Just boarded Magnifica

[Yilaine]

Thank you for both the info, and the tip about breakfast juice.

Only 4 weeks to go now - 29 days and counting.

Have done last few cruises with P & O and Fred Olsen, so we're looking forward to the more 'glitzy' ship and passengers of varying nationalities. Just a little apprehensive about the food due to the poor comments in many of the reviews.Still, will go with an open mind. I'm sure we won't starve, and your comments have been most encouraging..

[3StepDam44]

Hiya, all the obsessive Cruisers out there. We were on the Magnifica 2 week's ago and this was our first MSC Cruise. We have sailed with many of the other Cruise Lines such as RCCL, P&O, NCL and Costa. We found the embarkation at Southampton was incredible. We arrived at 11:00 and the Check-In Desks opened at 12:00. Once this happened, we were on board in about 15 minutes. We headed straight for something to eat upstairs, which as has already been stated on this thread, was great. The food in the Buffet was always hot, and full of flavour. There was always a lot of choice too. We wandered down to our Cabin, which was ready at about 1:00 pm. Room Key and with Dining Option were on the Table waiting for us. We had a Balcony Cabin (Bella) on Deck 8 which was great. Room Steward was also very accommodating, nothing was ever too much trouble. We were assigned last sitting which is not our style, so we went to the Quattro Venti Dining Room and spoke to the Head Waiter. Within seconds we were moved to First Sitting and found another Couple to share our Table of 4 with. The Dining experience was always good. Yes, it is only 3 Courses which on occasion was a little small. However, as a Vegetarian, I asked for extra Vegetables etc. which was not a problem.

 

The itinerary was the main draw for our Cruise, which took in Le Havre, Brugge, Amsterdam and Hamburg. We enjoyed all the Ports and our least favourite was Le Havre.

 

The Entertainment on board was of a good standard if a bit short. The Shows in the Theatre only lasted 30 Minutes instead of the usual 45 ish minutes on most other Cruise Lines. This didn't spoil anything because the Singers and Music around the Ship were of a very high standard. There seemed to be always something to do on board which we really liked. We have sailed with P&O for our last 4 Cruises and find that sometimes after Dinner there is very little until the Show and then it's usually a scram from one end of the Ship to another to get to the Show Lounges. The Magnifica has several Bars leading from one to the other and the layout is great to navigate.:eek:

 

It was different with the Ship as Passengers are embarking and dis-embarking at every Port. I don't know how the Staff manage to keep up, but they do. The Staff around the Ship, perhaps were not the most friendly I've encountered, but they seemed to work tirelessly to keep the Ship up to scratch. The Ship on our sailing was spotless.

 

The Ship itself, I found was very beautiful, as is the case with the Italian Cruise Lines and it also has a Promenade to walk on after Dinner which we miss on some of the newer and larger Ships.

 

Overall we loved this Ship and Cruise and would definitely go on the Magnifica again and possibly try other MSC Ships. We took a leap of faith and it really paid off.:cool:

 

Enjoy.

[Bonnieri]

Hiya, all the obsessive Cruisers out there. We were on the Magnifica 2 week's ago and this was our first MSC Cruise. We have sailed with many of the other Cruise Lines such as RCCL, P&O, NCL and Costa. We found the embarkation at Southampton was incredible. We arrived at 11:00 and the Check-In Desks opened at 12:00. Once this happened, we were on board in about 15 minutes. We headed straight for something to eat upstairs, which as has already been stated on this thread, was great. The food in the Buffet was always hot, and full of flavour. There was always a lot of choice too. We wandered down to our Cabin, which was ready at about 1:00 pm. Room Key and with Dining Option were on the Table waiting for us. We had a Balcony Cabin (Bella) on Deck 8 which was great. Room Steward was also very accommodating, nothing was ever too much trouble. We were assigned last sitting which is not our style, so we went to the Quattro Venti Dining Room and spoke to the Head Waiter. Within seconds we were moved to First Sitting and found another Couple to share our Table of 4 with. The Dining experience was always good. Yes, it is only 3 Courses which on occasion was a little small. However, as a Vegetarian, I asked for extra Vegetables etc. which was not a problem.

 

 

 

The itinerary was the main draw for our Cruise, which took in Le Havre, Brugge, Amsterdam and Hamburg. We enjoyed all the Ports and our least favourite was Le Havre.

 

 

 

The Entertainment on board was of a good standard if a bit short. The Shows in the Theatre only lasted 30 Minutes instead of the usual 45 ish minutes on most other Cruise Lines. This didn't spoil anything because the Singers and Music around the Ship were of a very high standard. There seemed to be always something to do on board which we really liked. We have sailed with P&O for our last 4 Cruises and find that sometimes after Dinner there is very little until the Show and then it's usually a scram from one end of the Ship to another to get to the Show Lounges. The Magnifica has several Bars leading from one to the other and the layout is great to navigate.:eek:

 

 

 

It was different with the Ship as Passengers are embarking and dis-embarking at every Port. I don't know how the Staff manage to keep up, but they do. The Staff around the Ship, perhaps were not the most friendly I've encountered, but they seemed to work tirelessly to keep the Ship up to scratch. The Ship on our sailing was spotless.

 

 

 

The Ship itself, I found was very beautiful, as is the case with the Italian Cruise Lines and it also has a Promenade to walk on after Dinner which we miss on some of the newer and larger Ships.

 

 

 

Overall we loved this Ship and Cruise and would definitely go on the Magnifica again and possibly try other MSC Ships. We took a leap of faith and it really paid off.:cool:

 

 

 

Enjoy.

 

 

 

Thank you for your wonderful review! We have sailed on Divina and loved it. We sail on Magnifica on May 24th. We are looking forward to it! It must be hard to keep 3000 people happy but they do try!

 

 

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[Isasprings]

Glad that you enjoyed the cruise overall, we liked the ports too, think we all had to dodge the bikes in Amsterdam!

 

No ice tea or lemonade would not be unusual to us Brits or other Europeans, not many people here drink ice tea and I think I've only had lemonade at the buffet on 'American' ships.

 

The reply about the service charge sounds strange, no idea why they couldn't just remove the phone call.

 

Julie

Yes, it is very strange, MSC told me the same thing.

I just want to tell you something, we booked Bella, the Maitre D was fantastic!!! I told him we want a table for 2 because our English language is not perfect, he said fine gave us a table for (2) at 830pm and that was too late for us, so I said what about 6pm he said sorry not available, fine ok can you sit us with 2 British couples? So he did it and the 4 days that we eat with them were FANTASTIC! they didn't

care that our English is not perfect.The best tablemates we had in all our cruises.We learned a lot of England history from them.

Edited May 5, 2018 by Isasprings

[briceand4]

Hi

Julie,sorry I miss the cruise critic meet and greet, we loved the ports of call ❤️ Paris the tour was fantastic! also Bruges and Amsterdam I almost got hit by a bicycle lol even in Hamburg we were the last to board.The 4 days we spend in London going to be in my memory for ever.❤️

About the cruise Magnifica is beautiful ship the food is just ok.

We only ate breakfast and some dinners. What I don’t like is at the buffet was only water,coffe and hot tea. No ice tea,lemonade?

On the last day when we get the final bill I noticed that there was a charge for a long distance call to Switzerland I went to guest services and I explain that we didn’t do that call she checked and told me that even we didn’t do the call she don’t know how to remove the charges, but to solve the problem she was going to remove a 10 euro 1 day service charge! I was furious! I never in all my cruises remove the service charges they work hard. I call MSC today and I told them This is not the right way to solve a problem.

However, we loved our trip and booked the Magnifica just for the ports of call, and yes we meet wonderful people on this cruise.

We enjoyed the shows.

 

ISA

 

 

 

Hi isasprings, did they have ice at the drink station? On the Divina I would make hot tea and put it in a glass with ice. The Divina did have ice tea just not in the morning and I like it in the morning. Thanks, Alice

 

 

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[Isasprings]

Hi isasprings, did they have ice at the drink station? On the Divina I would make hot tea and put it in a glass with ice. The Divina did have ice tea just not in the morning and I like it in the morning. Thanks, Alice

 

 

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Hi Alice,

Yes, they have ice and lemons I did ice tea but the glasses at the buffet are small.

The Magnifica is beautiful my favorite place was the tiger bar.

In my opinion the Divina is gorgeous!

when the Seaside arrived to Miami I was by the port that ship is WOW!!

I need to save money for another cruise!

 

ISA

[debgreg]

On 4/23/2018 at 5:00 PM, kernow said:

We boarded in Southampton this morning. Arrived at the terminal around 11am, security opened at 11.50 and we were on the ship within 10 minutes.

This is our second time on MSC, sailed Musica in 2016 and did status match. We have a Fantastica balcony with all inclusive drink package. First impressions are very good. Sparkling wine, chocolate strawberries and fruit plate were waiting in the cabin along with 2 chocolate ships and 2 invites for a meal for 2 at the speciality restaurant.

All the staff we have encountered so far have been friendly and helpful. We went to the buffet for lunch, selection and taste were excellent.

 

We have muster drill shortly.

 

If anyone has questions let me know and I will try to answer.

 

Julie

Just read it , thanks, so missing our cruises 😂 all booked now, only around the U.K. but at least it’s a start 🚢

[kernow]

39 minutes ago, debgreg said:

Just read it , thanks, so missing our cruises 😂 all booked now, only around the U.K. but at least it’s a start 🚢

Me too 😀. Can't wait to be back onboard even if it rains for all 4 days!

[Cruise a holic]

1 hour ago, kernow said:

Me too 😀. Can't wait to be back onboard even if it rains for all 4 days!

Pease report back!  Enjoy.