Gettin' My Cruise On
Vacations are the best! Last October, I finally got to take a vacation! I had not been on a real vacation since July 2012. This momma was much overdue; and it was amazing! It’s hard to believe it has already been over a year since that trip! I am jonesing to travel again! I am hoping in a few months once Fishy Christmas (youngest daughter) gets a little older, we can take another vacation. We are a traveling family! I hope that we will be marking off more items on our bucket list very soon!
For this vacation, we started out by spending two nights in Galveston, TX. Galveston is an awesome city! I enjoy visiting such a historical city! While there, we took a duck tour of the city. We ate at some fun restaurants, including Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
We walked around the Strand Historic District. This is one of my favorite areas of town. I love the look of the Victorian buildings. There is a cute little candy shop that hand pulls their own Salt Water Taffy! After our two days of shenanigans in Galveston, we set sail on the Carnival Freedom for a seven night cruise through the Caribbean.
The cruise began with two fun days at sea. Those are always good times in my opinion. You can set your own pace for the day. You can sleep in, have brunch, and lay out by the pool all day. You can dance on the lido deck. You can have a massage at the spa. The possibilities are endless! Since I had my daughter with me, I enrolled her into Camp Ocean. This is the kid’s area on the Carnival ships. It is sectioned out by age, so that the staff can have activities to engage kids of all ages. Big Girl (my older daughter) was only three at the time of this trip. She is very much a momma’s girl, and does not like to get too far away from me. I was very surprised when she agreed to attend Camp Ocean knowing that I was not going to be allowed to stay with her. A few hours into the first day at Camp Ocean, she bumped heads with another kid. She was fine, other than a small knot on her forehead; but she was DONE!!! She refused to go back to Camp Ocean for the duration of the cruise!
The following three days of the cruise were spent in port. Our first stop was Cozumel, Mexico. This was my second time to visit Cozumel, and I was excited to be back. Cozumel is a beautiful place! We had reservations to spend the day at Mr. Sancho’s Resort. We purchased the all-inclusive pass. This gave us access to a beach front table & chairs, all you can eat menu, all you care to drink menu, ocean swimming, as well as the pool. There were several large inflatable activities that you could play and climb on for an additional fee. We did not participate in these. There are changing rooms and showers available free of charge. There is a nice shopping area, as well as services available for additional fees such as beachside massages and hair braiding. We had a blast at Mr. Sancho’s. It was worth every penny. I highly recommend this resort for anyone visiting Cozumel, Mexico! We will definitely be returning the next time we are in Cozumel!
Our next stop was Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Grand Cayman is a beautiful place. The only downside to stopping there while on a cruise ship is you have to take a smaller boat to transport you from the cruise ship to shore. Due to the ocean life so near to the shore, there are no cruise ship docks available. This results in a sometimes lengthy wait to get off the ship. Getting back onto the cruise ship did not take as long. While in Grand Cayman, we visited the Tiki Beach. We had an all inclusive day pass for this beach as well. However, the drink menu was limited to one type of beer and rum punch. The food was a one trip BBQ that was held on the beach. The BBQ consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, jerk chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, and corn bread. Lounge chairs were included in our reservation. This beach had changing rooms, and outdoor shower, and a very small gift shop that was very overpriced. The ocean was beautiful at Grand Cayman. Due to the rocks and coral reef, you could only go about 5 feet into the water without needing water shoes. If you did get into the area with rocks, it was very slick and difficult to stand. It was beautiful though, so I didn’t mind much!
Our final stop was in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. My first impression of seeing the city was “wow”! Ocho Rios is absolutely gorgeous! There are tall mountains with multimillion dollar mansions built into them. There are tall trees, beautiful beaches, palm trees all around, and the most amazing turquoise waters. I will never forget my first views of this landscape. We purchased a day pass for a beach during this port, as well. We spent the day at the Bamboo Beach Club. This beach was stunning. It looked like a rainforest was surrounding this beach. There was also a large cliff area at the beach. There was so much green foliage everywhere we looked. The ocean was very stirred up at this particular beach because the wind was crazy that day. It resulted in huge waves the entire time we were there. Due to the constant high waves, we were not able to enjoy the water in Jamaica. But we had some amazing entertainment with a rocking DJ, a drummer, and six dancers. The food was much better in Jamaica as well. We even had lobster while at the beach! There were several types of drinks that were included in our resort pass, but they were all too strong for me to enjoy. I had Big Girl traveling with me, so I was not at liberty to cut loose!
We had two more fun days at sea! In my opinion, one of the best things about taking a cruise is the FOOD!!! I love being able to try new dishes, and get things that you cannot find in my small hometown! We always eat dinner in the main dining room. The food does not get any better! During the day for lunch, we typically will get something quick out on the Lido Deck. I enjoyed the build your own burritos at the Blue Iguana Cantina, and the cheese burgers at Guy’s Burger Joint were amazing! I loved the toppings bar that went along with this place! I would mound my burger with a pile of bacon pieces, grilled onions and mushrooms! Seriously, so good!
All in all, we had an amazing vacation! My daughter was able to experience many “firsts” on this trip! Those are memories that I will always cherish. I can’t wait to climb back aboard the ship again, and get my cruise on!
