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

[denisey]

:) It was a super bargain, because its not in a school holiday. We can only book because Tarik will be gone on a skiing trip with his school. Of course he's madder than hell right now, because he would much rather join us than go skiing:rolleyes:. :DDid ya know we're the meanest parents in the whole world?

 

We got the last two seats in the plane offered in this deal. I'm so psyched!

 

Our stops will be Tenerife (gotta go see the penguins in Loro Park -- been there berfore and loved it!), La Palma (pure romantic nature --never been), Fuerteventura (mh, beach? no clue yet) and best of all one and a half days in Madeira (oh all the possibilities!)!!!!!

 

Lol and of course we'll be travelling with our cherished Italian cruiseline again --- MSC.

 

Viva Italia!

 

 

Stef

 

Oooooh! Madeira! You have to do the Tobogan ride

 

 

And drink some Madeira before you go. It is rather an acquired taste.

[bridgetjonesni]

Mhhh, why don't they stick em properly back into the earth? They don't rot. They're stone after all...it shouldn't be more difficult to get them standing up stable than when they were erected originally, should it:confused:? Weird stuff. But thank you for the explanation:o!

 

It costs money to make them stable so if the relatives are unwilling to pay or if they can't be traced, the local authority just takes the cheap way out. My husband's family are currently paying £120 to the local authority to "make safe" his mother's gravestone. Apparently it's unsafe if it wobbles more than 5mm! :eek:

[Shelley61]

Our stops will be Tenerife (gotta go see the penguins in Loro Park -- been there berfore and loved it!), La Palma (pure romantic nature --never been), Fuerteventura (mh, beach? no clue yet) and best of all one and a half days in Madeira (oh all the possibilities!)!!!!!

 

Our cruise in September takes in Madeira for a day and a half too, so I'm looking forward to hearing what you do. I'm struggling to make a decision about what we should fit in and on which day.

 

There's not much to do in Fuertaventura. We went over there on a ferry from Lanzarote a couple of years ago and got the bus to the sand dunes, but I don't really think there's much to do otherwise. I'll happily be informed otherwise!

 

If your cruise doesn't stop in Lanzarote (and depending on how much time you have in port of course) you could always go over there. Lots to do, but may be time restricted. And of course you really wouldn't want to miss the ship when you're visiting different islands! ;)

[Kewz1]

We took a TA cruise in 2013 and had a port day in Madeira. I booked a private tour because my mom has mobility issues. We really enjoyed ourselves. Beautiful place! And the food was excellent as well.

 

Enjoy!

 

Kristen

[spinnaker2]

this past november. We took the 4x4 jeep trip, which was a half day tour. It was great and we really enjoyed ourselves.

We did get in the first off road vehicle so our driver took the lead. We went to explore the microclimates of Madeira, thru the woods and up step roads. The weather was wonderful, the air smelled like eucalyptus and the views were amazing.

I highly recommend it.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Lol -- thank you all for getting my mouth watering for Madeira. We surely will do the Tobogan ride ... besides that we'll see. Just downloaded Tom's portguide. For any of you who don't know him yet: He does fantastic portguides for many ports around the world. The one for Madeira is 37 pages long:eek::D.

 

I did indeed find interesting stuff in Fuerteventura besides the dunes (been to those before)... but they're all closed on sundays ... now guess what day of the week we'll be there .... right.... sunday:(. oh well, I guess even we can treat us to a sunny day on the pool deck only interrupted by a short stroll through port once in a while. This cruise will be all about unwinding and couple-time anyway. Bring on those BBC coktails:D.

 

You're right, I didn't think of the money issue concerning the gravestones, but I can see how that would cut into a city's budget...yikes, 120 pounds is quite a lot. How long will it be stable after that? I mean, how often do you have to re-stabilize these suckers? Mhhh, something I have luckily not had to deal with yet. Then again, tombstones in Germany are rarely higher than your knees and rather broad, so I guess they stand steadily for a longer period of time.

 

But now let's continue with this review.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Stroll through Cork

Okay, okay … OUR stroll through Cork doesn’t show any touristy areas or highlights. All we did is walk from the hostel back to the train station, which was approximately a good half hour. We did see river Lee however and -- sigh the main bus station on the other bank, which would have brought us to Blarney if things would have turned out differently. If anybody is interested in maps showing the way from the train station in Cork (which is called Kent -- and yes, that confused me as well in the beginning) to the bus station … or of the walk from the bus stop to the castle in Blarney… just tell me. Just because we didn’t end up doing it, doesn’t mean I can’t be of help in the planning for you guys. It’s definitely doable DIY.

Anyway, here are some random glimpses of our walking experience in Cork:

Tarik was completely fascinated by this.

I liked the way the walls looked rather scruffy and raw on the outside, but as soon as you’d enter the front gate, it almost gives you a feel of Italy or Greece with the white walls and all the flowers.

A church --- no idea which one --- but I guess that at least was close to a tourist site.

Can you imagine renting this? I’d be especially fond of the room way on top with all the windows.

I thought Germans are crazy for football aka soccer. But the Irish sure are even more obsessed than we are. We saw signs advertising all kinds of football events.

Lol – no offense, but the Irish sure are strange sometimes. Would have loved to witness this peculiar event. Must have been quite the sight.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Train ride from Cork to Cobh (post one of two)

Here we arrived on the platform in Cork after completely puzzling a poor employee, who just couldn’t grasp tourists who went the “wrong” way. He tried to tell us all the time that we were wrong, that we’d be returning to the cruise ship if we’d continue on our way …well, guess what, that is indeed our intention.

I still ask myself how he knew we belonged to a ship … is my cruise obsession soooo obvious?

Anyway, when we finally told him WHY we were heading in the “wrong” direction, he like everybody else we had met cracked up laughing … in a good, highly amused, yet sympathetic way. Slowly I was getting tired of having to retell our little story over and over again though.

These were the stations on our way to Cobh… of course you can also use it vice versa on your morning trip to Cork (the more common direction for a cruiser that time a day).

Following are three pictures of the scenery.

These partially dried streams (I wonder if they fill up in high tide much) reminded me a lot of the northern part of Germany. We used to spend time at the Wattenmeer for holidays when I was little and I recall getting stuck with my tiny wellies all the time. What really sucked was when you sank in so deep that your boots vanished completely … it wasn’t always easy to retrieve them, but miraculously I never had to hop back in socks.

This sign and us are sooo close now. I can’t tell you how many (hundreds!) of times we read (on a very blinky ticker) and heard (very frequent recordings by a lovely female voice) that line in English as well as in Gaelic on the train ride the night before. Is this a typically Irish problem? Feet on a seat? I don’t remember hearing this announcement in any other country I ever traveled on trains before … and without bragging, those are a few.

Anyway, this is now officially the only sentence I can fluently pronounce in Gaelic …. Lol --- where on earth is this supposed to be helpful???

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Train ride from Cork to Cobh (last post)

…and finally …

oh joy over joy !!!! OUR SHIP!!!! Whoohooo!!!!!!!

Here’s Tarik shortly before the train doors open to spit us out onto the platform of Cobh station. You can see just how close the ship is to the train station. This really is the perfect port to go use the train for any kind of DIY excursion (lol -- after regular arrivals that is).

It is a strange feeling to pass hundreds of cruise passengers, wanting to get on the train you just left.

There were long lines in front of the ticket booth. If there’s a way to prepurchase those train tickets online before your trip – go for it!

Hooray – only a few more steps. Slowly we started to get a little queasy … after all, we were the lost children … would we be in trouble returning “home”?

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

sigh, did I mention I gained 5 kgs of weight over the winter (as usual:rolleyes:)? This time of course I won't have half a year to work it off. Sniff .. No way I'll fit in some of my stuff. What on earth am I going to wear for formal night then? I guess it's about time for another diet and some sports.

 

:o49 days till embarkation

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Back on the ship

When we walked up the gangway, we made our way passing hordes of passengers descending. They didn’t really have anything set up for returning people yet (no wonder). But we waved at one guy behind the switched off metal detector and said:

”aehm, we’re the passengers who got lost in Dublin”

His eyes got bigger and bigger and a whole cascade of things started to happen at once. First he told us:

"Wait – stay here, I can’t let you in yet."

Aahhhhh !!!!!

Then he excitedly talked to people over his mobile radio as well as wildly gesturing and waving to other security people inside the centrum.

Oh my, this is quite embarrassing.

After about 5 minutes (which felt like an eternity), an Italian officer came through the door leading to the centrum, with the broadest possible grin on his face. Before we were in hearing distance he beamed at us and gestured “hey … what happened?” in an absolutely charming Italian way. He was a doll! First he actually made sure we were okay and then after a little fun chat about our reasons for missing the boat (my incompetence to remember the correct all aboard time --- gaahhh) and him wondering why on earth they didn't pilot us out, he asked for our board cards.

They were not valid anymore. Shipwise, we didn’t exist anymore…they just blanked us out. So obviously, they would need to issue new ones.

During all that, he remained friendly, charming (lol -- and a little amused at our expense) without one harsh word. Could have kissed him and will forever hold MSC dear for this guy’s reaction alone. His name was Diego di Andrea. You rock!

He took us over to guest services to get us back into the passenger list. It was a bit complicated, because of our Allegrissimo and our designated table in the dining room. It simply wasn’t possible to print that darn table number on the card anymore… but once we assured them that we knew perfectly where our table was even without a printed number, we got our now table-less brand new cards with freshly taken pictures on them …

...not like that would have been necessary for us anymore...

...Sigh – every freaking security person on board (and sadly almost all the bartenders and waiters as well) knew our faces. We were sadly famous from now on and got broad smiles and amused waves wherever we went onboard.

This is Diego on the left! If you see him, tell him hello from the stranded German family in Ireland and maybe tell him how wonderful we think he handled the whole deal! We’ll always be grateful. Gosh, the whole guest services deck was great as well…we had a total of 5 people work on our problem simultaneously! And none of them was rude, but friendly and reassuring the whole time!

When we had just gotten our new board cards we heard a high pitched scream behind us:

“

You!!!

We’re so through with you!!!”

and while turning and before even realizing what was happening, we were bear-hugged by Yvonne, our table mate.

She and her family were just getting ready to leave the ship when they saw us. We then learned about the various activities due to our absence the night before.

They called our names three times and even sent multiple people to our dining table (and surely our cabin) to check if we were there. Lol – I bet they checked our favorite bars as well, as they surely were able to track our habits through the various Allegrissimo receipts… that would explain the bartenders and waiters being filled in on our faces.

Boy, what an adventure it was.

It was just such a grand feeling to be back onboard. Here’s a proof picture with us in our Ireland t-shirts:

Lol- that’s a picture of the Titanic in the back on that wall.

Next to a cocktail (heck, we just needed that now) we spent the next hour with fun sporty stuff.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[lorrdean]

oh stef, first I want to apologise, I'm sorry but I was actually grinning away, reading the last few posts, not at you specifically,(Achh who am i kidding.....of course I was Lol).everyone nodding and looking at you for the rest of cruise with knowing looks whispering 'thats them, that didn't get back on' sorry i find it funny.:D but the fact that they had wiped you all of the face of the earth, is scary :eek: I thought they would have done more to make sure nothing bad had happened to you. Hadn't thought about them piloting you aboard, wonder why they didn't?:confused:

 

sandra

[Cruiser 4 Life 66]

Stef,

I am enjoying your review so much, it seems to have been going on forever. I look forward to every new entry and the pics. Your words and pictures make us feel like we are on the cruise with you. Now here is something crazy...last night I dreamed I WAS on the cruise with you :eek:

 

I'm not sure if this should be scary to me, you, or both of us LOL. But it just goes to show how we all have been drawn in to your excellent posts. Amazing how we're all spread out all over the world but with your posts it's like we're right there with you on the ship....or racing to get back to the ship LOL. Keep those pics and summaries coming. Can't read to read your next cruise review.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Cruiser 4 Life 66

[denisey]

Stef,

I am enjoying your review so much, it seems to have been going on forever. I look forward to every new entry and the pics. Your words and pictures make us feel like we are on the cruise with you. Now here is something crazy...last night I dreamed I WAS on the cruise with you :eek:

 

I'm not sure if this should be scary to me, you, or both of us LOL. But it just goes to show how we all have been drawn in to your excellent posts. Amazing how we're all spread out all over the world but with your posts it's like we're right there with you on the ship....or racing to get back to the ship LOL. Keep those pics and summaries coming. Can't read to read your next cruise review.

 

I feel the same way Cruiser!

[timetosaygoodbye]

me too :D

In july i'm on a cruise with my sister and my godchild. And we will go the Mount Vesuvius too!!

I told him Tariks story ;)

 

claudia

[Cruiser 4 Life 66]

Stef,

I am enjoying your review so much, it seems to have been going on forever. I look forward to every new entry and the pics. Your words and pictures make us feel like we are on the cruise with you. Now here is something crazy...last night I dreamed I WAS on the cruise with you :eek:

 

I'm not sure if this should be scary to me, you, or both of us LOL. But it just goes to show how we all have been drawn in to your excellent posts. Amazing how we're all spread out all over the world but with your posts it's like we're right there with you on the ship....or racing to get back to the ship LOL. Keep those pics and summaries coming. Can't read to read your next cruise review.

 

Oops! Meant to say "Can't WAIT to read your next cruise review"

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

sorry to have kept you all waiting. Emergency weekend again ... and lot's of work. But I'll post the dailies for Cobh in a minute, followed by MSC's tours for that day. I haven't had time to write the next installment yet, but I'll continue tomorrow morning ... given that I get at least a couple of hours of sleep ... if not... we'll continue tuesday for sure.

 

thanks for the patience and all the oh so wonderful posts:):p:). Oh my -- dreaming about the review ... how cool is that?

 

:cool:Madeira planning --- check!

 

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Dailies for day nine -- Cobh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

MSC's tours for our day in Cobh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... we didn't pursue our plans to venture far anymore today, but while walking along the decks, we sighted a quite familiar view of another ship which had arrived in port meanwhile.

 

 

 

 

 

It's the Sea Cloud -- again!

 

 

I really think this a wink to go sail on her one day. This pretty sight convinced Tanja to at least set a foot on dry land again to stroll around a bit ... only under one premission: We wouldn't leave the ship out of sight today anymore... sigh, oh well, better than nothing ... we'll continue with our stroll through Cobh in the next installment.

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

Edited January 11, 2015 by Kreuzfahrtneuling

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Strolling through Cobh

 

 

 

 

Lol – out of some inexplicable ;-) reason, we loved to take pictures of our ship today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, look! A motorcycle group-trip all the way from Essen, Germany …

...did I ever tell you that’s the city I was born in? What a small world we live in … have a safe and fun trip you guys! Say hello to my home town, once you return!

 

 

I sadly didn’t know a thing about Cobh (well, besides the obvious with the Titanic and all). Heck, I just hadn’t planned to tour these streets. That church looked interesting.

 

 

I wanted to walk up there… only to be drawn back by Tanja and Tarik, telling me it’s off limits because it’s too far away from our boat….sheesh, guys, don’t you think you’re overreacting a bit?

 

 

Sigh, okay, back to our boat then. On the way back we found the entrance to the Cobh Heritage Center.

 

 

It’s a light hall, close to the port and train station, with shops and cafes and a walk-through museum in the back, which interactively tells you about the history of Cobh … I have actually heard this is supposed to be very good … but they wanted quite a bit of entrance money … and it was indoors … again no sufficient view of our ship in the opinion of my two little wusses I was travelling with … sigh …guess what -- we didn’t do it. Guys, this is starting to be a bit obnoxious. …but okayyyy, if you so wish, let’s go outside again. Gah!

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned!

 

 

Stef

 

 

 

[Irish Cath]

WAHOOOO, I'm almost as excited about your upcoming cruise as I am about ours!! Isn't January a great time to book!

 

Good luck with the planning.

 

I'm glad you at least had a little walk around Cobh and I hope you were able to enjoy some of the sail away - I imagine it must be pretty.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

WAHOOOO, I'm almost as excited about your upcoming cruise as I am about ours!! Isn't January a great time to book!

 

Good luck with the planning.

 

I'm glad you at least had a little walk around Cobh and I hope you were able to enjoy some of the sail away - I imagine it must be pretty.

 

:D:):DYay Cath ... another cruise for you too? How cool! Where to?

 

aehm, but you certainly wouldn't quit continuing your review over this would ya? How long till the last installment? A week, roughly:rolleyes:? Forgive me for being pushy ... I just love to read it too much. Pure selfishness.

 

The scewed up thing with every single sailaway was that our dining-time interferred with it. We didn't see a single sailaway, except the one from Hamburg...a shame somehow, but we also liked the touch of decadency being served in the MDR, while the landscape drifted past behind the windows.

 

One more little sight in Cobh ... coming up in a few...

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Cobh Museum (part one of three)

Outside the Heritage hall, you look up this wall … and instantly spot another church.

I tried once again: ” Let’s look at that church, okay? It ain’t as big as the other one, but it is sooo close to the ship (just up these stairs) .We’ll be perfectly safe! And who knows if it’s even open? Please, please, pretty please? “

Whoohoo – they agreed to take a look.

Mhhh – why is there a plastic horse standing around on the churchyard?

Well, turns out this church isn’t an active church anymore, but a museum, which currently houses an exhibition on the role of the horse during World War One called “Horse Power”.

There was a minimal fee to enter and the folks were extremely friendly, even handing us a sheet, describing all the displayed objects in German for us to take along during our visit. Here’s a history of the church:

I really liked that ceiling

And the former altar was well designed as well

The whole place was bathed in light and had a welcoming, embracing aura to it.

Then again, maybe it was just me, being ecstatic about my loved ones, who had finally let go of their fear of not seeing the ship 24/7.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Cobh Museum (part two of three)

the "Horse Power" exhibition:

this video footage was quite interesting ... well -- and ghastly shocking sometimes as well.

 

spurs, boots and stuff.

moving letters and background info on the fate of many horses.

well, and the necessities to write home with. Plus they definitely had worse hazards to face than die of smoking ... so I'll give the cigarette case a go.

and of course horses were not the only animals to be drawn into the war ... here an interesting photo assembly about dogs in WWI:

stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Cobh Museum (last post)

Hey, look who's hanging around here ... Daniel O'Connell ... remember him? We touched his coffin on Glasnevin cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then I realized what kind of book was laying around on the altar:

Oh my God, I was so excited! Yes, this was only a copy .... but you could touch this one and actually turn pages and all.... we didn't go see the original in Dublin. It would have been on display at the library of Trinity college...each day a single different page... under glass ... with tons of tourists wobbling by .... THIS beautiful copy however, I had all to myself.

I really urge you all to watch an animated movie for me ... yes, even if you're not into animated movies! It's called "The Secret of Kells". It's from 2009 and it lasts 78 minutes. It's a fun, magical and in depth film about the history of the book of Kells ... next to that you also get a feeling for the Irish mythology, an abundance of beautiful, spacy Celtic kalligraphy and much more. I really, really loved it. Here's a link to a free online stream, where you can watch the whole thing!

 

 

 

http://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmegashare.info%2Fwatch-the-secret-of-kells-online-TmpJeE1BPT0&ei=gmS2VNmcBIeHygO33ILQCA&usg=AFQjCNHqcoTSkOxaOBNxBT2hBV1Ya1Xqgw&sig2=IqfP2r5YyCVlLtB7ytGN8g&bvm=bv.83640239,d.bGQ&cad=rja

 

 

Okay... deep breath ....

let's open it!

here are some of the very intricate drawings:

...

and with the following last picture out of the Book of Kells, we'll leave Cobh and as a matter of fact all of Ireland. We had a very "special" time here ... we didn't fall in love (yet) like we did with Scotland, but we also felt, that given the extraordinary circumstances, we should give Ireland another chance to bewitch our hearts just as well. We definitely are in awe ... just not quite in love yet. We'll return ... but most definitely without a cruise ship!

stay tuned!

Stef