We all know what my happy place is: anyplace where there are animals, including animals in water. We also know that large bodies of water are calming. So, even though cruises aren't my favorite - because I want to spend more time in port - they do travel to places that put me in my happy place. And a boat on the water is another happy place for me. Bruce likes a cruise because it gets him traveling to places without having to get on an airplane. Cruises are super convenient, though. You get to the pier and check into your room and stay there. Your "hotel" travels to the different places. It just doesn't stay long enough! I got a super deal through Vacations To Go for a cruise through the Western Caribbean. Bruce travels and it's my happy place. So, we drove to Galveston and boarded a Princess cruise for eight days in the Caribbean.
We boarded early so we could miss a lot of lines and just hang out. Unfortunately, there's some funky issues with Texas and drinks. We had the drink package, which gave us 15 drinks up to $15 each plus unlimited sodas and juices each day. We couldn't get cans of soda or bottles of water while in port, but we could get however many glasses of any of them for free. Apparently Texas does not allow cruise ships to sell any alcohol that isn't brewed or distilled in the state. Different cruise lines handle this different ways, and Princess has decided to give free drinks on the first day on cruises that leave from Texas. The catch is, they have to be served by the glass instead of the can or bottle.
I spent the first day getting to know the things on the ship. I went to a spa orientation and got a special price on a massage. I also signed up for a stretching class in the mornings that I don't have a shore excursion. Since we each get two free classes, they said I could sign in as Bruce since he won't be using his.
Without knowing it, I booked us on Princess' "The Love Boat" ship. As if the logos around the ship didn't give a clue, the ship's horn blew the first line of the theme song from the show before we left every port!
We went up to the Lido deck to eat from the buffet the first night. We were both underimpressed. It was kind of bland. So far, I've liked the cabin layout and the food better on Royal Caribbean over Princess. Can't compare with Costa because we had an inside stateroom, and I don't think we really ate the buffet on that one. Albatross was a better stateroom, but there wasn't a buffet, and you really can't compare a small ship Antarctic expedition cruise with a large cruise liner. The second night, we also did the buffet, and nothing changed on it that I could tell. There was still dried out baked fish and no spices put in the food, even the Indian dishes. We looked at the menu of the dining room, and they had duck l'orange, but we had already eaten, and besides, I had a massage scheduled, so we really didn't have time to do the dining room.
My massage was the worst one I've ever had. It was supposed to be a relaxing massage, but she dug into me harder than a deep tissue massage, and I had to ask her to back off a few times. She did for only a second or two before digging in. Before the massage started, she talked about how a pH imbalance can cause all sorts of problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and everything I had put on my list of health issues. At the end, she told me all of my muscles were tight and that it was because of a pH imbalance. She gave me a hard sell for $200+ of seaweed bath salts plus oils and lotions at over $100. When I signed the bill, there was a treatment added that I wasn't asked about and an 18% mandatory gratuity. I went ahead and signed it, but after this supposedly relaxing, hot stone massage, my muscles (which were actually feeling pretty good to begin with, having just finished a flair of my autoimmune problems) were screaming. Not the gentle sore of a deep tissue massage, but the screaming of a beat down. I knew I was going to be hurting for my snorkel the next morning, but I wasn't going to miss it! So I packed up for the snorkel, ordered breakfast to the room (pretty much just fruit and bread), and went to bed.
Up early to put the battery in and the condom (Outex underwater housing) on the Lumix camera for going underwater. I put my rash guard on, and packed all my stuff in Bruce's backpack. Dropped my phone in the bra of my rash guard so I could use it until time to put it in the water-safe fanny pack that would go either in the backpack or in the water with me and headed down to the dining room where the shore excursions were meeting. We were late getting docked outside of Mahahual, but this excursion was booked through Princess, so there was no big deal. The excursion would wait for us.
There were guys dressed like Aztecs taking pictures with tourists, like the convicts on the train in Ushuaia.
We all stood in the right line until our guide, Christian, came to take us to the bus that would take us to the glass bottom boat off which we would snorkel. When we got to the snorkel site, I immediately caused trouble by asking if we really had to wear life vests while snorkeling. After promising I would not drown or disturb any of the sponges, they reluctantly let me take off my bulky life jacket. Another girl took hers off, too. Everybody else wore theirs. Then, as they started passing out snorkels and I pulled out my own, they tried to tell me mine wouldn't work and I should use theirs. I insisted that mine was fine. After that, we all got into the water. One girl with a life jacket on immediately had difficulties and had to be towed on the ring. No problem. The water was calm, so I had no concern about getting pushed around by the waves and currents. The problem was with the reef. It wasn't a big reef like one would expect in the Mesoamerican Reef (also known as the Great Mayan Reef), the second largest reef system in the world. It was mostly scattered small sponges with a few corals scattered around, mostly fan coral and what looked like staghorn coral but the guides called finger coral. It was mostly a bed of sea grass without anybody visible in it or a sandy sea bottom.
You can see how there is pretty much nothing but sand off this bump of sponge and coral.
There were a few pretty fish. Not very many, but a few.
Surgeonfish
Yellowhead Wrasse
Snapper
Sergeant major
Bluehead Wrasse
A school of various fish in a sponge
Green sea turtle. He was in a sunnier spot in one.
When we got back on the boat, we road over a small cenote in the water. The cenotes inland are much more famous and used for diving. This one was very small. I tried to start of chorus of "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea," but nobody joined in. I also dug through the backpack to get my phone and grab a picture since I had put the camera up, and realized that I never took my phone out of the bra of my rash guard. So, I snorkeled with my phone. Thankfully, it still worked and didn't fall out while snorkeling!
After a stop at a restaurant so we could go to the bathroom and the locals could try to peddle their wares, we went back to the port area. This is apparently the big draw here. People actually drive two hours to work at the port and there is a condo complex close to it where port workers live who don't drive. I walked through much of it so I could see what all was there, and by the time I got about half way through it, Bruce texted me to see what I was doing to see if we wanted to have lunch together. I told him what all was there (overpriced Mexican food, swimming pools that you have to buy a drink to use, a replica of a Mayan ruin, and lots of shops).
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He decided he didn't want to come out, wanted to stay on the climate-controlled ship so he didn't wear out from the heat before the excursions he was going to do the next couple of days. So, I decided to try out the one thing that interested me - the fish eating the dead skin from my feet! The first time I experienced something similar was in Victoria Falls, when I did the Devil's Pool. The little fish nibbled at the skin on my legs while I was waiting for my turn on the edge.
She started out by cleaning my feet with a soapy brush and a water hose over a bucket.
Then I got 20 minutes in the tank with the fish. It tickled for the first few seconds, but then it felt good. They went after a couple of callouses I have really good. They didn't get it all, but they smoothed them down pretty good. My feet were smooth, much better than a pumice stone!
As I was walking back to the ship, I was thinking how this was probably such a good business idea. There were 12 stations, and they were at least half full every time I walked by. At $25 for 20 minutes, one station would bring in $75/hr. If half of them were busy for an hour, it would be $450 an hour. The cruise ship was in port for nine hours. Assuming the place was busy for 5 of them, that would be $2,250 per day. As I got closer to the pier, I saw another fish manicure place with the same company. This one was in the busier part and I counted 24 stations here, and only a few seats were empty. This is definitely a good business.
When I got back on the boat and got the cameras squared away, we went to the buffet, and I found the taco bar (thanks to Bruce pointing it out to me). Whoever made the taco stuff found the spice shaker. Or maybe it was because I found the jalepenos. I had a little taco salad. After dumping my photos, taking a shower, and Bruce having a nap, we looked at the dining room menu and decided we would go to the dining room. They were having scallops on rice for one entree and steak for another one. And cherries jubilee for desert. We decided we would split them and have surf and turf. I'm glad we decided that because Bruce got a nice piece of steak, but I got five tiny sea scallops on a bed of rice just big enough to hold the five sea scallops. It was very tasty, but tiny! They didn't light my cherries jubilee, either, but again, it was tasty. The dining room is a much tastier option than the buffet on this particular ship.
Tomorrow's port is Roatan, and I'm really looking forward to going to the sloth and monkey hangout. I would love to snorkel the reef, but there isn't time for both. I booked both for Belize and double checked with the shore excursion desk who said they think it will be tight, but that I may be able to make it.
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