Just off the Magic - It was Fabulous!!!

[Mayakad]

And the best tip I can give anyone ask Timur and Juan as your dining team they made our cruise perfect! ( Timur was actually chosen as employee of the month while we were there)
If you do say hi from us

[collectoraholic]

Originally Posted by 2boogersmom

We leave ONE WEEK from today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited I can hardly stand it!

How was embarkation? We have the 11-11:30 check in time but plan to get there early, just to soak it all in. Our kids still have not found out, so only 7 more days to keep it all in.

Just give us any tidbits that might be interesting! I am so excited, I can't think straight, so have no idea what to even ask!

OH! How did you get to the port? If you did park'n'cruise, did it go well?

ETA: Do they have the yellow Mickey head thing to enter through when you go from terminal to ship? I really want to go through those (but not sure why I am so obsessed with the idea).

TIA!
Terri

No, sadly they do not. The only port that does is PC because that is Disney's own terminal.

[glassslipper2004]

Thanks for the info. We have to wait until next summer to go on the Magic but we can't wait!

[queenofeverything]

Originally Posted by kcashner

We reported some rust in 2011. They contacted us to ask whether the paint smell would bother us--they wanted to do the repairs while we were on board, but if we objected, it would wait till disembarkation day!

We told them to do it; it wouldn't bother us at all.

SO, did you report it? And was it repaired?

Wow - never thought about reporting it! It did not bother us in the least, so no we did not report it. Good idea though. I guess anything that bothers someone should be reported. They definitely do not want you to be unhappy about anything!

[luv that cruise]

How smoothly did the tendering work at grand cayman? We are on a private excursion and need to be off as early as possible. I've heard disney allows their excursion people off first. When can we expect to get off? Thanks

[cruisecrasher]

Originally Posted by queenofeverything

Just finished our wonderful week on the Magic. It was absolutely outstanding. We had so much fun, the crew was amazing and the food was really delicious. The ship looked great. The only problem now is the inevitible post cruise depression!! They said there were 2200 passengers and over 1400 of them were Texans! Happy to answer questions and will post more later!

Only cure is planning your next cruise.

[llqool]

Originally Posted by queenofeverything

Cozumel is always our shopping day. We go to Cinco Soles and have lunch at Pancho's Backyard and do a little shopping.
!!

I was looking at doing this...how far is it from the port? Is it an easy walk?

[ukintheus]

Originally Posted by queenofeverything

Just finished our wonderful week on the Magic. It was absolutely outstanding. We had so much fun, the crew was amazing and the food was really delicious. The ship looked great. The only problem now is the inevitible post cruise depression!! They said there were 2200 passengers and over 1400 of them were Texans! Happy to answer questions and will post more later!

So glad to hear this after some of the reports that were not as positive.

Originally Posted by queenofeverything

Embarcation was a breeze. The only hangup was the traffic on Harborside. We drove and my advice would be to go past harborside to Broadway and turn left on 22nd. That is the street that goes directly into the port. One of the Carnival ships was in that day as well and traffic was bad. We parked at ParknCruise which was right across the street. We would have walked but it was raining. The parking was great - very convenient and nice to have it enclosed. Once we finally got inside the terminal it was very fast, lots of check-in stations only had to wait about 5 minutes.

Great info - thanks, we are leaving on Saturday so we will have the Triumph in port that day as well. We are booked at ParknCruise as well.

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind!

Did you drop off your luggage first, and then go and park? If so, how was the traffic at the terminals when you were dropping luggage? Lines, or just drive right in?

What time was your check in time vs time you arrived and time you actually got on the ship?

[queenofeverything]

Originally Posted by luv that cruise

How smoothly did the tendering work at grand cayman? We are on a private excursion and need to be off as early as possible. I've heard disney allows their excursion people off first. When can we expect to get off? Thanks

We were on a Disney excursion that left very early, so we were on one of the first tenders. They do let those off first, but the tender boats are very big and seemed to be handled very efficiently. I don't think you will have a problem.

[queenofeverything]

Originally Posted by cruisecrasher

Only cure is planning your next cruise.

ABSOLUTELY!!!

[queenofeverything]

Originally Posted by llqool

I was looking at doing this...how far is it from the port? Is it an easy walk?

If you are docked downtown (Puerto Langosta) it is about 10 blocks or so. We usually walk, but you could take a cab if it is really hot.

[queenofeverything]

Originally Posted by ukintheus

So glad to hear this after some of the reports that were not as positive.



Great info - thanks, we are leaving on Saturday so we will have the Triumph in port that day as well. We are booked at ParknCruise as well.

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind!

Did you drop off your luggage first, and then go and park? If so, how was the traffic at the terminals when you were dropping luggage? Lines, or just drive right in?

What time was your check in time vs time you arrived and time you actually got on the ship?

The Triumph was in port the day we left as well. We had planned to park and schlep our luggage since our parking was just across the street, but it was raining too much. The traffic was a mess and we sat on Harborside for a half an hour. Hard to do when you are excited! My best advice if you are driving and want to drop off passengers and luggage (rain or not) is to go down Broadway to 22nd street and turn left. That will take you directly into the drop off area. The traffic problem was mostly on Harborside, so it will save you alot of time. There is a policeman posted at that intersection directing traffic. You want to go to terminal 2, so you will just keep left after you get across Harborside and after that it was no problem. Here is a map so you can see what I am talking about:
http://www.portofgalveston.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=22

Our arrival time was 12-12:30 and I think we got there about 11:45. They were just starting to board as we arrived. After waiting for my husband to walk over from parking, I think we were in the terminal a total of 10 minutes or so. We had boarding #17. It went very quickly and efficiently and was not crowded at all. Only had to wait for 2 families in the check in line.

[tammybrownie]

We were on the September 22nd cruise and everyone in our 15 person party said it was the best vacation they had ever been on. The Magic was a beautiful ship and we had a great time! I have never encountered such wonderful service.

Tendering in the Grand Caymans was easy. We didn't book a Disney excursion but we only had to wait a few minutes to get off the ship. The tendering boats held a lot of people. It took about 5 minutes to get to shore once we left the ship. Coming back was just as easy.

We used EZ cruise parking in Galveston which was just 3 blocks away from the terminal and had a free shuttle. The shuttle was waiting for us as we came out of the terminal and since it was raining they even dropped us off right at our car. If you prepay they also give you a discount on parking.

[ukintheus]

Originally Posted by queenofeverything

The Triumph was in port the day we left as well. We had planned to park and schlep our luggage since our parking was just across the street, but it was raining too much. The traffic was a mess and we sat on Harborside for a half an hour. Hard to do when you are excited! My best advice if you are driving and want to drop off passengers and luggage (rain or not) is to go down Broadway to 22nd street and turn left. That will take you directly into the drop off area. The traffic problem was mostly on Harborside, so it will save you alot of time. There is a policeman posted at that intersection directing traffic. You want to go to terminal 2, so you will just keep left after you get across Harborside and after that it was no problem. Here is a map so you can see what I am talking about:
http://www.portofgalveston.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=22

Our arrival time was 12-12:30 and I think we got there about 11:45. They were just starting to board as we arrived. After waiting for my husband to walk over from parking, I think we were in the terminal a total of 10 minutes or so. We had boarding #17. It went very quickly and efficiently and was not crowded at all. Only had to wait for 2 families in the check in line.

Thank you! We are driving down the morning we sail too I will take your advice and go down Broadway to 22nd. We went to see the Magic sail in and sailaway on 9/22, so we saw where we need to go, I just wasn't sure if there were lines once you pulled into the drop off area, but it sounds like if there are issues it will be on Harborside.

We have an 11:00-11:30 am check in, sounds like if we are there about 11 am it will be good timing to get onboard. Doesn't seem like we need to be there early.

[disgirl2]

My friend and I leave in a month for our sailing on the Magic! Girls getaway week....so excited to get away from the everyday!!! :D