I love traveling with my kids. I have not traveled without them in almost 3 years. I decided to take the plunge and take my mom on a cruise without any of my little ones or my grown up ones. I was pretty stressed about leaving them. The little ones were definitely worried about being away from me. After intense planning for everything that could go wrong and coordination a lot of schedules I was ready... not to go. If I had not already paid for it, I would have canceled. That was the amount of freak out I was having. However, I went, I conquered and I am glad I did. I had hoped to have a ton of photos to share with you but I did not take many. I had my camera with me at all times but I didn't use it much. Turns out, without my kids, I don't know what to photograph. Then my camera had a flip out. I apologize in advance. Here is the breakdown of our 5 Day Cruise on the Carnival Triumph with visits to Cozumel and Progreso Mexico.
We started out on Sunday around 2:00 P.M. at exactly the time the rain decided to pour down. Thus turning our 5 hour drive into 7 hours. We had the joy of driving through all of the Dallas area with very little visibility. Defiantly stressful. Then we took a wrong turn going though Houston and ended up... somewhere in Houston driving behind horse drawn carriages. This is a big deal because my mom completely freaks out about Houston. Rain and wrong turns considered it was an okay drive. Not great, but okay.
Our first stop was the Beachcomber Inn. Which is a small cheap motel that I have stayed at before. Not luxury by any means but well worth the $45 that included breakfast. I accidentally booked a non smoking room out of habit. My mom improvised as you can see from the photo!
Our first stop was the Beachcomber Inn. Which is a small cheap motel that I have stayed at before. Not luxury by any means but well worth the $45 that included breakfast. I accidentally booked a non smoking room out of habit. My mom improvised as you can see from the photo!
Next on the agenda was food. Not having the kids on trip meant that we didn't need to stop for food or do much car snacking. No need to decide where to eat because I was had been craving the Shrimp Cocktail from THE SPOT for almost a year after discovering it on our last Galveston Trip. My mom opted for the burger with toppings from the topping bar. They were both amazing and worth the wait. Can I just take a moment to rave about the amount of avocado in that cocktail. Mouth watering. It was dark, so our window table only gave us of view of the dark beach and the seawall. A view of the beach at night is still better than no beach view at all!
With only an hour left before the Lights at Moody Gardens closed for the night, we decided to take a quick stroll through the display. I am not sure how, but we didn't start in the right area and did not make it all the way through before they shut them down. I know we missed a lot but we did get to see the Nativity Story. The light show starts every 5 minutes and includes an audible and visual telling of the the Christmas story with lighted displays. Moody Gardens had also added Chinese lanterns to their decor this year in the form of lighted under sea creatures and pandas. I wish we had more time to explore but it was still worth the ticket price.
Day 1: Embarkation Day.....Faster To The Fun.....
We awoke eager to board the ship. We did a tiny bit of sight seeing by car and did a little beach combing for shells to take back to the kids. It was much warmer than it was last January and perfect for exploring. We found an empty beach and I spent a few moments simply savoring the sound of the waves. We spotted a few birds and watched as one of them worked hard to drink beer from an abandoned can. We were on a beach, so I am pretty sure it wasn't water he was after. It was comical to watch him pursue the can, move it and drink out of it. Drunk birds? Who knew.
We set out to park the car. We used 81st Dolphin parking again. They are great. They greet you at your car, load your bags and take you to the cruise terminal right away. No need to wait for other passengers to fill the van. We were so close to the terminal, there was no need for a porter to take our luggage. We dropped them off and headed down to priority boarding. I had splurged again for the FTTF (faster to the fun). For an additional $50 per stateroom - not guest you are able to skip the lines to get on and off the ship faster. Another big perk is that your room is ready as soon as you board. Which was a big plus as I my mom and I both carried on water and cokes. Who wants to lug those around the ship for hours? There was a slight fog delay, but as soon boarding started we were on the ship dumping our carry on luggage in the room and off to explore our home for the next 5 days.
I think we spent most of the first day exploring and walking the ship. Our room was on deck 7 aft and turned out to be pretty great location after we got the hang of finding it and put up a door decoration to make it stand out. I quickly discovered that the aft area of the lido deck was never crowded... well except the hot tubs. It was great place to grab a table to eat, a chair to lounge in or just get away from the crowds. It was also close one of the outdoor smoking area which was convenient for mom.
Our luggage arrived early ( another FTTF perk) and I quickly unpacked. A perk of traveling without kids, is I was able to travel much lighter. missed the show that night, but our table mates said it was short and not impressive. We were at a table for 8 and our table mates were all great. We had a lot of laughs at dinner each night! Speaking of laughs, I made it to all the comedy shows except the ones on the last night. Carnival does a great job the Punchliner Comedy club. Our performers were Ken Rogerson & Jaime Lissow.
Our luggage arrived early ( another FTTF perk) and I quickly unpacked. A perk of traveling without kids, is I was able to travel much lighter. missed the show that night, but our table mates said it was short and not impressive. We were at a table for 8 and our table mates were all great. We had a lot of laughs at dinner each night! Speaking of laughs, I made it to all the comedy shows except the ones on the last night. Carnival does a great job the Punchliner Comedy club. Our performers were Ken Rogerson & Jaime Lissow.
Day 2: Sea Day & Elegant Night
Mom was up before the crack of dawn while I was content to sleep in. No kids waking me up and demanding odd things like cheese & chocolate milk. It was awesome. Once, I was up I felt a little lost. I really was not sure what to do with myself without the kids but the sunshine was calling my name. We tried out the hot tubs, enjoyed the sun, and grabbed food from Chopsticks and ate in the aft pool area. We people watched, watched the Master MixoIogy contest which was actually funny and entertaining. I stayed out side to watch the mens hairy chest contest, which is always funny, but Mom went to do something else... smoke? Eat? We spent most of this day eating, relaxing, eating and repeating the process.
While were on the subject of food and drinks. Let me tell you that some of the food was very good. Some of it was okay and a few things were disgusting. Food wise, this was not the best cruise cuisine. Overall, the deserts were great. The Chocolate Melting cake is always a win. The prime rib on elegant night was amazing. The lobster.. not so much. And, yes I ordered them both. You can do that you know. At dinner, you can order 2 entrees, desserts or starters. Or you can order 10. The portions are small so sometimes it is a good idea to order two different selections if you are trying something new.
The Alligater fritters, crab cakes, and steak were all great. The cold mango cream soup was something I never want to put in my mouth again. I did not care for any of the pasta dishes at all. I am very pasta picky. I noticed that none of my table mates enjoyed any of the soups that were served. Most of the fish dishes and vegetable dishes were good. The spinach covered meatballs from the buffet were one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. Even after brushing my teeth and having a drink that taste lingered.
Guys Burgers were very good. I regret that I only ate their twice. The first time I had the pig patty. It had a regular patty and one made of bacon. I don't even what to think of the calories. I also tried the burritos from the mexican grill but they just were not for me.
Now on to the drinks. Not the alcohol ones- carnival has those down, but the drinks included in the cruise. The lemon aid tastes okay. It made my stomach burn. The tea, as I remembered was terrible. Even with lemon and sugar, we could not drink it. However, we went and bought mugs and discovered that we could make our own iced tea from the hot water and tea bags at the drink station. It wasn't the most convent thing, and we were forever clogging up the condiment station but we ended up with drinkable free tea! I will move on now.
The Alligater fritters, crab cakes, and steak were all great. The cold mango cream soup was something I never want to put in my mouth again. I did not care for any of the pasta dishes at all. I am very pasta picky. I noticed that none of my table mates enjoyed any of the soups that were served. Most of the fish dishes and vegetable dishes were good. The spinach covered meatballs from the buffet were one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. Even after brushing my teeth and having a drink that taste lingered.
Guys Burgers were very good. I regret that I only ate their twice. The first time I had the pig patty. It had a regular patty and one made of bacon. I don't even what to think of the calories. I also tried the burritos from the mexican grill but they just were not for me.
Now on to the drinks. Not the alcohol ones- carnival has those down, but the drinks included in the cruise. The lemon aid tastes okay. It made my stomach burn. The tea, as I remembered was terrible. Even with lemon and sugar, we could not drink it. However, we went and bought mugs and discovered that we could make our own iced tea from the hot water and tea bags at the drink station. It wasn't the most convent thing, and we were forever clogging up the condiment station but we ended up with drinkable free tea! I will move on now.
Day 3: Progreso, Mexico & The Dzibilchaltun Mayan Ruins
This was my first trip to Progreso and my first ever Mayan Ruins tour. Touring ruins is just not the best idea with kids of varying ages and attention span so it had never been an option before. We booked our tour through Carnival which has its benefits and drawbacks. We paid more than if we had booked direct but we were guaranteed that the ship would not leave with out us if something went wrong. This was really important to keep my moms stress level down. I do feel the tour was worth the money but I think I would have enjoyed more time to explore on my own verses listening to the tour guide.
Don't get me wrong- he was a nice guy, a good guide and very knowledgeable about the Mayan Culture. The problem was that he spent a lot time talking about the Mayan Calendar and how they calculated the seasons. Which was interesting for the first 10 minutes and after that it just made my head hurt. Math. There was counting and thinking and my brain doesn't work with numbers. My mom lost interest in what he had to say long before I did.
Don't get me wrong- he was a nice guy, a good guide and very knowledgeable about the Mayan Culture. The problem was that he spent a lot time talking about the Mayan Calendar and how they calculated the seasons. Which was interesting for the first 10 minutes and after that it just made my head hurt. Math. There was counting and thinking and my brain doesn't work with numbers. My mom lost interest in what he had to say long before I did.
The best part came next! I was most excited about it and it did not let me down. After the tour, we had free time to explore the ruins and the cenote (sinkhole)! The natural sink hole is 144 foot deep. Swimming in it was both exhilarating and a bit scary. It was beautiful and the water was clear and cold. The guide pretty much told us we were crazy to swim this time of year as it was their winter and 75 degrees and to cold to swim by the locals standards. However, I thought it was perfect. Not to cold or to hot. It was full of fish that were quite friendly if you consider having them suck on your toes friendly. I would have been perfectly happy to spend several hours swimming.
I forced myself out of the water and mom and I spent a little time climbing around on the ruins, checking out the museum, and drying off before we headed back to the tour bus. Honestly, we really did not have enough time to see everything.
I took of few photos from the bus windows on our way back to the Triumph. I had really hoped to have some time to explore the port, get a massage, and shop but we were running short of time and we were famished from all the exploring.
Wow, that wraps up the first three days! I will end now and continue this in another post!