Wow! We just got back from a 5 day cruise to Mexico. We had a great time! I don’t know where to begin. I guess I’ll start at the beginning.
For Christmas my father gave us a trip cruise to Playa del Carmen and Cozumel. The whole family went along. I mean the whole family. There were 12 of us on this trip. We left on the 6th of January for a 5 day trip. We were leaving out of Galveston on Monday morning. Galveston is about a 4 hour drive from Austin. We woke up early and hit the road at 8am. We arrived to a mass of humanity all trying to get on a really big boat.
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Click here to see photos from the trip.
We were going to be travelling on the Carnival Cruise Lines’ M/S Jubilee. When built it was a ‘super-liner’ but is now only considered a mid-size ship at over 700 feet long. It carries nearly 1500 passengers and almost 700 crew. The check-in was nearly painless. A photo ID and birth-certificate were sufficient. We checked our luggage, I brought my golf clubs, more on that later, and recieved ‘Sail-and-Sign’ cards. The cards were kinda neat in that all you ever needed to do anything aboard ship was your card. You could use it to pay for everything from drinks to souveniers to tips. After passing through security we headed to our cabins. Our cabin was on the Upper deck. Don’t let the name ‘Upper’ fool you. We were only on the 3rd of 9 accessable decks. We were only ‘upper’ to two decks, there were 5 more that were ‘upper’ to us. 🙂 The room was suprisingly large. I wouldn’t call it spacious but it was comfortable and all you ever really do in them is sleep anyways. You spend almost all your waking hours outside of your stateroom. The three of us were quite comfortable in our bunks. My only complaint was that we were near the back of the boat and I swear they had an unbalanced prop or something because whenever we were under way our beds vibrated. They vibrated just like those old Magic Fingers you used to be able to pop a quarter into at cheap motels. Sounds like a great idea until you try to actually sleep with your bed shaking all night. I never slept more than 2 hours straight the whole trip. I did get to see some great stars at night and sunrises during my walks around the deserted ship between sleeping.
The first thing they make you do after everyone has boarded is go through a lifeboat drill. It’s a requirement of all passengers. The only saving grace was our muster point put us against the rail of the deck and we got to actually watch as we left port instead of staring at the back of the head of the person in front of us.
Dinner was fantastic. In fact, all the food was fantastic the whole trip and you can eat all you want. If you want two main courses, order them. Three desserts? No problem! Lobster, prime rib, lamb, roast duck, you name it we had it. They have midnight buffets, a pizza parlor that’s open all night, and room service around the clock and all of it free. I managed to gain only three pounds which I thought was pretty damn good. Since it was a busy day we went to bed early to prepare for tomorrow.
Day 2
The next morning was a ‘Day at Sea’. These are times to relax and hang out. There are lots of things to do aboard ship while it’s underway. We dropped Dakota off at Camp Carnival, daycare for children on board. They do lots of activities, dancelessons, face painting, video games, etc. He had a blast and really loved his teacher Amy. We played a little bingo, some slots, and watched a show.
That evening we had a dress-up dinner. I actually bought a couple shirts and ties just for this trip because I knew there would be formal dinners. I’ve never owned a tie the I wore voluntarily. Now I own two. What’s this world coming to? 🙂 I think we had lobster this evening, something Shannon had never had. She loved it but felt guilty asking for more. I had no such problems. 🙂
That evening we saw a show. They have a full stage where they put on Vegas style shows. This one was about music and wasn’t too bad. Dakota enjoyed it. The boat doesn’t really rock that much but it is impressive that they can dance in 3 inch heels on a moving boat. After the show we went to bed early because we were to get into Calica(Playa del Carmen) at 0800 the next day.
Day 3
We pulled into Calica promptly at 0800. We sat in the dining room and watched the process. We had decided to eat in the main dining room to avoid the huge rush to get off the boat. We weren’t on a tight schedule to make our destination this morning. Calica is an interesting port. It was originally a rock quarry that they connected to the sea to make a deep water harbor. Only one ship can be docked there at a time. It eliminated the former tender ride needed to visit Playa del Carmen.
After breakfast we packed our swimsuits and cameras and hit the pier. There was a shuttle bus waiting to take us to our destination that morning. We had decided to visit a place called Xcaret. It was a short 10 minute bus ride. From the outside it didn’t look like much but once we entered it was amazing. In the first building there were dozen of models of Mayan ruins from all over the country. We got to see men performing an ancient worship ritual. Our guide described it as Mexican bungee jumping. I know I wouldn’t do it. The park also had some authentic Mayan ruins for us to see and climb on. We got to visit an aquarium and see baby sea turtles. They had giant sea turtles also. We saw mantees and walked through a butterfly aviary. We hung out on the beach for a bit too. Dakota loved a blow hole that shot water into the air over his head. After all that it was time for the highlight of our day at the park, the underground river float. Yes, they have a real underground river you float through. We got a snorkel and mask and decended into the cave to start our voyage. This was by far the highlight of our whole trip. The river was about 1/2 mile long and dotted with skylights to give you light as you passed along it’s length. It was also cold at about 62 degrees but you got used to it pretty quick. There were tropical fish swimming in it that had come upstream from the ocean. Shannon discovered snorkeling and had a blast. It was funny to hear her yelling through her snorkel at every new fish she saw. It took us about 1.5 hours to float its’ entire length. They provide a locking bag for your belongings that they transport to the end of the river so you can have your towels and shoes for the walk back to the locker room. We wished we had time to do the river trip again but it was getting near 4:00pm and we had to be back to the boat by 5:45pm to meet our family for dinner. Dinner was casual as are most dinners when you’re in port. After dinner we dropped Dakota off at Camp Carnival and Shannon, Saucy, and I grabbed a taxi in Carmen del Playa for a little shopping. Now shopping in Mexico is something I really enjoy because it turns into a game. I want to see how cheaply I can get something while the shop owners try to get as much out of the Norte Americano as possible. I know just enough Spanish to make negotiations smooth. I ended up getting Shannon and Saucy so pretty nice silver earrings for a good price and bought a Cuban cigar for my father. Something we aren’t allowed to get in the US. We hopped a taxi and got back to the boat around 11pm in time for the boat to leave at midnight. Tomorrow we are going to be in Cozumel so it was off to bed for some much deserved rest.
Day 4
The port of Cozumel was full of cruise ships.I counted 13 as we pulled in to port. In fact there were so many ships that we had no pier to tie up to. We ended up anchoring in the harbor and had to tender in. This means getting on a smaller boat for a 15 minute ride into port. Today was to be a short day in port with the ship leaving promptly at 4:30pm. This wasn’t good because my father and I were to play golf this morning. The golf turned into a big ordeal. The golf pro that was to escort us showed up 45 minutes late and apparently hung-over. We got to the course and one of the people in our group took forever on the driving range putting us behind a really slow five-some. Dad and I were paired up with two guys we nicknamed ‘The Jerk’ and ‘George of the Jungle’. The first one wanted to turn our leisurely golf game into some sort of money competition and the other spent more time in the jungle looking for lost balls than on the fairway. Dad and I were not happy. After the front 9, ‘George’ had to go to the pro shop for more balls as he’d lost a dozen on the front 9 alone. We took this chance to ditch them and play on our own. The back 9 was much nicer without those two. We played our game at our pace and had a blast. The course wasn’t the nicest I’d ever played but it was interesting. There was no rough. You either put your ball in the fairway or you were in the jungle. Literally. Also, you did not try to retrieve balls from the water. The water contained crocs. We only managed to see one but that was enough to convince us to stay away. This course was literally carved right out of the jungle. It was a fun round once we lost the losers. We barely made our 2pm meeting with the family at a restaurant downtown. We ate a bit and Shannon, Dakota, and I wandered off for a bit of shopping. Dakota had his heart set on a chess board so I haggled a nice onyx set for him. I got a really neat silver bracelet for myself. It looks exactly like a bicycle chain but is made from sterling silver. We grabbed a taxi back to the pier and made one of the last tenders out to the boat. We took a quick shower and made it on deck in time to watch a beautiful sunset.
Day 5
Today was another day at sea as we headed back to Galveston. you could feel the air getting colder the further north we sailed. It was a pretty kick-back day. We played a little shuffleboard, watched the ocean pass by, and Dakota finally went swimming in one of the three onboard swimming pools. That afternoon while playing bingo my parents managed to win a free cruise. I can’t think of anyone more deserving. We dressed up for one final dinner and Shannon danced the macarena with our waiters. After dinner we hit bed early because we put into port at 0700 the next morning and it was going to be a busy day.
Day 6
Disembarking was fairly straight forward. You had to pass through immigration and customs before you could leave the boat and that was quite painless. The worst was when you hit the curb. You have 2000 people all trying to get out of there at once. It was pandemonium. I figured out a way to speed up the process and parked the car a block away and we walked our luggage to it instead of trying to get a spot at the curb. It saved 15 minutes. The drive home was uneventful if depressing. It was about 40 degrees and raining. Not fun when just 48 hours before you were sitting in a beachside bar drinking a margarita in shorts watching the tourist walk along the beach in their bathing suits.
All in all we had a good time. Dakota had a blast and made some friends on board. We got to stuff ourselves silly at midnight buffets, see a few shows, lose some money at the slots, and hang out with family. Someday we’d like to try an Alaskan cruise when we have the time.
Thanks Dad and Mom for the great time.