Costa Magica was Great!

[sandy p]

[quote]Originally posted by Dolfan31:
Well I went on the Costa magica last year.. Well I must say did not really like the ship.. Found it to be dirty and in need of repairs.. It was there last cruise of the season before sailing across to Europe.. I did not like the food in the dinning room.. Was mostly upper-class Italian food, thought there would be some more traditional Italian foods.. It wasn’t all bad, we had a lot of fun, and how can you not, on a cruise? All the staff treated us great.. I have been on several cruises and this had to be the biggest disappointments.. You just come to expect great food and a ship in great condition...

Going on the Carnival Triumph on Feb. 24th Havn't been on a Carnival ship Not counting Costa cruises for quite some time now, last time was when the Ecstasy was brand new and sailed out of Miami.. I had a great time on that, I hope it wasn't due to the fact I was so much younger...LOL Was like 15 or 16 years ago.

I totally agree with you Dolfan31 as far as the food I thought it was Terrible, and Max was the Cruise director at the time and I thought the entertainment was TERRIBLE. Max was on one or both of the Costa Atlantica cruises that I had gone on and the shows were wonderful. I went on the Magica Feb, 2006. It was my 11th cruise and my 3rd with Costa.
We are of Italian descent and none of us enjoyed most all of the food. We were extremely disapointed with that ship. When we were taking the bus back home there was other people complaining about the ship also.
We didn't have a problem with the cleanliness of the ship or the crew.
We are going on a Mediterranean Costa Concordia in January, 2008. I'm hoping it's a lot better then the Magica.
Sandy p

[TrvlPro]

We booked an inside, and was upgraded to a balcony! I've never had that on Princess.

I have booked a lot of clients on Costa cruises and it's kind of a mixed bag on the reports I get back, much like this thread. Some rave about it and the reports on the entertainment are always good. Seems the food can be hit or miss.

The reason I copied the upgrade report above is on many sailings off-season Costa has some dificulty filling ships from U.S. ports. They are based in Genoa Italy and best known for their Med cruises. Their Majica and Mediterrania ships from Ft Lauderdale often struggle with bookings. That's very good news for those of you who like low priced cruising and especially if you like to throw dice with cabin assignment. Like Carnival, Costa offers Cat 1A as the lowest available cabin assignments (bunk-beds). The thing is they offer the 1A when they're struggling with bookings as a guarantee rate (cabin to be assigned). They leave this Cat open ven after they've sold out of 1A's. They even leave it open when they need to fill the ship when all they have left is balconies and suites. In other words they are selling the rate not the cabin. I've seen 7 night sailings on their ships go for as little as $299. per person with great itineraries if you'll accept the 1A guarantee. You may get a bunkbed but I've had a very lage percentage of clients off season end up in balconies and some even in suites. Twice I've had clients moved from a 1A guarantee to a Cat GS, the highest category of suite they have on the ship and one of those times it was at the $299. pp rate!

They also have many promotional offers, one they run frequently is their "Kids Sail Free" program. This one allows kids who are 3rd or 3rd and 4th in a cabin to go for just the cost of the tax. I've never sailed Costa personally, just too many unfavorable reviews from past cruisers to want to take the chance but I get a fair number like Penny who really had a wonderful time. One of these days I'm going to book one for myself, a 1A and cross my fingers. For the price (when they drop 'em like a stone) how can you go wrong.

Cheers, Neil