Cruisin' the Carribean!!!

Hi guys! It's so good to be back home! What an exciting week we had! I am afraid if I just start talking, I might ramble for hours...so I am going to give you a day-by-day break down of what we did while we were gone!

Saturday--Left for Galveston. Ended up stopping about 3 hours away and spending a fortune, I mean spending the night, to stay in a hotel and get some sleep.

Sunday--Got up and headed out for Galveston. Boarded the ship around 3 pm. We didn't get our luggage until about 7 pm that night so we just ate at the 24-hour pizzaria out by the pool. The ship set sail around 6:30 pm for Jamaica.

Monday--Got up when we felt like it (aughhh...how nice!), got breakfast and hung out by the pool most of the day. The waves were unusually big and the ship was very unsteady (choppy) all of Monday and most of Tuesday. Monday night was "formal night" in the dining room. We both ordered steak and our waiters sang Happy Anniversary to us and gave us our dessert with a candle in it. We weren't as impressed with the food as we had expected to be, but then we aren't really what you'd call "fancy-food" eaters. (which is mostly what they serve in the dining room).

Tuesday--Another day at sea (en route to Jamaica). Didn't do a whole lot of anything. We did attend country line dance lessons which was funny. There were so many people that everyone was running into one another. We also found out that the ship had picked up 28 Cuban refugees that were in desperate need of help on Sunday while near Galveston and that we had stopped off through the night to drop them off in Cuba! That was sorta freaky and weird...to think these people had been sorta "hiding" somewhere in the ship the whole time and that all of this took place while we were sleeping!

Wednesday--Ship ported in Jamaica and we paid $110 to take a tour to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in Negril, Jamaica. It is located on 7 miles of white-sand beaches with the clearest water EVER! This was QUITE an experience. Almost immediately we were offered drugs! (which we had been warned about). Once we settled into our beach chairs along side the water, there were people constantly asking us if we wanted to purchase time using some of the various water-sport-vehicles. We could have done jet ski's, parasailing, snorkeling or went out in a clear-bottomed boat. We ended up paying $35 to use a jet ski for 30 minutes. It was a blast EVEN though Matt just HAD to do donuts and dump us off into the middle of the ocean! (okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but it felt like the middle! It was WAY far from land, that's for sure!) Thank GOD for life jackets or I would have been REALLY freaking out! One thing I learned---they aren't kiddin' when they say the ocean is salt-water! During the time that I was scrambling to get back onto the jet ski, I guess I gulped a mouthful of water and OHHH NASTY! It tasted like I had just took the top off of a salt shaker and poured it right in! It took probably half an hour or more to get that salty taste out of my mouth. We spent most of the day at the beach so when we finally got back on the ship, we just showered and brought pizza back to the room and pigged out. Matt got his feet really sunburned so wearing shoes or being in the sun was pretty painful for him. We did go to the evening show that night which was an amazing magician flown in from Las Vegas!

Thursday--The ship ported in Grand Cayman. We decided against taking a tour or going on an excursion and decided to just walk around. There were lots of shops and we ended up buying most of our souvineers there. We got Brooklyn and I matching Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts and got Grant a cute one there too (and Matt a hat). That night on the ship was the 2nd formal night and we decided to try lobster for the first time. Actually, to be safe, we decided I would order steak and Matt would order Lobster, that way we could try it, but if we didn't like it, we could share the steak. Neither of us loved the lobster, but we didn't hate it either...just probably wouldn't ever get it again.

Friday--Our last place to go, Cozumel, Mexico. I started the day out with aerobics in the gym--which turned out to be the worst aerobics class I have ever been involved in! I am not kidding..the poor guy teaching it was clearly out of shape and had no rhythm or beat in his body! I am sure it was quite a site watching the 5 us that took the class try to keep together without any kind of beat to follow! At least I got a work out trying! ha ha As for our day in Mexico...Again, we passed on paying a fortune to do any scheduled activities ($125/person for snorkeling or swimming with dolpins) and just walked around ourselves. We almost rented a scooter/motorcycle thing but realzed that I was wearing a very short skirt that would absolutely not be conducive to riding on any kind of bike. Also, they wanted our credit card and that was a little "scary". (this was NOT a reputable looking place--more like a little hole-in-the-wall) We ended up taking a snack break at Fat Tuesday's and eating some of the worst chips and queso either of us had ever had. We thought it pretty ironic that the mexican food in Mexico was so yukky! We passed what seemed like thousands of little shops (most of them silver jewlery) and happened upon a guy on the sidewalk doing henna tattoos. We both decided it would be worth the $15 to get one (they last about 3 weeks) if for nothing else---for the shock value from my mom when we got home! ha ha. They turned out pretty good. They don't look "real" close up...but from a distance, you could be fooled. That night's show was an extraordinary juggler and a hilarious comedian.

Saturday--A fun day at sea. I started out the day with a work out in the gym and then we decided to take advantage of the ship's spa and get massages. It was expensive($110) but wonderful. One of us got a 25 minute massage while the other one got to lay in a floating bed..and then we switched. The floating bed thing was neat. You lay down on what kind of looks like a deflated air bed...and then once you're all comfy...the lady turns on the (very warm) water and it fills the "air bed" up. Basically it was like a waterbed, but you're completely wrapped in it. Anyway, it was a very relaxing experience. After that, we got cleaned up and went to dinner and the evening show.

Sunday--Got up at 5:30 am to finish our packing and try to self-assist our way off the boat before all the other people (who needed assistance with their luggage to get off). Supposedly, if you could "self-assist" you would have a much quicker and easier time getting off...However, it turned out that a very unexpected and large number of people had decided on this route and it took us 2 hours just to get off the boat--but then we were on our way. A 8-9 hour drive and then we were HOME! It felt so good to have our kids back in our arms! 8 days is TOO long to be away from them! I couldn't believe how much we missed them! Plus, that is by far the longest I have ever gone without talking to my mom and I was really missing her too! It feels so good to be back! All in all...we had a good time but we both agreed the next time we ever take a cruise, it will be with a group of family and friends rather than by ourselves. Most of the people seemed to be with groups of people and that just looked like a LOT more fun. There is only so much you can say to each other (when there is just 2 of you) before you've said it all--ya know!?!
Anyway...that's what we've been up to! Hope you all had a good spring break too! Enjoy all the pictures!!