Short review of 2/12-2/19 Magic cruise outta Galveston

[blizzrd]

This may take some time to complete but here's a start....

 

Day 1

Just some background. We went on the Conquest a year ago on the Western Carib. This one was the Eastern. There were 11 of us on this trip, basically my whole immediate family. We woke up to a COLD morning on embarkation day spirits were high since there was no fog. Last year we had a long fog delay and didn't get on the boat till 7pm. This time was MUCH better. We got in line by 12:15 or so and were on by 1pm. It was much better and so painless....we loved it and were in awe of how easy and quick it was. We got on and had some lunch while we waited for our rooms to be ready. It was cold and drizzly so everyone was inside which made it hard to find a table. Once the rooms were ready, we went and dropped off our bags and relaxed a little. It was hard to believe that we were back on a cruise and this time with everyone. We checked the boat out a little then went to the muster drill and finally went up to to watch the sail away. We didn't get to do it last year so despite the temps, we stuck it out and watched. I had a great time. We had dinner that night and were pretty much all in bed by midnight. I was tuckered out.

[blizzrd]

Day 2 - Sea Day/Daughter's 4th bday

 

I woke up several times over night but nothing to do with the ship, it was more to find out what time it wad and to see if we could wake up yet. My wife and I got up at around 5am to put up decorations for my daughters big day and went back to sleep. We woke up for good at around 8 when room service brought our stuff. We went to breakfast with my parents at around 10 and afterwards just explored the ship some more, went to the shops, went to the candy store and just hung out. In the afternoon my brother and I started drinking and went to the casino to play some Hold'Em. We met some really cool people there. He did well, I didn't. We stayed until it was time to go to dinner. It was elegant night and my daughter's b-day so I was pretty excited for her. I had ordered some cakes from BV before the cruise and told them that I needed them for that night but when I called to confirm, they were under the impression that we needed them for the next day. Good thing I called. Off to dinner we went. Most of us had the lobster, those that didn't had steak and the kids had burgers and fries. After dinner, they brought the cakes and sang to my daughter. Here's where it got really cool. Earlier during dinner, I spotted John Heald walking around the MDR and I explained to the rest of the group who he was so when he walked our way later in the night, everyone got a little excited. He saw my daughter and came by to say hi and I told him that it was her birthday and he asked for her name and said for us to call guest services and give her name and room number and he'd have something sent over. It took a couple of days but we got the strawberries and ship on a stick. After dinner, we took pics and hung out. Once my daughter was out for the count, my brother, sister, sister in law and I went to the red frog. Tim was great. It was funny because when he saw my brother and I walk in with our red solo cups, he busted out the Toby Keith song. I got one of those big 101oz beers and spent a good amount of time there. Most of it outside on the swing where I met some really cool people. We finished off the night at Vibe. This would become a bit of a routine. More to come.

[blizzrd]

I wanted to add that our waiter in the MDR on the first night was amazing. His name was Ulysses, best one of the trip. Some of them seemed like they just wanted us to hurry up and get done, bussing before we were done at one point taking my daughter's burger before she was done with it. I also never did meet my steward. He was friendly and always called us by our names and kept the room clean but he never introduced himself to us, infact I didn't even see him until the 4th day. At first I was bothered by it and thought about withholding some of the gratuity but as time wore on it just seems like maybe he was shy, but he was a good guy and friendly. He let us stay in our stateroom until they called our zone, 14, on debarkation.