Cozumel--Day 4

After our room service promptly at 7:30, we looked outside and saw that we were about to dock in Cozumel. A few minutes later we saw another ship pull up and thought it was the Fantasy...but we were mistaken. Another ship (a MASSIVE cruise ship) pulled up next to us. But right behind them, we saw Mike and Kathy's ship. Quite the popular place I'd say...



We got dressed and headed to the Gangway, but found it was closed. The gangway was always closed for safety reasons and regulations when another ship docks until that ship is cleared for debarkment. So, we waited for about 20 minutes and a few minutes after 9, we got off our ship and waited for Mike and Kathy.





When they got off their boat, we all made our way into Puerta Maya for some shopping. We worked out way down to the taxi area and took a taxi to the Forum Shops (the recommended route for shopping). We walked along the water, shopping, talking, and admiring the torquoise ocean! It was beautiful!




We ate lunch at Las Palmeras and had a wonderful meal. (when the ticket came, it was in pesos and it read over $800! Ha! Then below it had the amount in dollars) We were sung to while we ate, but we got to eat with a view of the ocean. How fun!

We walked on down to Margaritaville because we 'thought' it had a beach and could sit there, but it only had a deck over the ocean. It was still nice, but not what we had expected. Then we took a taxi back to the ship and shopped a bit more before saying goodbye to our friends and getting on our ship. We were sung to by a small band while we waited to get back on. I could see in the distance storm clouds coming. I could see in the distance storm clouds coming.

After boarding the ship, I had my daily nap (remember I was coming to RELAX? I've never done that before!) and when I woke up, Brian was gone to get sushi or something. I read my book, looking out the window and watched the sun set. It was amazing. You could see the storm off to one side and how it was rolling in on the other. I was glad we had nice weather while in Cozumel. I wondered how it would be for our last day at sea.



Brian returned and said it was raining. We got ready for dinner and noticed the boat was VERY rocky. I about fell out of the shower! Literally! As we went up to the Atlantic deck, we realized there were barf bags taped around the elevators.

At dinner, one couple was not there because of karaoke and a slot tournament, and another couple left because the wife got seasick. Brian ordered escargott and it was wonderful! I was surprised I liked it!

After dinner, the show was 'physical comedy' (aka, a clown-like act) that was ok and a comedian that I didn't particularly care for. Then it was off to bed, where we found a towel bunny and of course, chocolates.

Progresso--Day 3

We woke up Monday morning and had breakfast on the Lido deck, outside. Actually, our ship had docked an hour or so before, but there was a small window of time that we could get off before Mike and Kathy's ship, the Fantasy, docked next to ours. We ate outside, hoping to see them get off their boat...of course that didn't happen.

We knew that in Progresso there wasn' much to do. We had been told that shopping there was not good and that most people were doing an excursion to get to a beach or out of town. We got off the boat and shopped a bit in a duty free store before walking down the little walkway of shops. We returned to the spot near the duty-free store to watch the water a bit. Next to the boats were little grass huts for bars. It looked so Mexico as dictated by the advertisements.





And this one cracked us up... Sorry, just HAD to post it!



While we were sitting there, I felt someone put their arm on my shoulder...and it was KATHY! No WAY!!! They had gone into downtown earlier that day, looked around, and decided to come back. We sat at a table in the sun (on the sand) and visited an hour or so before we all got on our own ships for lunch (hey, it is already paid for, right? AND we weren't sure of safe places to eat there in the Yucatan). We made plans to meet the next morning at 9 in Cozumel.




Once back on the ship, we ate French food for lunch (each day the cuisine was from a different origin), and we went back out to lay out near the pool. It was AWESOME because the place was basically deserted. We got lounge chairs on the Promonade deck (deck above the pool). I stayed there reading for a few hours and about 2:00, I went inside. Another long nap...the midnight buffet was to be that evening so we knew we'd be up late as well.



Before dinner, Brian took me out on the deck and showed me that we could see Mike and Kathy's ship behind us. It was pretty cool. The sun was beginning to set and it looked awesome!





Dinner was amazing that night as well. Dante was his usual self (HILARIOUS) and we had the chocolate cake and a cappuccino again for dessert. The wait staff had us join them in the Cha-Cha Slide...hilarious! The late show was a talent show of other passengers. We missed some of it, but it was pretty cool. I was exhausted from being in the sun all day, but didn't want to miss the buffet and deck party.



(This one is out of focus, but I like it anyway)

The party started with music and team dance offs (odd-numbered cabins were RED, even-numbered cabins were BLUE). Of course, there was the electric slide, cupid shuffle, and a conga line. I did that one, but was so exhausted I really just felt like going to bed. Christina was all over the dance-off. Brian joined in for a little bit too.



Once the food lines opened I wanted to try some of the food. I was not hungry since we'd just eaten a couple of hours before, but come one, salmon enchilladas? How often do you get THAT?




I didn't try any desserts, but a lot of effort went into them, huh?

When we finally made it back to our room, we had a pig for our towel-animal. We knew we had to get up early to meet Kathy and Mike. We arranged for room service to be delivered to our room at 7:30 and went to BED...

Day at Sea--Day 2

We slept in our first morning on the cruise. We went to a shopping talk (about where the best places were to shop in Cozumel) and then barely made it to the buffet in time for breakfast. Then Brian and I went and laid out for a few hours. I took Twilight and he took some magazines. Talk about relaxing! I was actually cold for a little while because of the cold breeze, but it warmed up.

We wanted to eat later because we had dinner so much later. We got some lunch and went to Lido deck for the "Men's Hairy Chest Contest". Talk about HILARIOUS! Oh MY! Then it was back to the room for a nap. We knew that our formal dinner was that night so I spent some time steaming my dress and then I started getting ready. Brian went exploring on the ship while I showered. I called in some room service since we had so long until dinner (a fantastic center cut beef loin sandwich with brie cheese and then a fajita wrap--we tried them both).

At 7:15, we had the Captain's Party. We ran into two of the other couples from our table (Dawn and Wayne, and Christina and Joey). We sat with them and had so much fun.





Then the Captain introduced himself, as well as rest of his staff, to us and then dismissed us all to dinner.



Dinner was AWESOME...lobster! I had never had lobster before (well, I tried it a tiny bit once in Maine, but thought I'd give it another shot). And how could I forget to mention the dessert??? Actually, I had it every single NIGHT! It was a melted chocolate cake.... One word: sinful!




We met the 5th couple at our table that night, Kasey and Jason.




Each night, towards the end of dinner, the lights (normally blue) would turn red, the small clear lights would start blinking and the entire wait staff would come out and sing and/or dance. It was hilarious! We quickly learned that Dante was a HOOT!! His assistant, Venera was hiliarious too... Oh my, what she has to put up with! We were sang to by the both of them ("happy anniversary to you...") and then at the end of each line, Dante said "Kissy, Kissy!" He made you kiss through the whole song. Everyone they did it to laughed so hard through the whole thing they about cried!



After dinner, we watched Wayne play roulette at the casino before Dawn and I headed off to the show at 10:30 with the Carnival dancers/singers. It was INCREDIBLE!!!! It was country-themed. Brian and Wayne went to the 'cigars and koniac' thing that night. No koniac for them, but he said he wanted to feel like the guys on Boston Legal with a suit, on a balcony and a cigar. Oh those boys....



We came back to our room to a towel dog. That night, we slept VERY well. I hated to set the alarm clock, but we had heard that the other cruise ship (that left New Orleans) would hit our same ports with us and we knew that Mike and Kathy Johnson (Jennifer's parents, Abbey's grandparents) were on that ship. We had tried talking them into going on OUR ship, but they wanted to go out of New Orleans instead. We wanted to get up in time to catch them get off their ship.

Our Cruise...Day 1

Many of you know that Brian and I had planned on going on a cruise to celebrate our 10th anniversary last October. This past week, it finally happened. What a vacation of a lifetime! It was so incredible that I will have to make each day a separate post! (lucky you...LOL)

Ok, here it goes... We left our home at 2:30 Saturday morning to make it to Galveston by noon. We checked our bags and got in line to check in. We couldn't go to our room for a few hours so we walked around to get acquainted with the ship and got some lunch. The Lido deck is where the pool and buffets were located. It was toward the back of the ship and had a great view. There was a water slide that I decided right then I had to try before getting off of the ship!




When we could get in our room (M250), I was pleasantly surprised at how roomy it was. Our ocean view was great and the room was laid out to where I didn't even notice how small it was (but had 2 1/2 closets!!!). Soon after, we were called to the muster drill and then we left the port. It was pretty chilly as we started moving with the breeze, but we did see some dolphins before going to shower for dinner.





One thing we did not like when we first got to the ship was that we found out we had been assigned the LATE seating for dinner (8:15) instead of the early seating (6:00) we had requested. When we learned that the 6:00 was full we decided to go with it and that we may even enjoy it... I even thought that since there were SO many kids on the ship, the later time may be better--hoping they had been given the early times.

We came to dinner and met 3 of the couples at our table. All of them were young married couples, all but one with young children at home. After a yummy dinner, we went to the nightly show. That evening, it was the Carnival dancers/singers and a comedian. The dancers were awesome, but the comedian was a little too offensive for me.

When we went to bed, we had a Carnival Caper (the daily schedule and bulletin), chocolates and some kind of towel animal that I couldn't make out--maybe a walrus?--on our turned-down bed. Couldn't wait for the next day, a day at sea to RELAX!

My baby turned SEVEN!

Olivia turned 7 last Friday. We had a Rock Band party for her on Friday night. Oh MY, how much fun did I have planning it!! My dad planned on coming out, so I made him a 'security' shirt so that he could be the bouncer. He passed out back stage passes with Olivia's picture on it (remember the alley pics?).



The invitations were concert fliers advertising a battle of the bands. We had a HUGE turn out (17 kids and 17 adults!). The kids rotated through 4 stations (make up and hair, band-naming/poster creating, frame-making, and practiing). This took over an hour, then we had cake and presents...then had the big competition.



the make up/hair station was a BIG hit...even with the boys. They wanted mohawks!



Julie is quite the guitar-master. She helped several of the kids out that had not played before.




Bella found the make up as well...







Abbey got Olivia a matching necklace as well as a dance sign for her room.



Olivia got Heelys from Dude Dad and VonVon...she's just a LITTLE happy about that...




Each band got a chance to perform. Rob (Abbey's dad) was our MC and kept up with the scores for each band. Olivia's group ended up getting the most points. It was a great party (although chaotic at times...). Liv said it was the best one ever, and that is what matters!



The battle is starting...




Julianne loved to sing






Olivia's band, The Rock Stars (Kenny, Hannah, and Liv)




(top, L-R: Baylee, Caleb, Katy, Sydney, Keiona, Mary Ellen, Bailee, Jenny
bottom, L-R: Kenny, Olivia, Hannah, Julianne, Valerie, Abbey, Julianne
not pictured: Bella and Jace)


Yep...the party is over....