Thanks for stopping by to check out my most recent cruise review. This time we sailed on the Carnival Magic out of Port Canaveral, Florida and what made this cruise particularly “Magical” was that we were cruising with our dear friends, The Saunders Family. Here is a little background on this cruise with the Asmus family trio (Sharon, Jamie, and Matthew)….We had planned this cruise over a year ago with our longtime friends. We met the Saunders family on the Carnival Valor in March of 2006. We cruised back then with 2 of our older daughters Melissa and Brittany and it was Matthew’s 1st cruise, he was 13 months old. We were very nervous when we saw that our dinner table was for 10 people. We had never been seated with others before and all kinds of thoughts were running through our heads about who these people would be. The Saunders family consists of Marti, EJ and they have three daughters which are now Samantha 22 and twins Sydney and Sarah that are 18. We ended up enjoying their company so much at dinner that by the end of the week we decided to spend our last port day in St. Maarten together at the beach. We had so much fun and have continued our friendship over the years with daily text messages, etc…We also continue to cruise together every couple of years. Now that the kids are getting older we are hoping to cruise together more frequently. This was our 10th year anniversary cruise from when we met as well as the twins graduation cruise so we had big plans for a lot of memories and there were a few good ones to put in the books…..We originally were booked on the Breeze but with the repositioning of some ships we changed to the Magic which we were also all on together 3 years ago. We were excited to hear that the Magic went in for dry dock and came out with the 2.0 upgrades along with the new Pig & Anchor which I might add was amazing. We were stopping at 4 ports, Amber Cove which was new for us, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk with 2 sea days. So on to my story/review….
Our vacation started with our 5am flight from Phoenix to Orlando with a plane change in Houston. We were pre check so it was a breeze going through security and getting to our flight on time. If I would have been able to predict the weather I would have chosen a flight that did not go through Houston. With the storms they were having…let me just say Holy Turbulance…
It was the worst flight I have ever experienced. I felt like I was on an amusement park ride most of the flight. We landed late and our next flight was delayed in Houston as well. We sat on the runway for 30 minutes before given clearance to continue to the gate and then another hour on our next flight before being able to take off from Houston. But we eventually made it and next thing we knew we were landing in Orlando.
We collected our luggage and then went to Budget to pick up our rental car for the next 2 days. Since our cruise left on Saturday we decided to fly in Thursday and spend a couple days in Orlando/Port Canaveral. We got a great deal for the rental car using a code from our insurance Company. Much cheaper for 2 days than a one way trip by taxi to the port. We had rented a Dodge Ram truck and had plenty of room.
We google mapped our way to the Country Inn and Suites by the port where we would be staying pre cruise for 2 nights and hit the rode. The hotel was very nice and had a free continental breakfast with some hot items as well. Room was clean, reasonably priced and great location close to the port. Would definitely stay there again. We got settled in then headed out to explore the area and have dinner. We ran across a nice little family owned Italian place called Papa Vito’s. Matthew likes Pizza so we were all happy. The food was extremely good, great price and we hit happy hour for beer and wine prices. That really made Jamie happy.
After stuffing ourselves with pasta we decided to head back to the hotel for the night. We had big plans for Friday to go to the Kennedy Space Center during the day and then meet up with The Saunders for dinner Friday night.
We were up early and ready to head out to the Kennedy Space Center. We enjoyed all the sights there and even experienced the IMAX theatre. It was extremely warm so we tried to do as many inside activities as possible. We are use to the heat in Arizona but the humidity really took the wind out of our sails…. But it was a very good experience and our son Matthew enjoyed himself. We didn’t leave without checking out the gift shop and purchasing a few trinkets to bring home. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up and make a plan to meet up with the Saunders.
We decided to meet for appetizers/drinks at a restaurant by the port called “Fish Lips”. They had good reviews and Happy Hour!!! Well we ended up ordering lots of appetizer and drinks. If the weather wasn’t so hot we probably would have enjoyed it more. The drinks and food were good but we were sitting outside and it was HOT. The restaurant was right on the water and there was a nice view of ships coming and going from the port.
We eventually all headed out to explore the area some more. We stopped to buy our wine to take on the ship the next morning, made a stop at Ron Jon’s (it was one of the biggest Ron Jon’s I’ve ever seen), an urgent nail repair for Sydney and last stop ice cream before heading back to our hotels for the night. The Saunders were staying at a hotel a few minutes away from us, so we made our plan for returning our rental cars in the morning and being early to the port.
Cruise morning is finally here….The Saunders met us at our hotel and the guys dropped us all at the port with the luggage about 10am and then returned the rental trucks and took the shuttle back to the port. We went ahead and went inside to wait because it was very warm out. We headed through security and checked right in and waited for the guys to return. They were back within 30 minutes or so and checked in quickly as well.
After we were all checked in Jamie, Matthew and myself went back over to the Captains lounge where the Platinum people wait. The Saunders were lucky enough to get FTTF, so they would not be far behind us. By the way, Port Canaveral is now my favorite port to cruise from. It was so organized and what a breeze getting all checked in and the staff were so friendly.
One little thing we like to do is we always try to be the 1st ones in the Red Frog Pub when we cruise. It’s kind of game our son Matthew likes and so we always make a plan and he runs ahead to secure our being 1st. So far out of the last 5 cruises we have made it 4 times. It’s always nice to get the free beer and get our picture posted on John Heald’s page. Well looks like we have done it again!!!
After receiving our beer and pics we went to drop off our carry on bags in our cabin and meet up with our dear friends.
Then we were all starving as if we hadn’t eaten in days. We headed to the lido buffet, Guys, Blue Iguana, and Pizza.
Between all of us, we had it all. We wanted to check out our dining seats in the MDR so we went by the dining room but the table numbers weren’t up yet so we decided we would just have to be surprised. I wanted to unpack a little before our facebook meet & greet which was scheduled for 2pm. So the guys hung out on the balcony, while the girls unpacked. We had booked balconies next to each other so we could have them opened up to one big balcony as we have on previous cruises, but the way our doors going out to the balcony were with these cabins they were unable to open up our balcony. We were very disappointed but decided to make the best of it.
We met up at the lido Aft bar for the facebook meet & greet and shot glass exchange I had arranged. Several people showed up and we all conversed and had a good time. The heat did make it a little less enjoyable so at 3pm we exchanged our shot glasses and all went our separate ways. Before we could get involved in anything else it was time for the muster drill. One nice thing about the newer ships is they have the drill inside. So we sat in the main theater in the wonderful air conditioning and listened to Dr. E’s version of the muster drill over the intercom. It was pretty painless compared to some we have experienced in the past standing outside in the heat.
Shortly after this we were excited for dinner in the MDR. We were hoping for a nice big round table in the middle of the dining room but we ended up off to the side with one of the long tables for 8. It wasn’t the best location although we did have a window with the ocean view. Once again we made the best of it because we were all together and would have fun no matter what came our way.
We had great dining room staff and our assistant waiter actually took care of us 90% of the time the whole cruise. His name was Sheldon and he was AWESOME!!! Out of 18 cruises there has only been 2 other waiters that have stood out this much to us. Now that is saying a lot!!!
After dinner we all wandered around and checked out the ship for awhile then The Saunders wanted to go to the Welcome Aboard show and we have seen it many times and decided we would turn in for the night. We were exhausted from not sleeping much the night before.
1st Sea Day…..
We were up early excited to get this day started. We all headed out for breakfast on the lido and reserve our chairs for the morning sun. After breakfast it was to early for Matthew to go to Camp Ocean ( they didn’t open until 10am). So while the others enjoyed some sun, I took Matthew for a round of mini golf.
After that he was off to Camp until lunch and I was relaxing comfortably in my lounge chair soaking up some the sun.
We couldn’t wait to try out the new Pig & Anchor for lunch. All the reviews of how amazing it is were true. We tasted a little bit of everything. Would have went back for 2nd’s but the line got long very quickly.
We had a cabin crawl planned for 2pm so after lunch we went back to the room to get our treats set out for the cabin crawl. We had made vodka soaked gummy lifesavers. We also brought some prizes for a few drawings. We met everyone that had signed up for the crawl at the Red Frog Pub and we started at the top deck and worked our way down until we had been to all the hosts cabins. Everyone had a treat of some kind in their cabins to share and it was a lot of fun to see different types of cabins.
There were 3 older sisters cruising together that participated in the cabin crawl. They were dressed in the same matching outfits every day throughout the cruise. I thought this was so cute and had to share.
The cabin crawl was over about 3pm and we walked by the dining room and noticed tea time starting so we talked the guys into coming with us. It was a nice way to sober up from the cabin crawl before dinner. Since this was the 1st elegant night we needed some energy.
As usual Jamie and Matthew complained the whole time while putting their suits on as I was excited to wear my new dress.
They were so miserable in their suits that we didn’t even get a good picture from the Carnival photographers but we enjoyed another great dinner.
We all went to the show in the main theater tonight and it was pretty good (of course the boys had to change out of their suits 1st). Marti insists on sitting up front and center while we like to sit toward the back so if the show isn’t that great we can make a quiet exit….haha. Well let me just say finding our seats was like a Chinese fire drill before we finally settled into some for the show.
After the show we wandered around the ship to see what else was going on. The Ocean Plaza band was taking a break so Samantha and I decided it would be fun to hop on the stage and pretend we were the entertainment for a minute.
We checked out a few other areas around the ship and then we ran into Dr. E and his side kick so we had to get a pic with them.
It was time for us to meet Matthew back at our cabin ( he was at Camp Ocean) and go for our nightly Pizza and ice cream before turning in for the night. When we got back to our cabin, our platinum gifts were sitting on our bed waiting for us. 3 new Tervis tumblers. Nice!!!
Amber Cove
We were all excited to check out this new port. We had booked an ATV adventure through a private company called Marysol tours. With using the private company, they would allow us to ride with Matthew on the back of our ATV. Through Carnival you had to be 18. Also half the price!!! So we were off the ship early, shortly after getting into port.
We had to walk out quite a ways through the main port gates to meet up with the private tour company. Then they shuttled us over to where they stored the ATV’s. We all got a quick briefing on how they work, everyone got a helmet and we were off.
The guide rode in front and another guy rode a motorcycle behind all of us and took pictures/videos. We rode for over an hour through dirt, up hills, streets, etc…
We then stopped at a beautiful picturesque view of where they had filmed the 1st Jurassic Park movie. Matthew thought that was really cool. Of course we had to take a few of our own pics here.
After a short break we continued on our journey to a place where they make hand made cigars and grind their own coffee and sugar cane. The guys sampled the cigars and purchased a few.
We then were given some kind of fermented sugar cane with some other unknown things to drink. Not sure what they were but they tasted good…..haha.
They showed us how they ground their own coffee and let everyone have a turn. I purchased a few containers of coffee and one of sugar cane to take home. It was really good.
They also had a few other souvenirs for sale there.
After this, we continued riding and there had been a few issues with the brakes on some of the ATV’s and they made some adjustments to them along the way. Well as we were going down the rode there was a bus coming the opposite direction on the left and when I went to stop I had to veer to the right so I didn’t hit the ATV in front of me, because my brakes stopped working and I got caught in a ditch and crashed my ATV…Kind of scary but I was fine. I was already freaking out thinking they were going to charge us for it from all the horror stories I have heard about private tours. The whole wheel was off the ATV and that thing was not moving. Then as our friends stopped to check on me. Marti got off of her ATV and left it unattended and it took off by itself into a ditch….OMG ….This was like a comedy nightmare.
But we were all fine and the guide told me they would leave the bike and someone would come back later and get it. He then gave me his ATV to ride and he hopped on the motorcycle with the camera guy for the rest of the tour. I was of course now nervous and driving very slow and careful as to not crash his ATV as well. Next stop was the beach for a quick stop then to a locals house to see and hold a bird, tarantula, and snake. Some of us held them all but I did not go near the snake.
Well after this we rode the ATV’s back to where we started and a shuttle took us back to the port. The tour guide was video taping us throughout the whole tour riding the ATV’s…We figured they would try to sell us the CD at the end of the tour but they never did. Not sure what their plans were for this. I probably would of bought it if they had offered to sell us a copy.
Originally we had planned to hang out at the port pool after our tour, but by the time our tour was over we were so hot and ready to get back on the ship. Since we had purchased a few local souvenirs we didn’t stop to shop, just headed to the ship for a much needed late lunch and cool off in the water works area. After cooling off some of us decided to take a quick nap before dinner. We went to a comedy show after dinner. It was just ok, we have seen better. Although it was the family showing and they aren’t usually as good. We made a very quick stop at the piano bar. Nothing great was going on there. Then a run through the casino. By this time it was 10pm and Matthew was to meet us in the cabin after he left Camp Ocean. Matthew and I ordered a room service late night snack and Jamie, EJ and Samantha decided to go back out for a little while to the casino.
Well lets just say their little while turned into coming in at 3am. Looks like EJ who never gambles decided to have a few too many drinks and get a little crazy at the craps table. I’m sure Jamie was egging it on. Well it will be a night to remember, that is if they can remember it…..
St. Thomas
After a late night for the boys it was a good thing we didn’t get into port until 11am. We had plans to take a taxi to Megan’s Bay Beach.
We have been to St. Thomas a few times and have been to several different beaches and have enjoyed them all but never to Megan’s Bay. Only had seen it at a distance and it looked so beautiful. After all the pictures and talk of how wonderful it is, it will be the last time I ever go there. Of all the beaches I’ve been to in St. Thomas it is my least favorite. 1st it was $8pp each way to get there and back. $5pp entrance fee to the beach. Then they wanted to charge us $12 per lounge chair. Then a guy came up to us and said just give them whatever for a chair and they will give you some chairs. After the guy working there noticed we weren’t going to give him $12 per chair. He just gave us chairs for free. There was a food area and bar. Both very expensive and the bar tender was very rude and was arguing with multiple people including me. I had asked if they had frozen margaritas and he told me “NO” and that is not a real drink and if I wanted a real drink he would only make it on the rocks. He just kept going on and on about it to the point I was getting angry and said no thanks and just bought a beer for Jamie and coke for Matthew and left. He then mumbled something at me as I walked away which I thought sounded rude. I have never had an experience like that before. Usually the bar tenders are friendly and fun and want you to buy things when you are on vacation. Just very odd….The water was nice but when you are up close it doesn’t look nearly as nice as the pictures at a distance. Needless to say I won’t be returning.
So after a couple hours we headed back to the port to shop and back on the ship. I thought St. Thomas would be one of my more enjoyable ports this cruise but actually turned out to be my least favorite. We then had a snack on the lido and hung out for awhile then got ready for dinner. After dinner we watched the last half of Jurassic Park at the Dive In movie and then settled in for the new Star Wars movie.
About 30 minutes into the movie it started to pour down rain, everyone starting jumping up and running inside. Well that was the end of that movie for the night. So we called it a night since we had an early port day in San Juan in the morning. Matthew was a little upset but nothing some chocolate cake from room service couldn’t take care of…..
San Juan
We got into port at 8am…Jamie and EJ had booked a fishing excursion online with a company called “The Magic Tarpon”. They were so excited for this day of fishing and maybe a little break from us girls. They were up early and the 1st ones off the ship to meet their taxi which the company had arranged to take them to the fishing boat. They had a great day. Ended up with only one fish but got several bites and had fun doing it so it was worth it.
Us girls and Matthew had plans to explore old San Juan on our own. I had previously taken an amazing tour last May there with Charlie’s Custom tours and remembered some of the places so I put together a map of places for us to see. Unfortunately it felt like the hottest day ever in San Juan and very humid so after exploring some and shopping we ended up heading back to the ship by 12:30 so we could cool off.
We did walk down Paseo de la Princesa and saw some of the many statues. We stopped by Parque de las Palomas where hundreds of pigeons gather. We were planning on taking the trolley but it was less hot to keep walking than stand at the trolley stops so we continued up the street, stopped in a few stores then walked by the Barrachina Restaurant where the original Pina Colada was made. Well you know we had to go in and try one so we got a table for 6 and we tried the famous Pina Coladas and Matthew had a coke, and yes they were delicious.
After this we continued on and made it to The Cathedral which was one of the places Marti wanted to visit. It was beautiful. We walked around inside for awhile, took some pics and I might add enjoyed some of the air conditioning before leaving.
By this time we had all had enough heat and were very hot and hungry. So we stopped at a few more stores on our way back to the ship for souvenirs, then on to the ship to cool off in the water and have lunch.
Matthew wanted to go to Camp Ocean for awhile and I decided to take a much needed nap until Jamie and EJ returned from fishing. Once everyone was back and cleaned up we had decided to eat dinner together at the lido buffet tonight. It was the 2nd elegant night and we had previously planned to only dress up for one formal night (which made the boys very happy). So we ate a little of all different things until we were stuffed as usual. Matthew then headed off to Camp Ocean again (he loves Camp Ocean). Here’s a few pics I took of Camp Ocean on the 1st day when they let the parents in to view and sign up your kids….. Camp Ocean is broken up into groups….The Penguins from ages 2-5, the Stingrays from ages 6-8, and the Sharks from ages 9-11. They offer different activities based on the age levels.
Now for some adult activities….The rest of us decided it was the night to go to the Red Frog Pub. It was the night for the famous tube of beer and a fishbowl.
After a few drinks we stopped in the Piano bar but once again the piano guy they had was kind of lame. I have never seen piano bar so quiet. No excitement going on there at all. Since Matthew had a late night Camp Ocean party tonight until 1:00am we had a late night as well. We went to the 10:15 love and marriage show. It was ok but not nearly as good as the John Heald one we attended last February. After John Heald nothing can compare. After the show we were hungry again, imagine that….We picked up Matthew and went for Pizza and ice cream then off to bed.
Grand Turk
We decided since we were getting into Grand Turk at noon it would be a good day to eat breakfast in the MDR. Plus we needed to use our drink coupons. As usual the MDR breakfast did not disappoint.
We were ready to head off the ship at noon and we were also the only ship in port. What a great day. We hung at the beach for awhile then decided to move up to the Margaritaville pool and have a few drinks. We found a row of chairs for all of us together by the florider. It was the most relaxing day I’ve ever had at Margaritaville. We talked to a couple people from the ship and saw a few people from the fb group. It was just the perfect way to spend the last port day. On the way back to the ship I bought Matthew a souvenir and I saw a tank top (and after a few margarita’s I decided I just had to have it) so after a quick stop for those, Jamie was able to quickly get me back on the ship before I wandered in to any more stores. Here’s some pics from our day…..
When we got back to our cabin our invitations to the Platinum party on the last day were waiting for us.
Tonight at dinner our wonderful waiters surprised Sydney and Sarah with graduation cakes and sang to them. It was so sweet. We ended up with the greatest wait staff, especially Sheldon!!!
After dinner we checked out the lobby bar music, looked through any new pics to see if we wanted to buy them, wandered through the casino and one final stop at the piano bar for Marti. Marti had high hopes of spending nights in the piano bar but every night we went in the guy was just horrible. The only word to describe him was “BORING”. As always we managed to find some fun around the ship.
We were pretty tired and getting a little depressed thinking that tomorrow would be our last day on the ship together so we headed off to bed.
Last Sea Day
BOO….Our last sea day, and we were up early for our 8:15 reservation for the Dr. Seuss breakfast. The Dr. Seuss breakfast is $5pp and well worth the price. This was the Saunders 1st time and our 5th time attending the breakfast and each time it’s always a good time. Although we usually come for the entertainment not necessarily the food. In the past the food tends to be on the cool side and with all the character interactions your breakfast gets interrupted.
But this time I will say was my favorite. We were not only with our great friends but we had our favorite waiter Sheldon as our server and the food was hot!!!
Between us all we ordered just about everything on the menu and it was all great. I noticed the timing of the characters coming in to when the food was served seem to be slightly different than in the past and our food didn’t get cold. I will say the Magic has been my favorite Dr. Seuss breakfast so far.
After breakfast Matthew couldn’t wait to get to Camp Ocean and Jamie to the casino. The rest of us had plans for more sun on our last sea day so the girls went out to save some chairs on the lido . After about 30 minutes in the sun I was really warming up so I decided to head up to the water works area to cool off (I prefer the clean, fresh water up there over the pool). As I was walking up there I spotted the serenity deck entrance and realized I hadn’t checked it out yet…..So I ventured in and walked around.
It wasn’t crowded and I saw a few empty chairs so I decided to try one out for awhile. It was so relaxing and peaceful there that I think I fell asleep for about 45 minutes. When I woke up I decided maybe I better head back down because no one would be able to find me…but next cruise this is where you will find me!!! The Saunders were still enjoying the sun so Jamie and I took Matthew to lunch and then he left us sitting in the lido restaurant and went back to Camp Ocean. After eating lunch and dessert…we notice the entrance to Cacina del Capitano. Well we looked at each other and said why not??? It is our last day. Another 1st for us. We had never eaten there before. What is wrong with 2 lunches???? haha.
Well after lunch I definitely want to eat dinner there next time. Lunch was fantastic!!! Now that we were stuffed, we had to roll ourselves out of there. We wandered around inside for awhile trying to walk off some of the food. Well today was the day for the Platinum party and we were not going to miss out on the free drinks and appetizers. So we felt bad leaving our friends behind but we have earned it….haha. Marti is working hard at becoming platinum now. She’s the one who only cruises every other year and now she has 2 more cruises already booked after this one. I think my cruising addiction has rubbed off on her. Matthew really gets excited over going to these kind of things too. He thinks it’s the coolest thing to be Platinum. He holds that silver card up high with pride!!! Well at this party the greatest thing happened….They usually have some games you can play as you enter the party, like guessing type game. They had one where there was random pics of different parts of different ships and you had to guess what ship it was. I played this game too along with about 200+ other adults. When they announced the winner , it was Matthew. Everyone looked at him with amazement that this 11 year old kid could know more ships than they did. Well that’s my boy, unfortunately he has already got his mother’s cruise addiction and talks frequently about when he will become Diamond before he is 18. We were so proud of him…..
It was our last dinner and as usual they sang the “leaving on a funship” song as Marti tried to hold back her tears. Marti is known for always crying on the last night. I must say I felt a little teary eyed myself. After dinner the Saunders wanted to go to the Legends show. We don’t really care for that show so Jamie and I wandered around the ship for awhile then met Matthew at 10pm after Camp Ocean and took him to the arcade to finish using his arcade cards. Since the 3 of us are platinum, one of the perks is free arcade cards so we had $30 in arcade cards to spend. We got $10 each. Saves on the arcade $$.
After this Jamie was exhausted so he went back to the cabin and went to bed. When we got back to our cabin our laundry we had sent out the night before had been delivered. Since we have the platinum perk of free laundry we decided to try it out for the 1st time. Well it was interesting…I had visions of neatly laundered and pressed clothing being returned but what was returned was very wrinkled and damp pieces of clothing in a bag. They came back more wrinkled than they left. Not sure how they do the laundry but I was just glad I only sent a couple pairs of Jamie’s shorts and not any of my good clothes to experiment on. I wish I would have taken pic to share.
After this Matthew and I made our last night cruise ritual of stopping at cherry on top to purchase some candy for the plane ride home. We got 3 small bags and it came to $25. WOW….that was some expensive skittles and tootsie rolls. Oh well it was the last night.
Then it was time to enjoy our final night of pizza and ice cream before our last sleep on the Magic. Since I didn’t wait until the last minute to pack as usual, it was nice to just go to bed. We were all packed except for a few last minute things to throw in once we showered in the morning.
Well here we are up at the crack of dawn watching our ship pull into port. We wanted to get around early so we could enjoy one last breakfast with our friends on the lido before debarkation started. After breakfast we all got our luggage and headed out for the self assist debarkation. It went fairly smooth. The lines moved slowly but it didn’t take long to get through customs and on the budget shuttle to go pick up our rental cars for our return trip to the airport. We both had late fights so decided to rent cars and spend the day site seeing instead of sitting in the airport for hours.
We started at downtown Disney but was extremely hot and so we ended up at Chili’s for lunch.
After lunch we sadly parted ways because our flight was earlier then theirs. It was hard trying to hold back the tears having to say goodbye to our dear friends. The fact that we have a cruise already booked with them again for next year made it a little easier…. Although we are hoping we will be able to see each other before then. But at least we can start our countdown to the next Asmus/Saunders cruise and it is also John Heald’s blogger cruise 10. It will be an awesome time…..
We made it to the airport, dropped off the rental car and by the way renting a car in Orlando it so easy and cheaper than a taxi or shuttle. We were pre check so going through security was a breeze once again. We were at our gate an hour early so we hung out and charged our phones. We had a stop in Nashville but no plane change. Much better flight than coming due to the weather. After 7 hours we were home and excited to see our dog Lucy as she was to see us.
Now as the Asmus/Saunders cruise comes to an end, the unpacking and planning of the next cruise begins….
