Cruise: Part 3

 

Day 6

We woke up in Cozumel! We had another excursion planned. We were pretty nervous about this one. It was a long one and we were being quite adventurous (at least for us) and we were wondering if we had made a large mistake. Kirk and his family were doing clear kayaking and snorkeling in Cozumel and we were wondering if maybe we should have chosen something tamer like that!

We left the ship at 7:30 am feeling excited and also slightly trepidatious. Cozumel was beautiful!

We had to find and board a speed boat ferry type thing to take us to another part of Mexico. They call it a "Fast Ferry" and I will call this the Barf Barge because that is what it was...it was horrifying. We were so glad that we decided to forgo breakfast that morning!!

We grabbed our seats and tried to look out of a window. Not possible. The windows are covered with an opaque film and we couldn't see out. The boat was super rocky as was the water. Not being able to see where we were going and just feeling all of that movement was not good!

I didn't understand what was happening when people all around us started raising their hands. It was for barf bags that were being handed out left and right. About 10 minutes into our 45 minute ferry ride over two-thirds of the passengers on the boat were puking. It was unreal. Thank goodness for our seasickness patches!! They did the trick! I would've been throwing up for sure! I get car sick. But I've never seen anything like that in my life and definitely not on that scale. There were people throwing up everywhere you looked. Thank goodness they were cranking the AC at maximum capacity so I just closed my eyes to what was happening around me. It was quite the experience!

When we docked we got into another van and drove another hour to an adventure park where we would be zip lining. This time we drove through several cities. Driving in Mexico isn't for the faint of heart nor is it to be a passenger in a 12 person van!! It was raining while we drove; and when we arrived at our destination it was also thundering and lightening. I wondered if our ziplining would be cancelled due to the thunder and lightening. Nope. We were immediately helped into our ziplining gear and told to climb up the nearest platform. Okay...

Thankfully when we got to the top of the first platform the rain stopped and the thunder and lightening moved away from us. I guess those fervent prayers worked!! LOL. For our ziplining adventure we did five different platforms. When the description says that you must be in good physical shape to do this; they aren't lying. The stairs on those platforms were NO JOKE to climb!! The views looking out over the jungle were so amazing though and the ziplining was SO FUN!!

Brynnie

Me

Tyler was always the first one to go and I was always the last so I don't have any pictures of him which is a bummer!! At a couple of the platforms you could zipline in tandem and he and Bryn went together. Needless to say we had a BLAST!!

For the last platform Bryn opted to do the hammock. She also had to remind them to actually strap her in. Gulp. Tyler and I declined the hammock option and just did a normal zipline run. She had fun and she didn't fall out so... yeah.

We loved ziplining!! It was fun and intense!! Most of the pictures that Tyler took of me are screaming and will NOT be posted here but I was screaming with joy! LOL. This was me and Tyler's second time ziplining but our first time was on a much smaller scale. This was Bryn's very first time and she loved it too. A woman in our group totally freaked out after the first platform and had to climb down and be driven back to the start. Yikes.

After ziplining we got back into our van and drove to a cenote. This was probably my favorite part of the whole day!! I love water in all of its forms and the cenote was incredible.

Bryn heading down into the cenote.

Bryn and I loved it and swam all over in the cenote exploring. In some parts the roof was very low and there wasn't a lot of space between the water and the *roof.* I guess that is what you would call it or top of the cave? There were so many stalactites and stalagmites. Also the water was very deep so you needed to be a great water treader if you didn't inflate your life vest. Bryn and I are but Tyler had a wee bit of a panic attack in the cenote. Claustrophobia really kicked in and he didn't inflate his life vest and had to tread water like a maniac. He did eventually inflate the vest and was fine just floating. I was busy keeping an eye on Bryn who was diving down and exploring all of the underwater tunnels. There were also a ton of bats on the ceiling/roof of the cenote. That was a bit unsettling. After our swim we had lunch there and then got in the van again and drove to Tulum where we snorkeled in a lagoon. Also very fun!!

This was our first time snorkeling in the ocean and seeing tropical fish!! It was absolutely stunning to see all of the beautifully colored fish swimming around us. We were all pretty awestruck! I do not enjoy fish normally but this had an other worldly quality about it.

On our hour and a half drive back to our speedboat puke ferry we had our first Mexican Sprites. Delicious! People make a big deal about Mexican Coke but their Sprite is fantastic and I don't even normally like Sprite!! Bryn also had a memorable time using a Mexican public restroom...no toilet seats. LOL. That was a first for her! We got back on the vomit express and luckily didn't have any issues. Not so the people around us but not *quite* as bad as that morning. 45 LONG minutes later and we were back in Cozumel. Kirk and Meki and their group had fun on their clear kayaking adventure. They had a memorable time too! So many stories to tell. 

It was a LONG but fun adventure filled day!! 

We got back to the ship and then had to shower and get dressed for another formal night. This time our group all had dinner together at another one of the specialty restaurants on the ship called Chops. It was a steak house. It was good but I liked Izumi better. It was fun to hear about everyone's adventures and misadventures!! After dinner it was the ship's 70s party. We slugged down some redbulls and headed to the party!

It was another fun and late night!!

Day 7

We were so tired from our adventures from the day before that we all slept in until 10 am! We hung out with Kirk and Meki that morning and then had lunch at the Windjammer Café. Tyler and I headed to the photography studio to pick out and purchase some of our cruise pictures. All the shops onboard were having clearance sales so Bryn and I bought souvenirs for everyone. I bought a cute purse and got one for Ailey too.

When we headed out to the pool the Sexiest Man Contest was going on. Imagine my shock (and horror) when I saw that KIRK was one of the contestants!! I couldn't believe my eyes! I kept saying "That's my brother!!!" "OMG that's Kirk up there!!" My nephew, Tarren, entered him into the contest as a joke. Kirk had been lounging pool side when they called his name. At first he was annoyed but then he was a good sport. When I saw him he had already made several cuts and was in the top 4. Then he made the top 3 and then the top 2!! He was dancing and being charming (as he is!). We were screaming and cheering for him and voting for him! He came in 2nd!! The guy that won did a back flip and that sealed the deal. That guy was also a good 20 years younger than Kirk! LOL. Kirk was a low key celebrity for the rest of the cruise!! Ha ha!!

Second Sexiest Man...LOL!!

After the contest was over, Kirk and I were sitting next to each other on the edge of the pool, and this guy said to Kirk gesturing to me..."She is REALLY into you dude!! She was cheering for you like crazy!" We both nearly vomited. I said horrified, "I'm his SISTER!!" Ew. Then the guy started flirting with me since I was clearly available. Thank goodness the true sexiest man on board came back to the pool with pina coladas in hand and sent my little *friend* on his way!! 

Definitely the sexiest man onboard...no contest necessary!!

We spent all of our last day poolside. I wish we would've had an extra relaxing day in between our two excursions. I love going on excursions but I also lounging by the pool!

That evening our big group all went to the ice skating show. That was really fun! Then we had our last big dinner together on the cruise. We were all pretty sad that this vacation was coming to an end.

We really enjoyed having Bryn on the cruise with us and getting to experience this with her!!

I loved being out on our balcony and seeing the sun rise and set. I loved watching the stars and the water. Nearly every time that I was out on our balcony so was Kirk and he would do his "Oh Yoohoo!"

It was really fun to experience the cruise with Kirk and his family and also our friend Julie. We were all so sad to see it ending. That night Tyler and I saw six shooting stars. We also saw a drunk idiot throw a chair off of one of the decks. Unbelievable.

Day 8

The next morning we were all up early and feeling melancholy. Tyler, Kirk, Meki, and I all stood on our balconies watching the sunrise as we approached Galveston. 

Dolphins were swimming in the bay. It was beautiful!

We finished packing and then all went to breakfast together. There were mopey faces all around. This cruise turned out to be so much fun for all of us. We made some amazing memories together. Then, sadly, it was time to disembark. We said goodbye to our Utah contingent.  The tears were flowing. They were headed back to Houston and then to the airport. I was really glad that the 3rd leg of our trip was just beginning. It helped with the post cruise depression!

The disembarking flowed pretty quickly. It was a little stressful for us since we didn't know what we were doing but it went surprisingly fast. In no time we found ourselves through the port of entry and out on the curb in the blazing Texas heat! Tyler called us a Lyft and it was there in literally one minute. Our driver drove us to the car rental at Hobby airport and in no time at all we were in our rental car and on our way to Waco! More Texas adventures to come!

Cruise: Part 2

Day 3

We were up early and drove to Galveston. We turned in our rental car and caught the shuttle for our ship. Kirk and Meki and their group had arrived in Galveston the night before and were headed to the ship too but were about 10 minutes ahead of us. While in the shuttle we chatted with another group of cruisers. They were seasoned and had all kinds of advice for us. They were going to be dropped off at another cruise line. They were so excited for us to go on our first cruise and told us that we would LOVE it!! They told us that they take two cruises a year and that it's their favorite way to travel. It was pretty impressive as we drove past ship after ship until we got to the Royal Caribbean Pier and saw our giant ship. It was exciting! 

The whole process was pretty slick. We were dropped off, our luggage taken, and were ushered through the maze that is embarkation. It happened so fast that I didn't even have time to grab a picture of any of it. Just this cheesy one that they take as you get onboard. I took some video after our mustering and upon actually entering the ship. It was so fun to see Bryn's face and her excitement!

We immediately found Kirk and our group! It was so good to see everyone and it was extra fun that we were all embarking on this adventure together. Kirk and Meki brought three of their four kids: our nephew Tarren, our niece Kaiya, and our nephew Kirin. Our good friend Julie was also along for the trip too! She was the only one of our group who had cruised before. 

The ship was pretty cool in a Las Vegas Hotel/Casino type way. That's what it really reminded me of. If you took a Las Hotel/Casino like the Bellagio or something and put it on the water. While we waited for our rooms to be ready we all went and had lunch at the Windjammer Café. We had a great time catching up. The food was pretty good. I liked the Indian entrees the best. Everyone else got burgers or salads. The biggest disappointment was the desserts. There were so many and they were so beautiful but they tasted terrible. Boo. After lunch our rooms still weren't ready so we explored the ship and hunkered down at one of the bars. Drinks were flowing and Tyler and I had some very good virgin cocktails. 

Finally we got the announcement that the staterooms were ready. We all had booked on the 8th floor. We heard that the higher the room the less swaying you feel. That morning while still in The Woodlands, Tyler, Bryn, and I put on our seasickness patches that we got from our doctors for the cruise. I didn't know if we would feel seasick so better to be safe than sorry. I had friends who got seasick on a cruise and it made the entire cruise miserable. Apparently it takes several days to acclimate so they told us to wear the patches!! 

Our group had four staterooms. Kirk, Meki, and Kirin were in the stateroom one door down from us, Julie was a few doors down from us on the other side, and Tarren and Kaiya had a room next door to Julie's. We all had balcony rooms and I'm so glad that we did. Our balcony was my favorite part of our cruise! Despite it being hot and humid, I spent a lot of time out there!

Here are a few pictures of our stateroom:

We unpacked and then it was time for the Sail Away Party.

We all went up to the upper deck for the Sail Away party. The DJ had music and dance contests going. People were already in the pool! Drinks were flowing! Bryn and her cousins were already in their swim suits and living their best lives. 

Tyler and I were not in our swimsuits but we were enjoying our virgin pina coladas! Here are a few things that were different than I thought they would be: It's hella windy up on the deck. Like scrape your hair into a pony tail immediately windy! Like wear shorts under any dress windy! The Love Boat did not prepare me for that! It was also so hot and humid! The lounge chairs burned your butt and the sun would burn your face within minutes. Not quite what I had envisioned!! LOL.

But it was really cool to see Galveston from the water. A city that I have been to many times. We also saw dolphins jumping in the bay. Very cool! That is always a special sight to see!

We retreated to a shady spot ASAP! Much better!!

After the Sail Away party we walked all over the ship, explored, and figured out where everything was located. There was free pizza 24 hours a day at the Café Promenade. They also had sandwiches and desserts. Bryn and Tyler were thrilled and helped themselves immediately!! The cheese pizza was really good. Even I liked it. Tyler and I went to the first time cruisers meeting. Interesting.

We had late dinner reservations in the main dining room that night. The dining room was pretty spectacular. It was four floors.

Our group had a table reserved in the dining room every night for all of us. It was so fun to talk about all that we had already done and seen that day!! Our food was okay. The escargot and Boston cream pie were the highlights. The desserts in the main dining room were better than at the Windjammer Cafe. Thank goodness! How do you ruin dessert?!

Since our dinner reservations were for 8pm and it was a little after 10 pm by the time we were done eating; everyone did their own thing after dinner. We had a whole bunch of different age groups in our party! Including a sleepy 8 year old. Tarren and Kaiya went to the club, Bryn hung out with them for a bit and then she was exhausted so went back to our stateroom and fell asleep. Kirk turned in early with Kirin. Meki and Julie went to keep an eye on the older kids. That freed up Tyler and I to do some more exploring. We went to the back of the boat and watched the wake which was pretty cool! Then we wanted to find some dessert so we headed back to the Café Promenade and grabbed some of their hot cookies. Then we headed back to our stateroom. Bryn was sound asleep. We sat out on our balcony and watched the millions of stars and the water. It was so peaceful and relaxing. We had a great time and went to bed at around 1:30 am.

Day 4

We woke up to the most stunning view out of our windows and off of our balcony. It was GLORIOUS!! We were at sea and sailing all day. We slept in and skipped breakfast. We got ready and went to lunch in the main dining room. 

Kirk and his group are early risers and were out at the pool already. They had their lunch pool side. What is really fun about a cruise is that everyone can do what they want but you see each other a lot! We all got some bummer news though. Our excursion for the next day was cancelled. Our whole group had booked a beach and jeep excursion in Costa Maya for the next day. Tyler and Kirk stood in line for forever to try to book another excursion and most were sold out. There was nothing that could accommodate our party of nine. There was an opening for a Mayan ruins excursion. Kirk and his group weren't interested in doing that because they have all done things like that before on previous trips to Mexico. They got on the waiting list for a swim with the dolphins excursion but nothing was guaranteed. We took the opening for the ruins excursion. We were excite to see the ruins but disappointed that we couldn't all do an excursion together. Especially because that was the only excursion that we had all planned to do together.

After lunch we did some shopping at the stores on the ship. We were told that there would be a drawing for a piece of jewelry at the jewelry store onboard. Bryn and I both entered and so did Julie. We also all got to try on some beautiful pieces of jewelry for fun! When the time for the drawing came around Bryn, Julie, Tyler, and were I crammed into the jewelry store. BRYN WON!! A pink sapphire necklace. I couldn't believe it! Julie and I were screaming and jumping up and down. She almost didn't even realize that her number had been called and asked them to repeat it. Sure enough! Bryn won! It was so funny to see a jewelry store filled with grown women (some very wealthy) who really wanted that necklace. It was pretty cool that it went to Bryn. I can't think of a more deserving person!

After Bryn's exciting win we all went to one of the theaters to play Bingo. We waited in line for forever only to find out that they were out of markers and cards. Bummer. The theater was huge!

Then it was back out to the pool for most of our group. A storm started rolling in and it looked so cool! Kirk, Tyler, Bryn, and I headed to the bow of the ship to have our Titanic "I'm the King of the World" moment. Just when Bryn and I got our chance everyone had to be evacuated because there was lightening. Shoot!! So close!! The wind was insane and we could barely walk. It was so pretty though!!

We headed back to our balconies to watch the storm. 

Kirk and Julie 

That night was formal night so we all had to get glammed up! Bryn and I brought one hair straightener between us and it decided to stop working that night! NOOOO!! That stupid hair straightener didn't work for the rest of the cruise but worked fine once we were back in Texas. The plugs on the ship are weird. I think it shorted out or something. But formal night turned out to be pretty fun!! It was so enjoyable to see everyone in their formal attire. Everything from super formal to less formal. I loved the extra dressed up peeps.

Headed to dinner! Bryn wearing her new jewels!

They had photographers come around and take pictures of everyone. I am glad that they did! I love these pictures!

Back Row: Meki, Kaiya, Bryn, Julie

Front Row: Kirk, Tarren, Kirin, Me, Tyler

After dinner we all went to the big theater to see the Ode to Broadway show. It turned out to be really fun! That bar had the best virgin pina coladas on the entire ship! I'm not really a "go to a show" type person but I embraced it on the cruise and ended up really enjoying the variety of entertainment.

Another late night and another night out on our balcony until the wee hours of the morning. I can't get enough of the water, the sky, and the stars. I love that Tyler enjoys it too.

Day 5

This was our first day at port. We woke up in Costa Maya. It was so exhilarating! This was the view from our balcony.

Look at the color of that water!! Dreamy!

We hung out with Kirk and Meki and family while waiting to get off the ship. Their "stand by" excursion fell through and they ended up with no excursion which was pretty disappointing. They were all going to get off the ship and hang out in Costa Maya. There were things to see and do there. We left them rather wistfully and headed to our excursion. 

The whole getting off the ship at port was interesting! It was fun to look back and see how big our ship was!!

Our ship was the Royal Caribbean Voyager.

We boarded our van and drove with our guide the one hour and 10 minute drive to the Chacchoben ruins. 

Driving through Mexica was fascinating. My only other visit to Mexico was going to Nogales with my high school bestie while we were on spring break in Arizona our junior year. It was especially eye opening for Bryn as we passed through the countryside and villages. 

We arrived at our excursion location and had so much fun! Chacchoben was amazing!

We had a great and very knowledgeable guide. There were only eight of us on the excursion so we could all ask a lot of questions. We learned a lot and enjoyed it immensely.

This was the first pyramid that we saw.

The site was initially settled by the Mayans around 200 BC with the majority of the structures built around 700 AD. By 360 AD Chaccohoben had become the largest community in the region and the most prestigious ceremonial center. Today there are three excavated pyramids and walls and staircases. There is another pyramid that remains covered in vegetation and unexcavated. 

Our guide

These ruins were some of the stairs that once led to wealthy homes in the village.

This guy next to Tyler was on our excursion with his daughter. He is someone famous...an actor??  I have yet to figure out who he is. If you know...let me know. LOL.

One of the larger pyramids.

Another pyramid.

Learning all about the Mayans and their rituals was interesting and horrifying. We saw where they would perform human sacrifice and were the blood would collect and then flow. The jungle flora and fauna were captivating too. We saw an iguana, some monkeys high up in the trees, and a few armadillos!!

We also had some of the best fruit popsicles and ice cream bars of our lives!!

Then we headed back to the Costa Maya port. We looked around for a bit before boarding our ship again. 

All the ship things were fascinating to us. Boating on a GIANT scale! We had such a fun time and our first excursion was a definite success!!

That night the adults of our party had reservations at Izumi, the Japanese restaurant, on the ship. We showered and got ready for that. It was also Polynesian night. This was the best that Tyler and I could do. Sad. ;)

This was a really fun night! We were tired but I am so glad that we did an *adults* dinner. This was the best meal that we had onboard. The sushi was delicious and we are all sushi aficionados so we were happy about that and the dessert was delicious too. The rest of the food on the cruise continued to be meh at best. Eating in the specialty restaurants is the way to go albeit an expensive way to go. The kids had a great time eating together in the main dining room. Here they are in their Polynesian attire.

They looked pretty cute! Also Tarren is hardly a kid...he is 26...ha ha! But a kid to all of us! They had fun together and enjoyed not having their parents around. 

After dinner we all went the comedy show and it was also really good! I am shocked at how much I enjoyed the shows. Again...those fabulous pina coladas. Tyler went with the virgin strawberry daiquiri this time. Big mistake. LOL.

It was nice that Bryn could just do her own thing. She and Kaiya would hang out and then when Kaiya went off to go to the club with Tarren late at night; Bryn would head back to her bunk in our room. She was the cutest little roomie!!

Tyler and I stayed out late and then head to our balcony for more star and water gazing. So beautiful. I also REALLY loved seeing this location pop up on my weather app.

Something about that was just so magical!!