Special activities for magic may 1 sailing

[dotshub]

Does anyone know if there are going to be any special activities on May 1st before the Magic sails for the first time. Someone told me that they do special things in Venice when a ship sails from there for the first time because they built it and it's a special thing for them to see her sail away? Just wondering. I sure would not want to miss anything. Dot

[Sargent_Schultz]

I think the main special activity will be seeing if the engines start. :D

 

They haven't said anything about when and where the naming ceremony will take place.

 

Each port the ship visits will probably have some activities around a new ship visiting.

 

I think mostly Carnival and the shiyard will be busy finishing the ship.

 

There was nothing really special for the regular passengers when Carnival Freedom had an inaugural voyage from Venice.

 

Here are some pictures from Venice (and ship) that cruise:

Venice Pictures 1

Venice Pictures 2

Venice Pictures 3

Venice Pictures 4

Venice Pictures 5

[dotshub]

Sargent, I can't begin to tell you how much i enjoyed those pictures of Venice. Those are the best pics I have seen of Venice. I am really looking forward to our 2 days we are going to be there before the ship sails. Might I ask which month were you there. We are sailing from Venice May 1st. Sorta wondering about the weather in May having never been to Europe. Thank you again for taking the time to post those fo me. Dot

[Sargent_Schultz]

Those were in March, 2007.

 

Here are some from Oct, 2009

Ven 1

Ven 2

Ven 3

Ven 4

Ven 5

Ven 6

Ven 7

Ven 8

Ven 9

 

 

 

 

You should be able to check on your cruise weather when it gets closer to your sailing here:

 

 

http://www.zydecocruiser.com/CarnivalMagic/wea.htm

 

 

There is a roll call for that cruise here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1124771

 

 

Enjoy, I know we will!

[remharri]

I love your photos! I can't wait for you to get back from your cruise so I can see that awesome review I know you are going to do. Wish I was sailing with you but I have to wait till October. My time will be here soon enough.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Thank you. Uh oh... I forgot Day 2 in Venice from Carnival Dream

 

Ven 10

Ven 11

Ven 12

Ven 13

Ven 14

Ven 15

[dotshub]

Sarg those are even better i do believe. Questions-We will be returning our rental car to the airport-how do we get from the airport (with luggage in hand) to the hotel which is near the Rialto Bridge. It's one block from there so the directions say? Is it best to see Venice with a tour group or can we do it on our own? Dot

[Sargent_Schultz]

Alilaguna is one option

http://www.alilaguna.it/index.en.html

If the hotel is on the water they might drop you off there.

 

I know some people on the roll call are staying near the Rialto Bridge. They might have different plans for getting to their hotels.

 

Venice is easy to do on your own. Get a copy of Rick Steves book and you can get passes for the waterbuses (Vaporettos) for hours or days.

[dotshub]

Sarge,

What camera did you use taking those beautiful pictures?

[Sargent_Schultz]

Often it is a different camera - they become obsolete about the same rate as a computer.

 

For the Freedom cruise, it was a Canon A710 IS. For the Dream, a Panasonic FZ35. Bot have been superseded.

 

For the next round of cruises, probably a Nikon.

[okgirl]

I was on the inaugural sailing of the Carnival Freedom from Venice in 2007 and I can tell you that I was disappointed with the lack of special events.......We tried for months to find out about the naming cerimony, as it turns out very few non-industry people are invited to this event.

 

I can't even get an invitation to the local ceremonies that will take place on board the Magic in Galveston when we end our TA cruise in her new homeport. The ship is going to overnight in Galveston and they are having a lot of people on board, but only insiders, local dignataries, Travel agents and such.

 

There were many new ports that we sailed to for the 1st time (Dubrovnik, Katakalon, Athens) and there was only a few tugs spraying water and in one of the Greek ports they had some local dancers and some tables set up giving local food products and stuff.......

 

Kathy England was the Godmother of the ship and sailed with us on that 9 day voyage, but I only saw her once on the ship and once filming a commercial in Pompeii.

 

I was somewhat disappointed with the whole experience and would encourage you to not set your expectations or excitement to high. There are many things that are not quite ready when a new ship comes out. I thought everything would be spic & span and in perfect working order NOT. There were stickers on the windows, not all of the bars were set up, we didn't have limes for the entire journey, almost anything brass still had a protective film on it, the light fixtures were just being installed, the waitstaff in all of the meal venues were unfamiliar with each other and had not yet gotten into sync with each other. All minor stuff, but definately a step back from my usual experience.

 

We loved the cruise and being in the Med, but someone that hadn't already cruised many times would probably be put off by the experience. And bringing out a new ship is not something that I would plan to do again unless the price was really something I couldn't pass up.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Kathy Ireland. At least she was on the cruise and I think everyone saw her at least once.

 

I'm hoping the Carnival Magic naming ceremony will be in Barcelona between the first and second cruises. That would be in line with what they did for Carnival Splendor. I was able to attend the Splendor naming ceremony.

 

While there will no doubt be something in Galveston, I doubt the crew will wait until then for a formal naming ceremony. They were nervous enough about crossing the Atlantic on an "unnamed" Carnival Dream.

 

Even on Carnival Dream, there were a number of engineers from the shipyard on board, and that was after the ship have made several sailings.