Welcoming the Magic to TEXAS and sending her off in style!! 9/22/12 **UPDATED 9/21

[ukintheus]

No, 4 am isn't going to work for my DH either. As I had said yesterday, he literally is back on Friday night from a 2 week work trip, and he just told me last night he has to leave AGAIN on that Sunday night for another week long trip. He only has those 2 nights in between, and we are staying down in Galveston for that weekend, so even though we are close, he said he's not getting up at 4 am to watch a ship sail in in the dark! I don't blame him.

We will definitely make sail away though now that the arrival is so sketchy. My guess on how this is all going to pan out for us, is that we'll come down there about 8 am just to see her in the dock, take some photos etc, and then be back for sail away.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Aaaaand more changes... lol. SO, who's ready to be up & at 'em much earlier than we had planned?? Dylan over at my thread on the CC boards suggested we might want to be there much earlier, so I called the Port yet again. Tessa told me that there are so many variables, especially since the Magic will not be carrying passengers at that point, and that she could arrive as early as 5 or 5:30am. She suggested we all maybe meet at like the Denny's at 14th & Seawall at around 4am and just make an early morning coffee meet out of it, have fun with it since we're going to be up so early anyway. I'm definitely glad I went ahead and booked us in at a hotel, even though we live fairly close anyway. Closer is better at that hour of the morning, lol.

So what do y'all think, meet at Denny's? Still meet at the pier, just way earlier? Is it going to be just DS & I now?

I have a ship tracker site loaded up on my phone, as well as the Shipmate app that has a tracker, but I don't know how real-time either of them are... Real-time enough for our purposes, I mean. I'm going to try and figure that out.

So what are everyone's thoughts on when & where to meet up that morning?

I'm up for 4 a.m. coffee at Denny's! We took a drive down to Galveston on Sunday (it was such a beautiful day!) and DH tried to get me to book us a hotel room at the Harbor House. Then at the Hilton/San Luis. Whyyyy?? It's 30 minutes or less to get there. I'd rather spend the $$ on our 9/27 Dream cruise. LOL! I bet he tells me I have to book us a room now. I'm so not doing it, tho. He can either put his big-girl drawers on & go with me or stay home. Either way, I'm THERE!

I was thinking this is what was going to happen. Seriously. My plan was to start watching the marine tracker the day before and keep an eye on her progress, stay ready during the night, and be prepared to jump in my car quickly.

 

[fatfish]

We will not be there at 4 am.

We (me and dd, 11) do want to meet everyone for lunch and then the sail away. Who is it I am supposed to pm with my info for last minute updates? I know I saw it somewhere, but now I can't find it.

Thanks!

 

[Gina]

I'm up for 4 a.m. coffee at Denny's! We took a drive down to Galveston on Sunday (it was such a beautiful day!) and DH tried to get me to book us a hotel room at the Harbor House. Then at the Hilton/San Luis. Whyyyy?? It's 30 minutes or less to get there. I'd rather spend the $$ on our 9/27 Dream cruise. LOL! I bet he tells me I have to book us a room now. I'm so not doing it, tho. He can either put his big-girl drawers on & go with me or stay home. Either way, I'm THERE!

I was thinking this is what was going to happen. Seriously. My plan was to start watching the marine tracker the day before and keep an eye on her progress, stay ready during the night, and be prepared to jump in my car quickly.

We're less than 30 minutes away too, but we're staying at our old faithful Motel 6 that Friday night! 30 minutes makes a big difference at that hour of the morning for me... lol... And we love that Motel 6. The outside isn't much, but the inside is cool! And $43? Yeah, that's worth 30 more minutes' sleep to me.

I'm so glad it won't be just us!! We'll keep in touch and figure out exactly what time time to meet at Denny's.

We (me and dd, 11) do want to meet everyone for lunch and then the sail away. Who is it I am supposed to pm with my info for last minute updates? I know I saw it somewhere, but now I can't find it.
Thanks!

Me me! Just PM me with your name and cell #, and I'll keep you posted that day. (NOT at 4am! ) And I'm so glad you're joining our cruise now too!!

 

[ukintheus]

My plan was to start watching the marine tracker the day before and keep an eye on her progress, stay ready during the night, and be prepared to jump in my car quickly.

I like this idea. What are you guys using for your marine tracker (so we are all looking at the same one)??? I may find I'm too excited and decide to skip out to watch her and leave DH in bed.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I like this idea. What are you guys using for your marine tracker (so we are all looking at the same one)??? I may find I'm too excited and decide to skip out to watch her and leave DH in bed.

I've always used whatever is on the bottom of the screen whenever you pull up the webcam at PC. I had no idea there were others. I'll see if the hubby knows of others that might be better. If it was airplanes we were looking for he'd know literally everything. Ships I don't think he knows quite as well but he's been learning since we took up our love of cruising.

 

[Gina]

I like this idea. What are you guys using for your marine tracker (so we are all looking at the same one)??? I may find I'm too excited and decide to skip out to watch her and leave DH in bed.

I use MarineTraffic.com, and have their app as well. Been testing it, seems pretty real-time so far! I set up to track the Magic and set up notifications, and got an email bright & early this morning when it arrived in NY. And since it says that the arrival time is "the time the ship approaches the entrance to the port", that should give us 45 minutes to an hour before she reaches the cruise terminal.

And I would totally leave the hubby in bed and go. I have to say, y'alls posts made me happy for once that I'm single, because I can guarantee that when it comes to Disney or DCL, any significant other would either come with or get left behind, no room for debate, LOL.

 

[collectoraholic]

My DH & I will be on this sailing, so we'll wave from Deck 9 or 10 as we sail away!!! It'll be so nice to see you all cheering the Magic on as she departs for the 1st time from Galveston.

 

[ukintheus]

I use MarineTraffic.com, and have their app as well. Been testing it, seems pretty real-time so far! I set up to track the Magic and set up notifications, and got an email bright & early this morning when it arrived in NY. And since it says that the arrival time is "the time the ship approaches the entrance to the port", that should give us 45 minutes to an hour before she reaches the cruise terminal.

And I would totally leave the hubby in bed and go. I have to say, y'alls posts made me happy for once that I'm single, because I can guarantee that when it comes to Disney or DCL, any significant other would either come with or get left behind, no room for debate, LOL.

Sounds good - I'll do some scouting over my lunch break. Funny about the DH Gina - I'm lucky that mine at least accommodates my Disney worshiping without too much grumbling.

 

[Tissa]

Funny, I just mentioned to my mom the other day that I wanted to go down to Galveston to see the Magic on the 22nd. She thought I was crazy. Looks like I opened up a thread full of crazy then

I will be there at 7:00 am. Possibly with my ds, if I can get him out of bed.

 

[Gina]

Funny, I just mentioned to my mom the other day that I wanted to go down to Galveston to see the Magic on the 22nd. She thought I was crazy. Looks like I opened up a thread full of crazy then

I will be there at 7:00 am. Possibly with my ds, if I can get him out of bed.

Hi Tissa! Welcome to the thread full of crazy.

If you go back a few posts, though, you'll see that 7am might now be too late, since DCL and the Port of Galveston say it could be anywhere between 5am and 7am. So a couple of us extra-crazy folks are meeting at Denny's at like 4am-ish, to ingest much caffeine and track the ship. You're certainly welcome to join us! And for lunch & sailaway, too!


-gina-

 

[shaned]

The one things that puzzles me about the between 5 and 7, is she's empty, no one 0n board to start cleaning cabins for the arriving guests. Or to get off the ship. I'm thinking probably around 9 or 10, like they did in New York. UNLESS, this will allow the crew to get off the ship and do a little shopping in Texas for the first timers that haven't been here.

 

[ukintheus]

The one things that puzzles me about the between 5 and 7, is she's empty, no one 0n board to start cleaning cabins for the arriving guests. Or to get off the ship. I'm thinking probably around 9 or 10, like they did in New York. UNLESS, this will allow the crew to get off the ship and do a little shopping in Texas for the first timers that haven't been here.

Dena, my thought was that it's a new port, they need to get the crew familiar with loading/unloading of passengers, luggage and everything else. I would think they would try to get a head start on it as soon as they can just for logistical reasons.

I love the marine tracker for my phone!! It may become a new obsession. LOL

 

[hamm1207]

Are we certain that there are no passengers? I wasn't sure if DCL would this as an opportunity for a special cruise (such as charity).

I think I've convinced my husband to let me look up the marine tracker in the morning, and if she's coming in around 7 then we can be there for it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Are we certain that there are no passengers? I wasn't sure if DCL would this as an opportunity for a special cruise (such as charity).

I think I've convinced my husband to let me look up the marine tracker in the morning, and if she's coming in around 7 then we can be there for it.

They can't have passengers unless they make a stop somewhere other than the US which is entirely possible. I've been thinking about that for a while. They could easily swing over to Nassau to meet the requirement...

 

[Gina]

The ship is definitely coming in with crew only -- That has been confirmed by both DCL and the Port of Galveston. I'm guessing they'll be using the time for both more intensive spiffing-up than they can do when passengers are all over the place, and maybe some crew training exercises.

 

[TxMermaid1]

No worries on the directionally challenged.

Yes, I think they are the only ship in port that day. The following week, and every other week from that point on, they and the Triumph will both be in port as far as I can tell.

They are the only cruise ship at port that day but there is a Navy ship being commissioned on pier 21. There will be lots of Sailors, civilians and officials there. It is a huge event.

 

[Gina]

They are the only cruise ship at port that day but there is a Navy ship being commissioned on pier 21. There will be lots of Sailors, civilians and officials there. It is a huge event.

Hopefully they will all be GONE by the time we get there in the afternoon... Of all the places to have that, and on a day when there's already going to be a bunch of people and media there! Maybe that was the idea, so they'd get some media coverage? But it's not like there's a lot of parking around there -- I wish they would have done this Navy thing at Seawolf Park or something, not right next to the cruise ship terminal!

 

[TxMermaid1]

Hopefully they will all be GONE by the time we get there in the afternoon... Of all the places to have that, and on a day when there's already going to be a bunch of people and media there! Maybe that was the idea, so they'd get some media coverage? But it's not like there's a lot of parking around there -- I wish they would have done this Navy thing at Seawolf Park or something, not right next to the cruise ship terminal!

I'm sure they really didn't mean to plan it that way... It is a huge event and celebration. I am more concerned about parking than anything. We are attending the commissioning before we get on the Magic... a full day for us.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

They are the only cruise ship at port that day but there is a Navy ship being commissioned on pier 21. There will be lots of Sailors, civilians and officials there. It is a huge event.

That's AWESOME! My dad is a 24 yr US Navy vet! I'd love to see a Navy ship! Been on a dependants cruise or two onboard a few ships.