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Sunday morning. Cruise Day! It was my 64th birthday (yeah old boring people). We had received and email from Carnival that there might be fog, but there wasn't, just a thunderstorm. We went down for breakfast wearing our Carnival Bon Voyage t shirts. We wore matching outfits most of the cruise. Yeah, we were THAT couple. We lugged our luggage downstairs and put a few things in the van that we weren't taking with us. There is covered parking under the hotel and an elevator. Oh, and all the rooms have balconies. At 9:30, the shuttle showed up and we loaded our stuff along we a family group that was going on Navigator of the Sea. We were dropped off first. Porters were still unloading, so we took our luggage to the drop off ourselves and watched them put the orange FTTF tape on it. Then we went to the other end of the building to check in. We went straight to security where they shook every bottle of water, then up the escalator to VIP checkin. We were the third family to check in. There was an orange sticker on the S&S card envelope prompting the rep to tell me happy birthday. He told us there was a generator inspection and there would probably be a two hour delay. He was right. Thank goodness for Kindles. Finally a rep came and got us and led us on the Platinum Parade. Boarding pictures, up the ramp, and we were onboard! doink the card and Welcome home. We headed to our cabin to dump our carryons.

We just laid around on Saturday. We partook of the hotel's free breakfast, which was good and went to Walmart, which was just down the street, for some last minute things and grabbed a couple of sub sandwiches from the deli there for lunch. It was still raining, so we went back to the hotel. I wanted to go in the hotel's indoor pool but DH didn't want to get our suits wet and have to pack wet stuff in the morning. (?) We walked to Golden Corral next door for dinner. I think we watched a movie on tv and then turned in.

We were trying a new hotel, Comfort Inn & Suites Beachfront. I was closer to the port than the hotel we had been using, and had a park and cruise package. Checkin was easy and we booked the 9:30 shuttle as we are Platinum. The park/shuttle package was $50. Our room was on the 3rd floor and had a balcony view of the ocean. It was raining, so a dreary view. We were tired and just ordered a pizza from Papa's and it was delivered to our room and we devoured it. We crashed after that. We aren't party people.

DH and I just finished a B2B on the Magic. It began on my birthday and ports were Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel again. Included are a birthday, snorkeling with turtles, sharks, and rays, and a visit to the medical center. This won't be a picture review, I don't remember how to do pictures.

It all started back in 2013 when Carnival announced that the Future Cruise Certificate program was being discontinued. They had to be used before Dec. 31 and we had one left. We decided to book the Magic for my birthday, January 11, 2015. A few months later, Carnival announced the new 10 and 11 day cruises on the Triumph. We had never been to most of the ports and doing them B2B seemed like the way to do them to avoid having to fly to San Juan. We hate flying and I always get patted down because of my TKR. We tried booking them ourselves online. We wanted to save money, so we were booking a 4J, the interiors with walkway view at the front of the ship. I got one booked, and then the room suddenly became unavailable for the second leg. I called Carnival for help and they said I couldn't do a B2B because of the Jones Act. I argued with him and he got a supervisor who also said I couldn't do it. I knew it could be done because they was a roll call of people who were booked. They wouldn't book it so I said I didn't want the leg I had booked and they canceled it for me. Now we were frustrated. To make ourselves feel better, we added another week onto this cruise making it a B2B. We finally did get the other one booked with the help of a PVP.

Fast forward to January. We were watching the weather and things didn't look good for the drive to Galveston. We live in Kansas, so it's a 12 hour drive. We decided to go down two days early to avoid the bad weather. I called our hotel, and no problems there. We loaded the van and hit the road early Friday morning. We did run into some freezing rain and a few flakes of snow in northern Texas, but otherwise, the trip was uneventful.

We liked our cove balcony on the Magic so much that we booked it for a B2B leaving in a week. It's one of the ones without a lifeboat above it.

As long as it is not the theme from 'Frozen' I can live with it.

 

The 'Frozen' theme seems to be everywhere.

Oh Let it go, will you?

Sorry, I just had to be a smart alec.

I can't remember if the Magic's safes need a card with a magnetic strip or use a keypad. Can someone tell me?

I keep my S&S cards in an album with boarding pictures and pictures of the ship. I don't want a wristband. I dress up for formal night and don't care to wear a wristband with my formal gown.

You bet I would! In fact, we have the 21 day B2B booked for Jan. 2016. Can't wait to try my first Guy's burger.

We had the Ultimate Dining Breakfast on Princess. We were in a mini suite. It was delicious and the server was very good looking.

We're cheap. Our grandkids were allowed to open the cabin door with theirs and hold it open so we could enter. lol

We've cruised with our grandchildren and we were put at tables with other children when we did assigned seating. I think dinnertime behavior has a lot to do with what the child is used to and the experiences they have had. Our granddaughter was 5 on her first cruise and was able to order her own meal and use her silverware and carry on conversation with grownups at the table. The other 5 year old was pout or in tears, ate with her fingers and would not talk to anyone. I don't think her parents tried to keep up with nap time, and she was out of sorts and cranky because of it.

We did early seating before there was anytime dining. I liked meeting new people for the most part. I really liked getting to know the waiters. I didn't like it when the woman next to me used my bread plate to park her purse. I didn't like watching people with no manners talk with their mouths full. I didn't like eating with drunks. When anytime dining came about, DH wanted to try it. We did and we liked it. We found that we could still ask for and get the same wait team every night. When cruising with our kids and grandkids, we could still all eat together. We don't particularly care for the tables for two very close together because it is awkward. Do they want to be alone? Do we talk to each other? We can still sit at a large table of strangers if we choose to sit with others. It just works out for us to have anytime.

I wouldn't tell Carnival, but you might want to let the father know.

Once when we were booked in an oceanview DH got a call from the upsell fairy. I was out of town babysitting grandkids. I was on my computer the next morning and went to Carnival.com to see my countdown. I saw the room number change and hurried to look at a deckplan. When I discovered that it was a balcony, I started whooping and dancing around. Scared the GKs half to death. Then I called DH with the "news" that we had been upgraded. Silence on his end...then "I couldn't even keep it a secret for 24 hours." Poor guy, he never can surprise me.

We've done the dolphins twice, the stingrays twice, but manatees? How did we miss that? Where's the best deal for the manatee swim?

I have read reviews of our room, and the beds do go together. I think the one you have pictured is a corner one? I specifically told my PVP that we didn't want one that the beds don't go together. At the time we booked, I would have needed the handicapped room. I had just had a knee replacement and was still using a cane. Right now, I still have a riser on the toilet mainly for the grab bars and my recliner is still up on 2 x 4s. As far as the long walk to eat, I can use the exercise after not being able to walk for so long before my TKR. Someone that stayed in our room reviewed it and said it wasn't really accessible except for the bathroom. There was no room to turn a wheelchair around. I would like to see pictures though.

We are in the same boat. (pun intended) Ours is for the 21 day B2B on the Triumph. I'm hoping we don't get bumped for one leg and not the other. Don't want to have to pack up and move. This will be our first time in a 4J and I may be wanting to move if I get seasick up there. lol

When you first board and every night at turndown the room steward will leave a Carnival Fun Times on your bed. This tells you what's going on when and where and how to dress for dinner. There is a tear off portion that you can take with you.

There are numerous papers and advertisements included with the Fun Times. Look carefully through these the first day. One of them is the Room Service Menu. Keep that handy for ordering. We keep it by the phone.

I don't use a purse on a cruise, except for a small evening purse. Most people do not lug a big purse around. I just wear a lanyard for my sail & sign card. I have a small drawstring backpack that I use for camera, sunscreen and other essentials.

Turn off your cellphone and lock it in the safe. You don't want a hefty phone bill when you get home. Like a previous poster said, don't rely on it for a watch while in port, it will automatically change to the timezone of the port and you might miss the ship when she leaves. Ship time stays the same on short cruises.

Try different things in the MDR. If you don't like it, ask for something else. This is the time to try new things without having to pay for it.

Have a great first cruise!

I live out of my suit case and can be move in 5 min.

Why? Aren't your clothes wrinkled? Where do you put the suitcase? Just curious.

I think you can print them as soon as final payment is made.

The interior floors that are not carpeted are a smooth, shiny, marble-like material that can be very slippery with shoes with a hard plastic sole. I avoid high heels because of that and the chance of ship movement.

When the triplets become twins. DW has the same shirt; but there's only two of us to "represent":

Gee, they’re bringing the Drink of the Day around. I guess you could twist my arm to try the Fun Ship Special:

Hubby and I have that shirt also. Thanks for doing the review.

You didn't say what time of year. The Bahamas can be a little chilly in winter, Freeport and Nassau do nothing for me, but HMC was my best. day. ever. I tend to agree with a previous poster and vote for the second.

I found some zippered mesh bags in the pharmacy dept at Walmart. They have tiny ziplock bags for them. I put a days' supply in each ziplock and put them all in the mesh bag. Then I print out my prescriptions from the pharmacy's online order site and fold it and put it in the mesh bag.