Disney Magic - Nov 10, 2012 - Western Caribbean from Galveston - Sun, Fun & Beaches!

Ok, trying to post this for our Roll Call. (Now I'm asking for it! I'll have to update it everytime we get someone new! Just created more work for myself didn't I?)
RollCall24-1.jpg

If you have any updates or modifications, just let me know and I'll make the appropriate changes.
 
Hi everyone! I'm new to the boards (been lurking for months though) and this cruise will be not only my first Disney cruise, but my first cruise ever! :banana:

And I'll be getting married on the cruise too! So far its only myself, my fiance, my mom, my stepdad, and my younger sister (it's their first cruise as well). I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. I can't wait til November. :thumbsup2
 
And I'll be getting married on the cruise too! So far its only myself, my fiance, my mom, my stepdad, and my younger sister (it's their first cruise as well). I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. I can't wait til November. :thumbsup2
Congratulations! Welcome too! It'll be a fantastic experience for all of you! Hope to see you with those Minnie Mouse wedding ears on the cruise! :) A wedding on the Disney Magic with the Magic of Disney all around you does sound very speciall!
 
Hi everyone! I'm new to the boards (been lurking for months though) and this cruise will be not only my first Disney cruise, but my first cruise ever! :banana:

And I'll be getting married on the cruise too! So far its only myself, my fiance, my mom, my stepdad, and my younger sister (it's their first cruise as well). I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. I can't wait til November. :thumbsup2

Welcome!!
And congratuations!! It sounds like it will be an extra special cruise for you!
where/what day will your ceremony be? I would love to do a vow renewal one day!
 
This being our first Disney Cruise, I did not know this site even existed---thanks, tower! We have been languishing on another site wondering if there were enough people for the cruise. . . .

We are taking our youngest daughter's family on the Magic cruise out of Galveston---so fun to be going out of a port we can drive to.

My husband (Dave) and I (Jaclyn) are from St. Louis.

Our daughter (Leah) and her husband (Todd) live in McKinney, Texas with Eli (5) and Anna (2).

We have some catching up to do. . .
 
Welcome Dave, Jaclyn and family!
Great to have you aboard with us! :)
I've been through McKinney once in my travels, don't ask me any questions about it, I was just passing through. Stayed a few nights with DW in St. Louis for a conference, but again did not see much of the city even though our hotel was close to the Arch.
It'll be great along the cruise. I'm assuming you're in separate staterooms so I'll put you guys in the Roll Call accordingly.
Let's get ready for the fun!!!:banana:
 
Hi Jaclyn again,
I noticed your most recent post on Cruise Critic. If your granddaughter is only 1 month shy of 3 on the cruise, but potty trained, she'll be allowed into the programs. Our youngest DS was 2.75 at the time of the cruise but DW worked hard over the summer to have him potty trained and we had a very relaxing cruise knowing our kids were well cared for. It worked well for us as DD was in the same room as him and she was a great big sister watching him as needed (but still having fun on her own).
 
I wondered if we would have a Disney bride on board, how fun!
I'm getting so excited; I skim the disboards Cruise board every day, and have read my Passporter book several times. I'm sad that we won't be able to go to the Palo High Tea, but hope to go to the brunch. I'm hoping that my hubby's dress black jeans and a dress western shirt will be dressy enough for Palo brunch. Surely sailing from Galveston it will be! That's as dressed up as my hubby gets.....
 
Since there was some interest, I'll go ahead and post a few restaurant suggestions for those who are spending any time off the ship in Galveston. There are a few close (walking distance) places to the cruise terminal. Since you're on the water or on the "Strand" there, you're paying a slight premium for the food. (The Historic Strand is one of the nice, old parts of town that is restored, and is mostly now shops and restaurants. The cruise terminals are basically next to it.)

If you have kids (or even if you don't) La King's Confectionery is worth a stop. (They're on the Strand, basically a block and a half walk from the cruise terminal.) They make a lot of their own candy, they make their own ice cream, and the building is more than a century old, as is some of their equipment. They're a soda fountain and candy shop, and if you've never been, you really should consider it. It was my favorite place in Galveston when I was a child.

Along the waterfront on the harborside (down from the cruise terminals, where you can actually sit and watch the ships head out) are a handful of reasonable options. Olympia Grill has pretty good Greek food. (I actually like the food a little better at their original location, on the other side of the island, but the views and convenience of this spot make up for it.) There are a couple of competent (but a bit overpriced) seafood restaurants there, too. Willie G's is a little more upscale, Fisherman's Wharf is larger and has great views throughout the restaurant, and, IMHO, slightly less good food.

If you want to branch out a little from the Harborside/Strand area, the Original Mexican Cafe has decent Tex-Mex, with some seafood on the menu, since it is Galveston. It's fairly close, but you'd want to drive there, not walk.

If you want to eat where the locals grab their seafood, try the seafood po'boys at Shrimp n Stuff. They're reasonably priced and tasty. (I actually had a shrimp po boy there yesterday when we went down to Galveston for the day. With extra tartar sauce. And an order of the spicy hush puppies.) They are not quite as easy to find, being on a side street, but they aren't too far, maybe 10 minutes from the harbor area.

Rudy and Paco's and Mosquito Cafe are also generally good, and offer more "foodie" food, with pretty interesting menus and good quality ingredients. Gaido's (a seafood house on the other side of the island from the terminals) is famous, but it hasn't been as good the last few times I've been there. Honestly, I wouldn't make the drive to it right now.

Oh, and my mother would never forgive me if I didn't point out that there is also a Starbuck's basically across the street from the cruise terminal. (It's across from the terminal Carnival uses and down a little from the one that Royal Caribbean uses. It occurs to me that I'm not sure which terminal DCL will use.)

That covers a lot of styles of food, at several different price points. Of course, none of us may be hungry after a week on a cruise ship... ;-)
 
Thanks for that listing Golden Rose!
As I mentioned, we're staying at the Holiday Inn Express. Apparently, next door there is also a Rainforest Cafe for those kiddies to explore. :) Our loved it there at MK in February, the convenience may be too easy for us.
 
Yeah, if you want something really fun for the kids and not available all over the country, there is a Rainforest Cafe (not particularly close to the cruise terminal, but honestly, you're on a island, even the "not close" stuff is generally less than 20 minutes away ;) ) and right now they are finishing up a Pleasure Pier that should be open by the time of the cruise, that will have rides and I'm sure food, considering it is a Tilman Fertitta project (the Landry's group, who also owns Rainforest Cafe). I believe the headline restaurant at the Pleasure Pier is going to be Bubba Gump Shrimp. We drove by the (repurposed, it used to have a hotel on it long ago) pier Tuesday, and you could see a roller coaster and a ferris wheel rising high over the ocean. It looked like it would be fun and a big tourist draw. Probably not insanely crowded by November.

For people who are considering staying in Galveston and looking for things to do with or without kids (other than the beach), Moody Gardens is also fun. (Expensive, but fun.) They've got a good aquarium and a beautiful rainforest exhibit that our son has loved pretty much his whole life. (They also have another pyramid with exhibits that rotate, and some of them have been great, plus an IMAX.) They've got food there, too, but its dreadful and expensive, the service is slow, and we try to avoid it whenever we can. Maybe its changed in the last couple of years, but we haven't eaten there again to find out! Right next to it is a Shlitterbahn (a big water park), and an aviation museum. There is actually a lot of touristy stuff to on the island these days. For quick, easy, and somewhat educational, near the cruise terminals there is also a restored sailing clipper, the Tall Ship Elissa, that is pretty interesting.

Tower, if you're over near the Rainforest Cafe, you're actually pretty close to Moody Gardens and Shlitterbahn. You're not going to be too far from the Pleasure Pier, either. If you're where I think you are, you're right on the Seawall, which puts you across the street from the beach. (We've got a condo in Galveston, I don't pay that much attention to the hotels, but we drive along the seawall a fair amount to get to various attractions and I think I've noticed a Holiday Inn Express.) There are a lot of restaurants over there, but you're right that the Rainforest Cafe is likely to be the biggest hit with the kids.

It will probably be too cold for swimming in the gulf mid-November. We still walk on the beach then, but we generally don't do more than kick off our shoes and wade in the surf.
 
only 161 days! Thank you Golden Rose for the tips - sounds great! Hope everyone is getting excited! We are all paid as of yesterday so I am ready to book stuff - two months :confused3 Guess I will just have to get on here and plot to satisfy my planning urge!
 
I've been counting the days too! Need to get a break and a Disney cruise would fit that match perfectly! Still need to pay off the final payment for both staterooms (connecting so mom and dad have some privacy too!), and Southwest's schedule for Houston comes out on Monday so we can book our flights.
Really wish we were at sea right now!:cool1:
 
We bought our plane tickets today!
We will fly into Austin on 11/7, visit with friends, then fly to Houston on Saturday morning and catch the DCL shuttle!
 
I'm guessing you're flying in on Southwest as their schedules just came out today.
I'm pretty disappointed with the SW pricing. Prior to this week, they had one-way fares from Houston to Buffalo for $150, now they're at $225! With 5 of us, that adds up! :eek:
Hope the pricing changes for the better soon!
 
I'm guessing you're flying in on Southwest as their schedules just came out today.
I'm pretty disappointed with the SW pricing. Prior to this week, they had one-way fares from Houston to Buffalo for $150, now they're at $225! With 5 of us, that adds up! :eek:
Hope the pricing changes for the better soon!

Yep!
We got out way TO austin for 165, but the way home was the 225. Stinks, but we went ahead and booked it. We have a trip to Florida in January, so if the price goes down, we can apply those funds to that trip.
 
Hi Everyone,
We transferred our onboard booking to a dummy date and repurchased this cruise as a new cruise to take advantage of the galveston promotion disney is running - get a verandah for the price of an oceanview! If you are interested its a pretty good deal - you should check into it! Our new room number is 7130 for the fish extender :) Hope everyone is having a great summer and getting excited about our cruise!
:cloud9:
 
Thanks for posting about that promo! I emailed my TA and awaiting her response. (She's travelling right now, but I hope she checks her emails soon!)
 
Hello All!!!

We are in the pre-booking stage, planning to take this cruise with y'all in November! Our group will consist of myself, my hubby (in our mid to late thirties) and our 6 year old daughter, along with my in-laws. We are looking forward to this, our first Disney Cruise. Hubby and I sailed Carnival in 2006 for our honeymoon. I'd like to make cruising an annual thing from now on! I have been reading the posts on this forum for a while now, and have learned so many tips and tricks and am so thankful for all that everyone shares here!! We are interested in making friends to socialize with on the cruise, and maybe plan future cruises with. None of our friends or family seem to want to go (crazy people, I know!). ANYHOW... I am glad to be here, and cant wait to put that deposit down, this weekend, I hope!
 
Welcome CruisinMama!
Great to have you aboard! I'm not sure if you noticed online, but DCL is repeating this itinerary next year for the Wonder and they're moving the Magic to Miami next November to sail to Cozumel/Cayman or Cozumel/Castaway Cay. What a disappointment! DCL is not lending itself well to repeat cruising with itineraries like that! Of course you'll have an opportunity to rebook onboard on our cruise with a $200/stateroom credit pluse a 10% discount, but I hope they'll improve their offerings for 2014.
 

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