The cruise I went on was through Carnival on board the ship named "Elation." I'm told this is a smaller ship, but it didn't seem very small to me! There was so much to do I didn't get to all of it. We sailed from New Orleans to Mexico, stopped at Progreso and Cozumel, and had two full days at sea, not counting the day we left which we spent sailing down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
It would take me forever to tell you about every aspect of the ship itself. If you want to know, check out their website HERE. So let me highlight a few of my favorite things.
1. No cell phone service or wifi! To some of you this may sound awful. I have to admit there were moments I missed it. Mostly when I was trying to find my family and couldn't call or text. We had to get by the old fashioned way of looking for each other, leaving a note, or calling room to room and hoping the other person was "home." Besides that, it was so relaxing to disconnect for a few days. I didn't realize how much stress the constant connection puts on me. I'm not really a phone talker, but no texts, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. seemed inconvenient yet maybe a needed break beforehand. By the end of the cruise I didn't really want to turn my phone back on!
2. Sitting out on the deck: I actually didn't do this as much as I thought I would for two reasons. Reason one was because there was so much to do below deck that kept me busy. Reason two was the main reason though, and that's because I got sunburned the first full day. I am usually very diligent about protecting my skin and would rather be pale than risk skin damage. However, my legs usually never burn or tan or do anything except stay so white they could blind you if you looked directly at them. I wondered if my legs had somehow lost all pigmentation. I could lay out in the sun by the lake all afternoon and nothing would happen. So I was careful to put plenty of sunscreen on my face, chest, shoulders, arms, back, etc. I neglected my legs. I figured nothing would happen, and gosh darn it if there was any chance of getting any color in them it would be laying on a deck in the middle of the gulf so I was going for it. What I didn't expect was for the tops of my thighs along the edge of my boyshort swim bottoms to burn to a bright red. (The rest of my legs did tan though. It was a miracle!) So for the rest of the trip I was careful to keep them out of the sun as much as possible. Not that it stopped me from swimming on the beaches of Mexico, but I'll get there later. Even though my legs burned so bad (the skin was sensitive for weeks afterward), I was in better shape than the rest of my family who had burned shoulders and chests. My dad was the worst. He actually fell asleep in a chair that day and burned all over. His legs were AWFUL. We were pretty sure he obtained second degree burns. (My nurse of a cousin confirmed the suspicion when we returned home.) So he was definitely out of the sun for the rest of the trip. He didn't even get off the ship the first day in Mexico, and in all of our vacation photos his legs are a nice shade of lobster.
Anyway, I'm rambling off topic. (That happens to me a lot.) Just laying in a chair, with no phone, no schedule, and taking in the scenery, reading a book, or watching the Men's Hairy Chest contest (oh yeah, that's a thing) was so relaxing.
3. FOOD. I always heard about the food on a cruise, how much there was and how good it tastes. It was a little different than I imagined. I pictures 24 hour overflowing buffets. However, there was a schedule of when certain food areas were open and when they were serving what. But there was always food somewhere. Sometimes you had to stand in line, but it never took very long. In the casual dining room there was 24 hr pizza, yogurt and ice cream machines, dessert bar, hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, fried chicken, etc. By the pool there was a grill with burgers and such and a Mongolian grill. The breakfast was amazing with many options. Since most of the cruise passengers were from the South, there were grits every day. I love grits, but I hardly ever eat them. This trip was a different story. Every day on the ship there were grits. I've never eaten so many grits in my life. And the pancakes were so light and fluffy. And I could eat bacon AND ham. I've never been much of a breakfast person, but if it were always like this....delicious, cooked by someone else, and eaten on an outdoor deck over looking the ocean....I could get used to that.
Funny story, my mother also doesn't drink much. She drinks less than I do, which is saying a lot since I never drink at home and usually don't have more than one drink a night on vacation. She got one of the fruity frozen drinks the first day and drank less than half of it because she was afraid it would make her drunk. So imagine everyone's surprise when she eagerly buys a shot a dinner the first night. A waiter was coming around with a tray full of shots and would ask each table if they wanted one. They did this every night, but it wasn't annoying because they weren't trying to sell you anything. If you didn't want it you just said no and they moved on. This one had Kahlua, Irish Cream,and I can't remember what else in it. My mother immediately says yes she'll have one and asks if I want one too. I say no thank you, as I am mostly confused and slightly entertained by the fact my mom is buying a shot. My dad signs the bill and my mom throws it back. Okay, that's not what happened. She actually took a little sip of it and gagged. Here's the hilarious explanation: My mother owned a coffee shop up until a few months ago when we finally had to shut it down. We had Irish Cream and Kahlua syrups you could put in your lattes (non-alcoholic of course). So when my innocent little mother saw small cups and heard two flavors she recognized, she thought it was a free coffee drink sample. Imagine her surprise! She said it tasted like medicine and wouldn't drink anymore. We definitely have not let her live that one down!
Also, 24 hour free room service. The day I got in from Progreso, I was tired, hungry, and wet & sandy from the beach. A turkey sandwich never tasted so good. And that chocolate cake...OMG. It was possibly my favorite food on the whole ship. After that I ordered just cake from room service.
Anyway, here are more food pics.
4. Another thing I really enjoyed was the night life. I totally did not expect this. I'm not a nightlife person. A night out for me is dinner and a movie. I've never been a bar hopping, clubbing type, even when I was in college. I'm a Christian, an introvert, and a small town girl, so that sort of thing never appealed to me much. I thought I would enjoy the daily shows more (which they were great too, except the comedy, I didn't find it very funny). The first night on the ship was ladies night in the dance club with free champagne. So my sister and I thought we'd swing by. At the very least we'd stay a few minutes, try the champagne, and people watch. The champagne was terrible. Or it may have been really good and I just don't like champagne. This was only my second time to ever try it and I thought it was awful both times. So did my sister and the stranger at the next table who we talked to for a few minutes. Maybe it was cheap stuff to give away? I don't know, but it was free so we drank it anyway. We watched people dance for a while, then it got pretty crowded so we moved to a table at the other end to have a better view. My sister will not dance in public, but I pretty much have no pride in that sort of thing. So I danced to a few songs. It was so much fun. We said we would come back another night, but we never did. Because we found a spot we liked even more. The piano bar!
I know what you're thinking. A bar? That was your favorite spot on the entire ship? I'm not even a big drinker, but I did have one drink one night that was absolutely amazing. It was called a Hurricane Wave. It had rum, hurricane daiquiri, and banana daiquiri. So good. Only thing was that it was frozen, and my mouth is really sensitive to the cold so it took me forever to drink. The other nights I would order a Rockstar energy or a root beer. No one cared what or if people were drinking. It was just fun to hang out, listen to the music, and sing along. (And to top it off, the bar was decorated like New York City. Of course we would gravitate to the room decorated like New York. I have a slight obsession.) It was small and comfortable, and it just sort of became our spot at night. The singer in the piano bar was incredible. Her name is Susan Erwin. (Her website is here. She also has a facebook page here.) She is a talented pianist, has an amazing raspy voice, knows tons of songs (almost anything requested was played, when she found out we were from Texas she played Amarillo By Morning, then had to explain to a British couple who George Strait is), and was just fun to hang out with. She would stop between songs and talk to everyone. As luck would have it, our last night on the ship was also her last night on the ship. So a bunch of us sat around the bar (that was around the piano) until about 1 am singing and making the most of her last night. It was a lot of fun.
One night instead of Susan playing, the guitarist who usually played at the atrium bar filled in. I had a crush on him from day one of the cruise when he led my group in the safety drill. Attractive, British, guitarist, great voice, and he seemed like an all around nice guy. His music is also worth checking out. His name is Edd Carr. To go to his page click here.