Carnival Magic review with pictures!!!

[stacycakes1]

Stacy, first congrats on your marriage and now your upcoming anniversary!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review and adding all the photos. I know these are time consuming so we all appreciate you taking the time to do this. You have some amazing photos.

 

We were lucky enough to have cruised on the inaugural sailing of the Magic last May so it was great to re-live that cruise through your photos. And we are looking at a trip to Paris in May 2013 combined with an Azamara cruise of the French Riviera so I really appreciate seeing those Paris photos as we start the planning process.

 

Thanks again!!

Jerry

 

Oh I am SO jealous! Would love to do a cruise on the French Riviera!!! You really do become addicted to traveling once you take a trip like this! I don't know if I can stop now:)

 

You will have to post pictures when you get back. You will LOVE Paris, it is so beautiful and full of so many great things to see and do:) And despite what some say the people were very friendly there from what we experienced.

[grammajoy58]

Stacy,I just wanted to thank you for such a wonderful review and such spectacular pictures.It isn't often that someone writes a review that reads as a delightful story and carries you away but yours did for me.I even told my husband how wonderful it was and told him that we have to figure out a way to do that same itinerary some day just to be able to experience all that culture and beauty.I don't know if we'll ever get to do it but it was so enjoyable experiencing it through your words and pictures.Thanks again and congratulations on your marriage.:)

[stacycakes1]

Stacy,I just wanted to thank you for such a wonderful review and such spectacular pictures.It isn't often that someone writes a review that reads as a delightful story and carries you away but yours did for me.I even told my husband how wonderful it was and told him that we have to figure out a way to do that same itinerary some day just to be able to experience all that culture and beauty.I don't know if we'll ever get to do it but it was so enjoyable experiencing it through your words and pictures.Thanks again and congratulations on your marriage.:)

 

 

Thank you so very much! I really am glad that you enjoyed it. I am an avid reader and have always had an interest in writing. Maybe I can start a travel blog someday:)

 

Thanks again and I hope you do get to enjoy this itinerary someday!!!

[texasmelrose2]

Stacy, thanks for the awesome review. I feel like I was right along with you. (Don't I wish!) This is definitely on our list of itineraries for the hopefully near future. You and Paul are the cutest couple!

 

Congrats on your marriage and wow 60 LB weight loss, that is amazing and you look gorgeous! Oh and I was so mad for you reading about the rude man on the bus! All I have to say is you guys handled it so graciously and KARMA will get him. Oh, and you do NOT look pregnant...he was an idiot.

 

Hope I get to see your next trip review! :p

[Grape*Antler]

Wonderful review! Thanks!!!

[Lovharvey]

Oh that's too bad, Wel maybe one day you will be able to do it. We figured, what the heck we are only getting married once and went for it! We are just finishing paying evrything off from the wedding and honeymoon but it was totally worth it:) Hope you have fun on your upcoming breeze cruise! We are sailing on the Ecstasy this November and I can't wait for some sun and relaxation:)

 

Stacy, you will really like the Ecstasy. We hated to see it leave Galveston. If Steve is still the CD and if one of the shows is "Country Extreme", you really need to try and go see it. Steve plays the fiddle and he is as good as some of the well known fiddle players. The Ecstasy will be a big change from the Magic, much smaller, but, still a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to the cruise on the Breeze, but, dang, hotels in Miami are expensive. I am flying in the day before since it is in Jan and don't want to run into any weather problems. I go with a group and we always have a lot of fun. John H. always has a lot of things planned for the Blogger's cruises

[stacycakes1]

Stacy, you will really like the Ecstasy. We hated to see it leave Galveston. If Steve is still the CD and if one of the shows is "Country Extreme", you really need to try and go see it. Steve plays the fiddle and he is as good as some of the well known fiddle players. The Ecstasy will be a big change from the Magic, much smaller, but, still a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to the cruise on the Breeze, but, dang, hotels in Miami are expensive. I am flying in the day before since it is in Jan and don't want to run into any weather problems. I go with a group and we always have a lot of fun. John H. always has a lot of things planned for the Blogger's cruises

 

Thanks! I sailed on the Ecstasy when I was younger so I don't remember it that well. I also was on the Legend not too long ago (me and my DH got engaged on the Legend). I actually prefered the Legend as a smaller ship compared to the larger Magic ship. It felt less crowded and was easier to get around. Don't get me wrong though, the Magic was beautiful as I asume the Breeze will be as well.

 

I have always wondered about the blogger's cruises, is that open to anyone or do you need to have some sort of blog to do them.

 

I am actually working on starting a blog website right now. I love talking cruise and thought it would be fun to have something of my own.

[silvercrikhix]

Thank you so much for all of the time and consideration you put into your review! It certainly has gotten me interested in taking a cruise like this. It just seems soooo complicated, but you made it seem not quite as daunting as I thought it would be! Hmmmmmmm...........if you get that blog up and running, maybe you'd be kind enough to post your itinerary with all the info and contacts stuff for this cruise........I think I'll cheat and copy your paper....LOL

You have some very lovely photos that you and Paul are sure to enjoy for the rest of your lives together! You do make a very cute couple! Congratulations on your wedding!

[Jana60]

Oh I am SO jealous! Would love to do a cruise on the French Riviera!!! You really do become addicted to traveling once you take a trip like this! I don't know if I can stop now:)

 

You will have to post pictures when you get back. You will LOVE Paris, it is so beautiful and full of so many great things to see and do:) And despite what some say the people were very friendly there from what we experienced.

 

Stacy, As I said before thankyou for the wonderful review. I would love to go to Paris! Where did you stay? What is the best but most cost effective area to stay in and did you do any tours while in France that you especially enjoyed or just use the paris museum pass to go everywhere?

[Lovharvey]

Thanks! I sailed on the Ecstasy when I was younger so I don't remember it that well. I also was on the Legend not too long ago (me and my DH got engaged on the Legend). I actually prefered the Legend as a smaller ship compared to the larger Magic ship. It felt less crowded and was easier to get around. Don't get me wrong though, the Magic was beautiful as I asume the Breeze will be as well.

 

I have always wondered about the blogger's cruises, is that open to anyone or do you need to have some sort of blog to do them.

 

I am actually working on starting a blog website right now. I love talking cruise and thought it would be fun to have something of my own.

 

 

Stacy, anyone can sail with the bloggers. It is an 8 day cruise leaving out of Miami Jan 19. What you will need to do once you book the cruise, is watch John Heald's blog for the link to sign up as one of the bloggers and then you will be invited to all the blogger activities. If you are on FB, you can also watch his posts and he will post the link there also. I will also be part of the "Crazies" and we will have several activities just for our group. Y'all ought to think about it. BC5 was so much fun.

[banilla]

Great review and thank you for all the helpful tips about Paris.

Hubby and I are headed to Europe to visit family in the summer and we have decided to do a 2 day Paris stop over on the way back. I don't know if you speak french or not so I was wondering if you had any issues when ordering food at restaurants. Would the waiters help you or were the menus in English?

Thanks again for the detailed review.

[stacycakes1]

Great review and thank you for all the helpful tips about Paris.

Hubby and I are headed to Europe to visit family in the summer and we have decided to do a 2 day Paris stop over on the way back. I don't know if you speak french or not so I was wondering if you had any issues when ordering food at restaurants. Would the waiters help you or were the menus in English?

Thanks again for the detailed review.

 

We found that most of the menus in both Paris and in Italy were translated in english for us. The special boards were not but it wasn't very difficult to figure them out because a lot of the words are simular sounding to english words and we also had our iphone translators for words we were unsure about.

 

Also, all of the waiters we encountered were very friendly and helpful. Granted we did attempt to begin our conversations in French such as saying hello that we don't speak french if they can you help us. Most of them spoke some english so it worked out fine. We had no problems eating and ordering what we wanted.

 

Hope that helps!

[i need a holiday]

Stacy

 

I have waited until the end of your wonderful review to post :)

 

It's taken me almost 2 evenings to read and view it all - I have smiled, laughed, oooo'd and aaaah'd the whole way through...until your unfortunate encounter with that idiotic man who upset you :mad:. You and Paul look and sound a wonderful couple and all I can say is - I hope we get to meet and have a good laugh with people as happy and great as you on our upcoming trip on the Breeze this September.

 

Thank you so much for such a detailed and enjoyable review. It was just wonderful :D.

 

Thank you also for your recommendation of Rome In Limo, I certainly shall look into them.

 

September is going to be our 25th Anniversary celebration, albeit taken a year and three quarters late - due to postponements of 2 possible Caribbean cruises, sadly for reasons beyond our control :( and shall be our first Med cruise......LOL we usually fly all the way over the pond, but I'm actually looking forward to that very short flight to Barcelona ;)

 

As you are nearing your 1st anniversary......I wish you guys a long, happy and fruitful life together......enjoy every moment... xx

 

Jilly x

[p_mori7]

Outstanding job Stacey !

 

This review has ben very helpful in planning our Med cruise on Breeze this August. We'll be celebrating our 22nd while in Venice.

 

Fantastico !

 

Ciao Bella !

[stacycakes1]

Thank you! I am so glad I could help the two of you get ready for your upcoming Med cruises:)

 

Happy Aniversary to you both, you are going to have such a great time! I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate then to cruise the Italian coast soaking up the sun and enjoying some of the most amazing things I personally have ever seen.

 

Thanks again and have a wonderful Monday!!!!

[i need a holiday]

Hi again Stacy

 

Can you remember the name of the winery you went to on the Livorno trip and would you recommend it?

 

Have a lovely weekend and best wishes,

 

Jilly

[mmento]

Hello everyone! I have been meaning to post this review for some time now and am finally free enough to do it. This is a review of the Carnival Magic from June 2011 (I know, it's been almost an entire year)! My dh and I were fortunate enough to set sail on the Magic's 7th trip out to sea. Here is the itinerary for our trip:

 

Day 1 – Flight out of Chicago and Paris

Day 2 – Paris

Day 3 – Flight out of Paris and Barcelona

Day 4 –Barcelona and Embarkation

Day 5 – Monaco

Day 6 – Rome (port of Civitavecchia)

Day 7 – Pisa, Florence and Tuscany (port of Livorno)

Day 8 – Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi Coast (port of Naples)

Day 9 – Taormina Sicily (port of Messina)

Day 10 – Fun Day at Sea

Day 11 – Debarkation and Barcelona

Day 12 – Barcelona and flight home

 

This was our honeymoon and we were both so excited to finally go to Europe! We thought this would be a great way to check out some great cities and then know which ones we would one day want to come back to see in more detail.

 

Well here it goes…

 

Stacy,

Wow what can I say? I’ve just spent the past hour and a half reading your updates (sometimes laughing and almost crying). I am planning a trip to Europe for the 9day Carnival Sunshine on Oct, 11 2013 for myself (22) and boyfriend (26). I am obsessed with reading the board on cc and totally excited.

I loved reading your adventures at the different ports and I was wondering on average how much you spent at each port (including your Rome in limo tour price, your dining expenses and moderate amount of shopping) I want to be able to budget appropriately

Also I really hope you don’t mind me asking but how did you lose 60lbs before your wedding. I am looking to start weight watchers in a month and think the cruise is great incentive; I want to look as beautiful as you in those sundresses! As for that rude man, forget him he’s clearly not in his right mind.

One last question, what was your absolute favorite part of the trip?

Thank you in advance for your response and thanks again for posting this!

God Bless,

Megan

[stacycakes1]

Hi again Stacy

 

Can you remember the name of the winery you went to on the Livorno trip and would you recommend it?

 

Have a lovely weekend and best wishes,

 

Jilly

 

I am out of town right now but will look up the name when I get back home next week and post it for you. I believe it was St. Michelle or something close to that. Hope all is well!

[stacycakes1]

Stacy,

Wow what can I say? I’ve just spent the past hour and a half reading your updates (sometimes laughing and almost crying). I am planning a trip to Europe for the 9day Carnival Sunshine on Oct, 11 2013 for myself (22) and boyfriend (26). I am obsessed with reading the board on cc and totally excited.

I loved reading your adventures at the different ports and I was wondering on average how much you spent at each port (including your Rome in limo tour price, your dining expenses and moderate amount of shopping) I want to be able to budget appropriately

Also I really hope you don’t mind me asking but how did you lose 60lbs before your wedding. I am looking to start weight watchers in a month and think the cruise is great incentive; I want to look as beautiful as you in those sundresses! As for that rude man, forget him he’s clearly not in his right mind.

One last question, what was your absolute favorite part of the trip?

Thank you in advance for your response and thanks again for posting this!

God Bless,

Megan

 

Hi Megan! So excited for you and your db! I know exactly how you feel I was you last year. I think I was more excited about the cruise more then my wedding!

 

To answer a few of your questions...

 

As far as pricing, we paid an average of 70 to 75 euros for our RIL tours which included tips for the drivers. We also had to get lunch everyday which averaged around 20 to 30 euros per day (we always ate at sit down restaurants, i'm sure you could save a bit here if you wanted). We usually got gelato or a snack which averaged around 10 euros a day. We also had to pre purchase any museum tickets and that depends on what and where ( let's just average that at 30 euros). Lastly we didn't spend a ton on shopping, just a magnet from every place, wine, limo cello, and some pasta and other little trinkets ( let's average that at 20 euros). Keep in mind this is all an average on the high end and there are lots of ways to spend less but if you add that all up and maybe add a bit more just in case you are looking at around 175 euros for bothe of you per day.

 

Hope that helps you plan for your budget. That was probably the hardest part for me to plan for.

 

As for losing the weight... Well let's just say I stopped trying to find the easy way to lose the weight (which I have done for years and my weight goes down and up and I end up weighing more then when I start) and realizing the only way is watching what I ate and exercise. I know it isn't the magic way you want to hear about but it really is the only way. I cut out ALL sugar and mostly ate veggies, proteins and unprocessed foods. I also ate 5 smaller meals a day every three hours on the dot full of protein. My calorie intake usually ranged between 1000 and 1200 calories and I exercised 5 times a week for at least an hour.

 

It was really hard work and I LOVE food so it was hard to cut out so much but I felt great and looked great. I just kept repeating To myself "nothing tastes as good as thin feels":)

 

As far as my favorite part of the trip I have to say the amalfi coast (Sorrento, Positano, and Ravello) was the most beautiful place I have ever been, it was magical! We were also more relaxed that day without having museum times, etc... And it was just such a relaxed and pleasant time. Don't get me wrong, seeing the coliseum and all the other amazing landmarks I have always dreamed of seeing was amazing, but the amalfi coast day was so unexpected and was definitely my favorite.

 

You are going to love your time there Megan no matter what you choose to do! So excited for you and have fun with all of the planning! Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

Thanks, Stacy

[i need a holiday]

I am out of town right now but will look up the name when I get back home next week and post it for you. I believe it was St. Michelle or something close to that. Hope all is well!

 

Many thanks Stacy, whenever you can, as long as it's before September :rolleyes:....we are trying with some other ppl here on CC to organise a private tour, much like you suggested :D

 

I have taken so much from your review.....cannot thank you enough for all your time and efforts xx

Edited April 18, 2012 by i need a holiday

[douglinc@msn.com]

Great review, thanks.

 

Doug

[clarkspond75]

Stacy.....Felt like I was with you guys, great review, thanks for all your hard work making this review happen.

Bill

[lbow2006]

That was a fantastic review! I loved your pictures and the way you told the story. Now it makes me wish we could have afforded a Mediterranean cruise for our one year anniversary (I can't complain we went to Europe for our honeymoon, which was my first time out of North America). We had planned on trying to go to Italy before we have kids, but I don't think that's going to happen.

 

Anyway your posts were lovely and I really enjoyed reading/looking through the whole thing.

[HAVE TIME WILL TRAVEL]

Enjoyed your review! We're planning a cruise to Europe and we are very interested in your Rome-in-Limo tours. Would you mind sharing the tour packages you chose? Thanks.

HAVE TIME WILL TRAVEL

[christopher2730]

Stacy- My husband and I will be sailing on the CCL Breeze in June, I have enjoyed all the wonderful pictures you took ( some of the ports will be not be on our itinerary ) but I will not even bother to take pictures of Rome, Pisa etc; your pictures made me feel like I had already arrived- I wish that I had read your review before booking with CCL for Rome tour ot the Vatican- was told we would not have to wait in line??? - Thank you for taking many hours to post and share your memories with everyone - Watch out Samatha on the travel chanel, Stacy is right on your heels - Best to you and Paul