Early morning on July 23, my family left my house all packed and ready for the cruise. We started the five hour drive to Galveston, Texas, where the cruise ships port was. We got stuck in traffic by the time we drove into Houston, so the drive was a lot longer than expected. The cruise ship was going to leave around 4:00 and we were supposed to check in at 2:00. It was 3:00 pm, so I felt a little nervous that we wouldn't make it in time. Fortunately, for my family, and for the sake of writing anything in this blog, my family ended up being able to enter the check in area right before the gates closed and we were able to board the cruise ship.
The first and second days were "Fun at Sea" days where we spend our days eating, attending and watching shows; whether it was people singing and dancing to music dressed in odd costumes, a game show, or a simple comedy show. We swam and tanned at the pool at the top deck and I also ate a bunch of food. Mostly pizza. I am obsessed with pizza so it's crazy for me to say that I was kinda sick of pizza by the last day of the cruise.
In the evenings, we would go inside a formal restaurant to eat dinner. It was nice eating at these compared to restaurants I eat at when I'm not on a cruise because nothing on the cruise had a price. Everything was free on the menu because it came with the price of the entire cruise so it was great. Food is great.
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| The 70's Dance Show |
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| Baby sister posing in front of the sunset. |
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| "Fancy evening" where we dressed up and went to eat dinner. |
After the two Fun at Sea days, we were finally able to get off the ship at a port in Cozumel, Mexico. We had 5 hours until we had to be back on the ship.
We spent that third day at a beach called Playa Mia. We enjoyed the blue, clear ocean and made mermaid tails in the sand. My mother is from Mexico, so it was neat being back in the country even if it wasn't the area in which my family lives. Mexico is Mexico. Towards the last few hours of being in there, I went to a Starbucks that was right by the beach for free wifi. I was able to send a couple pictures to my friends, say hello, and say goodbye until I reached shore in Galveston that next Saturday.
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| Mom relaxing out in the sun at Playa Mia. |
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| Walking to where we find a good taxi cab driver to get to the beach. |
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| Sand Mermaids. |
The fourth day on the cruise, we arrived at Grand Cayman Islands. I would say this country was the most beautiful country I was at during the cruise. We spent that day at the beach again. The waters were even more beautiful than the waters at Cozumel. They were more clear and more blue. There was so much coral on the floors of the ocean and the sand was a lot softer at your feet. You can submerge yourself completely, open your eyes, and see thousands of different fish all around you. I spent most of that day underneath the water just exploring the ocean. It was so beautiful. Even the temperature outside was great. The skies were clouded with gray clouds, but not to where it looked miserable... It just looked kinda cool.
The fifth day we had arrived at Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This was the most enjoyable country for me. We found the most perfect tour guide/taxi driver for my family. His name is Alphanso Aarons and he was the most loving guy to us. I was so happy to have been with him the entire five hours we were there. He was completely honest and so kind. He called us his family and really made us feel at home.
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| My sister, Alphanso, and I |
Alphanso took us first to the top of a hill to see what Jamaica and the waters and beach looked like from up above. We posed for pictures and enjoyed the view.
After looking at the view, we made our way back down the hill. We drove to a beautiful river in a very scetchy area. It smelled like weed. We got on a water raft, handmade by one of the Jamaican locals. We sat on the back, three at a time, as a man stood on the other end and used a bamboo stick to push it against the river floor and get the raft moving along the stream. I asked him if I could try to do it and it really was a lot of work. I asked him how much he was paid to take one raft up the shore and back where we came from, and he told me he only got paid $15 per ride. I suddenly had so much respect for him. $15 dollars is close to nothing in Jamaica, especially when everything there is so expensive. A gallon of gas for them there costs about $8, and a gallon of milk costs about $20.
After the raft ride, Alphanso took us to watch the dolphins and then took us to a beach. This beach was very small, and I only went in thigh deep. The cool thing about the beach was the black tiny rocks by the shore. We only stayed for about 20 minutes and then sadly had to head back to our cruise ship.
The sixth and seventh days were other Fun at Shore days. I was sad that it was coming to an end and that the next destination and port we would be left at was Galveston. I made the best out of my days though.I started to make friends the last day. I should've made friends sooner, I just didn't really put myself out there until the last day. I knew them for such a short amount of time but felt so close to them.. That's just how it works when I barely begin to speak or be around someone. I bond quickly. Just give me about ten minutes.
My new friends and I bonded at playing card games in the game room, attending a music show in the theater, playing mini golf outdoors on the top deck, and sitting in a circle exchanging social media accounts and numbers. At the very end of the day, at 11:55, we all walked down 13 floors of the cruise ship as a group just dropping people off at their rooms. We said our good bye's and nice to meet you's.
I went to bed and it took me a couple of hours to fall asleep. I was upset and excited about getting home. It was bitter sweet.
I woke up and we were in Galveston. I finally had service on my phone and was quickly able to reconnect with my friends.
Being without service was tragic, but not actually tragic. There are WAY more better things to do on a cruise than just sitting on your phone, texting and scrolling through your different feeds on social media. I really did miss all of my friends like crazy, though, but I had a lot of fun and made new ones. The cruise was so amazing and I am so thankful for the experience and thankful to have learned so much about different cultures through the countries we visited.
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