A Cruising Good Time

I just returned from my Caribbean cruise, and it was wonderful.  I don't think there are any words to describe it.  Take in mind that I have never been anywhere west of the Mississippi.  Most of my life has been spent right here in North Carolina and I have mostly traveled here in the east.  So this was like a little piece of heaven to me.

 

The ship itself was huge, very lavish with all that you could possibly want to do.  The first night was a bit rough due to weather conditions.  The ship was rocking like crazy, and a lot of people got sick. Thank goodness I had taken my seasick pills!  We had a stateroom with a balcony and it was really nice.  To sit on the balcony with the ocean breeze blowing through my hair was just wonderful...and I even saw three dolphins jumping right next to our ship.  And the sky was so beautiful.  I could see storms in the distance and on either side of the storms the sun was setting in beautiful shades of orange and red.

 

Dinnertime was very interesting.  We were at a table with one other couple, and they came to dinner each evening drunk.  Seeing as my husband is not a very stimulating dinner conversationalist, I was quite pleased to have the company...and quite entertaining company at that.  It was fun seeing this couple sitting in the fancy dining room being catered to.  And the wait staff was so cordial to them, and kept giving me these knowing little winks.  They were amused, and dealt with the somewhat boisterous couple in a very classy manner.

 

The ports of call were great.  We spent a day in Cozemel, Belize, Costa Maya, and Freeport.  The beaches were so beautiful.  The water was so blue.  My favorite place we visited was Costa Maya.  It was small and the people there were very polite and friendly.  I spent my time there shopping and then sitting by the ocean side saltwater pool.

 

Cozemel was fun as well.  We took a tour and then went shopping.  The only thing that was irritating was the constant pressure from the store merchants to come inside and buy something.  I got very good at saying "No, thank you."

 

Belize was interesting.  We took a tour and also went to a butterfly exhibit.  The ride to the exhibit was pretty much through slums the entire way, so it wasn't very scenic.  Our tour host was very nice and knowledgeable, however and we got a lot of good information.  When we got to the butterfly exhibit, it was like we had entered a different place entirely.  It was beautiful, very scenic with beautiful plants everywhere...set in the jungle.  And the butterflies we saw were so pretty and huge.   After walking through the butterfly exhibit, we were served a wonderful lunch of chicken, rice and beans, fried plantain, and fresh fruit.  We then got to spend a couple of hours at the pool, which was absolutely gorgeous.  It was huge and set among the lovely scenery.  It was a nice day.  The people here were very nice to us, and I was in awe of how polite they were.  I was saddened, though to see their state of living again on the ride back to the ship.  The houses were slums, and the streets were covered with trash.  I later found out that this was not due to the people being too lazy to pick it up.  Apparantly there is nowhere for them to put it.

 

Freeport was nice...but we didn't tour all of it.  We stuck pretty close to the ship, and mostly did some shopping nearby.

 

On the final evening of the cruise, we won a raffle we had entered and we won ANOTHER 7-day cruise!  How cool is that??

 

Anyway, we got back home yesterday, and my kids are fine, my dog is fine, and my house is still standing.  Life is good.