MAGIC review June 29 - July 6, 2014

[CheckersMidwest]

 

 

Side of steamed vegetables

 

 

Espresso cake

 

That evening, they had a 4th of July Deck party. There was a band, free beads, clickers, etc that they passed out.

 

 

 

I am happy to report that some guests brought BUBBLES. No one's eye was put out, no one's drink was ruined, and no one fell on a slippery deck. Success. (remember the bubbles thread awhile back?!)

 

The kids went their way with their friends. I got a plate of 3 strawberries again from the coffee bar and my husband made a pass through the casino.

 

At 11:30 there was a special buffet as part of the Independence day celebration. There is usually a Mexican buffet anyway late night after Cozumel. They tried to incorporate more foods at this one. Macaroni & cheese, salsas & chips, etc.

 

[CheckersMidwest]

LAST SEA DAY

We slept in a little later today. 3 port days in a row is tiring. We had breakfast and went to the serenity deck. The ship was really quiet today.

 

 

 

The hot tub was nice & warm.

 

We had lunch at Cucina de Capitano. It was really good. You pick from 3 pastas, pick your sauce, and pick what to add in, like chicken, broccoli, onion, etc. You get bread and/or salad too. It is free at lunch and $12 at dinner. At dinner, you order from the menu.

 

 

 

We went to Country Classics Guess that Song. We were surround by Texans - who knew & sang every song. It was fun, I even knew a few.

 

At 2:00 was "Groove for St Jude'. We'd bought our tshirts earlier in the week for $10 from Cherry on Top. They had them for sale on a table in front of the pool along with teddy bears. (like build a bear in a box). They had 'James' secret dance class" in the Fun times and this is what it was for. They opened with that dance and then that was it. Wish they'd done some dancing on the deck. We'd put on our tshirts to attend & it was kind of a dud.

 

We had ice cream again and my daughter went back to her 02 friends then packed. My husband took a long afternoon nap and I packed. If you sat your luggage out for them to take, it had to be in the hall by 11:00. If you had very much, they didn't want you to do self assist.

 

Dinner time again:

 

 

 

Frog legs

Edited July 14, 2014 by CheckersMidwest

[CheckersMidwest]

 

Crab cakes - very good !

 

 

Smokey & very cheesy macaroni & cheese with bacon crumbles and chicken breast.

 

 

Some fish dish....this is the only thing all week I did not like.

 

 

 

orange soufflé

 

 

The seas were so calm today. There were a few times, the first evening especially that it was rocky. I take bonine faithfully. A few times I'd take a 2nd one in the evening.

 

[CheckersMidwest]

My daughter did the water slides this afternoon. Even those lines weren't long.

 

 

Today was the Bela Del Mar jewelry sets. Most included a necklace, bracelet, and earrings. There were chunky anchors, shells, etc......turquoise, silver , gold, all kinds of sets. They were $19.95

 

There were spa specials today. It was a pick 3 deal.....I tried making an appointment for a pedicure, foot massage, and mini manicure. I went down about noon and they were booked for the day. bummer.

 

 

After dinner, the kids went with their friends. I finished packing, set out the bags and went down to watch bingo and get ready for the Legends show.

 

I stopped by guest services to pick up a final statement. They were super busy ! Seemed to be a lot of bank problems. Wondered if they all had the same bank. Our statement was always accurate.

 

We'd bought $200 cruise cash in advance. I read that I would have certificates in our cabin when I arrived. I asked the steward & he directed me to guest services. He did a great job servicing the room, but he never really knew anything. This was his first sailing on the Magic and he was overwhelmed. Turns out, the cruise cash was already applied to our sign & sail instead of the certificates.

 

The Legends show was good. Earlier in the week, guests tried out for parts. The man who sang Garth Brooks was excellent. I heard him sing at Karaoke Live too. So was the guy who sang Neil Diamond and Frank Sinatra. It was fun.

 

We spoke to our room steward before turning in and he wanted us out of our room at 8:00 because he a lot of work to do. ?! The disembarking information said they wouldn't make announcements until 8:00 in case people wanted to sleep in a bit. Obviously they didn't want everyone out of their cabins so early. That meant I sat the alarm for 6:00 so I could shower, finish packing, and be done. I wasn't overly happy. We did not tip him extra, we usually do, but not this time. He just wasn't great.

 

Today was also the 2 for $20 shirt sale. They were "Keep Calm & cruise on".....dice with "Keep Calm and Play On", etc.

 

Movies tonight were 4:00 Frozen, 8:30 Ride Along, and 11:30 Grown Ups 2

Edited July 14, 2014 by CheckersMidwest

[labsnabys]

We will also be in this same cruise in December. Thanks for the report and all of the photos! I'm getting excited now that we are within the 6 month mark. ;)

[CheckersMidwest]

DISEMBARKING

Since we 'had' to be out of our room by 8:00, we were up at 6:00. I hated that since we had a long drive. We were ready by 7:30 and took our bags to the kids cabin so they could start on our room. And they did immediately.

 

We went to breakfast. I had the usual....French toast, potatoes, & bacon.

 

They gave us several options of places to wait. Disembarking started a little late. It also took a long time. James said it was full search so customs was taking longer. I'd heard Belize takes more time.

 

We were given zone 1 tags and were scheduled for 10:15. Waited on the lido deck and watched the Leggo movie. It got hot and we moved to the Showtime lounge.

 

We were called at 10:40. While walking to the line, one of the employees saw the FTTF sticker on my dangling sign & sail card. He said "Oh...you have Faster to the Fun. Use those benefits!" and moved us to the front of the line.

 

We were off the ship & collecting bags in no time. The customs line was ridiculous. There were 2 lines to begin with, then when you're almost there, they split you into lines for yes passports or no passports.

 

People passed us in the other line with zone 14....28...& 40. Mabye it wouldn't be as chaotic if the plan to get all of us off the ship orderly was followed. Someone said, "Who are they to tell us which zone to get?". Ummm......it goes by your cabin & deck location.

 

When we got through customs, there were NO search lines. It was 12:20. Nothing. They asked if we had alcohol or tobacco. As of April 2014 EVERYONE pays Texas taxes on those. I saved the list if anyone wants an amount. I know the tax on a carton of cigarettes was $13. So much for duty free.

 

We drug our bags back across the street to the car.

 

I had brought some of those vinyl type reusable shopping bags for our souviniers and they were perfect.

 

We needed gas to start home so stopped at the first one on the right leaving the port area. Big mistake !

 

We stopped at Cit Go. It was dirty and shady. We went inside to use the restroom - filthy and get pop to start home while my husband got gas. When we tried to check out, a man came in - his pump would not shut off & dumped $27 gas on the ground. He argued he didn't want to be charged for it...the attendant wasn't very accommodating & kept asking what he should do. He basically called the man a liar. In the meantime, another lady came in said it did the same thing to them but only a couple dollars. Gas all over the ground. Obviously, the pumps are broken. The attendant finally gave the man his money but wasn't happy. By the check out counter were some questionable sex items for sale and beer on ice by the can. Do.Not.Stop.Here.

 

Hit the road home. Planned to drive half way since we got such a late start which would be McAlister.

 

Traffic was UNBELIEVABLE. Sunday afternoon - from Galveston to about 25 miles south of Dallas. We would be going 80 mph and within seconds both lanes at a complete stand still for as far as you could see. Inching forward, and finally going again. I've read reports of accidents, but once we got moving, we never saw anything on our side of the road.

 

It took us 6 hours to go 242 miles ! Since we usually fly to port, we thought if this drive didn't turn out to be too bad, we'd sail out of Galveston more often. Nope - we'll fly from now on.

 

We finally took hwy 75 off somewhere south of Dallas along with 1000 other people - but at full speed. :) We saw a hummer, a prius, and a Sol pull off the side of the road, down over a hill and onto the other highway to get away. Motorcycles took the shoulder.

 

We arrived in McAlister at 10:00 pm - 3 hours late. We were exhausted. We took the first hotel - a Best Western. Thinking the first one we stayed at was really nice. This one was not. It was ok......lobby was nice. The breakfast was nice - biscuits & gravy, waffles, danishes, sausage, etc.

 

There were dead bugs outside, the water smelled like mold and was generally run down. I pulled the sheets off & looked for bed bugs. No signs & the mattress was sealed in a cover. If we hadn't been so tired & it was already late, we'd went somewhere else.

 

Farther down are all kinds of hotels....go there.

 

The next morning, we were on the road at 9:00 am. The rest of our drive was uneventful. We stopped at the Wal Mart in the next town over for milk and donuts for breakfast tomorrow morning and got home at 5:15.

 

The week went fast and we loved every minute of it. The Magic was always clean, the staff always polite, and there was always stuff to do.

 

We liked the ports and would return to them each again.

 

Magic = Success :)

[karessamom]

Now I'm Magic crazy ha! we will be sailing on her next Aug 2015! we'll be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and can't wait! although we will be doing a different itinerary than you. Cozumel, Jamaica and Grandcaymon not nec in that order. Sounds like you had a blast! Thanks so much for posting your report!

[cmcsharon]

Thank you for the great review and all the pictures! I'll be on the Magic for the first time in September with my 21 year old son and 18 year old daughter...so it was nice to see your review with kids around the same ages!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your nice review and wonderful photo's.

[Shaded Lady]

COZUMEL

I got vanilla for my mother, hot sauce for my dad, big miracas for $1 each for all the little ones, pottery at the port at a store on the far end. Red, green, & cream colored.

 

Only one word of caution- before using your pottery, I'd test it to make sure it doesn't contain lead, which is very common in Mexican pottery... I bought some bowls and platters in Cozumel several years ago and when I tested it, it was full of lead. So now it's all used as decorative pieces rather than used for food serving! The testing kit is not expensive (most food specialty stores carry them) but could avoid issues...

Edited July 15, 2014 by Shaded Lady

[CheckersMidwest]

Thanks ! I wondered about that. It is glazed, but doesn't mean it's safe. I usually just sit the pottery around the house, but these pieces were more like dishes.

[Shaded Lady]

I do use my Mexican pottery for dry items (mine are glazed too) so if I'm putting out crackers or something I sometimes will chance it. But if it's anything with moisture in the food, I don't risk it. Maybe I'm making too much of it, but I watched a program on the food network years ago that warned about the lead in the pottery in Mexico and ever since it stuck with me.

[LambKnuckles]

You did a GREAT JOB with this review!!! :)

 

I've never stopped at that gas station and now, never will!!! THANK YOU!!!

 

Things I look for for driving and cruising out of Galveston:

+ Construction traffic -- Ask on CC about a month in advance or check the website for Houston road construction and the dates and roads.

+ Home TEXANS football -- check their schedule

...and weather, which you just can't plan for in advance!!!

 

I have been in that bumper to bumper traffic and YIKES!!!

 

I'll look for your future reviews!!! Loved the story and photos!!! ...now I'll remember, crabcakes are on the finally night!!! I love those crabcakes!!!