Europe on Carnival's Newest Ship - the "Magic!" May 7-23, 2011
Jetlag almost over and the washer and dryer are getting a workout! We had a very good trip - air, cruise and tours worked for us. Lufthansa, Dallas via Frankfurt to Barcelona, two days there with a nice tour of the city and learned about tapas first hand. Then onto Carnival Magic - big beautiful ship which was sparkling new for our arrival. Full with about 4000 psgrs. Cabins are well organized and very easy to negotiate. Our cabin was in prime location midships close to elevators, for our 11 night cruise to Monaco, Florence, Rome, Naples, Dubrovnik, Venice, Sicily, and back to Barcelona. As our group was 50 folks strong, we prepaid our gratuities which was good. Had a group of tables, assigned for first night, then we table-hopped to get to know others in our group, seventeen of which were from the Ranch.
Food was excellent - assigned seating at 6 p.m. Menu included prime rib at least 3 times, filet mignon, lamb entrees plentiful, and at least one really good fish entree each night. A dessert to die for called "chocolate melting cake," was a regular on the menu. Steak restaurant was $30 pp. and we did not go, although heard it was really good. Family style italian restaurant was $10 pp. and we went one night - good. However, they had a pasta bar at lunchtime which was free. We loved it and they had a great system of ordering your own special pasta without standing in line. Lido deck cafeteria was close by, but our least favorite - crowded, confusing and huge, so difficult for Jim with his walker, to negotiate. We worked out other ways to get breakfast. Ship also had soup and sandwich bar, mini burgers cooked on an outside grill, a salad bar and the Red Frog Pub which served Caribbean snacks for a small price on the Promenade Deck. No charge on the other places. We also discovered a tandoor grill, and deli aft of the ship, so lots of choices, plus of course, great hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza on the open areas of the Lido. Inside the Lido, standards were Mongolian BBQ station and a Burrito station, along with daily choices.
Had a very good Cruise Director-but we'd say shows not quite up to what we've had on HAL and Princess. A great Casino where we spent too much time, but I did win the first slot tournament and have a 24 karat plastic trophy to show for it. There were various things going on all days at sea, and our tour days were full and usually exhausting. I can't say enough good things about our tour leaders, Tim and Emily Bailey from the Ranch- just outstanding and they said that is just the way they do things. A godsend for us as they arranged small tours in all ports, for all those who chose them, with a van holding 6 to 8 people. We used those exclusively and were able to do all we wanted on all the tours. Minimal walking as they could get us very close to our destination. Was great!
We can say that Carnival has done exceptionally well on this new ship! Telling you this for your future reference since the Magic is coming to Galveston to stay in October and most people have said to me "anything but Carnival!" We would certainly recommend giving it a try. Jim, with his little problems, did very well and got some help from our group when we encountered stairs, etc. He used the walker most of the time and we used handicap services on the flights. That way, he got a ride in wheelchair and I used the walker to keep up with him. Lufthansa has a very good system for handicaps, especially in Frankfurt. We had to have a little patience, but got where we needed to be on time. One surprise in Barcelona airport - LH check in made us give up our carryons to be weighed, which were overweight and we got charged 98E to check them! Just a little more info in case you might use Lufthansa! Never had that happen before & could have packed differently had we dreamed of such a thing.
Home again to the Ranch, safe and sound and happy for our experience - weather wonderful - one bit of rain in Dubrovnik. We hardly knew we were on a ship - only once or twice did we even feel a bit of a shift, to let us know we were really at sea! Sicily's Mt. Etna was smoking for us, and we had a great experience, up close and personal, with volcano Stromboli, spewing smoke as it rises out of the sea, when the Magic glided by after leaving Sicily!
Now, to get ready for next journey to Poland and northern Germany in July! Got to do it while we are still able, you know!
Carolyn and Jim Dill
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