Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with beating someone up, but all about Kevin and my cruise! Kevin and I were blessed enough to scrape enough cash together to go on a vacation. Add on that I was in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy (the only good time to travel) and my retired parents offered to come up to babysit Clare for a week, It was the perfect timing. I don't do any kind of fun vacations if there is not sun, tropical feelings, and more sun, so Kevin booked us on the Carnival Ecstasy out of the Galveston Port.

Our tropical paradise awaited us as we drove 4 hours in solid rain to get to the port. We then waited in line for about 2 hours to actually get on the ship. I couldn't help but laugh at all the signs warning you not to take pictures or video of the 3,000 people stuffed in a dock trying to get on a ship to start their vacation. I guess they don't like people to see the ugly side of cruising, but soon we were on our boat and out to sea.

I really loved our cabin. It was not too small, and had the perk of a king size bed. We have a queen at home, and it was amazing to flop around like a fish on land all night without slapping Kevin in the face. The ship it self was impressive, but let's be honest here. To cram thousands of people on one boat, means that you are going to be around groups of strangers all the time. Old people, kids, teens, models, over weight people, and (my personal favorite) frat boys using sleazy lines to try and have random hook-ups with the pretty girls. The pool was always over-run with kids and the deck chairs by brown-to-a-crisp women.

After a day at sea, we made our first stop in Progresso, Mexico. Being pregnant and a hater of all things requiring physical activity, We choose the "Corona Beach Party" for our shore excursion. This entailed a small stretch of beach, open bar, loud music, and more drunk college students than you have ever seen in your life. But hey, it was an open bar, and I would be right there with them if I could. Instead, Kevin and I left the party scene to stroll down the beach.

We shopped and ate some fabulous authentic Mexican food. Kevin enjoyed the free mini margaritas, and I wolfed down the tacos. Honestly, I found what looked like dog hairs in the beans, but I'm disgusting enough to just pick them out and continue eating. It was wonderful!

The next day (and the first really warm day of the cruise), we stopped at beautiful Cozumel, Mexico. Kevin and I loved it so much, that we wish we could have stayed longer. For this stop, we signed up for a full package with only one other family joining us. I guess not having an open bar kept the college crowd from signing up. We were assigned an amazing tour guide named David. We first stopped at a museum called Discover Mexico. It had videos, art displays, and miniature replicas of Mexico's history. I think we weirded out our guide by knowing most of the answers to his questions. We tried to explain that being Catholic and from New Mexico and Texas gave us a lot of exposure to the Hispanic culture.

Then we headed to Chankanaab Park. It was like Sea World for cool people. You could relax on the white sandy beach, swim with dolphins, manatee, or sting rays, take a picture hugging a seal or snorkel off the shore. We chose the snorkeling, and our guide David took us out to see the good spots. Being a little prone to anxiety attacks, I had some trouble calming my breathing as we bobbed in the waves, but enjoyed it all. The fish would literally swim through your finger tips and around your legs. And I didn't get nauseous like when we snorkeled in Hawaii. They had some buried religious statues that you were supposed to 'get a wish' granted if you touched them. The first was a tiny Virgin Mary that was swarmed by people, so we didn't try to get close to it. The next was a Jesus statue. As we swam near it, I was completely freaked out. This wasn't some tiny statue. It was larger than life and scary.

You can not tell me that this doesn't look like a starved, beaten up Jesus tied to a cement block and dumped in the ocean to die. I couldn't even get close to it, because it freaked me out so bad. Kevin, on the other hand, decided to dive down and touch it. While he did make it, he lost the breathing part of his snorkel mask in the process. Luckily we were almost done, so we floated back to the shore, ate, and then headed back to the ship.

All in all we loved Mexico, but got tired of spending 3 days on the ship and only 14 hours on land. I guess I'm just not a cruise person. What I was a fan of was 5 whole nights of sleeping and waking up without once hearing the sound of a baby crying. It's what I imagine heaven will be like! When we got back to our car, after spending 3 hours getting off the boat and customs, we were excited that we had a vacation with just the two of us, but at the same time couldn't wait to get back to our ClareBear. I will always cherish the good memories Kevin and I had together on this trip, because who knows when our next child-free adventure will come. For know I'm left with this calming mental picture.