Frugalcruiser's Costa Magica Review

[frugalcruiser]

Just back from Western Caribbean sailing 1/29 thru 2/05.

Paid $296 for inside cabin, $198 return air LAX/FLL

Total with all taxes & fees $1210 for me & Mrs M.

Had cabin on Caravaggio Deck 6, bang above the

Capri Lounge!!!!! Kewl, just like having our own band,

or so we thought! Not so at night! lol, everytime the

band hit that drums, the whole room shook! lol, but

no so LOL when you want to sleep! Anyways, went

to Purser's Desk, even though the sailing was "full"

with some diplomacy, managed to get our inside

swapped for an Oceanview with Veranda on Tiziano

Deck 10 and for good measure the gentleman at the

Purser's Desk also threw in a case containing an

amazing array of Costa branded toiletries!!! All at

no additional charge, of course.

 

Here's the lowdown on the ship:

1) Stay away from the cabins on Caravaggio Deck 6

located on the aft (rear) portion of the ship. Noise

from Capri lounge is overbearing! Without being too

critical of inside cabins, I have to say that the size

of an inside was adequate and reasonably well-furnished.

The Oceanview with Veranda was, well, magnifico! The

cabin was immaculately kept and mantained in a spotless

condition by our friendly cabin attendant.

2) The Magica is pure Magic. Beautiful ship. Magnificent

in all respects. Truly a floating work of art. Bellezza!

3) The Buffet must be one of the best selections we

have ever experienced, on ANY cruise ship. The selection

changed daily with each day having different themes,

example Spanish, Italian, Oriental, Greek etc...

Always available was mainstream "American fare" and

GRANA PADANO genuine Italian Parmigiano cheese. We

ate so much of this cheese on Italian bread sprinkled

with extra virgin olive oil that we both joked this by

itself was worth the price of admission. lol lol... On the

Lido Deck for those prefering the usual fast food, they

had the usual drill of burgers and fries and all the fixins'.

The dessert was really crappy, mostly Betty Crocker type

of sheet cakes, although a couple of times we were very

pleasantly surprised to find out that indeed they did have

a few Italian specialties like Canolli filled with ricotta and

also Semi-Freddo ice cream/ricotta cake. Self-service

ice-cream was available throughout the day except at

breakfast time. One interesting note here, at dinner time,

the buffet had the same selection as the dining room. And

talking of the dining room, again, without being too critical,

the dining room service leaves room for improvement when

you compare it with other cruises lines even further down

rung.

4) Due to the HUGE size of the ship, inclement weather

at sea did not effect anyone. The ship barely rocks or

sways on rough seas and the last day of the cruise the

sea had a moderately high swell. One thing I noticed about

the Magica is that due to the large numbers of passengers

that it carries, it can be a bit tricky finding a "QUIET" and

secluded spot on the ship.

5) Entertainment: The shows were just fabulous! We had

the pleasant experience of being treated to Vegas-style

productions, a Classical Piano Concerto and an amazing

Tenor. Magnifico!!! And who can forget Toga night (last

nite of the cruise when most passengers wear make-do

togas). It's just hilarious.

 

I am leaving the ports-of-call out from my review on purpose

as good/bad experiences at the various ports should not, in

my opinion, effect the rating of the ship.

 

Would I go again on the Costa Magica. Absolutely YES!

In a heartbeat! This was truly one of the most enjoyable

cruises we have ever been on and look forward to another

Costa cruise, SOON.

[packercruising]

Thanks for the review! I kept an eye on the webcam for this as it's the same one we will be on Feb 26. The ship is supposedly a sister to Carnival Glory that we were on last year. We are on Deck 9 foreward. Did you wear the togas for supper and did the ones that didn't wear them look/feel out of place?

[skolega]

Thanks for the review. I have a mini suite on deck 6 aft. How late did the music go to? I don't mind if it is till midnight but if we have to listen to the drums until 3 am, we are in trouble!!

[frugalcruiser]

Hello Packercruising,

By all means, do the toga nite. It's fun. And don't feel left out if you opt not to, you can always have fun at somebody's else expense! lolol No, seriously, it's good clean fun! Btw, talking of the wbcam at the front of the ship, I went there one morning, put on my Bob Marley hat/braids and

had a good time making faces into the webcam. You can access it from Deck 10/Tiziano. Just a minor prank but knowing my wife would be checking the webcam out on TV, I found her laughing her head off when I returned to the cabin.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Hello Skolega,

We changed our cabin the very 1st nite, it was around 11.30pm and having had a red-eye flight from LA the nite before and getting no sleep, we called it an early nite. The gentleman at the purser's desk was very understanding about it and after conferring with the Assistant Cruise

Director, he upgraded us. Interesting enough at the same time I was there, another couple was making a scene at the Purser's desk and the only thing they got were 2 sets of ear plugs! I thought that was hilarious.

I do not know about the rest of the cruise although I do know that on a

couple of nites, they did have some late nite activities going on in the Capri Lounge around 12.30am. If it is a problem for you on the first nite,

I think you should address the matter immediately with the Pursers Desk.

Enjoy the Magica.

[marshalls1963]

Hi! I Am So Glad You Enjoyed Your Trip! We Are Leaving In 2 Weeks And Are So Excited!! I Am Worried Though About The Location Of My Cabins 6390"s-6400"s- By Looking At The Map My Ta Sent It Looks Like We Are Right On Top Of The Lounge!!! The Website Is Not Responding So I Can't Tell! Do You By Any Chance Remember Where Your Original Cabins Were Located? Before I Make A Phone Call??? I Have Young Children So I'm Concerned!! Thank You !

[Linda-B]

check out www.cruisedeckplans.com

you might be able to figure out exactly where you cabin and the lounge are.

[skolega]

What time did you actually depart from Ft. Lauderdale? We have a flight that was supposed to arrive in West Palm at 1:25 and has now been changed to 1:45. I am getting worried that with any other delays-plus getting luggage-renting the car-1 hour drive to port-return car-taxi back to port...we may be cutting it close. Airfare was just too high to go in the day before. Last time we sailed Costa they left about 2 hours late waiting for Costa passengers that booked air through the cruiseline. We did not book our air through Costa.

[frugalcruiser]

Hello Marshalls,

We were in 6418 (inside) before being upgraded to 1015 (outside). Come to think of it, we were both wondering why with such a spanking brand new ship they did not think of something like this in the design stage. In

my case I know that the 3 times I reported the excessive noise to the Purser's Desk, they did send someone to ensure the noise was coming

from the Capri Lounge, that same person called the Purser's Desk from

our cabin to confirm and also physically went to the Capri Lounge and

asked them to tone it down a bit, which they did, MOMENTARILY. By

the 3rd time, I decided to go to the Purser's Desk and told them something

like "listen, I do not want to be a spoilsport, I know everyone is here to have fun, but you have had a member of the cruise director's staff come

to our cabin 3 times, isn't there anything you can do about this as we really are desperate to get some sleep at this point". The gentleman at

the Purser's Desk told me he'll consult with the Assistant Cruise director

I think her name as Amelia or Amalia. Sure enough after approximately

waiting for maybe 10 minutes or so, he comes back with two new room

keycards for cabin 1015. I must give the Costa cruise director staff credit as I think they were genuinely concerned that their requests were being

ignored and frustrated with not being able to get the band to play at a

lower volume and I assume that at that point they might have said, "What

the heck, let's upgrade him, why not". I did not ask them for an upgrade or to change cabins, I just thought that maybe the band should have been considerate of the fact that there are people above them trying to get some sleep! This issue aside, I am sure you will enjoy the Costa style of cruising. Have fun and enjoy it!

[packercruising]

Hey frugalcruiser I feel your frustration that first night. We dad a HAL cruise/land tour to Alaska. We arrived if Fairbanks and confirmed our luggage was there. HAL was to transfer the luggage to the hotel. It was about 9:30 pm. Some was missing when the luggage got to the hotel. We went to the HAL desk and asked about it. 11:00. Called down at midnight, they had gone home without telling anyone we were still waiting. The hotel called the airport around 1:30 am (which was about 5:30am) our time and by then I just told them to go get the luggage and hold it which they did. We had to leave about 8 am for the train. You can get a tad cranky with that little sleep!

[jillbert2]

All in all we thought the cruise was ok, not great, not horrible.

 

We had an inside cabin on deck 7 very near the front of the ship and let me tell you, we could hear EVERYTHING as it was 2 floors above the entertainment theatre (can't imagine what it was like on deck 6). The floor was literally shaking!!! We called to complain and a purser came and apologized. An hour later, I finally went down and nicely complained and asked to be moved, no go ship was "full". Also, you can really hear everything and everyone in the halls.

 

Our inside cabin was unbelievably small, but we got used to it. The beds were horrible. 2 matresses on a cot frame and the matresses were soooo uncomfortable our backs ached.

 

I peeked into the outside cabins and they looked really nice!

 

Oooohhhhh, hint when you board the ship. They herd you into the theatre to tell you about the credit card registration, but they don't want you to stand in line to do it right then. They were literally yelling at us to SIT DOWN! DO IT LATER!! They basically want everyone to stay in there until the welcome lunch was ready, and they don't want you going to your room right away. But we were at the front of the line, so we just registered our card then.

 

You DO NOT have to stay in the theatre. We walked around and checked out the ship, some people hung out by the pool. You can just register your card later when the lines calm down. You can still purchase items with your room card.

 

They told us we couldn't go to our rooms until 1pm, but since we got on early, we thought we'd just check out the room. The room steward said it was fine for us to go in early since it was done.

 

The welcome brunch was very nice!

 

We really enjoyed the food and menus! A few nights we didn't go to the dining room and the buffet had the exact same items. We actually preferred this, because we got to try all of the dishes instead of just ordering 1. All the lobster tails we wanted ha!

 

The only thing that could be better was the "off" times when they ONLY have pizza and a small salad selection. For example, we didn't eat dinner when we got to San Juan because our tour was leaving (we had the late 8:30pm seating). When we got back, there was only pizza and we were too tired to wait for the midnight buffet. This also happend in the afternoon a couple of times, in between lunch and dinner. The dinner buffet doesn't start until 7:30pm, so if you want to eat earlier and don't want to go to the dining room, your only choice is pizza.

 

I must say though, the desserts were horrible!! But that's true on alot of ships.

 

The coffee was wonderful!! Tasted like how they serve it in Italy.

 

Room service was kind of lacking, breakfast and coffee was all we used and was very nice. But if you wanted a sandwich or something later, I believe it was a $2 charge per item.

 

The staff was WONDERFUL, so friendly and nice! Kuddos to them.

 

Didn't like the layout of the ship at all, but that's just us.

 

The very back pool was really nice, that's where we hung out. A few kids tried to swim, but personnel kicked them out.

 

We won't go on Costa again, but for the price we paid it was ok.

[Macy2]

All in all we thought the cruise was ok, not great, not horrible.

 

The very back pool was really nice, that's where we hung out. A few kids tried to swim, but personnel kicked them out.

 

Is this the pool that is covered? I hope not as we are on the Magica in April with kids. When we were on the Glory (sister ship) that was my daughter's favorite pool, but is was not "adults Only".:confused:

[jillbert2]

Yes and no, this pool is covered in the early morning and late evening, but they roll back the roof around 10am.

 

Since there weren't many kids the week we went, I'm not sure how strict they'll be about kids in this pool.

 

The other pools mid-ship seemed really nice. One had a great slide for kids. There were also MANY, MANY loungers arranged on different levels. LOTS of singing and entertainment out there.

[clb4894]

I am taking the western caribbean cruise on december 17th. I am wondering a few things.

1) I have read a quite a few of the negative reviews for the food. Anyone who has been, what did you think of the food?

2) I am a non-smoker, and I tend to get sick with excessive amounts of smoke. Is it really bad?

3) I know it is December, but I am hoping Belize and Honduras wont be too cold. What is the temps like in those areas?

[mary22]

thanks for your review. I just booked my family and i on for 4/1-4/8 2007. were on deck 9. glad to hear you had a great time.

[charpe]

thanks for your review. I just booked my family and i on for 4/1-4/8 2007. were on deck 9. glad to hear you had a great time.

 

We just went on the Magica 11/19/2006 and stayed on deck 9 in cabin 9265. I'm so glad we stayed on that deck. It was so convenient to go outside, and to the buffet. The ship is beautil. Have fun.

[wasup254]

we are in caib 9214, it looks like it is the second cabin on the left side, I see there is the bridge and the outward hanging bridge "wings" so to speak. Is the bridge on deck 9 Giotto??? On the Costa web site it shows the bridge on deck 8, but wanted to make sure,,,,anyone been in a cabin in that area?

 

Thanks

[PH]

I read the reviews this morning at work and worried all day. I new our room was on the 6th floor but not where. It is 618 which is on top of the space in front theater. Does anyone know what that empty space is? PH

[Florida1947]

Hi - I am new here and don't know if anyone answered your post but we are also booked on the 12/17 cruise and don't smoke. I wish someone had some input on those questions. But we live in South Florida and I think it is safe to say the weather in Cozumel, Belize and Roatan will be warm and great for swimming. I was going to add "sunny" but rain is always possible. As for food, other contributors seem to suggest the food is okay to good. For some strange reason over at CruiseMates' Readers Cruise Reviews they are mostly negative on the food. I guess we will have to find out for ourselves.