LX19

For those of you who have sailed with MSC out of Venice, where is the port located? I've read conflicting reviews online, and even among different customer service reps. Which port does MSC Magnifica leave from, and if you stayed in Venice, do you have any hotel recommendations?

Thank you in advance!

Hello,

Looking into a specific itinerary next summer, and they only have deck 9- aft balconies left. Aft, as in the rear, with the deep balconies. My concerns about booking an aft room are vibration, closets opening & shutting, anchor dropping, etc. Also, will I be breathing in the ship's exhaust of any kind? If you would kindly reply with your experiences or opinions, I would appreciate it. Thank you :)

My wife and I are in the early planning stages of a cruise next July (2019). We haven't been on a cruise since we got engaged in 2015. We have narrowed it down to the Magic and the Miracle. The Magic is an 6 day out of Ft Lauderdale with stops at HMC, Grand Turk and Amber Cove. The Miracle is a 7 day out of Tampa with stops at Grand Cayman, Mahogany Bay, Belize, and Cozumel. We have been to all stops except Amber Cove and Grand Cayman.

 

We need help from cruisers figuring out which cruise to take. Help US

So, we sailed alongside Dream and Magic on our cruise, and on the exterior, you can tell the difference between the ships. Magic and Dream are huge ships, and they have more outdoor fun for children. We intend on sailing on one of the two next year, but that's only because we did this itinerary already. We chose Miracle primarily because of the ports! The Western Caribbean is something very special. Personally, I would choose Belize, Honduras, Grand Cayman, and Mexico over the eastern Caribbean. In Belize, you have the opportunity to snorkel on a World Heritage Site (2nd largest barrier reef in the world). Choose the sharks & rays excursion for this experience. Caye Caulker (Belize) is an island that's completely laid back and chill. If you guys are in your twenties or thirties, this is your type of island escape. Take a walk to The Split, and have a drink & enjoy your life! Enjoy the beautiful colors of Caye Caulker, and the really sweet natives.

As for the additional port, Grand Cayman is a must-do port. Stingray city is absolutely breathtaking, and the water is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! My husband and I really enjoyed this port. We had multiple opportunities to kiss, and feed the stingrays. My children loved this port too, although, there were more adults there, and only a handful of kids. We chose the stingray encounter + turtle swim, but I wouldn't recommend the turtle swim for newlyweds; it's more for the little ones. I would recommend that you guys do the coral snorkel and stingray city excursion, if that's an option for you.

Here's your dilemma: Better & Bigger ship (Magic) with one less port, or Better itinerary + more excursions, and mediocre ship?

We chose Miracle because we weighed our options and the additional port won. If you're going to spend more time on the ship, choose Magic. If you want to experience beautiful Grand Cayman, and plan on doing more adventurous excursions at every port, then your choice should be Miracle.

We were there at 11:30, and we weren't on board until 1:45ish, and they didn't call suite & FTTF until 1. I know they had a hard time with the passengers before us getting off the ship.

Just sailed Miracle in early August with my 6 and 7 year old (at the time). Grand Cayman is a GREAT port. Your son will LOVEEEEE Stingray City, so if you choose an excursion, try and do that one. We did the stingray city + turtle swim, and my kids loved both. Although, I thought the turtle swim was extremely boring but my kids did not. They get to scoop up the turtles and hold them on their own. If it's for your son, do the turtle swim. If it's for you, skip the turtle swim. Stingray city was great for all of us, and we had ample time to swim with the stingrays, and kiss them! lol. Miracle has the waterslide for the kids, and the pools are okay. We did the Build-a-bear (around $45) event onboard, and we also did the Dr. Seuss breakfast ($5 per person). They had some children events with the Dr. Seuss theme, but we skipped most of them because we were busy doing other things. We were never bored, though. My kids loved Camp Ocean, and they have a lot planned for the kids within the Camp Ocean umbrella.

We had the same itinerary as yours, and it was such an incredible trip! We've done many trips with our children, and they said that this last trip was their favorite. Sorry, Mickey Mouse.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This was our excursion schedule that our 6, and 7 year old enjoyed:

Mexico- Dolphin Discovery

Belize- Snorkel with Rays & Sharks + Caye Caulker

Honduras- Relax on the beach package: This beach is perfect for kids. Depth of water, clear, seashell collecting, and the blue floats that are provided with the package. Get there as soon as it docks!

Grand Cayman- Stingray city + Turtle swim.

Hope you have a great trip!