Unfortunately there are no photos on this one so you’ll have to use your imagination. John Honeywell, aka CaptGreybeard, was given a special tour of the Carnival Magic while undergoing final outfitting in Italy. His tour is below:
Magic will be launched in Venice on May 1, and last week I was one of four journalists given a sneak preview of the almost-completed ship in the Fincantieri shipyard at Monfalcone in north-east Italy.
First stop was the Red Frog pub – surprisingly the first such drinking establishment on a Carnival cruise ship, and the venue for some excellent food. It’s a Caribbean-style pub rather than an English boozer, despite the Newcastle Brown Ale, Stella Artois, Murphy’s stout and own-brand Thirsty Frog beer on tap, so the menu contains items such as conch salad and roti pancakes. The fish fingers were rather more sophisticated than the ones in your freezer and the “sliders” – mini beefburgers to you and me – were excellent. All main-course items on the menu are $3.33, and desserts such as the lemon tart and the sticky toffee pudding are $1.11.
Extra seating has been created in the Lido restaurant and the upstairs area which is a pasta bar by day converts in the evening to the superb Cucina del Capitano (Captain’s Kitchen), a family-style Italian trattoria with generously-sized tables to accommodate the big bowls of food just-a like-a momma used-a make. Cover charge is a modest $10 for adults and $5 for children.
The 65-seat Prime steakhouse ($30 cover charge) has also been moved, from deck 12 to deck five, where it pinches some of the space of the Punchliners comedy club – a venue which will occasionally feature a risque late-night burlesque show.
Outside on the upper decks there is entertainment for all the family, with waterslides, pools, a cinema screen, crazy golf, a rope climbing course, basketball court and open-air gymn lending a Venice Beach air to the proceedings. For couples seeking peace away from their (or other families’) kids there’s the secluded Serenity deck space – which unlike similar areas on some ships does not carry an extra charge for admission.
After the christening ceremonies on May 1 – with young cancer survivor Lindsey Wilkerson as an inspirational godmother – the ship sails to Barcelona from where it will be departing on seven, nine and 12-night Mediterranean voyages throughout the summer before relocating to its new home in Galveston, Texas in November.