GAPearl's "MAGIC"al Birthday Cruise! Complete Magic picture review-6/14/15 sailing.

[gapearl]

Loving your review! I'm sailing on Liberty in October, but always love how you write and add pictures to your reviews. Thank you so much.

 

Thank you! I have yet to sail on Liberty. Have a great time on your cruise and you should bring back a review as well. I'd love to see a review from your jazz cruise!

 

So enjoying your review. Hope ours paths meet someday soon! Your a stunning young women. Your knight will come along soon.

 

Thank you Tigger! I certainly hope so. ;)

[gapearl]

Kim,

This is another wonderful review!!!!

I really enjoy your writing style!!!! Please keep it coming!!! One of your many fans!!!

 

Thanks Ms. Fun Bunch! I'm looking at your signature a little jealous that you have two FREE cruises booked! :eek:

 

Always enjoy your reviews. I spent one weekend this month reading Jackie Collins' new book, and the next weekend reading your reviews. Thank you for taking the time to entertain us. You do a great job!

 

Thanks girl! I'm happy to keep y'all so entertained!

[gapearl]

My hubby and I enjoy your reviews.... cannot wait for more... :)

 

Thanks for reading Liz!

 

Yay! An awesome birthday! Coconuts looks like a great place to hang out in Cozumel...will have to check that out next time I am there. Sorry your Birthday Girl glass didn't make it through the evening...it was so cute.

 

Looking forward to hearing/reading more!

 

Coconuts definitely had a fun vibe. I'd love to return there again but on the bar hop. I don't know what I was doing but somehow I knocked it over. Yeahhhhh, one birthday drink too many. :o

 

OMG Girl you are simply the bomb diggety do-dah!! Not only do you offer amazing reviews, port feedback, and FASHION ADVICE, you give us Zumba Instructors GREAT new rhythms to choreograph for our classes

 

I googled that song as soon as I read it and and I'm rolling it out in tonight's class. I know you used to take (and LOVE) Zumba, so if you ever stuck at RIC, I'd LOVE for you to drop in to one of my classes:D:D

 

OMG I love Zumba! I've have to search for you if I'm ever in your area! :)

[Barbluvstocruz]

Thank you so much! Sorry I didn't get anything done yesterday. I had a pool day in Las Vegas and then hung out on the Strip after. I was a bit distracted. lol

 

Ok...reading about your cruise and now Vegas....I want to ditch my hubby and kids and hang with you!! ;)

[bigmama9224]

Great review GaPearl.

[gapearl]

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for your support after I received some nasty, ridiculous comments yesterday. You guys are all so awesome for having my back and I'm grateful that my true spirit has been able to shine through to most of you. The troll has not seemed to return, which is good because here's my list of things ain't nobody got time for.

 

1. THAT.

 

So how about I get back to the review with a little soundtrack to my post birthday celebration.

 

I was in rare form last night, so....

 

[YOUTUBE]rfjtpp90lu8[/YOUTUBE]

 

This was probably the worst hangover of my life. Don't act like you've never been through this!

 

 

I've got a....

 

[YOUTUBE]dLhFDYQHDQY[/YOUTUBE]

 

And just for fun to lighten up the mood after the morality police decided to issue me a ticket, my unofficial anthem for the week.

 

[YOUTUBE]kdemFfbS5H0[/YOUTUBE]

 

I was unpleasantly awakened at 9:30 am when my mom was yelling to wake up because Olen had delivered my two free bags of platinum laundry I had sent out the day before. I sure would like to have slept another two....ten hours, but oh well I guess I'm up now.

 

Oh, guess what? They got the red wine stain out of my dress!

 

 

How I felt when I got my dress back....

 

[YOUTUBE]y6Sxv-sUYtM[/YOUTUBE]

 

I took a shower and went up to the lido for some French toast, hashbrowns, coffee, and leftover birthday cake. I took my laptop so I could upload the rest of my pictures while I tried to get my life together. I felt bad. Really bad.

 

Breakfast. Coffee!

 

 

They come around with carts of juice, water and coffee if you need a refill.

 

 

This is just random. You have to use a card with a magnetic strip to turn on your lights in your cabin. Bring a store card or something that you can leave in there all week so you don't have to keep taking out your room key every time you leave.

 

 

Also there's an outlet in the bathroom above the highest toiletry tray.

 

Edited July 4, 2015 by gapearl

[gapearl]

A few minutes before noon, I went to Cucina del Capitano for lunch. While in the lobby waiting for the restaurant to open, I got to talking to these three 17 year olds and they invited me to come eat with them. I was like sure, if you don't mind an old lady sitting at your table. haha I had fun talking to them because I remember sounding so much like them myself 18 years ago. I heard some completely thought out life plans, such as getting married at 24 and having 2 kids, 1 girl and 1 boy to be named _______. lol Two of them were from Texas and the young lady next to me was from Jamaica. They had some good career ambitions and lots of goals, and I hope they're able to make all their dreams come true. One told me about his tour in Jamaica, where they stopped by the home of one of Jamaica's Olympic athletes and got to talk with him. I wish I could have done something like that on my Montego Bay tour.

 

Cucina del Capitano.

 

 

 

 

Selfie with my lunch friends.

 

 

The dinner menu.

 

 

[gapearl]

Lunch is free at Cucina. You're given a list of ingredients to create your own pasta. When you're done, you take your sheet to the cooks and it's delivered about 5 minutes later.

 

 

I didn't come up with anything too exciting, just penne pasta with chicken and alfredo sauce.

 

 

Some food for the rest of the table.

 

 

Magic in her early days.

 

 

This is a cool story about four young boys who grew up as friends in Italy and all eventually grew up to become captains for Carnival Cruise Lines.

 

 

[gapearl]

Seriously, if you go hungry on a cruise, that's your own fault. These are the buffet areas in the lido aft. Remember the lines here are always significantly shorter than the ones in the front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

One of many drink stations.

 

 

 

Buffet areas in the forward lido.

 

 

 

 

24 hour ice cream.

 

[iloverags2]

Oh my...mom waking you up after that night of birthday partying...not fun! Glad Carnival was able to get the wine stain out of your dress...major props to them.

 

Cucina looks fabulous!

 

Love the story about the four captains. Just showed it to my husband, thinking he would think that was very cool. Well, he already knew about it! Apparently he read an article on them awhile back. And he did not tell me! LOL

[gapearl]

The lido grille, outside by the pool. Another option on sea days is the oceanside bbq on deck 5 Ocean Plaza. I never made it out there on any of the sea days this cruise.

 

 

 

 

Towel hut by the lido pool.

 

 

 

I ran into comedian JR McCollum out by the pool.

 

[annamg]

I absolutely love your reviews. I've checked out a couple of them. I'm going to be doing almost this route in January 2017 on the Vista. Instead of Montego Bay it will be Ocho Rios. How is it when you cruise alone? I've never done it before and have thought about it. I just get nervous being a single woman alone…and I tend to be a little shy around people I don't know.

[gapearl]

The chocolate buffet was today but my stomach was doing more flips than Gabby Douglas so I had to skip it. I still felt bad. Really bad. Sorry, no chocolate buffet pictures from this cruise. After eating I went back to my room to lay down, pack, and then lay down some more. Much of today was spent in bed in recovery mode. I have no idea where my mom, JJ, and CJ were or what they did. I didn't see them until early evening.

 

Here are the rest of my pictures from around the ship.

 

Water Works area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

There are plenty of places for you to sit and keep and eye on your kids.

 

[gapearl]

Adult's only Serenity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Serenity bar.

 

 

There are two hot tubs. Serenity on Magic is huge!

 

 

[gapearl]

Camp Ocean, deck 11 midship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monitors on the outside so you can watch your little ones without being seen.

 

[gapearl]

Martini tasting at the piano bar. I didn't do it on this cruise but have on a couple others. It's $17 and the drinks are all really good. You get to pick 4 from the menu.

 

 

 

 

The piano bar entertainer's song lists.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

More from the piano bar.

 

 

 

 

[Mabks0412]

Oh no!! I usually end up reading your reviews well after you written the whole thing. Now I have to wait. Haha. Love your reviews though. Reading this brought back so many amazing memories from the Magic.

[gapearl]

Vibe Nightclub, deck 5 aft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

At 5:15 pm, I went to the diamond and platinum party in the Spotlight Lounge. There were no more than 30 people in attendance. It was MUCH smaller than all the other past guest parties I've attended since Carnival has now excluded gold members from attending.

 

My platinum card and platinum party invitation.

 

 

 

The band Neptune's Society gave us some music.

 

 

You see it was a very small crowd, much smaller than before the new change.

 

 

One of the apprtizers was this rice and bean thingy.

 

 

Food and drink servers were very attentive and someone was coming by to offer me something every few minutes.

 

[gapearl]

Would you like sixteen free rum punches? No thank you. I'll have a glass of ice water, please. I'm never drinking again.

 

 

A shrimp appetizer something.

 

 

Mini bbq pork sliders.

 

 

They still show the video where you cheer for all the ships you've sailed.

 

 

CD James introduced the officers.

 

 

I had the pleasure of meeting Captain Carlo Queirolo and greeted him with a buongiorno.

 

[gapearl]

The party was over at 6 pm. I went back to the cabin to finish packing and then laid down. Again. Because I still felt bad. Really bad. I needed something heavy and greasy in my stomach so I headed to Northern Lights one last time for some fried chicken off the every day menu. None of the family came so it was just me tonight.

 

Tonight's dinner menu.

 

 

Michelle and I talked some more. She said she's going on her vacation in November and she'll be coming back to the Magic. After Magic repositions to Port Canaveral next year, she'll probably end up on the Breeze after she repositions to Galveston. She said she requests to stay on Galveston ships because she sees a lot of repeat cruisers from there. She likes seeing familiar faces when guests request her for dinner. I think Michelle got my food out quicker than I've ever had before on a cruise. She's so bubbly and has so much personality and actually reminds me a lot of myself when I'm working, which is why I liked her so much. If you will have your time dining in Northern Lights on Magic before she goes on vacation in November, definitely ask to be seated in Michelle's section! I can say she's the best server I've ever had on any of my cruises.

 

You see we are racing the Navigator of the Seas back to the Port of Galveston.

 

 

No dress picture tonight. I didn't even feel like dressing up and still had on my maxi dress I had been in all day. After dinner I went back to the room for a bit to, you guessed it, lay down. Because I still felt bad. Really bad. Dang, that really was an epic birthday for the record books! :D :eek: CJ was in the room with my mom watching tv, and JJ showed up after the Carnival Legends show. I caught the end of the open mic night in the Punchliner Comedy Club. The teacher and the granny were hilarious! I stayed for Carl Faulkenberry's 11:30 pm show and he was pretty good. After the comedy show was the Vibe Nightclub one last time. There was a good crowd tonight because everyone wanted to have one last night of fun before it was all over, but I just wasn't feeling it. I stopped to get a snack on the lido and brought it back to my room at 1 am.

 

 

The cruise is over, but the review is not! I still have an awesome post cruise day in Houston to cover. Y'all have a happy and safe 4th of July weekend!