Making Magic! Cruise Review Oct 19 - 26 2014

[Shaded Lady]

Since we didn’t have plans for Grand Cayman we decided to have Room Service coffee again today. It arrived right on time, even though I figured they’d be really busy, with everyone else ordering breakfast before getting off the ship. We drank our coffee as we anchored offshore at Grand Cayman. The Breeze was beside us and we decided to hang out there watching the tenders for a while before going for breakfast. But it was still really windy and it was obvious they were having problems getting the tenders working.

 

 

You can see the tenders circling, waiting to try to dock with the ship

 

 

We did see a tender go ashore from Breeze with people on it so we figured that soon they’d be under way, but after about 30 minutes the captain announced that it was too windy to allow the tenders to dock beside the ship so we’d have to cancel Grand Cayman. For us, no big deal because we’d only planned a day of walking around anyway, but I was sure a lot of other people would be really disappointed, with excursions planned etc.

 

I heard after I got back home that the tender we saw from the Breeze was the only one that got under way that day, and only because they had a medical emergency involving a crew member. Just before we left, Breeze headed out and we followed her for quite a while. I also heard that once underway there was a lot of chaos, upset passengers and near-rioting (I heard a lot of conflicting info on this!) on the Breeze. Apparently they’d had issues with delays in Cozumel, and now were missing Grand Cayman. Because of the discounts & OBCs Carnival gave the Magic passengers the week before due to missing Cozumel apparently some passengers felt they were entitled to more than just the port fees of $20 pp.

 

 

Now here’s the way I look at it… if I’d had excursions planned that day, sure I’d be disappointed, but I’d far rather the captain erred on the side of caution if the tendering process would be dangerous.

 

Once on a cruise in 1998 I almost lost a set of golf clubs during dangerous tendering (wind kicked up after we all got off the ship, made getting back on board interesting!). They couldn’t get the gangway in place so they had to time it just right as the tender bobbed up and down beside the ship and reach out and grab each person, dragging the passenger back on board… I had my golf clubs with me from our excursion and the crewmember who took them dropped them between the tender and the ship- he caught the bag by the strap to avoid them going to a watery death. I looked at him as he brought my clubs onboard and said ‘please don’t do that to me!’

 

Ever since I’m appropriately respectful of the tendering process!

[Shaded Lady]

So now they planned another sea day for us… a new Fun Times was published but I didn’t notice a lot of changes… a few more trivia games, lunch in the MDR instead of just the Lido…

 

So for us the biggest disappointment was that the ship was a lot more crowded than we’d expected. But the day was sunny & warm, even though it was windy. We spent the morning sitting reading on the 11th deck, just above the Lido pool, in the shade. We even took advantage of the bar and had the DoD- called the Cruiser- it was peach and pineapple and other flavors… pretty good!

 

Here’s how I spent my morning instead of shopping in Grand Cayman!

 

 

This was the second and final encounter with a Carnival employee who didn’t love his job… the bartender at the Lido pool was obviously planning on an easy day too, what with everyone in Grand Cayman. When he realized that wasn’t going to happen he adopted a real attitude. I asked him a simple question- do you accept the free drink coupons for return cruisers. He snapped ‘what does it say? Can you read? It says dining room only, right? So no, I don’t take them here’. Needless to say he didn’t get an extra tip!

 

I wasn’t the only one who he treated rudely... while I was waiting, a young woman was in front of me, waiting for a soda. He kept going around her, serving people who’d arrived after her. He asked me what I wanted and I pointed out that she was first. He rolled his eyes at me (OH YES HE DID!) and asked her what she wanted… she handed him her S&S card and her Carnival cup and asked for Dr Pepper… he flat out lied to her and said he didn’t have any left... the guy beside me, who already had his drink said ‘look buddy, don’t be an a&&h*)@, I can see the can sitting right there on the counter. Get her her drink!’ The whole time he waited on people he scowled and muttered to himself. Obviously not a person who loves his job! But fortunately, as I mentioned, the 2 employees were the only ones I encountered who were not smiling and happy to help.

 

We then had lunch in the dining room- I finally got my favorite dessert- crème brulee, which they seem to only offer at lunch, not brunch!

 

That afternoon we spent some time in the Fun Shops, checking out what they had… I’m not sure if it’s the new direction or just the Magic, but we found that the shops were a lot smaller than on some of the Fantasy class ships we’d been on. The duty free alcohol section was basically one wall of the shop, but the jewelry and perfume section was a lot larger than the alcohol section.

 

We spent some time in the spa and watched the Thriller Dance class in the Showtime Theater… it was kind of amusing to watch totally uncoordinated people try to emulate Michael Jackson!

 

That night was the second elegant night but we didn’t feel like getting dressed up so decided to do the Lido buffet that night. We tried a little bit of a bunch of different food. A lot of it was awful, some was okay, some was delicious! Hit or miss but hey, we didn’t starve!

 

There was a show in the Showtime Theater called WIN! that we wanted to see. But we miscalculated times somehow and missed it altogether. There was only one instance of the show at 7:30, not the normal early & late seating version, so we completely missed it. We could have caught the last 20 minutes but decided to take our time at dinner in the Lido instead.

 

We stood in line waiting for the great free watch raffle! Every time we walked by the Fun Shops they were having a ‘fantastic’ sale on something… watch sets, necklace sets, bracelets, Invicta watches… I guess if you’re into that sort of thing you can get a good deal, but I don’t wear costume jewelry, DH has a very expensive watch already and I refuse to buy anything other than my Timex Indiglo watches for about $40… so most of the time that we were around that area it was an opportunity for people watching! I saw a woman who bought 8 boxes of a necklace set for $20 each… I figure daughters and nieces are all getting a variation on the same gift this Christmas!

 

The rest of the evening was spent sitting relaxing on our balcony. The wind had died down, but there were frequent rain squalls happening due to the tropical depression/storm that was hovering over Cozumel. One of those squalls finally drove us inside where DH watched the rest of the football game, and after prepping for our day in Mexico tomorrow, we went to bed.

 

[Shaded Lady]

We woke up to sunshine- sort of! It was sunny at the dock and cloudy all around us. Our one concern about the weather this trip was due to TD9, which moved from the Pacific, over Mexico into the Bay of Campeche. It ran along the top of the Yucatan peninsula and into the gulf, which was the reason for all the unsettled weather, high winds and rain squalls we’d been surrounded by and subject to throughout the cruise. The reason for our concern? We had a round of golf scheduled at the Cozumel Country Club for 11 that morning.

 

The captain announced before lunch on Thursday that due to missing Grand Cayman, we’d received permission from Mexican officials to dock early, meaning we’d be in Cozumel for 8 AM, not 10! Sweet! That meant we’d have plenty of time to have breakfast, get off the ship without rushing and still make our tee time! And also leave time for some shopping after the round.

 

We ate breakfast on the Lido deck as we were docking, got our stuff for the day from our room and headed off the ship.

 

 

They're building a new pier to add to the ones already at Puerta Maya

 

 

We waded our way through the Duty Free building, walked straight to the taxi area and caught a taxi. We asked in advance and were told it would be $16 each way for both of us (not each). We got into the oldest, most decrepit Camry I’ve ever seen! The shocks were completely gone, it was so cramped that my DH couldn’t sit up straight without hitting the roof of the car… but the driver was nice, gave us lots of info about what we were seeing as we drove through downtown and out to the country club. We gave him a $5 tip because God knows, his car needs some work!

[Shaded Lady]

We arrived at the golf course by a little after 9, almost 2 hours early. But they weren’t concerned- the weather had really hit the course hard and they were not busy at all so we were able to tee off pretty much right away. And we had no one in front of us, or behind us. If you’re a golfer, you’ll understand that this is pretty close to golfing nirvana!

 

They warned us about a few things. The condition of the course was bad- everything was VERY wet. They’d had 5 inches of rain the day before from our friend TD9. One hole was under water and the bridge to get to the tee was under water so it became a par 3. And they also had warnings about the water on the course- there are crocodiles everywhere and they strongly urge you to invest in a new golf ball if yours ends up in the water!

 

 

We saw a couple of baby crocs… and a few 8 footers. But having lived and golfed in Florida where there are gators everywhere on the golf course, this didn’t faze us. We’re used to taking gator mulligans when necessary.

 

This little guy was only about 2 feet long

 

 

This guy wasn't! He was a good 7-8 feet long!

 

 

 

The other thing they warned us about were the mosquitos… I was so grateful I’d bought a bottle of Deep Woods Off… DH & I sprayed each other down a couple of times on the course but we still got some bites. We could sit in the golf cart and hear the mosquitos moving in- a loud whiny buzz that would get louder as we sat… and they were huge mosquitos!

 

Now we’re both from Canada and spent our summers in northern Ontario and Quebec, where the mosquitos were the size of small hummingbirds… but these mosquitos made those guys look ordinary! I can imagine how bad it would have been if we hadn’t had bug spray.

[Shaded Lady]

You can see the clouds! We played in this for the first 4 holes then the sun came out, and we steamed through the rest of the round!

 

 

Here's DH playing with a set of rental clubs (his own are longer than standard because he's so tall so he looks all hunched over!

 

 

This is about where the sun started coming out...

 

 

So despite the sloppy conditions and the humidity, we were golfing! DH had brought golf shoes but I opted to wear my running shoes… our feet were totally soaked by the 2nd hole. But I noticed by the 7th or 8th hole that my feet were getting wetter and I couldn’t get a good footing when hitting the ball. I looked at my running shoes and the soles of both were falling off! I guess it’s time for some new running shoes!

 

Funny, it was so wet there was a blue crab right beside the fairway!

 

[crindy]

Great review😃. In one of your post you mention the maitre d''s name as Chubby. Do you know if he is from Hungary? We had a wonderful waiter on the inspiration about 15 years ago. The picture looks like it could be him. We are leaving on the Magic on Nov 30. It would be nice to see Our Chubby again.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Shaded Lady]

Some of the locals!

 

 

 

We were actually finished by about 1 PM. The course called us a taxi and we were on our way back to Puerta Maya. The cost was the same, but this time the taxi was great (a large mini-van) but the driver never spoke a word… so as uncomfortable as the ride to the course had been, we both enjoyed that trip better, with our chatty informative driver.

 

We were back at the port by 1:30 and had lots of time to shop. I had to be careful not to walk out of my sad, almost sole-less running shoes. We talked about going back to the ship, cleaning up and coming back to finish our shopping, but it was hot, sunny and humid now so we decided just to finish it, get back on the ship, clean up, have lunch and relax.

 

One stop I had to make was Los Cincos Soles… I had it on the best of advice- you fellow cruisers- that this shop is the best place to get the high quality vanilla from Mexico. You have to be careful- a lot of places sell the inferior quality vanilla or stuff with additives that can be dangerous… I was warned about this when I posted a question about it and was directed to this website http://gourmet.lovetoknow.com/Mexican_Vanilla which posted the following:

 

Things to Avoid When Shopping for Vanilla

Prior to purchasing vanilla products make sure they are clearly labeled "coumarin free" or "pure vanilla." In addition, always buy vanilla products from reputable suppliers. Often tourists visiting Mexico are tempted to buy bargain priced vanilla. The cheap price is usually an indicator that the vanilla is laced with coumarin. Pure Mexican vanilla is expensive. The synthetic version may smell and taste like vanilla, but it is not pure vanilla and should be avoided. Authentic vanilla is amber colored while synthetics tend to be dark and murky due to the coal tar from which they are produced or from caramel and red food colorings. To ensure you are getting pure vanilla from Mexico check the label, the price, and avoid large bargain-sized bottles found south of the border

 

So I got my vanilla, some gifts for the family, including maracas for my 7 YO GS (payback to my daughter- I couldn’t get a drumset so the noisy maracas were the next best thing LOL!) and then we made our way back to the Magic.

 

I was going to buy some rum from the Dufry shop just outside the main duty free building you have to go through to get back on the ship. I got 3 bottles of flavored rum there last cruise and it was great. But this time the salesman was driving me crazy… he followed me everywhere, everything I looked at he told me I had to buy it and why, and even after I told him to leave me alone and I’d find him when I was ready to buy, he wouldn’t back off. Normally I’m a pretty placid shopper, I don’t let stuff like that rattle me. But I was tired, hot, hungry, bug-bit and probably a little cranky. OK, so I was a lot cranky! But hey, my shoes are falling off and I stink like Deep Woods Off- cut me a break! So I left without buying any booze.

 

Once on the ship, showered and with intact shoes on, DH & I went in search of lunch. We met several of our roll call gang who apparently all had a great time doing their various excursions ashore. After lunch we hung out in our cabin until sailaway.

 

At the next pier was the Navigator of the Seas (our #2 choice for this cruise) and the Allure of the Seas… that is one freaking huge ship! We were talking to some of our roll call gang and they were saying that they’d like to try it just once, but that they’d found that the people on RCCL are less inclined to strike up a conversation with a stranger, offer unsolicited advice or offer to help someone else, as his experiences were on Carnival. As a result, he said he’d probably never sail RCCL again, so the Allure wasn’t likely to happen. I know everyone has their own opinion, and we’ll probably try RCCL soon, just so we can form our own opinion on the matter. But if that’s what it’s really like on the RCCL cruiseships, we’ll be back to Carnival in a heartbeat. But then, I also think a cruise is what you make of it, so we’ll see.

 

 

Since we had a later lunch we decided to go to the early show in the Showtime Theater. Guitar Legends Features Edd Carr and the Magic Showband… The music was great, the guitar playing was terrific… he’s not the best singer, but his guitar skills more than make up for it.

 

After the show we went to dinner in the Northern Lights MDR. Again, new section, again, great service, again, food was warm, okay. But I got my 3rd favorite dessert, Bitter n Blanc. Only problem was, our waiter forgot to give me anything to eat it with, and promptly disappeared. When he reappeared about 10 minutes later with a refill on our coffee he asked why I hadn’t eaten my dessert- didn’t I like it? When he realized he’d forgotten to give me a fork, I thought he’d cry, he was so upset with himself! But I was enjoying my first cup of coffee and chatting with DH and our tablemates, and I knew he’d be back, so I wasn’t in a rush. It was pretty funny, actually!

 

Dinner wasn’t over til almost 9:30 so afterward we went to our cabin, hung out on the balcony for a while then went to bed.

 

[Shaded Lady]

This was the first night that my back really troubled me while sleeping. The bed wasn’t comfortable (was fine the rest of the cruise), the room was too drafty (yet my back was covered with blankets all night), the bed was too soft, the bed was too hard- I couldn’t get comfortable at all… so I woke in the morning to our regular Room Service coffee, but shortly afterwards decided to make my way to the spa to see if the Thalasso pool would help my back. It was actually cold so it really didn’t help much. I then went to the thermal suites- steam rooms and loungers hadn’t had a chance to warm up yet either.

 

The Serenity deck was closed because the wind had picked up again and we were rocking pretty hard (the water was splashing out of each end of the Thalasso pool while I was in there). So I made do with a really hot shower in the spa… they have one of those showers in the Laconium Thermal Suite where the water comes from every direction… but no soap or shampoo in there and they discourage you from bringing your own in… they prefer you to use the showers in the locker rooms for cleaning. This shower is just for the body massage aspects of it, I guess. Anyway, 10 minutes in there and I was almost good as new!

 

DH & I went for our last brunch around 10, in the hopes that if we ate brunch later, skipped lunch, we might actually be hungry for dinner! We met a great couple from Memphis and spent a good hour chatting with them. They were on the their honeymoon and were kind of bummed about missing Grand Cayman because they had a sub excursion planned, but were able to find the same one in Mexico, so they weren’t completely disappointed.

 

After breakfast we went to the shops to buy some final souvenirs- Carnival tshirts were 2 for $20… and they’re surprisingly good quality! They’ve held up pretty well to washing since we got home… they didn’t shrink much at all.

Unfortunately, while we were wandering around the ship taking some final pictures, we completely missed our Roll Call’s Slot Pull! I hadn’t signed up for it but was planning on putting in an appearance to cheer on our roll call, and maybe playing if they had room. But by the time I remembered, it was all over.



We spent a nice hour in the Red Frog Pub. Our waiter Lakeye (la-Kay-Yay) remembered me from the Gift Exchange on Sunday calling out numbers… we were joined by a member of our roll call and had a nice visit… Hey Duck Boats, hope the trip home was okay and you weren’t too tired Monday, after the late night flight!

 

Before starting our packing, I checked our account at Guest Services and they told me I had $54 on account. I knew it was much higher than that, but she wasn’t including any of my cruise cash.

[Shaded Lady]

If you buy Cruise Bar Cash, you have to spend it on drinks. You can’t substitute anything else.

 

If you buy Cruise Photo Cash, same thing… you must use it on pictures.

 

Whenever possible, buy just plain Cruise Cash- it can be used for anything onboard.

 

If you don’t spend your cruise cash, you lose it. But there’s a workaround I was counting on.

 

DH & I waited til we knew we had nothing more to spend, and yet we still had $120 in cruise cash left. We went to the casino and were able to get it all back, so if you have cruise cash left here’s what you do:

 

• Go to a slot machine in the casino, insert your S&S card and set up a casino account if you haven’t already (just need your name, DOB and your S&S card). Deposit the amount left in cruise cash into your casino account (it always uses cruise cash first before any other money on your account).

 

• Once the money is in your casino account, you can play some if you want. We didn’t bother after 1 turn each- but we still won $5! Then we just opted to cash out on the slot machine.

 

• We took our S&S card to the casino cashier and told her we wanted to cash out our account. They gave us the $120 cash (plus $5 we had won!)

 

So I can say that we came out ahead in the casino… plus I’ll never hesitate to buy cruise cash in advance again.

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing. We decided to go with Self Debark… which meant we wouldn’t put our luggage out that night for the porters to collect, we’d just lug everything off ourselves. Somehow, in spite of emptying one small suitcase of soda & water, we still had a ton of stuff to fit in… we barely made it! It seems we bought more than we thought!

 

So other than the last minute items we’d pack that night and first thing in the morning, we were ready to debark (but not ready to get off the ship boo!!!)

 

Before dinner we went to the lobby and watched a neat trivia show called Up, Up & Out… the entertainment staff member got couples to get on the glass lobby elevator with him one at a time. As they answered questions correctly they moved up a floor. If they got it wrong, they went down a floor. Once they ran out of questions they went all the way back down and the next couple was invited into the elevator. Once they got to the 11th floor, they won! Kinda cute!

 

This is the couple that won!

 

 

We went to our final dinner after that. We heard the waiters sing ‘leaving on a funship’. Also, the Northern Lights Maitre d’ introduced a waitress each night after the waiters entertained… her name was Catherine and she was phenomenol! She sang Proud Mary by Tina Turner and Donna Summers’ On the Radio with equal ability! She needs to be part of the entertainment crew, not the waitstaff!

 

This night I had my 2nd favorite dessert (quick recall- # 1 fav –Crème Brulee, # 3 Bitter & Blanc) Grand Marnier Soufflé… I’m not a dessert eater most of the time so I take advantage of it at times like this.

 

One other comment about desserts. DH is diabetic… he would sometimes steal a bite of my dessert or even order his own, and just take extra insulin. But this whole trip he tried to be as good as possible with the sweets. He found this trip that almost all of the sugar-free desserts offered in the MDR and the Lido deck were very tasty, and not dried out like they were in the past. He was quite pleased with the sugar-free options… and didn’t even groan over me having an extra ice cream cone every time we passed the Lido deck!

 

Things we missed completely this cruise that we would have liked to have done:

 

• Trivia (other than the one in the elevator)

 

• Karaoke – I’m a fan, DH not so much

 

• Comedy clubs- family or adult version

 

But I guess that just gives us an excuse to go back!

 

 

We couldn’t figure out what this was supposed to be!

 

[Shaded Lady]

About 6 in the morning we made our way into the Galveston harbor. Not a pretty port by any means, but in the dark, with the lights twinkling, it’s passing pretty! As we docked, DH & I finished up our last minute packing then headed to the Lido Deck for breakfast. I saw a man there with his arm in a sling… he said he fell on the Lido deck the day we were in Cozumel and broke it… ouch!

 

We were back in our room by 8 AM, and in the Northern Lights MDR at 8:15 for FTTF and Self-Debark.

 

So I was kind of confused… I thought that self debark was the fastest way to get off the ship. But when we went into the dining room they directed us a certain way and said since we had FTTF we had priority over anyone, except Diamond and Platinum. So the order of getting off the ship, as I was told, was Diamond and Platinum, then FTTF, then anyone else who’s doing self-debark, then they call you off the ship by floors. If you put your luggage out the night before it will be waiting for you when you get off the ship.

 

So we waited until about 8:40 for them to call FTTF off the ship. We were through Customs & Immigration by 8:50 (I love having a US passport). We lugged all our stuff outside, across the street to Galveston Park ‘n Cruise, got in our car and were on the way home by 8:55. We got home around 12:30 to Austin.

 

One more word about the Texas Alcohol tax… after we went through Customs, we walked down a short hall and turned right to exit the building. Standing there just before we turned was a lovely lady asking if anyone had any alcohol to declare. Straight ahead was a sign to follow to pay the tax… it didn’t impact us as we didn’t have any booze or cigarettes to declare, but I gotta tell you, you’d have to be pretty compelled to pay the tax.

 

Now I’m not advocating that anyone should break the law, but until they start enforcing it more, there’s very little incentive for people to say ‘yes, please delay my departure, take more money from me, charge me a ridiculous tax that only this port has to pay- no airports or other means of egressing the state of Texas have this tax… I’ll follow you and do the right thing!’

[Shaded Lady]

I hope you enjoyed the review. It's a lot of work but it's fun to recall all the things we did!

 

I’ll be happy to answer any questions, or voice my opinion… I didn’t take as many pictures as I wanted, but I do have a few others I didn’t post so if anyone needs to see anything in particular, ask away. I just might have it!

 

For those of you traveling on the Magic soon, enjoy her! She's a great ship!

[Shaded Lady]

Great review. In one of your post you mention the maitre d''s name as Chubby. Do you know if he is from Hungary? We had a wonderful waiter on the inspiration about 15 years ago. The picture looks like it could be him. We are leaving on the Magic on Nov 30. It would be nice to see Our Chubby again.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Sorry! I don't recall the maître d's name... it might have been! He always introduced himself very quickly then went on to introduce the waiters so I didn't really get his name...

[Name Of The Game]

Your review was great and pictures were beautiful, and we appreciate you not taking a month to complete it. ;)

[labsnabys]

Your review was great and pictures were beautiful, and we appreciate you not taking a month to complete it. ;)

 

I could not have said it better myself! Thank you so much for the time it took to type this all out...it's much appreciated.

[Kansasbuckeye]

Great review! Would it be possible for you to post the Fun Times from this cruise? Thank you!

[Pom Lover]

We leave on the Magic in two weeks. This will be our third time sailing on her this year. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. We were on the ship when the oil spilled happened in March and it definitely was an adventure.

[dave_k58]

Just curious - are you a professional writer? This was really great and although I have been on many cruises - I love the format you are using. Pics are great too! We usually go out of Galveston - but I had never heard of " The Spot". Sounds like a fun place. Can't wait to read your review. BTW - I vote with DH on the itinerary you chose.

Edited November 16, 2014 by dave_k58

[douglinc@msn.com]

Thanks for the review, we will be back on the Magic 1-25-15.

[TEXAS SUNFLOWER]

Glad I found your review! I went on this same cruise 1/26/14 w/ my sister (from Ohio) and we had a BLAST!!! My DH & I are going on the same cruise, same week 1/25/15, it will be his 1st (civilian!) cruise!

Edited November 17, 2014 by TEXAS SUNFLOWER

[WestTxCruiser]

Thank you for your review, enjoyed it! We sail on the Magic Jan 18th, our 11th cruise but 1st on the Magic!!

[Sarapdot]

I'm FAMOUS!! I made it into somebody else's cruise review!!! :D

 

We had a great time!!!

[Shaded Lady]

Great review! Would it be possible for you to post the Fun Times from this cruise? Thank you!

 

I'll try to scan them in this week and post them, if I can! My scanner is acting up right now but hopefully it'll behave long enough to get them all scanned.

[Shaded Lady]

Just curious - are you a professional writer? This was really great and although I have been on many cruises - I love the format you are using. Pics are great too! We usually go out of Galveston - but I had never heard of " The Spot". Sounds like a fun place. Can't wait to read your review. BTW - I vote with DH on the itinerary you chose.

 

Thanks Davek- I'm not a professional writer, but I am an English major, so any mistakes are more likely typos than grammar!

 

The Spot was interesting, and after all turned out better than I expected... and everyone really liked the food!

 

DH is a Dave K too! I guess you guys just have to stick together! :D

[Shaded Lady]

We leave on the Magic in two weeks. This will be our third time sailing on her this year. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. We were on the ship when the oil spilled happened in March and it definitely was an adventure.

 

Thank you! Wow that must have been fun, dealing with the oil spill... were you on the ship waiting to get off, or on the dock, waiting to get on?

 

We were all so anxious that the whole Ebola thing was going to ruin our cruise, we were giddy when we realized it wouldn't impact us at all!

[Shaded Lady]

Your review was great and pictures were beautiful, and we appreciate you not taking a month to complete it. ;)

 

I had fun doing it... Glad you enjoyed it. And while I understand people who like to drag it out to up the air of mystery, I've started reading too many that never get done, so I decided I'd write it all in advance and just publish it at once... that's why it took me 4 weeks to publish!