Honeymoon Vacation

What a relaxing week! I definitely caught up on my sleep that week. The cruise ship was amazing! I had never cruised before so I had no idea what to expect when we pulled up to the pier. We got on the ship around 1 p.m. and did not leave Galveston til 5 p.m. We went to check out our little room and what there was to do on the boat. One of our first stops was the Champagne Bar. Ben started off with a bloody mary and I had a strawberry daiquiri. Later on before leaving port, we had a muster drill in case of an emergency. (Sure glad we didn't cause there is no way our whole group was fitting in that little boat!) We also checked out the casino (which we never walked away winning), Broadway Melodies Theatre, The Windjammer Cafe (which the food there was pretty bad), and the beautiful 2 story dining room. From there we went back to the room for some r&r and then got ready for dinner. We ate every dinner in the dining room. Our service was great! Menchie and Marion really knew how to take care of us. Can't tell you how many little poppy sead rolls I ate that week! They were fabulous. We ate everything from shrimp cocktail, calamari, steak, chicken, lobster, fish, salads, soups, pasta & shrimp, and even a little duck. Dessert was just as good as the main course. Some nights we tried all of our options! By the end of dinner (around 10:30) we were so exhausted we usually stopped for one last drink at the Schooner Bar and headed back to our stateroom.

We had 2 full days at sea before stopping in Jamaica. We had 2 excursions planned for our stay in Jamaica. First was the Dolphin Cove. Here we got to swim with a dolphin named Mitch. He came from the waters in Mexico. Mitch did several tricks to show off his talents and then also came up to each person in our group and gave us kisses. We were not allowed to bring underwater cameras in the water with us so I do not have any pictures from this wonderful experience. I do have a video and pictures we purchased that came out really good. After saying goodbye to Mitch we headed over to the famous Dunn's River Falls waterfall. This was spectacular! We were in a group with about 20 people lead by our tour guide Mike and camera man Quinn. We all had to form a chain holding hands to climb the falls. This took us about 45 minutes to climb from the bottom to the top. We all had to wear water shoes because the rocks could become slippery. There were different areas of the falls where the water was deeper in parts. Mike had us slide down a rock, fall backwards into the deep waters, and pose for lots of pictures under the falling waters. This was definitely our best activity planned!

The next day we were in Grand Cayman. Here we went to the beach and enjoyed the clear waters and blue skies. We rented some snorkel equipment and headed out to see some underwater life. It was amazing how close the fish came to us and how clear the water was. In waters that were at least 10 feet deep you could see clear to the bottom! After the beach we headed over to Jimmy Buffett's Margartitaville restaurant. Of course we both had Cheeseburgers in Paradise with french fries. The food was very good! It was also Pirate Week in Grand Cayman and we had our picture taken with a couple from NC that come out every year and dress up for this popular event. After getting back on the boat, we went back and got cleaned up for dinner. That evening was our first formal evening on the boat. I wore a new black dress and Ben wore a grey shirt and tie. I love to get dressed up! Wish we did it more often.

Our last port of call was Cozumel. We had decided that we were going to try to parasail or snorkel again. However, when we got off the boat the winds were so strong and the water was so rough that we were unable to do both. So....we decided to walk off some of the food we had been eating all week and walked about 8 miles from one end of the pier to the other and back. It was very humid that day and we were both sweating like crazy. We stopped in a mexican cafe and had some homeade salsa and guacamole dip. Probably the best I have ever had! We walked through several shops and bought a few souvenirs. It felt good to get out and walk!

We had another formal evening that night and I wore the watermelon colored dress and Ben wore a white shirt and tie that matched my dress. For dinner that evening they served lobster. We couldn't get enough it was so good!

From there, we had one full day left at sea. So we enjoyed the pool, watched a movie in the theatre, played a few games, and took a nap. Overall we had a wonderful time. It felt like we had a good break away from work and home. Enjoy some of our pictures! (Click on the plus and minus sign to speed up or slow down the slideshow.)