For Cozumel, we had planned on going to Mr. Sancho's - But our friends' kids were already very sunburned from their excursion in Jamaica, and we also wanted to do some shopping. So our son stayed on the ship in Camp Carnival, and our daughter came with us into the shopping area just off the ship. We spent about three hours shopping, and found a few good deals - Nothing spectacular, but fair. We did use a lot of the coupons we got at the "Fun Finds" shopping show, to get free charms, a free drawstring backpack, and other goodies. I bought some bamboo sheets from the Cariloha store, and some Mayan Fiesta rum cakes. FYI, I liked these much better than the Tortuga brand that they sold on the ship and in some of the stores in port. The Tortuga cakes, to me, tasted heavily of alcohol - That may be what you want, but I enjoyed the Mayan Fiesta cakes' different flavors including Mexican Vanilla, Pina Colada, Coconut, Banana Daquiri, and Golden Original.

Cozumel

Once we reached port in Montego Bay, Jamaica, you'd never know we had been in such awful weather. It was about 86 degrees, and humid! Last trip, we left the kids in Camp Carnival and ventured out to shop right there at the terminal. This time, we felt better about taking the kids out, as long as we were on a ship-sponsored excursion, so we decided to get out and see the island. The folks at the shore excursion desk were very helpful, as we waited until the last possible minute to go ask for recommendations for a kid-friendly, close-to-port, brief excursion. We bought tickets for one excursion, but decided we couldn't get everyone fed and ready in time... So even though the tickets were non-refundable, the shore excursion desk was so gracious to exchange our tickets for a later excursion, which was the "Montego Bay Highlights and Shopping" tour at noon. We made three stops - One at a craft market, one at the Rose Hall Shoppes, and finally a stop at Margaritaville. Hubby bought a Tissot watch in one of the shops at the Rose Hall Shoppes, and got a really good price. I was pleasantly surprised when talking to the shop owner, who kept swooning over my twins. It turns out that she also has six year old twin grandchildren, so we bonded and had a lot to talk about while Steve was shopping. At first I was kind of nervous when she was offering them cookies and bottled water, but she was really very, very nice. The tour was just enough of the island to get a taste and see some things. When arriving back at the ship, we were greeted by a marching band, which the kids enjoyed while waiting in line to board.

In Grand Cayman, we had pre-booked the Turtles, Turtles, and More Turtles Deluxe excursion through Carnival. We tendered in and got to the terminal very quickly, got our tour bracelets and lunch tickets, but we stood around sweating for about 45 minutes before we were ushered to a bus and taken to the turtle farm. Our bus driver, "Captain Morgan", was awesome. We were told to remember his name, that we were on bus number one, and that he was to pick us up at 11:30. When we got to the turtle farm, we were surprised at how bad the turtle poop smelled up the whole area! Sorry, just wanted to warn you. My six-year old daughter was gagging and did NOT want to stand around listening to the tour info! At the turtle farm, our tour guide was Tony. He was pretty good, but apparently he was jumping around among three tour groups, often leaving us standing around waiting for him, wasting time. To further confuse matters, he had another group that was supposedly on bus number one. So our groups eventually got mixed up, but it all worked out. I was personally glad when the tour part was over. Our family moved on to the saltwater lagoon, where you could snorkel with the turtles and the fish, but when walking in it was slimy. The kids and I don't swim very well, so we just kind of waded around for a while, before we heard someone say that there was a freshwater pool with a water slide. We headed over there, and wished we could have spent the whole day there! It was great, and also set up like a lagoon - It was a zero-entry rock pool, and the lifeguards at the waterslide were excellent! When one of our kids was about to come down the slide, the lifeguard would give us a thumbs-up so we would know to catch them. Sometimes we thought one of our kids was about to come down, and he would blow the whistle and tell us to get out of the way! After we got out of the pool and changed clothes, we went to the bar and restaurant to eat - They had a buffet of fried fish, BBQ chicken, dirty rice, fried plaintains, and punch, and it was good. The kids weren't really interested in that, so they also offered a cheeseburger, chicken strips, or hot dog - All with fries. One had the hot dog, and one had the chicken strips. We tendered back and got the kids all checked in at Camp Carnival, then hubby and I caught another tender back to go do a little bit of shopping. It was funny - That was about 1:00, and at that time most folks were heading back to the ship. We were two of only four people on our boat going toward the island, and our friends later told us that they were packed like sardines on their tender, and when we passed they said "Hey, look at that boat with only four people on it! WAIT! That's Steve and Sheila!!!" Hahaha...

THE CABIN:We stayed in a cove balcony, 2317 - It was mid-ship, near the forward section. Apparently our room was just beneath the Northern Lights dining room, but we never had any noise that we noticed. The cove balcony was wonderful, and we will probably book one of these again! It's the least expensive balcony you can get, and it's very private. We were just about 30 feet above the water line, and this particular cabin wasn't completely secluded by life boats - There was a gap after the first two life boats, and we were just under the very front edge of the third one. As in all of the rooms, there was plenty of room under the bed to store our luggage, and ample space in the closets and drawers. Per recommendations I've read on various cruise sites, I took an over-the-door shoe holder to put on the closet door to store sunblock, sunglasses, deodorant, etc. We brought a bungee cord to keep the balcony door open, and this time I remembered clothes pins to secure our clothes to the retractable clothes line in the shower! A pleasant surprise this time, was that the balcony was great for extra room to dry swimsuits, water shoes, etc. I was afraid they would blow away, but even in our awful wind and high swells they stayed put just fine!

So our son stayed on the ship in Camp Carnival, and our daughter came with us into the shopping area just off the ship.PORTS/EXCURSIONS:
We knew from the last cruise, that we wanted to do the "Behind the Fun" tour - It can only be booked on the ship at the shore excursion desk, and there is only one tour per cruise.

Carnival Magic Review

Carnival Magic 1/5/2014 - 2nd Trip!

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