Our Trip Report -Just back from the Magic 2/12-2/19

[A's Princess]

Oh the joys of a 7 year old!!! My DD7 decided on our snorkeling excursion in Cozumel last month that she forgot how to swim. There was no way we could get her out there - rationalizing, bribing, being firm, nothing. DH and I had to take turns going into the water while the other stayed on the boat with her. Grrrrrrrr!

So sorry this happened to you and looking forward to hearing more about your trip. Beautiful pictures BTW!

 

[wilma-bride]

Oh my! Don't just elave us hanging I need to know...did your DS like it?...did you have enough time to see the turtles?...did you catch up to the rest of the group?

More please

 

[NAJmom]

St Thomas part 2

Let’s see, when I left of DS7 was clinging to me for dear life as we swam around Turtle Cove looking for DH and DS11 and DS14. DS7 is crying right into my ears. Finally I see DH coming with DS11. Apparently after a long time they noticed I wasn’t there, and DH finally decided to see what was up. (No comment….) Oh, and did I mention that DH “likes” the sea and snorkeling, but that I “LOVE” it? Okay, moving on…I filled DH in on the DS7 situation. We decide it didn’t make any sense to keep hauling DS7 around on my back so we head back to the boat. As we are swimming something occurs to me….Where is DS14? I ask DH and he says he hasn’t seen him since we were on the boat. What???? My son is a good swimmer, and of course he is wearing a life jacket. But I couldn’t believe that I was in the middle of the ocean, my son is screaming in my ear, we were swimming like crazy to get out of the way of the other boats, DS14 is missing and none of us have seen a turtle yet! We finally get to the boat and the captain and Tony see us coming. Bless them, they probably thought, “Oh here comes that psycho mom again….” So they asked DS7 if he wanted to hang out on the boat and drink a Sprite while Mom, Dad and his brothers got to look at the turtles. I could have hugged those men! As soon as DS7 is squared away, since I am the stronger swimmer, I decide to take off to find DS14. DH and DS11 decide to look for turtles – my hope at this point is that someone would swim with a turtle!!!

As I was leaving I asked the captain if I was out of time and if it was time to leave. He said, “Oh, no…you have lots of time left!” Did I mention I loved these guys? Off I go, and after about 5 minutes I see DS14. I secretly hope that he has been having the time of his life. But I think he was scared that he had been left. FINALLY we are all together and it is time to see Turtles!

While you are swimming at Turtle Cove you re in water about 35-45 feet deep. On the bottom is some sort of grass. The turtles hang out and eat there, and then every so often they need to come up to the surface. So the secret we found was to swim around until you find a turtle, and float above until he is ready to come up. And sure enough, a turtle will literally swim up right next to you! Wow!

On the boat they gave us lots of warnings. Don’t chase the turtles, don’t scare or startle the turtles etc. Basic stuff. But sure enough I was hanging out right next to a sea turtle when a man cuts right in front of me and GRABS the turtle! What! I stuck my head up and thought about throwing my fin at him. Lots of people were screaming at him from the boats…”Don’t touch the turtles!” This guy didn’t listen, and continued to torture this poor turtle!

We continued to watch the sea turtles and I will say it was one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life! We were having such a fun time, and after awhile we looked up to see our guide Al driving a little speed boat over to us. Uh-Oh. Apparently we had been having so much fun that we didn’t realize everyone else had gone back to the boat but us. Since we were so far away from the boat, Al had to come and pick us up. A little bit embarrassing. If anyone reading this was on our excursion, we are really sorry! But the captain and his crew were really cool about the whole thing. I think since most of the passengers were drinking rum punch by this time- maybe they didn’t care. When Al got us back to the boat my DS7 was dancing on the boat to the music and drinking his Sprite with a big smile on his face. Thank goodness, I haven’t ruined him for life!


At this point we left for Honeymoon Beach. It probably took about 45 minutes or so. We were given drinks, chips and salsa, and they played music. I have been on the ocean many times and I can’t ever remember the water looking prettier – I hope I have a picture that does it justice. Tony gave all of us tattoos, and spent time talking with us. The captain also asked my kids if they wanted to drive the boat. I got some great pictures of this – some of the best of the cruise. All was well…..


I had no idea what to expect of Honeymoon Beach. We pulled into a little cove and the water was so quiet and still, the beach was almost empty, and we could see ladies in the distance preparing lunch. As soon as we got off the boat we made our way to a covered area where we could get our buffet lunch. It was very good – bbq, salads, bread etc. My kids ate hot dogs. After eating we all got in the water. It was very calm and this is definitely a swimming (not a snorkeling) beach. We loved it!

Here is one of DS7, to show you that he really did recover from the morning Turtle experience...

More people showed up from the Pirate boat, and pretty soon there was a water volleyball game going on. My DS7 found a friend to play soccer with, and most people were sitting on the beach or floating in the water. I think we were probably there for about 3 hours, but I could have easily stayed all week. Some of the guides showed us how to open a coconut without tools and they let us taste the milk and the meat. There had unlimited beer and pop available to drink. Around 3:00 or so it was time to head back to the Magic. Earlier in the week I had just hoped for at least one good beach day in case it was cold and/or rainy at Castaway Cay on Friday. We really lucked out with the weather, with two amazing beach days. I would do this excursion again in a minute! Oh, and one word about price. It was about $100/adult to do this excursion, and about $60 (?) for a child. But it lasted all day, they gave us lunch, and it was really two excursions in one. We could have paid about $65 to just do Turtle Cover, or just do Honeymoon Beach. But those excursions are only about 3-4 hours, and they don’t have lunch. For just another $20-$25 we really got two excursions. Something to think about.

That night was our dinner at Palo – Yay! We were hoping to like dinner as much as we had enjoyed brunch. The show that night was a juggler named Mark Nizer (?) and we hated to miss his show. So we fed the kids on deck, and then got all ready for Palo. We decided we would watch the first 45 minutes of the show, and then if we liked it, we would catch the last 15 minutes of the next show, once we were done with Palo. Well that turned out NOT to be a problem, because this show was a letdown after Heath Hyche and John Charles. I know juggling is hard, especially on a moving boat. But we wondered if this was his first show – he seemed nervous and nothing was going right for him. I didn’t feel bad at all for leaving early – it was good night to go to Palo. DS14 took DS7 to the Kids Club when they finished.

Back to Palo….we were happy to have Francois again as our server, and happily he remembered us and asked about our trip so far. He was so easy to talk to, and gave us the same great service as he did at brunch. We ordered most of his recommendations – DH had tuna and I had ravioli. The food was just as good as brunch. People ask all of the time if they should go for brunch or dinner, and I am not sure if I can possibly answer that. I really liked them both and I would love to do both again. As soon as we ordered Francois asked us if we would like the Chocolate Soufflé for dessert. He told us it takes awhile to make so they always want to know if you’re planning on ordering one. I have been looking forward to the Chocolate Soufflé for sooooo long! So yes, we both ordered one. I had sense enough to take a picture before we ate them. Wow – Yes it is everything people say it is and more. I am not a big vanilla person, but the vanilla ice cream on the side was the best I have ever had. I think the picture says it all.

The late night entertainment after Palo was Freddy Fusion. He did a science comedy show, and it was okay. The second half of the week’s entertainment was not as good as the first half. But it was still fun. I went to sleep that night thinking of the turtles, the amazing beach at Honeymoon Beach, the fun boat ride, and one of the best dinners ever at Palo. Even with the craziness at Turtle Cove, everything worked out. (As it usually does.)

Next….Our last at Sea Day…..

 

[jinia]

Thank you for the update! Wonderful pics and now I really want to do that excursion but snorkeling is not in the pic this trip. Neither DS or DH are strong swimmers..not used to the ocean at all...but perhaps we could do the Honeymoon beach...I am glad your son survived - lol! My DS "believes" he is an excellent swimmer...looks like he is having some sort of fit when he is "swimming"..turtles and people would swim away as we tried to keep him from drowning...can't convince the kid he can't swim.....can't wait for more tr and those beautiful pics!

 

[wilma-bride]

Sorry your DS didn't get to swim eith the turtles but sounds like he enjoyed it after all - and at least you got to see them. It really sounds like an excellent excursion and I am grateful for the review since we are currently considering wihich excursions to book for our October cruise.

We are going to try and do both brunch and dinner at Palo, since we have never eaten there before. The chocolate souffle looks absoutely delicious

 

[WDW_Diane]

I am enjoying reading your report...I had considered this cruise for January or February 2012 but was worried it wouldn't be warm enough anywhere we went to enjoy water activities.

 

[kimkdmm =)]

Just got caught up...
Oh my goodness, your pictures are so beautiful! Sounds like a wonderful day... minus the little snag What kind of camera did you use for the underwater shots? That is a great picture of the turtle!!! I can't believe that guy grabbing the turtle, what a jerk!
Oh yeah... your picture of the chocolate suffle looks so yummy!!! I am jealous!!!

 

[VeroBeachGirl]

Great Trip Report! I think every Mom in America can relate to your experience trying to get your son to snorkel!

 

[WAbeachfam137]

I'm glad to hear you had fun on this excursion on St. Thomas because it is one of the excursions at the top of our list. It seemed like a great value for a full day experience with no worries on planning anything. thanks for the review on it!

 

[Tconst]

I completely understand what you went thru w/DS7! We did our 1st cruise a few yrs ago when my son was 7. I booked a stingray swim & a dolphin swim for the entire family. DS refused to get off the boat at all when we got to stingray city & wouldn't even get on the excursion bus for the dolphins! I spent most of my time on the boat instead of swimming w/stingrays & sent my DH & DD off to swim w/dolphins while DS & I went back to the ship. I wanted to at least see my DD & DH with the dolphins & told my DS we didn't have to swim with them, just at least go watch, but nope!

 

[Juls2989]

Love your trip report!! I'm thinking of doing this excursion on our Eastern in June 2012! Looks like a lot of fun!!

 

[rusafee1183]

I just joined in and read every page! Loving everything so far! We leave in a little over 2 weeks and we're doing the Full Day Honeymoon/Turtle Cove excursion also! SO good to hear good things about it!

Thanks for the tip about the turtles too!!

 

[cherokeemamma]

Great report! I'm really enjoying it. We are booked for Feb 2012. It is great reading the report and knowing that your weather was beautiful, even though you had a chilly start. One of my concerns has been the weather and water temps...I am really looking forward to reading about CC. This will be our first cruise ever so we are all very excited and cannot wait.

Also, I see where you were lucky enough to get in on the promo...."kids sail free". Could you tell me when (or approx when) they released the deal for that? If they release that again....I will be beyond happy.

Thanks for all the tips and pics! Loving the info on excursions, too! Looking forward to reading more.

TTFN
Darlene

 

[tony64]

Just read your report all the way through and loved it.
Please post some more.

We are going on the eastern cruise in October and you have given me so many great pointers.

 

[Georgia3]

I am really enjoying your trip report. I loved the part when the other Mom just tossed her child in the water. I so wanted to do that many times but held back. That was a great laugh!

 

[cherokeemamma]

Hoping everything is okay. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your cruise.

 

[Juliefromva]

Sounds like a great trip!

 

[mjaclyn]

I love your trip report! Please post the rest if you have time. my family and I are going on our first Eastern Carribean cruise on the Magic in January and this is such a huge help to us!! Thank you for what you've written so far, it's great!! I really look forward to hearing more.

 

[cherokeemamma]

I have a question about Valentine's Day...
Did they have formal night on Valentine's Day (even if it wasn't the normal spot for it to fall)? Was there anything special done for Valentine's? Menu? kid activities? Decorations? etc...?

Just curious as we are cruising the same week in 2012.
Thanks so much!

TTFN,
Darlene