8 Night Magic out of Galveston Cruisers

[sweetpee_1993]

The latest bus back from MK was on the schedule for 9:30. Not sure if they ran later or not.

All ashore for KeyWest was 7:30 am with all aboard at 12:45. We docked at the Navy pier and were taken via trolley or train to the Mallory Square area. Our trolley driver told us to be back for the trolley to the ship no later than 12:15. I'd love to do the flight over to the Tortugas but felt it wasn't enough time to be worth it. At best you'd have 5 hours total.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

This isn't what our cards looked like (at least mine) for the rotations. We did not have an 'O' in the rotations. And I know my rotation was different than any of these.

Do you have what your's looked like?

 

[noriega]

One more note about the Key West port of call.

All ashore was 7:30 am; all aboard at 12:45. Last trolley ran at 12:15.

The line to get back on a trolley to the ship was two street blocks long because there was another cruise ship at port. I waited in line about 30 minutes while the wife did some last minute shopping.

Paul

 

[HappyGrumpy]

seriously disappointing that there is not more time there, The Dry Tourtugas is a National Park and the only time I see myself heading down to KW would be on cruise. It looks amazing!

I guess thats the deal they have made with the port.

I am loving the trip tips and reflections both the great and not so great.


So keep them coming!

Thx
HG

 

[noriega]

The reason they gave on why they couldn't stay longer in Key West port is because they had to make it to Galveston in time to port.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Did anyone from this cruise do the castaway cay 5k? If so did you get a bib number and medal?

Thanks!

 

[HappyGrumpy]

Did anyone from this cruise do the castaway cay 5k? If so did you get a bib number and medal?

Yes! Great Question!

 

[HappyGrumpy]

Did anyone from this cruise do the castaway cay 5k? If so did you get a bib number and medal?

Yes! Great Question!

Sorry! Not Yes I did it but yes thats a great question!
I still need an answer as well!

 

[gramfrog]

The first 8 night to KW, CC and PC out of Galveston should be returning today. Does anyone have copies of the Navigators?

Shows in order : All Aboard; Twice Charmed; Villains Tonight; Comedy and Magic of Freddy Fusion (magic show); Wreck It Ralph (WDW day); COmedy and Juggling of Mike Price; Dreams; 'Til We Meet Again

Movies : Lincoln, Wreck it Ralph 3D, Odd Life of TImothy Green, Avengers 3D, Chimpanzee, Brave 3D, Tangled 3D, Frankenweenie 3D, Finding Nemo 3D

Formal night Day 2 (Saturday); Pirate Night Day 6, Wednesday; Semi-Formal Day 7 (Thursday

WDW day 5 Thursday. Man, was it CROWDED at WDW!!!! One of the worst I've seen including holidays. Maybe because Monday was MLK day and some families took an extended weekend??? Make your reservations early for meals.

 

[gramfrog]

Good question!!

Topsiders on Deck 9 was open until about midnight. It was FULL of people at 11PM when I was up there.

 

[gramfrog]

What was the rotation in the mdr's? And what special menus did they have?

Thanks!

Rotations varied by stateroom. We were APPLAPLA
we were treated to a Character Breakfast the second P(Parrot Cay) in the morning-- bring your autograph books!!!!!. Second night was Prince and Princess menu in all three dining rooms; Fifth night was buffet (WDW excursion day) "Master Chef" night; day 6, Pirates in the Carribbean in all three dining rooms; day 7 Captain's Gala in all three-- LOBSTER TAILS!; and day 8 was Til We Meet Again in all three. Otherwise, P=Pirate's Cay Island DInner menu, A= Animator's Palate Show Dinner, L= Lumiere's French dinner

 

[SunshineCruiser]

Wondering how much earlier than your scheduled bus time for WDW did you have to meet and leave the ship. For example if you were on the 8:15 bus to epcot then how much earlier did you have to meet to leave the ship?

 

[gramfrog]

Quick question, on you WDW day did you arrive in time for opening? We really want to ride Toy Story and Rock'n Roller Coaster first and then head to MK but we know that means beating the crowd to fast passes

Epcot Future World opened early on our trip 8:00AM We arrived at the gates ahead of time by taking the 6:30 bus at Port Canaveral (Topsiders is open early around 5:45 AM to accommodate us crazy people

Pray that early day is another park; aside from running top speed to Race Track and Soaring, we were outta there by 9:30 to Magic Kingdom. The Worlds at Epcot don't open until 11

 

[gramfrog]

We too are debating what to do for the Key West day. Anyone who stayed on the ship - were there any promotions? Maybe spa deals?

At Key West, having ditched the kids to their parents, my DH and I took a WONDERFUL tour of the Little White House. Truman's version of Camp David. We learned so many interesting facts!!! We also toured Hemingway's home-- very interesting, too; but our tour guide not as good (he thought he was Rodney Dangerfield). Both are walk-in tours from the drop-off point in Key West. YOu don't need to schedule them.
BTW, the boat provides FREE transportation to Mallory Square off Duvall and Whitehead Streets. Very convenient and easy. Our DD, DS-in-law, and five grandchildren walked back to the boat. Can be done (except you can't walk on the Navy Base).

So if you are kid-less, I recommend doing the WHite House and Hemingway tours!

One small warning-- three of our grandkids can read. Well. And they didn't miss a single tshirt slogan in the store windows on Duval. That's all they could talk about..... Key West itself doesn't have that much to offer otherwise to kids....

 

[Irelandsmom]

Can you tell me more about the Hotel Galvez transportation? Did you stay there the night before your cruise? I'm wondering about the $30 you mentioned, as it has not been mentioned by our TA yet. We were told it was part of the package.

Disney transportation is $30/person ($60 roundtrip) from IAH to Hotel Galvez the night before the cruise. Hotel Galvez cost us $200 for one room, booked through Disney. We booked 2 rooms. Our total cost was:
transportation to Hotel Galvez: $30 ( x 4 people) = $120
Hotel Galvez: $200/room (x 2 rooms) = $400
transportation back to IAH after cruise: $30 ( x 4 people) = $120
total for hotel and transportation for 4 people= $680

We booked everything through Disney because we didn't want the hassle of finding our own transportation. My only regret is that if we knew in advance that Disney was going to use a Yellow Taxi cab van as our transportation, I might have decided to do something different. I guess I was expecting something a little nicer than an old taxi van. One of us rode in front by the driver and three of us crammed into the back seat bench (the other seats had been removed). If I could do it over I would book Hotel Galvez on my own for much cheaper and book my own transportation to the ship. Transportation back to IAH after the cruise was fine- we were on charter buses.

 

[Wshop]

How were the lines at the airport (IAH) after the Disney shuttle? When we cruised the last time, the line to check luggage took over an hour and I am hoping that this is not the case on this trip.

 

[NikkiFB]

Wondering how much earlier than your scheduled bus time for WDW did you have to meet and leave the ship. For example if you were on the 8:15 bus to epcot then how much earlier did you have to meet to leave the ship?

If I'm remembering correctly, I think they said to come down (to the gangway on deck 1) about 20 minutes before your scheduled bus time.

 

[jules4172]

Epcot Future World opened early on our trip 8:00AM We arrived at the gates ahead of time by taking the 6:30 bus at Port Canaveral (Topsiders is open early around 5:45 AM to accommodate us crazy people

Pray that early day is another park; aside from running top speed to Race Track and Soaring, we were outta there by 9:30 to Magic Kingdom. The Worlds at Epcot don't open until 11

how long was the bus ride from port to epcott? wondering to MK will be almost same distance. trying to figure out what time we should book our transportation. thnx.

 

[Lankysmom]

Thank you so much. Sounds good. Hard to decide what to do in such a short time. I want to see the southern most point, maybe the Hemingway museum, and definitely some key lime pie.

You will have plenty of time to do this and more. We rented an electric car to get us around.

 

[javaj]

Anyone know a good time to head back to the ship from WDW without dealing with too much traffic?

Ideally, we'd probably want to head back late afternoon but if rush hour traffic will extend the commute, we'll stay a little longer and take a later bus.