Costa Magica March 4 2007 Review

[mtl kid]

Well I'm back from the Magica and hope my review will clear a few things up. We were a group of 14, 4 different families 8 kids and 6 adults. 2 of these families were already on previous Costa Cruises one family was a Princess and RCI cruisers and the other family was a previous Carnival cruiser. I think this will be a good overall review because I will give my honest opinion and then add the opinion of the other 2 families who cruised with different lines.

 

Embarkation:

 

I really cannot say much on this because our group of 14 missed our flight and to make a long story short we arrived at 4:00pm just in the nick of time. Needless to say we rushed right in and were on the ship in less than 15 minutes.

 

N.B. We had contacted Costa and made them aware that we might be late. I was very happy to learn that when we arrived the ground crew welcomed us and told us they were waiting for us. It really made us feel as if we were more than just numbers to a big corporation.

 

Ship:

 

The Ship is beautiful, clean , spacious, elegant. You are quickly awed by the lush golds, the dark greens and the marble floors and the artwork. Very Italian and the Atrium is awesome. Because we were late our room was ready andwaiting for us. We were on the 7th floor with a balcony and we loved our room. Spacious ,comfortable and well planned out. All the staff spoke English and welcomed us with many "Hello", "How are you" and "Glad to see you". It really felt as if we were home.

The family from previous Carnival cruises found the ship very much like Carnival and it felt like deja vu for them. Not much difference at all.

The family from RCI preffered Explorer of the Seas because the Atrium was more spacious and the Promenade on RCI was nicer.

 

Food:

Breakfast was always had at the buffet or the grills. The food was good. The eggs made srambled, poaches, omelets, sunny side up, easy over were fresh and the pancakes, waffles, toast, juices, fruits, milks, patatoes, yogurts, bacon , cereals and so on were bountiful. I could not ask for more.

The family from Carnival said it was the same for them and ditto fot hte RCI family.

 

Lunch was alo had at the buffet and the grills. The grills had hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, salads, tomatoes, breads and the never ending grill staples.

Compared favourably to Carnival and RCI.

The buffet had the pizza which seemed to be a hit with everyone. Also found were pastas such as lasagna, penne, spaghetti, salades, veggies,soups,roast beef, chicken, pork, turkey. Patotoes were mashed, fried, boiled and rosted, coldcuts to numerous to mention. Seafood such as scampies, shrimps, mussels,crab were at the seafood festival counter. Mexican food chinese food and greek food were also at reach. Honeydew, watermelon, pineapple, cantaloup kiwis and so on.

Both the Carnival and Rci family said the Costa buffet had more selection and variety.

 

Dinning Room food was actually very good. The biggest difference from last year was that beef was served on 4 of the nights and was actually very good. My favourite was angus beef which was mouth watering and did not need a knife to cut it was so tender. The one beef plate that was not to my liking was braised beef strips served on a plate of noodles. I found it was too fatty so I returned it and chose a chicken dish. Our waiter Louis was absolutley the best, we actually cried on the last night he will always be remembered. I enjoyed all the soups and my best pasta dish was the plain spaghetti with tomatoe sauce........I miss it already.I do not like seafood or any fish dish but I gather that the Alaska CRab legs were very good.

The family said that the food was better on Costa and the RCI family said RCI was slightly better.

The biggest differnce was that the RCI family said that people dressed up more on the RCI ship and found Costa very relaxed and casual. Dresscode was very similar to Carnival. Personly I do not like to dress up every night casual is the way to go.

 

Theme Nights.

This is were evryone agreed hands down that Costa shined. The Roman Night, Tropical NIght and Toga NIght were liked by everyone. The entertainment crew got 3 thumbs up by everyone. Both other families said Costa one this hands down.

 

Kids Club.

We did not see the kids for 7 days except for dinner. That was their only rule....which was they had to eat dinner with us eveynight. The teen staff was with them till 1:30am in the disco every night. Costa kids club was the best among RCI Carnival and Princess. Marco and Sabrina from the teen Zone were #1.

 

The ship did not rock much at all and it is spotless. The other 2 families said they were going to book Costa next year as well, they enjoyed Italian style cruising. Many of the people that did not enjoy Costa were American. They did not like languages other than English and they did not like the food. If only I would be so lucky to not like the food and come off the cruise 10 to 15 pounds lighter...!The weather was fine the ports of call were O.K. The least favourite was La Romana and the best was Turks and Caicos at Margueritaville. I cannot possibly recount a full week of activities but a good time was had by all. The family that sailed Rci and Princess did say that there were more venues on the their previous ships and thatExplorer was nicer because of the promenade and the skating shows but overall The Costa Experience was nicer. I myself will sail Costa again for the 6th time and have heard that the Fortuna was coming to the Carribean next year. Hope max and his wife will be on the entertainment team again next year.

 

N.B. I cannot wait for the reviews to come in from the Magica this week because the sailing after us had 1030 18 and 19 years old rady to party. Costa has hired 6 extra secuity gaurds and placed all the youngsters on deck 1. I quess they learned from the bad cruise they had with the Mexicain students last year.....I cannot wait to hear about it

TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

[joetrizeo]

thanks for the review.

 

i too am axiously awaiting reviews/problems next week about this current week's cruises across all lines. college spring break!

[mom and wife]

Thank you for the great reveiw.

I did not know anything even happened on a magica ship I hope everything is ok and can not wait to here the reveiw also.

[Twaincruisers]

Thanks for the review. It was especially helpful that you could provide opinions from people who had cruised on other lines. We have been on the Atlantica and enjoyed all but the food--too much of it was either overdone or under cooked; the types of food were fine. We are hoping to take Magica to Bermuda in April so we can meet cruise critic friends from another cruise and to compare Costa to our cruise on MSC Lirica in Feb. Glad you had such a good time.

[mtl kid]

One thing that I forgot to mention is that the RCI family did say that Magica was lacking in the sweets/dessert department. They said they did not see much of these things on board and I tend to agree because this year I really did not see alot of sweets/desserts. What is so ironic is that Italians are known for the best sweets, cakes , cookies out there. On the flip side they were impressed that there was a midnight buffet everynight of the cruise. Anyways like my wife says we should concider ourselves lucky because if we had seen those sweet little devils they would probably have to help us disembark with the help of lifts.....lord knows that the weight sneeks up on you when you are always eating.

n.b. all the pasta was served al dente and I agree that if you are not used to eating pasta al dente it will not be one of your favourite dishes.

Thank God we wore Togas the last night....I was barely fitting into my street clothes........TOGA! TOGA!:cool:

[tortugas]

Love to hear the different perspectives, as we have also cruised on both RCI and CArnival. RCI is our favorite, and I can understand the feeling of, once you see the Promenade, it is hard to compare!!

 

I hope I get to check out Magica for myself sometime soon

[jettaleea]

Thanks for the great review! We're headed out on the Magica May 4 for a transatlantic.

 

One question about the toga party. Do people bring costumes with them or are they provided? Any other special nights we need to know about?

 

jettaleea

[Highlander0108]

Thanks for the great review! We're headed out on the Magica May 4 for a transatlantic.

 

One question about the toga party. Do people bring costumes with them or are they provided? Any other special nights we need to know about?

 

jettaleea

 

On our last cruise, some people had obviously brought their own togas, but the ship furnishes the sheet and the directions. I recall that Max and his wife did a demonstration on how to wear it that was taped for replay on the tv too. Teh wait staff was very entertaining with their dance routines too!

[mtl kid]

Hello There. The one night that you will be able to spot the repeat cruisers is on Toga Night. Basic sheets with instructions are provided the day of the Toga party. Some people bring little accessories like gold ropes to tie aroung their waists, some bring their own vine leafs for their head gear and some go all out and have their togas made with swords dangling around their waists. My wife had hers made and I wore the basic sheets with a little of my own peronal touch. Alot of the women pay a great deal of attention to their feet and bring along gold flip flops with alot of glitter on them. I would strongly recommend that women bring some safety pins to make sure that the Toga stays in place. If you do not feel comfortable with your bare shoulders on display some wear white t-shirts under the sheets. The othe theme night is Italian night....many wear the 3 colors of the Italian flag, which are red , white and green. I wore sometjing green with white pants so the staff saw I was missing red and drew a red heart on my face. It is quite fun and just go with the flow. If you do not want your underware showing thru the sheets bring beige colored undies or plain white one. If you go thru an area which has strobe lights your white undies will definetly show....but you know what....after a few drinks who cares! Tropical night which is mainly dancing under the stars to lively calypso music many were flowery shirts and pants.......Jimmy Buffet style.

I am so envious that you are going on the transatlantic....is there any room in one of your luggages for me. Anyways have fun and take things in stride, don't let the little things get you down and you will have a good time. Max the cruise director and his wife Manuela are very good at keeping you entertained. Let me know how the crossing goes because that is on my to do list very soon.

 

Are you sure there is no room for me in you suitcase?:mad:

[Cruisoholic]

My husband and I just returned from a back to back cruise on the Magica.

For the price we paid it was a bargain.We have sailed on over 40 cruises so we have been on the best and worst cruiselines.

 

 

 

Thought the ship was spotless and very well decorated.I did not like the selection at the lunch buffet.I felt things were too crammed together.The major part of the buffet is breads and pizza leaving only a small section left for all other types of food.

 

I did not like the fact that many passengers wore shorts to dinner.There were a few bathing suits inside the lunch buffet and men with no shirts.People could enter the dining room an hr late for dinner and still be seated.

 

I thought $2.88 for a diet coke was pricey.I suggest if you dring soda to bring a few cans of your own.

 

The evening entertainent was not very good.They did have one show with one of the original Platters.They show 3 movies the entire week.Million Dollar Baby,some Christmas comedy and a childrens movie.

 

 

Dismbarkation and embarkation was a breeze.

[mtl kid]

Sorry for the additional post but one important point I forgot to mention was the issue of chair hogs. I am glad to report that on the March 4 2007 Magica, pool chairs could be found at any time. There were the pool attendants clearing the unatended chairs every hour and taking the belongings and storing them in the corner of the towel stand. After a few days no on dared to save 4 or 5 chairs. Remember I do not mean that if you are lying down and saving a chair for your spouse....I mean lying down and having 4 or 5 vacant chairs beside you. I was quite happy. The other 2 families were quite pleased as well. Everyday we found chairs by the pool or at most 2 rows away.

[Honbun]

Sorry for the additional post but one important point I forgot to mention was the issue of chair hogs. I am glad to report that on the March 4 2007 Magica, pool chairs could be found at any time. There were the pool attendants clearing the unatended chairs every hour and taking the belongings and storing them in the corner of the towel stand. After a few days no on dared to save 4 or 5 chairs. Remember I do not mean that if you are lying down and saving a chair for your spouse....I mean lying down and having 4 or 5 vacant chairs beside you. I was quite happy. The other 2 families were quite pleased as well. Everyday we found chairs by the pool or at most 2 rows away.

 

Its nice to hear that at least one of the cruise lines are taking steps to stopping the run of the chair hogs!

[joetrizeo]

Its nice to hear that at least one of the cruise lines are taking steps to stopping the run of the chair hogs!

 

better keep this a secret or we'll have a huge flux of carnival and RCL passengers booking costa!:rolleyes: