B2B Magic in The Med 30th July/6th August 2011

[Guest]

I have been a spectator around this forum for a year or so now, without really posting very much. But having learned so much from others here, I thought I would ‘out’ myself a bit more and do a trip report.
We are just back from a wonderful cruise on the Med and I’m hoping writing this will help with my post cruise blues. We had a truly fantastic time, the ports were stunning and the Disney Magic was as fabulous as we remembered. The kids (DS12 and DD10) and I are huge Disney fans and DH is a closet fan too who pretends he goes along with it to keep us all happy ... ! Last year we did the Dover to Barcelona and had a blast, so we booked this trip on board.

Pre Cruise

We flew out on the Friday at 4.00pm and stayed at the Diagonal Zero. This was a great hotel, very new and ultra hi tech and the staff were lovely. We had two rooms at the end of a corridor with a door to block us off. The location was a bit off the beaten track but only added 5 minutes extra in the taxi and was no problem at all.

Day 1 – Getting Ready To Join The Magic

We got up, jumped in a taxi and headed over to have breakfast in a cafe opposite the Sagrada Familia.
Last year we stayed for a week in Barcelona post cruise and wanted to soak up some of the atmosphere again. It was a nice start to the day.



We then headed back to the hotel for a quick turnaround and at 11.00am we were off to the Magic. At this point the heavens opened and there was torrential rain but this was nothing compared to what came later on... However it was dry when we boarded and nothing could dampen our spirits!
The check in was very smooth and we were onboard by around 12.30. We headed straight to Rockin’ Bar D and sorted out our Palo reservations (brunch and dinner with no difficulty at all in getting a reservation), we booked a couple of spa treatments and changed our table for dinner – after a bit of wrangling we got a private table. We knew dinner would be one of the few times we saw our kids on board so we wanted some family time and I have read many stories about dodgy tablemates so there was no way we wanted to take the risk of sharing . In fact on the first night we witnessed two families engaged in an all out brawl as they were leaving Animators Palate. Not pretty!

After a quick lunch in Parrot Cay, at 1.30pm we were in our cabin, number 7520 aft. We were in a cabin near here last year and love this location – 2 floors up and you are straight in cove cafe area and the spa/gym and straight down to the kids clubs and theatre.
Around 5.00pm we watched a huge storm blow in. It was probably the worst I have ever seen. Thunder and lightning, black skies, torrential rain and howling wind. You could literally see a band of black creep in from the direction of the W hotel and at its worst you couldn’t see the terminal building right in front of us. We were an hour or more late in leaving Barcelona until it passed. Fortunately it was gone almost as quickly as it came. Phew!
We had a great dinner serving team – Agus from Indonesia and Josh form Philippines and the head server was Veronique from France. Then off to the first show and we thoroughly enjoyed ‘Let the Magic Begin’. There was a couple of variety style acts, such as a comedian with audience participation.

Our game plan for this cruise was to get a balance between seeing some of the sights with spending plenty of time relaxing onboard and letting the kids have time in their clubs. We had been to all the destinations before so didn’t feel the need to cram in absolutely everything. Our idea of a perfect day is to leave the ship at 9.00ish, have a coffee, stroll round the main sight for that port, have a coffee, do a little bit of shopping, have a quick coffee, then back on the ship for a late lunch. Well it’s the best restaurant in town they say! I wont go into loads of detail for each day but will just to a quick summary of what we did in each port and a few highs and lows at the end.


Day 2 – Cannes
The one advantage of being in tender ports is the fabulous views you have of the coastline all day and this view was really stunning. When we left the ship at about 9.30am it was already operating open tenders. We strolled around the promenade and film festival part of town, wandered through the shopping area which, being Sunday, sadly was mostly closed (the Rolex Watch and Mulberry Bag will have to wait!) and climbed the stairs to the viewpoint. A great way to spend half a day.


Tonight we went to Palo for dinner, which was wonderful. We had Maria as our server and she was outstanding.

Day 3 – La Spezia


Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to Me! I was on board last year too for my birthday and so it looks like a tradition has been set!
We took a tender/taxi/train to Monterrosso on the Cinque Terre. This was the farthest away village.


Way back in the early planning stages I had thought we would see most of the villages, including doing a fair bit walking from one to another. Then with a sharp reality check I knew that the kids would never be up for it, it would be too hot and my bone idle holiday mode would be fully engaged. I had read up on Rick Steves travel guide that this was the prettiest village so we opted for this one. In fact from the ship and train you get a good view and they all looked gorgeous.
We had a great time onboard for the rest of the day. A great way to spend a birthday!

Day 4 –Civitavecchia
We stayed on board a quietish ship (with 400 other passengers). We planned to go to Rome second time round.

Day 5 – Naples
We went by boat to Sorrento. The boat left from right beside the Ship. It was the easiest journey imaginable and less than an hour after leaving the ship we were strolling round Sorrento. The boat was very empty and quick – about 35 minutes I think. Sorrento is a beautiful town.

No specific major sights but gorgeous shops. And fabulous Pizza, ice cream and coffee.

Pirate night tonight – great fun! Mickey saves the day one more time!




Day 6– At Sea
I would say the ship had an air of frenzied relaxation, if that makes sense. The spa was manic and there were a few lounger-gate incidents. I think a lot of people (esp Americans who often had very full itineraries) had run themselves ragged seeing as much as possible. It was formal night too which added a nice dimension. We had a fabulous brunch at Palo and Maria our server was great again.

Day 7 - Palma
A very easy complimentary shuttle bus drops you quite near the Cathedral. Its well worth a visit. It doesn’t open til 10 but there is a lovely coffee shop by the entrance. The old town is gorgeous for a stroll round.
We made our next weeks reservations directly at Palo for next week late on in the evening. They said they were very very quiet – running at 60% capacity on non sea days. I think maybe people were just making the most of the long port days to come back late.

Day 8 – Barcelona and Back on Board
We had toyed with the idea of staying onboard a deserted ship. But since we felt we had spent quite a lot of time onboard we headed in to Barcelona. Also everything apart from cove cafe was closed, including all the swimming pools. The taxi queue at 9.30am was huge! We ended up walking to the Parque de Ciutadella which took about an hour but it wasnt too hot at this time. We headed back on board at around 1.00pm. We were allowed to reboard through the concierge section and it took only 20 minutes or so.
Fortunately no storm for the departure this time! Our server Agus was the same but the assistant was Annabell from Germany, who was lovely and LLuis from Portugal was the head server. Our cabin was also the same which was great.



Day 9 – Villefranche
We took the train to Monacco. Easy enough to do but took longer than I expected (about 25 min, I had expected 10 min) and very very crowded, with dodgy characters in places. We spent a morning here seeing how the other half lived and splashed out on some drinks and coffees etc at the Cafe de Paris. My advice would be to go earlyish. When we headed back, every station looked really busy heading in the Monacco direction. But the first 2 weeks of August will probably be the worst for crowds and you lucky people who have yet to go may find it to be a bit less manic.

Day 10- La Spezia
We abandoned our plans to go to Pisa and stayed on board. We got a bit fed up with the tenders and La Spezia is the longer of the two. We just couldn’t face another tender/taxi/train/taxi journey. As I write this I know this sounds pathetic but its amazing how lethargic you can become! Again we enjoyed a relaxing day on board but we had this nagging feeling we were missing something.

Day 11 – Civitaveccia
The original plan was to take the kids by train to Rome. However they were having so much fun in the kids club that they just wanted to be on the ship. I never thought I would have done this but in the end we decided to let them stay on board while we went to Rome. We therefore decided to do the Disney excursion (Rome on your own - $99) so that if there was any transport issues we knew the ship would wait for us. We left at 8.15am and were off the bus by 9.30am.
There was a guide on the bus and we followed her advice on what to do when we got there. We were dropped at the Vatican. She advised against going in here first in the morning, due to crowds. So we walked to Piazza Navonna (gorgeous Coffee stop), then the Pantheon, then Trevi Fountain, then Spanish Steps. A nice early lunch stop here. We then took the metro, with one change, to the Colosseum (viewed from outside) We then aalked to the Victor Emmanuel Monument (and had another late lunch stop here – I know , I know, I’m a disgrace!) We then took the metro back to the Vatican for a stroll around St Peters Square (Queue still too big so didn’t go in to the Basilica)
We were back on the tour bus at around 5.40 and on the ship by 7.00.
The kids actually said afterwards they regretted not coming to Rome. Must have been my stories about zip wiring through the colosseum and segweying through the Vatican that did it ... ! That will teach them!

Day 12 – Naples
This was without any doubt both ours and the kids favourite destination.
We took the 8.10am ferry to Capri. We were on the Island just after 9. This was a much busier ferry than the one to Sorrento. Again I think it only gets busier as the day goes on.
Im running out of adjectives to describe how much we all loved this place. Its the whole ambience, the views, the cutest chair lift in the world. And the people – they just look like they are happy to be alive and are truly living la dolce vita!
I know most of you are planned to the nth degree for your trips but if anyone is looking for an idea of what to do in Capri here is my top, top, top tip.


(1)The local buses are jam packed. There are great jeep- style open sided taxis right by the harbour. For 5 euros per person they take you to Anacapri at the top of the Island.
(2)You can then catch the chair lift to Monte Solaro. It opens at 9.30am. This was the highlight of our trip. The most beautiful views ever of the Amalfi Coast and Faraglioni Rocks. There is a coffee shop at the top. Then come back down and have a wander round Ana Capri.
(3)You can then take another taxi back to Capri town for another wander. (15 euros for all 4 of us) The funicular railway is easy and a bit less busy than the bus at this time and takes you back to the harbour.

I would usually hesitate to recommend any trips as we are all different etc. But I have no hesitation with this one. I know the taxis added to the cost a bit (Capri is just not a cheap day out) but they transformed our experience compared with our last visit of hanging around for sardine packed buses.

We headed back on the 2.10 ferry and wandered in to Naples. We were really sad to see how run down and intimidating this city had become. We were there around 40 minutes and were followed twice. Its a 10 minute walk past the Castel Nuovo by the port and you are in the Gallleria Umberto and the Piazza del Plebiscito. They say unemployment here amongst the young people is 60%. Such a shame.

We had dinner again at Palo.

Day 12 – At Sea

Lovely and relaxing! And the lovely Palo brunch. Yum! But doing it on the day after Palo dinner, even I struggled to do it its full justice.

Day 13 – Palma Cancelled and Barcelona A Day Early

Sadly we didn’t make it to Palma due to the strikes. The cruise came to bit of an abrupt end when we ended up in Barcelona a day early. I think this was disappointing to most people. We decided to pack up in the morning and took the Disney excursion to Monsterrat. It was a good call. A great excursion for $59 and took our minds off going home.

Day 14 – All Good Things Come to An End!

We were on an 11.00am flight. We enjoyed the novelty of breakfast in Animators and said a fond farewell to our servers.




The taxi queue at 8.00 was nonexistent and even getting a people carrier for our four big suitcases was really easy.
Be careful not to make the mistake we did at Barcelona and go through passport control straight away, as all the shops are before this and its the point of no return! And to make it worse there is floor to ceiling windows so that you have the pleasure of watching everyone else shop!
However we had some unexpected pixie dust by way of an upgrade to club seats on the way back. (DH does lots of travelling so he was claiming to steal tinkerbell’s glory on this occasion)

So thats it! All over! Finished! Fin! Finito!
We had a fabulous time. Here are our lows and Highs!

Trip Lows

My DS12 was desperately hoping to see Peter the cruise director from last year again. He really engaged with him and was hoping to see him again. I know its weird but he really liked him. And he wants his job one day which is fine by me! Darren was okay, nice but a bit dull.

Captain Marco (Italian Stallion) just did not sound that horn enough.
But luckily when he did I got this reaction on film




And I only heard him speak once on the PA!

The kids just had too much fun in the clubs. Honestly they would have slept there if they could have! We were constantly negotiating with them about when they had to come out etc.!

Tenders – a bit boring and added too much travel time.

Leaving the ship!

Trip Highs
As an early bird, every morning I was on deck 10 around 6-6.30 and watched us come in to every port.



It is so lovely to be up there at that time with a coffee from cove cafe and hardly any one around. I had a new camera for my birthday so it was a great opportunity to experiment with photos!

Capri! Capri!Capri! – the chair lifts and the cute taxis. La dolce vita!

Palo Brunch

Just being onboard and the ship being just as charming as last time.

And how about Next Year!?

We have another B2B reservation which we made ages ago for the Fantasy Eastern and Western for next year. At the moment DH is saying that much as he enjoyed this trip he wants a holiday where he can actually spend some time with the kids, do sport with them etc. So we may be cancelling. But as DS approaches the teen years he may change his mind on that one, so watch this space!
Also for me I have become very attached to the Magic and I’m not sure I am so keen on trying the Fantasy as I once was. Mainly I think I just like the size of the smaller ship. Mmmm? I feel some research into the Magic sailings from New York coming on...

[sunkisser]

Wow! Sounds like you had a fantastic time I wish I could see your photos but the links don't seem to work
I'm getting really exited now

[Gary]

having problems with the attachments.
Pity the ship arrived back to Barcelona a day early but looks like you had a great time.

[Guest]

Thanks. I have uploaded the photos again but they are still very small on the post. Cant figure out how to make them any bigger. Also our Capri and Rome photos wont upload from the camera as they were taken in raw format instead of jpeg. So much for my new camera!

[HiddenMickey35]

Hi

Thank for your trip report and it look good and love the photos too...

It brought my memory back of Med 07 with Disney Cruise too...It was awesome..

We booked Fantasy for Oct 2012 but now we are not sure cos flights are too expensive... We wait and see until end of this year...

[Guest]

Hi Scottish Wee. Thanks for that. I remember you from the Dover cruise last year. I had worked out who you were as I enjoyed watching your interpreters at all the shows. I should have come over to meet you and your family but wasnt quite brave enough

I was thinking of you again this year as the same interpreters were onboard again on the 6th August cruise. They seemed lovely and the man accompanied the boy he was signing for on our excursion to Monsterrat, they seemed to be having a real laugh together.

Dont give up hope on your flights for next October though - as I understand it the cheapest time to book a flight is 11 months before you travel so plenty of time left for prices to come down.

[Gary]

Originally Posted by Mary-Anne

Thanks. I have uploaded the photos again but they are still very small on the post. Cant figure out how to make them any bigger. Also our Capri and Rome photos wont upload from the camera as they were taken in raw format instead of jpeg. So much for my new camera!

See more...

When you click on the photos you get a full size photo.

I'm sure you must be able to convert from raw format to jpeg, the camera would have come with software to do that for you.

[Guest]

Hi Gary. Thanks - I am way out of my depth with this camera. But I will persevere!

Have a fantastic time!

[Bats]

Thanks Mary-Anne ... more photos needed!

[HiddenMickey35]

Originally Posted by Bats

Thanks Mary-Anne ... more photos needed!

See more...

yes please more photos...