We took our first cruise! We traveled on the Carnival Ecstasy from New Orleans to Progresso to Cozumel, and back. A total of seven of us went, including my good friend Jenn and her husband Brian. We happened to be on Bourbon Street the night before Halloween, which if you are in for drunk and crazy this is your place to be! Remember we went to Beale Street in Memphis for our anniversary . . . the main difference is the streets are clean in Memphis, and you can sit on the curb and watch people. Not so much in New Orleans. It was nasty and dirty, and we won’t mention the smell! But it was fun to people watch, get some beads and an overpriced drink! We stayed at the Comfort Inn downtown New Orleans, which was a nice, clean hotel. It was convienent to the sights downtown, and even offered valet parking. Before we went out, one of Jenn’s demands (haha, just kidding) was that we eat at Emeril’s. The place was fancy schmancy! A wee bit out of our price range, but we share an entree and an appetizer, which were good! Sadly, Emeril wasn’t there, and no one yelled “BAM!”
From entering the Carnival Port til we left, the staff was overly friendly and eager to help us have a smooth, happy, and fun experience! The porter who helped with our luggage was wonderful! From when we left our car, it took about an hour to go through security, check in, do photos, make our sail cards, and get on board. Not too shabby! The food was delicious, the room stewards were fantastic, our stewards at dinner were hilarrrious! We really just had the best time ever. I think I pee’d my pants while seeing the comedian, Mutzie. If he comes to your area comedy club check him out! If not, he has some funny stuff on you-tube! We enjoyed the Halloween party on board, dressed up like little red riding hood and the big bad wolf! We pretty much ate, rested, and relaxed!
In Progresso, we walked around a bit, the water wasn’t that pretty, and did a little shopping. We ended up renting some scooters and driving to Merida, the capital of the Yucatán. It is a pretty city, and would have spent more time there, but realized we didn’t have any Pesos, or know any Spanish!
In Cozumel, our goal was to scuba dive! Craig is a certified diver, so he helped me bunches! We went with a group of people I had met online before the cruise, they had arranged the dive trip for us. We went to Mr. Sancho’s beach club, an all inclusive resort (which we didn’t do). It looked like great fun, with the swings at the bar, beach chairs, water inflatables and all that! Our goal there, was to visit Ramon Zapata’s dive place. They were wonderful, the scuba lesson was great. And although only two of us had dove before, we each got enough attention to make sure we understood, and were okay once we were in the water. Awesome! I plan on getting my open water certification in the next few months (in time for our next dive trip in Hawaii!)
For the price, the Carnival cruise was AWESOME! We’ve already booked another cruise for next fall! Here are a few of the pictures we took. Enjoy!
