I would like to know about costa Magica

[momofmeg]

I am checking into a fall cruise on her. Just wondering is she a big ship? What is the food like and how does a Costa cruise compare to Princess and Celebrity to those of you who have cruise those lines?

[packercruising]

Check my review from the 2/26-3/5 cruise and it will answer most your questions. It's a sister ship to Carnival Glory but way much nicer.

[momofmeg]

Check my review from the 2/26-3/5 cruise and it will answer most your questions. It's a sister ship to Carnival Glory but way much nicer.

 

thanks then I probally would not like her-no mega ships for me!

[itsmlf]

It is a wonderful ship......big but not crowded. Great food even better than good.......and I cant imagine anyone not liking her

[momofmeg]

It is a wonderful ship......big but not crowded. Great food even better than good.......and I cant imagine anyone not liking her

 

 

I was concerned becuase the other post said she is the sister ship to Carnival Glory. Carnival conquest class ships (the class ship Glory is) are super congested if they leave out full-I don't want that. That is what I hated about RCCL Mariner of the Seas and I have heard Carnival conquest class ships are worse then the RCCL voyager class ships.

 

Tell me about some of the nice little things they have on Magica.

[packercruising]

It holds about 2,700 pax. It did not seem crowded to me. Always somewhere to sit if you go to the buffet which wasn't true of the Glory. It's just laid out better. Service was great everywhere on the ship. They had more soft-serve machines than any other ship I've been on. Food was very good depending on your tastes. Getting on and off the ship was a piece of cake.

 

Like itsmlf said, I can't imagine anyone not liking it.

[Genessa]

I am checking into a fall cruise on her. Just wondering is she a big ship? What is the food like and how does a Costa cruise compare to Princess and Celebrity to those of you who have cruise those lines?

 

Hi!

My dh & I are usually Princess cruisers - we prefer the Sun Class ships, but have been on Sea, Dawn, and Coral. Magica is huge, but we mostly stayed aft - where our favorite adult pool and buffet and dining room were.

 

We were recently on the Magica and couldn't help comparing her to Princess and we were disappointed in some things and pleasantly surprised in others.

For those of you who are huge Magica fans, this isn't a blast at Magica, but my honest comparison.

 

Embarkation went easy, but when we tried to use the stairs after lunching, we couldn't get around the mounds of luggage thrown into the "landings". Not the midships stairs. It took longer to get our luggage, but we might have always just gotten lucky on Princess.

The steward was not at our room to greet us and tell us his name and let us know how to notify him. We needed extra pillows and clothes hangers and not knowing how else to get them, called "room service" - which wasn't just for food.

A couple of hours later the steward knocked on our door and said, you called room service and told them you needed something, you should have just asked me...When I told him I didn't know how to contact him he said to call...

The pillows and hangers arrived while we were at late dinner (about 6 hours later than my call).

Pleasant surprise - while our balcony was about the same size as our balconies on Dawn/Sea, our room was larger and the bathroom was easily 1/3 larger, if not double - nice...

 

Lifeboat drill was confusing and loud. People were actually arguing with the Costa staff, telling them they wouldn't move... Drill was held out on deck with people expected to wear their life preservers to the drill...Staff then corrected/reversed many preservers.

 

Food - while I am not a huge fan of Princess food and thought the food on Magica was more to my taste, Princess 24 hours availability was much better (and so is their pizza) and dh and our friends liked Princess food much better. DH & I got hungry one afternoon around 5 ish (we had breakfast, no lunch) and went to get something to eat. Only thing available was pizza and some hard rolls and "the grill". The grill was tasteless burgers and grey franks that sit and sit (or at least look like they sit). The burgers actually didn't taste all that badly, not with raw onion and globs of ketchup, anyway.

The buffet is huge, but broken up into different sections and if you aren't aware of it, you'd completely miss it. "Mexican" day lunch at the buffet consisted of paella???? but around the corner were some strip steaks that were delicious. There were plenty of seats, but they were all on top of each other.

Dinner was fine - service was very good. Caesar salad was more to my liking on Princess, but dh said escargot were the best he ever tasted. The Captain and some senior staff members sat one table over one night - they had different a vegetable basket in addition to the bread basket.

 

The omelet stations at the breakfast buffet were great! Bacon was good, too, not overly smoked.

 

The pools are not heated and are salt water - first day only my dh and my friend were in them. Hot tubs were not as warm as we like them (we only used the pool and hot tub in the stern). The lounge chairs are much more comfortable than on Princess and the towels are available on deck. There was as much or more saving of chairs as on Princess - first sea day we got great seats after breakfast at 8:30. Second day we were done with breakfast at 8:15 and got less great chairs - we weren't looking for chairs poolside, but were up on the deck above the pool - out of the rig-a-marole. The poolside chairs at the aft pool are practically in the aft buffet.

 

The casino was tight and packed the two nights we went in. We didn't go to any shows, but we seldom do on Princess either.

The walking track was much smaller than on Princess - we had to go around many more times, but there was more to look at from there - it was on Deck 11 if I remember correctly.

 

One big plus, although I didn't participate, Magica had free exercise classes, something I really miss on Princess.

 

One final thing - although it could happen on any cruise line I suppose - was many of our fellow passengers were extremely rude. Cutting in line on embarkation, bumping into you on the buffet line and not saying excuse me, but the worst, many of the Europeans seemed to think it was a sport to see how many people could be stuffed into an elevator. Either that or they thought that "THIS" elevator must be the last one on earth.

 

End result - if we had never gone on Princess, we would have thoroughly enjoyed Magica. Having found Princess, but willing to try other lines for the price and for company, we are still Princess fans and wouldn't go on Costa again unless it was practially free.

I was beginning to feel like a broken record, constantly thinking, if this were Princess...

[packercruising]

Genessa, when were you on the Magica? It doesn't even sound like the same ship....We got on board right away and got our luggage right away. We needed the bed turned, extra blanets pillows and hangers and the cabin steward came as soon as we called. Service throughout the ship was very good. No problems with the life boat drill either except we thought it was strange they did it the second day. I didn't try the burgers but the french fries and sandwiches were good and the pizza was above average. The rolls were exceptional. Good fruit too. We didn't find either the pax or the staff to be rude.

[Genessa]

Genessa, when were you on the Magica? It doesn't even sound like the same ship....We got on board right away and got our luggage right away. We needed the bed turned, extra blanets pillows and hangers and the cabin steward came as soon as we called. Service throughout the ship was very good. No problems with the life boat drill either except we thought it was strange they did it the second day. I didn't try the burgers but the french fries and sandwiches were good and the pizza was above average. The rolls were exceptional. Good fruit too. We didn't find either the pax or the staff to be rude.

 

we were on the 2/19 - 2/26 cruise. We got on board early and had one piece of our luggage when we came down from lunch - they had told us no rooms were available yet, to eat first (and since we had a crack of dawn flight we were alll hungry). It was when we tried to go down the stairs - the aft elevators weren't working - or at least we pressed the call button and after waiting and waiting and waiting none came - so we went down the stairs (cabin was on deck 6). From deck 8 down the stair landings/elevator area were filled with mounds of luggage - we literally had to climb over suitcases to continue downward and then when we got to 6 and needed to get to the opposite side - I kept thinking if there is an emergency, someone is going to die. There were no pathways through, it looked like a giant toddler had tossed all the luggage. We found our cabin and I unpacked the one suitcase. About 45 minutes later, a second suitcase came - still no steward. That is when I called and requested the items. He still didn't show up. He came about 15 minutes before the fire drill - which was on our first day.

 

The french fries were decent, I don't like pre-made sandwiches, and the pizza was edible, but not to my taste. I didn't like most of their bread, but probably got put off by the stale "supermarket name brand" day old hamburger and hot dog buns.The real problem with that food, though, was that we had different expectations. That was one reason I never posted a review. If I hadn't been on another cruise line that I loved, I would have enjoyed Magica more. Princess is just a better fit for us.

 

We never found the staff to be rude. The staff were all good to great, with the exception of the steward not greeting us. We didn't think he was rude, but again, it just wasn't what we were expecting. He kept our room wonderfully and listened to our requests.

 

And the passengers, like I wrote, that could happen on any ship. I don't know if it was that particular sailing, or what. Maybe my dh & I attract them? Twice we had to get off an elevator in the first three days because entire groups (adults, not children) just kept pouring on and on and on. People would close elevator doors in your face when there was room, also.

And the buffet lines at lunch were horrible - but maybe we were just going at the "wrong" times. Breakfast, the buffet was fine, if somewhat limited in food.

[itsmlf]

This report must be from a different Magica than I went on last month. And does she really expect the room steward to be there waiting for her? Ive cruised more than 20 times on many ships including Crystal and have never seen that. We all have a right to our opinions but this one seems wayyyy over the top

[momofmeg]

This report must be from a different Magica than I went on last month. And does she really expect the room steward to be there waiting for her? Ive cruised more than 20 times on many ships including Crystal and have never seen that. We all have a right to our opinions but this one seems wayyyy over the top

 

I have taken 11 cruises and on 9 of those 11 cruises the room steward came and introduced him/her/self within 5 minutes of our first arriving to our stateroom. The other two times we met the steward before dinner. So yes that would concern me a little-that makes me feel the steward is overworked and has too many staterooms to take care of-not that I have to make special requests that much-usually just an extra blanket.

 

On my last cruise on Celebrity Zenith-the steward actually had water and ice in our staterrom which we had not asked for- a nice plus-I take a good bit of medication and it was nice not having to go up to the lido for a glass of water while I waited for the steward to spply me with a pitcher of water-as I have done on previous cruises.

 

One thing I do ask the steward for is a needle box as I have diabetes-this last cruise it took two days for them to bring me one-I felt this was strange as I ask for that box for THEIR protection-I would hate for them to stick themselves accidentily when emptying the trash-but this was not an inconvenice to me-I just felt they were putting themselves in jeopordy-now I do not have HIV or anything-but the steward does not know that. The needle box is for THEIR protection.

[momofmeg]

Hi!

My dh & I are usually Princess cruisers - we prefer the Sun Class ships, but have been on Sea, Dawn, and Coral. Magica is huge, but we mostly stayed aft - where our favorite adult pool and buffet and dining room were.

 

We were recently on the Magica and couldn't help comparing her to Princess and we were disappointed in some things and pleasantly surprised in others.

 

Pleasant surprise - while our balcony was about the same size as our balconies on Dawn/Sea, our room was larger and the bathroom was easily 1/3 larger, if not double - nice...

 

 

 

 

 

The casino was tight and packed the two nights we went in. We didn't go to any shows, but we seldom do on Princess either.

The walking track was much smaller than on Princess - we had to go around many more times, but there was more to look at from there - it was on Deck 11 if I remember correctly.

 

One big plus, although I didn't participate, Magica had free exercise classes, something I really miss on Princess.

 

One final thing - although it could happen on any cruise line I suppose - was many of our fellow passengers were extremely rude. Cutting in line on embarkation, bumping into you on the buffet line and not saying excuse me, but the worst, many of the Europeans seemed to think it was a sport to see how many people could be stuffed into an elevator. Either that or they thought that "THIS" elevator must be the last one on earth.

 

 

Well I se you love Princess and I did not find your objections for Magica that bad as this other post seemed to feel-I have been on 6 differant lines myself and have found things I both liked and disliked about all 6 lines. Of the 6 lines though I liked Princess and Celebrity the best.

 

It sounded to me your Magica cruise was understaffed-possibly some of the staff were not well-or because you embarked early you ran into the problem with the suitcases. An inconvenice but not a biggie to me.

 

As far as salt water pools, all the lines with the exception of Princess and Disney have saltwater pools. I am not sure about Celebrity as I did not use the pool on that cruise-it was too cool for swimming last month.

 

Since you like Princess-can I ask if you have been on a Princess ship that is the class Of Caribbean Princess? That is the other cruise we are looking at-but I have the same fear for that as Magica-that it will be too crowded.

 

The reason I have singled out these two ships is I can get a balcony on them for the price of an inside on a 10 night cruise on Celebrity Zenith. We had intended to book her for the Dec. 8 cruise-but we discovered the price went up a $100 a person in just the week we were looking at her-so I thought I would look at some other cruises since the price went up that much-and why not go on a new ship and book a balcony? Yes it would be a 7 day cruise-but still I would have a much nicer stateroom.

 

I did love the Zenith-in spite of her age-and one of the things I loved about her-was the small size of the ship and it not being overly crowded -so I guess that is my dilema. Go on a small ship for a longer cruise in an inside stateroom or book a balcony on a new ship that is huge.

 

Back in Oct. we cruised RCCL's Mariner of the Seas and I was NOT happy with that huge crowded ship. I do not want to do THAT again.

 

But one thing I have learned from you is the food is good on the Magica- a concern for me-because it was terrible on MOS-so that is a relief-maybe I can deal with the crowds since I will have a balcony and good food makes a differance also. I don't mind the buffet food not being great-to me buffet food is just that-I expect though the main dinningroom food to be better and not on par with the buffet food-unfortunately on the MOS-the buffet food was actually BETTER then the dinningroom food-(pretty sad huh?) The food on the Zenith was great though and what I expected of a cruise.

[Genessa]

This report must be from a different Magica than I went on last month. And does she really expect the room steward to be there waiting for her? Ive cruised more than 20 times on many ships including Crystal and have never seen that. We all have a right to our opinions but this one seems wayyyy over the top

 

Every Princess cruise I have ever been on, on embarkation day, yes, the steward WAS waiting in the area of our rooms and whenever a passenger came down the hall, he or she would smile, ask you what room you were looking for and direct you to it, introducing himself or herself if they were our steward or (apparently) notifying our steward that we were on our way. Always, within the first two minutes of being in a room the steward would magically appear, show us where the life jackets were, ask us if we needed anything, showed us how to page him. What can I say, maybe we have just got exceptionally lucky???

 

If it was over two hours for a steward to knock on my door on Princess on embarkation day and he had left no directions on how to contact him, I'd also be disappointed.

 

Other than that, the steward was wonderful.

[Genessa]

Well I se you love Princess and I did not find your objections for Magica that bad as this other post seemed to feel-I have been on 6 differant lines myself and have found things I both liked and disliked about all 6 lines. Of the 6 lines though I liked Princess and Celebrity the best.

 

Since you like Princess-can I ask if you have been on a Princess ship that is the class Of Caribbean Princess? That is the other cruise we are looking at-but I have the same fear for that as Magica-that it will be too crowded.

 

The reason I have singled out these two ships is I can get a balcony on them for the price of an inside on a 10 night cruise on Celebrity Zenith. We had intended to book her for the Dec. 8 cruise-but we discovered the price went up a $100 a person in just the week we were looking at her-so I thought I would look at some other cruises since the price went up that much-and why not go on a new ship and book a balcony? Yes it would be a 7 day cruise-but still I would have a much nicer stateroom.

 

But one thing I have learned from you is the food is good on the Magica- a concern for me-because it was terrible on MOS-so that is a relief-maybe I can deal with the crowds since I will have a balcony and good food makes a differance also. I don't mind the buffet food not being great-to me buffet food is just that-I expect though the main dinningroom food to be better and not on par with the buffet food-unfortunately on the MOS-the buffet food was actually BETTER then the dinningroom food-(pretty sad huh?) The food on the Zenith was great though and what I expected of a cruise.

 

 

We've never been on the Caribbean Princess, largest ship was the Coral. The size of the Coral didn't bother us, but we didn't like her design and prefer the hull cut balconies of the Sun Class.

I'd vote for going on the Magica, given that the "little things" that bothered us, don't bother you. (that's why I gave so many details). After balconies, I can't see myself happy in an interior again. The staterooms were really nice on Magica. The dining rooms were very spacious and service was great there. Our friends did lunch and breakfast in the dining room, also, and enjoyed their meals very much.

Dinners were good, and just like on every line we've been on, if you ordered something you didn't like, they will bring you something else to try.

 

Other than the elevators and buffet lines, we didn't feel crowded in by people.

I think the steward was overwhelmed and we saw it due to our early embarkation. Same thing with the luggage.

 

Whatever you choose, enjoy!

[momofmeg]

We've never been on the Caribbean Princess, largest ship was the Coral. The size of the Coral didn't bother us, but we didn't like her design and prefer the hull cut balconies of the Sun Class.

I'd vote for going on the Magica, given that the "little things" that bothered us, don't bother you. (that's why I gave so many details). After balconies, I can't see myself happy in an interior again. The staterooms were really nice on Magica. The dining rooms were very spacious and service was great there. Our friends did lunch and breakfast in the dining room, also, and enjoyed their meals very much.

Dinners were good, and just like on every line we've been on, if you ordered something you didn't like, they will bring you something else to try.

 

Other than the elevators and buffet lines, we didn't feel crowded in by people.

I think the steward was overwhelmed and we saw it due to our early

 

embarkation. Same thing with the luggage.

 

 

 

Genessa,

I have been on the Princess boards also-my fear of the mega ships is based on my cruise last fall on RCCL Mariner of the Seas. I found two people over there that have done both cruises-(Caribbean Princess and Mariner of the Seas) one liked alll the activities that MOS offered and did not care about the quality of food and was not bothered by crowds. The other was more like me,disliked the crowds on MOS and felt as I did, the food was just so-so. She said the food was much better on CP-and the ship was better designed in the public areas-so she has helped me not to be so fearful of the ship being a huge ship.

 

Actually both ships Magica and the Caribbean Princess sound good to me. I guess I will just have to decide-I have been given some very good positive info on both ships. Maybe I can do one this fall and the other ship another time.

 

I do appreciate you telling the good and the bad. I am always suspious of posts that say everything is great-I am smart enough to know everything can never be perfect. I feel like they must have stock in the line or something (LOL)

 

To me-you did enjoy your cruise-you just preferred that one class of Princess. that is what I got from your posts and you have been VERY helpful.

[IDoLoveToCruise]

In days gone by the Room Steward was always there in the hall near "his" cabins and would introduce himself, ask if anything special was needed and double check our dinner seating so he would make sure to have the cabin done. Those were the days before tips were automatic. We started cruising in 1985 and with 90 cruises there are too many to list except to say we have done most of the lines and many that are no longer sailing such as Premier, Bermuda Star, Dolphin. Holland America is hands down our pick for # 1. Magica was a nice cruise but untill another "deal" comes along we'll pass.

[taszmom]

to momofmeg,

 

I've been on all 3 ships : Caribbean Princess, MOS & Magica.

 

I very much enjoyed the Caribbean Princess. Had the same comments about the MOS - 1 pool area/too many people, RC food not too good. Princess has good food, small staterooms. Magica bigger staterooms, food is good too. Magica has 2 pool areas.

 

The layout of the Caribbean Princess helps with not feeling like your with so many people, especially in regards to the pools. There are so many of them spread throughout the ship. The kids designated pool area is pretty nice.

[Genessa]

Actually both ships Magica and the Caribbean Princess sound good to me. I guess I will just have to decide-I have been given some very good positive info on both ships. Maybe I can do one this fall and the other ship another time.

 

I do appreciate you telling the good and the bad. I am always suspious of posts that say everything is great-I am smart enough to know everything can never be perfect. I feel like they must have stock in the line or something (LOL)

 

To me-you did enjoy your cruise-you just preferred that one class of Princess. that is what I got from your posts and you have been VERY helpful.

 

You are right, we did enjoy the cruise, but definitely prefer Princess. I'm happy I was helpful ;).