MSC Magnifica picture heavy fun review -- 12 days British Isles incl. DIY port trips

[AnnMR]

Loving your review. I've been on two MSC cruises before and a trip on the Magnifica planned for Easter next year.

I live in Edinburgh, although not a native to Scotland and you're tempting me to visit Loch Ness sometime. I can imagine how awful the attempt at a Scottish themed day would be on a cruise.

I don't get seasick, but I do get a touch of queasiness when I'm back on land during the adjustment back to normal.

Don't worry about the posts about cocktails etc. I've enjoyed having the Allegrissimo package and trying new things, but never drunk to excess even though I could have. It was interesting to see that there didn't appear to be people overindulging despite the number being on all inclusive deals, although maybe that happened in the wee hours when I was tucked asleep in my cabin.

[Elmartellama]

Steff, no offence at all!

 

Just like I said, I don't think the Oktoberfest events are wrong if people behave properly, which is the case on the MSC Magnifica for what I see on those pictures. Also, Oktoberfest lets many people taste German food, beer etc, that they wouldn't otherwise. I get that the music was bad though :D.

 

We also like having the occasional drink, so I don't believe you are drunk people at all just because you enjoyed your holidays :) I'm sure you're well behaved.

 

What I mean is that those events exist only because they have an audience. The only way to forget about them is just to ignore them, there are things that you just can't change.

[pinkpanther52]

No worries about the off-topic ... I believe it's right on target. I agree with Suekay ... Here in Germany, whenever you see "serious" documentaries about "that place" ( I LOVE how you titled that --- since it really shouldn't be upgraded by being called by its name) and the German tourist crowd that visits it ... it is done so with an air of "Fremdschämen", which basically means to be ashamed of somebody elses behaviour, in this case the horde of tourists. Also there are reports on the problems this embarrasing group of people cause for the local population ... so be assured ... most of my fellow citizens feel sympathetic with you locals ... definitely NOT with the raging, brainless, drunk beyond believe trash-tourists. Sigh, of course we have those too ... or otherwise we wouldn't be writing this right now.

 

I do like to drink ... red wine, sparkling wine, cocktails, beer --- I draw the line before Schnaps and other hard liquors. The Allegrissimo pays off nicely for me. But that doesn't (hopefully) put me in the same league as the hordes we're talking about here. I like to enjoy a drink while I'm having fun... I don't drink it to have fun. It's a tough topic ... I believe it's easy to cross the line that turns it from enjoyment to a problem. So I really don't want to proclaim heavy use of it here.

 

Oh God, have I done that by posting the cocktails each day already?

 

Is anybody feeling offended?

 

If so ... please tell me and I'll immediately stop!

 

Stef

 

No offence Please keep posting pictures of the Cocktails. History on a Sea Day I am intrigued 😀

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

The Hebrides

When I fled from the Oktoberfest I ended up here:

Oh – land! Let’s move to the other side of the ship to get a better view.

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Wow. This was an awesome experience. The weather was stormy and the rugged coast out there looked completely deserted.

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… well, not completely deserted.

Isn’t this a pretty lighthouse? But since MSC ‘s maps are rather crappy, I couldn’t say which island this stands on.

So yesterday, when I sorted through the pictures to show you, I started trying to find out more about it. And I found some interesting stuff.

Since this lighthouse will be a sight you’ll get to enjoy on any British Isles cruise, free of charge, on a seaday, just by looking outside … I thought it’s worth telling you all about it. Agreed?

The Eilean Glas lighthouse

The “land” we saw turned out to be the Outer Hebrides … a part of Scotland.

Our lighthouse stands on the Isle of Scalpay … a tiny island, inhabited by roughly 300 people. Lol --- the last inhabitants of the lighthouse however are gone … lol … THAT story coming up later on … but first the further back history:

The lighthouse was initially built in 1788 … but what you see today … the red and white building came later. You can still make out the remaining parts of the original one to the left side of the new one.

In 1788 the lighthouse was one of the first four to be built in Scotland and the very first on the outer Hebrides.

The organization, today known as Northern Lighthouse Board wanted to build a lighthouse on the Isle of Scalpay. They addressed the owner of the island at that time, which was Alex MacLeod of Harris. He was very excited about the idea of a lighthouse and wanted to start construction right away… too bad, that the workers of the board were still busy finishing the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse.

MacLeod didn’t want to wait though and started the construction with privately hired workers… so the tower was already 7 feet high, when Robert Smith from the Board arrived on Scalpay…Lol – what did he find? The workers had mistakenly enlarged the radius by 4 feet! Well, I guess nobody can say Scots aren’t spontaneous and creative… Smith adjusted the plans and the lighthouse was continued with the larger scale.

It started work in 1789 under the charge of it’s only lightkeeper Alexander Reid. He worked until his pension and the duration of the original lighthouse until 1823.

The one we see today was built by Robert Stevenson (Smith’s stepson) in 1824. Now you might read that name and say … wait a minute, where have I heard that name before?

… good job!

But you’re probably thinking of Robert

Lewis

Stevenson … he wrote such well known books as “Treasure Island” and “Strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hide”. And you know what? He was the grandson of the builder of our beautiful lighthouse. The world sure is small sometimes.

Anyway, the lighthouse got automatized in 1978.

It’s signal is located at 43 meters above sealevel and is seen for 23 nautical miles (42 km) – so you

will

see this lighthouse when sailing around the British Isles … either during the day, like we did, or when it’s dark…

how can you distinguish this particular lighthouse in the dark?

Well, by it’s characteristic signal of course… If you see three white flashes every 20 seconds, you know you’ve seen the Eilean glas lighthouse.

Since 2004 the Eilean lighthouse is listed as a category A historical sight. I wonder if the Historic Scotland Society will open this up to the public with those wonderful info posters they use at so many of their other sights… I’d be interested to go visit!

The latest history of the lighthouse is sort of turbulent.

First of all we have Brenda and Robert … I’ll leave out their last names. They were a couple (both 72 today) wanting to live their dream – living in a remote lighthouse. They bought some of the houses from the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1984. But they miscalculated. They never had enough money for the mortgage… so they started criminal activities like gathering money through fake charities to maintain their lifestyle. They got busted and not only had to leave the premises, but also got sentenced to time in jail (I believe they were put on probation however and didn’t actually spend time in there).

Ever since the 1990’s the premises deteriorated more and more. And although there are local volunteers, who nowadays do painting and such; serious repair – especially to the remaining original stump, remains undone.

In 2004 there was a case of severe vandalism, which destroyed quite a bit and what wasn’t devastated by that, was worsened by a mini-hurricane in 2005 (those are extremely rare in this region). The insurance paid for the damage, but the new policy skyrocketed, so nobody could afford to keep it up anymore.

I hope that now – with Historic Scotland in the background, things will improve.

There has been a fantastic offer made by the current owner of the Isle of Scalpay, Mr. Fred Taylor in 2011. Mr. Taylor, currently residing in London has been a visitor to the Isle all his life. Now he proposed a

free

change of ownership to the local community. If this would work out, it would be the biggest free transfer of land in Scotland! This was in 2011 --- and it bugs me to report I haven’t found out anything more recent until now… but I’ll keep looking to keep you informed.

But now enough history… A seaday mainly in my book exists to relax, enjoy and gather strength for the next port exploration. Tomorrow we’d be in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and we had lots of stuff planned. I’ll leave you with two more pictures of the Outer Hebrides.

Stay tuned!

Stef

Edited November 10, 2014 by Kreuzfahrtneuling

[Pluto_fan]

Wonderful, Stef! Thanks again for all the time and effort you are putting into this! :)

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

sorry ... one picture just won't show. It's a pic with deserted hills in the mist seen from the ship...too bad. Just imagine it yourselves.

 

Stef

[pinkpanther52]

A Little more info about Scalpay It is from 2012 - I will try and find out somemore.

 

"Introduction

Scalpay Estate, comprising the majority of Scalpay with some smaller islands, has been

offered to its residents as a gift by the current owners, the Sue Taylor Settlement Trust.

The Trustee (and in effect the owner) Fred Taylor has also offered to gift the glebe park

adjacent to Scalpay Lighthouse and the former Ministry of Defence tracking site, both of

which are owned by him personally. In 2011 the Scalpay Community Land Steering

Group was established with a remit to commission a feasibility study that would help the

community make an informed choice about the future ownership and management of the

Scalpay Estate. This report presents the findings of the study. An assessment of wind

energy potential is described in a separate report.

The Island and Community

Scalpay is within the Western Isles, off the east coast of Harris and now connected by a

bridge. It is 4km long and 2.5 wide, the majority of the land area belongs to the Scalpay

Estate and is under crofting tenure. In the 1970s Scalpay was an important fishing

community but the fleet has since declined. There are few job opportunities on the island

and income levels are below the Scottish average. Scalpay’s population is 320 with a

high proportion of elderly people. The island boasts a strong network of community

organisations and has a community run shop and cafe, mini-bus service and a

community centre. The primary school was closed in June 2012 due to the declining

school role.

Scalpay Estate Finances and Obligations

The Scalpay Estate currently generates an annual income of between £2,500 and

£3,500. Regular income is received from croft rents, mast rental and wayleaves; regular

outlays are for the factor’s salary, public liability insurance and accountant’s fees. Income

usually is greater than the expenditure and over recent years a small surplus has

accrued. Landowner obligations include rent collection, provision of insurance cover,

presentation of annual accounts and corrective conveyancing, if required, when land

titles are transferred.

Acquisition, title and legal issues

As the current owner is proposing to gift the Estate to the community there would be very

little cost to the community other than legal fees. Although not technically required it

would be in the community’s interest to register the title deed in the Land Register of

Scotland and this would entail a detailed mapping exercise to identify all the land being

transferred. At the same time it is recommended that croft land and common grazings are

also mapped. The foreshore is identified in the current title deeds as belonging to the

Estate, though this may be open to challenge by the Crown Estate".

[ocbogian]

Enjoying all the photos you have posted. What make/model of camera did you use? How many photos did you take on this cruise and how large a memory card(s) did you use? :confused:

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I don't get seasick, but I do get a touch of queasiness when I'm back on land during the adjustment back to normal.

 

oh, I've got the same thing... I had this for weeks after the cruise! To the point, where I had to hold on to a wall as to not fall down.

 

Thanks for joining the review ... gheesh ... your very first post... I feel very honored.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

It's so nice to still have you all on here.

 

thank you suekay and pluto_fan for the ongoing support!

 

And pinkpanther 52 ... wow ... you found out a LOT! Thank you!

 

ocbogian ... lol I had a 32 gigabyte card and took more than 3000 photos. By the way, we are on picture number 470 shown on this review right now:eek:.Tarik took an additional 1500 and Tanja 800:cool:. So we still have loads to come. My camera is a Samsung WB110.

 

Sorry ... no continuation today... but I promise to be back tomorrow!

 

 

Stef

[pinkpanther52]

It's so nice to still have you all on here.

 

thank you suekay and pluto_fan for the ongoing support!

 

And pinkpanther 52 ... wow ... you found out a LOT! Thank you!

 

ocbogian ... lol I had a 32 gigabyte card and took more than 3000 photos. By the way, we are on picture number 470 shown on this review right now:eek:.Tarik took an additional 1500 and Tanja 800:cool:. So we still have loads to come. My camera is a Samsung WB110.

 

Sorry ... no continuation today... but I promise to be back tomorrow!

 

 

Stef

 

Well it is kind of what I do for my job and you have contributed so much with your review I felt I could help out 😃

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Well it is kind of what I do for my job and you have contributed so much with your review I felt I could help out 😃

 

 

Thank you!

 

:D I LOVE your way of thinking :D

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

wildlife on a seaday

 

 

I'm sorry to have to report that we didn't see any wales or puffins. In case you're wondering ... a puffin is a bird living off the Scottish and Irish coast looking a lot like a parrot... I guess that's why the German name for it is "Papageientaucher" --- lol -- say that three times fastly without stumbling:D. Literally translated it means parrot-diver.

 

What we did see though made me happy just as well.

 

Imagine sitting in the l'Ametista lounge, sipping on sparkling wine, dressed up and loving life... you look outside and see this:

 

 

 

 

see it coming out of the water?

 

in free flight

 

going back down

 

I love dolphins and was one happy tourist. Tanja spotted them --- it was a whole group --- yay honey, thank you! If on the next cruise maybe she can show me a whale -- I'd be ecstatic!

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Dinner day five

 

Second formal dinner

 

Batter-Fried Shrimp Tails

Tarik 9 points

Asparagus in Tarragon Sauce

Tanja 8 points

 

Consomme Celestine

Tarik 8 points

 

Risotto alle Capesante

Stef 8 points

Stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Seared Mankfish Medallion

sorry, :( didn't manage a presentable picture

Stef 6 points

Roast Guinea Fowl Smitane

Tanja 0 points (meat was still raw inside -- a no go especially with poultry!

 

 

 

 

Grilled Beef Striploin Steak

Ingo --- lol since he was the only tablemate eating tonight

 

Oriental Style … lol – something…

Tarik ... forgot to note the evaluation ... sorry.

Cheese plate

Tanja as always

 

Saint-Honore

Tarik 9 points

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Pumuckl

(bear with me here – I’ll explain later)

 

It’s pronounced:

Pooh …. as in pooh the bear

…Moo … as in the sound a cow makes

…Quil … as in te

quil

a

This was a cute, 80’s, half trick half real, German tv-series, that really EVERYBODY in this country knows, who was already alive then. It was shown from 1982 – 1991 in 52 episodes. Mainly it tells the story of Meister Eder, who is a carpenter in a quiet location in the city of Munich. He is an elderly, single man, who loves his job and lives a very secluded life.

Until suddenly stuff happens at his work…stuff falls down, things get misplaced etc. It turns out that all these little stunts are done by a little invisible kobold. And of course you all know … kobolds are invisible unless they get stuck in one way or another. Now one day this kobold gets stuck on some glue he just wanted to spill…and tadahhhh he becomes visible:

May I introduce:

Foreign picture:

Pumuckl!

Now you also need to know that it is a binding kobold-law, that once you showed yourself to a human…you have to stay with him. Lol – imagine the “joy” of Meister Eder, when he was told that.

But although Pumuckl can be a real pest sometimes (okay – almost all of the time), the two learn to love each other’s company and you get to enjoy lots and lots of cheesy, fun adventures of them in all the episodes. This is legendary German tv - history if you ask me.

If you like, you can take a peek here …

and although it is in German, you can turn off the sound and when you watch the first 6 – 7 minutes, you can grasp pretty much everything without any foreign language skills and will get to witness the first “sighting” of Pumuckl.

Now…

…Why on earth am I telling you this?

Lol, because in tonight’s show, I would be very much reminded of this little kobold.

In Germany it’s a saying “you look just like Pumuckl” … or “look – Pumuckl!” used when you spot a person with a wild mane of red hair. That’s not really insulting … we all love this little guy… but still: it implies a maybe little bit

too

furious hairdo in a flaming red color.

Tonight’s show was supposed to be Sophisticats. Mhhh – I’m guessing some sort of musical dance show with the dancers interpreting cats. The theatre was about half full (remember, the storm kept many away), when our cruise manager came on stage and said that they had to cancel the show out of safety reasons. The motions of the sea were too strong for on stage activities like dancing and acrobatics.

Mmmhhhh --- why didn’t they have an announcement, telling the passengers before? It was clear all day long, the weather would be like this.

They changed the shows around and tonight we’d be enjoying “Italian Opera”.

Gasps in the audience.

I’m in love with it! Tanja likes it too and Tarik hates it with a vengeance. He left soon after it started….as did almost the entire rest of the theatre… this was so horrible! The people who came to see the action show didn’t want to see the Opera … and the people loving the Opera didn’t even know it was showing!

Aaargh! What a pitiful preparation.

I felt soooo bad for the two performers (AND the opera fans who didn’t know what they were missing right now). Okay, the singers weren’t world class, I especially didn’t fall in love with the man’s voice, but still. This was Opera --- Italian Opera --- I was so relieved I didn’t miss it… and now all these people left the theatre, some in a loud and bratty way… heck one guy even shouted right in the middle of an aria “can’t you play something funny?”.

Oh

my

God!

Talk about Fremdschämen. It was a bad case of that.

Thank God those rude people left soon enough as well.

Pretty soon we were sitting in an almost deserted theatre, enjoying what almost felt like a private performance just for us. When is the last time you had a tenor and a soprano sing just for you, being accompanied by a grand piano, a cello and a violin? It ended magically with “Nessun Dorma” – even if you’re not familiar with Italian Opera … you’ll pretty sure know this song.

If not you can check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMD_5UzjdqQ

lol – yes I chose this cheesy, young Pavarotti version on purpose, since I love the intense feeling he portrays in this particular performance, as well as the Chinese setting and costumes…”Nessun Dorma” is only one song out of a much larger opera after all.

“Turandot” is telling the story of this guy being in desperate love with a Chinese princess (called Turandot). This princess is known to behead every suitor, who cannot solve three riddles. Well, our hero HAS solved them and there is only one more night until the marriage.

The princess doesn’t want to marry and our hero has given her one way out of the whole deal: If she manages to find out his name until dawn, he’ll grant her sole power over his life or death. The princess orders that nobody is allowed to sleep that night until the name is found out.

Nessun dorma (nobody is sleeping) is sung in that night and basically he sings to the princess and tells her that she won’t find out his name until he’ll kiss her in the morning and tell her himself. Sigh.

Maybe I’m telling you too much here – but it has a happy end! Beautiful!

But now last but not least the pictures of tonight’s show:

…and of course for us, the soprano had her nickname down for the entire cruise – guess what it was.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[ocbogian]

ocbogian ... lol I had a 32 gigabyte card and took more than 3000 photos. By the way, we are on picture number 470 shown on this review right now:eek:.Tarik took an additional 1500 and Tanja 800:cool:. So we still have loads to come. My camera is a Samsung WB110.

 

 

WOW! On a 12 day cruise and assuming that you got 8 hours sleep per night that works out to one picture every four minutes. The cruise line photographers would have trouble keeping up with you. :)

[bridgetjonesni]

Talk about Fremdschämen. It was a bad case of that.

 

Can I just say, this is my new favourite word!

[Thompsolonian]

I am enjoying this review.

 

I am to depart on the Divina in February after I return from my deployment.

 

I am looking forward to the different style cruising MSC has to offer. I enjoy different cultures and will have to say that one of my favorite countries i have been to was Germany!

 

Maybe I will have to go back and practice my German!

 

Did you ssee any military uniforms durin gthe formal evenings?

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

 

Did you see any military uniforms during the formal evenings?

 

welcome to the review! Glad you're enjoying it. I didn't see any military uniforms on this cruise (unless you count the Brit immigration officers checking passports:o). Sorry! But then again -- you'd be the main attraction on the formal nights, if you're the only one showing up like that:D! Go for it.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Day six – Belfast, Northern Ireland

Dailies

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Belfast

MSC tours offered on that day:

Our own plans were to visit the Giant’s Causeway and maybe even the ropebridge (if we’d have enough time) independently with public transportation.

see that it's quite far from Belfast to where we wanted to get?

here you can see how far apart those two sights are. The yellow lines for each site indicate the stretch you'll have to walk each time ... about one to two miles each (one way of course). The dotted line for the Giant causeway just shows optional additional paths, if you still have the wish to explore and time left to spare.

 

I’ll tell you right away – we saw both sites --- but we had to choose an alternative way of transportation. But this is how it

could

have been done, in case you plan to do DIY to the Giant’s Causeway at this port:

Three possible options

to

the Giant’s Causeway:

1.

08:20 – 09:40 Train from Belfast Central station to Coleraine

10:10 – 10:53 Bus 402 from Coleraine to Giant’s Causeway

 

2.

09:30 – 11:05 Bus 221 Express from Belfast Victoria Station to the Giant’s Causeway

 

3.

09:05 – 12:25 Bus 256 Scenic route from Belfast Victoria Station to the Giant’s Causeway

 

 

Three possible options

back

to Belfast

1.

12:26 – 13:09 Bus 402 Giant’s Causeway to Coleraine

13:19 – 14:39 Train from Coleraine to Belfast Central Station

 

2.

14:00 – 15:35 Bus 221 from the Giant’s Causeway to Belfast Victoria Station

 

3.

12:50 – 14:00 Bus 177 (open top) Giant’s Causeway to Coleraine

14:19 – 15:39 Train from Coleraine to Belfast Central Station

Pay attention – the Victoria Train Station is somewhere completely different than the Central Train Station! Both are at a 15 minute walking distance from the drop off point at the city hall … but walking in opposite directions!

Also the free shuttle busses were only running until a certain time in the afternoon – so listen closely when exactly the last shuttle will run to return you to your ship!

Arriving in Belfast

Early that morning I used the gym and was surprised to see we were still way out on the sea … we were supposed to dock in Belfast at 8:00 … and I believe it was 7:00 now. How on earth did they want to manage that? Well – not at all. While I was stepping away, slowly the Isle of Ireland showed up. I was excited! Dark, rich greens and a rocky coast came closer and closer. We’ve longed to visit for quite some time. But I also started to get nervous about our timetable. Today again we had planned to visit the Giant’s Causeway … and maybe, time permitting the Carrick-a-Rede Ropebridge. To complicate matters, we chose to do this solely on public transport. For this to work, we HAD to be in Belfast no later than 8:30. That coast sill looked quite far away… ahhhrrrrgghhhh.

Well, when we were sitting in the Sahara buffet restaurant, enjoying our breakfast, it turned 8:30 and we were not docked yet… crap. All my planning just went down the drain. I was a little grumpy. Then they had an announcement, saying that due to the bad weather the day before, they’d be arriving in Belfast at around 9:30 …. But they’d extend the port day from 16:30 to 18:30…. Sigh… nice thing of them to do, but it really didn’t help me out. We had to improvise. I HAD to see the Giant’s Causeway … just like Tarik’s precruise highlight to see Loch Ness,

this

was mine … and I was far from willing to give up so soon. Lol – not so desperate to consider a ship excursion though!

Here’s the port’s docking spot coming up …

The red double decker busses were supplied by the city of Belfast to transport the cruise passengers to and from Belfast free of charge. Wow! Great service! Go Belfast!

We were off the boat at 9:15 and arrived (of course via one of the free busses) in the city center of Belfast at 9:35. You’ll be dropped off right next to the City Hall.

Did you know that every single passenger’s name, who died on the Titanic (total of 1496 souls) is engraved on the back side of this building? We didn’t either…but we were told. By who? Wait and see.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[denisey]

Wait and see.

Stay tuned!

Stef

 

 

Aaaaaaaah!

 

Maybe one of the "Giants" carried you there, and gave you information on the way??????

 

I'm waiting! And I know we will get another history lesson! Yay!

[Irish Cath]

YIPPEE your in Belfast. That means only 2 - 3 weeks until you hit Dublin :D:p

 

Not that anyone wants you to rush Belfast in fact I can't wait to see your Giants Causeway pictures as i've never been :o:(

[Jules.]

Going back to your great photo of the elderly people sitting in their cars at the Highland Games, that's a very British thing to do. At every seaside town you will find people sat in their parked cars parked gazing out to sea, eating home made picnics and drinking tea from flasks. Even when the sun is shining and it is lovely and warm, they'll still stay in their cars :rolleyes: