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Magnifica 3/8-3/16...We had a great time!!

bobar

By bobar,
in MSC Cruises

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bobar

bobar

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I am not one to write longreviews but now that i have traeled on MSC in europe and seen the differences between it and the mediteranean i will try to address things in sections and be a littlemoredetailed than usual...

First of all do want to say we really loved it,but funny enough there were eight of us...2 first time cruiseres and the others seasoned cruisers and there were 2 of the 8 who i would say couldnot be pleased...But i guess thats true in any group..Idont want to get attacked as an msc cheerleader so i will point out a few negs as well as all the good...

First of embarkation....

very interesting embarkation as it is a little removed from vehicles so you hae to be patient to actually get to the terminal...we took a water taxi over at 945 and got there about 1015...we had one handicapped person with us...we approached the main area and were quickly greated by a very friendly young lady who took our email express check ins and quickly returned with them converted into our cruise tickets..she then walked us to where we had to enter and it was fairly easy fromthere...only had to wait about 10 minutes to get signed in and get room keys and credit set up..then were given #1 and waited about 40 minutes in a very spacious area for them to start theboearding..They had fresh oj and cookies to snack on while you waited and all their depts hads nice displays set up for you to preview things such as wine packages ,spa services,etc and prepurchase them if you liked before boarding...anyway we were called fairly quickly and were on the ship and dropping things off at our cabin by 1130...Very nice smooth embarkation....

Part 2...our fellow passengers...I tried real hard to have an open mind but found out on our sailing 70% of the passengers were Germanand unfortualtely they do not share the same common coutesies and manners as americans,brits and aussies . haing played hockey in high school i came real close to rememberinghow rohipcheck while waiting for elevators, in line in the buffet and gettingon and off the elevators and ship..Most of the italians we interacted with were a lot of funandalthough we couldnt speak each others language bodylanguage anda good smilewent a long way to haviing a good timewiththem. ive often wonderedwhat it is like being theminority language on a ship and found out...after about the 3rd day it seems there is always a dull roar inthe background,especially at dinner that you never understand...consequently i didnt get tomeet alot of people, which i usually really enjoy on a cruise, but didnt let this sour my having a great time and enjoying those i did meet...

The ship....WOW!!!!what an impeccably beautiful and classy lady...Immaculate and beautifully decorated and layed out..Loved the 3 story fountain in the main entry area...thelounges were all very comfortable and spacious and had good sound systems..the outdoor areas and the outdoor table and chairs were a notch up above most and very comfortable.

the gy was a little small but worked...i didnt feel like paying 16E a day to use the sauna and steamroom so cant report to you about that.

Cabin, we had an inside on deck 11 right around the corner from the elevator by the royal theatre and found it to be a great location..beds were firm and comfortable and pillows wewre very nice..,nice linens and although in a pump,some of the best shampoo i hae ever used...there was plenty of storage space, a nice vanity,mini bar and tv with channels in all languages.

a/c worked very well and our cabin boy ,who we met as soon as we got on boeard and told him we were ice loving americans never missed a beat and we were never lacking for ice...

i willend this section for now and will be back to talk about the ports, the food, service entertainment team and the shows..:cool:

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bobar

bobar

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ok..the next part...

The food....

this was a complete surprise with all the bad i had heard..

breakfast buffet...

like other cruiselines was very similar everyday,,,

included,

2 types foccacia bread and 3 other breads varied daily,cereals, yogurt,very good fresh fruit, scrambled eggs,mini premade veggie omelets. hard boiled eggs, baked apples and tomatoes, sausage, bacon, an alternating potatoe,

several cheese,including alternatingfresh ricotta or buffalo mozzerela and meat...some of the salamis would set you back $30-40 a lb here at home..

 

lunch buffet.... due to this being so good i was still full at dinner every night..at its optium there were 4 buffet lines.very nice set up andexcept for an occassional line cutter fairly easy to navigate,,adise here is to skip the first line and proceed down to the second as there was far less people..

each side had a nice salad bar separate from the mainlines to start out on.

lunch consited of 4 or 5 prepared salads...2 pastas, a chicken, a fish a beef an exotic dish(ie,curried lamb) a soup(ery good stuff),pizza, hot dogs,hamburgers and french fries....at the end there was a dessert bar ,usually with 3 or 4 deserts to choose from..

if that wasnt enough every afternoon they set up the entire buffet for tea time with wonderful finger sandwiches and more desserts...

dinner....there is no dinner buffet....you can either go to the main dining room or pay for pizza or go to the chinese restaurant, which we regret not having tried as it was a ery nice lookingroom..(it was alacarte pay also)

we ate in the l'edera dining roomat a tablefor8...myonlycomplaintwiththe

dining room was that it was very loud...dinner was a differnt region of italy every night and featured 2-3 appetizers,a salad,2 soups, a pasta and risotto,2-4 entrees and dessert....you could also get chicken breast and salmon filet adnd a few other continental items...we stuck with the italianside....here are just a few of themust haves....smokedmarlin,smoked tuna. prosuitto and melon, veggie puffed pastry and cream sauce, cream of onion soup,pasta and bean soup,(actually each and every soup was great,can you tell im a soup eater)...eggplant parmigiana, backed stuffed eggplant, lasagna, all the pastas and risottos, the beef tenderloin, grilled swordfish, leg of lamb,rack of lamb andlamb chops..the veal steak and young pig..any or the fish dishes..deserts were usaully a different cake and either ice cream or sorbet...best sorbets i have ever eaten, especioally the pear sorbet...needless to say we left dinneer every night full to capacity...we had anamazingwaiter...neverwaitedforanything and everything flowed great,,,we bouth the wine package 7 bottles of wine and 4 waters for 182, a little steep but the wine was real good...

THe negatives are few but may drive some americans crazy...yes you pay for water at dinner(after you use the free water package they give you...

yes after breakfast you must pay for coffee,you can get water from the ice dispenser water machine aty breakfast,lunch and tea but other than that it is locked up...really wasnt a big hassle for us but 2 in our party obbssessed on it and they got on our nerves with their complaints...on a positive side the coffees you could buy were outstanding...

will cover the sjows,entertainmentteametc in another part...

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bobar

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entertainment team as usual were lots offun,most activities were indoors due to winter weather and in the tiger bar...they had the usual mr and miss magnifica, olivia newton johnand john travolta, which i participated in, name that tune, trivia, pingpongtournaments and afternoon coffee game and of course dancelessons....there were 6 guys and 2 girlsandthey were greatfun....

The cruise director,Santos,was one of the most lame cd's ive ever experienced and we never saw him excepttointroduce the shows...

as usual the shows were great....especially the charlie chaplin likemagician who had everyonerolling...the costumes were great..as always all the acrobats were amazing...the saprano on board should be singing at the met...the lounge musicians were all very good andwe enjoyed bitsandpieces of all of them....overall this was a great cruise and other than the few differences fromthe caribean i will definately sail msc in other parts of the world...

we took the ships tour to theparthenoninathensand it was very worthit..did a private tour in izmir and pretty much got off andwalked all the otherports..do notmiss st nicolas cathedral in bari..it's a 5 minute walk from the ship and stunning..best shopping and nice cafes were found in the old walledcity right where the shipdocks in rhodes...we did the ship shuttle in dubrovnick...very convenient

The weather was sunny and high 40's to high60's...several days we were able to lay out and get some sun....home now and of course nursing my cruisecold that i always seemtocatch....any questions fire away...hope this was helpful....

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bobar

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being a cheap american who doesnt like to pay for things, ie coffee, water, steamroom,sauna, i prefer the caribbean but would not hesitate to sail them anywhere..the level and service and the food were right up there:cool:

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