Caribbean Cruise Days 1 and 2

April 25th

We left on the morning of Friday April 25th to go on a cruise to the Western Caribbean.  Garrett's mom has always wanted to go, so we offered to go with them and help them with arranging everything.  We left right after the kids left for school and our flight left around 10:30.  We had a layover in Denver and then got to Houston around dinner time.  We met up with Jim and Georgia at the hotel (they had booked their flights earlier on a different airline), and then went and had BBQ at Pappas BarBQ.  It was pretty good, but we weren't a fan of their bbq sauce.  I hadn't been back to Houston since we lived there in the mid 80's.  I didn't recognize much anyways.  I loved being back in TX and seeing the Texas flag flying!  

 The one and only picture from the day

Jim and Georgia on the bus to the ship

 The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then we caught the shuttle to the ship.  We were sailing with Princess.

There she is!  We went on the same ship (The Caribbean Princess) that we sailed on when we went on our first cruise with my family back in 2005.

 Our picture as we were boarding.  I wish we didn't have those red stickers on.  I guess they were for the people on the boat to tell us which direction to go on the ship to find our rooms.  They look tacky, though.

We were getting hungry by now, so we went and had lunch at the Horizon Cafe.  We bought a drink pass for $50 for the week and could have as many sodas, specialty drinks (like pina coladas and strawberry dacquiri's) and milkshakes as we wanted.  We also got those free cups with the colored straws.  After lunch, we walked around the ship some, but then had to go down to our rooms and grab our life jackets for the muster drill.  When that was done, we went back up to the higher decks to watch as we left port.  It was around 4 or so when we finally left.  

This is looking out at the parking lot from where we left.  There's a tiny Texas flag in the middle of the picture there.  (That's actually why I took the picture.  I didn't have a zoom because I didn't bring my good camera--I'm still kicking myself for that decision!)

 A picture of us heading out to sea.

We soon found some lounge chairs above one of the pools where they have a huge screen for showing movies.  They were playing a Coldplay concert.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself while drinking a virgin pina colada; although Jim and Georgia didn't appreciate it as much.  

I'm sure she'll kill me for posting this picture, but this is where we were watching the concert.  Garrett thought it would be funny to get a picture of her trying to get out of the chair.  They were going to find somewhere to sit out of the sun and loud music.  :)

Then we went and had dinner in one of their nicer sit down restaurants.  My dad--when he's on a cruise--lets us know what he and my mom have for dinner every night and what they think of it.  I don't remember what we had and when, so you won't get that commentary here.  The food was good, but it wasn't anything spectacular.  The desserts were really good though!

After dinner, we went and found some entertainment.  We found various shows including a juggler, a piano player and a live band.  We really liked the piano player.  He was really talented and super funny.  His name was Bert Stratton.  He played all of his songs from memory and could pick it up in any spot.  He'd have people sing a long with him and mock us when we didn't sound very good--which we didn't.  He was kind of spastic with his funny faces and strange dance moves, but he was very entertaining and kept us coming back 3 or 4 times throughout the cruise. 

 Us watching Bert. 

After watching Bert, we found a live band and Jim and Georgia did a little dancing.  Garrett and I danced one song.  He's not much of a dancer, and I wasn't really in the mood.  It was late, so we hit the sack after that.  

April 27th

Today was a sea day.  We started off the trip really well because Garrett, Jim and I got up and went to the gym in the morning.  The next 3 days were excursions and then we lost our motivation after that--so this was the only day we exercised.  We walked on the many treadmills that they have looking out over the ocean.  It was pretty cool. 

After eating breakfast, we put on swimsuits and headed out to lay by various pools and read.  We pool hopped throughout the day trying to find one we really liked.  It was cold and windy in certain places, then too hot, or too much smoke, etc. 

 Looking out at the sea while we ate a Mexican buffet for lunch

One of the pools in the middle of the ship

We found this pool at the front of the ship. You had to pay extra money to lounge up in "The Sanctuary" where it was less crowded and quieter.  You didn't have to pay extra for the pool though, so Garrett and I hung out there in the afternoon.  I got in the pool for about 5 minutes, but it was way too cold for me!  Then we got in the hot tub before we headed up to get changed and ready for dinner.  It was formal night.  We didn't dress "formal", just nicer church dresses.  We got our pictures taken before we ate.  

We didn't take any with our own cameras.  After dinner, we went and watched Bert again for a little bit, and then went to watch a Magic show with a cheesy magician named Michael Barron.  He was good, but really cheesy!  The next day was our first stop. More on that later...