About 2 months ago, my friend, Jen, go the urge to go to Cozumel. She brought it up in an odd fashion, though... I get a cryptic message from her, something like, "Are you going to need some vanilla for baking over the holidays?" Baffled, I respond, maybe and try to figure out what she's getting at. She replies back, "Cozumel Cruise, 5 days, 4 nights, leaves Nov. 29." Needles to say, I was intrigued since I hadn't gotten away too much this year. This was pretty last minute for planning a cruise, only two months out. So it had to be a pretty quick decision. It was relative cheap - granted, in the big scheme of things, cruises usually are. But this one was especially enticing. A quick check of things, and I was in. It was just to be three of us this time around - which we anticipated to be much more fun!
Fast forward to This past weekend... well, last Thursday. Direct morning flight to TPA, and we were some of the first one of the ship, Jewel of the Seas! It was surreal. We left Indy and had to be de-iced before taking off. Now we were changing into our bathing suits to sit poolside. But none of us could disagree... we all needed this little vacay! Let's just hope we had more sun on this one than last year's cruise... which, from the forecast, should be the case.Finally, after our 4pm muster, we set sail! I don't think I really ever realized how big Tampa Bay really was! It seemed like forever before we got to the Sunshine Bridge! In fact, the sun had set by the time we got there and the moon was full glow after we passed under it. (Got some cool sunset pictures, though!) Oh, and The Jewel barely fits under it! It was kind of cool to listen to wave to cheering from passengers as the ship passed under it, too. Great way to start the trip!
So our first day at sea on Friday did have some scattered showers and overcast skies. A bit of a bummer, but there weren't enough to kill the day. In fact, the day really seemed to fly by when all was said and done - we actually got to enjoy a little more of the ship! The Jewel of the Seas was much nicer than last year's boat, the Monarch of the Seas. It was bigger, for one, and newer. I'm sure it helped that we had a balcony room, too, which is the way to go, we learned. Gives you that private piece of the ship where you can feel the breeze. The staff on this ship seemed a lot more fun, too - they had the best photography staff on board, which was enough to get us to actually find all of them when they set up for portraits at night. And even buy pictures at the end. They just had fun with us, and the rest of the staff was right on par with them, just making sure we had a good time.
Saturday we were in Cozumel, bright and early! Literally. As the sun came up, we were cruising in. We had our day all planned out though - it was going to be one of relaxation! After a quick shopping trip into town. For vanilla. That's right, vanilla. Jen has bought vanilla from here before - they have pure vanilla that is apparently the vanilla to use in recipes. For cheap! But along the way, we found a few other fun stops and found something else Cozumel has become known for - silver jewelry! When all was said and done, though, we went back to the ship, lots of bags in hand, and did a quick turnaround to head to our beach break, Nachi Cocum!
Nachi Cocum was a private beach that you had to make reservations for. This time of year, there's even fewer than the typical 100 allowed. So we nearly had the beach to ourselves... us and maybe about a half dozen or so other people. This was all inclusive - you paid a small fee for the privacy, but that included all the food and drink (adult beverages, included) you wanted! It was the perfect decompression spot we all wanted and needed! Jen and I even took a snorkeling trip, which was fun, too! We saw some barracudas, a giant sea turtle, and even a shark (though I'm not sure what kind). And of course, lots of fish! Our guide even got us up close and personal with some conchs and a giant starfish!We stayed at Nachi Cocum for as long as possible, soaking up the sun with drinks in hand! We finally headed out just before sunset - we actually watched the sunset from the cruise pier. In fact, Jen and I were 2 of the last 6 people to reboard the ship! We were kind of proud of that. Even then, everyone was still on board early and the captain left port early. It was, indeed, the perfect day.
Sunday was another day at sea. As Jen put it, this was how sea days were supposed to be. Bright, sunny, lazy poolside days. Plenty of entertainment poolside, too. We made sure to get to the pool deck early so we could stake out the perfect spot. It was a good thing, too, because it filled up quickly! While Saturday was the perfect port day, this was definitely the perfect day at sea. None of us wanted to speak of how the cruise was coming to an end. But it was.Monday morning, we were back at the Tampa Bay Port. Just like that, it was over. Karla, Jen, and I had so much fun, though - we even talked about making this an annual thing. It was the perfect time of year to do it, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not as many people were taking cruises, and it was just the right time to get away from Indiana, as the cold weather started to set in. So we shall see... Maybe there will be another cruisin' blog next year.
You can see a lot more pictures on my Fotki Page. A LOT more!
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