What can I say!? The cruise was all and so much more than I ever could have hoped for. Now, I admit, this is coming from a person who needed a break so badly you could have sent me to Duluth and I would have been thrilled. But the tropical air, the smooth (well, mostly smooth) swaying of the ship, and all the time in the world was just what the dr. ordered for this run-down mom. Couple that with the fact that it was, in my mind, a celebration of over a year and half of daycare being DONE. What a week!
Here's the shortened version of our 8 days.
We spent Friday at Epcot in Disney World.....my favorite of all the parks. That was a really fun beginning to our vacation. We spent the night in a hotel and got up early to head to the coast and board the ship. Just seeing it in the distance as we drove closer was breathtaking. To think that was going to be our home for the next 7days was so exciting!
We spent the first day in awe of the whole thing. Getting used to the waves and rocking. Getting adjusted to not having the boys around....that was weird. And just being able to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted.
We went to 4 different ports over the course of the week, although our "stay" in Costa Maya was a short one because they weren't even able to get the boat into the port and safely dock due to the windy conditions and the high waves. That was okay, we just had another day at sea. The places we did go were Cozamel, Roatan, and Belize. We had a great time in all and I'd say Roatan was probably my fave, although I did have a lot of fun shopping in Mexico. I just love the people there at the markets. When you can get passed the fact that they hound you to come buy their 'junk' and 'authentic' Cubans and 'real' white gold....all for low, low prices...LOL ....they are really a lot of fun to talk to. We had some really great encounters and conversations. We got so used to them saying what everything was as we walked by that when one guy held out a Mexican sombrero, my brother looked at him and said "white gold?" HA!
We had a lot of fun shopping in Roatan, which is a part of Honduras. They had the most beautiful handmade wooden items. I couldn't resist getting a new salad bowl set. We also got something for the in-laws. I could have gotten tons more but had no way to get it home.
They had this great chair lift that took us from the shopping part to the beach. It made for a great view of the coastline.
When we went to Belize, we went cave tubing. Now, that was an experience! After a 30 minute hike through the rainforest, we got to the river and had about an hour and a half lazy river ride....most of which was inside a cave. It was pitch black except for the lights we wore on our heads. It was really beautiful (except for the bats on the ceiling) and kinda creepy at the same time. I'd say the hi-lite though came when we got hung up on a rock in a shallow area and Mike's tube got blown out. It was hilarious cuz all of a sudden he started to sink. Luckily our guide let him use his and we were almost at the end. Too funny!
All in all, I have no complaints. It was so much fun! It is a great way to vacation with a large group cuz you can all do your own thing or get together as a group and do things. Either way....there's something for everyone. I even played some blackjack and left the ship up $500 by the end of the week. WOohoo!
We have already said that we want to go on another one in 3 yrs. I am already counting down the days.....well, sort of.
It was good to get home and see the boys though. That's a long time to be away from them and we really missed them by the end of the trip. They were very anxious for us to be home as well. ;)
Here are just a handful of the over 600 pics I took. I'll let them speak for themselves.
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