Thanks to Barry's precious mother, Vada, we were able to go on a seven day cruise and escape our day to day routine recently. We had such an amazing time. I haven't seen Barry that full of life in a long time.
We were terribly worried that we were not going to make it to Galveston when ice covered North Texas a few days before we were to set sail. On Saturday, February 6th, we inched our way through the Dallas metroplex in pursuit of I-45 which would take us all the way to Galveston. After about two and a half hours of driving 30mph and below, we finally reached dry (defrosted) pavement that we could pick up speed. Another three hours and we were there! We spent the night at the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Galveston which faced the ocean. It was still quite chilly in Galveston, so we weren't in our "tropical" frame of mind just yet. We enjoyed a nice seafood meal, drove down to the beach and the decided to get a good nights rest before our Journey began the next day.
Both of us woke early, before the wake-up call, iPhone alarm and the alarm clock made a sound. (We weren't taking any chances on sleeping in.) We made our way down to the lobby to find it FULL of individuals as eager as we were to be shuttled to the ship terminal. As we sat, impatiently waiting, we couldn't help but notice that we were the youngest people in the lobby. We had a few laughs about that.
The shuttle bus finally arrived a couple hours later and our names were called... we were now on our way! Next came one of those moments best described as "We'll laugh about this some day!" Hopefully, this is some day, because I just have to include this... Our shuttle van arrives, we jump of and I am grabbing our luggage and making sure that the porter is tipped... we don't want any lost luggage. Meanwhile, Barry is stepping off the van. I make my way over to him and arm-in-arm, moving at a relatively quick pace, we make our way toward the check-in line. About 100 feet into our advance toward the check in line, Barry tells me he is missing a shoe. I look down and sure enough, he is wearing one shoe and the other is gone! I pivot around thinking that it has to be a few feet back, waiting for our return.... no shoe in site. I make my way against the crowd hoping to see our luggage in the distance so that I can retrieve another pair of shoes... no luck. I implore the porters to allow me to go back near the mountain of luggage, explaining the situation... no go. Barry and I decide that it would appear more normal to take the other show off and go through the check-in process in two sock instead of one sock and one shoe. Barry was so worried that everyone was looking at him... I told him that no one cared about his feet... they were excited about their cruise. Now Barry refers to him as the eccentric man with no shoes.
We boarded the boat, me in my shoes and Barry in his socks... ha ha ha. Next it was off to find our cabin on the Panorama Deck (level 10) at the very front of the boat. We waited in our cabin for our luggage to arrive so we could get Barry some shoes, then we made out way to the Lido Deck... this was the open deck with the pool and water slide and restaurant. After all that we had been through, we decided to try the specialty cocktail of the day. We could finally relax! After enjoying sitting down and the fact that we had successfully made it on board after braving the icy roads, waiting three hours in a crowded hotel lobby for our turn to ride the shuttle and the whole shoe fiasco, we were off to the safety debriefing.
We walked back up to our stateroom and discovered that there was a door leading to an outside deck right next to our room. We walked out onto the deck just in time to watch the ship set sail. We were watching some pelicans in the water near the front of the boat, when all of the sudden, we saw a group of three to four dolphins jumping along side the boat. What a great send off!
We made our way back to our stateroom to change for dinner and go explore the ship. It is amazing how big it actually is. We were told that there were 3300 passengers on board! We made our way to the dining room where we were to sit with four other couples or families. We ended up dining alone. It was actually quite nice. We enjoyed our meal and most of all just being together without having to worry about anything else. The meal was wonderful. We were exhausted after dinner and decided to call it a night. We could feel the boat turning throughout the night. We were supposed to be at sea for two days straight, but there was announcement that the boat would have to make an unexpected stop in Cozumel due to a passenger emergency.
We enjoyed an amazing breakfast the next morning and explored the ship. It was still a bit chilly outside, so we chose to go to a couple of the shows and indoor activities throughout the day. It was a rough day at sea, but we LOVED it. We had to pass through the Casino many times during our time on the ship, but managed to avoid the urge to spend any money there.
The second night, we met four of our dinner mates. There was a lovely mother and daughter from McKinney and a couple from San Antonio. They were all so nice. We really enjoyed their company. In fact, we ended up going to the evenings comedy show with them.
On Tuesday, the weather was much nicer. There were many people out by the pool and much more activity out doors than before. It was beautiful. Barry and I enjoyed exploring the ship, the great food and just spending time together. We went to see a show in the afternoon and again in the evening. At dinner, we were joined again by our new friends. After dinner, we joined the four of them on the Lido deck for the Deck Party. We decided that this was the night to go dancing! We went to Henri's and danced for a couple of hours. Barry was amazing. I kept worrying that he was going to be too tired, but he refused to stop. We both had a great time.
Ah Jamaica. I was so excited about our first port. I have always wanted to see Jamaica. Our plans for the day was to enjoy a funfilled day at the beach. We exited the ship and entered Jamaica. We rode the bus to a beach in Ocho Rios. The beach was beautiful! After paying for an all inclusive day at the beach for the two of us, it never crossed my mind that I would need money for anything. When we arrived, we quickly realized that there was NO cover from the sun. No worries I thought, I had brought along a small popup cover for us. I struggled, trying to erect this cheap beach cover, getting more and more frustrated by the moment. Finally, I gave up. I was beyond angry and embarrassed. I began to cry as we sat cooking in the sun. One of the beach attendants, Jennifer, noticed my tears and asked me what was wrong. I told her that I did not have the $5 to rent an umbrella to protect my husband and I from the sun. She noticed a small tree nearby and agreed to move our chairs under the tree so that we would have some shade. After that, we could not get rid of her. She hung out by us ALL DAY. It began to get a little creepy when she asked for all of our personal contact information and phone number. I told her that I would like to mail her a tip for her assistance and she said it would have to be sent through Western Union. Needless to say, Jamaica was not our favorite place. We were the first on the bus to go back to the ship. Once back on board, we went up to our room to drop off our stuff, then we went out to the observation deck that was right outside our door. Looking at the island from our ship was amazing. It was only then that I saw the true beauty of Jamaica. We stood admiring the beauty and being thankful that we survived the day. Lessons learned. We called it an early night because we knew we had to be up bright and early for the next days port.... Grand Cayman!
We woke bright and early and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the maining dining room... Eggs Benedict. We had a great attitude about the day, even though the day before wasn't our favorite. Grand Cayman was beautiful! No ships are allowed to dock in Grand Cayman, so we had to take turns taking a ferry over to the island. We boarded a tour bus that held about 16 people and headed to the turtle farm. The driver announced that we were lucky and in store for a bonus stop to see the dolphins. We stood on the side of a large pool and witnessed a few dolphin tricks, then it was on to see the turtles. The turtles were amazing. I never realized how big sea turtles are. They were as big as my coffee table! Such amazing creatures. We were first introduced to the full grown turtles and stood in awe at their size and grace. Next we were allowed to hold baby turtles that were a week old and then we were given the opportunity to hold an eight week old turtle. We were both surprised at their size at eight weeks. The turtles would flail their legs unless you tickled their chin. Barry and I thoroughly enjoyed the turtle habitat.
The most amazing experience of our trip came next. We arrived at a dock and boarded a catamaran that took us 35 minutes off the shore to a sand bar. When we jumped in the water, we were standing in chest deep water. As we stood, stingrays brushed against our legs. They were amazing to watch swim. It looked as though they were flying through the water. We were instructed NOT to stomp our feet or try to swim, only shuffle along the sand. It was so exciting to see a stingray close up. Barry and I both got to hold a stingray and kiss them for good luck. It was an amazing experience that we will never forget.
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