Thursday, July 14, 2011

Cruisin'

I have always been lucky to have friends who enjoyed the same things I did. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine emailed a simple question.."Do you have any leave?" My immediate response was..not really..I just got back from a 2 week vacation! But about 3 seconds later, my curiosity won and I replied with a 2nd email "why?"
AND..that is how we planned a quick cruise vacation for fun. i have never cruised before and i will be honest in that I am not sold on it at this point. But, nevertheless..we had fun. It was definitely a different vacation then I am used too!

We started in Miami. Our first 10 dollar fruity beverage in a 'collectible glass'.We say farewell to Miami, and i say farewell to sure footing. I am prone to motion sickness. The first night, was a bit rough and I became a bit green. BUT a few ginger pills and some 'sea band bruises' later..I was doing OK.Our first stop was Key West. I love Key West!We rent an electric car and visit all the cool sights.And pet the 6 toed cats at Hemingway's house.They were everywhere!Then we visited the Butterfly house which was absolutely magical! Highly recommend!!!!this guy was easily 6 inches across.We left Key West and headed for Cozumel which gave us some time to explore the boat. It wasn't a huge boat..but it was still sparkly. I don't really remember there being this many floors..I do remember this area well, b/c the casino was directly behind it. we spent every free moment there. The dealers were really nice and it was by far the best area of the boat (aka- no children, less crowded)Then we made it to Cozumel. I have been to Riviera maya before so I was prepared for how beautiful the water is..We started by doing a Sea Trek with the big helmet on full of oxygen. It was a neat experience even if the coral was non-existent. I enjoyed the experience.
Susan and IThe unaware hermit crab
The uncooperative rayAfter changing, we hit the area for shopping and good food (read: the boat food was sub par at best..inedible at times) And we found the best Guacamole! (sorry gyeong!!)Then we were at sea for a day. I will be honest..it was crowded, loud and crowded. I was happy to have the balcony to sit in quiet and read.The other problem is that nothing on a boat is free...from bottled water to drinks..you pay. Even when they say come do a martini tasting..you pay 17 bucks. But they were pretty..I had a great time with Susan, had a great time on shore and had a great time in the casino. BUT I do not anticipate going on a Carnival cruise again. But I cant' complain but so much..it was last minute, for the heck of it and a new experience! We have a few more vacations/trips left this year..but the next few weeks we are packed with greyhounds!

6 comments:

houndstooth said...

What a fun time! I'm not sure if I'm cut out for cruises, either, but I love that pretty water they have down there and I'd love to go back!

Sue said...

Lucky you. What fab places you went to.

Greyhounds CAN Sit said...

The butterflies look beautiful, we don't have anything as pretty here. I've only ever done 1 short cruise, many years ago. I could try another short cruise on a luxury liner. The ship I was on was barely more than a tug boat in terms of luxury.

The Sea Trek looked amazing!

genji said...

Sounds like fun stuff to do on shore, but you pay the price by being stuck on a crowded boat to get there.

Two Greyhound Town said...

It looks like you had so much fun!

IHateToast said...

I laughed several times, especially at the incooperative ray.

Billy Connolly called cruises "prison with the option of drowning". I'd try one, but I'm not keen. To see Akaska, I'd cruise, but the ones around Australia seem full of young adults on a booze cruise.