The cruise left from Galveston, Tx and stopped in Key West, Fl, Cancun Mexico, Grand Cayman and I think that was it. The only ones that had cruised before were Mom & Dad. The rest of us were newbies and had no idea what to expect. All of us Dallasites drove down together (more or less) and my sister's family flew in from Phoenix and met us at the dock.
Fresh from the airport, the Doan Family.
The Dallas contingent.Once we got on board and dumped our stuff off in the room, we had some time to roam around the ship. Then there was a safety exercise where we all had to don our life preservers and go to our designated evacuation spot.
I'm practicing my panic mode. We each take turns being the goofball. The room was really small. We paid a little extra to get the window but we're down on the steerage deck. I heard that you are less likely to get seasick down here. (I get motion sickness if I move to fast...).
We were walking around on the first night and it was a little chilly (as you can tell by little Atticus huddled between me & my sister). He kept saying "Let's go in, guys. Don't you want to go in?" He's 4 - almost 5 but not quite.
We finally gave in and found some deck chairs in one of the lounge areas.
The first full day was a cruise day. The water leaving Galveston Bay was really choppy and we were all feeling queasy. Luckily, I had medicine for just such an occasion. Poor Atticus had to get the shot. My sister had to suffer in silence..well, she wasn't really silent. She couldn't really take any medicine because she was pregnant.The first formal dinner was right away. It was really cool.
Men dressed in tuxedos or nice suits and the women got all duded up as well. There were photographers everywhere so that you could have nice formal photos taken.
Here we all in our formal attire. My sister joined us a little later.
Atticus wasn't feeling well so Brad stayed with him and had dinner in the room. Later, he was feeling better and joined us for photos..
It's Batman! Am I lucky or what?? We had the second seating for dinner in the formal dining room. The food was really good. I don't think there was anything there that I had that wasn't good. We had a big table that would accommodate all 8 of us so we'd meet up every night to see who did what during the day. Very cool.
Our first port was Key West. The Chaney's had booked a cabin with a balcony so they invited us up so that we could watch as we pulled up to the dock into Key West.
We all went on a city tour of Key West via the trolley. It was very cool since they took you around and told you about the city's history. Later, my mom went off with the Doan's and found an old friend..
Mom loves this photo because several years earlier she was here in Key West and had her photo taken with this exact same sailor guy.
Later, we joined up with the Chaney's to watch the famous Key West sunset. Then we wandered over to Sloppy Joe's for a drink and an appetizer.
It was "Freak Week" this particular week in Key West. You had women going around topless with their tops painted. Men were dressed in bizarre outfits like leather speedo's. Everyone was having a great time. It was good for people watching but I'm glad my 4 year old nephew was back on the boat.
The next port was Georgetown, Grand Cayman. They really played up the whole pirate theme. There were pirates on the dock with the ship photographer that wanted to snap your photo with the pirate.
We hired a driver to take us around the island and give us some factoids. We had a great driver. She was born here and was related to most of the natives (according to her). One of the places she took us was Hell. J and his mother-in-law in Hell.
My sister and her family chose to do a beach day. The ferry took them to the beach where they hung out and had food, etc. We met them on the ferry going back to the ship.
I'm not sure what mom & dad were up to but they appear to be having fun.
The next day was a cruise day where we all just wandered around the ship and did our own thing.
That night was the second formal night. This time Brad joined us instead of my sister. I guess Atticus wasn't really interested in dining with us. We all clean up nice.The last port was Cancun Mexico.
Mom and Dad went for a tour of the ruins at Tulum.
We all started off together and then split up once we hit the dock.
My sister's family took my mom shopping around the port.
J & I went looking for a COLD soda. All you could get on the ship was from the soda fountain or a hot bottle. This was the best coke we'd had the whole trip. Cancun was warm. We just wandered around a bit and then headed back to the ship.
Some of us met back up at the pool for a little swimming action.
It felt good to cool off in the pool.
On the last night at dinner, everyone came. Here's Atticus with Miss Judy and Mr. Pete. Atticus had a great time narcing out Uncle John to Mr. Pete.
Here's the only photo of all of us. This was taken right before my sister passed out and went to the infirmary. Goofus, she was dehydrated from not drinking any water all day.
Waiting for them to call our number to disembark.
My sister is still a little sick from last night.
We had a great time on our first cruise. It's a great way to get a combination vacation of resting (the at sea days) and seeing stuff (the port days). You get a nice taste of everything. I'd definitely like to do another cruise. One thing that we did discover is that on this kind of vacation, the more the merrier.
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