American cruiser just off 12 nights Magnifica in Marseille-

[BubMunkeyBles]

Just had an amazing cruise with my two kids (8 and 9) on the Magnifica. I've cruised HAL, RCCL, Carnival and Celebrity and it easily compared well to all of those. The service was amazing, quite possibly the best I've ever had on a cruise. 🙂 Kids club was great, my daughter was super sad to leave and cried the last night. My son wished there were more English speaking kids so may try to cruise during a better time or maybe even out of Southampton next time (but I really want to cruise out of Venice so maybe not). We got a great deal for the 12 nights (under $2000). We prebought the deluxe drink package and had no issues getting grandfathered in to that.

 

We started our trip by flying from London Heathrow to Marseille. We took an early flight out so got an airport hotel the night prior and we stayed at the Best Western Vieux Port in Marseille. We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel which was about 50 euros. Marseille was nice and it was easy to walk everywhere from our hotel. We explored the port area and took a ride on the ferris wheel. They were preparing for their Christmas market, wish we'd have been able to catch that. Everyone was super friendly. After a good night sleep and a relaxing morning we took a taxi to the port. Embarkation was a bit chaotic with the Meraviglia in port also (which looks beautiful also) but we got on pretty quickly, put our bags down nd were eating lunch in the buffet by 1pm. We had pizza which I really liked and had quite a few times on board and also ate quite a bit of pasta also. My daughter really liked the sandwiches that they had premade and she also ate a ridiculous amount of watermelon while on board. 🙂

 

[kodesthemoose]

Looks like a great time! 

[dalsti]

Excellent....We are on the Magnifica in May 2019.  Looking forward to any information you can share.

[BubMunkeyBles]

Day 2: Barcelona: First Port Day 

 

Our first port of call was Barcelona. I pre-booked tickets to Sagrada Familia for me and both kids for 29 euros before we left home. I booked for around 11am which gave us plenty of time to hop the port shuttle (only 4eu roundtrip instead of the 9eu the ship wanted) and then take the metro. I got the 10 ticket metro card which you can use for multiple people and that worked well for us for the day and was about 11eu. We really enjoyed the church and going up in the facade. We then headed back to Las Ramblas to walk around and got back on the ship. 

 

I did not go to a handful of the ships shows because they weren't always my style (opera). The few shows I did make it to that had the acrobats and such were decent. I admit I did miss not being able to have a drink in the theatre (and I know that sounds lame, lol). 

[Nimloth]

Enjoying your review. 

[BubMunkeyBles]

Day 3: At Sea. We mostly ate, hung out, played cards with our new friends who were seated with me at dinner. My kids didn't go to dinner much and chose to go with the kids club most nights (my son made it twice and my daughter once to the MDR). We utilized the indoor pool. I did find it a little weird that the kids club didn't open until 6:30pm on sea days but first dinner was 6:15pm. I just showed up a bit late on sea days. 

 

Day 4: Valletta, Malta. We had a lazy morning and then walked off the ship around 11. We got their in time to catch them firing the cannons at the battery which the kids really liked. We then wandered for a couple hours and got lose on some back streets. It was just a super relaxing day. 

[BubMunkeyBles]

Day 5: At Sea. The second sea day was mostly a repeat of the first one. Main addition is that I got a Bali Massage which was really nice. I did status match before I got on the cruise so they gave me a deal of buy one get one 50% off for the second massage (which I got on the 3rd and final sea day). I read a lot, took the kids to the pool, took a nap when they went to the kids club. Since I was solo with the two kids it was just nice to be able to not do a lot. We homeschool so the kids did do some schoolwork also. I'm so mean!

 

Day 6: Heraklion. I decided after pricing out some expensive private tours to just take a taxi to Knossos. It worked out well and I ended up booking with a taxi driver that was  there when I walked out of the terminal for Knossos and a city tour for 70EU. It was about a 3 hour tour and seemed reasonable. Knossos was cool but the restoration is horrible from an archaeological standpoint. But I'm still glad we went. I still get amazed by really old things. Our taxi driver then took us to the big church in town where my kids enjoyed playing with the pigeons a bit too much. We then got dropped off to shop and walked back to the ship from there. 

[BubMunkeyBles]

Day 7: Rhodes, Greece. Today was also American Thanksgiving. We took our time getting off the ship knowing that we were just planning to walk around and shop and eat some lunch. A lot of the better rated restaurants were already closed down for the season so I just chose one of the random places I saw. It was so so. I'd definitely try to go somewhere better if we go back again. Kids had fun wondering and there were definitely some end of season sales/bartering to be had. The kids enjoyed the cats that were surrounding us during our lunch. I kind of love all the animals that are around just existing in Greece. We were told a couple times it's because they don't euthanize animals, they just vaccinate and sterilize them and let them  go. They all seem well fed. We did see a couple people swimming in the tiny beach near the boat, that made the kids a bit jealous. For dinner MSC provided us a traditional American Thanksgiving which I thought was a nice touch. I was definitely not expecting it and it was all delicious. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans and pumpkin pie. With so few Americans it's something that proved how great the service MSC is trying to provide is and today I just convinced my husband to do the Magnifica cruise over Thanksgiving next year (out of Venice). I really enjoyed not having to cook Thanksgiving dinner.

[Italian_Cruiser]

1 hour ago, BubMunkeyBles said:

Day 5: At Sea. The second sea day was mostly a repeat of the first one. Main addition is that I got a Bali Massage which was really nice. I did status match before I got on the cruise so they gave me a deal of buy one get one 50% off for the second massage (which I got on the 3rd and final sea day). I read a lot, took the kids to the pool, took a nap when they went to the kids club. Since I was solo with the two kids it was just nice to be able to not do a lot. We homeschool so the kids did do some schoolwork also. I'm so mean!

 

Hi BubMunkeyBles, thanks for your review.

Could you please advise if the SPA was full during your visit?

 

Thanks

[BubMunkeyBles]

13 minutes ago, Italian_Cruiser said:

 

Hi BubMunkeyBles, thanks for your review.

Could you please advise if the SPA was full during your visit?

 

Thanks

 

It was definitely not full. 🙂 I felt like they were doing quite a bit of soliciting day of and a couple people at my table were able to book within 30 minutes of wanting to get in. 

[Italian_Cruiser]

1 minute ago, BubMunkeyBles said:

 

It was definitely not full. 🙂 I felt like they were doing quite a bit of soliciting day of and a couple people at my table were able to book within 30 minutes of wanting to get in. 

 

Great, thanks!

[KmomChicago]

Enjoying this review!

[BubMunkeyBles]

Day 8: Athens. I pre-booked a private tour for Athens with the kids because I just wanted a couple more structured day of sightseeing. We booked through PK Travel and I paid 360 euros for a full day tour in a minivan (thought my husband would be with us originally) and a certified tour guide to explain everything to us (it's about half that to get just the taxi driver). Getting off the ship was a bit crazy. They called for disembarkation but then no one was being let off on the side of the ship we were on. I later saw people going midship so will definitely keep that in mind for next year. The tour was amazing. We went to the Acropolis, Temple of Olympian Zeus, changing of the guard, the Plaka and to the Acropolis Museum. The guide was great at trying to keep the kids engaged and we had an amazing lunch at Arcadia near the museum. Next trip I hope to hit the Archeology museum. 🙂 It was well worth the money though. That evening the kids went back to the kids club. I really couldn't get my daughter to leave that place in the evenings. I wasn't comfortable letting them roam the ship, but it definitely got old going up to see if they were ready to leave or not, lol.

[kodesthemoose]

I was just about to ask you how your cruise compared to Disney, but I see you are not sailing Disney until 2019!  We are on the Magic for the transatlantic from Miami to Barcelona in May 2019, then on MSC afterward.  I'm excited to see the differences :) 

[BubMunkeyBles]

2 hours ago, kodesthemoose said:

I was just about to ask you how your cruise compared to Disney, but I see you are not sailing Disney until 2019!  We are on the Magic for the transatlantic from Miami to Barcelona in May 2019, then on MSC afterward.  I'm excited to see the differences :) 

 

I'm sad to say we most likely will have to cancel our Disney cruise due to my sisters wedding. Probably adding a third Caribbean on Carnival and MSC for Thanksgiving in its place. It was just too much time in the US (since we currently live in the UK) with my husbands work and vacation time. 

 

Day 9: Corfu. We spent the morning chilling out, went to the pool and ate some more pizza and milkshakes. I pre-booked a private tour with Spiros (Corfu Taxi Tours) in Corfu. My kids were just not in the mood honestly and were pretty annoying most of the time. It was 160 euros though and took us into the countryside and also he took us to the beach which was nice since the kids wanted to see the water. He also surprised us with a snack of fresh bread, feta, spices and olive oil. He was super nice and I'd definitely recommend him. 

[BubMunkeyBles]

Day 10: At Sea. We had a lazy morning and made it to the buffet in time for breakfast (they serve much later I felt than other cruises I've been on). Got my daily dose of waffles and whip cream. My son usually got bacon and eggs and my daughter got whatever she felt like that day. I do admit that we missed our American cereal and non acidic juice (they had orange juice, ACE, grapefruit, and pineapple). Thankfully it was pretty easy to go to the bar and just gran an apple juice. 

 

I did want to mention that I made friends with a handful of people at our MDR table and would go drink with them. The bartenders would put all our drinks on my card since I had the package. I obviously didn't mind but was surprised (in a good way, lol). 

 

I had my last massage during the day which was really nice. Again, thanks to the status match (I'm Platinum on Carnival) I was able to get my massages BOGO 50% off. There wasn't as big a push for products as I've had in the past also which was nice.

 

Day 11: Civitavecchia, Rome. I was really impressed that the itinerary took into account a lot of places are closed on Sunday's and both those days were sea days. Random thought I just had. I decided to use the MSC Rome on Your Own tour, it was mostly old people honestly, I'm pretty sure my kids were the only ones on the bus. I'd probably do the train and save the money and have a bit more control next time of coming and going because at the end of the tour we ended up waiting a bit since we didn't want to be late, but had we done our own thing we could have just headed back. It's also probably faster to just hop a train as it was about 90 minutes there and almost 2 hours back with traffic. 

 

I prebought guided tickets for the Colosseum online. It was pretty easy. I didn't know what time to book for so booked for 12:10pm. Should have booked 11:30 probably. We ended up grabbing some food at a super overpriced restaurant nearby with not very good food. Typical tourist place but we were hungry (should have just grabbed something from the metro station in hindsight). The tour was really nice and the kids enjoyed it. Had no trouble getting in and through security quickly.

 

After we were done at the Colosseum I decided to take a taxi to the Trevi Fountain and then walk to the Spanish steps and then take the metro back. The first taxi driver told us it would cost 23 euros!!!! I knew after reading my guidebook earlier that it should be under 10 so we moved on to a driver who used the meter and it was only 7 euros. Just a warning that there's definitely some shady official taxis out there. We threw some coins, did the walk and then took the metro which was pretty simple (I've done Rome a few times before). Was super cheap since Rome doesn't require the kids to have tickets. After that we headed back to the ship and my daughter went to the kids club and my son stayed with me (and we missed dinner because he was being grumpy). 

[BubMunkeyBles]

Day 12: Genoa. This was our last day of the cruise and we really just wanted to relax and take it easy. We slept in, ate breakfast and headed off the ship around 10:30am or so. I had decided early on to take the kids to the aquarium which was less than a 10 minute walk from the ship. It was a bit pricey I thought (I think about 70 euros for the 3 of us) but it was really well set up and a beautiful aquarium with a wide variety of animals including some we'd never seen (Sawfish?). They had manatees, penguins, dolphins, sharks, seals, and lots of the other more traditional stuff. We had a great couple hours there and then I admit it, we headed to McDonalds because we were a bit tired of the buffet and the kids just wanted a taste of home (is Mc Donald's really a taste of home?).  We spent the afternoon at the indoor pool and then got ready for dinner. My daughter again went to the kids club for dinner and my son decided to come with me. He got kind of down that there weren't more English speaking kids and his friends had disembarked in Rome I think. My daughter on the other hand was really upset and cried quite a bit the last night having to leave. The kids club staff was just amazing!

 

I did see a few shows on the cruise. I saw the cats one (which was just super weird), the Adams Family one which was also weird... I saw one other show but can't remember what the theme was. Usually if the kids club was going I'd go to the show. I usually preferred to go to the sports bar or the indoor pool bar and just lounge. The pool table is super cool in the sports bar and unlike anything I'd ever seen, it moves with the ship so it stays level. Was pretty unique.

 

 

[kodesthemoose]

Sorry to hear you may need to cancel Disney!  Oh well, any cruise is a good cruise :)

 

How did your kids enjoy the Colosseum?  Mine will be 6, 7 and 10 and that is one place I'd like to take them (as I don't feel they would enjoy the Vatican).  Great tip on the taxis.

 

The Genoa Aquarium is on my list, so I'm so glad to hear it was a short walk away (given that it's expensive already - nice to save where you can).

[BubMunkeyBles]

1 hour ago, kodesthemoose said:

Sorry to hear you may need to cancel Disney!  Oh well, any cruise is a good cruise 🙂

 

How did your kids enjoy the Colosseum?  Mine will be 6, 7 and 10 and that is one place I'd like to take them (as I don't feel they would enjoy the Vatican).  Great tip on the taxis.

 

The Genoa Aquarium is on my list, so I'm so glad to hear it was a short walk away (given that it's expensive already - nice to save where you can).

Hopefully we'll make a Disney TA in 2020. I really want to cruise Disney while the kids are still young enough to appreciate it more. 

 

The kids enjoyed the Colosseum. My son not quite as much, he's just kind of at that age I guess and a boy, lol. My daughter got really into it though. I'm sure you'll have a good time!

[BubMunkeyBles]

Day 13: Disembarkation in Marseille. We were all super sad to leave our amazing cruise behind (we have done a lot of vacations this year since we just moved to England 5 months ago and this one topped the rest for both me and my daughter). We met at the MDR for breakfast with all our table mates. Seriously, it was the 8 of us one last time. It was nice that we all got along so well that we set up one last meal. Disembarkation was really simple, didn't have to clear customs or anything with my passport etc. There were plenty of taxis lined up outside and we headed to the airport. I think I'll try to get a slightly earlier flight next time because we waited almost 5 hours for our flight to leave at 3:30pm. Luckily the airport had wifi. There was some weather in London so we took off a bit late but were soon on our way to Heathrow and heading home. 

 

If you've read this far thanks for following us! I'm excited to say that my parents have just committed to joining us next Thanksgiving on the Magnifica out of Venice (stopping in Bari, Olympia, Santorini, Athens, Corfu and Kotor). Hopefully my husband will be able to make this next one too. If you have any questions I'd be happy to try to answer. 🙂

[Nunagoras]

Wonderful review from an American perspective in Europe. Despite those "gelatogate" and other small snafus from MSC,  they certainly have a great product for the price tag.

 

The Magnifica is an "older" and smaller ship with basically no "bells & whistles", but it is a comfortable and very pretty ship for such a traveller like you seem to be to enjoy a nice moving hotel, while enjoying all what those wonderful ports have to offer us!

 

Congratulations! Have a nice day!... 🙂

[Suzieanna]

Thanks for the great review and photos. Looks like you had a great time! 

 

 

  You can’t have a drink in the theatre though!!!  I never knew that!   Still, the shows are short or so I believe!   So I will manage haha! 

 

Thanks again.

[Nimloth]

Thanks for the review, I have really enjoyed reading it. 

[sfibelko]

Thanks for the review.  Can I ask about the formal nights?  We sail on December 11, our 27th cruise, but first with MSC.  Their web site seems to imply that they are strict about dress code on formal nights.  In addition the claim to restrict jeans anywhere on the ship after 6pm.

 

We prefer a casual experience - Jean or khakis at best in the evenings.  

 

How how was your experience with formal nights?  How strict are they?  Can we go to evening shows in blue jeans?

[BubMunkeyBles]

17 hours ago, sfibelko said:

Thanks for the review.  Can I ask about the formal nights?  We sail on December 11, our 27th cruise, but first with MSC.  Their web site seems to imply that they are strict about dress code on formal nights.  In addition the claim to restrict jeans anywhere on the ship after 6pm.

 

We prefer a casual experience - Jean or khakis at best in the evenings.  

 

How how was your experience with formal nights?  How strict are they?  Can we go to evening shows in blue jeans?

They were definitely NOT strict. Jeans and shirts were often worn on formal nights (not by me but sometimes people at our table didn't even know what the dress code was that day). I wore jeans a couple of evenings and no one said anything. You can wear what you want in my opinion and no one will say anything unless you're in pool clothes or something.