Good morning from the Carnival Magic.  I love having morning coffee on our balcony.  Last night, we were informed that our itinerary has been changed due the mechanical problem the ship was experiencing.  Our altered itinerary would now be:

Monday 11/14/2011 – Depart Galveston.

Tuesday 11/15/2011 – Fun Day at Sea

Wednesday 11/16/2011 – Arrive in Progreso for overnight stay.

Thursday 11/17/2011 – Progreso (departing in afternoon)

Friday 11/18/2011 – Cozumel

Saturday 11/19/2011 – Fun Day at Sea

Sunday 11/20/2011 – Return to Galveston

This change doesn’t bother me.  Two days in Progreso are still better than being at work.  But for now, it is time for breakfast.  It is imperative that I cam well fed and caffeinated before we start our day of fun!  But wait!!!  What is this on our door???  Our friends that we have cruised with before made something for us.  So very creative!!!!

After breakfast, we wandered around the ship taking more pictures.  I am in love with the artwork in the stairwells.  And I love how the lights by the glass elevators change colors.  I am sure I will spend more time in the Atrium just looking up and watching them change.  Yes.  I am easily amused.

Now it is time to meet our Facebook group in the Atrium for a Cabin Crawl.  I feel so lucky to be able to see so many different types of staterooms.  The crawl actually began on Deck 1 in an Oceanview Deluxe and ended on Deck 12 in a Spa Balcony.  I have to admit, my favorite stateroom on the cabin crawl was the Aft Balcony Wrap.  It has the views and the space.  Maybe one day I will be staying in an Aft Balcony Wrap.

After all the walking and climbing stairs, Jim and I were ready for lunch.  Nothing at the Lido buffet really appealed to us so we went upstairs to Cucina del Capitano.  Our food was good and it is free during lunch hours.

The next thing on the agenda is a Meet & Greet at Red Frog Pub.  John Heald and Calvyn made an appearance!!!  This was a lot of fun!!!!  This has really been a fun cruise!!!!

Since it is the first sea day of the cruise, that means it is also formal night, or cruise elegant night.  But that also means Lobster and Prime Rib are served at dinner.  And, of course, Warm Chocolate Melting Cake.  It also means that we have the opportunity to have a picture made with us all dressed up.  Something we rarely, if ever, do at home.

It was a long day and we were worn out.  We need to figure out what we want to do in Progreso since we will be there tomorrow!!!

In the next installment…  our first day in Progreso.

 

 

We woke up very early and only had one cup of coffee before we left our condo long before the sun came up.  We were on a mission to watch the Carnival Magic sail into Galveston.  We drove from the condo to Port San Jacinto Historic Point in hopes of seeing her arrive there.  But we were too late!!!  We quickly turned around and made our way to Pier 21.  What a majestic sight she is!!!

We went back to the condo to see if Dawson was awake and to have some breakfast.  We also needed to make sure we had everything packed and ready to go for our move to Quality Inn.  Since we had several hours between checking out of the condo and checking into our new hotel, we decided to first stop at the beach at the condo.  We had some bread left so we decided we could use that to feed the birds!!!  Once again, the beach was not crowded at all.  The birds were very happy to see us.  A sand crab even came out to say hello!

From there, we went back to the pier area so Dawson could get his first look at the ship!!!  She is HUGE!!!  And so very beautiful.

We spent the rest of the morning eating lunch and doing some laundry before we were able to check in to the Quality Inn.  The hotel is clean and conveniently located.

I had won tickets to the Maroon 5 concert, then I won VIP tickets to see the concert from the balcony at Willie G’s.  And what a view it was.  So much fun.  At one point during the concert, you could see dolphins playing in the harbor as Adam Levine was singing!

We didn’t say for the entire concert since Dawson was alone at the hotel.  When we got back, we decided we would have dinner at Tortuga’s which is at the front of the hotel.  This makes the third Mexican restaurant we tried since we arrived on the 10th!!!  We all agreed that it would not hurt our feelings if we did not go back there.

After taking in some sights around the hotel, we decided to call it a night.

In tomorrow’s installment, we finally board the Carnival Magic!!!!

Another beautiful morning to have coffee on the balcony and enjoy the view.  This is definitely the best part of my morning.

After breakfast and more coffee, we decide to go across the street to the resort’s beach area before heading to town.  It is such a beautiful day outside and there is absolutely no one at the beach.  Peace and quiet except for the waves!!!

But now we are on a mission.  We are going in search of a whale tail.  And we should have no trouble finding one since there will definitely be a Carnival ship in port today.

After walking around and taking more pictures, we head to The Original Mexican Cafe for the morning/breakfast/brunch meet and greet.  This is the first time we have been here and I must say, we will definitely make this a regular stop on all future trips to the island.  We had a lot of fun meeting everyone.  Even Fernando deFrog Cruz made a new friend, Spotty!!!

Now it is time for us to watch the Carnival Conquest leave Galveston for the last time.  She will be headed to her new home port of New Orleans.  There were a lot of people at Pier 21 watching her leave.  We sailed on her in August 2010 and had a wonderful cruise on her.  I’m glad we had the opportunity to sail on her before her relocation.

The evening meet and greet was held at The Spot.  There was a large turn out for this gathering of our Facebook group.  It was fun to actually meet the people we have been chatting with for months!!!

We made a rather early night of things and returned to the condo.  We have a very early wake-up call for the next morning.  Something we do not want to miss!!!  Find out what that is in the next installment!!!!!