Cruise Day Seven & Eight: February 4th and 5th, 2017 - Day at Sea and Return to Land

February 4th

Excerpt from my line a day journal: " Saturday Night Fever show - great music & production. Dodge ball competition, pool, whirlpool, steam & sauna. Last day on the cruise :( It has been an awesome time :) :)"

As we get closer to Texas it starts getting cooler, a sad reminder that we are almost done our vacation. We made the most of the day and enjoyed relaxing and reading and having no commitments.

Here's a shot of two of the water slides.

The dodge ball tourney was pretty fun. We were a team of misfits but did very well, and only lost once. 

 Another shot of the promenade.

 They had a musical that night, Saturday Night Fever, I couldn't believe how great it was. The music and dancing and acting were all enjoyable as well as the sets. It was another fun "date night."

I am remembering now that we did play games and cards almost every night. We would often go to the windjammer and get a second round of desserts... or just fries, find a table and play cards.

February 5th

Excerpt from my line a day journal: "Long travel day, didn't get to Beaumont till 2 am. So grateful my in laws could watch the girls & be such a support. Back to reality tomorrow." 

This was pretty much a wake up and go day. We had breakfast on the ship and then headed out. I believe we actually docked the night before.

Chris wanted to grab a picture of all the food supplies they load each week (and that's probably not even all of it). 

 Going through a little bit of denial to actually be headed home.

Disembarking went fairly smoothly. We had to wait a little to catch our shuttle, and it wasn't the most organized, but we made our way to Houston. It was Super Bowl Sunday and Houston was the host city. We missed any traffic and the air port didn't seem too crazy. Just lots of t-shirts and paraphernalia to buy. We had a long wait in Houston as our flight didn't leave till 5 pm. We made it to Calgary at 8 pm to discover our flight was delayed. We tried to catch another, but didn't have all our luggage, and in the end that one was still delayed too. We could have driven home faster! Thankfully Kevin was able to pick us up late and we got to Beaumont at 2 am. We slept over and woke up with the girls, excited to be together again. Like I said, I'm so grateful Kevin and Diana were willing to watch them and let us have this amazing vacation. We would cruise again, any time, and definitely would welcome any family or friends interested in joining us!!

Cruise Day Six: Friday, Feb 3 - Day at Sea

Excerpt from my line a day journal: "Day at sea - watched the sun rise, but it was cloudy, too bad. Tried stand up flo rider, boogie boarded, ate lobster tail with saffron rice for dinner, so delicious!!"

This was another fun day. I did wake up early to try and watch the sunrise, but it was cloudy and nothing special, and then started to rain, so I went back to bed!

We worked out in the morning and did ship activities throughout the day. Below is the belly flop contest which Chris got a real kick out of (no, he wasn't a contestant).

 You can see I'm in a good sport bathing suit for today's water sports. You can read between the lines, but ladies, I found this to be essential if you didn't want anything exposed that shouldn't be!

We did a little boogie boarding on the belly and knees and then tried the surf board. We had watched a couple days before and had an idea of what to expect and had seen some other passengers try it out. One such passenger was this middle aged lady who was rather over weight and wearing a wet suit. I remember pre-judging her when I saw her in the line up, and boy did I misjudge, she got out there and rocked it! She was amazing. So the day we are in line, she is right in front of me. I asked her if she was a surfer and how she got so good. She told me her husband and her went to center in Texas and took lessons and both really enjoyed it. Anyway, the crowd watching of course really cheers for her, and then I'm next! Haha, I do ok, the guy running the show helps me get on and I mange to stay standing for a bit, but stay pretty much in one place. I think the crowd pity cheered me! Either way, it was lots of fun!

 That evening was another formal night. Along with the lobster tail I had escargot. It was good, but mostly just garlic and melted butter!

 We loved this little monkey surprise!

That night we decided to check out one of the movies they show on deck. It was very windy and getting cooler and hard to hear, so we didn't last very long. 

Tomorrow - last day at sea and we are getting sad about that fact!

Cruise Day Five: Thursday, Feb 2, 2017 - Falmouth, Jamaica

Excerpt from my line a day journal: "Jamaica me crazy, ya mon! Great day zip lining, and tubing - I swam in the Martha Brae river. Tried the flo rider boogie board. Did the ship water slides."

Today was our last port and it was a good one. We woke up and had breakfast on the ship before getting off at the port of Falmouth, Jamaica. We docked right at the port, which is only a few years old and very nice. We heard throughout our travels that Jamaica didn't have the nicest or safest port, and so that's why they built this new one. It was like an airport in that you had to show your passport (or cruise ID) to get back into the port, so there were not a lot of locals around, unless they were employees. We heard some people left port to walk around and didn't have the best experience, so it was definitely worth it and probably necessary to have an excursion here. 

We had a great day! Our excursion was an adventure pass. We got on a very nice and large tour bus to drive out to our excursion. The bus driver was fabulous and gave us a great tour as we drove around with lots of interesting facts about the local area. We passed the home town and high school that Usain Bolt went to. It was about a 45 min drive. We then met up with our group. First we did zip lining. This was lots of fun, we did about 6 traverses throughout the rain forest. They weren't extremely high or anything, from talking to my Mom and Dad, sounds like their's was little more exciting in Belize...I think, but it was still scenic and very cool.

Next we went tubing along the Martha Brae River. This was another bonus that we didn't realize was part of our excursion. We got in tubes that were connected and there was only about 8 of us. The tour guide led us and paddled his way through towing us along while he talked about the native land.

 Below you can see someone zip lining above us. They had a few different courses, depending on the package you bought, I don't believe we did that one.

When we were done the tour guide said we could jump in and swim around. No one seemed interested, including Chris. I wanted to but was a little hesitant to be the only one. But then I thought, I'm here, I probably won't be again, it's hot, and I want to swim, so I ran and jumped in! It was refreshing and the tour guide jumped in after me. Now I can say I swam in the Martha Brae.

 After the tubing we did a high ropes course that was just self guided on a man-made structure. We met another couple from Alberta and the husband took a bunch of pictures of us, but we never ended up getting any.

Once we were done we decided to head back to the ship. We stopped and shopped a bit in port. I got a towel and magnet for myself. (Which reminds me, we did also shop in Grand Cayman, that's where we got the girls little back packs).

After a bite to eat on the ship we decided to check out some of the water activities on board.

Below is us still docked at Falmouth.

 You can see the port, it's very nice.

 Here's the track on the ship that Chris and I would run. We actually liked to run on deck four, because it went all the way around on the boat, but later we found out there were signs and you weren't actually supposed to run on deck 4.

More of beautiful Jamaica.

Having fun!

The flo rider! It wasn't too busy yet so we got in a few turns, but you didn't get a lot of time out there if you wiped out....which of course we did ;)

 We also did some water sliding. They had three slides which were pretty great. One had a whole light show in it with a timer. I guess one of the on board activities was the fastest water slider challenge, but we missed that one.

We had another delicious meal in the dining room. By now we had gotten to know another couple (a bit older than us) that sat at the table next to ours, so we'd catch up on the activities we did that day. I'm pretty sure this night we went to an Impressionist Show...where the guy does impressions, mostly celebrity that you would know and such. It was much better than I expected and we both laughed and enjoyed it.

 Towel bunny to end the night!

Cruise Day Four: Wednesday, Feb 1, 2017 - Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Excerpt from my line a day journal: "The BEST day! Beautiful, sunny, & hot Grand Cayman, 7-mile beach, so fun to experience this with Chris. Exercised in the am, delicious dinner, games, and walking around the ship at night."

My journal is right, this was such a great day and maybe even my favorite. We got to Georgetown, Grand Cayman around 10 am. Chris and I slept in a little and worked out. We grabbed a bigger breakfast before heading out for the day. We didn't have an excursion booked and were told we could go to the 7-mile beach for free and that it was amazing. At this port the ship didn't dock, but weighed anchor. We then got on a ferry that took us to shore.

Excited for a beach day!

Passed a fun little pirate ship obviously for show.

When we got to shore we walked around port and little and found out we could take a taxi - or shuttle van - down to the beach. We paid about $2 each and they crammed this van full and drove us to the beach, which was really the parking lot of a hotel that had an entrance to the beach. Again, I think we paid $2 each to get in, but I think if we had a  walked a little further we could have gone through another hotel or condo's lot for free, but anyway, no big deal. The beach was beautiful! We decided to walk a ways to get away from the crowds which was totally worth it. Today was what I dreamed a beach would be. It was sunny and hot. We lay on the sand till it was too hot and then swam in the ocean. We got up and leisurely walked some more, and then repeated the whole process!

You can see our cruise boats in the distance. You have to be careful, everything looks closer than it really is. When we were on a walk we thought we'd make it to this large building down the beach, but soon realized that was way farther than we expected and turned around much earlier. Just ask Grandma and Grandpa Cutts their experience about walking back to their cruise boat!

 Ready to party Grand Cayman style!

Ahh, looking at these pictures makes me wish I was there again. What a beautiful spot!

We got back to the boat around 4 pm ish and had an early dinner/afternoon snack. One of our favorite spots on the boat was the Pizzeria. It was open 24 hours a day and had delicious pizza. I created my own by getting cheese pizza and having them put bruschetta on top...so good! We made lots of little stops at this place! 

After dinner we walked around the boat, did some window shopping at their stores, went to one of the music trivia games in one of the lounges, and generally had a fabulous time.

Cruise Day Three: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2017 Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Excerpt from my line a day journal: "Docked in Cozumel and ferried to Playa Del Carmen, Underground Mayan Cenote. Mayan authentic lunch with Rice water - not bad, spicy food. Beach for a little and back on the boat."

Today was our first excursion and we were pumped! We were up early and off the boat just before 7 am. We docked right in Cozumel and could walk right off the boat, but our excursion was on the mainland in Playa Del Carmen, so we took about a 35 minute ferry. We then met up with our group. We were going to the Underground Mayan Cenotes. For the first hour while we waited for our shuttle we did some window shopping. They have quite a modern shopping district with Old Navy and the Gap, and then other touristy shops.

 On the dock in Cozumel. Below is our boat, The Liberty of the Seas.

 At the beach in Playa Del Carmen. It was still early and not hot yet...I was waiting and wanting hot!

 These are the cenotes we went in in Mexican's Yucatan Peninsula. "Cenote water is often very clear, as the water comes from rain water filtering slowly through the ground, and therefore contains very little suspended particulate matter. The groundwater flow rate within a cenote may be very slow. In many cases, cenotes are areas where sections of cave roof have collapsed revealing an underlying cave system, and the water flow rates may be much faster: up to 10 kilometers (6 mi) per day." (from Wikipedia)

 They weren't exactly what I was expecting, but very cool. The water was not warm, but not cold. It was very dark and there were bats all above us.

 Below is where the ceiling of the cave had completed collapsed and we could see up to the sky. Most of the cenotes we went in didn't have that.

 Chris saved the day in our group. One of the ladies dropped her flashlight which was a rental, and Chris dove down about 10 feet (with his life jacket on) and retrieved it!

 In some areas the roof got very low. You aren't supposed to touch any of the rock formations (caused my Calcium build up) above or below you. It got a little tricky at times!

 This area had a calcium and mineral build up that is supposed to be a great exfoliate, but I had gotten a spray tan before we left, so I wasn't interested, haha!

 The surprise of the day was we got an authentic meal included. We ate in one of the cenotes which provided a fun and authentic atmosphere and the food was very tasty. 

 After lunch we went on a short hike and then had to sit through a long presentation about Tequila where they had free samples, we opted out.

We got back to the beach and had about an hour before our ferry would leave. It was finally getting hot so we soaked in the sun and swam in the Ocean. A great end to our time in Playa Del Carmen.

 We were back on the boat just before 5 pm. We showered and went for dinner and walked around the ship. I do not like the picture of me below at all, but it shows how windy it was! I think we went to a comedy show tonight, which was great and had us laughing all night.

 Towel elephant! Next day, Grand Cayman!!