Wow! End of Cruise

First, I can't believe how fast the cruise came and went. And, we had 2 unexpected quests - Cindy and Dennis. Basically, our Captain switched our days around so, instead of Belize first and then Cozumel, we did them in reverse - thus, avoiding Tropical Storm Cindy - and having great weather in Cozumel and Belize. After departing from Belize, the Captain drove the ship at max. speed, so, we avoided Hurricane Dennis. So, in a nutshell, we got all our ports and beautiful sunny days!

So, here's the low down on Carnival Cruises - especially the Carnival Glory. The ship was awesome! I had great food, great fun and was around great staff and guests. Our servers, at dinner (Cristian and Suraj) far surpassed any servers we had on other cruises. (Disney Magic and RC Voyager of the Seas.) Not to say the others were bad - they were very good, as well. But, our servers on the Glory were entertaining, humble and very concerned that we were enjoying ourselves and the meal. (If food was left on the plate, they made sure it was because we were full, not because we didn't like it.) And, to top it off, our servers took turns doing very amusing magic tricks. During dessert, the servers / dining room always had entertainment. I LOVED dinner and looked forward to it every evening.

Our Cruise director, Mark Price, has got to be one of the funniest men I have ever seen. He made pre-shows and other shows a blast.

As for other activites, I loved the New / Not so New Newlywed game, soaking up the son, the deck parties and hitting the fitness center. The ship had so many activities, I just couldn't do them all. So, unfortunately, I missed the Hairest Man contest, the Synchronized Swimming contest, and the watermelon and hotdog eating contest.

I recommend this cruise to everyones who wants to relax and have fun. It was AWSEOME!!!!

As for the ports, I already talked about Key West. Cozumel was beautiful. However, we went to Tulum. So, upon reaching Cozumel, we took another boat to Playa Del Carmen and then a bus ride to Tulum. The ruin sites are pretty amazing. It is hard to believe these structures are built without nails / morter etc. And, the history is amazing. Going through Mexico is neat, and somwhat depressing, although Belize takes the cake for depressing.

In Belize, we had a tender to Belize city and a bus ride to our shore excursion - the Lost Canopy Tour. The tour through the town, rich and poor sections was very humbling. It made me think back to a sermon where I was reminded that if you made $20,000 per year, you were in the top 10% of the wealthiest people on the EARTH. And, if you made above $50,ooo - you were in the top 1%. These people really have very little. Our tour escorts (who in america would be on the LOW end of the pay scale) are very lucky to have the jobs. The homes were depressing. And, what floored me was the the upscale homes were in the $250,000 price range. (My neighborhood and the ones around my children's schools are basically $200,000 - 425,000, with most being around $250,000.) They consider that living like a king. Many homes were shacks built from plywood. Kind of made me feel stupid for spending money on a tour where I traversing above the trees and spending money on that. I feel very lucky to have the things I have.

So, with that said, the shore excursion was fun, but, for me, very scary. It started with getting the gear on and then hiking up a trail to the first traverse. So, after 5 traverses and 2 repels, I am still here. I will admit, I did not look down - despite the 10 year old behind me urging me to do so. Dave said we were between 50 and 100 feet above the ground.

So, anyway the cruise was a blast.