Back in August Justin surprised me for our ninth anniversary with a cruise. I was super excited! This was our first cruise experience and let me tell you there is nothing like one. The best part, complete relaxation! And for all you hard working moms out there you know there is nothing better then that. We left October 15th and flew out to New Orleans. We met up with Jade and Meghan at the hotel. Our cruise buddies. Before loading the cruise boat the next day we had time to do some sight seeing. We took a horse drawn carriage ride through the heart of the city and ate some yummy beignets (a fried pastry with lots of powdered sugar on top) at the famous Cafe Du Monde. After walking around we headed to our home away from home for the next week,the Norwegian Spirit cruise ship. Or as they put it our hotel on the water. That night we slowly moved down the Mississippi channel. It takes eight hours to get out of it. That night as we tried to sleep the cruise ship was bouncing us all over the place. The next morning we woke up to find that there was huge tropical storm that we were hitting. Not too great when A.) You get bad motion sickness and B.) your on a boat in the middle of the ocean! We were all pretty sick that day and so things were pretty low key. I pretty much stayed in bed all day due to an overdose of Dramamine and feeling sick. Luckily that was the worst of it and the rest of the cruise was much smoother sailing.
Day #3 Costa Maya- Our first port. Got off cruise ship and saw beautiful water, beautiful, beach, nice shops and buildings. This is what we saw.
Well as soon as we hopped on our run down bus (the air conditioner was dripping mildew water on Justin the entire drive) and got a little away from the port where all the cruise ships come in, it was a whole other world. Totally rundown, trees were all dying, houses were warn down and torn apart, and for one quick moment I was a bit worried where they were REALLY taking us. A slaughter house maybe? I mean who really knows? Your in another country, these friendly Mexicans at the port smile and hold up a sign that says snorkeling excursion. And you smile dumbly right back at them and follow, not knowing your own fate. Okay I was only a little paronoid for a little while. Turns out luckily we are alive to tell the tell and luckily the only thing we were in for was a snorkeling adventure. After getting off the bus we got on our catamaran the Mayan Wind and sailed through the turquoise green water to our destination. We were given snorkel gear, a guide and walked straight into the warm water. We snorkeled for about an hour and it was AMAZING. The reefs, the fish, saw a sting ray, a living conk shell, and tons of coral. Since we were out in the open ocean we got to see a ton of stuff and even got to some pretty deep spots. I wish I would have bought a under water camera because it would have totally been worth it. We sailed back into town, the weather was absolutely beautiful. After our bus ride back to our starting point we shopped for a little while then went back then headed back to the ship.
Day #4- Roatan, Honduras- It was a super rainy day and our excursion, which was going to be a private beach party and BBQ was canceled. I was super excited about this excursion and bummed it got cancelled. We still wanted to get off the ship and check things out. We had to load onto smaller boats and get tendered to land. Since it was stormy the water was super rough, and the tendering process took quite awhile. We weren't able to get off the boat till later that morning. Since we didn't have any excursion planned we decided to go and check out the town, which was just a short walk from the gated port. Did you catch that yes I said GATED port area. It was quite the site to see. Children walking bare foot, wild dogs running around every where, run down houses, trash every where. It was a super busy little town and several people were out and about walking around. The roads were rough and also worn down. Young teenage girls were tending to smaller siblings and it was apparent that these people of Honduras didn't have a lot. It was hard to see,but also very humbling. Right then and their I realized just how much I have to be grateful for. I also realized that I wanted to take all these children home with me. Justin wouldn't let me thought! :) Someday maybe I will. Legally of course. I should have taken more pictures, but I only got these two in Roatan.
Day #5- Belize, Our excursion that we had planned (another snorkel trip) got cancelled due to the previous bad weather which had made the snorkeling conditions bad. So last minute we had to pick another excursions. We decided that we would go to an Eco park. We loaded a bus and a super knowledgeable guide gave us information about Belize. It was awesome to hear all about the culture and land. We arrived at the Eco park and learned all about their butterfly pavilion, were served and authentic Belize lunch, went on a nature walk, and then enjoyed the pool. It was a very nice relaxing day. Once again we were thankful for beautiful weather.
Adorable pregnant Meghan.
Jade and Meghan
Day#5- Cozumel- This was probably my favorite day. We were in a nice place, great weather and got to do our planned excursion which was AWESOME! What exactly did we do. I will tell you but I am warning you, you will be completely jealous!!! Drum roll please. We got to go on the submarine tour called the Atlantis which goes 100 feet deep in the ocean. That's right folks. The four of us have now been 100 feet below the ocean. Super fun experience. I tried taking lots of pictures but sadly my camera on auto mode wasn't working so well in the sub. I need to figure out how to manually work that thing. Inside the sub there was tons of little port holes that we sat at and looked out of. We got to see tons of fish and coral without even getting wet! After our submarine ride we had lunch at Senor Frogs. If you have been to senor frogs you know what a fun environment it is. We just had to pose with our balloon head gear. Its always fun to see what they will make. We spent the afternoon walking around shopping for souvenirs. It was a wonderful end to our ports.
Day#6- At sea. We played board games and cards almost all day long. Thank heavens it was not near as rough going back. Maybe we were all just a little more adjusted to the motion.
So now that I have documented about our ports lets get down to business about what we did on board every day. EAT, DRINK, and be Merry. That pretty much sums it up! We ate way too much. Every night we went to a different restaurant on board and man was that food good. We laid by the pool, played games, took naps, went to shows every night, and just had a blast. It was so nice being served all the time. I didn't have to make my bed, clean, make meals, do the dishes. Every one on board lived to serve me. Ahhhhh it was so so so relaxing. I wanted to pack Nestor our maid in my bag to come home with us but Justin didn't let me. Totally rude hu. We had so much fun hanging out with Jade and Meghan. It truly was a lovely vacation.
One of the many fun animal towels Nestor left for us.
Day #7- October 24th-We packed up and headed off the ship. Since the ship had recommended not taking a same day flight in case of missing it we hadn't booked our tickets home till the next day. We had all afternoon to spend in New Orleans hanging out. We went to a movie, The three Musketeers, then went to lunch. Jade and Meghan took us to our hotel to check in and we parted ways and said our goodbyes. That night we just hung out in the hotel room, ate at the hotel and watched Water For Elephants on Justins lap top. We were missing our boys super bad and it was hard to wait their in New Orleans an extra day but I had a great time just hanging out with Justin. We always have so much fun together and I am so lucky to have such an amazing partner. The next morning we boarded the plane nice and early 7:00am and flew back home. It was great to see the boys again and they had been having such a great time with Nana and Grandma who took care of them while we were gone. I am so so so thankful for such wonderful mothers and their generosity. Without them none of this would have been possible. Thanks so so much moms. Although we had a simply amazing trip, their is nothing like home. We were so happy to be back!
