A group of families are considering a cruise on the Costa Magica for April 2007 during Easter break as our grade school children will be off during that week. I do not know much about this ship except that the cruise is very priced very reasonable for that week. I have read some mixed reviews about this cruise which were similar to the reviews I have read about the Zuiderdam which is one of my favorite cruises. Therefore, if anyone has experience with the Caribbean sailings for families please offer me your opinions.

Thanks

arckac

I too loved the Zuiderdam. I am booked on the Magica for 3/19 sailing. I was also able to get a little 1 night sampler and was very impressed with the beauty of the ship, the food and the staff. I am very much looking forward to my cruise (including all 17 of my family members). Check back later and I'll post a review.

Thank you,

I will look for your comments on the Magica.
I do not know when you sailed the Zuiderdam or if you have children. My 9 year old son enjoys club HAL more than Disney or even RC. I hope you had the chance to catch Julie Barr's comedy show, especially the late night adult comedy

We do have a daughter (dd) now 7, she was 5 at the time we were on the Z in 10/2004. We did see Julie Barr and they had the Elton John impersonator (Joel??) too...it was a fantastic cruise. My dd loved that ship and the kid's program. She still talks about it. There were very little children being it was OCt, we pulled her out of school for the week (she was only in Kindergarten).

Please look at my costa Mediterranea review I posted... I saw the ship in Fort Lauderdale, it looks nice, but I would recommend you to stay with what you are used to...

I read it. I am hoping HA puts out there schedule soon for next April!

We just got back yesterday from doing a Back to Back cruise on Magica. So we had two weeks to deceide if we liked it or not. We didnt. We found the service in the restaraunts to be sadly lacking. We have always cruised Princess before.. We are in our late 50's so dont have children. There were a lot of children on board on our second week, and a lot of families. Magica is very Italian, the ship is beautifull, and the cabins are kept very clean. There was considerable noise in the hallways at night, The main pool area was very noisy as well during the day, which with all the families it was to be expected.. Let me say I would advise another cruise line first... Also we thought we were getting a great deal, when it came down to it, it worked out more expenisve than our other cruises. We went with two other couples and none of us would go Costa again, and talked to other people on the ship who felt the same way..

Last year I cruised for some days with the Costa Magica. It is a typical italian ship with many, many children on board between the vacation weeks. Italians like their children as we do ist too. But for our two boys it was a little bit too much. The cruise may be not very expensive; but the daily softdrinks, the wine and beer....For the next cruise we prefere a MSC-ship, for example the MSC Musica, Sinfonia or Opera.
The Costa Magica- lifestyle is standard. Builtat Fincantieri in Italy, Entered Service November 2004. Length 893.3 ft, beam 124,6 ft, draft 27.2 ft. Large 102,587 tons, Crew 1,068 - passengers 2,7183; The Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006 has given a rating for 4 stars.
Have some nice days in europe
Uwe

quote:

For the next cruise we prefere a MSC-ship, for example the MSC Musica, Sinfonia or Opera.

I'm booked on the MSC Musica for a mid-October cruise, Venice-Bari-Katakolon-Izmir-Istanbul-Dubrovnik and back to Venice. It's my first cruise, so I don't have any expectations based on previous experience with American-based cruise lines. I've noticed that people either love MSC cruises or hate them. What do you people think is the difference between them and say, Carnival or Royal Carribean?