Never say never. Okay? If you had asked Curtis and I a few years ago if we would ever go on a cruise we would have quickly said "No!" For many reasons it just didn't sound like our type of vacation. But now we live close to Galveston, an hour and a half to be exact. And they started offering a trip that includes Roatan, Belize City and Cozumel. Pretty much perfect if you're hoping to go SCUBA diving in a few locations. So when our friends suggested we go (and the prices were so good) we said yes.
It was a 7 day adventure so we needed a great babysitter. It actually worked out perfectly that my good friend's daughter was coming home from her mission to Romania 4 days before we were leaving. My kids are in school all day so Taylor would be free to see her family and decompress during the day. And I felt so great about having her. She is the oldest of 8 and just an awesome all around person.
The cruise itself was a lot of fun. I actually really enjoyed the part where we hung out on the ship. I LOVED not worrying about where to eat and thought the food was all around terrific. We had bagels with lox, capers, onions and cream cheese a couple of mornings. The lunchtime salad bar had fresh arugula and everything else you could want. The appetizers at dinner was always amazing and most of the main courses were great too. I tried escargot and it was so yummy!
I actually really enjoyed the time on the boat. I loved walking laps on the deck or reading in shady corner. I thought the food was great and the room wasn't even that horribly small. They had a library/game room where we could play cards and boards games. There was also a basketball court, rock wall and a wavejammer. We also saw a few shows during the trip and the quality was terrific. They had an Elton John impersonator who was hilarious and his "Benny and the Jets" rocked. The ice show was also really fun and there was a guy playing piano in a bar every night (JT?) and his voice was amazing. He even sang Christopher Cross's "Sailing" for me. awesome.
Curtis surprised the guys with tattoo arm bands so they got to look tough for a night.
We did big excursions on all of our stops and that was actually quite stressful. They just don't quite give you enough time so you are up early trying to get off the boat and stressing about making it back in time. But the excursions were all very good. Well the dive masters in Honduras were not ideal for beginner divers but it was still beautiful country and more practice. I learned in Honduras that my buoyancy control is not very good and I really need to work on it.
The middle trip was to Belize and that was a lot of fun. We drove for about an hour and reached the jungle. Then we hiked up to a cave and tubed down through it. Our guide, taught us all about the trees and life there. Curtis and I actually ate termites. I guess you can survive on them if necessary. He said they tasted "minty woolly" and he was totally right. Not bad at all. :)
After the tubing we rode on zip lines over the jungle. It was pretty fun and I wasn't scared at all. I think it would have been more fun if they had been longer and higher. Our guide had the most delicious lunch of chicken, rice and beans waiting for us after the zip lines. It was SOOOO delicious. Our friends were really stressed out that we would miss the boat so the car ride back to Belize City wasn't a lot of fun but the good news was that we made it in plenty of time.
The next day we stopped in Cozumel. I always thought Mexico was pretty ghetto but honestly Cozumel was the most beautiful of the three stops. The water was that amazing turquoise I've been dreaming of!
Thankfully our amazing dive master, Blanca, in Cozumel was an incredible teacher and she really helped me a lot. The Cozumel diving was unbelievable. The current was so strong that we just followed it. We swam through coral walls and saw huge sea turtles. The water in Cozumel was such a brilliant blue- we were surprised to find that Mexico was actually our favorite destination on this trip anyway. Unfortunately Curtis got a mild case of the bends and we both had some kind of stomach bug for about 10 days after the trip (it was either the water they shared with us in Cozumel or the fresh watermelon). ooops We saw several massive turtles right up close and swam through coral caves. It was stunning. Unfortunately Curtis got a little mixed up and filmed when swimming and turned the GoPro off when he thought he was filming. So we have no pics or vids from that amazing dive. But we will definitely go again. Totally redeemed diving for me.
Since we brought our own diving gear we had to lug it around and then try to rinse it off and hang it in our tiny cabin aboard the ship. Not the best idea. I mean it was fine but I would just rent equipment next time.
The last day was cruising again. We had so much fun watching TJ sing and play piano down in the bar. He had a beautiful voice. We saw an ice show that was really entertaining. We also took Cha-cha lessons and sorta overtook the library with games of Trump, Bananagrams and Hearts. Having friends with us definitely made the trip more fun.
1) getting up early and walking around the deck with Curtis
2) playing "knock out" at night
3) a killer round of Round Robin Ping Pong with our friends
4) taking cha-cha lessons from professionals- okay the cha cha is hard
5) getting super close to a 4 foot sea turtle
6) that super amazing blue ocean water
7) card games with our friends
8) hanging in the cafe promenade eating pizza, cookies and croissant sandwiches
9) watching a movie while sitting in the hot tub on deck
10) reading my book/taking random naps on a lounge chair
It was a fun trip. Not sure if Curtis wants to go again- he would prefer to just travel to one place and be able to enjoy it for several days. But I think a Girls Cruise could definitely be in my future.
