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Carnival Magic Jan. 20 Isle of Roatan, Belize and Cozumel


Blueboss

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This is the first review I written for CC, so bare with me. I also have a day job and may not be able to finish this in just a few days. One of the most often repeated questions, I've seen on other reviews, is what kind of camera took the pictures? The pictures in this review were taken with a Nikon D3100, with either the 18-55mm lens or 55-300mm lens and a Panasonic Lumix TS10 waterproof point and shoot.

 

This is our second cruise, the previous one was on Elation Sept. 2011. This time it was just DH and myself, celebrating 10 years together and empty nest.

 

We left our house and 12 degree temps, in Missouri, on Jan. 17th, taking two days to drive to Galveston. I'm going to start this review with our pre cruise activities in Texas. I will include information about these in case others are looking for things to do before the big day but won't get too detailed about them. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I will answer them as soon as I can.

 

Now, on to the review! I have decided to write the review day by day and then follow it with pictures from that day. I took almost 2,000 pictures in 12 days (our whole trip), by using this format, I hope to keep things in order.

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We arrived in Texas City, Texas on Fri. Jan. 18th, checked into Candlewood Suites. Every room has a kitchen so you have the ability to cook your own meals if you don't feel like trying to find a restaurant or don't want to get back in the car again.

 

Saturday Jan 19th, we drove the 14 miles over to Galveston Island. Our first stop was Pelican Island and Seawolf Park ($6 parking). We watched the freighters pass through the shipping lane, on their way to inland ports. We toured the USS Cavalla Submarine and the USS Stewart Destroyer. If you like history, the $5 pp admission fee is worth it. Next, we drove to the western end of Galveston Island to Galveston Island State Park ($5 pp) to enjoy the beauty of the beach as well as pick up a few shells. After a quick lunch, we went to the Texas Seaport Museum (next to the cruise terminal) to take an hour long harbor tour ($10 pp). This was a very informative sightseeing trip. The Captain of the boat shared a wealth of history of Galveston as he talked about the sights along the way. This was also a very good way to see dolphins, we saw several on our ride. At the conclusion of the harbor tour, we walked down the pier in front of Harbor House Hotel to watch Carnival Triumph sail. We met a few Magic passengers that had the same idea as we did.

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Free ferry from Galveston to Point Bolivar. A lot of people park on the Galveston side, walk on the ferry to ride across and back. Can also see dolphins from the deck.

 

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This is a 10 story parking lot. It hauls cars and, in this case, John Deere Tractors. They drive them on and then drive them off when they get to their destination.

 

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Triumph sail away!

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Wow....you gotta love discussion forums and Cruise Critic. From arcane details of a ship, food details, drink details, questions and details about rooms........and of course great trip reports with pictures. Thanks for your report and looking forward to reading the rest!

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Thanks for the pictures. Lived in Galveston when my kids were little and spent many an afternoon at Seawolf park with them. For those who like history the public library has a floor with tons of history info, especially on the 1900 storm that killed 10,000 people. Moody Mansion is also a great stop. For those with little kids go to Moody Gardens, the kids will love it.

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Looks like the beginning of a good review! Question for you- did Magic have internet available outside the internet cafe'... so that one could use their own devices. My daughter is close to her due date and I want to stay on top of things. Usually wouldn't bother with tech on a cruise, but it might be handy on this upcoming trip.

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Looks like the beginning of a good review! Question for you- did Magic have internet available outside the internet cafe'... so that one could use their own devices. My daughter is close to her due date and I want to stay on top of things. Usually wouldn't bother with tech on a cruise, but it might be handy on this upcoming trip.

 

Yes they did. For $39.99 you could get internet for one personal device laptop, tablet or iphone. Not sure how many minutes it was for though. DH said I was to stay unplugged this entire cruise. :(

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Sunday Jan 20th. Boarding Day!!!!!! We woke up to fog on the mainland but very little at the port. Turned on the webcam and was relieved to see Magic dock about 6 AM. We headed to the port about 10 AM, dropped off our checked bags with the porter and went over to Lighthouse Parking to park our car. We will be using them again. Easy to get in and out of, covered parking and a short shuttle ride to the terminal. We had pre booked online, got a $5 discount, be sure to print out your email confirmation to take with you. We just showed the parking attendant the email and he directed us to our parking space.

 

We had bought the Faster to the Fun pkg. and breezed right through check in. After a short wait in the terminal, we boarded the ship. My first stop was the Shore Excursion Desk to book the Behind the Fun Tour. This excursion is a tour of the ship areas passengers are not normally allowed (more about that later). It is very limited on the number of guests, so book it as soon as you get on the ship, it sells out quickly. We then went to our cabin (8293) to drop off our carry on bag and sit on the balcony for a bit. I had read on CC, that once you go with a balcony, you will always have to have one. I had the attitude that as long as I'm on a cruise, I can stay in any cabin. My DH, however, said we will always book a balcony for our future cruises! :D We decided to explore the ship a little and have lunch at the Lido Buffet. The ship is beautiful but the buffet food was nothing to write home about. That was the only complaint DH had. He could tell a difference from our last cruise. We did not go hungry, just wasn't anything to rave about. After wandering around the ship a little more, it was time for Muster Drill. I was a bit surprised with the passengers at this point. The last Muster Drill we attended was an absolute nightmare! Passengers not going to the drill and then would not shut up and listen. Both of which delayed our sailing. This time, everybody got to their stations and was dead silent during the drill. I think we got done in record time! We found a deck for sail away and watched Galveston slip behind us. We went back to our cabin, unpacked our bags, and relaxed some before going to dinner. We had late seating in the Southern Lights Dining Room. Our waiter was Eduardo and was helped by Hazel and Wipprejana (I think I spelled that right). We were seated with two other couples, that never showed up during the entire cruise, so we had a big table to ourselves. Our table was upper level of the dining room, next to the back windows, center of the ship. Not sure I want the aft dining room again, we felt a lot of movement that was rocking us to sleep. :)

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Yes they did. For $39.99 you could get internet for one personal device laptop, tablet or iphone. Not sure how many minutes it was for though. DH said I was to stay unplugged this entire cruise. :(

 

Thanks for the info:)

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The awkward hairdryer!! The cord runs through the back of the drawer and you have to hold the button down, continually, for the darn thing to work! Gotta love the safety features. :rolleyes:

 

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The safe can be used by sliding a credit card or punching in a code of your own. Instructions on how to set your code are on a card left near the safe. We used a code with no issues.

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So excited to read your review. We will be on the Magic in May and I am soaking up all the info I can in the mean time. We will be taking two days to drive to Galveston as we are coming from Arizona. We are also staying in Texas City for two nights pre-cruise. Did you find it inconvienent to be in Texas City instead of Galveston? We looked into staying in Galveston but since it will be a holiday weekend everything was very pricey. We found a reasonable priced room at the Marriot, Fairfield Inn in Texas City.

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Can't remember what this dish was called. DH had it for lunch and said it was good. I'm not going to eat anything that is staring back at me!!

 

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Part of the waterworks

 

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Our door decorations

 

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Sailing past Seawolf Park. The Harbor Tour boat is in the lower left corner.

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So excited to read your review. We will be on the Magic in May and I am soaking up all the info I can in the mean time. We will be taking two days to drive to Galveston as we are coming from Arizona. We are also staying in Texas City for two nights pre-cruise. Did you find it inconvienent to be in Texas City instead of Galveston? We looked into staying in Galveston but since it will be a holiday weekend everything was very pricey. We found a reasonable priced room at the Marriot, Fairfield Inn in Texas City.

 

It was actually very easy to get to Galveston from Texas City. Just follow highway 145 south, it will bring you into I-45 right before you cross the causeway.

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