In Marseilles you can take a bus from the boat it is 7 euro return per person. Savona you can walk it easy, as in Naples.. you can also get taxi's they are generally waiting outside. Pompeii is excellent, but you will have very little time to see it. We did not even get enough time to go to the toilet.. so wait until you get back on the train to do that :-) Tunis.. hmm they did not take us to the right place, I have been to Tunis before! bring you only to perfume shop, and carpet shop.. most people want the souks.. but you get maybe only 30 mins there. Take a taxi from outside get him to bring you to the main souk.. you will enjoy it more. Enjoy the ship...it really is great.

Ok in answer to your questions. One formal night, that is the captains gala dinner which is Wednesday night, when leaving Naples.. really good fun as well, our waiters got up on stage and sang and danced.. very entertaining. You use an onboard credit card..dont let them fool you and make you register your credit card early, you can do this when you pay your bill, just go to the receiption desk on the last night and do it. Tipping is added to your account automatically 7 euro a day per person. But its up to you if you want to give more to those you think deserve it. Ask all the questions you want I dont mind. Just beware in Pompeii we nearly missed the train because we went to the toilet... not good. Arrival times were more or less correct except we were told we had a full day in Naples but it turned out to be just a half day.. not enough time at all really. Will be surprised if you do not enjoy it :-)

I may be a bit confused with the day of the week, when you are on board you forget what day it is, it becomes Tunis Day or Naples day :-) Most people respected dress code in the dining room. Jackets and smart shirts for the guys and the ladies were well dressed too. The gala night the ladies were in great style which was lovely I have to say. It is so nice to see everyone dress for dinner, we in general have got too casual in our atire. There were a lot of taxi outside, they should take 4 no problem, you will not need taxi in Marseilles or Savona.. Marseille you can get a bus put on by Costa and Savona it is very short walk as it is a very small port. I hope you enjoy Costa Magica, it is an amazing ship.

For other readers concerning the "COSTA-X1-beverage-package". Just bought 3 of these packages, through my travel-agent ( best price cruises dot com ). The right price for week-cruise is $ 97,72, that is € 67,53 ( rate from august 28 ). In £ it will be around 56, I think. As I read price for beer/wine is about €4,50 - € 5, I think it'sa a good deal. Henri.

Results of using the "COSTA-X1-beverage-package". I do not know whether it is a pact, commissioned by hotel-management, but (speed of) service when using the X1-card is very slow. Once we had to wait for 45 minutes for getting our first glass of wine during diner. Also this was the case during lunch using the buffet(s). It could have been part of the overall shortache of staff, especially in/around 'eating-area's'.