We need a little “Magic”, right this very moment! – Completed

[franandaj]

Look at that make-your-own waffle!! YUM! I like the Hampton Inn chain of hotels too.

Groceries, extra clothes and half of Walmart!! Well.done.you.two.

Thanks!

Did you have to buy an extra suitcase for all your Walmart goodies?

When I was a kid, we went to an absolutely awesome seafood place in Galveston...the boats pulled right up to the dock and unloaded directly into the restaurant...but sadly when we went back it had burned down.

Hope Casey's turned out to be good!

Jill in CO

The suitcase with the wine in it was purposely underpacked, it also had some water and sodas that we drank in Galveston. Additionally, Fran has a pouch that goes on the back of her scooter. We had it in the suitcase for the flight, but stuffed it full of purchases for boarding the ship.

Additionally, we carefully measured the weight of our bags for the flight. For the ship, we just made sure they zipped closed!

Casey's update coming soon.

I really like the Hampton Inn line too. In fact I've got it booked while I check out other Miami options but wanted to have it just in case. I've seen less expensive options but always know what I'm going to get with the Hampton/Hilton family. I also really like Marriotts.

That's nice that you were so close to a Walmart. When I read you had 5 bags I was wondering if one was maybe empty so you could pack all of the stuff you were planning to purchase at Walmart. I had no idea that Walmart sells wine.

Hope Casey's was yum. Glad you decided to take it easy and recoup from the late night/early morning flight. There's nothing worse than being exhausted on vacation due to never catching up from the travel.

We like Hilton chains, especially since that's where we have a credit card with points.

Some Walmarts sell wine, others don't, it just depends on the location. This one also had tuxedo jackets, presumably for those guys who didn't realize their cruise had a formal night!

I only found out about it a few years ago when my sister and I were flying in from somewhere and she had to go to that terminal for her connecting flight to San Jose.

OK...back to catching up on the thread....

That's weird, I used to fly to San Jose all the time and never did I have to use the mini terminal.

Bummer about the wine snafu.

I was thinking the same thing, how did you pack all the Walmart stuff to get on the ship?

Your room looks really nice.

I'm so glad Fran is having fun

Lots of cramming in, and lots of removing stuff from it's original packaging.

Sorry about the wine, I have never thought of packing the bags of wine... Have you done it before with success?

I like Hampton's but again I am a Hilton family person, so I try to stay at family branded hotels...

That was a small purchase at Walmart, but I am curious if you got it all in your suitcase?

This was my first time with the bags, and obviously a mistake. It was tight, but we got it all in. On the way home, we're going to need another suitcase.

 

[franandaj]

Our cab arrived promptly and soon we had our first glimpse of the seawall and the ocean.





The restaurant was only about 2 miles up Seawall Blvd, which was only one block from our hotel.



Soon we arrived at the restaurant, marked by this giant crawfish. Or is it a shrimp?



The place was casual with wood paneling on the walls, and large windows that gave us a good view of the highway and the ocean. For whatever reason, I didn’t take any pictures of the room. But I got plenty of the menu.















We started off with an order of onion rings (for those of you who have read a lot of my TRs, I’m sure you are not surprised by this!)



While we were enjoying our appetizers the couple at the table next to us asked if we would be joining them on the Disney cruise tomorrow. Why would they think that? Was it Fran’s bright red 2007 shirt with Mickey Mouse and Cinderella’s Castle? Was it my 2013 Disneyland T-shirt with Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and Mickey’s Fun Wheel of Death? Or could it have been my Mickey Mouse D&B purse, or the cruise line pendant around my neck? We didn’t look like walking Disney commercials.

It turns out they had been on the same cruise two months earlier and had such a good time, they decided to give it another go. I wondered how many other people in the restaurant were also here for the penultimate cruise night. While I pondered this question, our next course arrived. Fran had the Cream of Poblano Soup.



For the entrees we shared the Fried Soft Shell Crab and Shrimp with French fries and cole slaw.



The naked grilled Mahi Mahi with dirty rice and baked potato with all the fixins.



After dinner, Fran decided to go next door to Gaidos and check out their cookbook, so I followed her.



I was disappointed to see that there were folks in all levels of “non formal” dress. Most guys were not wearing jackets. Some had button front dress shirts, some had polos, we even saw some in T-shirts and shorts. We could have come here by just putting on a nice shirt, and wouldn’t have had to pull out all the formal garb. Oh well, next time. We enjoyed our dinner anyways, it was good simple food prepared well, and good sized portions. We were definitely full when it was all over and Fran was already talking about “next time” so that was a good thing.

We waited outside for our cab. Isn’t it nice since cell phones have become so common, it’s so much easier to get a cab. I guess that fact that this place had a crab on top instead of the crawfish was supposed to mean that it was a step up from the casual service place.



Once we got back to the room, Fran decided I didn’t have enough Ibuprofen in my purse to last the entire cruise, and headed back to Walmart to get some more. I fell asleep, but in my daze as she came back to the room, I heard something about “more shoes, must exchange in the morning for the right size.” Whatever that meant, I was back to lala land. Goodnight!

 

[dgbg100106]

more shoes????

The food looked great and sometimes the casual places are more fun and inviting than the more formal.

I am glad you had a good restful day and got everything accomplished you wanted too.

 

[PrincessInOz]

The food looks great. We can compare it against Gaido's....next time.

Looking forward to seeing the shoes.

 

[Pinkocto]

Yummy, looks like a fun evening

More shoes?

 

[MomToPrincePhillip]

I don't know how I missed your update yesterday...oh well, more for me today! I'm glad Fran had some time to rest your 1st day, I hope that means she's well rested and feeling good for the cruise!!

 

[rentayenta]

Yum! The food looks great. Next time we meet, we're sharing onion rings. I'm the only one in my family like really enjoys them so I rarely order the good restaurant ones.

More shoes? I still want to know about all of the returned items.

And very cool that you met folks going on the same cruise.

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame about the wine. The hotel looks great. I have made a note of Casey's in case that we do manage to do the Panama Canal cruise in September. I was amused that Walmart sold tuxedos. Graham is lucky that I did not see this when we were there. He might have ended up with one otherwise.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

more shoes????

The food looked great and sometimes the casual places are more fun and inviting than the more formal.

I am glad you had a good restful day and got everything accomplished you wanted too.

Her feet have been swelling lately with all the leg issues. All her normal shoes are tight and uncomfortable so when she found some cheap and comfy shoes, she was all over them.

I'm glad we went to the casual place otherwise we would have never met our new friends!

The food looks great. We can compare it against Gaido's....next time.

Looking forward to seeing the shoes.

Yeah, hopefully next time we'll come in earlier (both in the day and days before the cruise). Not sure I got any pictures of the shoes.

Yummy, looks like a fun evening

More shoes?

I told her "don't worry, it's all ladies reading my TR, they understand the concept of more shoes." I had five pairs, she brought five pair including her slippers. I think she bought four more, but at least I wore one of them one day.

I don't know how I missed your update yesterday...oh well, more for me today! I'm glad Fran had some time to rest your 1st day, I hope that means she's well rested and feeling good for the cruise!!

She was well rested, but we keep finding that every day has it's new challenges, and there isn't too much rest, EVER!

Yum! The food looks great. Next time we meet, we're sharing onion rings. I'm the only one in my family like really enjoys them so I rarely order the good restaurant ones.

More shoes? I still want to know about all of the returned items.

And very cool that you met folks going on the same cruise.

We love onion rings, especially the really thick cut ones (that I hope we will have later in this trip) so we definitely need to share the onion ring love.

Next update, for the returns, although it's not that exciting. And not sure, but we may have met some fun new Disney friends who will enjoy visiting us in CA, if they can ever get there.

What a shame about the wine. The hotel looks great. I have made a note of Casey's in case that we do manage to do the Panama Canal cruise in September. I was amused that Walmart sold tuxedos. Graham is lucky that I did not see this when we were there. He might have ended up with one otherwise.

Corinna

We looked into the Panama Canal cruise, but no verandah cabins are left, so maybe we'll plan it for 2016. Do they stop in Galveston? I didn't notice.

The Tux jackets and shirts were right in the men's section that faces the women's section. Perhaps it is a seasonal thing. I chuckled at how they catered to everyone, even the last minute cruiser!

OK, folks, I'm out of pictures on photobucket, so no more updates until we're back on land with a High Speed Internet connection, but it's been really fun and I hope I have some great pictures and memories to relive for you all! The Texas twist on the cruise has been a little funny too, but for the most part it has been a blast!

 

[Leshaface]

Glad you were able to pick up some replacement wine

Ooh your dinner looks delicious! I'm a big fan of Onion Rings too. Last night, we got Sonic and ordered some O rings, and wow! They smelled and tasted like 'Fair Food'! So delicious!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Enjoy! Have fun...and we'll be here waiting for PB to provide you with more photo allowance.

 

[jedijill]

Glad you were able to pick up some replacement wine

Ooh your dinner looks delicious! I'm a big fan of Onion Rings too. Last night, we got Sonic and ordered some O rings, and wow! They smelled and tasted like 'Fair Food'! So delicious!

Sonic onion rings are the best!

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

Her feet have been swelling lately with all the leg issues. All her normal shoes are tight and uncomfortable so when she found some cheap and comfy shoes, she was all over them.

I'm glad we went to the casual place otherwise we would have never met our new friends!



Yeah, hopefully next time we'll come in earlier (both in the day and days before the cruise). Not sure I got any pictures of the shoes.



I told her "don't worry, it's all ladies reading my TR, they understand the concept of more shoes." I had five pairs, she brought five pair including her slippers. I think she bought four more, but at least I wore one of them one day.



She was well rested, but we keep finding that every day has it's new challenges, and there isn't too much rest, EVER!



We love onion rings, especially the really thick cut ones (that I hope we will have later in this trip) so we definitely need to share the onion ring love.

Next update, for the returns, although it's not that exciting. And not sure, but we may have met some fun new Disney friends who will enjoy visiting us in CA, if they can ever get there.



We looked into the Panama Canal cruise, but no verandah cabins are left, so maybe we'll plan it for 2016. Do they stop in Galveston? I didn't notice.

The Tux jackets and shirts were right in the men's section that faces the women's section. Perhaps it is a seasonal thing. I chuckled at how they catered to everyone, even the last minute cruiser!

OK, folks, I'm out of pictures on photobucket, so no more updates until we're back on land with a High Speed Internet connection, but it's been really fun and I hope I have some great pictures and memories to relive for you all! The Texas twist on the cruise has been a little funny too, but for the most part it has been a blast!

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Jill in CO

 

[ACDSNY]

Sounds like your having a nice start to your cruise, enjoy the rest! You'll love the Panama cruise, DH still says it was his favorite.

 

[franandaj]

Glad you were able to pick up some replacement wine

Ooh your dinner looks delicious! I'm a big fan of Onion Rings too. Last night, we got Sonic and ordered some O rings, and wow! They smelled and tasted like 'Fair Food'! So delicious!

Well, the replacement wine will be gone tonight!

Enjoy! Have fun...and we'll be here waiting for PB to provide you with more photo allowance.

Not so much allowance, just a connection that will actually upload the photos...

Sonic onion rings are the best!

Jill in CO

There was a Sonic in the parking lot of Walmart near our hotel. We don't have them in Long Beach.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Jill in CO

Thanks! Last sea day today, must pack up some of our luggage today and then tomorrow, we're all done.

Sounds like your having a nice start to your cruise, enjoy the rest! You'll love the Panama cruise, DH still says it was his favorite.

Yeah, but it will be a while before we plan that one now. I can't go two weeks without a verandah and since they're all sold out in 2014, we'll have to look at 2016, as we are planning for DLP in 2015.

Anyways, see y'all sometime tomorrow when the photos will upload in decent time!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for checking in. No rush with the pics.

 

[Pinkocto]

Relish the time remaining!

 

[rentayenta]

Thanks for checking in. No rush with the pics.

Totes.



And no Sonic? How do you survive? You've got the Ocean and Jack in the Box. And Nicks on 2nd which we tried and it was amazing. And Johnny Rebs, rain check. And Supermex. And Trader Joe's with wine. And Legends' wings. And Disneyland!! Clearly I could go on and on.

 

[dgbg100106]

Enjoy the rest of the cruise and being with each other. I can await your return for more pictures...


Have fun!!!!!

 

[dolphingirl47]

We looked into the Panama Canal cruise, but no verandah cabins are left, so maybe we'll plan it for 2016. Do they stop in Galveston? I didn't notice.

My heart just stopped then. I am hoping for Interline rates for this cruise and if a whole category has sold out, then there is little chance of this happening. Then I realised that you probably meant just the accessible veranda cabins. Fortunately all categories are still wide open so I can breath again. The September cruise goes from Los Angeles to Galveston and stops at Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Cartagena (Columbia) and Cozumel.

Yeah, but it will be a while before we plan that one now. I can't go two weeks without a verandah and since they're all sold out in 2014, we'll have to look at 2016, as we are planning for DLP in 2015.

How much fun. I love DLP. I really need to go again.

Corinna