For my mom's big birthday coming up, we decided to give her a surprise cruise. We told her about it a week before our departure at Garibaldi Cafe. We were super excited that we could finally show are anticipation of the trip. We left for our week-long cruise through the Caribbean from Cape Canaveral.
This was my family's first cruise, so everything was new to us. We are no strangers to the ocean and water sports, but we were unseasoned to the pampering and food associated with a cruise. Since my brother and
I fall into the 12-14 age range, we were part of the Circle C Club. These group oriented activities were certainly not on the top of my list of fun things to do, although Isaac seemed to enjoy them. The age group was a little too awkward for dancing, which was about the only thing planned for us, and a little to apathetic for trivia games. So I found other ways to entertain myself. I spent a lot of time laying out in the sun from which I did get some serious sunburn (that has now has turned to tan). The ship had three pools and several hot tubs.
Concerning the other passengers, well...it was kind of like the South Carolina State Fair. All different kinds of people.
We periodically stopped at ports including Cozumel, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; and Belize. My favorite stop was Roatan because there was a beautiful beach. I did, however, get ripped off on a t-shirt that changes color in the sun. The store employees forgot to mention that after washing and drying the piece of clothing, it no longer changes colors.
The most memorable part of the cruise was probably the water park aboard the ship consisting of two water slides. I specifically like rewatching the video of my dad going on the Drainpipe. The Drainpipe, which my family called the Toilet Bowl, had a short water slide that opens up into a bowl in which the sliding person usually slides around the sides usually one time. My dad went around 4 times. There are stairs in the middle of this "bowl" that you can stand and videotape your dad going round and round.
The food was AMAZING! There was 24 Hour free (prepaid for) fresh and delicious pizza and soft-serve, self-serve ice cream. Dinner was also delicious. I had melting chocolate cake every night. Melting chocolate cake is a chocolate cake with a hot chocolate batter center. Ice cream comes on the side. Our waiters and waitress were awesome as well.
Overall this was a grand experience, especially for a first time cruiser. Hopefully more fun times with cruises are in store for me.
