Cruise Ship: Costa Magica
Cruise Destination: Western Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale
Cruise Dates: January 29 - February 5, 2006
Guest Contributor: Natalie Campbell
To tell you a little about myself, I am 28 years old and this is my second cruise. The first cruise was with Princess, and both were great. Obviously you have some pros and cons, but overall a great cruise.
Embarkation -- Fort Lauderdale,Port Everglades. Smooth as butter. Got there at 12:30, was on the ship by 1:15, and better yet eating lunch by 1:30. Heard lots of horror stories, but it all worked out great.
Cabin -- We had an inside stateroom with great closet space. Room was great for what intended to use it for, sleeping.
Costa Magica Ship -- Was beautiful, since it is an Italian cruise I was even more impressed since I never been to Italy before. Very classy. The bad thing was that you have to register your credit card while on the ship, so there is a pretty long line, and you will need to prepared for that. Also, all the major announcements are made in 5 different languages and that gets old after hearing 5 minutes in English then knowing you have 4 more languages to go.
Ports -- Key West, Florida -- Was not there very long so didn't bother to book an excursion, walked on our own around downtown. You have to take a complimentary trolley off the ship to town and he gives you a great overview of the city while taking you, so no need to really pay for the trolley tour when you get over half of it for free.
Cozumel, Mexico -- Booked the Playa Mia beach break through the cruiseline, which was great. It included water toys and an open bar. You do have to pay for a taxi to the beach but it only costs $12 for two people. Great shopping.
Ocho Rios, Jamaica -- Booked a tour through Phil Lafayette. We did the Dunn's River Falls it was beautiful and included river tubing. Phil was awesome! I recommend Phil to anyone. Went to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville good time.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands -- Booked the Stingray City Island Tour with Capt Marvins Watersports and it was great. We had 3 stops to snorkel at the Coral Gardens, Barrier Reef and Stingray City. It was my first time snorkeling but learned quickly and loved it. Again highly recommend Capt Marvins, great people.
At Sea Days- Great fun, lots of games, dancing and drinking.
Overall -- The cruise has lots of theme nights, tropical night, toga night (almost everyone had on a toga), Italian night (everyone dresses up in red, green and white, what a combo) and of course two formal nights. There were more older people on this cruise. Also, out of all the passengers I would say only maybe 5 percent Americans. Lots of languages spoken. Had a great time, but next time I will stick with an American cruise line. I will be better in touch. However, I never have to travel to "Italia" now that I have a great feel of the country.
