cmcsharon

Cozumel…part 3. Just a few more pictures from Chankanaab.

In addition to the manatee and dolphin encounters, the Chankanaab National Park has a beach, a pool, a snorkeling area with underwater statues, shops and restaurants, a zip line, the crocodile area, a sea lion show and encounter…some very cheesy Mayan ruins…and lots of gardens to walk around. It’s a very pretty place and very easy to get to.

Beach area at Chankanaab

Snorkeling area

Lots of places to sit and relax.

We had a great time at Chankanaab and again, I would highly recommend this as an easy excursion. It’s a beautiful, clean, safe place with lots to see and do. And when you’re done for the day, a line of taxis will be waiting to take you back to the ship. It was $16 each way for the 5 of us in a taxi van. Prices were less if you had smaller groups.

The other minions, that didn’t join us at Chankanaab, spent the day shopping around the port and walking to a few close shopping locations. At one of the places they walked to, they found this great photo op!

We didn’t hear about it until after we’d sailed away from Cozumel or else we all would’ve headed over there. Imagine the pictures we could’ve made with our bodies hanging out of that mouth…it would’ve been so much fun! Legs, arms…yeah…it was a missed opportunity. (So…if you’re going to Cozumel soon…find this shark...and make me proud!)

We really enjoyed our day in Cozumel. My son wasn’t interested in the swimming with the manatees but he enjoyed exploring other areas of the park. My daughter will never forget her encounter with the manatees. Even one of the minions…who was traveling with us for his very first time…commented about how amazing this day, and the day before with the stingrays, had been.

I’ll take that as a three for three on my excursion planning!

Next up…Chapter 7…Last Sea Day (I will not eat green eggs & ham…is that the moon in the glass elevator…and, bouncing off the hallway walls)

Thank you again for all the kind comments...I'm still amazed that anyone is even reading this! You have my son to thank for this review (well...thank or curse...I guess it's a matter of perspective). He had been reading reviews here on cruise critic before our cruise...and, about midway through our trip he asked if I'd be writing one. I very quickly said NO...and he responded with...you should. So...I thought I'd give it a try.

Back to Cozumel...part 2.

More pictures from the manatee encounter. These creatures were so much fun to interact with. We don’t have manatees in the Pacific Ocean so this was truly a one of a kind experience. Most people seem to focus on the dolphin encounters at Chankanaab…but…it’s the manatees that are going to steal your heart…they are so unique.

When the guide was first checking off names he mentioned that the manatees were his favorite to interact with…because of their big personalities. They can’t jump out of the water and do as many tricks as the dolphins…but…they have their own ways to interact with you. He said that Angel, the largest, was the size of a sedan. After the encounter, my daughter and the minions didn’t quite agree with the size description…instead of a sedan, they decided Angel was closer in size to a Fiat…or a Smart car. But still…swimming in the path of three Fiat’s can be a bit intimidating!

And now for more pictures…a manatee comes in for a hug from a minion

Look at that belly!

My daughter gives Edgar a kiss.

This was one sea creature she wasn’t able to put on her head!

My apologies to the minion for showing you this picture...but…this is what it looks like when a Fiat sized manatee starts to roll over on you! He’s huge! Maybe she did try putting him on her head!

We could see the ship from Chankanaab.

Next up…last pictures from Chankanaab…Cozumel…part 3.

We’ve arrived at our final port day…Cozumel. My track record for port day experiences has been pretty good so far…will that streak continue?

As with the other ports, the kids and I had never been to Cozumel…but all the minions had, multiple times. I didn’t ask them for suggestions this time…I’d already done my research and knew if this worked out…it would be the highlight of the cruise for my daughter. We were going to Chankanaab and my daughter was going to swim with the manatees!

Chankanaab is a National Park in Cozumel and it is located less than 10 minutes from the port. The fee for the manatee encounter was $59 and included admission into the park. For those that weren’t doing the encounter, the admission was $19 (actually $21…but they always have a printable $2 off coupon on their web site).

At dinner, the night before, we made our plans with the minions to meet at 10:30am on the pier and only 2 minions were going to join us on this adventure.

The morning comes and surprisingly, my son is up early and already getting ready. I make a comment about it and he says…this is the day I’ve been waiting for. Now I’m curious so I go ahead and ask why.

And, he responds with…because it’s Mexico…and you can buy anything in Mexico!

Uh oh…the seedy underbelly warning starts going off in my head again…but…I go ahead and ask anyway…what is it you want to buy?

He excitedly blurts out…I want to buy an alligator!

I’m suddenly flashing back to the whole fish toilet insanity and start thinking that maybe I need hearing aids…or some seriously strong medication…because the words I keep hearing come out of people’s mouths can’t possibly be what they’re saying!

YOU WANT TO BUY A WHAT??!!

He explains that a friend told him he should buy an alligator while he’s in Mexico and for some unknown reason…he thought that was a good idea.

And then what, I ask, you’re just going to put a leash on it and walk it on board? Because, unless you plan on strapping a seeing eye dog training vest on it…I’m pretty sure they frown on that kind of thing. (You’d think they’d frown on an alligator as a seeing eye/support type animal…but…from what I’ve been hearing…enforcement of what constitutes a "support animal" is a little sketchy right now.)

He very quickly responds that he doesn’t intend to keep it and has no intentions of trying to get it on the ship…he just wants to be able to say he did it.

As much as I hated to crush his alligator buying dreams…(who am I kidding…I’m not the least bit broken up by it…you heard what he wanted to do, right?)…I inform him that I doubt he’d be able to do that. He’d probably have to go to mainland Mexico to find the seedy alligator selling underbelly and we’re only on an island off the coast.

And he responds with…….wait………Cozumel’s an island? ......And………it’s Galveston all over again! Clearly we need an atlas…or more time on Google maps…or just to travel more (I vote for that one!). Yes…Cozumel is an island.

I end the discussion by saying…why don’t you just tell your friends that you ate an alligator…because you did that the other night when you ate the alligator fritters off the Didja Ever side of the dinner menu. (He’s still got that confused look on his face…wondering how he missed this detail in all his Mexico plotting…Cozumel is an island.)

The three of us then head to the Lido buffet for breakfast. As were walking by the pool, we see that the towels animals have run amok and are hogging all the lounge chairs around the pool. Along with a few benches and a couple of tables too. It was pretty cute to see. But…I’m not sure if we were a little late to the viewing…or…if some of the staff creating the animals were a little inebriated…but, some of those towel animal creations looked an awful lot like the ‘towel animal monsters’ we’d leave for our steward on the bathroom floor after showering.

We have our breakfast and then grab our stuff and head off the ship to go meet the 2 minions that are going with us. One of them was having a hard time with that name…Chankanaab…she must’ve asked me 4 or 5 different times…where are we going…Chankanaab…what’s that place again…Chankanaab…how do you say that again…Chankanaab!

Getting off the ship was again EASY…we just strolled right off…no lines…no issues! I’ve been very impressed with the Magic and how it handles moving people around. The ship never felt crowded.

We head to our meeting spot and there’s no sign of the minions. So we wait a bit. And…it’s HOT here! It’s been hot at the other ports…but…Cozumel is really hot. We wait a little longer and then decide to go through the port building and see if they’re waiting on that side…and…after winding our way through…nope…no sign of them. My son starts to look into the stores around the square to see if he can find them and my daughter goes and sits in the shade…leaving me to stand there and watch everyone that’s coming through the port building.

And…we wait some more.

I glance over to my right and notice this cheesy cake statue thing…that says Eat Me on it…written in frosting…and notice some loons climbing in it to take pictures. And then it dawns on me…yep…those are my loons. It’s the minions.

And here they are…

I quickly head over there and find 4 minions…they point to the table they’ve been sitting at and say that they’ve been watching for us.

Um…yeah…this is how they’ve been watching for us!

They finish their margaritas while I gather the kids and then we head for the exit to find a cab. And…as we’re walking out…I hear it one more time…where are we going again…Chankanaab!!!

As I’m talking with the other 2 minions, that aren’t going with us, I see the others heading towards the cabs. As they approach the sign that shows all the cab charges, one minion keeps walking but the other one stops to talk to the dispatcher guy…he asks her where it is that we want to go…and I’m still not positive what it was that she said…but, what I thought I heard was…….ch………..ch……….Czechoslovakia? The dispatcher guy just laughs and loudly says…oh, that’s only 10 bucks.

But…the first minion…who’s at the cab now…didn’t hear the Czechoslovakia part…he just hears 10 bucks. He approaches the first cab, the driver steps out, asks where we want to go and he says Chankanaab…and then he says, it’s 10 bucks right? Now the cab driver is flustered…No! It’s not 10, not 10…let me show you…and he’s trying to drag the minion over to the sign…which I’ve just passed and saw that it’s $16 to Chankanaab. I quickly step between them…pull a $20 from my pocket and say…I saw the sign, it’s $16 right? And, show him the $20. He nods his head and starts to calm down and then he heads back to the cab and opens the door. The one minion is still complaining…but, that guy said it was 10 bucks…so I push him towards the cab and say…that’s to go to Czechoslovakia…we’re not going there!

The ride to Chankanaab is quick and easy and less than 10 minutes later we’re arriving. A park guide greets us as we’re walking up and we explain that we have 3 people for the manatee encounter and 2 for the park entrance and he directs us to the different lines to get in. They ask that we remain in the lobby area because the next manatee tour starts in just 15 minutes. (That’s 15 minutes in Cozumel island time…which is considerably longer than the time I’m used too!)

After a bit of a wait, a large crowd has formed and the guide finally comes to get things moving along. The park has a lot of different dolphin encounters so the guide starts calling the roll for each one…starting with the regular dolphin encounter and then he calls out a bunch of names. Then it’s the dolphin super encounter…and another long list of names. Then it’s the dolphin super-duper encounter and some more names. Finally he gets to the list for the manatee encounter and he calls my daughter’s name and then the two minion’s names…and, that’s it. We all just look at each other…really…again?!! It’s another private tour!

After some instructions and safety information my daughter and the minions put on life vests and are led to the pen…where 3 manatees are waiting…Edgar, Angel and a mystery one (my daughter said she couldn’t pronounce the name…too many x’s). They weren’t allowed to bring the underwater camera to the encounter (because they wanted to sell us the pictures) so I wasn’t doing the encounter with them so that I could try and take some pictures from outside the pen. I ended up not needing to do this because as soon as I saw the photos I knew I had to buy them!

Here’s my daughter with Angel

As I was taking pictures, and the others were with the manatees, my son was also exploring around the park. There was one area in particular that he wanted to find…he was after these guys…

I never did ask him if he purchased one of them…I still don’t want to know!

The manatee encounter went on for more than an hour and they got to feed the manatees heads of lettuce…and kiss them…and play with them…and swim around with them. They’re very intelligent creatures and Angel was the biggest. They would try and give Angel one leaf of lettuce at a time…and he would grab the whole head out of their other hand and then back away with it until he was just out of their reach. They had an endless supply of lettuce to feed them though and had a lot of fun doing it.

Here’s my daughter swimming with two of the manatees.

While I was taking pictures of them…I was also able to catch pictures of this little guy that was trying his hardest to get their attention away from those manatees. He kept leaping behind them…wanting them to come play with him instead.

I’ve reached my picture limit for this post…so…next up – Cozumel…part 2.

It's time for another intermission. I had heard on the forums that our cruise was a Premier Casino cruise. I have no idea what that means. But…I do need to share a little bit about the Casino.

I’m not a big gambler, but I did bring $100 in cash that, over the course of the cruise, I was willing to donate to Carnival if I decided to gamble. I wasn’t quite sure of the ‘players card/players bank’ thing so I had a minion run it down to me. You put your sail and sign card in the machine…and, the very first time it’s going to ask you to set up your account. Easy enough. Some of the minions had already been playing in the casino and had won a little bit so I thought I’d go in and give it a try.

I put some cash in a slot machine (penny slots…that’s my speed)…and then I put my card in to set up my account for the first time…and I get a card error message. So, I take the card out and put it in again…still get a card error. Try it again…still card error. Well…that’s okay, I figured I was going to lose anyway…I’ll just start playing.

Before I can begin a minion sees me at the machine and comes over…so I explain the error with my card. And then I demonstrate it. She says…let me try my card…so she puts her card in my machine and it lights up like it’s supposed to and then she takes it back out. (I see the machine processing something but it doesn’t quite register to me.) And then a service person walks by…so we stop them and explain that my card won’t read and he politely explains that it must’ve deactivated and I’d need to go to guest services to have them fix it. Okay…and then I say…but what about my money? He looks at the machine and says…what money? I look back at the machine and its showing $0.

I explain that I had just put $20 in the machine and was about to start playing when I discovered the card error thing. And then I point to the minion and say…and then she put her card in to make sure it wasn’t a problem with the machine. And he said…well, if she put a good card in, the money transferred to that account when it was removed. And then he asks…do you know her? The minion and I look at each other and I say…NO! And we both start laughing. As we’re standing there laughing the minion’s husband walks up and she explains that she accidently took my money and asks him if he has cash to give me…which he does and hands it over. As I’m walking away to go to guest services I’m thinking…that minion was pretty shrewd…first she got my money…and then she got her husband to pay me. At that rate…she’s going to clean up in the casino without even playing!

On another day, she saw me in there again when I had some winnings on my machine and she offered to put her card in again…I politely declined that offer!

But…we can’t leave this casino story without sharing a bit about some of what I saw. I guess I don’t spend much time in casinos because this truly was a learning experience! Just as a reminder…my experiences were in the penny slots areas…I’m not a table games player. That’s way too much math for me!

What I discovered was that a lot of the casino slot players fell into three different groups. Group 1…the screamers! Group 2…the tag teams! And, Group 3…the rituals!

I found a penny machine that I liked because it was funny…it was based on the old Airplane movie…and the WILD function was the inflatable co-pilot from the movie and it would inflate and wiggle (what can I say…I’m easily entertained). I had my first experience with a screamer when I was playing this machine. A very nice woman sits down at the machine next to me and proceeds to play. It doesn’t take long before she lets out a little shriek…and I’m thinking…wow…she hit something big. In her excitement she bumps my arm and says…I just won 80! I smile politely and nod…(yes…well done…you just won 80 cents!).

A few minutes later…a much louder shriek! This one definitely startled me…and she bumps me again…and excitedly shares that she just won 160…! It’s at this time that I notice she’s betting 400 coins at a time…but I again smile politely…while thinking…congratulations…you lost more than half of your money on that one!

I continue playing my measly 30 cent bets…and, you guessed it. The mother of all blood curdling screams! I’m so startled…I think my spleen exploded! (I’m pretty sure that’s okay though…because I don’t think we need one.) She’s hanging on my arm…so excited…she’d won 320 coins!!! Still…less than her bet…and I’m rapidly pressing my cash out button because I know I’m not going to survive if she hits anything over $10. It’s time for me to move!

On another night in the casino…I get to experience the tag teams. One stands behind the other…or sits next to them…and they take turns doing something. One will push the button…and then…TAG…it’s the next one’s turn. They’ll trade places and then that one will push the button. And then…TAG…they switch again. Sometimes it’s just one each…sometimes it’s a pattern…3 and then 2 and then 3 and then 2…or some other random pattern that you begin to wonder if there’s some significance to it. I was taking it as it’s spelling out ‘time to move again’ in some sort of casino morse code!

And then there’s the rituals. I really need to spend more time in casinos because I had no idea how involved people get. I thought you just put your money in and pushed a button. Maybe pulled a handle. Oh…how inexperienced I was.

The first ritual sat down next to me one evening and began playing…but she didn’t sit for long. Soon she was up…for a few plays. Then…she was crossing her arms over to use a different arm. Then…it was sit on the stool but sit sideways this time. Then…sit the opposite way. And then stand again. Oh…other arm. Left foot in the air. Now hop on one foot. Sit but use both hands on the button. Now stand again…right foot in the air. It was so hard not to laugh…that I ended up quietly humming to myself…’you put your left foot in…you put your left foot out…you put your left foot in…and you shake it all about’. After two rounds of the hokey pokey it was time to cash out again!

The last of the rituals was a little unexpected. I was sitting playing a machine and I kept hearing these people kissing. Um…yeah...awkward. I was afraid to look over…because it was just a little too much. Eventually there was a break and I glance over and it’s just a woman…by herself. Okay…now I’m curious. I glance back over and see that she’s kissing her finger and then kissing every button and then every reel and then whatever creatures were dancing along the top…and then she’d kiss the button one more time…and then she’d press it. And…then it would start all over! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! This is NORO VIRUS just waiting to happen! I felt like I was Sheldon Cooper…my hands go up and I can’t help thinking…what if she was on this machine before I was!!! I think I used the corner of my shirt to hit the cash out button and quickly headed out…to wash my hands!

I didn’t spend much time in the casino after that…never did donate the $100. (I actually ended up cashing out winning a little over $275 when I was finally done…not bad for pennies)

My apologies to any Screamers, Tag Teamers or Rituals that are reading this review. I mean no offense…just sharing my observations! And…please…stop kissing the machines!

I'll end this intermission with a picture. The dinosaur towel animal we found the evening of Grand Cayman was my daughter's favorite.

Next up…Chapter…uh…um…6 maybe? Our final port…Cozumel (Where to buy an alligator, confused cab drivers…and…manatee hugs.)

I just have to tell you I share everyone else views of how good this review is (well except that one stick in the mud....) and also of how great Native Way is for the stingray excursion in Grand Cayman! You didn't mention if they had "an official photographer" along on your excursion. We did and she took a bunch of pictures of my wife and I on the excursion and actually made DVD's on the way back to port for those that wanted to buy them. I thought they were kind of pricy but they were easy to negotiate with.....;) so we agreed that $40 was a little steep and I think I got it for $20. There were 3 people from Native Way on our boat with us. Eldon was one, and a guy named Everett and the photographer Esther. We went in 2008 so it has been quite a while.

 

I found it amazing how many stingrays showed up when the boats started pulling up to the sandbar! It was like the water turned black!

No, we didn't have an official photographer. It was just Chris on the boat with us, no one else from Native Way. But Chris happily took photos for us with our cameras.

I agree that it really was amazing to watch those stingrays show up.

Grand Cayman…part 3

Okay…we’re finishing up our Grand Cayman excursion…and we are back on the boat and heading somewhere to find some starfish. Chris is driving the boat away from our snorkel location and I’ve given up trying to figure out which direction we’re going. I’ll admit it…I am direction impaired. I routinely get into rather heated ‘discussions’ with the navigation in my car…wait…is that my left or your left. It’s not pretty.

So…it’s a little shocking to me when Chris puts the boat in neutral, runs up to the front of the boat and looks out…and then runs to back and looks out…and then…dives off the back of the boat into the ocean.

Um…man overboard?

Were we supposed to follow…’cause I’m not jumping off a perfectly good boat in the middle of the ocean if I’m not seeing any flames?

He quickly surfaces, pulls himself up on the back of the boat and says…this is it! So he drops the anchor and we get ready to go back in the water. Chris explains a little bit about the starfish and about how we don’t want to keep them out of the water for long…as you don’t want the water to completely drain from them. If it does, air could get in causing them to float rather than sink when we put them back and they could die. So, back into the water we go again.

Here’s my daughter

And…here’s what she finds

We end up bringing up 5 large starfish…and they’re huge! (Sorry for the water spots on some of these pictures…I didn’t always remember to shake the water drops off the lens after bringing it out of the water.)

I’m not sure what to say about this picture below…apparently we have a minion that likes to have sea creatures on her head. We’re just going to leave it at that.

Here’s that same minion under water…notice no sea creatures are around. I think they’ve been warned.

I’m really pleased with the point and shoot Panasonic Lumix underwater camera. Not only did it outlive 2 other more expensive cameras…but…a lot of the times I would just point it under the water and shoot…without even looking…and catch shots like this…

Eventually…our time on this amazing excursion comes to an end. Chris dives down to make sure all the starfish are sinking back to the bottom of the ocean floor and the rest of us get back on the boat.

He takes us back to the dock where we say our thank you’s and goodbyes and we head back to the port terminal…(this time in a large, air-conditioned van…with no jump seats!).

Again…I highly recommend Native Way Watersports…they truly provided an unbelievable service to us today. We won’t soon forget the time we spent at Grand Cayman.

Next up…Chapter…uh…um…6 maybe? Our final port…Cozumel (Where to buy an alligator, confused cab drivers…and…manatee hugs.) But…don’t be surprised if there are one or two intermissions first…I’m not sure we’re done with the Cayman Islands just yet.

Did Verizon send you actual gift cards or just email you the codes for the credits? With "e gift card" makes me think it's an online deal not a physical gift card

I chose the e gift card option where they email the cards. The email comes directly from Carnival not verizon. I believe there was an option to be mailed cards but you pay for shipping. I printed the emailed cards and took them on board with me. And kept the emails on my phone as a back up.

I purchased 8 of the $100 ecards from Verizon rewards for the trip we went on a couple of weeks ago...to cover cheers for 2 and tips for 3. It was a very easy process at guest services.

And…we’re back! This one is mostly going to be pictures (so feel free to drink those liquids with abandon!).

We were about to get back on the boat and leave Stingray City. But, before we do, I want to share a little story about our guide, Chris, from Native Way Watersports.

I know there are many people that are not comfortable using a private vendor for an excursion and Carnival offers many Stingray City excursions to choose from…even some of the minions were questioning why we weren’t going with Carnival. But, when you’re out there and you see the difference…it’s an easy choice. We saw boats out there with 150+ passengers sardined onto them…and, they don’t have nearly enough guides to give everyone the type of experience that we were getting.

Just before we were about to get back on our boat one of those 100+ people boats anchored nearer to us. Some of the people from that crowd started to drift a little closer to where we were. You could tell that they were very excited to be there and they were truly fascinated as they got glimpses of the stingrays as they swam by…but, they didn’t know what to do and it was clear that their guides weren't around to help them.

We were all still swimming around and enjoying our last few minutes before getting back on the boat when I noticed Chris swim over to the edge of that crowd of people that had been getting closer. He dove down into the water, scooped up a stingray, and he began to show them how to properly handle it and how to gently pass it around to each other.

He didn’t have to do that. But…I’m sure he was concerned for the safety of those people and for the safety of his beloved stingrays. And, most importantly, he just wanted those people to have a memorable experience, even if they weren’t his responsibility. That’s the type of company Native Way Watersports is and I would highly recommend them!

Here’s our wonderful guide, Chris, helping a minion with her Stingray hat!

Now we’re all back on board the boat – my daughter and some minions ride up at the rail.

Chris heads the boat away from Stingray City and it’s not long before we are at our next location…snorkeling around the Coral Garden. The dark areas in the picture below are the coral formations. The color of the water out here is incredible. I can’t even describe it.

Chris tosses some fish food off the back of the boat and the fish come swarming. And…this picture of the fish below becomes the last picture to be taken with the Fuji underwater camera. The screen on the back goes out on it and we now have dead camera #2. (Uh oh…this was the one that was borrowed!)

Fortunately…my point and shoot is still pointing and shooting! Here’s a snorkel selfie my daughter took with a minion.

And…this lobster…wandering around on the bottom...was huge!

I’ve reached my photo limit for this post so I’m going to wrap up the snorkeling. We’re going to climb back into the boat and go search for some starfish.

Next up…Grand Cayman…part 3.

We interrupt our Grand Cayman continuation for a brief public service announcement.

For this announcement, we have to go back to Galveston briefly. The goal is to spare others from an equally embarrassing encounter.

I had explained earlier that I selected the hotel, the Four Points Sheraton, for the night before our cruise, because of its location. I thought the pier would be a fun place for all of us to hang out, and there’s also Murdoch’s, a great souvenir store situated over the ocean…with a huge back porch and rows of white Adirondack chairs to sit in and watch the waves and the lights from the pier, along with many other shops and restaurants within easy walking distance from the hotel.

One day, while eating my lunch at my desk at work, I decided to do some research about the pier…ticket prices, types of rides, etc.

Here’s the tip I have for you…remember to type in the FULL name of the pier in any search engines…including the word ‘Galveston’ first……Galveston Pleasure Pier.

Forgetting to type in the ‘Galveston’ part…might also get you embarrassingly hauled into to Security to be lectured on why we don’t use company equipment to access ‘those’ types of sites!

Honestly…Mr. Security…I’m going on vacation and I was doing some research about the area…it’s really just an amusement park (I think he’s believing me)…on an island (this is good…he’s starting to nod his head)…in Texas…(and....…I’ve lost him!). What is it about us Californians that we can’t associate islands with Texas!

But seriously…who named that place?! ‘Pleasure Pier’…oh my! :eek:

We now return you to your regularly scheduled wait for Grand Cayman…part 2.

Thank you all again for your kind comments and continued support. I really appreciate it!

On to Grand Cayman…Chapter 5…

As with Jamaica, all the minions had previously been to the Cayman Islands…and yet, I’m the one designated to plan the activities…the one who’s never been there! And, unlike Jamaica, this time all the minions would be joining us on whatever activity is planned. I asked for ideas from the minions on what we should do on this island and was told…we HAVE to go to Stingray City.

Okay…sounds good…that’s a cute name for a city on an island. (You can probably already tell where this is heading.) So…I start to do my research on the ‘city’. I have my questions…how far of a cab ride is it from the port? What will we do there…shopping…lunch…is there a beach we can go to?

And then…very quickly...reality sets in. Stingray City isn’t a city at all…it’s an adventure. And not just any adventure…think Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom…type of adventure! (Now you too can’t get that theme music out of your head…you’re welcome.)

So…here’s the premise of Stingray City. You’re going to get on a boat. The boat is going to head straight out into the open ocean for a long time until there’s no sign of land anywhere. Then, a large sand bar is going to magically appear. You’re going to get off the boat and climb onto this magical sand bar. And then…any number of WILD stingrays are going to approach to ‘frolic’ with you.

Are those minions INSANE??!! I’ve seen the movie Open Water…and…I loved the Crocodile Hunter.

After verifying my husband knew where the life insurance policy was filed…along with the instructions on how to set the clock on the microwave…I proceed to reserve 8 spots on a Stingray City, Snorkel and Starfish excursion with Native Way Watersports for $40 per person.

Here’s something I don’t understand about cruising…why do all the port days have to be one right after the other? Would it be so hard to move one of those sea days from the beginning to in between a couple of port days? Doesn’t Carnival know how hard it is to get teenagers/20 something’s moving early in the morning on multiple days in a row…on vacation?

So, after our blissfully pleasant day in Jamaica (well, for some of us!)…we’re all finishing dinner and discussing the plan for the next day, Grand Cayman. The minions want to know where and when we’ll meet. I share the news that we’ll be arriving in Grand Cayman at the excruciatingly early time (well, for my kids anyway) of 7:00am. And, our instructions from Native Way are to check in at the port terminal before 8:15am.

Grand Cayman is a tender port and we’ve all been through the tender process before. You get in line to get a tender ticket, you sit and wait until your tender ticket number is called…and then you get in line to get on the tender. The kids and I have FTTF so we have priority…so, I “encourage” the minions to get on as early a tender as possible.

Finally…the morning arrives! I had thought ahead and pre-ordered room service since I knew it would be a challenge to get my daughter out of bed. I figured I would coax her out with citrus segments and cinnamon crunch cereal. (I was going to just move on…but…I can’t resist elaborating on the citrus segments…because you’d never know how amused the minions and I were with our citrus segments. We even liked saying it…I can’t wait to order my citrus segments from room service! You can go up to the Lido breakfast buffet and find an entire tray of grapefruit halves…and, in another area of the buffet, find a huge bowl of cut up grapefruit and orange pieces. But…if you order citrus segments from room service…it’s as if they’ve taken the grapefruit half, and very carefully removed just 3 of the triangular sections. And then, did the same with a half of an orange…except, you only get 2 sections of the orange. You’d literally have to order 6 servings of citrus segments to have the equivalent of a half of a grapefruit! But...it’s laid out very pretty…and, it comes with a bright green leaf for a garnish.)

While the kids get ready, I pack up the bag with the Carnival beach towels, the SPF 1000 sunscreen and the underwater camera. Let’s talk cameras for a minute. I love photos…I love taking them…I love looking at them…I love pointing at them when my kids complain about the boring childhood they had…that’s you in Hawaii…that’s you at Disneyland…that’s you in Alaska. Cameras are my friend!

I used this trip as an opportunity to upgrade my camera equipment. I had an old, large DSLR camera and I upgraded to a new mirrorless system, the Sony A6000 (which I love). I also purchased a point and shoot underwater camera, a Panasonic Lumix. I spent a lot of time learning the intricacies of my new Sony…changing the lenses, trying out different modes, learning the functions of the dials, etc. For the point and shoot, I took it out of the box…charged the battery…pointed it at the dog…and shot. Thus ended the training.

Two of the minions on this trip are certified divers so one of them brought along her Olympus underwater camera and the other diver brought along a Fuji underwater camera he had borrowed.

Around 7:45am, the kids were finally ready. I was anxious to try out the FTTF sticker on my card and claim our place at the front of the tender line. We step into the hallway and over to the stairs…and…there’s no one. No line…no one! We walk down the two flights of stairs…and still no line. We walk right off the ship and onto the tender. (It was probably for the best…that kind of power would go right to my head.) We wait a few minutes for the tender to fill and then away we go. (Again, easy!)

The Carnival Magic and a Royal Caribbean ship from the tender.

At the other side, we step off the tender and start walking up the pier…and…uh oh…I can hear the minions shouting before I even see them. “It’s about time! We were all on the 7:05am tender!” Fortunately…it’s all just in fun…though inside, I’m thinking…the stakes are high for this excursion. I need to redeem myself over this error in judgment.

They walk me over to Eldon with Native Way and the kids and I get checked in. We just have to wait a few minutes more for a few additional people and then Eldon is leading us through the port and out to our transportation. As we’re walking, we pass sleek shiny new air-conditioned bus after sleek shiny new air-conditioned bus…all the way to the very end where our bus is waiting. Our bus is not sleek. Our bus is not new or shiny. Our bus is definitely not air-conditioned…at least not the cool kind…it’s the open window kind.

We climb on the bus and it appears we have more people than seats…and that’s when Eldon points out the jump seats. (Is that what they’re called? Additional seats that fold out, blocking the aisle way.) I immediately start sweating…and, it’s not from of a lack of air-conditioning. I have an irrational fear of these types of buses (these would NEVER be allowed in California)…because I feel like I’m trapped. Which is ridiculous…because I’m sitting next to giant open windows! It’s not as bad this time because I’m nearer to the front. (The only other time this happened I was closer to the back on a bus in the Bahamas. We were going to Atlantis and our driver decided to take us on a more scenic route…where we got the extra special scenic view of a drug deal gone bad…complete with lovely ‘figure drawings’…in chalk…on the pavement.) On this bus I’ll only have to trample one row of people to get to that door…my apologies to the minions seated in front of me!

Eldon gets the bus moving and we head for the Yacht Club. He points out places of interest and we pass by some beautiful mansions. One of the minions turns to my son and says…when you become wealthy, buy one of these mansions and invite us all…and he laughs and says okay. About a minute later, a stranger’s voice comes from the very back of the bus and says…I’d like an invite too! And, we all start laughing. You’ve got to love cruise people!

We arrive at our destination and all pile out onto the dock. I can see that there are already quite a few people on board the two-level boat. All the seats on the top level are already taken and most of the seats in the shade on the bottom level are full. But, there’s still lots of room at the back. The couple in front of me steps up to the check in person, gives them her name and she directs them to board. And then I step up and give my name. She tells me that we’re going with Chris…he steps up and we follow him to a very large 40+ foot single level boat right next to the other boat.

Chris helps each of us on to the boat and when the last minion is on, he jumps back on to the deck…grabs the line tying the boat to the deck…and, jumps back on the boat. We all start looking at each other…thinking, is this for real? Especially after looking back at the full boat next to us…and finally one of the minions turns to Chris and says…is it just us? Chris responds with…yes it is…you’ve got the whole boat!

On the boat!

The boat ride out of Grand Cayman is amazing. There is a lush green vegetation along the area leaving the boat dock and the iguanas thrive on it…so they’re everywhere. (My apologies to that bizarre office building SIM game…but…if any iguana population is going to claim sovereign territory…it’s going to happen here!)

It’s a 30 minute ride out to the sand bar and the colors of the water…the blues and the greens…are just spectacular. Chris keeps us entertained and shares his knowledge of the area and also about the stingrays. And…before you know it…we’re here!

We all start climbing out of the boat and the water is crystal clear and warm and the sand is so soft. I step off the ladder onto the sand and a minion follows right behind me…but, I hear her groan a little bit and it looks like she does some sort of involuntary shudder. So I immediately ask if she’s okay…and her response is…………..we’re in a fish toilet.

I must not have heard that right so I say…excuse me? And she says it again…we’re in a fish toilet. And then goes on to say…these things are peeing and pooping in here! And, we both can’t help but start laughing and I say…but, it’s the ocean. And she responds with…I know…it’s a GIANT fish toilet!

I have to stop laughing because Chris already has a large stingray in his arms and is about to hand it off to my daughter, as she’s about to be the first one to get to interact with these creatures. Myself and the two other minions with cameras line up and we immediately turn into stingray paparazzi…look over here, lift your head, smile this way…who are you wearing…which we continue to do so that every one of us gets pictures with these incredible creatures.

Here’s my daughter with a stingray.

And, my son.

And…a minion.

Even my beautiful Mom (aka Grandma Minion) got in with the stingrays!

With help from Chris we got to hold them, kiss them, feed them, take pictures with them and just interact with them…it was an amazing, incredible experience.

(It wasn’t until I got home and was going through the pictures that I realized I didn’t have a picture of ‘Fish Toilet’ minion holding or kissing a stingray. And, every picture I did have of her, when a stingray was being brought near her…has her face all scrunched up. You could see in her face exactly what she was thinking…this thing is peeing on me!)

About midway through the stingray paparazzi session I noticed one minion banging on her camera. The Olympus was dead. We were down one underwater camera.

After a little more time with these amazing creatures it was time to head back on the boat and move to our next location…the coral garden.

Next up…Grand Cayman…part 2.

Don't you think it is a little hypocritical to get offended by the comments you overheard from men on their balconies when you report with amusement that your son was giggling out loud at the expense of people that were simply inexperienced cruisers. It's funny when your son laughs at people who's only offense was asking a customer service person at guest services a question.

 

Maybe if the big Texan or the woman looking for her luggage post a review they will state how offended they were when a young man was giggling to the point of tears at their inexperience, while his mother looked on.

Point taken...yes indeed, I am a hypocrite. Please feel free to bypass the rest of my ramblings. Sorry for the offense.

Interesting timing on the shuttle cancellation. We just returned on 10/12 to find a bit of congestion with parking lot shuttles. The driver informed us that the port authority had, with little prior notification, more than quadrupled port access fees for parking lot shuttles, while maintaining level fees for taxis. Apparently, the port authority has just purchased its own parking lot and is using its (Authority) leverage to pressure the competition.

Port Authority...mafia...it's semantics! :D

Over 9,000 views already…I hope that means you want me to continue. As I said at the beginning…I’ve never written a review before…then again, does this even qualify as a review? Reviews tend to provide useful information! What’s a better name for this…narrative…diatribe………I know……..manifesto! The Carnival Magic Manifesto…it sounds so official.

Uh oh…official sounding isn’t good…you might raise your expectations…I need to keep them low! We’ll stick with review.

I should have some time to write the Cayman Islands portion on Friday…the ports take a little longer. (Maybe I’m saying too much…let me know if you’re tired of reading my ramblings and just want pictures.)

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me!

(On a side note...the minions and I all got together last night...and...I was told to start looking for another cruise. It's unanimous...we're doing this again!)

Next up…Chapter 5 – Cayman Islands (Jump Seats, Underwater Camera Deaths…and…Swimming in the Fish Toilet)

This is just another brief intermission to share a quick story…along with another picture.

My story is about the camaraderie of strangers.

I’m traveling with a teenager whose favorite activity, especially during daylight hours…is sleep! In the mornings, for breakfast, my son and I would usually go to the Lido buffet and eat together. We’d then go back to the cabin in the late morning to drag my teenager out of bed for a short while so Dewa could take care of the room. The routine would be that we’d then go with her to the Lido buffet and sit with her while she had her breakfast. On one of the sea day mornings we had just gotten to the buffet for my daughter’s breakfast. My son went and sat at a table, my daughter was filling her plate, and I went over to the drink station to get her a drink.

I stepped in line behind a man who was waiting his turn and then another man waited behind me. We were three strangers…about to share a common experience.

The person filling their drink finished and the man in front of me was about to step forward when we heard a commotion. A woman hurtles towards us…she’s waving her arms and frantically, breathlessly says…I need to get up there real quick.

The man steps back to give her room and I’m thinking…this must be an emergency. Someone must have heatstroke and she’s about to save them. Or…we’re all going to have to form a water brigade using mini neon colored cups to put out some raging fire. We are about to be called into action…I know it.

Then…the brave woman…defiantly steps forward……….and………proceeds to begin washing her hands in the drinking water. As the three of us strangers look on with our mouths agape.

She glances back at us…sees the horrified expressions on our faces…and says…I had something sticky on my fingers.

The man at the front…closes his mouth…points to his left…and says, the hand sanitizer is right there. And then he looks over at me.

I close my mouth…point in the same direction…and say…and the restroom is right behind it. And then I look over at the man behind me.

He closes his mouth…opens it again….closes it once more…gets this big smile on his face…and says…I got nothing. And…the three of us strangers bust up laughing.

The woman glares at us…as if WE’VE personally offended HER…and walks away.

I only saw the men one or two other times around the ship…but…big smiles were always shared.

And…here’s one more photo…from the end of our day at Jamaica…I caught a bit of the sunset from our cove balcony. I have to admit…it’s going to be hard for me to go back to any other type of cabin……..being so near the water was breathtaking.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled wait for Grand Cayman.

Still with me? Here's the continuation of Chapter 4...Jamaica!

Meanwhile, we have another group of minions (including Grandma minion) that have also ventured out, on a Carnival shopping excursion. They’ve all been to Jamaica before…and up until today…had been adamant that they would be in the group that would not be leaving the ship in Jamaica. At the last minute, they changed their minds and decided to venture out…but, only under the protection of a Carnival excursion.

They’re traveling in a small air conditioned motor coach and are actually enjoying their drive around the island. They make one stop at a small marketplace but quickly tire of the aggressive vendors and return to the bus. They have one other marketplace to go to and then the final destination will also be Margaritaville and the Hip Strip.

On the motor coach, minion 1 has the window seat, minion 2 is next to him and grandma minion is in the seat across the aisle. They are happily chatting away when minion 1 starts tapping minion 2. She ignores him and keeps on chatting…and the tapping becomes more pronounced and more frantic. Minion 2 finally looks over at minion 1 and he discreetly points out the window…and minion 2’s eyes become the size of saucers…as she sees that the motor coach is about to turn into their next shopping destination…where the entire outdoor area of very first vendor’s place of business is lined with brightly painted six foot tall wooden sculptures of…a…um…a portion of the male anatomy that rhymes with ‘weenis’. And…the first thought that crosses minion 2’s mind is…OMG, I’m with my 75 year old mother!

As with the other minions…this story is being regaled to us as we’ve all gathered for dinner. I feel sorry for the other diners this evening, as our table is near hysteria. You can just imagine the jokes and comments that were shared (while trying to be respectful of our other diners)…but, we were all disappointed that there were no pictures! Another trip to Jamaica is going to have to be planned…just to document the evidence.

Back at the Sunset Beach resort…we’re getting hungry…it’s time to head to the buffet. And, here’s our view from our table.

At the buffet we have a large selection of fresh fruits and salad makings to choose from. Along with sandwich fixings and desserts. And then, a large section for hot foods including delicious jerk chicken and fresh fish…and rice, pasta and vegetables offerings. Ice water and sodas are serve yourself…and then another bar is just steps away.

As we’re finishing up our lunch…minion group 2 is finishing up their shopping at the ‘wooden garden’ and are now being deposited at Margaritaville…with the crowds. They squeeze their way in and find some standing room only area at the back…not realizing that the other minions are at a table right upstairs…rapidly downing liquid courage before attempting the ride back!

Again…back at the resort…the kids and I decide to move from the beach and spend some time at one of the pools, if it’s not too crowded. And…it’s not. In this picture the kids are taking a selfie at the nearly empty pool. (I’m beginning to think I imagined the bus load of people we rode in with!)

If this pool had been too crowded we could’ve just moved to the sea turtle pool on the other side of the bar. Seen here.

I swear…it was a large bus…and it was full. And, here are the slides and lazy river.

And, the view of the ship from the top of the slides.

It’s getting later in the afternoon now and, even though they didn’t find each other at Margaritaville, you’ll be happy to know that both sets of minions had uneventful, stress free rides back to the ship and were safely back on board.

The kids and I are still at the pool and our peaceful setting is interrupted by two loud, very inebriated couples. One of the men is yelling…about how he doesn’t care that the shuttle is out there. That the ship doesn’t leave until 4:00pm so he’s not leaving yet…since it’s not even 3:00pm.

Now…our ship, which is the only one docked at Montego Bay…doesn’t leave until 5:30pm. So…these people (which we started referring to as ‘the soon to be pier runners’) must be on one of the other ships that are docked at the farther away locations. Once he finished his tirade…he belly flopped into the pool and then pushed himself along the edge and deposited himself on the stools at the pool bar...waiting to be served.

The rest of the soon to be pier runners…sat their stuff down, waded into the pool and joined him at the bar. After consuming even more alcohol, they eventually got out of the pool and left…and, I thought that would be the last we’d see of the soon to be pier runners.

Our shuttle wasn’t coming back until 4:30pm but around 4:00pm we’d decided to end our day in paradise. We gathered our stuff and headed to the front where we knew a line of cabs was waiting. As we crossed the breezeway…we began to hear the shouting. And, as we got nearer…there stood the ‘soon to be pier runners’…which I should probably now change to ‘soon to be stranded passengers’ arguing with the manager. The obnoxious man was shouting about how they missed the shuttle…that he knows he’d been drinking…but…that they’d paid their money for it and “they” have to get them back to the ship. The other man is comforting the two women…as one looks like she’s crying.

I step up to the front desk and the lady turns to me, points to them…and says in a snotty tone…are you with them? I quickly say no…and her whole demeanor changes. She’s as nice as can be as she asks how she can help us. I explain we’re supposed to be on the 4:30pm shuttle but we’d like to take a cab back early. She walks us out, signals for a cab to pull up and wishes us well on our journey.

It was a crazy ending to a perfect day at a beautiful resort. I would highly recommend Resort for a Day and the Sunset Beach Resort in Montego Bay.

We had a FANTASTIC time in Jamaica…but…I’m not sure the minions would agree!

Next up…Chapter 5 – Cayman Islands (Jump Seats, Underwater Camera Deaths…and…Swimming in the Fish Toilet)

Chapter 4…Jamaica

(Dear review reader…I hope you brought a snack, we’re going to be here awhile! I'll probably have to separate this in a few different posts.)

I booked this cruise, and itinerary, because the kids and I have never been to these destinations. Turns out, the minions all had…multiple times. So…you’d think they’d be planning all of our port activities…but, no…that would be me. (I think they wanted someone to blame when it all went to………you know. Let’s see how much blame I’ll be taking.)

Researching Jamaica is frustrating. There are just as many people that love it as there are people that will never step foot off the ship again on that island. There’s some pretty strong hatred of it. It seems to revolve around very aggressive vendors…and, the drug sellers. (I’m having a hard time turning off that alarm in my head…warning…warning…nearing seedy underbelly.)

My daughter would like to have a relaxing beach day in Jamaica. So, I’m looking at 3 options. The first is the Carnival excursion to Seawinds all-inclusive beach resort. It’s in Montego Bay, so just minutes from the ship…and, it’s $99 per person. The second option is to go with the private vendor, Resort for a Day, to the Sunset Beach all-inclusive beach resort, also in Montego Bay, and $69 per person. The third option is to take a taxi to Dr. Cave’s Beach, near the Hip Strip, and pay the entrance fee, chair & umbrella fees, maybe get some food and drinks…and with round trip taxi, would probably be about $100 total for the 3 of us…so, it’s the least expensive option.

The more reviews I would read…the more unsure I would get. I liked the idea of being close to the ship…but then…you don’t get to see any of the island. I thought my son would prefer the Dr.’s Cave option…as it’s closer to any underbelly he’s going to see there….but, I was concerned about how my daughter would handle the aggressive vendors. I finally asked my son if he would mind going to one of the all-inclusives and he graciously said…I’m just along for the ride. I’ll go wherever you want.

Even after that…I was still leaning towards Dr.’s Cave Beach to give the kids the experience of seeing the island. Just days before leaving…I was reading a recent Jamaica review to pass the time, and it talked about the wonderful private tour they went on all around the island. They then casually mentioned that their plan was to get dropped off at the Hip Strip before heading back to the ship but that the area was closed, because of a shooting, so they went straight back to the ship.

You should’ve seen how quickly my fingers grabbed my debit card and 3 reservations were very quickly secured with Resort for a Day…we’re staying in Montego Bay! I let the minions know of our plans and invited them to join us but none of them did. One group of minions was going to take a taxi to Margaritaville, which is next to Dr.’s Cave Beach…and, the other group of minions went ahead and booked one of the Carnival shopping excursions.

Fast forward to the cruise…and we’ve arrived in Jamaica! We pack up our Carnival beach towels and our SPF 1000 sunscreen and head off the ship. (Another benefit of the cove balcony cabins is the easy access to getting on and off the ship…no waiting for crowded elevators!) We walked down the two flights of stairs and walked right off the ship…easy!

After getting through the maze of shops in the terminal, we wind our way outside and find our hosts waiting for us. There is already a good sized group waiting but we need to wait about 15 minutes more for the remainder of the people to arrive. Once everyone was there, a large plush air conditioned bus pulls up to take us on our journey. Our driver is very friendly and he happily shares history and facts about the island…including that they don’t say ‘Yes’ there…they say ‘Yea Mon’ and…they drive on the wrong side of the road. (Well, I believe he said that they drive on the right side of the road…but, clearly, he was driving on the wrong side!)

After about 5 minutes, we arrive at our destination. The staff are waiting to welcome us and lead us through the beautiful breezeway to the check-in. I get the 3 of us checked in and turn around from the desk and the entire bus load of people has scattered. WTH?! Now I’m a little worried...maybe I should’ve sent the kids ahead to find us some lounge chairs…what if this is chair hog city and I’ve just made a huge blunder. We head for the door and a nice woman says…you can go either left or right to the beach. Two pools are here in front, and another two pools, the water slides and the lazy river are further to the right. The buffet lunch begins at noon…Enjoy!

I can’t see the beaches so I just decide to go left and hope we’ll be able to find a spot. And…this is what we find…

Paradise! In this picture my daughter is putting our stuff under the first thatched umbrella and then, other than the 3 of us, there is one other group of 4 people all the way at the left end of the beach. This is unbelievable!

In the meantime…one set of minions heads off the ship around noon and is now in a cab on their way to Margaritaville. (We get to hear this tale at dinner.) The adventure starts out easily enough…they find a taxi, discuss the rate, and off they go. The ride is pleasant enough until they start to get closer to town and then traffic comes to a complete stop. And…the driver begins to get agitated. The minions notice he begins to randomly shout out his window at no one in particular. The line of cars next to them moves one car length and now a different car is next to them. The taxi driver looks over…the other driver looks back…and…it’s full on road rage! They both start screaming at each other.

The other driver is drinking a red stripe beer (while driving!) and he’s gesturing wildly with the bottle sending beer everywhere…including on to the cab…which infuriates the cab driver even more. The traffic finally begins moving but both drivers continue their shrieking at each other as they careen down the street.

Another tidbit about those aggressive Jamaican vendors…some of them will stand in the middle of the street, in between the moving lines of cars, to sell their wares. The minion’s insane taxi driver is heading straight for one of those vendors…who they guess is selling car parts…because he’s wearing a steering wheel around his neck and carrying several large metal objects. One minion has her hands over her eyes as the other minion is saying…oh no…oh no…oh no…as they hurtle towards the vendor who is now contortioning himself into the smallest profile he can make while carrying large metal objects…as the cab passes harrowingly close by.

After what seems like an eternity…they finally reach Margaritaville and…bruised, bleeding and beginning to barf…they stumble out of the cab.

The downstairs area of Margaritaville is packed…and loud…so they climb their way upstairs seeking out a table and a couple of large margaritas to calm their nerves.

And…the kids and I are here…

As it turns out, the Seawinds resort, from the Carnival excursion I didn’t pick, is right next door. We can’t see it…but, we can clearly hear the DJ and the music. A smile spreads across my face as the DJ says…everyone in the water make some noise…and a loud cheer erupts. Did you just see that picture above of my daughter….…she’s the only one in the water where we are………..this is so tranquil.

Back to the Margaritaville minions. Having calmed their nerves, they walk over to Dr.’s Cave Beach…where they see it is wall to wall people…and decide not to bother. They walk around the shops in the area for a little bit before eventually, heading back to Margaritaville…thinking they’re going to need a couple more margaritas before venturing back into a cab for the ride back to the ship.

Minions in the Jamaican bob sled at Margaritaville

(Continued in the next post)

I would've wanted a warning first (to remove the fear and to get my camera ready). On a cruise to Alaska we had a Navy sub surface next to the ship...but the captain came on and warned us first...it was awesome to see!

You’re going to have to wait just a little longer before Jamaica…here’s a few other ship things first.

First off…thank you all for your kind comments regarding this review…you guys are GREAT! (Ha ha…did you catch that? As flounder315 so eloquently stated…Californian’s say ‘you guys’ …which is not gender specific… instead of y’all.)

Let’s talk about the Cheers program. I mentioned that I’m not a big drinker but I ordered it anyway. I wanted the opportunity to try new things when I wanted…and, I really liked having unlimited non-alcoholic smoothies and frozen cocktails…in addition to soda. I knew it meant that I’d have to order it for my 21 year old son as well…so, we went in with one ground rule…no getting ridiculously drunk in front of the minions (especially his Grandma!). Since I’d already crushed his dreams of exploring seedy underbellies…he was pleased to be getting this service…and, in the beginning, was worried about how quickly those 15 drinks would run out. I’m happy to say that he only reached double digits on one day…and that was when he’d made it to 12. I’m proud of that guy…he handled himself well. (For myself, I probably averaged 4 alcoholic drinks per day, another 4 non-alcoholic frozen type drinks, and 4 diet sodas…for a rough estimate of 4x$10 + 4x$5 + 4x$2 = approx. $68 per day, if bought separately, and I paid $37.50 per day plus tax. Not a huge savings…but, worth it to me to know I wouldn’t be surprised with a large bill at the end of the cruise.

For cruises out of Texas you can’t purchase the Cheers program until the second day because…um….uh…..? Hmm, this is really surprising. It’s not surprising that I don’t know the reason…it’s surprising that Texas has this restriction. I have to admit…my brief experience in Texas was….refreshing! Throwing our luggage, and ourselves, onto a pink trolley that was being towed by a Jeep…would NEVER be allowed in California. We drove that entire way to the port…WITH NO SEATBELTS! Unheard of!

As we were walking along the Galveston seawall the evening before the cruise I noticed there were pieces of the concrete along the sidewalks that were UNEVEN, and even pieces MISSING. I had to watch where I was walking. In complete contrast, the beautiful city I live in has pristine sidewalks…all perfectly smooth. And yet, section by section, the city is ripping out every section and replacing it…all because some brilliant politician decided the cracks between the slabs needed to be a ¼ of an inch smaller…and…if the city doesn’t do it, they’ll be sued. Oh…Texas…how I miss you. (It might take me awhile…but…I could probably learn how to say y’all.)

Back to the ship stuff…we loved the Movies up on the Lido deck. I think this was Men in Black 3.

They serve popcorn at the pool bar…which I recommend you add the salt to, which is sitting next to the popcorn machine. My kids went through a lot of popcorn even if they didn’t stay for the movie. Some of the movies playing this week were Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, Maleficient, Rio 2, Gravity. Oh! And, the only time on this trip that I actually felt it rain on us…was during the movie……….wait for it…….…Noah! How poetic. God’s irony!

In addition to the popcorn…some favorite food places were the Mongolian Grill (they have shrimp on embarkation day…go! Along with octopus, mussels and salmon throughout the week. Beef and Chicken were offered often and occasionally pork.)…we also liked the pizza place and the deli. We tried the burrito bar…and the outdoor grill but they weren’t favorites. And, we only used room service twice, once for a late lunch and once for breakfast on an early port day. Both times were great. We never went hungry…in fact, it was a joke between all of us that if it’s been 20 minutes since we’ve eaten…we must be starving!

We had a table for 8 for dinner, at the early dining service, with a window view. We got to watch many a sunset from our table out our dirty window.

Sunset from our table...through sea spray covered window.

Our servers were Wayon and J. They were wonderful and very attentive. We had absolutely no complaints about anything with the food or the service. (Though…some of the minions were very vocal about their dislike of the warm chocolate melting cake…referred to as a bowl of uncooked cake batter. I’ll keep them away from cruise critic!)

One of the funny highlights of the cruise was when one of the minions did a spectacular Augustus Gloop impersonation as he got stuck in the water slide tube! This is a picture of him trying to scoot himself down! If only I could’ve remembered the words to the Oompa Loompa song…we’d have had a sing-a-long!

Eventually he made it down the slide and was deposited into the bowl.

And…another minion comes out of the slide.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled wait for Jamaica.

Next up…Chapter 4...And then there’s Jamaica (Yea mon, Insane Cab Drivers and 6’ Wooden statues of…um…something that rhymes with ‘weenis’)

Chapter 3 – Around the ship!

I know the port workers are very dedicated and work hard at what they do…I’m not trying to slam anyone here. But…on occasion…there’s a dud. This is the story of one of those dud’s. We’re in our cabin awaiting the announcement for muster and excited to get this show on the road…um, show on the sea…uh, set sail…whatever. I step out onto the cove balcony and am dumbfounded by what I see. So…naturally, I yell into the cabin at my son because he’s got to come out and see this!

Our cove balcony has a direct view of the Galveston port buildings and the activity that occurs to get a ship ready for its next voyage. We are literally across from a guy on a forklift that I could probably take my shoe off and throw at him…and clip him in the head…with no problem (which I considered doing…as I watched this all unfold)…we are that close.

He is about to get in the driver’s seat of the forklift. On one of the two forklift prongs, he has precariously balanced some poor schlub’s garment bag. Just on one of the prongs, mind you. He then proceeds to start driving the forklift…and…within just a few feet…the inevitable happens…the bag falls off and bump, bump, bump…under the forklift it goes. So…bump, bump, bump, he backs up. He gets down from the forklift…and, using his feet…he pushes the garment bag onto the one prong again…gets back in and starts driving. You can probably guess what happens next…bump, bump, bump. (I really hope it was only clothes in that bag…nothing breakable.) So…’the genius’…backs the forklift up again. About this time…a small truck comes speeding up to the forklift. A guy in a hard hat jumps out of the truck…he hurries to the front of the forklift…grabs the garment bag…hurries to the forklift driver and SHOVES the bag into his hand. And then gestures with his other hand for the guy to GO! The forklift drives off…the driver holding the garment bag…and…a small cheer erupts from our side of the ship. (Later we would receive notice that 3 different people were missing an item of luggage…but, none was a garment bag…so, apparently it made it onto the ship. Or, some poor schlub on the Royal Caribbean ship went missing a garment bag.)

Just after the forklift show ended our cabin steward, Dewa, stopped by. Dewa was from Indonesia. He was friendly and attentive…and LOUD! All we had to do was step one foot into the hallway – and Dewa would be conversing with us LOUDLY by name…and, my son would return an equally loud…Wass Up! We had a total of 4 cove balconies for us and the minions…but only 2 of us had Dewa. Yet…Dewa learned the names and relations of every minion and would LOUDLY announce their arrival or departure from the hallway. We could be a football field length away at the other end of the hallway and that eagle eyed steward would spot us and start shouting (his fellow stewards in the hallways would just shake their heads as we walked by). It was funny! Sadly…for those about to embark on the Magic…Dewa was leaving at the end of our cruise and taking some time off…there will be no shouting steward for you.

I highly recommend the cove balconies. They are wonderful! Some of the minions questioned my wisdom…tempted by what they thought was a good price for balconies on deck 6. But…when they walked around on deck 5 and saw…as I warned them…that people can see right into those deck 6 cabins…they were cheering on my wisdom (okay…not out loud…but, I could feel it).

I loved that we were so close to the water and that we could watch the waves breaking from the front of the ship. (Not the most pleasant thought here…but…as I was standing on our cove balcony it struck me that if a horrible emergency occurred…such as a fire or something catastrophic…it would not be difficult to evacuate into the water, if it were to become necessary. Not like having to drop 100’ up from those plush Deck 10 Lido or Deck 11 Spa Balcony…we’re just a quick drop to the warm Caribbean water. Sorry…it’s from years and years of living with someone in Law Enforcement…this way of thinking is drilled into me.)

Waves crashing at the front of the ship.

Our balcony was only wet on one day…and we had received notification of it the night before…because they’d be cleaning the balconies while in port in Jamaica. There was never any threat to close the outer doors or anything like that.

Our cabin, along with one of the minion’s cabins – four down from us, did not have the lifeboats over it (see the crummy picture below). It’s the area where there’s a small boat located and then a railing next to it…between the lifeboats. This was a GREAT location…as it allowed lots of sunshine onto our balcony and we could look straight up and see stars! We were in cabin 2309.

Another minion, four down in the other direction, did have the lifeboats over them. See picture below…along with a little view of the Galveston port area.

Let me talk about Deck 5 for a minute. This is going to be a rant. I’m sorry…this is going to be the angry mom rant! I was looking forward to Deck 5. We’re not ‘hang out and be seen at the Lido pool’ people. We like exploring quieter areas and we looked forward to the offerings of the outdoor space of Deck 5. (First off…I didn’t like that most of it was enclosed…I like open railings…but, that’s not my rant.) I’m on this cruise with my 18 year old daughter. I think I mentioned earlier that she doesn’t like to bring attention to herself. Well…she doesn’t have to bring it to herself…she attracts attention. She’s an attention magnet. Up until her medical situation she’d been working as a teen model since she was 16. She’s not famous or anything like that…but, she’s been in many magazines and on television…and, not many mom’s can say that the snapshot they took of their daughter from senior ball was picked up by Teen Vogue. But……….she’s still just an 18 year old girl. On our first sea day we sat down in the lounge chairs on deck 5 overlooking the water and I was appalled at the comments we could overhear from some men on the balconies above us. We were the only ones out there…so, it’s not like it wasn’t obviously directed at her. And…I know they weren’t talking about me…or those comments would’ve been saying…how did a full grown albino manatee get all the way up onto deck 5…and, how did it squeeze itself into a lounge chair?! Unfortunately, after only about 10 minutes, she was done with it and it resulted in her spending most of her time on sea days in the cabin or out on our balcony, if she wasn’t with one of us.

(Okay…rant over…and it in no way took away from the overall awesomeness of this cruise for my daughter or myself…we know, ignorant people can be anywhere. But…geez…have some manners…respect…something!)

Back to the fun…here’s a picture of my son and a minion on the ropes course!

And, the minion passes by the funnel on the ropes course.

Next up…Chapter 4...And then there’s Jamaica (Yea mon, Insane Cab Drivers and 6’ Wooden statues of…um…something that rhymes with ‘weenis’)

A cruising we will go!

My kids and I have Faster to the Fun (FTTF) so we want to be at the ship early…hence, the 10:30am reservation time for the taxi’s.

Here’s the scoop on FTTF. It’s always sold out…so, there’s a secret. You can email the excursions desk (email is on Carnival’s page) and politely ask them if there will be any more FTTF’s for whatever date you’re sailing…and, if you’re lucky, they’ll email you back saying…be ready, in 5 minutes I’m about to release 10 more spots! This worked for me! But…don’t do the stupid thing I did! They’re in Miami…I’m in California…I emailed them at 4:30pm my time…that’s 7:30pm and they’re home having dinner with their family by then. They emailed me back…with that 5 minute – be ready – message at 8:00am their time…that’s 5:00am for me! I’m not ready!!! Luckily, by the time I saw the message, hours later, spots were still available. Yay for FTTF!

So…it’s the morning of the cruise…I drag my kids out of bed and we head down to the lobby at 10:20am for our 10:30am taxi’s. I can see the rest of the minions gathered in the lobby…and, it looks like 2 taxi vans are out front loading people and bags into them. As we are approaching the minions…there go the taxis. Okay…we think. No big deal…it’s only a few miles to the port…those weren’t our taxis…or…they’ll be right back. We head out to the front with the mobs of other people waiting for taxi’s and just to be sure, one of the minions calls the cab company. The dispatcher ‘politely’ says…you weren’t there so the driver took other people. The minion explains that we are there…our reservation was for 10:30am and it’s 10:28am right now. So…the dispatcher says she will send them back when they’re available. And, we wait. And wait. And wait. (It’s another cloudy, humid, and very windy day here on the island of Galveston.) And…we wait some more.

We’re not good at waiting. So, one of minions notices the aqua-duck boat thing and the pink trolley behind it across the street over by the pier and says…lets go see if we can get that duck to take us! A couple minions take off to give it a try. They go to the duck thing and there’s no one to be found…but, they notice the guy with the pink trolley and his sign for Historical Tours of Galveston. They explain we have a bunch of people that need to get to the ship and what would it cost to take us. Oh no…he can’t do that…he does Historical Tours. So...one of the minions says…we’d like a historical tour of the streets that lead to the port. Oh! Well then…for 8 of you it’ll be $50 bucks! He can’t go on the port property but he’ll drop us close enough. Score! The minion calls me and I gather the bags and get everyone ready…as the pink trolley approaches!

We load everyone up…and have room for two more so we invite a Texas couple to join us. And…off we go! This will go down as the most memorable way to get to a port! We had a great time on this little pink trolley and what a way to start off the cruise! We were dropped off just a little over a block from the port…and we tipped generously!

Pink Trolley at the Pier

Here’s some of us on the pink trolley…including my son and daughter, and then the unknown Texas couple behind them, and some more minions loading up their luggage in the back.

Within minutes of being dropped off…we were wheeling our luggage right up to the porters and were on our way to the check-in line. By now, it’s about 11:15am. Now…if you’ve been reading along on cruise critic on the Gulf Coast Departures section…you’d think the Galveston port was medieval. Using rocks and stones to pound out boarding passes…no electricity, long slow lines…etc. I now think those reviews are a strategic attempt at keeping people from sailing there so they can keep it to themselves. This port was EASY! We walked right up to check-in…with 1 person in front of us for FTTF…and yet, by the time the kids and I were done with check-in, the rest of the minions had all already been through the regular check-in lines and were waiting with their boarding cards. The kids and I walked right on to the ship and within a half hour, the rest of the family was on board. No complaints about this port…at all!

This was my first experience with the Gulf of Mexico and the water is ugly. I didn’t expect it. It’s brown. But, we saw more dolphins around Galveston both leaving and coming back, then we did the entire rest of the cruise…so, ugly water or not, if the dolphins are happy in it…it’s okay by me!

Dolphins playing just outside the cove balcony as we’re still boarding.

We drop our carry-on bags in our cabin and head back up to the lobby. I want to stop by guest services as I have 8 of the $100 egift cards from the Verizon reward program to apply to our sail and sign account (I knew I would be purchasing the Cheers program for 2, and would need to pay the tips for 3 people…so, I saved a little money by pre-purchasing these cards). The guest services line is really long but…I have FTTF…so I jump to the empty VIP line. My son joins me in the line and we’re quickly brought up to the next service person…a very nice guy with an Aussie accent. I explain what we need to do and he very efficiently gets working on the e cards which have to be entered one by one…no problems.

The service girl next to us becomes free and invites the next couple up to the counter. The woman proceeds to explain that…there’s a problem. Her luggage is not in her cabin. At this point…my son starts giggling. He works in customer service at his job so he knows what this is like. The service girl politely explains that it’s only 12:15pm right now and no one has their luggage yet. Luggage will be delivered later in the afternoon. The guest then says…I think my luggage is on that ship behind us (the Royal Caribbean one). And…my giggling son gets louder! The guest continues with…I gave my luggage to one of those guys in the Hawaiian shirts out front…but, I’m not sure it was a Carnival guy. The service person, as polite as she can be, explains that it’s the tags they’ve put on their bags that show the porters that they go to the Carnival ship. So then the husband steps us (and I’m thinking…good, he’s going to help this poor services girl out and explain to his wife)…and he says…….you know, I think we’re supposed to be on that Royal Caribbean ship…not this one.

And…my son is losing it. People behind us in line are laughing just because my son can’t contain himself. Our poor guest services person is standing there with his lips pressed together trying so hard not to laugh. His face is turning red.

And then…the guest services person on the other side of us becomes free. And, up steps this big Texan, with his big booming Texan voice…and he says…Y’all need to find me a different room. And the services person very politely says, I’m sorry to hear that what seems to be the problem with your room. And he booms out with…my room only has two outlets in it…and, they’re all the way across on the other side of the room. That just won’t do.

I bet you can guess what my son thought of this latest development…he’s got tears coming out of his eyes as I’m pushing him away and saying…go find your sister!

Best entertainment on the ship…hands down…guest services at embarkation!

Next up…Chapter 3 – Around the ship! (Garment Bag vs. Forklift, Wass Up and Unleash the Cracken!)

Chapter 2 – There but for the grace of God go I…is that how it goes?

HOORAY…I’M ON VACATION!! It’s finally here! Our flight out of Sacramento leaves at 6:00am. That means, we have to be at the airport at 5:00am. That means, we have to leave the house at 4:00am…that means…getting up at 3:00am….hooray…I’m on vacation…snore. (Note to self…book later flights in future!)

Our flight is on Southwest and they email us a day ahead about a new service…you can download an app on your devices and have access to live TV for free on their flights. Yay…technology! (Or is it?)

We make it to the airport with no problems and now my daughter is not excited about this part…the flying. Here’s the TMI part…she hasn’t been on a plane since she was about 12…so, 6 years ago. This past year, while she was finishing her senior year in high school, she went through a freak major medical issue, multiple surgeries, and now has a Stent in an artery in her abdomen. She nearly died a couple of times and sometimes has issues with anxiety because of it. Not only was she nervous about the flying part…just the airport screening scared her…she was afraid the stent would cause problems…she doesn’t like bringing attention to herself. Fortunately…we breezed through screening…the big screen-y thing that you have to put your arms up while they take movies of your jiggly fat…and post to youtube later…was backed up…so they diverted us through the old fashioned metal screeners…hooray!

My daughter’s doctor had given her some anxiety medicine for the flight so we drug her up and out she goes. Thanks, Doc! Our flight has a quick stop in Phoenix, AZ…where we don’t even have to deplane, and then we’ll be on our way to Galveston (the island).

Our stop in Phoenix…is a bit longer than planned…we have to sit on the runway for awhile…but, eventually they get us to the gate…get some people off and more on…and away we go. Now’s where that technology comes in to play…it’s a little disconcerting to be watching live TV of a freak storm blowing the roof off the airport you just left (Phoenix Airport – 9/27/14 – yikes!). Like an idiot, I start looking out the airplane window looking back, like I can still see Phoenix…to see if that storm is behind us! Fortunately, it's not...and a few hours later we arrive in Houston…hooray!

Sam’s Limo is waiting for us, we gather our bags, and then join the traffic out to the island to our hotel, the Four Points Sheraton. The first thing my daughter says when we get to the hotel (who’s still groggy from being drugged) is…what is wrong with the air here? It’s called humidity! We don’t have humidity where we live. We only have two seasons…Summer, which is very hot (close to 100 degrees) and lasts from May until November…and Winter…which averages about 50 degrees. During the summer, we might get a total of 3 days of rain. And, it’s not really rain…it’s more like…is that a rain drop or did someone just spit on me (California = drought!). Humidity is a foreign concept for my daughter…and…she doesn’t like it!

Random thought…..……we are about to get on a ship that is heading to the very humid Caribbean…uh oh!

I picked our hotel because of its location…I wanted an easy place to go for dinner and to explore the night before our cruise and Galveston’s Pleasure Pier seemed like a good idea…we had a view of the pier from our room and it was very pretty all lit up at night. We had dinner at Bubba Gumps and explored along the sea wall for the evening...it was a warm, humid and VERY windy evening…but…we’re on vacation! I loved it!

(This is not the view from our room...this is the view from the Wendy's parking lot next door to our hotel where you can get chocolate frosty's before heading up to the room...yum! And...in case you're wondering...Wendy's does not serve breakfast...we checked. But...you can get a burger at 9:30am...if you so desire. We didn't.)

A couple of the minions had gotten to Galveston several days early to explore the island. One day, when I was still at work…I get a text from a minion that simply says: There’s a lot of y’alls.

Now that I’m here…that minion was right. This is my first experience in Texas…I always thought the y’all thing was a stereotype…but, nope! It’s full on…y’all…around here............not judging…just a comment.

I had put those early minions to work finding us travel to the port for Sunday and they had reserved 2 taxi vans for us for 10:30am the next morning…looks like we have a plan! (Or…do we?)

Next up…Chapter 3…Embarkation! (Pink trolleys, Brown Water and THE BEST Entertainment on the Ship!)

I don’t usually write reviews. I probably shouldn’t. I’m already starting to feel giddy from the power…………..…CARNIVAL…feel the WRATH of my WORDS! …all you private EXCURSION VENDORS…….tremble at my MIGHT!

Yeah…I can tell already…this isn’t going to end well.

Let me start with a quick public service announcement…Carnival Haters and Complainers…there’s nothing to see here. Move along.

For those of you that are already tired of me…here’s the Cliff Notes version:

Faster to the Fun – Worth it

Cove Balcony – My kind of place

Cabin and Ship Air Conditioning – Nice and cool…no complaints

Food – Plenty and tasty…again, no complaints

Cheers Program – I’m a light drinker but I got it anyway…would do it again

Galveston Port – Easy

Carnival Magic – Perfect!

That’s it for the quick recap. If you’re along for the ride for the long version…I’m guessing…insomnia? Or, you’re a relative and feel obligated. (Hi Mom!)

Here goes…it’s been 4 years since my last cruise………and…….…I can still smell the fresh paint. The linens had never been slept on…….. :o wrong story.

Let's start again...on this trip it’s…me, my 21 year old son…and, my 18 year old daughter…along with an assorted number of minions (I mean…relatives) totaling 8, all traveling from Northern California. Hubby doesn’t like to cruise…so he stayed home. (Just in case you’re wondering…not liking to cruise is not considered…”reasonable”…grounds for divorce…I checked.) We were cruising in celebration of my daughter’s graduation from high school…and, it’s the Western Caribbean itinerary of Montego Bay - Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

Chapter 1 – Planning (How to properly pack a Cap & Gown, Shuttle Shock and Locked Up Abroad!)

I booked the cruise about 6 months out on an ES rate, using the gnome people (you know, the one’s that want you to go - you smell…or, something like that)…I don’t really like using mythical creatures as go betweens…but…those gnomes had some great extra perks…and, they came through. (Score one for the pointy hat freaks!)

I started doing some cruise research on cruise critic around June or July and kept coming up with these references to a crazy mom that made her daughter wear her graduation cap & gown on the ship. This became my new, go to, threat for my daughter…don’t make me pack your Cap & Gown! (Worked like a charm!)

This was also my first experience traveling with my children when they were both considered “legal” adults. (Oh my!) When I asked them what they’d want to do in the ports…my son was quick to respond with…explore the seedy underbellies of third world countries.

Great. Time to increase the travel budget…I’m now booking port excursions! And then I made it perfectly clear that none of us are going to be featured on the Locked Up Abroad reality show. Repeat after me….…Locked Up Abroad = Muy No Bueno! There will be NO underbellies on this trip!

The one thing I didn’t look into before booking this cruise…was Galveston. Galveston is an island. (Who knew?) Galveston is a long way from the airport. Galveston has some sort of Shuttle mafia or something going on………you, shiny new CHEAPER shuttle services try and come into our turf…we’re going to cut you off at the knees. Yeah…didn’t know about this part. If you’re coming in a day or two early…just be aware. I ended up booking a great deal for the 8 of us to take us from the airport to the hotel in Galveston. Pick us up the morning of the cruise at the hotel and take us to the ship. And then, pick us up at the ship at the end of the cruise and take us back to the airport. Great price…really nice people…I was pleased. But wait…just FIVE days before we leave…you guessed it…the mafia! I get a cryptic email…sorry to inform you, as of today we are no longer in business. Are you kidding me…now I’m looking over my shoulder and checking under the sheets for a horse head.

I quickly call the minions and tell them to book the return transfers through Carnival…I’ll figure something else out for the trip in (thank you Sam’s Limo…as I begrudgingly pay the increased mafia price)…and, we’ll just have to figure something out about how to get to the ship…the morning of the cruise…once we’re in Galveston (which is an island…who knew?).

Sorry for the recurring, who knew – theme about Galveston. It was an issue with the minions. Apparently, I failed to mention that Galveston was, in fact, an island! (Am I the only one with Google?) And…it’s not like the minions had to swim there with their luggage strapped on their backs…we got to the “island”…via freeway! Just saying.

Next up (not sure when)…Chapter 2 – To Galveston we go (Freak Storm, Humidity and a lot of Y’Alls)

I've used these folks twice before with good results:

 

http://www.executivetran.com/default.htm

 

They have fuill size vans.

Thank you!! We've got our shuttle booked!

We leave in 5 days. I've had Island Breeze Shuttle reserved for months for a roundtrip service. Today I got an email from them that basically said effective today, they're no longer in business...and, to not contact them about recommendations to other companies. Nice. :mad:

Eeeeck!

I've already tried Cool Tours and they're booked. I have some requests for quotes out to others but nothing coming back yet (Sam's Limo, Action Limo). We're a party of 6 so ExecuCar is out...they'll only take 5.

Any other suggestions?

Thank you!