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Carnival Magic Trip Report March 2-9 with photos


Naomi John
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It was February 10, 2014 and cruise withdrawal hit with a bang. It had been almost a year since our last family cruise. I started that Monday just checking the prices for the two closest ports, Galveston and New Orleans, and the two available dates, Mardi Gras and Easter. You're limited when your children are in school.

 

New Orleans had a "new ship", Sunshine, and Mardi Gras week saw it going to the Eastern itinerary, Galveston had the Magic going to the western with Jamaica and Grand Cayman. The other itinerary we looked at was on the Dream, a week before Easter going to Roaton, Costa Maya and Cozumel. I liked the Dream Itinerary, but it would mean DD would miss 4 days of school, the eastern itinerary and the Sunshine did not appeal to me.

 

The price on the Magic was, well, cheap. By the end of the week, DH and I had the time off from work approved and the cruise booked.

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No pre-cruise report. The only thing we worried about was the fog; it had delayed the Magic and the Triumph for the past three or four weeks. Was up on March 2 at 6 am and checked the web cam. The Magic was already at port. Yippie!! We loaded up the car and heading to the port.

 

Harborside Drive was a cluster. We wanted to pull into port, drop off our bags, then head to our parking. Both ways into the port were crazy, so we decided to park and lug our luggage to be checked. We used Galveston Park N Cruise, same price as the ports parking, but it was indoor. We parked and walk across the street to drop off our bags. Another cluster. People were waiting in a duel line and the porters were only helping vehicles. One person at the "drop off spot" were helping those like us. After about a 20 minute wait with no progress a porter yelled, "anyone need to drop off", We walked out of the line fast and dropped my luggage on his cart. Tip him and headed to the check out.

 

VIP/FTTF line was not very well done. There was a separate line at first, then into the masses for luggage screening. At least in NOLA they have a VIP/FTTF luggage screening. Once up stairs, it went fairly smooth. After arriving at Noon, we were on the ship by 1:30 PM. It should be noted the Magic started boarding around Noon.

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Just do not care for the Port of Galveston. NOLA is so much better. We have arrived to NOLA port at Noon and was on the ship by 12:30.

 

NOLA is MUCH better then Galveston. Which is why I ALWAYS arrive to the Port of Galveston at 10:30 and I am usually on at 11.

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We had a cove balcony on deck two. Loved the room and the location, I will show you why shortly. Because we were platinum, and we were on the ship late, we were able to go straight to our room. Really easy as we were one floor down from the entrance lobby.

 

Our Room from the door:

room2283fromdoor.jpg

 

From the balcony door:

Room2283002.jpg

 

And from the other corner near the balcony:

 

room2283003.jpg

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The first day was one of the few times we actually went up to lido deck. I did like the lay out of the Marketplace. Several food stations with little waiting. And a lot of seating in various areas.

 

The mid ship pool:

 

IMG_0284.jpg

 

The aft pool:

 

IMG_0293.jpg

 

Nice seating aft:

 

IMG_0291.jpg

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Weird on the luggage thing as they had a separate line when I went for FTTF/VIP.

 

They had it when we sailed on Triumph a few months ago as well. I did notice though that after we had passed through, they called a few people over from the regular line since there were no more priority passengers behind us. Maybe that's what they did here and it got out of hand.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the review. Hoping to sail Magic one day.

Edited by Rudyard
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Nice start to your review.....Fog always seems to be an issue when cruising out of Galveston

 

Yes, but at least this cruise was not delayed.

 

Thanks for doing this photo review. Looking forward to more. :):):):)

 

Thank you. Will have a little more this morning.

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Can't wait to hear more. We sail on her in 21 days!!!

 

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Forums mobile app

 

Thank you

 

Thanks for the review, excited to see and hear more!

 

It will be a slow process, have to go back to work. ugh!

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