Just back from the Carnival Magic

[mompella]

Thought I would write a quick review of our trip. And some ideas and suggestions for all of you who might be going on the Magic.

 

-We flew into HOU on Saturday and stayed in Galveston on Saturday night. We stayed at the Moody Garden hotel. Very nice hotel, but next time I would stay in one of the hotels on the sea wall. It looked like a lot of fun to be able to stay by the water and walk to the beach.

-We headed to the ship on Sunday morning around 10:15 ish. I had researched parking but hadn't booked anything. We happened to drive right by the lighthouse parking, so we parked there. I think it was around 70 ish to park there. Very convenient and would use them again. I think you can book them ahead of time, but by the time I tried they were sold out of pre book spots. They were very friendly and we didn't have to wait for a shuttle to the ship or once we returned.

-We had Faster to the Fun..which was well worth it. We didn't have to stand in a line to get our sail and sign cards. Huge plus. After you get your sail and sign card you go to another counter and get a card that tells you what order you board in. We were group one.. since we had the FTTF. I think we boarded around noon. But can't remember exactly

[Luluwa]

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[mompella]

After boarding we walked around the ship and had some lunch at the Lido buffet. There is always plenty of food! Food was good but not great. It's typical buffet food. I still managed to gain a few pounds :) I did really enjoy the Burrito bar.

-After eating we went and checked out our 2 cabins. We were traveling as a family, my husband and two daughters 12 & 14. We had cabins right next door to each other. On floor 7 mid ship. Great location.

-I think our Muster drill was during sail away time. Or some how we missed us actually leaving the port :)

-We had early dining and ate in the southern dining room. We had a table for 8. The next time we would probably just do a table for 4. We enjoyed our table mates. But if we didn't arrive at the same time, it seemed to slow down the whole eating process. We are the type of people who really do not enjoy taking an hour and a half or more to eat. Some nights service was a little quicker, but other nights not so much.

[mompella]

Our daughters were both in Circle C. they were a little nervous. A few of their friends had cruised before and told them they had to go and meet new friends. So we went to the Camp carnival meeting. At that meeting they put a sticker on their sail and sign cards to say what "club" they should attend. They introduced the Circle C leader and gave us a schedule for the week. I think on Sunday night then they had a meet and great for all the kids at Circle C. Our girls attended and so glad they did... They both met some new friends and had a great time. By the last day at sea, they spent the whole day with their friends. So tell your kids to be outgoing and to make friends. If the kids wanted to meet with each other outside of Circle C events they would make plans to meet their friends at a certain time and location.

 

Our girls were a little disapointed in the disrespectful kids who attended. We do not allow our girls to swear and several of the kids did and a lot. The circle C director- I think gave up on trying to control some of the kids. Some of the activities are really late. One night they play dodgeball at midnight. which to me is to late if you have a port day the next day at 8 am..

 

Our girls felt very safe running around the ship by themselves.

 

I am not quit sure how I set up their sail and sign cards. I bought them each a gift card and they each had some obc. my one daughter spend all of her money by about the last day. So she thought she would go down and add 20 bucks of her own money to her account. they actually did not let her. I had to go down there with her and add the money. So just be aware of how all that works. Great parental control. One of their friends brothers spent 200 one night at the arcade. So better to set limits then not! Our daughters both enjoyed Circle C.

[mompella]

A little about my husband and my self. We have cruised once before. My husband wasn't a huge fan, but somehow I convinced him to go again. He is more of the go to a resort in Cozumel and do adventurous things every day. So to him it was a little boring and disappointing. We did not attend many of the events during the day. None of them really interested us. We did attend most of the comedy shows at night. 3 out of the 4 comedians were very funny!! We attended most of the show in the main theater. They were pretty good. Nothing spectacular but good. We did not buy either the Cheers program or the soda program. We both liked the lemonade. And I think it was good for us to detox from soda for the week! At least it was for me :) We are not big drinkers either. It seems that most people on board were there to drink and party. Which is totally fine, just not our cup of tea. We played bingo one day and lost... Another night we attended the Chocolate diamond event. Basically a lady described the chocolate diamonds and then had a drawing for a free bracelet. I won :) So kinda fun, there was another lady who really wanted the bracelet so I gave it to her :)

[mompella]

I did a lot of research on the islands and what excursions to take. We booked Victor Bodden in Roatan. We did the off shore snorkeling and private tour. Basically you have your own driver for the day and she takes you where ever you want to go. So we headed to the snorkeling place first. It was a long crazy drive. It had rained alot the day before, which was bad for snorkeling. We did not see hardly any fish. So kinda dissapointing but that is all part of it! Then we headed to the west beach. the beach was beautiful and so was the water. We paid 10 bucks a person for a chair and access to the beach. Our driver sat behind the beach at the restaurant and just waited for us. I think Victor Bodden uses that beach for alot of their tours. There were about 5-6 tour guides hanging out with our tour guide. It was very hot that day. We were glad our guide-Kayla had us stop at a grocery store and by water before heading to the beach. we had a pizza and fish tacos at the restaurant behind the beach. At the beach you could parasail and get snorkeling tours. You could also get a massage and get your hair braided. We just opted to hang out in the beautiful water and on the beach. We relaxed on the beach for a few hours and then headed back to the boat. The sun makes you a little tired after awhile :) So we all took naps and relaxed.

[mompella]

Belize- in belize you need to take tender boats into the port. So make sure you read in your fun times how that all works. I thought they were starting to hand out the tender number assignments at 8, but when we arrived a little before 8 they were already handing out tickets to the 4th tenders... So make sure you arrive early if you want to get off right away. Since we had FTTF we actually got tender number 1. So off the boat we went. The tenders are big boats that basically seat a whole bunch of people. They pack you on and off you go. Make sure you read directions to your excursion. All of the native people are standing on the pier trying to get you to book an excursion with them. We booked a cave tubing and ziplining tour with cavetubing.bz We had a blast. We followed our directions and found our tour guides. They loaded 11 of us up in a van and off we went to the "headquarters" to pay. It was another long crazy drive. they do not have speed limits and not very many cops. They just had speed bumps all over. I think it was at least an hour drive to the place to zipline. Ziplining was a ton of fun. They get you all suited into your harness and explain things very well. To start with you do a chicken run, to make sure you all understand how to zip :) Make sure you bring your camera on a strap so you can take pictures. After zipping we went cave tubing. It was I think a mile walk through the jungle. This company carries the tubes for you to the river, which is very nice!! It would have been a long walk carrying the tubes. Make sure you wear a Keen type sandal. The hike is through the jungle so you want a good shoe. The cave tubing was very fun! More later off to pick up a daughter from dance. Please let me know if you have any questions!!

[mompella]

Cozumel-We had visited Cozumel a few years ago, so we decided to do our own thing for the day.. Not sure that was the best idea :) We rented a car from a guy on the side of the road. It was kinda a convertible 2 door piece of crap.. LOL we tried to put the back part up and it kept falling on our daughters heads.. so we took the top off. We wanted the top on since we were all a little sun burnt. The car had a gas leak and it was missing a seat belt. As a mom that is not very comforting to know that one of your daughters isn't buckled in... So I was kinda being a worry wart.... We drove to the east side of the island, hoping to get in the water and jump some waves, not sure if that is a safe idea or not, but it was our plan. We stopped at a restaurant/beach club and got something to drink. The water was to rough to get in so we didn't stay very long. It was a nice place though. We then headed back into town and went to playa mia for a few hours. It is a nice beach club. But very crowded. By the time we got there we could only find 3 chairs together. It cost 30 bucks a person to get in. And then you have to rent an umbrella. The sand was very hot and the water had a ton of sea weed in it. I am not sure if all beach clubs in Cozumel have that or not. The girls and my husband did play on the water toys for awhile and had a blast. They give you life jackets to wear. I stayed by the bags and watched all of our stuff. If you don't by the all inclusive package which included food and drinks, you buy it all separately. A bottle of water was $4. Which to me is just terrible... After hanging out for awhile we were all tired and hot and ready to cool off and do a little shopping. So we went to return our car...... Note to self do not rent a car from some guy standing on a curb. when we got back to return the car he wasn't there. Luckily a police type guy called the guy on his cell phone for us. While my husband waited for the guy, I brought one of our daughters back to the ship to relax. So when the guy returned to get our car, he told my husband to go and put 12 bucks of gas in the car, so my husband did. When he got back the guy was mad and said he didn't put in enough... So instead of getting 40 bucks back from our deposit we only got back 30. Lesson learned.. Either next time do not rent a car and take a cab. Or use an actual company who has a store. I would also recommend having a plan when you get off the ship, so you don't waste part of your day driving around. Some of our daughters friends booked an excursion through carnival. They did the catamaran,snorkel and island tour. I think that is what it was and they said they had a ton of fun. The tours are a little more expensive through the ship, but I think we should have booked one :)

[minniegidget]

How did you get from Hobby to the cruise port? Did you rent a car and just park it all week?

[CruisinCarps]

I can't speak for the OP, but we have had to rent a car. Enterprise is the only company that lets you drop off the day of, but if sailing on a Sunday, they are closed. You have to drop keys off in a box and call a taxi to get to the ship. Also, only one Enterprise hub allows one way rental out of Houston Hobby. (Haven't flown into Houston International/Bush yet so I don't know their set up.)

 

Last time I used Hotwire and booked a car for much cheaper (almost half) what I was being quoted elsewhere online. We booked our parking reservation online- cheaper, you know where are gonna park, etc. We used Dolphin parking wirh little issues. This time we are trying out Galveston Park and Cruise since they are walking distance from the ship.

 

There are also hotels that offer a parking/shuttle package. We booked this cruise last minute (six weeks out), and hotels were way too expensive for our taste. Cheaper to rent a car and park it than staying in Galveston. However, if you book well enough in advance, shouldn't be an issue. I booked a hotel in Alvin this time (using Hotwire again) to save $.

[mompella]

Yes we rented a car. I had credit card points I used. And then we drove to the lighthouse parking lot on Sunday morning and left our car there. It was nice to have a car to drive around on Saturday.

[minniegidget]

I can't speak for the OP, but we have had to rent a car. Enterprise is the only company that lets you drop off the day of, but if sailing on a Sunday, they are closed. You have to drop keys off in a box and call a taxi to get to the ship. Also, only one Enterprise hub allows one way rental out of Houston Hobby. (Haven't flown into Houston International/Bush yet so I don't know their set up.)

 

Last time I used Hotwire and booked a car for much cheaper (almost half) what I was being quoted elsewhere online. We booked our parking reservation online- cheaper, you know where are gonna park, etc. We used Dolphin parking wirh little issues. This time we are trying out Galveston Park and Cruise since they are walking distance from the ship.

 

There are also hotels that offer a parking/shuttle package. We booked this cruise last minute (six weeks out), and hotels were way too expensive for our taste. Cheaper to rent a car and park it than staying in Galveston. However, if you book well enough in advance, shouldn't be an issue. I booked a hotel in Alvin this time (using Hotwire again) to save $.

 

 

I called Enterprise and because I am going over a holiday weekend they said that no one way car rentals. She said there was a Enterprise about 12 miles away. So I thought well ok lets do that. Once I hung up I checked and the rental in Webster Tx is about 30 miles away. So I guess its back to using super shuttle.

[CruisinCarps]

Have you price comparisoned between car rental and shuttle? We found it was just as much, if not more for the shuttle than then car rental. (We are renting a car for nine days.)

[Eeyoregon]

I called Enterprise and because I am going over a holiday weekend they said that no one way car rentals. She said there was a Enterprise about 12 miles away. So I thought well ok lets do that. Once I hung up I checked and the rental in Webster Tx is about 30 miles away. So I guess its back to using super shuttle.

 

You might try this: We're renting a car at HOU Hobby and returning it to Texas City the morning of the cruise (Sunday). We will cab it from Texas City to the port. We'll do the reverse after the cruise.

[erewhon]

Thanks for your reports.

[lcmjcm]

How was the condition of the Magic? We were on her in Sept of last year and found it needing some tlc compared to our trip the previous year .in the golf area one of the TVs were broken, golf course needed some work, general painting needed around that level. I know it gets lots of wear from the kiddos but it looked like it was ready to be parked and remodeled. I had heard it was due a reface and just wondered if it had been done.

 

 

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[dramaqueenjan]

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[jtxo]

How was the condition of the Magic? We were on her in Sept of last year and found it needing some tlc compared to our trip the previous year .in the golf area one of the TVs were broken, golf course needed some work, general painting needed around that level. I know it gets lots of wear from the kiddos but it looked like it was ready to be parked and remodeled. I had heard it was due a reface and just wondered if it had been done.

 

 

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I don't know if It got a full reface or not, but we just got off yesterday and I thought she looked great. Also, I saw work being done all week - example, one day I was sitting in a very empty part of deck 5(the wraparound lanai level) and a carnival employee in the worker jumpsuit was walking around with a brush and bucket of blue paint touching up any areas that needed it at the base of the glass railings. Stuff like that was going on discreetly all week. They seemed to be taking good care of her.

[oldmedic]

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