Carnival Magic review with pictures!!!

[msdurk]

Stacy---absolutely wonderful. I think other cruise lines should have you take all their tours and do a report for everyone. We are going in October (wonder what the weather will be) and now I feel more confident about some of the ports we will be going to. How did you know what tickets you would need, and how did you purchase them...We are going to do Florence, Rome and Amalfi Coast/Pompeii and will probably do everything through RIL, hopefully for 8 people.

Do you know how much it costs for a cab from the airport to Las Ramnblas, we are staying at the Husa Oriente on Las Ramblas? We also would like to eat at the restaurant above the museum if possible, where you ate --we get in at 2:30 and leave the next morning. Possible?

Thank you so much --i have a Nikon Cool Pix , 7x zoom 16.0 Megapixels and it sure doesn't take pictures like yours, you are gifted.

Edited May 1, 2012 by msdurk

[mrsfecura]

Love, love, loved it!!!! You and your husband are adorable and it looks like you had a fabulous time. Your review is so informative I'm sure I'll be referring back to it as I start to plan for our Med cruise - speaking of planning EARLY...my DH and I are booked on Royal Caribbean in October of...2013!!! Ha! A 12 Night Med Greek Isles cruise. So excited and now we definately plan on booking RIL for our stops in Italy!

 

My fave pics are the sunflowers one you posted early on and the Positano one that everyone else is also raving about! And the super cute ones of you guys just goofing around. :D

[jtagphillycruiser]

Dear Stacy,

 

I did a forum search of "Europe" and found your wonderful review. DH & I are planning the Med. cruise on the Carnival Sunshine in May of 2013. Don't know anything about the Sunshine ship....do you??? But, where do I begin Stacy. First, thank you for sharing your honeymoon review/story with us all. The pictures were fab-u-lous!!! My Paul and I will be married 30 years in 2013 & the Med. cruise is my dream trip. I wish you & your Paul a lifetime of love, happiness, laughter & fun.

 

I was fully expecting to book all our excursions via Carnival, but because of YOU & your fine review I will book through RIL. I have introduced myself in the Roll Call but have not suggested RIL yet. Just curious, when did you book your cruise & when did you book the RIL tours? Did you actually purchase the tickets for the Vatican from the internet & print the tickets prior to your cruise?

 

My favorite movie is "Under the Tuscan Sun" and would love to go the port....is it Alamafi (sp??) & the winery would be a must see, too. Oh, it does seem a little overwhelming.

 

Finally, when I read about that d-bag who pushed you out of the bus in Barcelona, I wanted to just throttle him. For every one rotten A-hole in this world, I believe there are 10 good & kind people. You & your Paul are beautiful people. Oh, also you looked fantastic in those sundresses by the way.

 

Thank you for your time in replying.

 

Regards,

Joanne

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Stacy,

 

Merci beaucoup!!!! ;)

 

I truly appreciate all the time you took in answering my questions, this really helped!

 

I lived in Orlando too, my B.S. is from UCF :) and I went to UF for my M.A. ... and now I am at UGA for more school, I have lots of football to watch on Saturdays.

[stacycakes1]

Stacy---absolutely wonderful. I think other cruise lines should have you take all their tours and do a report for everyone. We are going in October (wonder what the weather will be) and now I feel more confident about some of the ports we will be going to. How did you know what tickets you would need, and how did you purchase them...We are going to do Florence, Rome and Amalfi Coast/Pompeii and will probably do everything through RIL, hopefully for 8 people.

Do you know how much it costs for a cab from the airport to Las Ramnblas, we are staying at the Husa Oriente on Las Ramblas? We also would like to eat at the restaurant above the museum if possible, where you ate --we get in at 2:30 and leave the next morning. Possible?

Thank you so much --i have a Nikon Cool Pix , 7x zoom 16.0 Megapixels and it sure doesn't take pictures like yours, you are gifted.

 

 

Thanks so much!!! Wow, would I ever love to take trips and write about them for crusie lines, wouldn't that be the best job ever! I could be the cruise ship Samantha Brown hmmm, one can dream:)

 

As far as the tickets you need to purchase, once you book with RIL they will let you know which places you need to pre-purchase your tickets for depending on the tours you choose. All of them can be purchased online fairly easily.

 

As far as the cab ride, it will probably be around 20 Euros, give or take a few bucks.

 

You definitely have time to eat at the restaurant. It has a beautiful view of the street below and the food was great and decently priced. I am not sure what the weather will be like in October so keep that in mind because the best seating is outside at that place.

 

Hope you have a wonderful trip and I hope you can come back and tell us all about it:)

[stacycakes1]

Love, love, loved it!!!! You and your husband are adorable and it looks like you had a fabulous time. Your review is so informative I'm sure I'll be referring back to it as I start to plan for our Med cruise - speaking of planning EARLY...my DH and I are booked on Royal Caribbean in October of...2013!!! Ha! A 12 Night Med Greek Isles cruise. So excited and now we definately plan on booking RIL for our stops in Italy!

 

My fave pics are the sunflowers one you posted early on and the Positano one that everyone else is also raving about! And the super cute ones of you guys just goofing around. :D

 

 

Thanks! The sunflower pic is actually one of my favorites too. I kind of wish we had the chance to stop and take some pics in the fields, maybe another time:) I also love our pics of us just being ourselves!

 

Hope you have a great time on your trip, and it is NEVER too early too plan:)

[stacycakes1]

Dear Stacy,

 

I did a forum search of "Europe" and found your wonderful review. DH & I are planning the Med. cruise on the Carnival Sunshine in May of 2013. Don't know anything about the Sunshine ship....do you??? But, where do I begin Stacy. First, thank you for sharing your honeymoon review/story with us all. The pictures were fab-u-lous!!! My Paul and I will be married 30 years in 2013 & the Med. cruise is my dream trip. I wish you & your Paul a lifetime of love, happiness, laughter & fun.

 

I was fully expecting to book all our excursions via Carnival, but because of YOU & your fine review I will book through RIL. I have introduced myself in the Roll Call but have not suggested RIL yet. Just curious, when did you book your cruise & when did you book the RIL tours? Did you actually purchase the tickets for the Vatican from the internet & print the tickets prior to your cruise?

 

My favorite movie is "Under the Tuscan Sun" and would love to go the port....is it Alamafi (sp??) & the winery would be a must see, too. Oh, it does seem a little overwhelming.

 

Finally, when I read about that d-bag who pushed you out of the bus in Barcelona, I wanted to just throttle him. For every one rotten A-hole in this world, I believe there are 10 good & kind people. You & your Paul are beautiful people. Oh, also you looked fantastic in those sundresses by the way.

 

Thank you for your time in replying.

 

Regards,

Joanne

 

Thank you Joanne for all of the best wishes! We are a very strong couple and have a fantastic relationship. I am hopeful it will as great for years and years to come just like you and your Paul:)

Now let's get down to some business (this may be a long one)...

I would mention RIL as soon as you can in your Roll Call. Get the process going so that everyone can start thinking about it and researching it. That was how our roll call was and I think we had almost ten groups put together by the time we were setting sail. It was great because we all found little tidbits of information to share and it also gave everyone lots of time to research and state what tours they were interested in.

A lot of us had never had the guts or want to meet at a meet and greet on past cruises either but were excited about that one because we had done so much planning together. It was super great to meet our tour group buddies ahead of time too. There were around 80 people on our roll call and around 50 showed up to the meet and greet. It was so fantastic the whole trip because we would see people and say high and chat, it made a social bug like me happy!

As far as forming our group, I based it on the tours that I wanted to do. Two other ladies had posted they wanted to do the same ones and we made a perfect group of 8! I had done the math and 8 people gets you the cheapest rate per person. Any more or any less adds a few euros so if you can get to that magic number you are golden!

Some of the other groups changed groups up for different tours but I personally thought it was nice being with the same people throughout the planning process and it made touring much more comfortable so if you can start looking for people right away you will have a better chance at finding that perfect group.

As soon as we had our 8 people and knew basically which tours we wanted we reserved with Jany 9It was almost a year ahead of time). We changed our minds a bit after that on tour details, etc… but RIL is SO flexible they would just make the changes no problem. So basically don't fret about booking ahead of time.

You could probably even book right now for 8 people for the tours you want without even knowing yet who will go with you and just change the numbers/tour details as you find group members and finalize everything. All you are doing is reserving and you don't pay till you get there so it doesn’t hurt anything.

For our Vatican tickets, coliseum tickets and any other tickets we needed I purchased and printed them all online ahead of time. I had one of those plastic file folders and had all of my tickets and any other information filed by city so it was easy to keep track of everything. I am kind of a CRAZY organizer. I was a teacher and now work for the Supreme Court of Illinois as a Judicial Training Manager and work with Agenda's and Itineraries daily so it is in my nature!

I too LOVE Under the Tuscan Sun! It is permanently taped on my DVR. When she goes with Marcello he takes her to Positano. It is SO beautiful there and was probably my favorite place we went too. That was on the Amalfi Cost tour.

Thank you so much for all of the great things you have to say. I was hesitant to write about the rude guy in Barcelona because I didn't want to ruin the review with negativity. He was the only sour note in the whole trip. I chose to write about him though because I bet he didn't have nearly as great of a time as me and my DH did because he treats people with disrespect and as if he is owed the world. That is my biggest pet peeve in life and I just wanted others to see how it can adversely affect you and the people around you. I am not perfect and definitely have my own days where I am sure I have mistreated someone, but that is something I pray for from God all the time, the ability to be gracious and thankful and I hope for all of you traveling do the same!

Thanks again Joanne! Happy Anniversary and may the next 30 years be just as wonderful!!!!

[stacycakes1]

Stacy,

 

Merci beaucoup!!!! ;)

 

I truly appreciate all the time you took in answering my questions, this really helped!

 

I lived in Orlando too, my B.S. is from UCF :) and I went to UF for my M.A. ... and now I am at UGA for more school, I have lots of football to watch on Saturdays.

 

De rien! Anytime my dear!

[jtagphillycruiser]

Thanks for ALL the input.....you are a peach.... :-)......Joanne

[HAVE TIME WILL TRAVEL]

Stacy,

Really enjoyed your review. The pictures and writing were wonderful. I felt as if I was there. Could you please tell me the tours you chose from RomeinLimo? We planning a European cruise next year.

Thanks.

HAVE TIME WILL TRAVEL

[Bsquared1027]

Hi Stacey,

 

I would love to contact you privately with some of my questions. Do you have an email you are willing to give out?

 

Thanks,

Morgan

[stacycakes1]

Hi Stacey,

 

I would love to contact you privately with some of my questions. Do you have an email you are willing to give out?

 

Thanks,

Morgan

 

Sure! It is stacyanngregorski@gmail.com.

[stacycakes1]

Stacy,

Really enjoyed your review. The pictures and writing were wonderful. I felt as if I was there. Could you please tell me the tours you chose from RomeinLimo? We planning a European cruise next year.

Thanks.

HAVE TIME WILL TRAVEL

 

 

We did Florense and Pisa, Rome highlights, and the Amalfi cost with Positano. Have fun!

[flipflops84]

What an excellent review!! We are going on a very similar cruise on the norweigan epic for our honeymoon next week! Thank you so much for sharing all of your pictures and lots of great tips that can help us finish up our planning!! Loved this! :)

Edited May 4, 2012 by flipflops84

[Princess & 4 Princes]

We used the Nikon Cool pix camera. My neice had actually gotten one for Christmas and was using it at our wedding before we left. We were so impressed with her pictures we ran to Best Buy on our way to the airport to get one and were so glad that we did! It takes great pictures and has great settings. The only caution I would make is it uses regular batteries and can go through them fast! We bought rechargable batteries and charged them every night and had regular inthe bag as back up and that worked great.

 

Happy planning!!!!

 

Sorry if you've already answered this,( i'velooked and don't see it) it which specific model of CoolPix do you have? I think Nikon makes several. Model # & megapixel count would be very helpful to me, if you don't mind. Your photos were just FAB-U-LOUS!!! :):):) Happy Friday!

[stacycakes1]

Sorry if you've already answered this,( i'velooked and don't see it) it which specific model of CoolPix do you have? I think Nikon makes several. Model # & megapixel count would be very helpful to me, if you don't mind. Your photos were just FAB-U-LOUS!!! :):):) Happy Friday!

 

 

No problem! It is the Nikon Coolpic L120. Takes great pictures but does go through batteries quickly and they are either double or triple AA bateries. Best to get rechargeable ones if you can and have back-ups with you as well.

[luisrp]

The only caution I would make is it uses regular batteries and can go through them fast! We bought rechargable batteries and charged them every night and had regular inthe bag as back up and that worked great.

 

 

Actually I see this as an advantage. If you are too trigger happy and eat your batteries in the middle of an excursion you can easily grab a pack of alkaline batteries anywhere (I know $$$ but it's worth it when you are capturing once in a lifetime memories) and keep shooting. You actually did it better because you had a pack with you as backup. When I purchase a camera I always try to find the ones that use AA batteries. I used rechargeables in my cruise and charged them every day like you did. My camera uses 4 AA batteries and a single set lasted for the entire day even after 500+ pictures. I had two sets of batteries so when I got back to the ship I exchanged the batteries with the other set then recharged the ones I used that day. I brought one of those 15-minute chargers with me.

Edited May 5, 2012 by luisrp

[onebzyldy]

Actually I see this as an advantage. If you are too trigger happy and eat your batteries in the middle of an excursion you can easily grab a pack of alkaline batteries anywhere (I know $$$ but it's worth it when you are capturing once in a lifetime memories) and keep shooting. You actually did it better because you had a pack with you as backup. When I purchase a camera I always try to find the ones that use AA batteries. I used rechargeables in my cruise and charged them every day like you did. My camera uses 4 AA batteries and a single set lasted for the entire day even after 500+ pictures. I had two sets of batteries so when I got back to the ship I exchanged the batteries with the other set then recharged the ones I used that day. I brought one of those 15-minute chargers with me.

 

Reminds me of our first ever stop in Aruba, I was trigger happy and kept shooting and shooting - finally the bus stopped at that natural bridge & my batteries were done :( And of course, no back ups with me. Sad for me,,,,,so we had to go back on another cruise and capture those photos again ;););)

 

Happy cruising..........

DonnaF :D

[nimiq]

Where did both of you learn French ?

 

Merci les filles

 

Eric

De rien! Anytime my dear!

[Lambo62]

I just wanted to say thanks for the great trip report. We are visiting similar ports in about a month and have booked romeinlimo for Rome and Florence. This has gotten me even more excited, I can only wish we have drivers as considerate as the ones you had.

This will be our first cruise as we celebrate 30 years of marriage.

[onebzyldy]

Where did both of you learn French ?

 

Merci les filles

 

Eric

 

"de rien\" would be more likely to be used when chatting online or .... this is another option, literally meaning "there is nothing (to thank me) for" ...

 

Just thought I'd share :)

 

Happy cruising......

DonnaF :D

[nimiq]

"de rien\" would be more likely to be used when chatting online or .... this is another option, literally meaning "there is nothing (to thank me) for" ...

 

Just thought I'd share :)

 

Happy cruising......

DonnaF :D

 

Pas trouble Donna je suis du Quebec donc facile pour moi le francais.

 

A Plus

 

Eric

[Frenchsnowhite]

Another girl from Montreal here! I also speak french!!!!

Can't wait to go to Europe!!!!;)

[stacycakes1]

Where did both of you learn French ?

 

Merci les filles

 

Eric

 

 

I don't know french at all! Just a few simple phrases I learned before our trip:) I just looked that phrase up online to answer her, thought it would be funny. I'm sure I got it wrong. Glad to see some of you french lovers oin here though. Have a great time on your trips!

Edited May 7, 2012 by stacycakes1

[waverley7]

I loved your review and your photos! (and I love your hair!)

 

We did a similar cruise two yrs ago but we had a few stops in Greece. I know how much you loved the Amalfi Coast, we fell in love with it as well.

 

If you can get back over, incorporate Greece into your next cruise....it is beautiful too. We were on the Amalfi Coast and the next day was Santorini, Greece and the two of those places were our favorite places on that cruise and in all our travels so far!

 

Awesome job!!