Just got off 10/30 Magica cruise

[jstrutton]

Feedback from the cruise:

Overall, fabulous.

Cabin: we had an interior cabin and it was fine. No problems with it at all. Service was great. Many people ask about the plugs for the room. There are two plugs, one that is US and the other like Europe ones, 2 circles. They are located in the main cabin and not in the bathroom. There is a hairdryer provided for you. Also, refrigerator is OK, nothing special. Safe is provided and you can use any credit card or your cabin key to lock it.

 

Food: Excellent. Early on the cruise, I was not impressed at the dinner meals. Late seating was way to late for us. For most of the week, we didn't finish our meal until around 1100 pm. That is pretty late for us to go to bed with a full stomach. Would highly recommend early seating.

Theatre: The acts were excellent.

 

Ports:

Rome: The train ride from Rome to Civitecheia was easy and no problem. The only bad thing is having to deal with the luggage. But if you get on at the Rome Termini, you won't have to change trains at all. Total cost is around 9 Euro for 2 people. Once you get off the train at Civitecheia, take one of the taxis at the train station. They will take you there for 20 Euro. Well, worth it because they take you straight to the boat.

 

Savona: Don't take the excursions. You can walk out into the city and see the entire city on your own. There was a big flea market type area down in the city, easy walking distance. Very cheap stuff mainly clothes. You can also walk all the way to the coast area and it was very nice.

 

Barcelona: You are there only about 4 hours. No excursion needed. The boat offers an shuttle service into town for 5 Euro. It drops you off in the middle of town. You should walk up the Ramblas street. It is very nice with a number of street performers and lots of shops. You can take the double decker buses but it costs 17 Euro for 2 hours. So you only have less than 2 hours left.

 

Palma: We took a cab into the downtown area. Then went to one of the cathedrals and enjoyed the views. Very nice and no excursion needed there. The taxi drivers right out of the port will try to sell you very expensive tours. Just take the normal taxis into the shopping area for about 10 Euros and take them back to the boat.

 

Tunis: By far the worst stop I have ever seen on a cruise ship. If I had to do over, I would stay on the boat. We took the excursion, but they basically only took us to some of the souq shops. The vendors were very

busy and very, very (did I say very) rude. They even asked some of our friends to leave their shop if they were not going to buy anything. All the vendors start very high (products are cheap quality) and then get upset when they drop their prices too far. No real scenario to see other than blue doors. Still can't figure the purpose of those things.

 

Malta: Great stop. Once you get off the boat, go up the road and up the stairs. Avoid the taxi guys right off the boat. Once you get to the top of the stairs, there is usually a taxi driver that will negotiate a better deal

We ended up paying our taxi driver 24 Euro per couple (we got with another couple). It was a 2 hour guide around the city. Well worth it!!!!!!!!!!! Cathedral and Medina was well worth it. One of the best stops!!!

 

Palermo: Just walk off the boat and you are in downtown. The one excursion (based on our dinner friends) was well worth it. But we just walked into town and there was street like an open market. Good prices and everyone is friendly.

 

Overall, we only did the one excursion in Tunis and we should have saved our money on that one. Otherwise,all the other ports can be accessed easily without doing the cruise.

 

Any other questions, feel free to ask and we will try and answer Overall, the Costa cruise line was very good.

[sfocruiser]

Feedback from the cruise:

 

Ports:

 

Tunis: By far the worst stop I have ever seen on a cruise ship. If I had to do over, I would stay on the boat. We took the excursion...

 

Palermo: Just walk off the boat and you are in downtown. The one excursion (based on our dinner friends) was well worth it.

 

 

Which tour did you take in Tunis and what was the tour you mentioned in Palermo?

 

Couple of other questions.

 

What time did you board? take very long to board?

 

What time were you able to disembark? We were shooting for 9:00 in order to catch our flight.

 

did you try the alternative restaurant?

 

Looks like our saling the ship is full, did the ship feel crowded to you? Long lines to get off?

[jstrutton]

Which tour did you take in Tunis and what was the tour you mentioned in Palermo?

 

There was only one tour offer in Tunis which included the panaromic tour and the shopping in the souqs. As far as Palermo, I think it included the visit to the beachfront view. They mentioned the view was great. We didn't go, but the couple at our table did.

 

Couple of other questions.

 

What time did you board? take very long to board?

 

We got there around 1:00 and went right on board. They seemed to board American folks first. It only took us less than an hour to go through the lines and get on board.

 

What time were you able to disembark? We were shooting for 9:00 in order to catch our flight.

 

They will give you bags tags for your luggage the last night and each color is associated with a time starting at 0830. If you don't like the time you get, just go to the guest services and they will change them for you. However, we changed our tag to the early time, however, we decided to just walk off the boat at 0800 instead of waiting around. No one stopped us and we just picked up our luggage and left. We had a train to catch at 0900.

 

did you try the alternative restaurant?

 

The alternate restaurant costs 20 Euro pp for reservations. We just decided to eat at the main dining area and a couple of nights we just ate at the buffet. They have the buffet everynight and it really is very good. Especially the pizza. Best I've had in a long time.

 

Looks like our saling the ship is full, did the ship feel crowded to you?

 

It was pretty full for us, however, it never was really bad anywhere. Every once in a while, you ran into a line at the breakfast buffet, but otherwise, you would never know that they were over 3000 folks on board.

 

Long lines to get off?

 

No, the lines to get off the board at the ports were very good. It never took us more than 5 minutes to get off the boat. All you have to do is give them your cabin card and they just swope it in their reader and off you go.

 

Hope this helps and ask away if you have more........

[sfocruiser]

Can't wait. Thanks for the quick responses. One process which other posters had mentioned was a problem was the picking up of your passports the day of disembarkation, long confused lines, etc... Was this still a problem?

[jstrutton]

Not really, we went down to the guest services desk at 0800 and they just give you your passport. It probably took 10 minutes or less. Assuming that you need to get off the boat early, I would go there at 7:55 or so and pick it up. The English speaking Costa rep is very good and will give you the real story if you have questions.

[Tuscanyx]

Hi there,

Thanks for the useful information. Question regarding Tunis: you said you didn't like the excursion organised by the cruise. We would still like to get off the ship and walk around the old town a bit with our 6 months old baby. Can you just walk from the port or can a taxi be easily hired? For how much? Thanks.

[jstrutton]

You can walk to the taxi stand from the boat. I saw it as our bus was leaving the port. There was a long line of taxi's there. The taxi's should be able to take you to the souq area and also to the other area (blue doors) if that is what you like to see. Have no idea the price, but based on what I saw in the country, you will just have to haggle with the taxi driver for a reasonable price. You can't walk to the downtown area like you can in Barcelona, Savona, or other ports. It was a little ways and didn't look that safe going there. So, recommend the taxi if you are getting off the boat on your own.

[mjmagee]

I know this is a weird question, but...thinking of a Magica Caribbean cruise and looking at the website pix of staterooms the beds look, well, "small". We would be looking for two twins together to make an American sized Queen. I know European bed sizes can be much smaller than what we are used to. What did you think? Marilyn

[jstrutton]

We had a interior cabin. The bed was basically two twins beds put together, but you really couldn't tell. There was plenty of room on the bed for the wife and myself. Can't speak for the other cabins since I didn't see them.