Our Cruise

Clay and I were supposed to go on a cruise a while ago, but the exact ship we were supposed to go on had a whole bunch of problems and ended up being stranded out in the ocean with no electricity and what not for several extra days. As a result there was a ton of damage to the ship and it needed months of repair, so our cruise was canceled (grateful we weren't ON that cruise!). So we booked another one for later and they canceled on us again because it still wasn't ready. Kind of a bummer.

However, both times they canceled on us they gave us a discount and on board credit, so by the time we finally did our cruise, it was only about $500 total for both of us together (room, food, gas to get there, excursions, etc-TOTAL!), so a pretty amazing deal.

But honestly, we didn't LOVE it. I'm glad we didn't pay more than that. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was relaxing and nice to spend time with just the two of us (Ellery stayed with her grandparents for the week), but there were some cons...

1) It was a total party ship (Carnival), so everyone else was drunk the entire time and the majority of the activities had to do with drinking or gambling, and the ones that didn't have to do with drinking and gambling were kind of boring or geared toward older people (ex: name that song and all the songs were from the 80s or earlier).

2) There was only one pool on the ship and it was TINY and filthy looking and packed with kids (we never went in it). There were four hot tubs but they were always packed and the one time we did go in the hot tub, it was only luke warm. And one of our ship days was freezing and super windy, so you couldn't even go outside. And it was hard to find a spot to lay out together because it was so crowded (on the days we could go outside).

3) We got sea sick. We had to take Dramamine several times.

4) I just didn't love the atmosphere. Actually, I kind of hated it. It had a very casino type of feel. Not a fan.

5) It was too long! We missed Ellery. We didn't see her for about six days, plus no phone or internet, so we couldn't skype with her or even call to check on her.

6) We were bored (which mostly had to do with the lack of activities that we wanted to participate in). We think it would have been more fun with another couple or two to chat with and play games with and what not.

But do realize that I'm a little biased...I've been so spoiled with AMAZING vacations my whole life (Asia, Europe, Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, scuba diving with sharks, swimming with dolphins, petting tigers, etc.), so I guess I'm just hard to please...

I'm such a snob : /

Anyway, those are the negatives first. There were positives.

1) Like I said, it was relaxing, and we had lots of time to just be together.

2) The majority of the food was really good (not ALL of it, but most of it). And of course, all you can eat. I had ice cream about 5 times a day every day haha. Yes, we both gained a few pounds! Yikes. Oh, and I had the BEST pina colada (virgin-strawberry) that I've ever had! SO good! It's the one thing we payed for on the ship. So worth $5!

3) The excursions were pretty fun. The first excursion was in Cozumel. We went zip lining, which was neat (not quite as thrilling as I thought it would be, but still cool). Sadly no pictures from that : ( And then we went to a beach that had a pool and a hot tub. That was pretty nice and we enjoyed it. We also went snorkeling, which was fun, as snorkeling always is, but honestly not great snorkeling. Again, I've been so spoiled with great snorkeling in the past, that when there isn't a ton to see I'm not so impressed. But it was Clay's first time ever so it was fun because of that. The second excursion we went on was in Progresso and that was also pretty cool. We went and saw some Mayan ruins (again, I had been to Mayan ruins in the past, so not too new and exciting for me). Clay loves that kind of thing. I, however, do not like tours, heat, or humidity, so although I think the history is cool and the fact that they are still standing today, I just have a hard time with that kind of thing. But I was patient and enjoyed watching Clay run around and explore all the ruins. But the coolest part of that excursion was that there was an ancient, natural pool we could swim in. We liked that part (pictures below).

4) The cruise left from New Orleans (not our original one-our original one was supposed to go out of Galveston, which would have been a lot closer and more convenient, however, I was actually really excited to go to New Orleans). I had never been before and had heard a lot of great things about the city, so I was glad to have an excuse to see it. It is definitely an interesting place!

Okay, onto the pictures:

 New Orleans

 Sunny! Us after the long trip to New Orleans. We enjoyed the drive though (really pretty and interesting things to see along the way).

 We had lunch in New Orleans before we got on the ship. This was one of the top places recommended to eat at in New Orleans. We could definitely tell why! mmm.

 This is on the ship. There were four comedy shows during the trip. Two of them were "family friendly" and two were "adults only." We're a little sensitive to "adult humor," so we only went to the two "family friendly" shows. One of them was kind of funny, and the other was HILARIOUS. Probably one of my favorite things from the whole week.

 The dinners were AMAZING. Breakfast and lunch out on the deck (buffet style), were pretty good for the most part, but dinner was always incredible. The picture above is after we had already messed up the plate (it always came looking pretty). mmm. So good. And the desserts after were amazing as well.

 After the first night, we realized you can order as many dishes as you want, so we all ordered two or three dishes every night and just ate what we wanted. haha. Lobster and steak?! Okay!

 We sat with the same group of people every night (it's assigned seating. Although, you can ask to sit somewhere else if you want to. But we didn't). The three other couples at our table were all very nice, and...entertaining...ha (they always had interesting stories from the night before...). We appreciated that they tried to include us in their conversations and even outside of dinner, but let's just say we had different interests...so they all hung out all week and we hung out alone : / but like I said, they were very nice and dinner was fun.

 The rooms were fine and big enough. They came and cleaned and made us cool animal towels every day : )

Getting off the boat for an excursion.

 Too bright!

 That's my kind of water!

 Mexico

 On the bus to the ruins (we purposefully picked the ruins we did because it was only a 20 minute bus ride-some of them were hours away!)

 That's the name of the ruins we saw.

 This building was built by the Spanish when they came and took over the Mayans (sad). You could definitely tell it was a different style.

 See, me being a trooper and hiking the top of the ruins in the crazy heat! haha

 Clay could do this all day.

 The natural pool we swam in. Beautiful, clear water, with little fish that nibble at your toes! The Mayans used to dump their human sacrifices in this pool : /

 No, that's not a human sacrifice...that guy was just hanging out under water? haha

 The pictures above shows that the sun shines through the building above perfectly...I think once a year? Pretty cool.

 Back to our ship. That's the pool. And it actually did have a cool looking water slide, but we never even went on it, because the pool was nasty and crowded...

Staircase inside the ship.

 Back to New Orleans. We were going to have lunch in New Orleans after the cruise, but the restaurant we wanted to go to (Cafe Du Monde) had a line down the street! So, instead we just drove around and got some beignets (like donuts/scones).

 Mardi Gras beads and cool planters everywhere.

No picture of the beignets, but this is all the powdered sugar on Clay's shirt after eating them while driving! haha

Overall, we'd say it was worth it, but we wouldn't do it again. And if we did, we would pay a lot more to do a Disney cruise with our kids, or something fancy like that.