Cruise 2013

Erick wanted to do something nice for his parents, after all even through all our disagreements; they’ve done so much for us. He wanted to do something nice for them…something different. We were torn between Vegas and a Cruise. We decided to do things as a family. We looked around and found fairly good deals at Carnival.com and we booked a 5-day cruise in September to the Yucatan and Cozumel. We scheduled the trip for January 19 just a week from returning to the states from Italy.

Photo taken before boarding

Our port of call was Galveston, TX – about half an hour from where we had been staying that week.  We arrived at noon that Saturday to begin registration and boarding. We were to set sail at 4pm and it took us about 3 hours to get through boarding…CRAZY!

It was basically the same procedures as going through the airport. We had baggage drop-off, then got in line for security checks, then in another line for cruise registration and then finally on the ship.

At registration they take your passports, finished any extra changes you needed to make and then every person is handed a key card. This card is used to enter and exit the ship at docking, it is used to open the room doors, to open the safe in the room, and finally as a credit card to charge all expenses to. Your photo is also taken before boarding to monogram into the card.

We headed straight to our rooms to drop off the little extra bags we had with us and then to explore the boat a little.

When booking, we asked that our staterooms be close by; we were able to get some right next door to each other.

We had balcony suites and we asked that the partition that divided the two be removed to make it one large balcony as we were family and didn’t mind.

Our rooms were located on Deck 6, one floor above the meeting floor for emergencies. It was a little bit of a maze at first, we took the elevator to the 6^th deck then as you exit you can either go left for odd numbers and right for even numbers (of course depending on which elevator you exit from).  Well you had to walk down one hallway and turn into another small corridor, but I would always forget which one and would end up walking all the way around! I think I finally got the hang of it on my last day.

The room basically reminded me of the hotel we stayed at in Rome. :) There was enough room to walk through and that’s about it.

As you open the door, to the left, there is a cabinet where the safe is found, followed by two small closets. The bathroom is to the right, with a standing shower.

You take a couple of steps and there is a large mirror on the left with some drawers. To the right of that is a small sofa that would be turned into a bed for C.J. every night. And of course our bed was right next to it.  

A couple more steps after that to the left was another cabinet where the television was placed and that also provided more storage underneath.

Shortly after that was the door to exit onto the balcony which contained a small table and 2 lounge chairs.

We actually really enjoyed our rooms. We were able to store everything away so nothing was lying around and the bed was extremely comfortable as well.

Our bags had still not arrived at our rooms so we headed out to explore. Lunch was being served on the Lido deck (9^th) so we headed over to grab a small bite. There were a couple of stands throughout the 9^th deck. They had a Chinese restaurant, and Italian, a Grill, a Sandwich shop and a buffet. You could eat all day at any of these or if you wanted to sit in the main restaurants, (there are 2, London and Paris Dining hall), only breakfast and dinner are served here.

After lunch, we stood on the top deck for a while taking a few photos and headed back inside before realizing we had already begun moving.

An announcement was made shortly there after about having ALL passengers meet on Deck 5 in our designated areas. (On your ship card there is a letter imprinted, that is the designated area you are to go to incase of an emergency.)

Once everyone was down there, they made an announcement over the intercom about what rules to follow. Just a quick “know-how” about what to do; it lasted about 15 minutes.

We returned to our rooms to find our bags waiting outside for us. We all decided to unpack and get completely settled.

We were able to catch just a little of our first show before dinner. (We signed up for “late” dinner, which was at 8pm).

We would have our dinners in the Paris Dining Room every night – I loved it! The food was fabulous. Every night there was something different on the menu and it was definitely 5 star qualities. From the 5 nights, we had different selections such as filet mignon, lobster, frog legs, crocodile, steaks, fish – you name it, they had it. And the desserts – AMAZING!! They had a lovely wine selection as well.

The staff was wonderful! They always knew to place a booster seat on C.J.’s chair, and knew he would ask for fruit. :) They were super attentive and even learned our names. In the middle of dinner, they would even put on little shows of singing and dancing. They were very entertaining!

After dinner, we explored a little more, took more photos, and decided to drop C.J. off at the Camp Carnival.

-       The ship had a daycare available from 10am to 10pm, free of charge, called Camp Carnival. They separated children by age; C.J. was included in the 4 to 6 years. They would give us an itinerary everyday of what they would be doing throughout the day and when pick up times were. We were assigned a cellphone directly from the staff to call us incase the children needed us. After 10pm began the Night Owls program which was a babysitting service. They staff charged $6.50 an hour and were open until 3am. -

C.J. LOVED Camp Carnival and the Night Owl program, he would ask to go back every day!

After dropping him off that first night, we headed to a couple of the clubs and the casino just for a couple of hours. One club we returned to every night was a Latin club. There was a live band that played a lot of music we’ve grown up with and all still enjoy dancing to. When we returned to our room, C.J.’s bed had been made and we had a little towel seal waiting for us with chocolates. :) (Every night a different towel animal was placed on our bed with more chocolate.)

The next day was a day sent at sea. I woke up early to head up to the 11^th deck to run. There was a small track up at the top – 11 laps equaled 1 mile. My run was amazing! The sun was warm and the sea surrounded us for miles. There was a soft cool breeze. I wish I could have runs like that daily.

Rome Theater Hall

Later that day we headed to the London Dining Hall for a wine tasting. We had 8 different kinds of wines, some cheeses, fruit, and crackers. It was a delicious hour! :)

We caught another show that night before dinner. The entertainment staff – singers and dancers, would put on little Broadway type shows. We all really enjoyed them. They had a different one every night.

The next morning we landed in Progreso, Yucatan. We ordered room service early enough to be off the boat by 8:30am. Our tour guide was waiting for us just out of the shops at the port. Our guides’ name was Russell and he did a fantastic job! He drove us about an hour until we reached the pyramids in Uxmal. They were amazing to see. A local himself, of Mayan heritage, Russell explained a lot about the Mayan culture and life and also what each pyramid represented or who lived there.

Uxmal was settled in 500 B.C. There is believed to have been about 25,000 inhabitants. There are underground cisterns and a complex drinking water system that utilized rainwater. The structures are arranged around the courtyards to form quadrangles. All their decorations included: gods, animals, dignitaries, and even geometric forms.

Russell explaining the calendar

We saw a large pyramid as soon as we walked in and then headed to a section of 4 structures arranged in a large square; we saw an actual Mayan calendar.

We got to see a run down section of where “The Ballgame” was held. (The game was played by rulers and at times included captives to humiliate. The ball could only be touched with hips, elbows, and knees.)

One thing I thought was a trip were all the lizards found everywhere. They are so used to visitors that they don’t even run away as you near them. There were so many of them! I think I counted about 30 from all sizes.

The largest pyramid was the Governor’s palace of course; it was massive! We counted over 100 steps. Erick and his Dad along with  Russell decided they would climb to the top – we had a nice view from the ground. :)

We saw an actual home used by regular town people. There were small holes in the corners of the ceiling used for ventilation and heat. The Mayans were a very intelligent people.

On the way back we stopped in the market and C.J. and I were able to take photos with a baby jaguar and a small long-tailed monkey. They were absolutely adorable! And of course I wanted to bring them back with me. I held the baby jaguar and fed it milk from a bottle; the little monkey sat on C.J.’s head. :) The jaguar was heavier than I expected but beautiful. His claws were long as well but he didn’t scratch me. What gorgeous animals!

The next morning we arrived in Cozumel. It was a little cloudy but the sun was very warm. We exited the ship just before 9am and stopped at the local market at the dock to take some photos and look for a few souvenirs to purchase later.

We took a taxi to a private beach just 10 minutes down the road.

It was $2 per person to get in, except C.J. And if you paid $10 more you had access to everything available: life vests, canoes, jet skis, parasailing…everything.

Erick paid for himself since he would be doing most of the activities with C.J. The rest of us got comfortable on the beach chairs, under an umbrella.

The water was absolutely gorgeous; beautifully clear, turquoise water! I have never seen anything like that. The sand was white and soft and wouldn’t stick to you either.

My in-laws and I sat and soaked up the sun while the boys played in the water and on the slides and other inflatable contraptions that were laid out in the water.

After a good while, we decided to head to the pool section, found just before heading on to the beach. We ordered drinks and played in the heated pool while waiting for the food we had ordered.

I have to say that we were all very impressed with the drinks and the food at this little local restaurant. Portions were astounding and the prices were even more than reasonable. We would gladly return to this private beach just for the food alone.

Our final day at sea was just relaxing. We walked around the ship a little more. Enjoyed some more cocktails and later that night got dressed for an elegant family photo. 

Our return was just slightly bittersweet. We were ready to head home and see our families but really enjoyed our 5 days aboard the Carnival Triumph.

NOTE**

In light of recent news coverage, I feel so incredibly bad for the passengers that were stuck on the cruise ship, just after we had disembarked, but I am super thankful that my family and I were lucky enough to have gotten a sooner cruise and not have to go through this horrible experience.

That being said, I had an amazing time on the cruise; we all did. And it was a first time for all of us – even C.J. loved it!

The food was wonderful – I am super picky. And the entire staff was super attentive, (my father-in-law is a diabetic and we thought he had a mini fridge in his room but turned out he didn’t), they made sure to constantly have fresh ice rotated in his room for his insulin.

Even with everything that has happened I can say that I would still want to take another cruise in the future.

Just like all other companies, especially those that travel, something can always happen. This to me is an “isolated” incident (of sorts) just like airlines, or having a car accident, or a train derailing – no one has a perfect track record.

I am still WAY more afraid of flying than I am of getting on another boat and I do that all the time!