DCL had a fabulous deal on its May Med cruises of a category 12 guarantee plus kids sail free. We paid almost nothing for the cruise fare for the 4 of us. So, I decided it was time to give DCL a try. There was me, mom, 45+, DS14, DD11 and DS4. We had sailed several ships in RCCL's fleet and one Carnival ship previously. I had never been to the Mediterranean before.

The Magic visited 7 ports in 11 days. From Barcelona, the ports visited were Malta, Tunis, Civitavecchia (for Rome), Naples, La Spezia (for Florence), Corsica and Villefranche. We took private tours in Rome and Pompeii/Herculaneum and DCL tours for the rest. We stayed on the ship at Corsica. The DCL tours ranged from fabulous to totally forgettable. My ratings for the DCL tours from most favourite to least with 5 being great and 1 being awful. Perfumer's Apprentice in Villefranche (5), Malta for Kids (4), Lerici's Castle and Dinosaurs in La Spezia (2) and Sidi Bou Said and Carthage in Tunis (1).

The real star of the cruise were the activities on the ship. We were all going from morning to night. Except for ds14 who has become a hermit, there were so many activities that each of us wanted to do, there wasn't enough time in the day to do them all. DD11 loved Ocean Quest. DS4 equally loved the Club and the Lab. DCL has recently changed its age policies for the Club and the Lab and he was able to check in to whichever he preferred. He definitely preferred the Lab, because of the computer games. Read more