving photo journal. I appreciate your comments and yes I agree everyone we met was just great!

 

Is this the fellow of many hats? (Not the skinny guy in his King Crown)

I could tell that your dining table was the centerof excitement almost every evening. I think I may have to sign up for one of his cruises one of the days myself! :D

 

 

6344109523_4c01624cfc_z.jpg

Guttersnipes Rock by capndinghy, on Flickr

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jaxonboy

jaxonboy

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Hello Captain:

 

Thank you for the review. The pictures are great, and you have a good style of writing. As you are in person, you tell it like it is.

 

In Venice we went through tight security to get into the Maritima dock area, including package X-ray, and pat downs if the arch beeped. Then, the same thing to get on the ship. I figure Carnival is trying to limit the liquor brought on board. But anyway, I gave the security team a lecture on how this was not customer friendly to go through security twice in 25 yards, and some folks were needing the rest room. The basic answer was that they do what they do, we do what we do.

 

I had a great time on the Carnival Magic, and enjoyed meeting you.

 

Regards

 

Bill

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capndinghy

capndinghy

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Hello Captain:

 

Thank you for the review. The pictures are great, and you have a good style of writing. As you are in person, you tell it like it is.

 

In Venice we went through tight security to get into the Maritima dock area, including package X-ray, and pat downs if the arch beeped. Then, the same thing to get on the ship. I figure Carnival is trying to limit the liquor brought on board. But anyway, I gave the security team a lecture on how this was not customer friendly to go through security twice in 25 yards, and some folks were needing the rest room. The basic answer was that they do what they do, we do what we do.

 

I had a great time on the Carnival Magic, and enjoyed meeting you.

 

Regards

 

Bill

 

Bill thanks for the kind words. It was indeed a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to the next time.

 

BTW...great post re M&G on the Magic TA!

Regards,

Chuck aka (trouble maker)

 

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capndinghy

capndinghy

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We steamed out of Las Palmas with a blast of the ship's horn and a wave goodbye to dry land. We were setting out on our 6 days at sea crossing to what we thought was to be Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The next morning dawned cloudy wet, and rainy; a weather pattern that was to be with us most of the crossing.

 

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Magic Transatlantic 172 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

We were all surprised when the announcement was made that due to a failed side thruster (used for close in manueuvering and docking) we would be changing ports from Grand Turk to a 2 day lay over in Freeport Grand Bahamas. Needless to say, this change did not go over well. However, in Carnival's defense I will say this was a repostioning cruise and the price did reflect that.

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Carival Trans Atlantic Route Map Freeport Added by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

The day had dawned with lots of speculation and anticipation for it was the day of English Tim's first (all you can drink) Cocktail Party.

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Canon Elf Transatlantic Photos 152 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

One of the original remember of the Roll Call is a gentlaman who goes by the name of English Tim and his lovely wife Rosy. Tim early on single handely organized two (2) all you could drink Cocktail parties. Everyone signed up early and sent Tim $12 per peros, per party. Tim in turn paid Carnial. I am sure Tim went to extra expense and there is not doubt he put a lot of effort into these parties.

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Canon Elf Transatlantic Photos 148 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

 

Tim's Cocktail Parties were a resounding success! Each party had over 125 people attending. Indeed these affairs provided an excellent opportunity for the “Meet and Greets” that didn't take place a few days earlier.

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Canon Elf Transatlantic Photos 157 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

We all had a great time visiting and enjoying the one hour of unlimited cocktails. Can you say bottoms up? As you can see, fun was had by one and all!

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Carnival Magic Transatlantic Canon Elf 108 by capndinghy, on Flickr

 

On a personl note I would like to say how much I enjoyed meeting so many nice people and how much I appreciate the kind compliments given about my daily blogs.

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