MSC Magnifica Week 1

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The ship can hold 2550 passengers and 1027 crew. Our captain was Ciro Pinto until Wednesday and then we got a new Captain, Vincenzo Miele, our friend, Guglielmo Gargiulo, the hotel director got on the ship on Wednesday. We were scheduled for dinner at 9:15 pm at Table 475 but that was too late for us so we were able to get it changed to table 481 at 7pm.   Our cabin was 11049 and our cabin steward was Veronica.

 

Day 1: 10/28/23 Valencia/Embarkation

 

I didn’t sleep well during the night and almost overslept. I’m glad I set two alarms! We went back to El Gallo de Oro for breakfast at 7 and said goodbye to the waitress. We checked out of our wonderful room at 8:30 and walked to the #4 bus stop. Before long, the bus arrived, and we had no trouble getting to the bus stop in front of the port. We walked right to the port entrance and was told that we would have to relax in the bar area until they opened the MSC line. We got in line around 10:30 and they took our luggage from there and loaded it onto a truck. We took an escalator upstairs where we checked in and got our key cards. Our key cards were wrong, and we were told that we would have to go to guest services to get them corrected. Before long, the security line opened, and we went through security before going back down the escalator and getting on a bus. The bus took us to the ship which was a long way from the port entrance.

 

Once we got on the ship, we went to our cabin to drop off our backpacks and our cabin was ready. Next, we took the elevator to the top deck and explored our way down each deck until we got to deck 13. We stopped for lunch and then stopped back at our cabin. We met our cabin steward who cleaned out our refrigerator so we could put stuff in it.

 

Then we explored decks 7, 6, and 5 before returning to our cabin. We went to a presentation about helpful hints for the cruise and found out it was given by Wilfried who we had met last December on the MSC Seascape. Next, I unpacked our suitcases, and we did the mandatory drill.

At 7pm, the buffet opened for dinner. After dinner, we had a cappuccino and latte before going to bed. There is only 2 English speaking channels on the TV. We had to turn our clocks back one hour before going to bed.

 

Day 2:10/29/23 Tarragona, Spain

 

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We docked around 7am and after breakfast, we got off the ship. We paid for the shuttle round trip from the ship to the City Center (9 euros each). We got off the bus at 9 am and walked around town. Tarragona is Spain’s second most important Roman site. We walked around the perimeter of the old town between two lines of city walls. The inner walls are Roman back to the 3rd century BC and the outer ones were British 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession. We saw the Amfiteatre Roma which was near the beach and was where gladiators fought. Around noon, we caught the shuttle back to the ship. On our way back to the ship, we saw Wilifried Lichtert (international host) and he stopped to invite us to meet him for a drink tonight.

After lunch, we decided to go rest in our cabin and took a short nap. Our dinner reservation had been changed to early seating (7pm) which made me very happy. Eating at 9:15 was too late for me and I didn’t think I would have a chance to eat in the dining room. We decided to go have a drink before dinner and check out the dinner menu. Nothing seemed to excite us so we ended up at the Sahara Buffet for dinner. After dinner, we went to the show featuring the musician/singer Peter Grant. I really enjoyed his show and thought his voice was wonderful. After the show, we met Wilfried in the Tiger Bar and enjoyed catching up with him. We found out that Gene Young, a cruise director from a previous cruise, had committed suicide earlier in the year. What a sad story for such a young talented man. It was a nice full day!

 

Day 3: 10/30/23 Toulon, France

 

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We were notified the night before that the shuttle roundtrip from the ship to town was going to be 20 euros, so we decided to stay on the ship for the day. I had done some research and didn’t really want to see anything special in town. Besides, we needed a rest day from our active week so far. After breakfast, we relaxed in our cabin until we arrived in Toulon. We watched people get off the ship, but we could tell that it had started to rain. After lunch, we spent the afternoon in the cabin relaxing. Before dinner, we had cocktails and then went to the Diamond Party. After dinner, we went to the show featuring Brazilian singer, Camila Andrade.

 

Day 4: 10/31/23 Genoa, Italy

 

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We arrived in Genoa at 7am but we didn’t get off the ship until 8. We stopped for a snack at McDonalds around 9:30 am and we had 2 cappuccinos and Don had a chocolate muffin. The cappuccinos were only 1.50 euros, but a soda was 3 euros! The architecture of the buildings was amazing to see. We walked into a church with amazing artwork in it. On the street corners, there were works of art just on the corner of the buildings. We walked far away from the ship and when we got a view of the water, we couldn’t even see our ship from where we stood. We found the Victory Arch which was dedicated to those who died in WWI. We also came across the boyhood home of Christopher Columbus (from ages 4 to 14). Around 2 pm, we stopped at McDonalds for a late lunch. It was comforting to eat some familiar food. I was able to order using the kiosk and have the menu in English (another comforting thing when surrounded for days with everything in foreign languages).  We got back to the ship around 3 pm and had a drink before going back to the cabin to rest. At 7 pm, we went to the dining room for the first time and it was a nice experience. We are at a table for 4 and I don’t know if anyone else is assigned to our table or if it is just us but no one else joined us. The dining steward was Aiko and the food was pretty good. We both had the carrot ginger soup and then I had veal while Don had halibut (it gave him bad heartburn, so I think there is some spice they use on fish that bothers him). For dessert, we had black forest cherry gateau which is one of my favorites. The service was good also. After dinner we had some cappuccino before going to bed. The ship was rocking pretty rough and they were putting barf bags in public areas for people to take if they needed it. Of course, we didn’t have any trouble and was rocked to sleep.

 

Day 5: 11/1/23 Civitavecchia, Italy

 

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We got on the free shuttle to town at 8:30 am and were glad we rode it to the port entry because our ship was a long way from there. We walked around town, but most things were closed because it was a holiday (All Saint’s Day). It was a very depressed area compared to the cities we had been to the previous days but it was nice to walk around. We made it back to the ship by lunchtime. After lunch, we went back to relax. Around 3 pm, the toilet started overflowing and pouring out in our bathroom. I called twice but no one ever showed up to fix it and eventually, it stopped after about 40 minutes. We went to the bar for drinks before dinner. For dinner, we went to the dining room and had prime rib. We have a new dining steward named Reina. After dinner, we had cappuccinos before going back to our cabin. We saw our cabin steward and she didn’t know anything about our toilet but came in to wipe up our floor. At 9:30 we got a call asking if our toilet was fixed but I told them it was still wet behind the toilet. They were going to send someone, and I told them that we were going to bed so they said they would send someone tomorrow. We also got a note that high winds were predicted (exceeding 35 knots) and we might not get to dock in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on Friday.

 

Day 6: 11/2/23 At Sea

 

After breakfast, we had a cappuccino before going to the Arts and Crafts session. We made embroidery cards which reminded me of a kindergarten activity with sewing cards. We had to draw a design on card stock and then punch holes around the outline. Then we used embroidery thread to sew up the design. After that, we went to the lecture about Palma de Mallorca. I’m glad we went because we received a letter from the captain the night before that we might have to skip this island due to high winds. After lunch, we relaxed in our cabin and watched the high waves hit all the way to our balcony on the 11th deck! Sometime in the afternoon, it was announced that our itinerary changed, and we would not be stopping in Palma de Mallorca and that the next day would be a sea day and instead we would be staying in Malaga, Spain for 2 days (arriving at noon on Saturday and leaving at 5 pm on Sunday). Before dinner, we went back to the bar and had our pre-dinner drinks. Russell, from our Facebook group, joined us for a drink. There were free drinks from the captain being passed around. We had dinner in the dining room since it was Gala night, but it was pretty empty. I heard that many people were seasick and there were a lot of people in the medical center. Some were on IVs and one man had fallen and broken his elbow. After dinner, we had a drink before returning to our cabin. Don was in severe back pain.

 

Day 7: 11/3/23 At Sea

 

We were supposed to be in Palma de Mallorca today but instead, it was a sea day. After breakfast, we relaxed until the Arts and Crafts session which was only for adults 18 years and older.  The instructor showed a video but never gave instructions. The video didn’t match the materials that we were using. I’m not sure I will go to many more of these sessions. The projects were very childish and disappointing. After that, we went to the lecture about Malaga. Next, we had lunch and then went back to our cabin to relax. Waiting for us in the cabin was a bottle of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries which we enjoyed. At 6 pm, we had a welcome back cocktail party to meet the cabin. We saw our friend; Guglielmo and I gave him a gnome for his daughter. Dinner was nice in the dining room and then we had a cappuccino before returning to our cabin. There was information that we would need to shuttle to the city center (11 euros per person). There was information that we would need to shuttle to the city center (11 euros per person) because it is 25 minutes away. Since we are here a day early, there are already 2 ships parked at the docks we would normally park at.

 

 

Things I’ve Learned:

• The Le Gocce Bar (on the left side facing the dining room) has the best servers! Warren was the first one we met there and he always made sure we got what we wanted. The other servers picked up on that and we always get good service there.
• The bar at the Sahara Buffet near the salad bar is wonderful. They always get me what I want quickly. I tried to use the bar in the back where we sit but they always tell me they don't have what I want.
• I wish they would add the price of the shuttles into the cruise and just tell people that we have a free shuttle into town like we did in Civitavecchia. It costs 9 euros each to get to Tarragona, 20 euros to get to Toulon, and 11 euros to go to Malaga. These little costs are very annoying.
• Arts and Crafts – for adults, the crafts were very childish. All we used was construction paper and glue and the instructor wasn’t very helpful. Arts and Crafts on other ships include a kit that is more age appropriate.