Updates on Sara's life

Ryan and I returned from our cruise today. Here is a little recap. I will post pictures once we download them onto the computer. However, we barely took any pictures.

Monday:
We got up at 3:15 am…way too early. We had to catch a cab to the airport. Our flight left at 6:10 and we got to Miami in a few hours. The weather there was pretty crappy. It was rainy, breezy and a bit chilly. I think the weather that day was better in Minneapolis. We got on the Carnival boat no problem. The lines are huge but actually run pretty smoothly. You are greeted by a billion photographers, posing you in front of different backdrops and will various props or dressed up people. We found our cabin and went and ate right away. Then we spent some time wandering the boat, trying to figure out where everything was. We had our first dinner. There were assigned seats and we met some nice couples at our table. The dinners consist of a five course meal. Mom, I even tried escargot. It was nasty. We went to an evening show where there was a comedian. We hit the sack early because we had to get up early the next day.

Tuesday:
We docked at Key West. Ryan and I went SCUBA diving. The first dive we saw lobsters, fish of course and a shark. It was pretty scary, but it was just resting on the bottom. The first dive had a max depth of 50 feet. The second dive was around 20 feet. We got separated from the instructors, which was kind of intimidating, but we found our way back to the boat. On that dive, when we were close to the boat, a school of yellow fish were surrounding Ryan and me. It was cool. On the trolley from the where we got on the dive boat back to the big boat, we saw some of the town. It’s a cute little town. It was formal night at dinner, so we got to dress up all nice and pretty. I wore a black dress and Ryan wore a suit. We actually made it on the official video for that cruise when we were all dressed up. That night we went to the first of two Las Vegas style shows that dancers and singers put on. It was very enjoyable.

Wednesday:
It was an absolute gorgeous day. We ate breakfast out on the deck of the boat and it was lovely. We docked in Cozumel and went to a beach were there was open bar and buffet. Don’t worry, we didn’t get crazy. Just a few daiquiris. We went snorkeling there were there were this underwater Aztec ruins, obviously man-made. So we went out to find some of these “ruins”. Then we lounged around for awhile. Then we went shopping where I got to work on some bartering skills. After a huge line to get on the small boat, that took us back to the big boat, we ended up missing dinner. But those of you who have cruised before, there are 24 hour buffets of various sorts, so we took advantage of that. Then we went to a guy that did a balancing act, where he balanced a variety of stuff on his forehead. It was impressive. Then there was another comedian. I played the slot machines. I put in $20, and walked off with $41. Not bad.

Thursday:
We didn’t make any stops this day, so we lounged by the pool for awhile. Stupid me forgot to put sunscreen on my right leg from the knee down, so it turned bright red, and still is. We went to the other Las Vegas style show, played bingo, and more slots. At midnight there was the “R-rated” comedian show.

Friday:
We got off the boat by 8 am after customs and all that jazz. Again, we were very impressed how fast the lines moved. We spent another day in Miami. We had a really nice hotel and lounged around the pool for many hours. Then we went to a pedestrian mall in south beach and looked in the windows of many swanky shops. It’s interesting how you hear English much less then other languages in Miami. We went to a bar that we were familiar with from last year, called Wet Willies. Then we strolled along the board walk with drinks in hand, since it’s legal there to walk around with drinks. Then hit the sack at our hotel to catch our early flight.

So, that was our trip. We had a lot of fun, but I was anxious to get home to see my kitties. Ryan’s aunt took care of them, but it was so nice to see them. Since I’m in MN now, I’ll probably lose this tan in about 3 days. :(