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

[SenatorsFan]

Carnival freeze-drying their "cornbread" for the astronauts? Now that's just plain mean, Kim! :eek::p:D

I really enjoyed the Space Centre pictures, too.

Heather

[Delta Dear]

Carnival freeze-drying their "cornbread" for the astronauts? Now that's just plain mean, Kim! :eek::p:D

I really enjoyed the Space Centre pictures, too.

Heather

 

LOL, I agree, that is mean. That cornbread would cause space program to end.

 

Kim, you done did it this time !! Between the opening video, the review, the shopping tips and the extra music videos, next review you do I expect we will need special glasses because it will probably be in 3-D.

 

As always, I laughed out loud, smiled a lot but mostly enjoyed traveling with you. Thanks for the detail, the photos and being your own 'bad,' self.'

 

(Sorry for the hijack but I know In Charge will be back to read the rest. In Charge, did you receive the answer I sent to your email ? )

 

Thanks, Kim. Carnival really needs to pay you for your reviews.

[angelofsin]

I finally finished the entire review. it was excellent as always. for my cruise critic reading hours I will say you are the best reviewer on the boards but I may be a little biased because I haven't had a chance to read many others.. I will say that your enthusiasm and reviews definitely have me thinking about giving Carnival a try.. I am most likely booking the vista for 2017.. hopefully the price doesn't jump too high in the next couple of days. I am still convinced someone should sponsor or pay you to travel and right reviews..

[AngAndBoys]

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! You're my cruise review hero!!!

 

PS. 40 doesn't suck as bad as you think. :D

[tncap]

Great stuff, as always. VERY much looking forward to your trip and subsequent review of Asia!

[gapearl]

Hi Kim! I am normally a lurker, but came out (this time) to let you know your reviews are AWESOME! They help me to make it through until my next sailing. Again, great job. I'll be waiting for your Vista review.

 

Thanks for coming out of the shadows to say hi, brown eyes! I'm glad you enjoyed the review. Have fun on your next cruise, whenever it may be! :)

 

Carnival freeze-drying their "cornbread" for the astronauts? Now that's just plain mean, Kim! :eek::p:D

I really enjoyed the Space Centre pictures, too.

Heather

 

Hey Heather! Thanks for reading! You mean you don't think the astronauts would like it? :p:D

[gapearl]

LOL, I agree, that is mean. That cornbread would cause space program to end.

 

Kim, you done did it this time !! Between the opening video, the review, the shopping tips and the extra music videos, next review you do I expect we will need special glasses because it will probably be in 3-D.

 

As always, I laughed out loud, smiled a lot but mostly enjoyed traveling with you. Thanks for the detail, the photos and being your own 'bad,' self.'

 

(Sorry for the hijack but I know In Charge will be back to read the rest. In Charge, did you receive the answer I sent to your email ? )

 

Thanks, Kim. Carnival really needs to pay you for your reviews.

 

LOL @ the space program ending! I look forward to meeting you as I did In Charge one day! Tell Carnival I'll be happy with a free cruise!

 

I finally finished the entire review. it was excellent as always. for my cruise critic reading hours I will say you are the best reviewer on the boards but I may be a little biased because I haven't had a chance to read many others.. I will say that your enthusiasm and reviews definitely have me thinking about giving Carnival a try.. I am most likely booking the vista for 2017.. hopefully the price doesn't jump too high in the next couple of days. I am still convinced someone should sponsor or pay you to travel and right reviews..

 

Thanks a lot! There are some good reviewers here. I love reading theirs because everyone has a different cruising perspective- Mitsugirly and Jamman cruise with their families, Gambee is an awsome photographer, Wrigley 80 is fun and carefree like myself. I'm sure you will enjoy Carnival. Booking in April though, you could encounter the spring break crowds so be aware of that. I WISH I could find a way to get paid to do this!

[gapearl]

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! You're my cruise review hero!!!

 

PS. 40 doesn't suck as bad as you think. :D

 

Thanks my dear! :D Seems like yesterday I just turned 30 and now I'm 35. I just know for*couugh, cough, COUGH* is going to sneak up on me too. lol

 

Great stuff, as always. VERY much looking forward to your trip and subsequent review of Asia!

 

Thank you very much! I hope I can make it another good one for y'all.

[angelofsin]

Thanks a lot! There are some good reviewers here. I love reading theirs because everyone has a different cruising perspective- Mitsugirly and Jamman cruise with their families, Gambee is an awsome photographer, Wrigley 80 is fun and carefree like myself. I'm sure you will enjoy Carnival. Booking in April though, you could encounter the spring break crowds so be aware of that. I WISH I could find a way to get paid to do this!

 

I guess I need to check out some of the other reviews.

 

yeah i noticed that might be a distinct possibility that is why I intend to go towards the end of april. A quick question Kim. does carnival usually charge so much money to hold a balcony room? I was trying to book today expecting a deposit of like $250 but when i got to the end they told me a initial deposit of $500 for a balcony room!! Is this a normal policy for Carnival to charge so much on a initial deposit??

[GrummanTiger]

Great review Kim! Anyway you can leave a link to your blog? I tried looking for it, but could not find it! Thank you for all your hard work!

 

GT

[Singer4Him]

With this being CJ and JJ's first cruise, how did they like it? It seemed that CJ didn't feel well much of the cruise. I hope that didn't spoil it for her and that she will give it a try again.

[mykindaparty]

40 is great...I turned 40, married 20 yrs, son turned 18 graduated high school, and I became a grandmother all before August of that yr.....lol what a yr it was[emoji3]

Your review was great as always Kim and I look forward to more from your blog and our cruise on the vista.

[Crusin Karen]

I never complain about birthdays. I just think of it as another year to celebrate the year I just lived thru, to have more ice cream and yummy drinks and dress up in fancy clothes and go on a cruise (fingers crossed) and to see sunrises and sunsets and to decorate another Christmas tree and watch the ball drop from Times Square on New Years Eve...and eat Easter candy, and Halloween candy too! And see fireworks on the 4th of July. You are enjoying your life, Kim. Don't worry about NUMBERS!

Read from about page 24 until the end in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing another adventure with us. Did not see the "nasty post." Wondering if the moderators deleted??? Did see a quote of your response. We think alike! I usually don't venture out of CCL forum, so please come here and tell us when you are posting your review of your next cruise adventure. I cannot even imagine the excitement! Enjoy it ALL!!!! :D:p

[anewmac]

Wow you got a lot in at Nasa! Loved the review. THank you so much for sharing your trip with us. Loved the Video at the end, great recap. I think your theme with the cartoon pics was awesome.

 

SO excited to read your next adventures!!!

[modes]

Kim thanks for all your time and effort in doing this review and as usual it was great and i agree with you on FTTF it's a waste of $$$.

[riclop]

Kim thanks again for your great review and I also agree with you about FTTF, it's a waste of $50.

[gapearl]

I guess I need to check out some of the other reviews.

 

yeah i noticed that might be a distinct possibility that is why I intend to go towards the end of april. A quick question Kim. does carnival usually charge so much money to hold a balcony room? I was trying to book today expecting a deposit of like $250 but when i got to the end they told me a initial deposit of $500 for a balcony room!! Is this a normal policy for Carnival to charge so much on a initial deposit??

 

That's normal for a 7 day cruise. If you're traveling with someone, that's $250 a piece. If you're booking solo, they charge you double the deposit.

 

Great review Kim! Anyway you can leave a link to your blog? I tried looking for it, but could not find it! Thank you for all your hard work!

 

GT

 

There's a link to it in my signature. I went ahead and posted my Colombia and Vegas birthday trips from last year last night. Thanks for reading!

[gapearl]

With this being CJ and JJ's first cruise, how did they like it? It seemed that CJ didn't feel well much of the cruise. I hope that didn't spoil it for her and that she will give it a try again.

 

They loved it! This trip really sparked an interest in JJ to travel more and she wants to see 25 countries in the near future. Sometimes CJ would go down to deck 5 and sit and people watch. She's got a couple of surgeries coming up, so it was nice for her to get out of her normal routine and have a nice trip, even if she didn't get to do as much as she wanted.

 

40 is great...I turned 40, married 20 yrs, son turned 18 graduated high school, and I became a grandmother all before August of that yr.....lol what a yr it was[emoji3]

Your review was great as always Kim and I look forward to more from your blog and our cruise on the vista.

 

Wow that was an eventful year for you! LOL The 30's have been great. I'm sure the 40's will be just as great. After all, they say that's when women hit their prime! :D

[gapearl]

I never complain about birthdays. I just think of it as another year to celebrate the year I just lived thru, to have more ice cream and yummy drinks and dress up in fancy clothes and go on a cruise (fingers crossed) and to see sunrises and sunsets and to decorate another Christmas tree and watch the ball drop from Times Square on New Years Eve...and eat Easter candy, and Halloween candy too! And see fireworks on the 4th of July. You are enjoying your life, Kim. Don't worry about NUMBERS!

Read from about page 24 until the end in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing another adventure with us. Did not see the "nasty post." Wondering if the moderators deleted??? Did see a quote of your response. We think alike! I usually don't venture out of CCL forum, so please come here and tell us when you are posting your review of your next cruise adventure. I cannot even imagine the excitement! Enjoy it ALL!!!! :D:p

 

Thanks for the nice words Karen. You're right, I shouldn't be worried about the numbers. I'm in good health and feel great and enjoying life. Yes, there was a mean post. You missed the fun! :D lol It did get deleted. I'll definitely report back here after my Mariner cruise. :)

 

Wow you got a lot in at Nasa! Loved the review. THank you so much for sharing your trip with us. Loved the Video at the end, great recap. I think your theme with the cartoon pics was awesome.

 

SO excited to read your next adventures!!!

 

Thanks Drea! It was fun getting extra creative with this review!

[gapearl]

Kim thanks for all your time and effort in doing this review and as usual it was great and i agree with you on FTTF it's a waste of $$$.

 

Kim thanks again for your great review and I also agree with you about FTTF, it's a waste of $50.

 

Thanks y'all, so glad you enjoyed it! That $50 could buy a lot of fruity drinks by the pool! :p

[danacline]

Kim,

 

Thanks for posting your review, as well as links to previous reviews in your signature. They all make for awesome reading!

 

You may be ready to step up to a theme cruise. My first one was for a "Geek cruise", a computer conference at sea. The owner of geekcruises Neil Bauman has been doing 5-10 cruises a year for 15 years now, and now uses the name InsightCruises dot com. The cruises have morphed from computer conferences to all sorts of various scientific seminars. For instance, a Med cruise includes seminars by expert archaeologists. He's done several cruises that track solar eclipses.

 

My review of that Geek cruise can be found by searching for "dr. dobbs geeks ahoy". As Dr. Dobbs has ceased publication, I assume the web site will eventually go down and my article could only be found on the WayBack site.

 

Neil got his idea from Charles Datin, who runs cruisetrek dot com. The Cruise Treks are held annually, for Star Trek fans, and include cast members from the various series and movies.

 

There are literally hundreds of theme cruises available, and thanks to the internet, you can actually find them! There are a lot of different music cruises, and cruises for just about every hobby or sport you could think of.

[wrigley80]

All I had was one drink at Coconuts, and that was all I needed! :eek:

 

One drink :eek: They are strong though. They told us on the bus for the Bar Hop that one drink at these bars was equivalent 2-3 back home because of the Mexican Tequila.

 

Thanks Brianna! I can't wait to read your next review! Yeah I'm sure you know hangovers all too well after that bar hop. lol :p

 

HAHA....and ya know what is so funny. After the Bar Hop we literally had to run back to the ship which isn't fun when you have been drinking. We went straight to dinner and in the dining room I kept it going with Rumchata and Fireball shots :eek:

[GrummanTiger]

There's a link to it in my signature. I went ahead and posted my Colombia and Vegas birthday trips from last year last night. Thanks for reading!

 

Sorry! I always have signatures off when I read a review.... saves TONNES of pages... Have now turned them on, got your link, and turned them back off! Thank you for the Blog too! It's great.

 

GT

[angelofsin]

That's normal for a 7 day cruise. If you're traveling with someone, that's $250 a piece. If you're booking solo, they charge you double the deposit.

 

yeah I had to find out the hard way.. I don't think there is any other cruise line that does this. I think $500 is a lot of money for a deposit on a cruise. I have been on cruises twice as expensive as this particular cruise and had initial deposits of half the amount while cruising solo. But I guess that is all water under the bridge now as I have officially booked my first Carnival Cruise for April 2017!!!

[Flytko]

All I can say is awesome review!!! Happy very late birthday!!!!!

 

Magic is my only but favorite ship so far.. Can't wait to take more, but with twin boys on the way, it will be a few years before the wife and I cruise again. Also love the pics of Space Center Houston, I haven't been there since middle school and I live down the road form there... :)