MSC Magnifica picture heavy fun review -- 12 days British Isles incl. DIY port trips

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Feel free to babble all you want:). I enjoy every word and picture of your reviews. Oh....happy belated birthday to Tarik!

 

:p thank you :p

[Pluto_fan]

Stef, thank you so much for posting all the kids' club info and dailies! It's hard to find information on MSC's kids' programs, so it is very helpful to see all this. I think the "Happy Dinners"--where the kids eat with their families in the MDR and then the kids' club staff picks them up there--might be new. I don't remember seeing that on our MSC cruises, but we would definitely take advantage of it!

 

Do you mind if I put a new thread on the MSC board with a link to your review, so that people looking for kids' program information can find this easily?

Edited September 23, 2014 by Pluto_fan

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Stef, thank you so much for posting all the kids' club info and dailies! It's hard to find information on MSC's kids' programs, so it is very helpful to see all this. I think the "Happy Dinners"--where the kids eat with their families in the MDR and then the kids' club staff picks them up there--might be new. I don't remember seeing that on our MSC cruises, but we would definitely take advantage of it!

 

Do you mind if I put a new thread on the MSC board with a link to your review, so that people looking for kids' program information can find this easily?

 

Hi Pluto_fan,

 

:)You're welcome...:osorry I only had the kid's dailys in German.

 

Sure, go ahead -- I don't mind. Happy if someone can use it.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Let’s see, what’s left…they had two different excursion desks…one for regular MSC excursions and one for their bike excursions.

I have scanned the excursion catalogue for you for each port day…so you’ll be able to see what they offered and for how much. But I guess I’ll show you those in the daily part and not in a huge chunk beforehand. Since we didn’t do one single ship excursion, we can’t tell you about the quality though. But it’ll be fun to compare our DIY trips to the equivalent ship excursions.

Just for fun:

Tarik thought this was hilarious and took a picture of the slot machine.

So now there’s only one more (gigantic) topic to be covered about the ship.

The restaurants.

They had one pay venue, called the Oriental plaza. We never went there, but were tempted each time we walked past this cute little display case:

Oh, look – it’s a fridge!

I’m a big sushi fan, so this was hard to walk past. But we ate in the main dining room every night (one exception, about which I will tell you later) and loved it so much, that we didn’t feel the need to try out the extra place. This doesn’t mean that I thought the food was excellent, neither that it was bad….just that the whole dining situation there worked out perfectly for us. I’ll actually show you each and every meal we had for each dinner, so you’ll be able to judge for yourselves. These pics and a further description of our main dining room the l’Edera on deck 5 will follow in the daily section. There were two main dining rooms on the Magnifica, the l’Edera and the Quattro Venti on deck 6. They are equally big, just different designs and decks. You were assigned to one or the other for your dinners. To find out which one you were supposed to go to just look on your cruise card, it said the restaurant and the table number. The l’Edera was designed in green colors with leave motives and the Quattro Venti purple with wind motives. The l’Edera was also opened up for breakfast and lunch a la carte.

 

The Buffet restaurant on deck 13

 

Officially on the deck plans only the Sahara is a buffet restaurant. The l’Oasi right behind it is supposed to be a la carte…..that’s just not true. It’s one gigantic buffet…no difference between the two. Just that the Sahara section is sort of the core of the feeding station…this would always at least have something to eat on display. The l’Oasi section is opened up in peak times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It wasn’t closed as a walk through or sitting area at any time, just the food displays were closed with a drape above them. When you came to eat here in the off times, it was sheer bliss….but you rarely lucked out to manage such an off time. During the eating hours it was VERY full…you had to roam around forever to find a place to sit…not a complete table…just a seat…for a full table, this got even more difficult…unless of course you went to the outdoor section. To order drinks in the buffet was as difficult as winning an Olympic gold medal. It was very chaotic. Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t annoyed by it. The design was beautiful. A desert theme with light colours and beautifully carved wooden chairs. Very pretty indeed. The gigantic windows at the sides were wonderful to adore the world outside.

All the way at the back of the l’Oasi is the outdoor sitting area. Most of the times nobody sat here, and there wouldn’t be waiters to come out here to clear your plates either. It was really chilly and windy most of the times (and I guess we were the only ones crazy enough to do it nonetheless), but you basically had the whole place all to yourselves. It was however a task to get there. Since nobody was using the outdoor area, the tables were set pretty much right in front of the doors leading out. To maneuver yourself there was doable…but to do that with a plate and a cappuccino in hand was ---tricky. The buttons to open the door didn’t work until the last morning, so you had to pull on a handle to open the glass door, while bending your body like a snake to not wipe down the food on the tables of the poor persons sitting very close to it to the right and to the left. And since it was sooo stuffed inside, I can’t even blame MSC for putting those tables there…they just had to use each little space available. Anyway, once outside we could eat without hassle. We always went to the bar (there are two – one at the front of Sahara and one at the very back of l’Oasi) to get our drinks…if you were to wait for a waiter to take your order…good luck…even if –in the unlikely event, that someone would ask you for your wishes, it would take half an eternity for them to return…and since you had given them your cruise card, you were stuck waiting for them until way past your meal was already finished….the waiters did move, they took orders and cleared plates…it was just too much of a size of people to manage everything during peak times. Just do yourself a favor and go to the bar to order and transport your drinks yourself…here you only had a couple of minutes wait and the cappuccino would be freshly made in front of your eyes….Lol – there was one funny alternative at the Sahara bar….one Ukrainian waiter had it down…He figured he’d save himself the time to go to the people’s tables and just caught all of them, who stood at the bar for drinks…He asked them where they sat and told them he would bring them their drinks….this way he could collect plenty of cruise cards, swipe them in his name and go to one direction with plenty of drinks….perfect time(and tip) management…He was also a doll, so we let him bring us coffees as well once in a while when we sat inside close to that bar.

I don’t have pictures of the actual restaurant…I apologize. But it was always so full, or we were starved, looking for food that taking pictures was plainly forgotten. I went through the isles twice though, once for breakfast, once for lunch to get at least some photos of the offered food for you guys. I don’t know why, but my camera decided to take those pictures in a weird golden shimmering light. No idea why that happened, but since that’s all I got, I guess it’s better than nothing.

Next up – pictures of the breakfast Buffet food

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

different breads. They were okay, but nothing to remember as extra special.

 

 

 

croissants, chocolate croissants, Europe-style muffins (Magdalenas) and brioches. Mh, again -- nothing to complain, nothing to remember.

 

 

 

the free coffee dispensers. Usually there were long lines in front of the ones that worked. They also had free juices. Tarik liked them because they were VERY sweet. We couldn't finish the one orange juice we got there once...it truly tasted like sugared water with a hint of juice. The "pay" juices at the bars were excellent though. Especially the green apple juice and the mango juice were divine!

 

 

 

hot and cold milk and water dispensers.

 

 

 

sweet stuff

 

 

 

more sweet stuff

 

 

 

hold on, more pics to follow soon.

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

even more sweet stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

and last but not least some warm food. They had scrambled eggs, sausages, bakes beans fried tomatoes, baked potatoes and baked apples each morning. This set up was repeatedly found every couple of yards. But only on one side at one station they had eggs sunny side up or over easy and omelettes. Those were pretty high in demand and were empty as soon as they refilled it. It was a "hunt down an egg" situation. Quite peculiar.

 

They also had pancakes (American style) and French toast.

 

 

What I really liked was that there was always a good variety of fresh fruit and salats. They had these two round display tables in the Sahara, in which two busy people always recharged the fruits and or salads out in the display dishes.

 

 

lol -- although I think they should work on the positive attitude of their melon faces:

sorry, but this grumpy melon just cracked me up:D.

 

 

more pictures coming up soon.

 

 

stay tuned!

Stef

[Elmartellama]

We have similar opinion to the buffet of the MSC Fantasia, way too crowded at several peak hours. Many times you had to share a table with other people. The main problem was that the time in port was short, and therefore people congregated in that area before or after exiting the ship.

 

I would have gone to the MDR at times, yet my partner loves buffets.

 

I found the desserts of the buffet to be specially good. The bakery products were a bit bland on the other hand, an not crispy at all.

[sofsolnanny]

Hi Stef,

 

food pictures ,brilliant :).

I agree with you about crowded buffets,P&O,Princess,RCCCL,Carnival-they are all the same. The most manic was Independence of the Seas last year.

 

Although they get crowded I do love the buffets,and from your photographs the food looks just fine to me,as long as I can get coffee and eggs I will be happy.Looking forward to more food pics before I leave for my cruise.;).

 

Recieved our e-tickets yesterday so very excited.MSC does not give any information of any formal or theme nights,so apart from the Italian night you posted about -are there any others?.

Thanks.

Di

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

We have similar opinion to the buffet of the MSC Fantasia, way too crowded at several peak hours. Many times you had to share a table with other people. The main problem was that the time in port was short, and therefore people congregated in that area before or after exiting the ship.

 

I would have gone to the MDR at times, yet my partner loves buffets.

 

I found the desserts of the buffet to be specially good. The bakery products were a bit bland on the other hand, an not crispy at all.

 

Tanja and I are MDR lovers too. The kid loves the buffets however. We had lunch in the MDR ocasionally and went there for breakfast twice...but I'll tell you more about that later. Generally, we just didn't want to spend another 2 hours of the day eating -- don't get me wrong --we loved and cherished our looong dinners, but enough is enough. If you ask me --nothing beats dining in an MDR on a cruise...that's why I would never want to sail on Aida...they ONLY have buffet restaurants:eek:.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hi Stef,

 

food pictures ,brilliant :).

I agree with you about crowded buffets,P&O,Princess,RCCCL,Carnival-they are all the same. The most manic was Independence of the Seas last year.

 

Although they get crowded I do love the buffets,and from your photographs the food looks just fine to me,as long as I can get coffee and eggs I will be happy.Looking forward to more food pics before I leave for my cruise.;).

 

Recieved our e-tickets yesterday so very excited.MSC does not give any information of any formal or theme nights,so apart from the Italian night you posted about -are there any others?.

Thanks.

Di

 

 

yup, the windjammer could get crowded as well on our last two cruises -- but it was empty compared to this buffet. I liked the RCI approach of having multiple food islands better than this all in one huge centrally placed block deal. This way you had to shuffle along one gigantic line of people all wanting to get to another spot of the long line unlike having the masses spread out more evenly to separate food places. I loved the desert theme, the chairs and the windows....but the way they presented their food (except the salad and fruit isles) wasn't practical for the passengers...but then again, it was VERY practical for the kitchen staff, who all could have direct access from the center. I guess there's always more than one side to it.

 

 

we had three theme nights for the 11 nighter -- white, Italian and 60,70,80's (you could choose either one of the decades I guess)

 

Lol-- I'll post more food pictures later today -- promise!

 

Stef

Edited September 24, 2014 by Kreuzfahrtneuling
forgot the theme nights

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

for lunch they had already prepared little salads in the main isle as well...but we prefered the salad islands to mix them ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

more fruit

 

 

there were all kinds of sauces. Ketchup, Mayo and mustard were found to the right of these bottles in little single packs.

 

 

I liked the look of this deco only bread.

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

this is the only inside picture of the restarant ... Sigh, I know...pretty lame...but at least you can see the pretty chairs and the huge windows.

 

 

 

this was the only time we saw people here -- this is the outdoor section of the buffet right before docking in Hamburg to disembark.

 

 

 

The very best about lunch in the buffet restaurant !

 

Heck screw lunch --- this was wonderful at any time of the day once they opened up.The pizza is phenomenal! Real Italian pizza though. If you're looking for something deepdish with tons of toppings like you would get at PizzaHut...you might be dissapointed. But please do yourself a favor and try it with an open mind nonetheless. The crust is thin and crunchy, the sauce and cheese very tasty and we couldn't find one variation which we didn't adore. We ate a LOT of pizza on this cruise. All three of us. Basically every day. It was so yummy, that we sometimes sponaneously decided to sneak in an extra pizza slice in between meals....needless to say we all gained quite a bit of weight -- but it was so worth it, I don't regret one single slice!

 

 

 

 

 

these baguettes however didn't do it for me at all. They sounded great, but the ones I tried (the ones with the paper wrap and the square ones) tasted dry and bland. Couldn't finish it....and I HATE to leave food on my plate. Not that anybody else seemed to have a problem with that. We saw waiters clear plates that were more than half full. What a waste. I didn't like that on the American ships and I don't like it here either. Is it too much to ask of fellow human beings to take small amounts of some buffet stuff at first to see if you like it? If so you can get as much of it as you please...if not...less to throw away....sigh, I guess that 'll never work. I'll quit wining now.

 

 

 

 

 

the bread for lunch was really good...I liked it better than the bread for breakfast. Especially the one with herbs and olives was wonderful.

 

 

 

for breakfast and lunch they had the same sad cheese, salami, prosciutto plates. They never changed. They didn't look inviting to us -- we didn't try.

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[suekay]

Everybody looks pretty glum in the outdoor buffet while waiting to disembark. Post cruise blues already😢

[windjamming]

Stef, you are making me so hungry (even at 6am) with all these pictures!! That pizza looks great!

 

I had the worst experience ever with pizza on the Explorer last month - they had an entree at dinner that was purportedly goat cheese and mushroom pizza. I was thinking thin crust with light toppings like what you're showing in your pics and what is made by the Italian restaurants around here.

 

Wrong! It was this thick pita-like dough, maybe 6 inches diameter with all the toppings all scrunched in the middle. I tried a few bites but couldn't get myself to eat it. It was the first time I actually sent something back nearly untouched.

 

Anyway, thank you for restoring my faith in cruiseline pizza!!!

 

And still enjoying all these pics!!

[basebare]

Stef, I can't agree with you more, that pizza was unbelievably good. We had it every night around midnight not to mention almost daily when we returned from our tours! Never tasted anything better on any other ship. We loved the croissants in the morning too. Fresh out of the oven, OMG just delicious!

[sofsolnanny]

Hi Stef,

 

real Italian thin crust pizza,looks yummy!.

 

 

Di

[Valiamo]

OMG only at post 193,

 

(F5 refresh... looking for more... hmm lets check again F5 again... nope no more... sigh....maybe tomorrow... one more look F5.. pout no more..)

 

AND we have yet to hit a port ....

 

Steph you are a master at stringing us along.... I await each day's post, and love your descriptions and thoughts.

 

Hope all is well at the farm, and the animals are tucked in safely.. hmmm put them to bed early, and post some more!!!!

Edited September 26, 2014 by Valiamo

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

vegetables?

 

 

 

 

lots of different pasta each day. Don't know if it was good or bad.

 

 

 

never tried their soups here.

 

 

 

They had one station for burgers, hot dogs and french fries. The fries were very good .. and they went fast. The burgers waited for customers forever...guess why.

 

 

 

Really? German food on an Italian cruise? Why???? I'm on vacation and don't want to eat everyday stuff....and I really doubt that the Italians are hot for Sauerkraut and Bratwurst (lol -- and they switched the signs, how funny). Oh no -- this brings back memories of the onboard "Oktoberfest" .... I thought I blocked that out successfully. Sigh.

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Everybody looks pretty glum in the outdoor buffet while waiting to disembark. Post cruise blues already😢

 

yup, don't you hate when that happens? But picture a hoard of people cheering to get off the boat....that would really be scary:D.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Stef, you are making me so hungry (even at 6am)

 

You're seriously reading this voluntarily at 6 A M ??? Crazy woman:rolleyes:!

 

lol -- and I'm making myself hungry too as I dream about that pizza now.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Stef, I can't agree with you more, that pizza was unbelievably good. We had it every night around midnight not to mention almost daily when we returned from our tours! Never tasted anything better on any other ship. We loved the croissants in the morning too. Fresh out of the oven, OMG just delicious!

 

phenomenal pizza! MSC is my new pizza hero. But amazingly their Moussaka (mh, an Italian line preparing great Greek food -- who would have known?) in the buffet restaurant one day even surpassed the wonderful pizza and achieved first place in my wonderful foods of the buffet restaurant ranking:D...Okay -- it was a close call to the second place which of course was the pizza.....then a long time nothing and eventually followed by the fruits and olive bread.

 

:oOh great, now I'm really hungry.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hi Stef,

 

real Italian thin crust pizza,looks yummy!.

 

 

Di

 

:)trust me it didn't only LOOK yummy!

 

(:rolleyes:great guys -- all this food talk... I'm drooling now:o)

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

OMG only at post 193,

 

(F5 refresh... looking for more... hmm lets check again F5 again... nope no more... sigh....maybe tomorrow... one more look F5.. pout no more..)

 

AND we have yet to hit a port ....

 

Steph you are a master at stringing us along.... I await each day's post, and love your descriptions and thoughts.

 

Hope all is well at the farm, and the animals are tucked in safely.. hmmm put them to bed early, and post some more!!!!

 

 

 

lol -- that cracked me up:D

 

I can't wait to get to the ports...telling about our shore explorations is my favorite part to write....but one more food post coming up, the rest of embarkation day and a whole sea day heading your way first.

 

Mhh, no real desasters at home. :(Our 11 year old border collie Cody snapped his crucial ligaments. :rolleyes: Just like Tanja -- his right leg, while he was running over wet grass...sheesh, my loved ones- throw em in a sac and always hit the right one ( :rolleyes:German saying - if folks are very much alike).

Well now he's scheduled for surgery on October 9th-- can't do this here myself ...until then I'm basically carrying him up and down the steps all day long...20 kg seem to get heavier each time.