Magica - 3/25 sailing

[dickmac]

My wife and I just returned from our first(and last) Costa cruise. We had taken a "bump" on Coral Princess's Panama Canal cruise, and had held our mail and papers, and booked our wheaten at her favorte camp, so we looked for a replacement cruise for the week. Our agent got us booked on Magica for less than $1000 per, including air from Toronto(we're from the USA, but we live less than a two hour drive from Pearson airport).

 

We had cruised with RCCL, HAL,Celebrity and Princess, and were looking forward to "cruising Italian style". The "Welcome Aboard" buffet was great - delicious pasta, best bruschetta we ever had, ice cream, etc. Our cabin steward(ess) Margarita, was wonderful,and our waiters, Florencio and "Junior" were outstanding.

 

The food, other than the pasta and other Italian specialties, left a lot to be desired. My wife likes beef, and Magica's version of sirloin reminds me of what Ponderosa would serve on a "bad day". She ended up having spaghetti and meatballs as her entree several nights. The best tasting beef appeared on the carving station at the buffet. She also like pastry or dougnuts at breakfast - Magica had no doughnuts, and the pastry was tasteless. I usually order shrimp as an appetizer with each dinner on Princess, but it was only offered once, on a formal night. Shrimp did make an appearance at the Caribbean buffet, but it was in a tomato sauce, and dreadfully overcooked. The buffet lunches were, IMHO, better quallity than the fodder served in the dining room.

 

We wanted to attend a "seminar" on weight loss through "detox" in the Saturnia Spa. We entered the spa, and just stood there, waiting to be acknowledged - we finally asked one of the enployees where it was to be held, and she pointed towards the "gym". It was supposed to start at 10:00am, but the young lady there told us, in halting English that she never started on time. She then ignored us - we left after a few minutes, and went to the Customer Service desk on deck 3 to complain - we were met there by another passenger who had been on one of the machines in the gym, and noticed the manner in which we were treated. She told us that she had been treated in the same way, basically ingnored. She also said that, based on what she had seen in the gym, if you speak Italian, you are treated like an old friend. The staff wouldn't help her at all with any of the machines in the gym. She and my wife both explained what had happened to both of them to staff at the counter, to no avail.

 

One evening, after dinner(5:45 first seating) we noticed music coming from the Urbino Theatre, so we opened the door(balcony), and saw people seated on the ground floor, and a musical group playing on the stage. A Magica staff person curtly told us that it was a private party and we had to leave. I mentioned that usually, if a private party was being held in a "public" place,a sign was posted to that effect at the door. She just told us to get out.

 

My wife had struck up a conversation with a staff member in one of the shops - he said he had signed on for six months, and had three months to go. My wife mentioned the food situation, and he said something along the lines of"if you don't like what they give you, what kind of food do you think they serve us". He also said he had been told by other crew members that the quality of the food improves greatly once the ship returns to European waters.

 

The entertainment was mediocre at best. We suggest that you do attend the "Crew Show" on the last afternoon of the cruise. Our waiter Florencio's girlfriend, Cristina, does a knockout version of "I will survive"!

 

We did "survive" our time on Magica, and the Debarkation was relatively smooth. Upon our return to Toronto, we found that one of our suitcases had been mangled beyond repair by the baggage handlers. We have to get an estimate from a luggage repair shop, and send it to the airlline for reimbursement.

 

dickmac in lockport ny

 

4/01 Celebrity Galaxy

3/02 RCCL Adventure of the Seas

12/02 HAL Maasdam

3/04 Dawn Princess

3/05 Caribbean Princess

3/07 Costa Magica

10/07 Coral Princess

[Cruisoholic]

Are you trying to ruin the expectations of others already booked and excited about their cruise.?.We just did a back to back on the Magica and it was wonderful..Too bad you overpaid for it....By the way this was our 38th cruise!

[mtl kid]

Hello Cruiseoholic I was on the March 4 2007 cruise on the Magica and like usual the food was excellent and the entertainment staff was numero uno. I did not complain once. I did not time anyone to see if it would take more than 2 minutes to get served. I hate Magica for the same reason year in and year out, my wife and I always gain weight....damn the food is great!;)

[kareng007]

So this cruise was given a thumbs down because they were ignored in the gym and asked to leave a private party. I can think of worse things that could happen on a cruise.

[msboo18]

hmmm and the food was bad? I was on the 2/11 cruise and thought the food was fantastic - plenty of variety. I'm a beef eater too and had it several ways, a couple of nights and was impressed! I thought they had a great selection on the menu and had an "always available" selection too. I had the spagetti as a meal one night because I heard it was so good not because I couldn't find anything else I liked - and it was great! Oh, and there's doughnuts in the restaurant and who couldn't love the chocolate turnovers - in the restaurant, on the buffet, and thru room service! mmmm - can't wait to have some on our 4/22 cruise to Bermuda! I love Costa:D I guess everyone had a different experience - and I'm looking forward to another great one!

[cruzdreamin]

First off, we had a great cruise. Can't say much for the entertainment as we really didn't attend any shows. The staff is wonderful and never encountered anyone rude except for the photo staff. They just didn't seem to be very happy or interested in what they were doing that week.

 

As for the food...We thought the food was great and looked forward to our dinners each evening. Okay, so I agree that the sirloin wasn't the best as my hubby ordered it. But on the same night I ordered something (don't remember what) that was fabulous. We just chaulk it up to picking the wrong item and don't say the food for the whole week was bad. The only thing I ordered that was actually prepared bad and not edible was the escargot - it was overcooked and was almost crunchy. My thoughts on that were "well, it must be tough to make escargot for 3000 people" and blew it off cause the rest of the food was great.

 

A cruise is what you make it and we decided to make this one pretty uneventful which was fine with me. My teenage daughter had a great time and met lots of new friends that she is already keeping in touch with via email and phone.

 

It seems as if this reviewer had their mind set prior to the cruise that it wouldn't be up to par with Princess and probably should have waited for what they wanted instead of setting themselves up for dissapointment.

[joetrizeo]

I said it once and I'll say it again...

Don't go on Costa, an Italian cruise line, expecting American food or food you've had on other 'American' cruise lines!

 

Sounds like your bad time was circumstantially focused around an anomaly of events.

How was the ship, your cabin, the weather, the ports, excursions?

[fatcat04]

I said it once and I'll say it again...

Don't go on Costa, an Italian cruise line, expecting American food or food you've had on other 'American' cruise lines!

 

Sounds like your bad time was circumstantially focused around an anomaly of events.

How was the ship, your cabin, the weather, the ports, excursions?

 

Amen Joe!!

 

DONUTS... you have got to be kidding. They have freakin' fantsatic CHOCOLATE CROISSANTS and comp cappucino for breakfast!! Hang the donuts!! :D

[cruzdreamin]

Mmmm, I forgot about the chocolate croisants - they were amazing! One other thing that is wonderful is the museli (sp?) that they have for breakfast. It is kind of like oatmeal but served cold and has a different variety of fresh fruit added each day. There was also regular oatmeal. As others have posted here, that stuff is also amazing and I looked forward to it each morning.

[swidman]

I was on this particular cruise and I will say there were a couple of dishes which I thought were not that great, but there were more good meals than bad by far. I wasn't so impressed with a couple of the deserts, but hey, the cruise isn't all about the food.

 

Being a non-Italian didn't play into anything during the trip. As a matter of fact, my wife and I commented how nice it was to be on spring break without all the rowdy college kids (yes I knew about the 800 plus college kids on a previous thread).

 

Our cabin was 1065 and was just outside of the slide pool. This was a nice treat as we didn't have far to go to change into our swim suits. The cabin seemed to be bigger and had more storage space than on our last cruise on the Caribbean Princess (with a similar accommodation) in December. This was a very nice plus.:D

 

The only real problem was on during disembarkation. Someone took one of our pieces of luggage. The guy who took it called me up after he realized he took it (he was already at home since he lived in south Florida). This was a nice gesture, but really, look at the tag on the bag BEFORE you leave for home. :mad:

 

We are supposed to have our luggage on Friday (most of our souvenirs are in that bag). I think there should be more scrutiny of luggage before people leave the terminal. I'm surprised more people don't take the wrong bag.

 

As for the itinerary...WE LOVED IT! Great weather, smooth seas and good times! As a matter of fact, we would do this same exact cruise next year if it is offered.

[mtl kid]

Hello Swidman. same thing happened to one of the members of our group. Since we requested late disembarkation, we were one of the last passengers to get to the baggage claim. One of the suitcases was missing as well. Filled out paperwork left and right and went on to catch our flight. Found out the day after that the peice of luggage was found at the Miami Airport Park and Fly area in the middle of the parking lot. Someone must of picked up the luggage by mistake and walked out with it. I could not believe that anyone could just pick up as many suitcases as they want and walk right out of the terminal with it. Costa was great they picked it up in Miami sent it to us and nothing was missing but I agree some sort of checking should be mandatory with the luggage.

 

P.S. Ditto goes with the FLL Airport baggage claim, anyone could pick up any luggage and walk right out of the Airport with it.

[joetrizeo]

"I'm surprised more people don't take the wrong bag."

most people arn't complete morons. thankfully. but they do exist, and they do cruise.

 

it is very easy to walk off with someone elses bag, either accidentally or intentionally (stealing). both in airports, seaports and on the ship. there are almost no checks or regulations to make sure you have your bag. in airports they have baggage claim tags but how many times do airport people check to make sure your stickers match. at seaports i guess they could check your luggage tags with your ID. on the ship it'd be easy to walk off with someones luggage when its sitting outside your room, either on the first night before you get it or on the last night when its waiting to be picked up.

 

we rely on the fact that 1) most people are honest 2) most people want their luggage and don't want to lug around someone elses dirty underware 3) we don't pack valuables in our luggage.

 

plus it's hard to match up a specific person with their luggage (unless you see them with it) so its not like i could take it because you looked 'rich'.

 

luggage stealing is more or less a grab bag. hehe.

[msboo18]

Which is the exact reason I spraypaint our black luggage - found some nice stencils and spray fabric paint at Lowes - used white for DH and red for mine! :cool: Also a good reason NOT to use really expensive designer luggage - if the luggage alone is worth a fortune you can bet the contents are pretty $$ too. Wouldbe thieves wouldn't want my nicely painted luggage - easy to spot! I had more compliments on it on the last cruise, didn't have to hunt around for it!

[fatcat04]

Which is the exact reason I spraypaint our black luggage - found some nice stencils and spray fabric paint at Lowes - used white for DH and red for mine! :cool: Also a good reason NOT to use really expensive designer luggage - if the luggage alone is worth a fortune you can bet the contents are pretty $$ too. Wouldbe thieves wouldn't want my nicely painted luggage - easy to spot! I had more compliments on it on the last cruise, didn't have to hunt around for it!

 

GOOD IDEA!!

 

I swear we took pieces from 3 different sets of our luggage (7 checked bags in all) and there were duplicates of the exact kind and size of luggage for 3 of our bags in the white luggage color group. Had I NOT looked for the ID tags we keep on all our bags, I could have easily walked off with the duplicates. That was a bit messy. Had to be extra careful.

[bonnychka]

My wife had struck up a conversation with a staff member in one of the shops - he said he had signed on for six months, and had three months to go. My wife mentioned the food situation, and he said something along the lines of"if you don't like what they give you, what kind of food do you think they serve us". He also said he had been told by other crew members that the quality of the food improves greatly once the ship returns to European waters.

 

 

that's a bull:eek: crew members eat the same food as a passengers,ok1 maybe they not allowed to eat caviar or lobsters,but we even eat in buffet with crew members,so nobody cook different food for them

[bonnychka]

Amen Joe!!

 

DONUTS... you have got to be kidding. They have freakin' fantsatic CHOCOLATE CROISSANTS and comp cappucino for breakfast!! Hang the donuts!! :D

 

 

Well....one passenger been complaining on NCL ,that he had no oat meal for breskfast,so this is his last cruise)))):confused:

[fatcat04]

that's a bull:eek: crew members eat the same food as a passengers,ok1 maybe they not allowed to eat caviar or lobsters,but we even eat in buffet with crew members,so nobody cook different food for them

 

Yep.. we saw several crew members eating at the buffet. They were eating the same stuff we were.

[ldyaradiall]

we are thinking of booking a med cruise on the Magica has anyone been to the med and can suggest the name of a hotel in Venice?????? please:)

[mpb43]

we are thinking of booking a med cruise on the Magica has anyone been to the med and can suggest the name of a hotel in Venice?????? please:)

 

There's a thread about this on the Europe board:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=532982

[yuccaman]

The only real problem was on during disembarkation. Someone took one of our pieces of luggage. The guy who took it called me up after he realized he took it (he was already at home since he lived in south Florida). This was a nice gesture, but really, look at the tag on the bag BEFORE you leave for home. :mad:

 

We are supposed to have our luggage on Friday (most of our souvenirs are in that bag). I think there should be more scrutiny of luggage before people leave the terminal. I'm surprised more people don't take the wrong bag.

 

 

I had 10 family members on the 4/1 Magica cruise, and someone took one of my parents' bags by mistake. Luckily, as things dwindled down for our color code, I found a lonely bag that looked just like my parent's missing bag, and no other bags around for that same person (and not many people travel with 1 bag:) ). The 305 area code on this bag's luggage tag showed that they were local, and we called the number saying "We think you've left a bag behind and have taken one of ours."

 

They were in their car by then, but still within the port area, so we rolled thier bag outside and exchanged bags at the curb 5 minutes later. WHEW! Caught a break!

 

PS- Luckily, we are local as well, so at worst we would have met them somewhere in between Miami and Ft Lauderdale.