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

[gapearl]

A date?????????????

Do TELL!!!!!!!!:D:D:D:D:D

 

Just a fun night out with a regular nice guy. :)

 

Maybe she will not be going solo next cruise????:

 

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Gotta plan the second date first. lol

[gapearl]

I absolutely loved your review Kim! I laughed out loud many times, it made my evening, ty!

 

Thank you so much! That's my goal, to make you guys laugh!

 

Maybe Jason wised up and actually did follow through???

 

No one here at cruise critic bought your "dog ate my home work" excuse, Jason!!! [emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji2]

 

Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk

 

Hahahaha nope not him!

[gapearl]

That would be awesome to cruise with you again. Still regretting not being about to hook up more on the Splendor... :(

 

Anyway, yes, DH still does not read CC. He's not on the computer much, and when he is, is usually the Giant Pumpkin board. Yes, that's right. He grows giant pumpkins. So when he's not working, he's in the garden. :rolleyes:

 

Ok, I missed the part about a date. Do tell. :)

 

Wow that's a huge pumpkin! That's pretty cool though. I would love to have a garden but I know nothing about growing anything.

 

Oh how I loved reading your review. I really enjoyed seeing all the photos which made me feel like I was along for the ride. Have not cruised in years, but have booked a trip on the Magic out of PC on June 11th next year for my Daughters 16th Birthday! Can't wait for our trip and to read your next review! Enjoy life, have fun and stay safe!!

 

Hey there, thanks for reading! The goal I have when writing my reviews is to have you all relive my vacation with me. You all will have a great time on the Magic next year. I wish I could have gotten a cruise for my 16th birthday! :)

[deladane]

Happy (belated) birthday Kim! Thanks for writing another one of your wonderful reviews!!! Looks like you had an amazing birthday celebration on the Magic :)

 

Random question: Thanks to a post you made somewhere else on Cruise Critic, I know you recently vacationed in Cartagena, Colombia. (I swear, I'm not stalking you! LOL) I have an overnight stay there on my upcoming Celebrity cruise. Are you planning to post any info about your time in Cartagena when you post your travel blog???

[brandid82]

Loving the review as we are looking to book a B2B on the Magic later this year, so this has been PERFECT! Thanks girl!

[yj2cute]

Hi, Kim!

 

Just found this review! Only watched the video so far but I can't wait to read the rest. I know you had a fab time. Thanks as always for sharing your travels with us!

 

Yael

[wintercruise1]

Hey there good people!

 

I guess I should prepare myself to not eat, sleep, or do anything productive this week because I have a cruise review to write! I'll be getting to it later today, but here's a "preview" of what's to come.

 

Watch the video. Watch the video. Watch the video. I repeat, WATCH THE VIDEO. :p

 

hR8uxBytGo0

 

In case you can't get in to play in this window, here's the link.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hR8uxBytGo0

 

Stay tuned! :D

 

I love love love the viedo. I love all of your reviews.

[angelofsin]

Abracadabra, hocus pocus, bibbidi bobbidi boo, pull a rabbit out of hat, it's time for some Magic!

 

 

Carnival Magic, that is! I have to say that this was a REALLY fun cruise. I take a birthday trip every year (past trips have included Hawaii, Vegas, and Punta Cana), but this was my first time celebrating my special day of June 19 on a ship. Welcome back to all the repeat readers of my reviews. To those of you who have no idea who I am, whether you're new to CC or maybe have been living in the wilderness of the Serengeti the last couple of years, allow me to introduce myself.

 

 

My name is Kimberly, and if you haven't figured it out yet, I live in Georgia. Traveling is literally 100% of my life as I work as a flight attendant and take A LOT of vacations. This was trip #3 for me this year. I won't name my airline on here (it falls somewhere on the list between Air Tahiti and Yemen Airways), but if you ever see me on your plane, tell me you read my review and maybe I'll sling you an extra bag of peanuts. lol :p Even though I look really young (so I've been told), I turned 35 on this cruise. This was my 13th time sailing Carnival. To those of you who have been asking for a travel blog from me, I was hoping to have it done before this review, but it's only about 75% finished. It's getting there I promise! And for those of you who have asked over the years and might be wondering if I've found love yet, the answer is still no. Single and holding for 5 years now. I got 99 problems but.... Nope, just got the 99 problems.

 

I had three traveling companions this trip. No one wanted their pictures posted, not even on FB, so I'll respect their wishes and not post any of them. However let me give a quick introduction of them as well.

 

My mom- She's a retired teacher from Memphis and this was her 4th Carnival cruise. She finally got her gold card! After keeping her anonymous in the first two reviews where I traveled her, I finally included pictures of her in my Breeze review. She was pretty adamant about not posting anything of her at all this time, so I won't. Unfortunately she got the dates wrong of when we due to set sail and would have to miss a church program where she was the chairperson. She didn't realize this until a few weeks before leaving. Unlike her daughter, my mother never uses bad words or swears, but I'm sure she wanted to when I told her she had to fly out on June 13, not the following week. She kept it secret from the whole church except the pastor and maybe 1 or 2 other people, and this will be significant a little later.

 

JJ- This is my 18 year old cousin from Dallas. She graduated from high school just before the cruise and will be headed to The University of Houston this fall with 47 credits already under her belt. This is her first cruise, first lengthy vacation, and first time leaving the country.

 

CJ- She's JJ's mom also coming from Dallas. Although she's not a blood relative (JJ is related by her father), she's still family. CJ has been unable to work for the last few years because of an illness that left her partially disabled, and there were a few times on the cruise when she needed special assistance from Carnival. This was also her first cruise and first time leaving the country.

 

Ok, so now that you know the full cast of this story, here's our originally itinerary. It ended up getting reversed because of Tropical Storm Bill, which now would have me in Cozumel on my birthday instead of at sea. Oh boy! :D I'll post the revised one a little later.

 

 

Really Carnival? That countdown clock tho!

 

 

About my reviews- they are long, very detailed, and VERY PICTURE HEAVY. This will not be a short "I had fun, the crew were great" review. If it was in front of me at any point, chances are good I have a picture of it. Also these trip reports are very time consuming to put together, so please be patient with me as each cruise day's post of sorting, editing, and uploading pictures, writing, posting on here, and responding to comments can take a full day. Don't expect this to get done overnight.

 

Those of you still here for the ride, enjoy!

 

Lovin the Review thus far. that opening video was awesome. Happy Belated bday. we share a birthday month but not the same zodiac sign. looking foward to reading this review!

[foxcent]

Hey guys! The last few days have been filled with working over the holiday weekend, hanging out in Vegas, and a date. :D I'm now off for a few days so I can get back to working on this tonight to hopefully get this finished tomorrow. Now on to the comments.

 

 

 

Welcome back! Where did you go for your trip? I'm starting to love land trips as much as cruises so that I can really immerse myself in the culture of a new place. My next vacation gets to be a combination of the two! :)

 

I used an underwater camera for my pictures with the stingrays. I used the selfie stick only with my cell phone. I'm not sure that they have selfie sticks for cameras except the Go Pro. I have an Olympus Tough camera. I bought it on my Splendor cruise when my good Canon died on day 2 after getting some water damage.

 

 

 

I love cruises! But I'm also loving visiting Latin America a lot these days. I learned 2 years ago that all inclusives definitely aren't for me, but it's been awesome visiting some places that the cruises can't get to. :)

 

Wait did you say DATE :D

[gapearl]

Ok y'all I'm sooooo ready to wrap this thing up!

 

First, to the moderators, THANK YOU. :)

 

It's pretty cool being old enough to run for President of the United States. Maybe I'll throw my name in the hat for the upcoming election. My issues will include mandatory 2 hour siestas because I need my daily nap, mandatory paid 3 month vacations from employers (more time for cruises), and most importantly, mandatory for Chick-Fil-A to offer delivery! I don't know why I'm kidding myself. My CC shenanigans would automatically disqualify me. :o

 

The time has come for us to finally leave the ship. The family and I met in the Northern Lights Restaurant at 8 am for priority debarkation. We could have left earlier if we had used self assist. Platinums and special assistance met here, while diamonds had a different area. CJ wasn't feeling too well and asked for a wheelchair. She gave her name and was called among maybe 10 others on the list also needing wheelchair assistance. Customs was easy. CJ and JJ wanted stamps in their passports but forgot to ask for it when passing through. I had to pay $23 for duty taxes on my bottles of rum. You will also have to pay taxes on any tobacco products you bring back.

 

 

I left them with the luggage as I went to retrieve CJ's car. While on the shuttle bus, there was a man that said he had bought 6 bottles of BBD rum in Grand Cayman and Carnival lost them. I would have been livid! He did get reimbursed for them, but was more upset because you can't buy this brand in the US. This is exactly why I hate turning over my bottles when I come back from port. I'll promise not to drink it, but I just don't want you to lose it. It's a good idea to start saving your receipts from your liquor purchases in port, just in case.

 

It was a quick drive to Texas City, where we were going to pick up our rental car as my mom and I were staying an extra day in Houston. We said our goodbyes to CJ and JJ and wished them a safe drive back to Dallas. I'm happy they were able to enjoy a really nice vacation after all they've been through the last few years.

 

From Texas City, it was a 20 minute drive to NASA's Space Center our next stop for the morning.

 

 

It's pretty cool to see this so close up.

 

 

Edited July 8, 2015 by gapearl

[gapearl]

The entry fee was $23 for me and $21 for my mom at the senior rate.

 

 

 

 

Space Center entrance.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

There were two different tram rides for us to take. We took the blue tram first to tour mission control and Rocket Park. Each tram tour is one hour and there's nowhere along the tour for a restroom break, so use it before you go.

 

 

 

The first stop was to the mission control room. It was required to turn our phones to airplane mode as this is still a working building and you don't want any possible interference. There were 54 steps to climb make it there, but there is an elevator if you need assistance. Believe me, they won't let you use it just because you're feeling lazy.

 

 

 

The mission control room is where all space missions were controlled until 1995. Our guide told us about the upcoming Orion mission and NASA's plans to make it to planet Mars by 2035. The International Space Station (ISS) is a collaboration between 15 different countries.

 

 

Edited July 8, 2015 by gapearl

[gapearl]

This is a live feed from space.

 

 

This building was named for the first flight director Chris Kraft.

 

 

There are memorials for those astronauts lost in the Challenger, Columbia, and Apollo 1 accidents.

 

 

These trees are planted for those NASA employees that made significant contributions to the program.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

After mission control, we could spend as much time as we wanted at Rocket Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

My pictures really can't do any justice to how enormous this is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

 

 

 

Once back at the main building after the tour, we passed on the overpriced $30 souvenir photo and went to get in line for the red tram tour. On this one, we were able to see the NASA training center.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

They told us more about Orion, including that you can fly from Houston to Paris in 17 minutes on it. NASA should start selling those flights to passengers. That sure beats an 11 hour flight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

More of the training facility.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Once back inside the main building, we walked around some more. There are a lot of interesting displays around the facility.

 

 

 

 

The astronauts' living quarters look like this.

 

 

Their bathroom.

 

 

The kitchen with food made for space travel. Perhaps Carnival can work with NASA on freeze drying their delicious cornbread for the astronauts. lol

 

[wrigley80]

Our last stop was for some Mexican food at Coconuts. We had a scenic 15 minute ride to get here from the ruins.

 

 

I remembered this place from Wrigley80's Breeze review when she came here on the Cozumel bar hop.

 

 

 

 

The place was packed but they found an empty table in the back somewhere and brought it out front so we could be seated immediately without waiting.

 

 

 

Thanks for the shout out.....those steps at Coconuts are NO JOKE. I was happy that this bar was 2nd on the tour and not the last one. those steps would be disaster after 4 bars worth of tequila

[gapearl]

Can you imagine being at a dinner party or happy hour and have someone ask you what do you do for a living? Oh, I'm an astronaut. :p

 

 

 

 

 

[LCTXcruiser]

I was mistaken about our entertainment from last night. It was Gangham Style last night and tonight was the Bollywood song Shake, Shake, Shake.

 

 

 

 

I REALLY love this dress. My birthday was originally going to be on elegant night until the itinerary switch.

 

 

Michelle and the gang sang happy birthday to me. When I blew out my candle, I wished for my second ice cream that was missing off my warm chocolate melting cake. lol

 

 

 

We've had Michelle before. She is wonderful!!! Looking forward to going back this month... with any luck we'll have her as our waiter. By the way, this has to be one of the best reviews I've ever seen! Great job!!

[gapearl]

There's a gallery of all of NASA's astronauts and their missions.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

I paid an extra $6 for the flight simulator and waited over 30 minutes for my turn. It was fun, but not worth the wait. There are two simulators, and each will hold two people. Your ride is 4 minutes.

 

 

 

There's a monitor on the outside to show your silly faces you're making during your ride. They can turn it off if you request, but why would you want to? That's no fun!

 

 

Before you go inside, you have your training and practice at these stations. Notice the food court and gift shop in the background.

 

 

 

We left the Space Center around 3 pm and headed to the Holiday Inn by Hobby Airport, our home for the night. We ate dinner from Jack In The Box (GROSS!) and I spent the night being subjected to another hot room and an afternoon of Lifetime, courtesy of my wonderful mother. Pass. More Netflix and The Walking Dead for me. I made it home Tuesday afternoon to a DVR full of my favorite missed shows and a jury duty summons in my mailbox. :rolleyes:

[wrigley80]

Another PHENOMENAL review Kim. I just booked the Magic for May 14th on the Eastern Caribbean itinerary with some friends to celebrate his college graduation.

Thanks Again so much for sharing your vacation with us.....BTW I loved your hangover pic. I have been there :p ;) :)