Had a great time on the Magica

[boisedrew]

For all of you that are worried about the bad posts regarding Costa... there is really no need to worry.

 

I just returned home from the Costa Magica (3/06 sailing from Genoa) and had a great time. I was with five other people who also all enjoyed their trip. Below is a very basic review. Feel free to email me any questions as I do not check this site too often (drewbranham@yahoo.com)

 

1) Embarkation: Very organized and easy. I had the Grand Suite so I was able to get the #1 embarkation at 11:30 and walked right onto the boat

 

2) Suite: The Grand Suite is well worth the money. It was beautiful and large and had everything that I expected and more. Huge bathroom with vanity and large bathtub. The butler was very good and helpful.

 

Let me dispell all the rumors about roomservice: It IS included for suites. I had a custom hot breakfast everyday for no charge. I also had dinner on the balcony once (ordered off of the same menu as the dining room). You will also receive fresh fruit daily and champaign on the first day

 

3) Food: This is where Costa gets the most bad reviews. Here is my take: the food was not five star, but it was average. Some of the days it was exceptionally good, other days it was poor. The pasta was always great and the beef dishes were typcically bad. Fish was hit and miss. Dessert was average and the soups were excellent. Lunch and breakfast were very good each day. Americans were the only ones that I heard complain (everyone else accepted the fact that this is an Italian cruise and enjoyed it).

 

I went to the 'pay' restaurant twice ($25 per trip) and it was very good. I would recommend doing it once.

 

Buy the wine package. It will save you money.

 

4) Activities: The ages of our group ranged from 20 to 70 so we were quite diverse. We all had plenty to do the entire trip. The ports wore us out so we were not up very late each night. We used the pools, hot tubs, and SPA during the day. At night, after dinner, we would do to the show, play bingo, and go to the wine and piano bars. I was never bored.

 

5) Ports: Too little time in several ports but overall a good time. The only negative port was Katakolon where these was nothing to do. Malta and Tunis were the favorites of the group.

 

6) People and service: Very friendly, very helpful, very nice. One exception was our waiter that was slow and made a joke in very bad taste. Guest services were helpful and very friendly.

 

7) Disembarkation was fine. No problems and luggage was there waiting in only a few mins.

 

8) Seasickness: Got seasick a few times and I had the patch. I had never been seasick prior to this and I grew up on Lake Erie. Not sure why, but nothing I did seemed to help when it hit. I recommend going to the doctor and taking preventative measures if you fear getting ill.

 

Feel free to email me any questions

[lapp]

I was on the same cruise as Drew and concur with his honest and to the point review. We also were in a grand suite and it had all of the ammenities you would expect and want: soap, shampoo, robes, freah fruit daily, in suite meals etc. The suite was large, extremely clean and had great service.

 

We had a great time. Enjoyed the ship activities, the entertainment, and even most of the food. Stick with the Italian specialities and you can't go wrong. Pasta, cheeses, specialty meats, soups and bread were tops. I ate primarily fish at all meals as was pleased with most dishes.

 

Overall I had no complaints. So enjoy and ignore most of the bad comments that are posted

[Silver Anniv]

Thank's for the review and good comments.

We're thinking of Med cruise next summer, will consider Magica!

[Jo42]

Thanks for your report, having been on the Atlantica last May and loved every minute of it I was worried that I had made a mistake booking Magica this time.

 

If we book the wine package - can you have this served a dinner or is it for your cabin only??

[Linda-B]

you can have the wine anywhere you like

[lesleyfb]

We are just back from an 11 night cruise on Costa Magica and my experience differs with the above. 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.

[theman1]

Could you please write some more information about port excursions you had. I am interested in Malta, Tunis, Barcelona and Sicily. What excursion did you buy? Was it OK or you'd rather prefer different one? Is there a problem of booking the excursions onboard, or there is enough space for everybody?

 

 

 

 

For all of you that are worried about the bad posts regarding Costa... there is really no need to worry.

 

I just returned home from the Costa Magica (3/06 sailing from Genoa) and had a great time. I was with five other people who also all enjoyed their trip. Below is a very basic review. Feel free to email me any questions as I do not check this site too often (drewbranham@yahoo.com)

 

1) Embarkation: Very organized and easy. I had the Grand Suite so I was able to get the #1 embarkation at 11:30 and walked right onto the boat

 

2) Suite: The Grand Suite is well worth the money. It was beautiful and large and had everything that I expected and more. Huge bathroom with vanity and large bathtub. The butler was very good and helpful.

 

Let me dispell all the rumors about roomservice: It IS included for suites. I had a custom hot breakfast everyday for no charge. I also had dinner on the balcony once (ordered off of the same menu as the dining room). You will also receive fresh fruit daily and champaign on the first day

 

3) Food: This is where Costa gets the most bad reviews. Here is my take: the food was not five star, but it was average. Some of the days it was exceptionally good, other days it was poor. The pasta was always great and the beef dishes were typcically bad. Fish was hit and miss. Dessert was average and the soups were excellent. Lunch and breakfast were very good each day. Americans were the only ones that I heard complain (everyone else accepted the fact that this is an Italian cruise and enjoyed it).

 

I went to the 'pay' restaurant twice ($25 per trip) and it was very good. I would recommend doing it once.

 

Buy the wine package. It will save you money.

 

4) Activities: The ages of our group ranged from 20 to 70 so we were quite diverse. We all had plenty to do the entire trip. The ports wore us out so we were not up very late each night. We used the pools, hot tubs, and SPA during the day. At night, after dinner, we would do to the show, play bingo, and go to the wine and piano bars. I was never bored.

 

5) Ports: Too little time in several ports but overall a good time. The only negative port was Katakolon where these was nothing to do. Malta and Tunis were the favorites of the group.

 

6) People and service: Very friendly, very helpful, very nice. One exception was our waiter that was slow and made a joke in very bad taste. Guest services were helpful and very friendly.

 

7) Disembarkation was fine. No problems and luggage was there waiting in only a few mins.

 

8) Seasickness: Got seasick a few times and I had the patch. I had never been seasick prior to this and I grew up on Lake Erie. Not sure why, but nothing I did seemed to help when it hit. I recommend going to the doctor and taking preventative measures if you fear getting ill.

 

Feel free to email me any questions