Hubby and I decided to take the Western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston- Jan.29-Feb. 5-to celebrate my retirement from teaching...20 years in Kindergarten! This was our first Carnival cruise. Our other 2 cruises have been on Princess, both times to Alaska. We live in Arlington Tx. and left for Galveston a day early on Sat. Jan. 28. The drive was easy...about 4 and a half hours...and we spent the night at La Quinta across from the Sea Wall. We left home about 10am and had enough time to walk on the beach, have some appetizers/wine by the pool (bought them at Walmart close by), enjoy a nice dinner, and even see a movie at the theater next door. We had a continental breakfast the next morning, left our car at the hotel ($15) and they took us to the ship the next morning. We were on the ship by 11:30 a.m. All very smooth!

What a Grand ship the Carnival Magic is! There are lots of activities or you can just relax and cruise as we chose to do. We had our first balcony stateroom and enjoyed coffee, wine, reading, and sunsets out there. The bed and bedding was extremely comfortable and we slept well. We enjoyed all the clever little towel animals we received each day. Plus, our room location (8405) on the 8th floor was close to elevators, dining, and lido deck.

Activities we enjoyed onboard included movie trivia, bingo, the piano bar, and the casino. We actually won money in the Casino...but put it back in again. You know? It was fun! We took advantage of the hot tubs, pools, big screen movies, Lido deck music and activities. Read more