Just returned from Costa Magica - ask away

[collymist]

Hi Candlestick

 

Myself and my wife are on the Magica 04/04, we are from Guernsey in the channel Islands

We cruised with Costa last year on the Classica and it was excellent.

[gacomeau]

My girlfriend and I are from New Brunswick, Canada. We are also sailing on April 4th. This will be our first cruise, although it's our fourth trip to Europe. Just getting to Savonna will be an adventure for us. We leave from New Brunswick and fly to Toronto, which is frustrating because it's West from us. We then fly to Germany where we have a layover of several hours before going onto Genoa. It will be about a 20 hour journey before we reach Savonna.

 

But I'm sure it will be worth it.

[lesleyfb]

We are just back from an 11 night cruise on Costa Magica and my experience us as below. Embarkation was a nightmare, over a 2 hr wait at Savona. The room service had a 2 Euro charge and was very limited. The only breakfast available (which has no charge) is a basic continental type. The Bellagio buffet is unbelievably unappetising. If this ship has been built for the American market it had better buck up its ideas. The open seating for breakfast & lunch in the restaurant was also a let down. They didn't "fill up" the tables as other cruise lines and you could sit where you wanted however after you had placed your order you had to wait till the waiter filled up the whole sheet with other diners requests. Sometimes there was a wait of over 20 mins for your appetiser. Dinner was better although the food was mediocre at best and the waiters assistant is also the wine waiter. They were very concerned at pushing bottled water and some people at our table weren't even aware that you could have ordinary iced water on request! The cabin was fine although there was only a dispenser for shampooing your hair and body wash. The one bar of soap at the basin wasn't changed during the whole cruise. The spas were overrun with kids and even babies in nappies. I pointed this out to a pool attendant who just shrugged his shoulders. This was the 1st cruise where I didn't go in the pool! The announcements were in 5 languages (which was expected) but the shows were very disappointing because obviously it was limited to visual turns & singing so there was no interaction with the audience which there usually is. There was an art auction but no champagne. There were no lectures or talks - again the language thing and the learning Italian lessons dragged on too long again because of the 5 languages thing. It was promoted as "Cruising as only Italians know how" and I was expecting a different experience just not such a disappointing one.

[Marie-Claude]

Hi Lesley...

As you probably read in my earlier review, we felt about the same on the ship, service and food.

 

One thing you pointed out and that I realize now that was missing was the lectures... on our last European cruise to the Baltics with Princess, and again in Alaska last May (with Princess again) we had extremely well put together lectures, conferences and talks on the various ports of call - not just shopping or tour recommendation but lectures on history and arts etc.

There was nothing of the sort on this cruise which was a highly historical itinerary... This would have made up for the not so great food and service...

[MSC]

Hi Marie-Claude, I read your reviews with great interest and was somewhat disappointed. My daughter, grandchildren and I just reserved a veranda cabin on the Magica for next Easter sailing to the Caribbean. We have been on the Disney Magic several times and Holland America once. I will be on Holland America to Alaska this July. My experiences with both lines were exceptional. I'm now concerned about the overall service you talk about on the Magica. I'm not sure we made a good selection. :confused:

[phabric]

Marie-Claude-

 

We are also from Canada- Toronto. I am trying to help a friend who does not have a computer and they will be doing Costa Magica Mediterranean in Sept. What currency did you take. I know the ship charges are in Euros. Did you exchange CDN$ to US$ or Euros. Is it better to take Euros with alittle US$ or better to take all Euros. Did you exchange any money on the ship.

[Marie-Claude]

Hi Marie-Claude, I read your reviews with great interest and was somewhat disappointed. My daughter, grandchildren and I just reserved a veranda cabin on the Magica for next Easter sailing to the Caribbean. We have been on the Disney Magic several times and Holland America once. I will be on Holland America to Alaska this July. My experiences with both lines were exceptional. I'm now concerned about the overall service you talk about on the Magica. I'm not sure we made a good selection. :confused:

 

I would not worry too much about this... everyone has a different experience on a cruise, and yours may be better than ours. Also, since you'll be sailing in the Caribbean, it will be different. Most passengers will be Americans, and the crew will have to adapt to that. We've cruised Costa in the Caribbean before and really enjoyed it. The Magica is a large ship with a lot of people... so it has + and -. The verandah cabins were great, and the ship is beautiful... very different than HAL's ships, but I'm sure the kids will love the pools and water slides!

[Marie-Claude]

Marie-Claude-

 

We are also from Canada- Toronto. I am trying to help a friend who does not have a computer and they will be doing Costa Magica Mediterranean in Sept. What currency did you take. I know the ship charges are in Euros. Did you exchange CDN$ to US$ or Euros. Is it better to take Euros with alittle US$ or better to take all Euros. Did you exchange any money on the ship.

 

We usually take very little currency with us as everything on the ship is charged to the cruise card, and on shore, we try to use our credit card as much as we can. For this cruise however, we had a bit of USD that we really didn't need. In fact, everywhere we went, they preferred Euros to USD. When we arrived in Nice prior to boarding the ship, I withdrew some Euros from an ATM. That's always the cheapest way of getting local currency.

My mom exchanged some US traveller's cheque that she had left over from a previous cruise. She exchanged them at the ship's casino - same rate as the purser's desk but no fee!!

 

So my recommendation would be to bring Euros but I would get them there... even if they only get them once in Naples (or wherever their first port of call will be) as it is cheaper than exchanging them here in Canada.

 

Wish your friend a great cruise!!

[TNTKP]

Marie-Claude,

Weren't you a little worried about handing over your passport? When did you get it back? What would happen if, gasp, it was lost!?!

Thanks for the great review of the ports and excursions. We'll be doing Italy-Egypt-Greece in Decmeber on the Fortuna.... Wonder what the weather will be like THEN?

Tim