After leaving Belize City that evening, we sailed north to
Cozumel, Mexico. During our last visit
to Cozumel, the CFO and I went on an off-roading dune buggy excursion and had a
ton of fun. We hadn't pre-booked an activity this time and we decided
that, since we had done excursions on the two previous days, we would just hang
out on the ship all morning and then roam around the stores in downtown Cozumel
the afternoon. Since we stayed on the
ship all morning, I was able to hang out and surf at the flow rider. Did I mention that I enjoyed the flow
rider??? There were only 5-6 of us there, so we pretty much had it to ourselves.
After surfing, the CFO and I ate a snack and then hit the
streets in search of who knows what. We
ended up not buying anything because what we found was too expensive... she
found some jewelry (of course) that she liked and I found a watch that I liked,
but everything was over our budget.
Plus, even though the ship companies have relationships with some of the
jewelry places, it still makes me kind of nervous buying it in a foreign
country. Maybe I’m just a bit paranoid…
After a few hours of shopping we headed back to the ship for
another snack and then we sat on our balcony watching everyone come back to the
ship on the pier below. Soon enough it
was time to get ready for dinner, Formal night #2 which is also known as
“lobster tail night.” The CFO and mom both enjoyed lobster while dad and I
opted for beef instead. After dinner,
the CFO and I made the rounds to several photographer stands before heading to
the late show at the theater.
Mom and Dad dressed for dinner
We clean up well... nice sunset with storm clouds too.
Saturday, our last day on board, was spent at sea, sailing
back to Galveston. It was a nice day,
even if the line for the flow rider was impossibly long. A lot of the people who had been spectating
all week decided that they would take this last change to try it, which meant
that I wasn't willing to stand in the line for it. The CFO and I went to the on board art
auction, but didn't see anything that we really liked. It was interesting to watch the limited
action, but due the limited number of people on the ship looking for art, there weren't a lot of bidding battles. We also spent some time going through all of our photos at the ship's photo center (over 100 taken through the week) before settling on 4 8x10's for us and/or relatives.
That evening, we had to do the one thing the CFO dreads
most… pack. If you want the crew to haul
your bags off the ship (trust me, you want them to do it for you), then they
have to be placed in the hallway by 10pm on the final night. We got everything packed and headed off to
our final dinner in the dining room.
Since this trip was originally scheduled for our anniversary in
November, the crew thought that it was our anniversary. It was technically our 7.5 year anniversary,
so we let a group of the dining room staff sing the happy anniversary song for us. We also had our two waiters pose with us for this photo:
As you can see, these guys were pretty happy and had a good
sense of humor. At dinner on our first
night, our waiter asked if the CFO and I had kids, to which I replied, “No we
don’t, do you?” He replied with a dead
straight face, “In every port” and then walked away. I'm guessing he's used that line before, but I still found it very funny. Our waiter was from Hungary and the assistant waiter was from the
Philippines. They quickly learned our
names and our preferences on drinks, bread, side dishes, etc. and we looked
forward to seeing them at dinner every night. If only we could get this level of service at the restaurants that we go to at home!
I enjoy taking time to talk with the crew members and I am
always amazed when they talk about their schedule, 7 months on, working EVERY
day, and then 2 months off. Sure, 2
months off sounds nice, but I don’t know how they can continue to be happy and
enthusiastic week after week, but they manage to do it. A lot of them have families at home, so I
guess they are making enough money to make the time apart worthwhile.
This towel character was waiting for us in our room one night (that's the TV remote on his lap)
We took one last stroll around the ship on Saturday night
and then headed to bed. When we woke up
Sunday morning, the ship was in Galveston’s port and was easing its way up to the
cruise terminal. We ran down to the
dining room for one last serving of French toast and then went to our assigned
waiting area (the Theater) before departing the ship. A news channel was playing on the screen
above the stage and we were welcomed back to reality with news of shootings,
politics, and other crap. We were
definitely longing for another week of obliviousness on board the ship.
After leaving the ship, we had a short walk through customs
and then we boarded a bus to the airport.
Our flight to Atlanta was on time and we said bye to mom and dad at the
Atlanta airport, before flying the rest of the way home to Bloomington. We got home around 10:30 pm Sunday night and
were very happy to know that Monday was Memorial Day, so I didn't have to go to
work! Of course, our grass was super
tall so I spent a majority of the day getting the yard back under control…
A few more photos and a video:
The Navigator of the Seas being dwarfed by it's big sister, the Allure of the Seas
The CFO had seafood every night...
Mom and dad were just two doors down from us
Snack time on the balcony
And, finally, the view from our balcony while at sea:
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