Western Caribbean Christmas Cruise: 10 - 14 Dec 2018
Its been a while since the last posting. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that a part-time job at Kroger over the holidays will just keep one from getting bored. Quite the contrary, people SO like to eat during the holidays and we put in a lot more hours than just part-time. But we did manage to squeeze in a trip, albeit a cruise instead of the normal RV outing since our tenement on wheels is winterized until March.
I will do a review and recap of the 4 day cruise in hopes of providing some useful information to those that are new to cruising or those that cruise but always looking for a new trip. We have cruised several times and will include any future trips on the blog along with the RV outings
As a Christmas present to ourselves my immediate family decided a cruise would be a great present for a change. We found that buying gifts for adult children and each other was not what it once was years past.
Sunday, 9 December - With the potential for bad weather causing flight issues we elected to rent a van drive the whole gang (Me, Jennifer, Ash, brother, nephew, and mother) to Miami, FL. Used Expedia and got a Toyota Sienna for $120.00 one way to Miami. It was spacious and accommodated our luggage with no issues.
After 15 hours of driving we arrived no worse for the wear. Of course every time we switched drivers it was like a Chinese fire drill on the side of the road. My "connected" nephew hurt our efficiency some as I swear he had 2 phones, chargers, laptop, neck pillow and whatever else he was able to fit in his bag plus his road snacks. I dropped them off at the Carnival Cruise terminal and the van at the airport. Caught the complementary shuttle back to the terminal and still made our boarding time of 1230.
Monday, 10 December- Boarding at the Miami cruise port is really easy. Just need you printed off boarding pass, your passport, and a 2nd form of ID. We dropped our tagged bags off with the bag porter for delivery to our state rooms. We went through the scanner with our carry-ons and even carried on some snacks which somehow wound up in my brothers room and he ate ALL of the peanut butter-no-bake cookies himself...d*ck!. Carnival allows one 12-pack of soft drinks per person for those that do not want to buy the soda package but still get their caffeine fix. Went to the buffet and ate lunch while our bags were being delivered to our room. If you have never cruised before eating is crazy...food, food, and more food. No time to start a diet lol. We were on the Victory Ship which is considered a medium size for their fleet. Ship departed Miami at 1600.
Tuesday, 11 December- Arrived in the Key West. Unfortunately it was sprinkling and unusually cool. Ash, Jen and I walked a few blocks down US route 1 to stand at the southernmost point of the continental US to get a selfie and do some shopping.
Wednesday, 12 December- Arrived in Cozumel, Mexico. Jen had coordinated with the family to bring "Ugly Christmas Sweaters" so we exited the ship with ugly sweaters on and found a cool spot to take a Christmas Family photo. As one could guess, we received many stares and lots of "that's so cool" comments. Once Jen was satisfied we returned everything to the ship and headed out for our excursion. It was a catamaran sailing trip with a snorkel stop then a stop at a private beach. The trip was $89.00 a person but was a good 1/2 day on the water and beach with free drinks on the return trip. The snorkeling was a bit crowded and they wanted everyone to stay together due to the current. The water was really clear and quite a few fish but the coral was old and decayed. Snorkeling lasted about 30 minutes, a bit short I thought. The beach stay was a nice relaxing spot with hammocks, chairs and food vendors. It was not a trip for those looking for adventure but did incorporate some sailing, snorkeling/swimming, and beach fun.
Thursday, 13 December- A day at sea. Mike and Micah entered a cornhole contest. Proud to say the father and son team swept the competition and Micah went on to win the individuals competition as well. Good ole boys from KY was not gonna be beat at our home sport. Boy were they proud of those plastic trophies lol.
We also managed to get a bit dressed up for a memorable family Christmas photo...they cleaned up quite well
A most unfortunate incident happened during the night. We were woken up by a knock at our door around 0230 and a Carnival employee had a picture of a young man and asked if we had seen him, which we had not. Went back to sleep and woke to an announcement that repeated over and over calling for the young man to report to the customer service desk. I looked out the window and could see Miami off in the distance. About that time the Captain come over the intercom and informs everyone that they have determined that the young man went overboard shortly after midnight as we were passing Key West. Protocol for Carnival is to immediately turn around and back track the same direction to the area he went overboard to conduct search until the Coast Guard arrived. About 3 hours later we turned around again and returned to Miami as the Coast Guard had taken over and deemed it a search and recovery. The delay was definitely an inconvenience as it caused us to arrive back in Miami too late to make our flights out of Ft. Lauderdale. But we could only feel humbled by the thoughts of what the young man's travel companion and family were going through as it was finally determined that he jumped. Once we disembarked it was a bit chaotic with everyone trying to get home. We tried to get an Uber but no luck so we hired a driver to take me, Jennifer, Ash, and my nephew to Ft. Lauderdale airport. I had called American Airlines and managed to get mine and Jennifer's flight changed (twice because we missed the first change) to a late flight getting us back to Louisville at around midnight. Micah, Ash, Mike and my mother had booked through Allegiant and was not successful in getting a flight so they crashed for the night in the airport. We got a cab in Louisville that took us to where Micah had left his vehicle with a friend to be used to get us all home. As luck would have it his battery was dead lol, so the friend had to be woken up to jump the truck off. At this point all we could do was smile and just be glad we had the opportunity to get home.
Friday, 14 December- Micah, Mike, Ash and my mom arrived at Cincinnati airport and Jennifer was there to pick them up and get them all home. We didn't get home ourselves until around 0300 so we had a short night as Jen had to drive to Cincinnati to pick them up and I had to go into work...again thought it was just part-time to cure winter boredom..lol.
We have cruised 8 times now and this was the first time we have ever had an issue. Some we have told said they would never take another cruise after that but it was the anomaly out of what has always been a really good time.
Next stop a cruise to eastern Caribbean stopping at Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Marteen
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