Galveston & Carnival Magic~Embarkation

We went to beach early to watch the absolutely gorgeous sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico

Afterwards we enjoyed complimentary breakfast at the hotel before heading to the Port of Galveston and our ship.  

Check-In was a breeze but boarding was delayed due to an emergency on previous cruise. They finally started boarding Priority guests almost 1:00pm, our kids were starved so we headed straight to buffet lunch.

After lunch it was fun time!

Carnival Magic ~ Little French Key, Roatan

We decided to book an independent tour with Little French Key and we were so glad we did!  It really is a tropical Oasis.  They met us outside the gate to the port and drove us to boats, from there we rode to an amazing island with monkeys, lions,ducks,horses,tropical birds and more...all rescued.

The kids loved the monkeys and horses.

We were fed a delicious lunch of lobster, shrimp, chicken & steak.

The island was really fun.

Carnival Magic ~ Belize

This was our third visit to Belize.  The last two visits we went snorkeling.  This visit we chose something different, horseback riding and swimming.  The only drawback was the very long and boring bus ride to/from the pier to Belize City.  It really was horrible.

We loved the waterfall pool.

The horseback riding was great and I recommend.

Carnival Magic ~ Cozumel

We decided to spend our day at Chankanaab (word that comes from the Mayan language and means “little sea) it's located inside Cozumel´s National Marine Park.  We loaded 9 of us into a taxi and off we went!

We found a few umbrella chairs to relax in and enjoy some tropical drinks and buckets of beer.  

A few of us did zip-line.

The kids were fascinated all day by iguanas who lived in the park.

Of course the main attraction for the kids was snorkeling.  They loved swimming with all fish.

it was a wonderful day.

Galveston & Carnival Magic

Our roadtrip to Galveston began 5:30am.

 We are cruising with a total of 11 family & extended family members for Mardi Gras week.

We made it to Lafayette before we stopped for breakfast @ Cracker Barrel.

Of course we had to stop for photo ops

at the Texas Border;)

Our next stop was to get some yummy beef jerky 

...then it was Galveston Island or bust..

We had dinner @ Rainforest Cafe to celebrate Gavin & Nick's birthdays

We checked into the Hilton and unloaded the truck....

It's really a nice hotel in a great location across from the beach..

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset then passed out from our long drive LOL 

 

Carnival Dream 2015 -Day 3; COZUMEL

Cozumel is my absolute favorite port when cruising from New Orleans.  We've been here so many times, it feels like home.  

Usually we head to one of their many gorgeous beaches but today we decided to spend the day downtown with friends.  The short cab ride cost us $8 and they dropped us off on the Main Street.  

We browsed through the tiny family owned shops, did some friendly bartering for a few items.

We found a small cantina with a few sidewalk tables and drank some delicious margaritas while we people watched.

 With temperatures in the high 70's with a gentle breeze it was cool by Cozumel standards.  

Finally we headed back to the ship port for another round of margaritas at Fat Tuesday before boarding our ship for a late lunch.  Perfect end to a perfect day.

Supper tonight was quesadilla, black bean soup, jerk pork loin & spare ribs. Dessert was lemon cake.

After supper we listened to some fiddle band playing some familiar cajun music with a mix of blue grass country. They were pretty good and quickly drew a crowd.  Native Louisianans smiled at the mispronunciation of some of the words but they were still fun.  

Next, we headed to the piano bar for a round of adult pub quiz.  We won a free round of drinks and it was great fun!  Finally it was time for the Adult comedy show.  The entertainer kept everyone laughing for 40 minutes.  

Cruisin with Granddaughters 2012-Day 6

Our final port today was Cozumel.  We have all been to this port a couple times so we had no planned excursions.  We took a cab downtown for some bargain shopping, a light lunch at Carlos & Charlies and then headed back to enjoy the ship without crowds.

My youngest awoke early to watch God paint the sky

 



Shopping in Cozumel

 



Carlos & Charlies
 

Cruisin with Granddaughters 2012-Embarkation

Carnival Conquest leaving New Orleans

Our Itinerary

Although we have now have the flexibility to do last minute vacations, I don't find that we have done it very often.  What I do find is that we tend to go for much longer vacations since we retired.  We booked this cruise with our granddaughters during a Memorial Day Sale, very last minute for us.  Most of our cruises tend to be planned far in advance and then I watch for price drops.

This cruise is 7 days onboard the Carnival Conquest, leaving New Orleans for Belize, Roatan and Cozumel.  We have all  been to Cozumel many times.  Hubby and I went snorkeling in Belize once but the Granddaughters have not been there.  None of us have been to Roatan.  We have booked beach days on both islands with Snorkeling and Kayaking, we will probably do some shopping in Cozumel. 

We have booked 2 cabins on the Lido deck, close to the pool, not sure how we are going to like being on the" party"  deck. We are very excited to spend a whole week with the girls!



We arrived at the cruise port around Noon and was surprised to find a line waiting to enter the building. We have taken other cruises here and never was there a line to enter.

Thirty minutes later we had our zone number and waited to be called.  Once we boarded the ship we were happy to discover our cabins were ready.  We had a quick lunch and then the girls put on their swim suits and had fun on the waterslide as we prepared for sailaway.