End of days. Or...holidays, anyway.

Our last day of the cruise today – a lovely, relaxing sea day.  We took full advantage of having nothing to do!  We ordered room service for breakfast; then we spent a few hours up on deck reading.  It was a perfect day – sunny and warm.  The sea was as calm as we’ve can ever remember seeing it.  More like a lake than the ocean, really.   

Amazingly calm!

Andrew ordered himself a bucket of beer, which then took him most of the day to finish.  

This evening, we’ll pack our bags and leave them out to be collected and taken ashore in the morning.  We’ll then pick them up just before we go through customs.  Our flight from New Orleans is at 1:40 pm, and we’ll be back at home before 6 pm.  We’ve had a great time, but we are looking forward to seeing Jumbo and I am, as always, looking forward to my bed!  J

Next trip is Roatan, Honduras in February of 2014.  Only 136 days, but who’s counting?

Cozumel

Second and final port today - Cozumel.  We’ve been to Cozumel a few times before, but have not spent much time in the town proper due to dive excursions.  As I mentioned yesterday, we scrapped the idea of diving to do a version of “The Amazing Race”.

We got off the boat and met the group just outside of the pier.  There were six teams in total (five couples and a family of 8).  We were driven to the starting point (the mall) and given a run-down of the rules, and a packet of info, which included a map, a cell phone (in case we got lost) and a few other odds and ends.  We were then handed our first clue and the game was on.  Luckily, the first clue was a “find the difference between the two pictures” puzzle.  Andrew loves these and does them all the time, so we whipped through it quickly and were off to an early start.  Using the numerical answer from the puzzle, we had to find our next location on the map and head out at a run.  We spent the next 90-minutes running, snorkeling, and solving puzzles, which included Mayan math.  Lucky for me, Andrew is very good at puzzles and also at reading all the instructions – not a trait often found in Sabey’s. 

While very fun, it was completely exhausting!  Not only did we cover more than 4 miles (running most of the time, and briefly lost), but it was seriously HOT out there.  It’s still technically summer in Mexico so it was approximately 90F and about 85% humidity.  Andrew did the snorkeling task, but we were equally soaked by the time we finished.

The race ended at a little restaurant where they gave us a margarita and presented the medals.  Andrew and I came in second behind a couple that are marathon runners.  We’ll take it!  Especially since our goal was not to win, but to not be divorced by the time we were finished.  Mission accomplished and we even had a little fun.  

Cozumel - love that water!

A sweaty, second place finish!

Progresso, Mexico

First port today – Progresso.  Never heard of it?  Me either before we booked this cruise.  From what we saw and heard today, Progresso was a small fishing village (octopus is the main catch) on the Yucatan Peninsula that happened to “luck out” (subjective, I’m sure) when Carnival Cruise Line decided to move in.  The cruise line built a pier that is 4-miles long, because the sea is too shallow for the ships to come closer to shore than that.   Now the town has a steady feeding of two ships full of tourists that stop each week, making tourism the largest economy.

We got off the ship about 8:15 am and, not interested in a 4-mile hike in the 90F/30C heat, we found the free shuttle in to town.   The shuttle dropped us off in a parking lot that held a small vendor market.  Locals were selling the usual trinkets that they think tourists like.  You know what I mean:  knock-off purses and sunglasses, carved wooden boxes, woven blankets and t-shirts with ridiculously lewd sayings on them.  Come to think of it, people must actually like these or they would start selling something else, right?   As I’ve mentioned before, we buy practically nothing when we travel, but we like to look. I keep hoping for something different, but never find it.  One day, I’m going to retire to a cruise ship port and open a shop that sells things that I would want to buy.   For example, instead of a carved wooden trinket box, how about a carved wooden salt box, or wooden spoon?  How about a picture frame?  Instead of the gaudy leather purses the locals hand-tool, how about a dog collar or leash?  Anyway…enough about my retirement plan.

Also in the same parking lot we encountered several tour guides hawking their adventures.  We’d read a little bit about Progresso before we left, so knew that we weren’t going to spend all day here.  Unless you were going to one of the day resorts or the ruins, there isn’t enough to do.   We did, however, decide to do the 30-minute city tour on the double decker bus.

Interesting!

Us on the top of the DD bus.

The Malecon

The tour was perfect – a good way to see the city but not have to walk around in the heat.  As well, there was a guide who told a bit about the history and economy of Progresso.  We’re always interested in the cost of living in the ports we visited.  The guide told us that a relatively nice house that we saw for sale would cost about $50,000 USD.  Rent is about $250/month.  I’m packing now.

After the city tour, we stopped at a little bar across the street from the beach.  They had free wifi, so that was a selling feature for us!  We ordered – a margarita for me, and Corona for Andrew.  They brought me two margaritas saying it was happy hour.  I’ve not known a bar to have happy hour at 10:30 in the morning, but who am I to complain.  They also brought us chips and salsa and a fairly steady stream of free tequila shots.  Uncle!  After about 45 minutes we asked for our check and were told that we owed $8 USD.  No wonder rent is so cheap! 

By noon, we had pretty much exhausted what there was to do in town, so we headed back to the ship.  We did stop and buy a magnet for Andrew (he buys a magnet every place we visit) and a bottle of Mexican vanilla for me.  It’s such a bargain here compared to the States!  We were back on the ship shortly after noon, had a bite to eat, and then had a nap.  My first one of the whole trip – yay!

Tonight was the past-guest party, which they offer as a thank you to guests who have gold, platinum or diamond status.  Basically, they hand out free drinks and appetizers, and introduce all the senior officers.   Carnival has recently changed their “medal” program, meaning that you have to now sail many, many more cruises to reach each tier.  There’s been a lot of controversy over this on the message boards.  Because we had already reached platinum status under the old program (10 cruises), we will maintain that status.  Under the new program, we won’t reach the next level (Diamond) for a long, long time.  Likely not before we die.    

Tomorrow we arrive in Cozumel at 9 am.  We had originally thought we would dive in Cozumel; it’s one of our favorite spots due to the slow currents, which result in “drift diving”.  After some discussion, however, we opted not to haul all of our dive gear (another large suitcase) on this trip for only one dive.  Instead, we’re going to do an “Amazing Race” excursion.  One, or both of us, may die at the hands of the other one.  Keep your fingers crossed that we both make it out alive. 

First sea day

A sea day today, which we were ready for after all the activity of New Orleans.  Andrew was not feeling well yesterday and the better part of today.  I think that hand grenade did him in.  J   He went to bed really early last night, and also napped quite a bit today.   I  mostly read, and went to the gym. 

By dinnertime Andrew was feeling better so we got fancied up for formal night.  I didn’t take any picture.  Just look back at the pictures from the wedding – we looked exactly the same, but without the benefit of flattering candlelight. 

After dinner, we went to listen to karaoke for a little bit.  Sadly, it just wasn’t as much fun without Lee – the karaoke host from our last cruise, whom we loved!   Now we’re back in the cabin to read before bed.  We’ll be in Progresso at 8 am tomorrow morning…stay tuned. 

Goodbye New Orleans, hola Mexico!

We woke up in New Orleans for the last time this trip.  Sigh.  We finished packing and tidying up the apartment, then trotted over to Croissant D'or for a quick coffee/croissant.   We then met up with Bob to check out, and are now waiting for the cab that will take us to the cruise port at 10:30 am.  Because of our platinum status with Carnival, we should be able to board and get to our cabin straight away.  The ship doesn't sail until 4 pm, so we'll have plenty of time to settle in and explore the ship before we are underway.  

Here's where we're heading...

Wedding day

Our last day in The Big Easy.  Sad, but we've had an amazing time and I think we've seen/done/eaten pretty much everything we set out to.  Speaking of eating, I thought that coffee & a muffin would be perfect for breakfast this morning, so I Googled "bakery."  Low & behold, a bakery called Croissant D'or is located just around the corner from us.  While Andrew was still sleeping, I threw on some clothes and dashed off to see what treasure could be found.  Ahh...croissant heaven!  It's a really good thing I was not aware of this little gem earlier in the trip.  I brought back a couple of flaky, warm croissant (plain for Andrew, almond for me) and a couple of cafe au lait, and we dined al fresco on the porch.  

Breakfast on the porch

After breakfast we ducked out to do some shopping.  Shopping for souvenirs is something we do very little of when we're on holiday, so we're not particularly good at it and we likely ended up covering much more ground than we needed to. Oh well, what else have we to do today?  While we were out, we ran in to Chris & Cliff at the French Market, and Jason and his group in Jackson Square.  I can't tell you how delightfully surreal it is to encounter people that you know while on holiday in a strange city!  We also wandered up Bourbon Street to get Andrew a "hand grenade", which was the last item to be checked off of his to do list.   A "hand grenade" is a slushy cocktail comprised of gin, vodka, grain alcohol, melon liqueur, and rum.  Lives up to it's name, as you can imagine.

Andrew and his Hand Grenade.  It's 11 am, in case you're wondering.
The beads came from a wedding party that went by us with their Second Line band.
He didn't even have to show his boobies to get them.

Shopped out, we grabbed a sandwich to go and made our way back to the apartment.  We did some laundry and started to get a little organized for our departure tomorrow.  Andrew had a nap, courtesy of his cocktail!  :)  I sat outside for a while with the cat.  Did I mention that there is also a cat here?  Her name is Annie.  She looks remarkably like Freaky, don't you think?

Tonight was the main event that we're here for - Chris & Cliff's wedding.  The wedding took place at the Pharmacy Museum, which was the first licensed apothecary shop in New Orleans.  Interestingly, it was also on our haunted history tour.  In an attempt to cure himself, a syphilis-ravaged pharmacist from the mid-1800's administered inhumane, experimental medications/concoctions to slave women that he first infected.  The treatments and lack of general care over the course of a decade ultimately resulted in the death of an unknown number of women.  Dr. Dupas also eventually succumbed to his disease.  They say, however, that he can still be found working behind the counter on certain nights.  As well, the slave women who were imprisoned under such terrible conditions on the second floor can be heard moaning and wailing.  People who are "sensitive" to the energy of these women are known to become nauseous when inside the pharmacy.  Fun!

The wedding venue

The original soda fountain in the pharmacy

Some crazy things on these shelves!

Leeches - for what ails you.

 

The wedding itself was absolutely beautiful.  Chris and Cliff have put an amazing amount of thought in to the planning of this event, especially as it relates to their guests.  They have provided us with countless communications outlining hotels, event details, places to eat, recommended tours, and safety tips.  Each guest was greeted in their hotel room by a "Welcome to New Orleans" gift bag that was customized to their interests.  For example, ours had wine and a book on ghost hunting, along with pralines and some voodoo items.  In short, attention to detail would be an understatement.   The best part of the evening was the Second Line band, which led us through the streets of the Quarter, including several blocks of Bourbon Street.  Second Line bands are a brass band that traditionally lead a jazz funeral procession.  Now, however, they are very commonly used to lead wedding parties.  The bride and groom (or groom & groom, in our case) each get a parasol and the wedding guests get handkerchiefs to wave.  Passersby line the streets to dance to the music and applaud the newlyweds.  What a fun tradition!

Chandeliers hung from a tree in the courtyard

Chris & Cliff about to jump the broom

The Second Line band getting ready to lead us out in to the streets

The crowd following the band, waving their handkerchiefs.

Andrew & Jason showed up in matching hats

We've had a wonderful time here in New Orleans.  What an amazing city full of history and culture!  I hope we get to come back someday soon.  In the meantime, we're boarding a cruise ship tomorrow for a 5-day vacation extender.  See you there!