Our second port of call on the Carnival Magic brought us to the largest city of Belize and the formal capital to British Honduras, Belize City. It is one of the few countries in the region that speak English as their official language. There’s also a mix of Creole and Spanish as well. In the days leading up to our disembarkation and tender to the Belize shoreline, we were a bit apprehensive about this port of call. We had heard various things from other passengers about this being a crappy, rundown, and potentially dangerous (beyond the immediate port) port. Unlike most stops, this port was too shallow for cruise ships to venture, so we had to anchor off shore and take tender boats to actually get into Belize and find a tour to join. Continue reading Day 5 on the Magic: Belize it or Not →

This was the first morning I decided to get up at 5:30 AM to catch the sunrise and boy was it worth every minute of lost sleep! I haven’t seen a sunrise on this level in a long time! Over the next few days when I did get up early, the results were very rewarding. I should also mention getting adequate sleep on a cruise is no small task.

Continue reading Day 4 on the Magic: Roatan, Honduras →

The first couple full days aboard the Magic were “Fun Days” at sea. The Fun moniker is big at Carnival and taking a look around the ship, you can see that they make it easy to do. Everything about the ship exudes fun and entertainment. The decor is very colorful (to the point of gaudy in some places), red and blue are vibrant themes throughout, and there is usually music on every corner of the ship. The maitre d’ in our dining room closed every evening’s dinner with, “Remember, have some fun. Fun, fun fun!” Continue reading Day 2-3: Sunny Sailing Ahead on the Magic →

Finally school was out and my vacation could begin! The ideal vacation that I had in mind for this past Christmas was somewhere warm, relaxing, and beautiful. Over the next few posts on our voyage, you’ll see that all three goals were accomplished. The reason this was the cruise to the “end of the world” was that we’d be in Cozumel on Friday, December 21, the last day the Mayan calendar cycle ended.

Our 7-day (Sunday to Sunday) cruise on the Carnival Magic left from Galveston at 4PM, so our first day started off with a bright and early drive from Dallas to the port. We had left a little before 7 AM and hoped to arrive at around noon, in-time to park, get on the ship, and have a little (late) lunch. We hit a nasty storm on the way down and it got really rainy around the Houston area all the way to Galveston and continued non-stop pouring as we sat on the boat waiting for its embarkation. Continue reading Day 1 Carnival Magic: Cruise to the End of the World — Why is it raining? →