Cruisin'

We were given an extremely generous cash gift at our wedding to spend on ourselves for our honeymoon but decided to put that toward a cruise…. A few months ago we booked a 5 day cruise with Adam and Julia leaving out of New Orleans. Our plan was to pick up Adam and Julia at the New Orleans airport, park the car at a nearby gated church, and have a friend drop us all off at the port but when the day to board the ship arrived we learned that Adam and Julia’s connecting flight in Houston had been delayed 2 hours. Bryce and I ended up boarding the ship without them and just praying that they would arrive before the ship set sail. We planned out different scenarios in preparation of them being left behind. (How we could get them into our apt. etc  so at least they would have a place to stay) Luckily that didn’t need to happen because they made it on with four minutes to spare! The cruise would have been a totally different experience without them and we were so grateful they made it!

We were surprised how long it took us to get out of the Mississippi River but realized the next morning it was obvious we were not in tranquil river waters but in the raging hurricane waters. It was a pretty rocky ride.

There were so many things about the cruise that made it so memorable.

 Dancing with the Cast – the first day we happened to be in the theater when they invited everyone up to learn ballroom dances. Before we knew it they started selecting two people for each dance and Bryce was selected for the Tango and I was selected for the Samba. They had an audience choice and I guess we beat out the runners-up. They told us we would have a few practices and then perform in the show the last night on the ship. We learned new routines and they decked us out with costumes for the night of the show but it turned out the night of the show, the ship was so rocky that they canceled the dancing part of the show. Bummer! We came out and bowed in the finale with the rest of the cast but of course felt silly since we didn’t even get to do our part of the show.

Eating ALL the time – we enjoyed formal meals and 24hour food on the ship. We sat at a dinner table with some cool southern women (former college friends who were reunited after like 30 years) and another old couple. The church came up a few times and it was fun conversation. It was fun to taste each other’s food and order anything and everything on the menu including multiple desserts.

 Day at Progresso, Mexico – We decided to forgo paying Carnival for an expensive shore excursion, but rather found our own transportation (taxi) for a fraction of the cost. We adventured out to see some Mayan ruins called Zibilchaltun and swam in a Ceynote (Spanish for sink hole). The Ceynote was full of fish you could reach out and touch. The water was cool/fresh from an underground river that went as deep as 130 ft. After that we enjoyed cheap massages on the beach, eating a taco, and chatting in Spanish with the natives.

Day at Cozumel, Mexico – My favorite! I loved the crystal clear water and we loved our private beach and snorkeling all day. It was Bryce’s first time snorkeling and I was so excited for him to have a good experience. The only problem was that the sunscreen we used was not so good and he got toasted on his back. We saw so many BEAUTIFUL and unique fish. As we were about to head in I felt really sick and before I knew it I was throwing up in the ocean while snorkeling. So memorable and so nasty!

I felt like a real pregnant/throwing up woman as I experienced throwing up in my hand (before I could reach the bathroom), over the railing of the cruise ship, while snorkeling in the ocean, and on many other occasions. I’m convinced that it was purely sea sickness and bad reactions to the meds I was taking because I hadn’t thrown up for weeks before the cruise and haven’t thrown up since.