When Ship Happens

Carnival Magic - Post 2.0 Upgrades Day 3 - Cozumel

Day 3

We arrived in Cozumel at 9am. I had excursions planned for our other 2 ports, but Cozumel we were just going to see where the day took us. The Mom’s wanted to do some shopping. Mark wanted to rent a jeep and show his Dad the island. We met somewhere in the middle.

We stopped by the Jeep rental place and it was $95 for the day to rent. We thought that was a decent deal… they wanted $200 to rent a golf cart in Key West. However…. I read somewhere that if you get into a car accident in Mexico, they arrest you and figure out the logistics out later. I honestly don’t know if there is any truth to this or not…but if it happened to someone… it would be us! Just as I was trying to convince Mark he was about to end up in a Mexican jail, the guy came back as we were filling out the paperwork and said the last Jeep had been rented. I took that as a sign. Nope… we didn’t want anything else. Gracias. We’ll be on our way now and I drug my family out of there.

I hit up a guy about an island tour and he quoted me $40 per person. 4 hour tour. They would take us to a couple of beaches for photos, passed some Mayan ruins, to the Tequila factory and then to downtown for some shopping. Sounded like a great deal so T and I went to go round up the Mom’s. We both decided they were probably in Diamond’s International and we were right.

We headed back with the whole group and could not find that guy… but the next one we found said $30 per person for the same tour only 3 hours and no ruins. Deal. I did try to find someone that would do it for $20… kinda felt like I was on a roll, but that was a no go. So the $30 dude it was.

We were taken in an air conditioned van… only 1 other couple was with us. Poor things. I could not imagine being invaded with my family when you are least expecting it! They seemed to be troopers though!

First stop was a little Mayan hut. We got out and walked through the grounds and of course donated some money in the little gift shop.  Apparently this little thing is known for fertility... I stayed well away from it. They say if you rub it, you will become pregnant.  I took the widest path around it I could find :)

Next stop was Paradise Beach. Trenton has decided we need to go here next time we come to Cozumel! They had a really nice pool and bar. Some pretty birds and lots of inflatable water toys.  If you decided to go by taxi it really isn't far down the road from the port and it is beautiful!  Not sure what the actual price to get in and stay is.

We drove back through town and onto the Tequila factory. We received a little education in how tequila is made and the difference between that tequila and what we purchase in the United States... as they do not ship theirs.

 

We were able to taste 4 different types of tequila’s and 4 tequila liquors. They really were amazing and my tequila drinking days are FAR behind me! Most tequila comes close to setting your esophagus on fire as you swallow and this was so smooth!  Mark kept asking if I was going to buy a bottle… while it was ridiculously good I saw no reason why I needed to be sitting at home sipping on tequila… lol.  If YOU are interested in purchasing a bottle it is $85 USD per bottle.

There is a little restaurant attached and that is where we ate lunch. It was pretty good. We met some other people there who were from Missouri, but own a house in Cozumel… that really got Mark’s wheels a turning!

 

If you ever eat here... Just be prepared your bill comes in Peso’s! We had to ask for assistance to know how much our bill was so we could convert our tip into Peso’s. We checked the credit card company once we got back on the ship and everything looks like it was a go!

As we were leaving and heading back to the bus we saw the people with the birds.  The price is $5 for 2 pictures.  We decided why not?  Mark had my phone and this was our second picture.  The guy put a bird on Trenton's shoulder and I thought I was just leaning in the picture, when all of a sudden he says "Mommy, look sexy."  I said "Excuse me?"  He says "You know put your hand on your hip like this."  I am thinking "What the hell..."  So I put my hand on my hip and he says hold out your finger.  As I do this... he attaches another damn bird to my finger and Mark snaps the picture!  So here you have it my friends.  The single most awful...yet hilarious picture I have ever taken in my life!

 

 

After lunch we headed downtown and had about 45 minutes to shop. We did good and found everything that was on our list. After rounding everyone back in the van we headed back to the port for more shopping of course! Trenton is in LOVE with the Cariloha shirts and of course Del Sol now has a Star Wars collection. The kid that never wants to buy clothes suddenly can’t pass up a shop!

By this time we were officially exhausted and headed back to the ship. Dinner was good as usual, but uneventful. We did receive some chocolate dipped strawberries as a we are sorry from our debacle at the steakhouse on night 1. That was a nice before bed time treat. We all turned in early in anticipation of our day in Belize….

 

(*So once again... I apologize for all the sideways pictures :/)

Carnival Magic - Post 2.0 upgrades Day 2

Day 2

We are well into our first Sea Day. Trenton and I hit the sky course for several rounds this morning. Thankfully there was no one there to snap pictures of it. It was quite windy and I am shocked it was open. I was trucking on through the easy routes when Trenton double dog dared me to do the hard one. I was rudely reminded about halfway through that I broke my shoulder only 6 months ago and clearly am not as young as I once was. After I survived that lap, I was done! LOL

We headed to the casino for the Facebook Slot Pull. No money was won, but it sure was a fun time. Mark was still sleeping so the rest of us headed for a late breakfast and them off to the Caribbean Shopping Show. I honestly have never attended one of these and here is my take on it…. They give away lots of free stuff! (I didn’t win any of it)… but it has to be the longest show in history and my butt fell asleep! However, I would say it’s worth a shot. They gave away T-shirts, Del Sol bags, socks and a couple of really nice necklaces.  If you like getting free stuff... this is one you don't want to miss!

We gambled a little in the casino and then tried the new barbeque place outside on Deck 5 for lunch. It was pretty good. Had potato salad and cole slaw, pork, chicken, beans, macaroni and cheese, etc. It was a nice lunch.

 

 

Afterwards, we headed back to the Diamonds and Gemstone show, which really is a continuation of the Shopping show from the morning. This time my Mother In Law won a bracelet valued at $175 and we all got a free sapphire gemstone.  This one did not last as long as the first one did... so I am calling that a success. 

Tonight was elegant night. We got all dressed up and had some pictures taken. I could not miss that opportunity.  Dinner was yummy. We have Your Time Dining and found a wonderful wait staff.  They were funny and quick!  We will be requesting them each night.  Most everyone ordered the lobster. I tried the fried oysters for an appetizer and they were really very good! ... and I am not an oyster person. Dessert was hands down the Vanilla Crème Brulee which Trenton describes as heaven with a crunchy top of deliciousness :)

I ended up with a really great family photo from elegant night.... but.... the internet isn't strong enough to turn it :(

I absolutely love it though!

We all visited the casino that night and had a lot of fun!  Donated a little so hopefully it will be kind to us on another night, but we did have a blast!  After that we wandered around, shopped a little and called it a night. 

 

Stay tuned for our adventures in Cozumel!

 

Carnival Magic - Post 2.0 Upgrades Day 1

So I am trying something new.  Usually I blog after we have returned from our trip and everything settles down.  This time I am going to try to write a little each day.  However, we purchased the Premium internet package and frankly.... it stinks!  LOL

Carnival Magic Day 1: Our embarkation went smoothly. We parked at the port. It seems like the staggered embarkation times are going well. It really wasn’t crowded. The Captain’s lounge, however, was pretty full this time. I had some WhenShipHappens lanyards made and handed them out to a few couples we were talking to while we were waiting. Next thing I knew they were all gone before we boarded! Guess I will be ordering some more. They came in and announced boarding was slightly delayed because 1 person from the previous cruise was still on board somewhere and they were looking for him! Ha Ha. So in case any of you were wondering… they will find you :) 

This cruise was special to us because we were bringing Mark’s parents. His mom has cruised with us before, but this was his Dad’s first cruise and really, first vacation ever and it was our treat. I have run myself crazy trying to make sure everything was perfect for them that now I am a scattered brained mess… lol. I keep losing MY things. I told Mark I was afraid I was developing dementia! He lovingly says my brain has just been too busy focusing on everyone else. I guess we’ll see…

We went right to our rooms to drop off our things before heading out to explore. Mark wanted to get his Dad a Bottomless Bubbles card and I told him just to go to any bar and they should be able to do it. They happened to walk into the Red Frog Pub and ended up being the first customers and getting a free beer! What a way to start it off! I am so glad I snapped these pictures off the monitor because the next night they called our room after dinner and asked for Mark to come back and re-take his photo.  They said it accidentally got deleted and they needed it to send to corporate ??  His Dad was no where to be found so I ended up being in the retake.  They asked for our home address and email so .... Hmmm.  I guess we will see.  Thankfully though I have this picture!

I took the Mom’s and Trenton and we headed up to eat! We ran into a life sized towel animal and could not turn down the photo opportunity.

The lido on the Magic looks wonderful. It looks like the decking and pool got a facelift as well as the famous Guy’s Burger and my all-time favorite Blue Iguana. We headed straight for the tacos! The rest of the afternoon was pretty un-eventful. We walked around and looked at the ship (I couldn’t really get any good pictures because there were too many people on board already.) Here is a pic of the pool atleast... with a huge line at Guy's burgers in the background!

I will try again later. That afternoon we attended our Facebook Meet and Greet. It was nice to see some online faces and looks like everyone was having a great time! Funny story about my lanyards… I actually ordered them for the Meet and Greet. They were arriving by UPS the week we were leaving for the cruise so I was anxiously tracking them. The night they were supposed to come I checked my UPS app thingy and it says they were delivered… To a Man… Outside My House! It completely freaked me out because Mark was traveling. Turns out the neighbor got them. He thought we were already gone.

Back to the cruise… I had made reservations for the Steakhouse and we were all really excited about it. I emailed the Steakhouse prior to the cruise and requested a 6:00 time. I was told it was full and they could accommodate us at 5:30. I said that was fine. Once we were onboard I confirmed our 5:30 time in person with the steakhouse representative that was trying to get people to sign up and then again by phone because they called and left a message on our cabin phone. We showed up at 5:30 and were literally “Shoo-ed” out of the Steakhouse and they said they were not ready to give them a few more minutes. We waited 10 minutes… standing outside the now closed door. Mom’s back was starting to hurt and really… it was just awkward standing there all dressed up. Mark finally just walked in (because he’s not scared) and the whole staff was around the corner laughing and telling jokes. He almost lost his cool when the girl came over and said she was holding a meeting. He said he didn’t care. Our reservation was for 10 minutes ago and they could either offer us a seat or reschedule because he wasn’t having his family stand out in the hallway any longer. They sat us down. They didn’t even have our table of 6 arranged so we had to wait for them to move some tables. After that everything went smoothly and dinner was fantastic. We were offered a free bottle of wine since it was the first night which certainly helped to ease my frustration. I was a little shocked and disappointed with how things went. We have eaten at the steakhouse many times and never encountered customer service like that. It’s all good now. We turned in early… day 1 is always exhausting for me. Apparently Mark’s Dad was out living it up until 1:30 AM! LOL

Cabin Crawls, Poker Runs, Iguana's and More ... Who says you can't have fun on sea days?

I must finish this review!  I am at the point though where there is so much going on in my head it’s like trying to put a leash on a squirrel!  Aaahh!  Ooh.. maybe I should put on my squirrel shoes!  OK… never mind…must focus!

My favorite Deck of the whole ship is Deck 5.  It’s got everything you need! 

Shops: I walk through aimlessly at least once a day looking as if I have never seen the items in there before.  We bought one of those singing and dancing stuffed monkeys once … you know the one drinking a pina colada. 

Yea… that one.  Trenton lost it 10 minutes later.  We sat down at the future cruise desk and he was never seen again.  (The monkey… not Trenton)  Whoever went home with a free $30 singing monkey… ”You’re Welcome.”

The second cruise we ever took they had a cash poker tournament going on.  It was hosted by a group of people traveling on the ship and independent of Carnival.  We entered and Mark ended up winning the whole darn thing.  I think it was something like $1200!  We were so happy because that basically paid for our entire cruise and we were coming home with money for a change!  Mark said the only thing he wanted was to buy a “nice” watch.  So we headed straight for the Carnival shops!  LOL They talked him into a real nice one… said it was 50% off… gave him this whole spill on what a great deal he was getting!  We came home… 2 weeks later he saw the same watch (Not On Sale) for $200 less than what he paid for it!  Ha!  The only jewelry we purchase on the ships now comes from the $10 sale!

Cherry On Top Candy Shop:  Trenton begged to go in here every time we walked past it, which was several times a day!  We did end up purchasing a large stick full of different flavored sugar that he still to this day has not consumed all of! I can’t even imagine how nasty that must taste… but it really is pretty cheap for a tube and the kids get to pick the flavors and fill it up on their own.  … I am sure there has been a disaster or two there before!

 

Casino:  What generally happens when  MawMaw and Trenton head back to the room to call it a day… Daddy and Mommy go out to play!  The first night we decided to go check out the casino and see if we could donate any money… which they will always let you do.  I ended up winning some back when I sat down to play poker and cleaned Mark out for the $186 he had just won.  I don’t know why he bets against me.  He should know by now… but anyhow… A win is a win :)   I didn’t really play poker much the rest of the cruise.  I sat down a few times, but the majority of people were playing like moron’s.  While it is fun to play, I usually have an agenda to leave the table with more money than I sat down with and playing with crazy people reduces those odds so … not much poker for me this cruise.  Mark and I officially went to bed at 3am this night.  Pretty sure we ordered room service and someone ate it… I don’t really recall.  There were empty dishes on a tray sitting on our coffee table the next morning.  (That’s always a sign of a good night!)

After my run in with the coral reef in Roatan… my ankle/foot was done.  (Those “little” scratches have now officially turned into scars!  Who would have thought?  Oh well… free souvenir I suppose) When I wasn’t wearing flip flops, I put on my cow house shoes and headed to the casino.  (I couldn’t even wear my squirrels! … Such a shame!)  I didn’t win much money this cruise, but I didn’t care because I was in my cow house shoes and surrounded by great company!  Maria the casino host was great.  She is so friendly and I found myself always looking for her.  Alexsandr (yep, I spelled that correctly) became my favorite dealer.  He is hilarious.  Mark was asking him about ship life.  My favorite line of his was “No one girlfriend.  On ship, many girlfriends.”  LOL  I don’t need to know anymore!  Eugenia the slot hostess was a delight.  She’s someone that truly enjoys her job and it shows!  And then there was Ramona.  Ramona was on the Valor when we cruised last July.  She remembered both of us!  Now, I know we spend our fair share of time in the casino, but can you imagine how many people they see over a year?!  She stopped both of us to ask if we sailed on the Valor last summer!  What a memory!  She’s awesome by the way.  If you see her, tell her HI!

The only damper for the cruise was some people we met in the casino.  Mark and I were having a great time (losing our money) and had sat down at a 3 card poker table with 3 other … I am going to say “mature… meaning over the age of 60” adults.  (Mark says they had 1 foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel)  After a couple of hands a handicapped lady rolled up in her wheelchair and wanted to play.  Mark got up and helped her up into the chair so she could reach the table.  It was obvious she was drunk as a skunk…but she wasn’t obnoxious.  However, she did not know how to play the game … so I leaned over and started explaining it to her.  The 3 “mature” adults at the table began chastising her… telling her she needed to just go back to her room… asking her if she even knew where her room was like she was mentally challenged!... being extremely rude… then the man decided to Yell at me to quit helping her.  Now… I might make fun of Mark (because I can) but one thing you don’t do is disrespect me in front of him.  That didn’t go over well at all.  They probably should have removed Mark from the table from the way he was talking to that man, but was later told by the dealer that she agreed with everything he said, and that was the reason she did not ask him to leave.  Some people are so rude and insensitive to others.  I just don’t get it.  Probably the same bastards that took all the meat off the sandwiches from the Triumph when it was floating for a week! 

Hey…  Here’s a valuable tip.  “You’re on vacation... Be Nice!”

I felt so bad for that poor lady :(  My cow house shoes and I went to find another table.  I only like to be around happy people.  Life is too short to spend it around the ugly ones.

I think all in all we pretty much broke even on this cruise.  We would win some and lose some.  Mark was really miffed he didn’t receive a “drinks on us” card.  Maria made up for it though and pretty much bought our drinks the rest of the cruise.  Every time mine was empty a waiter was tapping me on the shoulder with a new one :)  Love her!

Meet N Greet:  Our cruise group from Facebook/Cruise Critic had a Meet N Greet scheduled for 12:30 in the disco on the first sea day.  We were first scheduled to be in the piano bar, but due to the overwhelming response and number of RSVP’s we were moved to the disco.  We had already met a few people at the cruise terminal and several others we had run into the first day.  It was so nice to see and meet everyone.  You get to know them online and it is such an amazing feeling to meet them in person.  We were so lucky.  The group that was on the Magic this week truly was special. 

The Meet N Greet was for 1 hour.  The kids were there with their virgin drinks, getting to know each other (they had their own facebook group prior to the cruise).  One family was so awesome to make lanyards with name tags for everyone.  Our goal was to all consume more alcoholic beverages than we had paid for … and I am fairly confident in saying that goal was accomplished… by ALL!  As… we actually forgot to each lunch that day!

I met some “When Ship Happens Blog” fans and the first question I always got was “What meltdown did Mark have on the way to Galveston this time?”  LOL  At first they seemed bummed that he had been on such good behavior… but minutes prior to leaving our cabin and heading down to the Meet N Greet,  Trenton dared Mark that he would not wear my red/white/and blue headband with springy tassels.  (*Never… ever… dare Mark that he won’t do something! … ever)  Much to Trenton’s dismay … and this bloggers delight, Mark put them on top of his head and proudly marched his way through the ENTIRE ship to the disco!  He even wore them into the men’s bathroom and scared the beegeezus out of some poor man who didn’t even finish doing his business before he ran out of the bathroom in fear!  So… that pretty much made up for the lack of bad behavior and he was met with “Ohhh… you must be the husband, Mark” :)  Famous folks… I have made him famous!

Subsequently this night was also the first “formal night”.  After we realized we had totally missed lunch and headed up to the Lido deck for hamburgers around 4:30pm we went back to our cabin for a nap.  When we woke up it was 7:30pm and I certainly had a day hangover.  I decided I was just staying in bed and ordering room service when I discovered Mom was hungry and had been dressed a full hour waiting for us to wake up!  Crap…. Give us 5 minutes…. And we were ready.   Must be the fastest formal night dressing I have ever pulled off!  We got downstairs and there was zero wait for the dining room.  Perfect! 

Deck 5 is also home to the karaoke stage … “Oh MY Goodness it was awful!”  Behind that is the Red Frog Pub which is pretty popular.  We stopped in for a delicious tasting “Kiss On The Lips” and long enough to get our picture taken and scrolling up on the wall. 

They also had fuze ball and shuffleboard tables which were a big hit!  Piano Bar and Spotlight Lounge with comedy shows round out the aft of this floor.  Soooo much to do!

Deck 4 is not too shabby either.  It is home to the photo gallery… walls and walls of looking for yourself and what crazy face your husband made when you weren’t looking this time!  It took us 3 whole days on this boat to make it down to Deck 4.  That morning, Trenton and I were taking a break from an intense game of mini golf… attempted shuffleboard at the Red Frog Pub, (but it already had an action packed game going on)  So, we moseyed on down to Deck 4.  We realized there was a hallway in the corner of the photo stuff and wondered “What’s down here?”  Oh My…. It was home to the Library with tons of books and games.  We found the Art Auction room (free champagne… the auction itself sucked) …and then we found THE WAREHOUSE.   It took us 3 whole days to find the arcade room.  Can you imagine?  Atleast that saved me a couple days’ worth of expenses!  I still think we made up for it though!

The 2^nd sea day morning the boat was moving a little bit.  I did not restock up on non-drowsy Dramamine for Mark… which he instinctively woke up asking for.  So, Trenton and I headed off to the medical deck on Deck 0 to see what they had, which gave us another opportunity to explore a part of the boat we hadn’t seen yet!  Turns out motion sickness medicine is reasonably priced. 4 pills for $3 and yes, they take your S&S Card.  Trenton and I delivered the meds and set off for breakfast and more exploring.  However, it appears the pills they give you are not NON-Drowsy so Mark spent the next 24 hours in a daze thinking he was terminally ill because he was exhausted and could not wake up!  Oops.  Sorry Babe!

11am our Facebook group had organized a cabin crawl.  We toured a massive amount of cabins from Deck 12 all the way down to Deck 2.  Spa balcony, Inside spa rooms, handicap ocean views, obstructed view oceanviews, regular inside cabins, 4 person balcony rooms, connecting balcony rooms, extended balcony, cove balcony… you name we saw it.  Each little room had a special treat in it from keychains, wine, spiked gummy bears, jello shots, bracelets, hair bows, coozies, Cajun seasoning.. . lol  It was a blast and nice to see how the other half lives too!  We had such a large group parading down the halls of the ships and cramming into cabins other cruisers walking by kept trying to look in and see what the heck was going on! The look on some of their faces was priceless!

During the cabin crawl we also paid $5 and did a poker run.  They select 5 rooms that have a deck of cards and when you visit that room you draw a card.  The person with the best hand at the end wins the pot of money.  I didn’t win a darn thing!  I was on a roll with a K, Q and J… then Trenton went and drew a 4 and a 7 :(   Yep… you read that right.  I am blaming my loss on the kid.

Our Facebook group had an organized slot pull this afternoon too.  Mom participated, but her group didn’t win anything either. They sure did have fun though!  They were hooping and hollering with each roll.  The ladies were rubbing the machines, petting the penguins…  It was a sight to watch.  I wandered over to a machine and sat down where I could still watch the free entertainment and ended up winning $230!  Woo Hoo … excursion money for tomorrow!  I didn’t have the heart to tell that to the slot pullers at the time.

Holy crap this kid is just like Mark!:  Our morning ritual among cruise ships is Trenton waking me up for some spectacular wonder of the world and me stumbling my way onto the balcony, sleep deprived, to see it.  The first day at sea was no different when at 6:30am (after going to bed at 3:30am) Trenton woke me up exclaiming “Oh My Gosh… Mom, I have never seen water this blue!”  Me with 1 eye open … “Trenton, this is your 3rd cruise THIS YEAR.  You’ve seen water that blue!” “Ok, I know I have seen it before, but Mom… you HAVE to come see it!” …. And so I did. 

Another evening Trenton’s new friend and his mom joined us for dinner.   After dinner they went back to his friend’s cabin.  I asked Trenton later what they played and he says “I taught him how to play 5 Card Draw.” 

“What?!  Honey, that’s not a game you teach other 10 year olds! “ 

“Why not Mom, it’s fun.” 

Great.Parenting.Skills.101

Secrets.to.the.child.gambler.

Don't.Judge.

And then there was the past guest party….  As now the whole world knows Trenton became a Gold Card VIFP Member on this cruise.  He has attended past guest parties with us before…but this time he received his OWN invitation.  He proudly wore his Gold Pin and upon entering the Showtime Theatre… led us all the way down to the front row.  The theme this time was “Mardi Gras” and of course beads were being thrown… Trenton had a mission to catch them all!  We get him seated again and the very first question out of the cruise director’s mouth is “How many of you became Gold on THIS cruise?”  Trenton bolts out of his seat, arms waving in the air, jumping up and down.  Yep… folks, that’s how you get on stage.  He got to talk into the microphone and won himself a front row spot for all the dancing.  EVERY cruise this kid manages to get himself on the official cruise video somehow. 

First cruise he was ever on, I dropped him off at Camp Carnival one morning, returned to the room and found him on the cruise directors morning show!  Apparently it was being held in Camp Carnival that morning and who do you think is sitting right next to the cruise director…. Surely you don’t have to ask!

Laser Tag:  Laser Tag is held in the Showtime Theatre (Deck 3 and 4 Forward).  I have no idea how often it was offered, but I saw it on the last sea day.  The cost is $5 for roughly 5 minutes.  But trust me, 5 minutes is plenty.  Laser tag is held in this blown up thing and apparently it is hotter than Hades in there!  But Trenton never turns down the opportunity.

We met another family while waiting for Trenton (their son was in there too).

 *Folks be careful what you tell me if you don’t want it going in this blog.  I have NO trouble putting Mark’s embarrassing moments out there for the whole world to read… and I Love him!  Which means … your husband’s embarrassing moments are fair game!

So.  What I learned during laser tag. 

This couple was married.  They have 2 children.  This was their first vacation in quite some time.  He is a police officer and going on about how he feels “overly protective” of his family while they are in Mexico.  His wife blurts out “Over protective?!  Were you being “over protective” when you were so drunk you tried to wrestle the iguana?!” 

My ears perked up.  My heartbeat quickened.  I can smell a story! Hell, at this point I could taste it!  “Oh, please.  You must elaborate!”  I said, and so she did…

They were on a beach in Cozumel.  Police officer Dad is drunk as a skunk (I am sure you can relate… probably too many “Ticket to Fly’s”) wearing only his swim trunks and along comes this rather large iguana sauntering down the beach.  Police officer Dad decides… he wants to apprehend this iguana.  So he takes after it in hot pursuit. The iguana scurries a few feet ahead of him and stops, turns around and looks at him.  So police officer Dad tries again… He lunges forward to try to take the suspect off guard, only he misses.  The iguana scurries ahead a few feet, just out of reach, turns around and looks at him.  Police officer Dad now decides the iguana is taunting him and police officer Dad will have none of that!  He takes off, full speed ahead in his drunken stupor… dives after the suspect, taking a flying leap with his arms outstretched, ready to tackle this iguana once and for all …..

l

l

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V

 

And belly flops hard in the sand.  Sand flies everywhere as police officer Dad slides to a stop.  When the sand settles… the iguana turns around , looks at him and slowly continues on down the beach.

I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my cheeks.  Police officer Dad is now bright red and attempting to offer another side of the story… but that is not needed.  I know the truth when I hear it!  So this is the moment when I hand over my card and say “By the way, I write a cruise blog.  You should check it out.”  … and the color completely drains from police officer Dad’s face.  :)

<a href="http.hypersmash.com">Hypersmash.com</a>

How one eats on board the Carnival Magic

Here’s your one warning… If you are currently hungry… or about to go to the grocery store… Come back to the blog later.  Ok... now the rest of us can proceed forward.

 

There is no doubt about it…. I LOVE cruise food!  I often (daily) read through cruise reviews (obsessed, I know) and I am always amazed when people say the food onboard is horrible.  Where the hell do you people eat on a daily basis?! 

Mark is a fantastic cook (thankfully because I started a fire attempting to boil water!  (True story)  People rave about his food.  When he doesn’t want to cook we have some really good restaurants we go to and we are quite picky regarding service and quality.  When we eat somewhere good… It’s good!   

Here’s my one and only complaint with Carnival food.  There are too many choices.  When I eat something that is fantastic, I certainly want more before they kick me off the boat at the end of the week… but I can’t manage to fit all the food in and still try other things.  I don’t think I ate half the places that were available on the Magic… and I still came home with 4 extra pounds.  :(

I am thankful I brought 2 different sizes of shorts.  Those that fit at the beginning of the week and those for the end of the week so I don’t feel so bad about myself :)  Am I the only one who does this?

Let’s start on the Lido Deck.  Our very first meal on board was from the Deli Station.  Fresh made sandwiches right in front of you.  Trenton had an amazing grilled cheese, Mark had a corned beef and I am partial to the turkey wrap.  Ahh… they are soo good!  Your other choices up here by the pool are the hamburgers and hotdogs… complete with all the fixings (chili, mushrooms, jalapeno’s, grilled onions, cheese sauce, fries) … And the pizza.  24 hours a day!  I really like the new recipe with the thin crust.  You just can’t go wrong with the pizza.  I was starving one night, headed back up to the room with my pizza and turned the corner too sharp.   My pizza flew off my plate onto the floor… I actually contemplated picking it up and eating it.  (Don’t panic.  I went back and got in line to get another piece), but that’s how good it was!

Inside the Lido Marketplace is the buffet.  Plenty of choices from salad, pasta salads, hot choices (meat and veggies).  Burrito bar (tried it on the Valor and loved it!... never made it there on the Magic)  I also discovered the Mongolian Wok which looked pretty popular … only it was after I had just consumed an entire plate of pasta, ceasar salad and half a portion of lasagna at Cucina de Capitano.  Sooo…. I didn’t get to personally try it.  It is on the To Do List though (in the future).

Another super, duper don’t miss on the Magic is the Seaside BBQ.  It is located outside on deck 5.  We had a balcony a couple of floors above it and had the pleasure of smelling it on sea days :)  The only reason it took us until the last sea day to eat lunch there was because Sea day #1 we were consuming beverages at our Cruise Critic Meet N Greet and completely forgot to eat lunch at all! Sea Day #2 mother nature sent a downpour of rain and they had to close down early.  So… Sea Day #3 it was.  They had slider hamburgers, huge hot dogs, quesadillas and some other type of Mexican wrap thingy, and chips and salsa.  It was all very good.  First ship we had been on with the concept… it’s quite nice.  There did seem to be a line, but it moved really quickly. 

The Main Dining Room (MDR):  We had Any Time Dining which is my new preferred way to go.  I thought I would miss the dedicated waiter, but on several occasions we have had the same waiter/waitress and you can always request a specific section if you want too.  Most nights our wait was 5 minutes at most… if there was a wait at all.  This proved to be an experience this time because after the first night at dinner, Trenton refused to go to Camp Carnival.  The first night Camp Carnival was not open, so he came to dinner with us.  The kid acted like we hadn’t fed him in an entire week.  He ordered fruit cocktail, chicken fingers, cured salmon as appetizers and the southern fried chicken with mashed potatoes for his main course… and ATE IT ALL!  After that… MDR it was.  He continued to amaze the waiters and fellow diners around us ordering Oysters Rockefeller, 2 plates of Escargot, Lobster, you name it… and he ate it.  The waiters were all very professional.  He ordered just like an adult and they wrote it all down with an amused smile on their face… (I know they were thinking this kid will never eat that!)  halfway through dinner it never failed that someone at a table beside us would lean over and say “Excuse me…Is that _____ he is eating?”  Why yes, yes it is.  There was only 1 thing he didn’t like and for the life of me I can’t remember what it was.  I do remember we had wine at dinner that night though :)

The Chef’s Table:  The first time we ever did this was last summer in July on the Valor and we LOVED it!  This year I was trying to rack my brain on what to get my Mom for Mother’s Day and I decided we would all go back to the Chef’s Table on our May cruise.  Trenton did not get to participate in this as it is $75 per person, but worth every penny!  Perhaps next year we will let him join us.  We had no idea he would develop such a love for real food on the ship when we made the reservations.  Some items on the menu from last July were the same, but some were different. 

We met in the disco and were served champagne and appetizers.  The Chef met us here and took us back to the galley.  We had a small tour of the galley and our table for dinner was actually set up there.  It was lovely.  You are assigned seats, complete with little name cards :)  Red and white wine is served with each dish.  The food is amazing!  Hands down some of the best stuff I have ever eaten.  If you are a foodie… this table is the place for you!  Lots of different concepts and flavors placed together.  More food than any one person should rightfully ever eat!

We did the Chef’s Table after our excursion in Roatan so my leg was throbbing and all scraped up and my hand was throbbing with a huge bruise rising off the top of it. They request that you wear closed toed shoes for this and I had to break the rules as I could not get any other shoe on my foot besides flip flops for the rest of the cruise! I was pretty banged up, but ready for a good meal :) 

I would say on the Valor we did not eat in the galley, but instead a little room off the side of the main dining room.  While a table in the actual kitchen was cool, it was very loud… our galley tour on the Valor was better and being able to eat in a quiet room allowed for more conversation with our tablemates and a better conversation with the chef.  The food… it tastes good no matter where you are!  LOL

*They also say you aren't allowed to take pictures.  Twice I have eaten at the Chef's Table and failed to figure out a way to sneak them in.  That in no way implies that I have given up :)

Steakhouse:  Trenton did join us here.  He was still refusing to go eat with Camp Carnival and had decided he would just stay in the room and order room service.  So Mark caved in… gave him the “You will eat $35 worth of food” lecture and called to adjust our reservation.  Trenton was really excited! 

They start you off with a complementary appetizer from the chef.   You are given a menu like the Main Dining Room and asked to choose 1 appetizer, 1 salad and 1 main entrée.  Unlike the Main Dining Room if you want to order a second entrée, they charge you an additional $25 I think.  However, you can substitute your salad choice for an additional entrée or vice versa.  The food and service is phenomenal. 

We had escargot, lobster bisque, and ceasar salad as appetizers.  Main entrée was lobster ravioli, surf and turf, and lobster tail.  Dessert was fruit, the chocolate sampler and Mark chose a slice of cheesecake that came out big enough to feed all four of us and then some! 

Tea Time:  I managed to talk Mark and Trenton into joining me for tea time.  Neither was happy about this arrangement, but I promised we could all go to the arcade if they would come with me.  My persuasive skills are amazing! 

Tea time actually turned out well.  It was my first time to ever attend and I had heard wonderful things about it.  It did not disappoint.  The tea was nice.  We were served cute little salmon and cucumber sandwiches and the best desserts on the ship… hands down (minus the Chef’s Table and Steakhouse… those don’t count)!  Even Mark and Trenton agreed the desserts were awesome!  Afterwards we returned to the arcade just as I had promised.  It’s worth it to go atleast once :)

While we’re talking about food… let’s talk about Wine:  Mark, Mom and I ordered wine on a couple of nights and usually more than 1 bottle at a time.  We found a wine we all really liked.  I believe it was $35 a bottle + gratuity.  Mom asked (I don’t know why she does this to me!)  “This is the same wine we drank and liked so much on the last cruise.  Have you ever tried to find it at home?”  Well… I have now. 

 

Hell….  Nothing like the sting of paying $40 bucks for $5 WalMart wine!

Next up... the bottom part of the ship and fun cruise group activities :)

 

*sidenote… If you are reading this and want to read more of our adventures… please subscribe by email over on the right hand side of the page.  If you really, really like it… please share it with your friends. 

This cruise was the first time I had met strangers that had actually read my blog… while it was extremely cool… I found myself embarrassed!  How silly is that?  I think… well, I know… by nature I am introverted.  When writing my blog I don’t hold anything back.  I write it as I see it and how I feel it.  Perhaps meeting people that have seen/read such a raw side of me is hard for me to grasp because these thoughts are usually buried deep inside.  So… if you meet me on a cruise and I seem a little weird at first, just point me to the nearest bar.  After a drink or 2 I’ll knock the edge off  :)  IF you happen to run into Mark at the bar… hold onto your seats… you are guaranteed an adventure!