1-30-2005

By sewut51

• February 6, 2007

My husband and I (both in our 50's) both had a great time on this cruise. It's been 10 years since our first cruise and we decided that was too long. We got to Galveston and discovered that it was Mardi Gras. We got in on the end of one parade and got to see one right in front of our hotel. Check in at the terminal was fast and easy. I went right to our room with no problem. I had studied the brochure until it was in tatters so I knew my way around. Our room was not as pink as the picture online, thank goodness. We hardly ever saw our room steward, but our room was clean and we had towel animals on the bed at night. We ate in the diningroom every night, and had breadfast and lunch at Tiffanys. I loved the atrium. It was fun to people watch on so many levels. It was windy out on deck the first couple of days.

Progeso wasn't much. We went kayaking on a ship's tour. It was pretty good, but there were no flamingoes or other wildlife this time of year. We went through tunnels in the mangrove trees. It was hard coming back against the wind and current, but we weren't the last ones in and were able to keep up.

In Cozumel we did the Dolphin Adventure through Shoretrips.com. We had wanted to do the Royal Swim, but it was full. Even so, it was the highlight of our trip. We ordered sandwiches, chips, and cookies from room service before we left the ship and packed them on ziplock bags that I had brought. We had our own snorkel gear but left the fins on ship and regretted it. We also wished we had life vests so that we could snorkel farther out. We went to the beach at the park. We shared a taxi and it was only $5. The beach was nice and had coconut trees and lounge chairs. The snorkeling from the beach was like swimming in an aquarium except the fish were bigger. We ate our lunch and went to the Dolphin area. They have free lockers which was handy. We got lifejackets, masks and snorkel tubes and had a short lecture on what we would do. We were taken in groups of 10 to the docks and down into the pen. The dolphin swam by us several times so that we could touch her. Then she came to each of us individually and posed face to face for a picture, a kiss and then came out of the water so that we could hold her pectoral fins and "dance" for a picture. Then we swam out one at a time and she would give us a ride back in by swimming on her back with us holding on to her fins. It was a blast. After that, we formed a circle with our snorkel gear on and she swam around playing with us. We took pictures both above and below water. We each got to feed her a fish and when it was over, she swam by waving good bye and splahing us. There were pictures and a video available.

In Belize we did the cave tubing through Shoretrips.com. We were picked up on the pier and taken by air conditioned van to the rainforest. It was an hour and a half ride, but the driver pointed out interesting things and answered our questions. When we got there, we were given opportunity to change clothes and then taken to the trailhead where we were given tubes, lifejackets and headlamps. The walk was about 30 minutes, but not hard going. The water was "refreshing" but we got used to it easily. Our guide, Leroy, was very knowledgeable and took good care of us. He gave us extra information and even had us get out of the water to get a closer look at bats and formations because we had children in our group. We didn't get out where the ship's tour group did, but kept on floating down the river to near where we got out tubes. There was a cafe there and our lunch was included in the price of the tour. It was delicious BBQ chicken and rice and beans, fried bananas and a muffin for dessert. They got us back to the pier in plenty of time to shop before our ship left.

It was cloudy for the days at sea, so I didn't do the pool, just the hot tub. We had a wonderful time, but the debarkation in Galveston brought us back to earth. All the officials were unfriendly and we were yelled at to keep moving and don't leave our luggage anywhere. They didn't help you know where to go, just kept yelling to keep moving. It felt like a herd of cattle. There's got to be a better way. I'd do this cruise again in a minute and look forward to my next Carnival cruise.