Carnival Magic review with pictures!!!

[stacycakes1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LucysMom74]

I am seriously loving this review! Wonderful pictures and such great detail make it a pleasure to read. It makes me want to book a cruise on the Magic for next year...

 

 

Sherri

[stacycakes1]

Our luggage started arriving at that point and we proceeded to unpack. Being this was a weeklong trip I like to unpack everything so it feels more like home and then shove the luggage under the bed. The "under the bed" part was my DH Paul's job and he decided to have a bit of fun while doing it!

The following pictures still make me laugh out loud!!!!

[stacycakes1]

I am seriously loving this review! Wonderful pictures and such great detail make it a pleasure to read. It makes me want to book a cruise on the Magic for next year...

 

 

Sherri

 

 

Thanks Sherri! It really is a beautiful ship, you should go for it!

[stacycakes1]

After unpacking we were scheduled to meet our Roll Call group up on deck 10 near the aft pool for sail away at 5:00pm. I was actually the host of the event so I didn't want to be late. I was so upset because I then realized I had forgotten to pack the cute little ship name tags I had made for everyone. I realized it would be difficult to find everyone at this point so I made a sign and held it up for a little while. It finally worked and people started coming over.

There were some really fantastic people in our roll call from all over the world! We had people from all over the United States and also places like France, Dubai, England, Canada and Australia (just to name a few). I felt like I knew so many of them already because we had been chatting here in CC for over a year and it was so great to put names to faces.

Many of us had teamed up to do some tours together (I will talk more in detail about this when we hit those excursions) so it was also nice to get to know them a bit before we were put together for hours on end in the days ahead.

I also was excited because there were two other honeymoon couples in our roll call around the same age as us and the two other gals and I had been emailing each other quite a bit prior to the cruise to bounce planning ideas off of each other. All three couples hit it off and we ended up staying out on the deck talking till 9:00pm!

Unfortunately we were having so much fun I really didn't get any pictures that night of us or any of the other roll call members.

The only one I have is of me acting like a waitress and taking everyone's drink order…

 

 

 

Now some of you are thinking, wow, they missed dinner! We actually realized we all had anytime dining! We decided to move the fun indoors and headed to the dining room. Once again, so much fun was being had at this point pictures were not taken.

I am actually a food porn junkie so I am feeling guilty about my lack of food shots! Sorry to all of you who are missing those right now!

After dinner we walked around the ship for a while and spent some time in the karaoke bar. Everyone was pretty wiped at that point so we went our separate ways.

Paul and I decided though to get one last drink before bed. Well boy was it some drink! We got a fishbowl from the Red Frog pub to share, it was huge!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was the end of our evening. We headed off to the soft comfortable carnival beds to be swayed to sleep by the sea (I really do sleep better on cruises then anywhere else).

Tomorrow, Monaco!

Edited March 20, 2012 by stacycakes1

[TreeLuvr87]

Haha, glad Paul didn't fall in while storing the luggage... phew!

 

Seriously, this is a FANTASTIC review so far. I'm glad you waited too!

[stacycakes1]

Today we would be docked in Monaco for the day. Monaco was the only place that I did not book us on any tours or make any definitive plans. It is such a small place that you can almost walk the entire country in one day and it is VERY expensive. We had done so much up to this point that I thought one day in the middle to take it easy might not be such a bad idea.

 

We usually have our breakfast brought to us with room service in the morning on cruises to serve as our wake-up call and so we can eat breakfast on the balcony and today was no exception. It was a bit cloudy today but the views were great!!!

 

 

 

 

The Prince and Princess had just been married a day prior to us arriving so you can stil see the tenting up around the casino!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little cricket decided to join us for breakfast as well:)

[kelkel2]

OMG I am in love with your review...subscribing

[stacycakes1]

After breakfast we decided to utilize our spa package and workout in the gym. The special massage pool is amazing by the way! If you have the chance and don't mind spending a little bit of extra money on it it is a nice way to relax at the end of a long day or to start the day off! There are also 6 different types of saunas with different tempatures and steam levels to try out.

After our "rough" morning we went back to the room and showered and got ready for the day. It was around noon when we were ready so we thought we would grab lunch on the boat first so we wouldn't have to spend a ton in Monaco (this was a great choice by the way, the restaurants were uber expensive and that is coming from a Chicago girl).

We hit up the new ship board Italian restaurant Cucina del Capitano for the "make your own" pasta lunch special. If you have a chance to go on the Magic, this is a restaurant that costs extra like the steak house, except it is super cheap at $10 per person for dinner. We didn't want to eat here for dinner because of all the fabulous Italian food we were about to have in Italy that week but at lunch they have a pasta station that is part of the daily buffet so we checked it out. It was really good! The pasta came with bread and salad also.

After lunch we headed out to Monaco to explore and take some pictures. We had wanted to go into the casino but found out there was a 10 euro charge (which at that time was like $15) just to see it. We didn't have much time and didn't feel it was worth it.

Here are some pics of that day…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the raceway...

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2012 by stacycakes1

[stacycakes1]

 

 

 

 

 

The red carpet was still in place from the wedding. And look at the celebrity that we happen to catch walking it that day!!!! (lol)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mandymac]

:)Congratulations to you both, and what a fantastic review so far.

You both look really happy together and it shows in your pictures and in your great writing you certainly have me hooked and im definately going to subscribe to this one.

 

We will be sailing a similar itinery on the Carnival Breeze this July so im really looking forward to some more ;)

 

Thanx for taking the time to do this and i wish i could do this too as it will be brilliant to look back on great memories.

 

Thanx again Mandy:cool:

[stacycakes1]

We were docked in Monaco until 9:00pm but we actually headed back to the ship around 7:00pm. We were getting hungry and were ready for dinner.

Once again, I am a horrible person and did not take any "cruise" food pics! I think there was just so much to see and take pictures of on this cruise that by the time we got to dinner I was done with the camera. I also got so many fantastic shots of food in Italy (to be seen soon) that my heart just wasn't in it when taking shots of food I think all of us here on cruise critic have seen many times before:)

I did take a shot of us right before dinner though...

 

 

 

 

 

Ohhh, I'm not sure if they are still doing this but if you order a "classic" cocktail from anywhere on the ship and kept you receipt you could take it to the casino and get a "matching" chip to up your ante for all of the table games. We stuck to drinking those and was actually able to pay off most of our drink tab at the end of the cruise with our winnings!!! It was awesome!

Sooo, after dinner we decided to see the comic that evening. I can tell everyone now that we never made it to any of the big shows that week. We were in port till around 9/10pm every night and took full advantage of that. The only shows we saw all week were the late night adult comedy shows, which by the way were fabulous!

When we got to the comedy show that evening we saw one of the honeymoon couples we met the night prior and sat with them. Their names are Courtney and Randy and they not only became our best ship buddies that week but our now good friends that are coming to Chicago in a few weeks to visit!

We stayed for both comedians that evening and was glad we had, we really enjoyed them. After that we were absolutely exhausted and headed for bed.

The next day would be our first stop in Italy! I am Italian and was waiting for this part of our trip for so long! Our first stop was in the port of Livorno where we would be seeing Pisa, Tuscany and Florence!

[stacycakes1]

:)Congratulations to you both, and what a fantastic review so far.

You both look really happy together and it shows in your pictures and in your great writing you certainly have me hooked and im definately going to subscribe to this one.

 

We will be sailing a similar itinery on the Carnival Breeze this July so im really looking forward to some more ;)

 

Thanx for taking the time to do this and i wish i could do this too as it will be brilliant to look back on great memories.

 

Thanx again Mandy:cool:

 

So exciting!!! You are going to have a GREAT time! Have you started booking tours, etc... yet??? I am just getting started on the tour part of the review and it may come in handy for you if you haven't figured that part out yet. We were there last July and it really is quite busy in Europe so booking things ahead of time really helped. Let me know if you have any questions about anything!!!

 

Also, I didn't think I was going to post a review for this cruise this time around. We have SO many pictures (I actually have been selective on what I have posted, there are so many more) and I was being lazy about it. I have some time off from work right now and decided, what the heck, and went for it. I am really glad I did because I will now have a record of our trip forever:)

 

Hope you have as much fun as we did!

[stacycakes1]

Oops! I got my days switched up! Today is actually Rome!!!!

So here is the low down on tours in Italy. If you haven't done so already join your roll call to find other people on your trip that would like to do a tour with you.

The very best tour company for all of the Italian stops (except Sicily) is Rome-in-Limo tours. They offer group tours for a set price. The trick here is that it doesn't matter if you are a group of 2 or a group of 8 the price is the same. Normally, Paul and I would never be able to afford a private tour in each place, but, once I met 6 other people on the roll call willing to tour with us we could afford it! You can do a larger group then 8 as well but the prices are actually higher because you move into the next car size. A group of 8 gives you the best deal.

Also, if you book a tour with them for more than one port they give you a discount and make it even more affordable!

Basically, we spent 72 euros for each person in each port (around $100 which included tips for the drivers).

If that seems like a lot to you it really isn't. The carnival tours were around $90 a piece to get on a bus with 40 other people for a short 3 hour tour.

I will explain the benefits as I go along for those who are interested.

Edited March 20, 2012 by stacycakes1

[chasinraynbowz]

We loved Rome In Limo and recommend them to ANYONE taking a Med cruise!!

 

Loving the review.

[stacycakes1]

Yahhhh, it is finally here, ITALY!!! Like I said above I really had been waiting for this part of the trip. Paris was what I dreamed of as a little girl but Italy is what I dreamed of as an adult (and after seeing it I still do, just now my dream is to move there someday).

Today we would be touring Roma!!! Our day began bright and early. We had our breakfast delivered at 6:00am because we were due to meet our tour group outside the boat at 7:30am.

We got ready quickly and were on our way. It wasn't until we had left the Magic that I realized I had left my Vatican tickets on board!!! I had to double back and run to get them so we wouldn't hold our group up.

When we finally got outside our group was assembled and waiting with our driver. There was a couple our age in our group named Susanna and Cody who were from St. Louis. We also had an amazing woman named Pat with us and her daughter Tish and grandsons Tanner and Ty. Pat, Susanna and I had been emailing each other for a very long time deciding on which tours we wanted to do and helping each other with other plans. I felt like I knew these two ladies already so it made traveling together very comfortable. We also were a big group of teachers which made for easy conversation. I myself use to teach middle school (I work for the state now, not sure how that happened) and Tish, Cody and Susanna were all teachers as well.

Our drivers name was Maricio. He was very good looking and talked with a thick Italian accent that made you want to swoon (even Paul thought so and was making me laugh when he kept talking with the same accent that night).

We all piled into the Mercedes sprinter and was on our way to Rome!

 

 

 

 

Now the drivers are not suppose to be actual "tour guides" but you try sitting in a car with a bunch of people all day everyday and not boasting about what a great city you live in! Mauricio was excellent and gave us a great foundation of Roman history on our drive into Rome.

Once there he pulled over in a special spot on a bluff where we could see the Roman Forum and whipped out a book that showed what the area would have looked liked when it was first built. He had this tour down to a tee and gave us 5 minutes to take a few pictures from the bluff he had stopped on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[beebold]

Loving your review!

[stacycakes1]

When we were finished onthe bluff we piled back into the van and zoom, we were off again to the next stop. As Mauricio drove he explained everything we were seeing. We wouldn't have time to stop and look at every little thing and he wanted to be sure we saw the big stuff.

Our next stop was a different angle of the Roman forum and the Coliseum. Mauricio dropped us off as close as cars could get and we set a time for us to meet him back in that same place in 1 hour. He also gave us a cell phone that we could call him on if we had trouble getting in to the Coliseum right away or got lost trying to get back. This was a nice security blanket to have.

The coliseum was everything I thought it would be. All of us kept saying "wow, I'm really here" over and over again. It was kind of funny.

Now I probably took 1000 pictures from this day so it will be hard to pick just a few of them but here are some I thought you may like!

It was raining a little that morning but it did end up clearing up and we didn't see another drop the rest of the trip...

The stone road in this picture is older then Jesus! i thought that was really neat...

[stacycakes1]

Umbrella trees were everywhere initaly and so beautiful!

[stacycakes1]

Next we would be hitting the Parthenon and the Trevi Fountain (and all before lunch)! Mauricio had VIP access for his Sprinter and was able to get us right where we needed to be to see everything. He dropped us off at the Parthenon and said we would meet back in 30 minutes.

Here are a few photos…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stacycakes1]

And next the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps…

[Lhorn1209]

I am so jealous:) I love your review looks like yall had so much fun! Congrats too:)

[stacycakes1]

Now it was FINALLY time for lunch!!! One of the benefits of doing this tour is they take you to a local restaurant for lunch with real authentic food rather than to a really touristy place in the middle of the chaos.

We went to a little place that had a great menu full of many choices. I wanted to celebrate our new friendships and toast the wonderful day we were having with our group by ordering an apetizer for everyone on Paul and I so I asked the waiter to bring an order of Bruscetta for the table to share. Well I had my first lesson in being more specific when ordering in Italy because he didn't bring out one order of bruscetta, he brought out eight bruscettas, one for each person! I almost had a heart attack but Paul said it was no big deal they were very inexpensive. It was a great lesson to learn though!

Paul and I wanted to try some pasta and pizza so we got both to share. I think this was possibly the best pizza I have ever had. I keep trying to recreate it or someone here in Chicago tells me about a place that has real Italian pizza that is compareable but it never measures up...

And of course some vino!!!

[stacycakes1]

Thanks everyone for all of the congratulations! We have been happily married now for 9 months and are looking forward to our one year aniversary.

 

Paul and I had been together for 8 years before we got married last year so life really isn't throwing us any suprises anymore (I'm sure you can imagine how happy our parents were that we finally tied the not)!

 

This truly was a celebration of how much we love each other and what the world has to offer us and I am glad that you can all see that!

 

Thanks again!!!

[stacycakes1]

After lunch we were going to take a tour of the Vatican. This is when I first realized the actual benefits of touring with Rom-in-limo. Not only did we have our own private driver that day to get us to and from everything but that driver also has VIP access for everything!

 

The line that day at the Vatican was 4 hours long for people who had previously purchased a ticket! I can't even imagine how long the line was for people without one.

 

Normally, without Mauricio, we would have had to stand in the "prepurchased" ticket line. When we arrived Mauricio got out of the van and walked us to the front of the line. We had asked for an actual tour guide for this section of the tour and she was waiting for us there. Her name was Sarah.

 

Sarah and Mauricio talked to the people manning the gate at the entrance for a couple of seconds and next thing we knew we are being escorted right in! We were able to see the entire museum, the Sistine chapel and St. Peter's Basilica just as scheduled.

 

Paul kept stopping to take pictures throughout the tour and would get caught up on something. Sarah would rush him along when this happened and it was kind of funny. At one point Ty was coming up to me to tell on him so he wouldn't "get in trouble" with Sarah when he would lag behind us, he was the cutest kid.

 

Both Tanner and Ty were such gentleman and VERY well behaved. We weren't sure how doing these tours with a seven year old and sixteen year old would go but it turned out perfect. Both kids were such a joy to have around and they really wanted to be there and appreciated the opportunity of a lifetime it was to be where they were.

 

There were actually quite a few kids on our ship and most of them were seen complaining or playing video games in these amazing places. I thought it was such a waste....

 

Anyway, here are some pictures from our tour (sorry, none of the Sistine Chapel as they were not aloud to be taken)...

 

 

I had a thing for the ceilings!