Background: This would be my third cruise and my fiancé’s first cruise. He gave this vacation to me as a gift for my 21st birthday. We cruised on 3/8/08, during my spring break and his vacation time from work.
Embarkation: We arrived at the Port of New Orleans after a hectic and stressful night of driving through record breaking snowfall. We experienced snow from the Indiana-Kentucky state line all the way through Birmingham and Mississippi. Upon arrival, around 10:15 central time, we were directed to the parking garage where we paid $70 to park for the week. We were then pointed towards the porter’s station upon entering the garage. We tipped the porter $5 for our 4 bags and made our way downstairs to the cruise terminal. We entered and were ushered toward a very short line (although there were many queues set up for later that day) to go through security. We followed the signage and made it to the check in line, where we waited approximately 3 minutes. We checked in using our passports, funpass and credit card for the Sail and Sign account. We received our Sail and Sign cards and room keys. From that point, we were told that the ship would not be ready to board until 11:30 and that we were to wait in the seating area they had provided. People were sat in rows in the order that they arrived, so that the first people seated were the first to board. We boarded the ship at exactly 11:30.
3/8 From past experience, I knew that we were to make our way up to the Lido Deck grill, as our stateroom (E80) would not be ready until 1:30. A gave my fiancé a brief tour of the boat, as the ships’ I had been on previously were set up exactly the same, and we made our way to the Lido Deck. We ate lunch, consisting of burgers, hot dogs and fries, on one of the secluded back patios of Windows on the Sea. It was a chilly day, so we decided to sit inside to await entrance to our stateroom. At 1:30 we made our way to our stateroom, took a shower and a nap to help rid ourselves of the exhaustion from the previous night. During our nap, at about 3:00, our bags were delivered, so we got up to unpack. Around 3:30 we were called to attend the muster drill, which was quick and painless. We went back to the secluded patio, which was not so secluded anymore, to watch us set sail down the Mississippi river. After we set sail, we went back to our room to prepare for dinner. We went to dinner and met our server, Martin, and the two other young couples we would be dining with throughout the week. Both of our meals, the filet, were excellent, as was the warm chocolate melting cake. We went up on deck to see us sailing down the Mississippi and made a few last phone calls to family. We went back to our stateroom to nap until the Welcome Aboard show, but accidently fell asleep for the night.
3/9 Upon waking, we were bummed to find that we had slept through the night. We were looking forward to seeing the comedian and our cruise director, Butch. We ate breakfast in the Celebration dining room, and it was excellent. We laid out and read, but it was still slightly chilly for swimming (right around 70, I think). At this time we also, realized how much of a “spring break” cruise this was, but that did not bother either of us. We went to the port orientation talk, and booked our shore excursion for the next day for Cozumel. We went to the hairy chest competition and ice carving demonstration on the Lido deck, and were extremely entertained. We went back to our room to rest and order room service for lunch. After our rest, we both decided to start getting ready for our formal dinner that evening. We went to the Captain’s Reception and had numerous free cocktails. We made our way to dinner, where I had the prime rib and my fiancé had the duckling. We both enjoyed our dinner and the warm chocolate melting cake, AGAIN! From our dinner companions, we learned that we had not missed much the night before, as the comedian was not great. After dinner we got a few of the formal pictures taken, none of which we liked or bought. We went to the evening’s show, Nightclub Express and played a game of BINGO while waiting. The show was very entertaining, as both the dancers and singers were very skilled. After the show, we walked around the top decks of the ship, where it was very windy, but extremely romantic. Then we went to the midnight, adults-only comedy by the comedian from the previous night. We were disappointed to find that our dinner companions had been right. Following, we turned in for the evening to find a towel animal bulldog on our bed.
3/10 At 8 am we arrived in Cozumel. We had ordered room service the previous night and got it at promptly 7:15. We left the ship at 8:15 as we were to meet for our shore excursion at 8:45. Our shore excursion was the sub-ocean view and we would recommend it to anyone who would like to see the coral reefs and ocean life of Cozumel. Afterwards, we took a taxi for $13 dollars to Paradise beach. We spent several hours swimming in the ocean and reading on the beach. We headed back a little early, around 2:30, because we had learned at the port orientation talk that the ship would NOT wait for stragglers. We laid out on deck to await our sail-away, but as it turns out the ship does wait for stragglers. We did not sail away until 5pm. We went to dinner, but our companions were too tired to join. We both had the beef wellington, which was pretty good. We got more pictures taken, but I did not like them, yet again. We went to Game Show Mania and the Battle of the Sexes game in the Universe Lounge to wait for the Guest Talent show to begin. The Guest Talent show was fun to watch because a few people we had met were performing. We went back to our stateroom for bed and found a towel animal elephant.
3/11 We had decided that we would not get up early for our arrival in Progreso. We went to breakfast in the Windows on the Sea buffet, which was fine, and made our way to the gangway to exit the ship. We purchased a few things at the little shops right on the pier and took a free bus service to the end of the 6 mile long pier into the town of Progreso. In town, we shopped in an open-air market to buy souvenirs. Progreso is much less like Cozumel and more like typical Mexico, and we were slightly taken aback. We still had a good time, but learned from others that the beaches were gross. We were glad we had done our swimming in Cozumel. We went back to the ship and watched the sail-away while laying out. We went dinner where our server, Martin was recommending the ribs. However, I ordered the New York and my fiancé got the veal. My steak was over cooked and tough, so I asked for the spare ribs instead. It was the best meal yet. Our table mates had gone on one of the Mayan Ruins tours and loved it. Both of the other guys got wasted in a Tequila Contest on shore and had a good time. We got more pictures taken and I absolutely loved them. We ordered a canvas and were happy with the prices. We went to the double-act magic show and comedian in the Universe Lounge. The comedian was a ventriloquist and hilarious and we were excited to hear that there would be a midnight, adults-only show the following night. After the show, we took a dip in the hot tub and then went to bed. I was happy to find a towel animal peacock.
3/12 We had breakfast in the Celebration dining room and enjoyed it. We meant to go to the towel folding demonstration, but missed it. We had fun though by gambling a little and laying out. We went to the Debarkation Talk and the Newlywed-Not so Newlywed show. We went to lunch in the dining room, but regretted it because we did not like anything they were serving. My fiancé bought me a massage and facial for before dinner. It was very relaxing, but it kind of bothered me that they try to push you to buy the products they used. He read on the deck while I was gone. After, we went to dinner and had the tenderloin which was excellent. We took one last look at our pictures and made our final selection. We went to the evening show, Ticket to Ride: A Beatles Tribute and loved it. We soaked in the hot tub after and then went to the midnight comedy. The comedian no longer had his dummy, but he had us laughing our heads off. We went to bed in preparation for the long day following.
Debarkation: We woke up at 6:45 to get ready. We had set all of our bags outside our door the previous night instead of electing to self-debark. We were in no rush and were happy to lighten our load. We had breakfast in the dining room and waited for our debarkation number to be called (we were number 12 of at least 20). We had to wait for all of the self-debarkers to leave first. Our number was finally called around 9:15 and we left the ship to stand in a long line for customs. The customs and porter line took around an hour. Finally, we loaded our luggage into our car and were on our way.