Ship-Faced: 2018 Cruise to Cozumel and Progreso

Admittedly, it was dumb to start a blog right before going on a cruise, because it means I didn't post for a long time, but it is what it is.

Anyway, I went on a 6-day cruise that left out of Galveston, TX and went to Cozumel, Mexico and Progreso, Yucatan. My mom, my roommate, and I all went on this cruise together which was awesome because we got to bond and have fun together. Plus, it was my mom's 45th birthday on 9/11 so we celebrated her birthday on the cruise.

We left on Friday, Sept. 7th and drove down to Galveston from OKC. It took about 8 hours, but the drive really wasn't all that bad. We got to Galveston, checked into our hotel, and went to dinner at a place called "The Float" which was a bar that had a swimming pool in it. We had burgers which were pretty good then went for a walk along the seawall. We went in some shops, and Amber bought a snorkel set. Everyone was exhausted by 8ish that evening so we went back to the hotel to shower and relax before settling in for bed.

BOOMER SOONER (taken at the Texas border)

Dinner at The Float 

 Mom and I (taken at our hotel in Galveston)

Day 1: Debarkation 

On Saturday, we got up and had breakfast before heading to the place where we parked our car. We took their shuttle over to the cruise terminal and went through security and all the other onboarding requirements which took way less time than I expected. Before we knew it we were on the boat! We had lunch on the lido deck at the Blue Iguana Cantina and officially began our cruise with a pirate punch and a burrito. 

Excited on the shuttle  

 Pirate Punch 

 Mom

 Amber

 Me

 Amber and Me

 Mom and Me 

 GIRLS TRIP!

After lunch, we watched the welcome aboard show which included lots of dancing, music, and even The Cat in the Hat. It was a lot of fun and Mom and I even joined a conga line and danced on the giant TV screen with a few other brave folks. We spent the rest of the day hanging out by the pool, enjoying tropical drinks and soaking up the sun. We had dinner in the main dining room which was delicious and then sat along the side of the boat and watched the ocean as the ship cruised on toward Mexico. We ended our evening doing a little exploring, particularly we found the casino and coffee bar. 

The casino was called The Shogun Casino

Day 2: Day at Sea

We spent most of our day relaxing at the pool. Amber needed a nap so while she slept, Mom and I explored the ship. We had a lot of fun walking around the large vessel. After Amber woke up, we all got dressed for the formal dining night. We had a great time getting all gussied up then went to go take photos. There were tons of places with different backgrounds where professional photographers took your picture. We loved it, and felt like super models. Then, we met up with the people from the group that organized this cruise. They were amazing and we loved having dinner with them! During dinner, our waitress and all the other wait staff randomly burst into a choreographed dance. It was super funny and we made quite the ruckus in support of our waitress. She was so embarrassed, but she smiled and laughed with us. 

After dinner, we went back to our room and changed into our clubwear and got ready to head to the on-board night club called "One Small Step." We planned to meet up with Brenda, a friend from Oklahoma that organized the cruise. We danced until 3am, then got some pizza (the pizza place was the only 24hr restaurant on-board), and then went to bed. It was such a blast!

We are the Dancing Queens! Young and Sweet.. way over 17!! 

Day 3: COZUMEL!

Due to us going out and dancing the night before, my mom and I did not wake up until around noon on the day of our arrival to Cozumel. This meant that we only had about 4.5 hours to hang out in Cozumel, so we decided to just explore and shop. It was absolutely beautiful and there were so many cool, funny, and beautiful photo opportunities. We had a great time posing for pics, shopping for souvenirs, and haggling with vendors. I love haggling. I learned how to do it in Tanzania, and now I feel like a pro. We got some GREAT deals there and met some cool people. 

 How perfect is this cake!? We were celebrating Mom's birthday on the cruise, so of course I made her take a picture with it!

 The 3 of us scrunched up together 

 Me on the gangway in Cozumel 

 #tourist 

 iconic 

 I was stupid excited about these giant chairs 

 We met some super sweet traditional dancers in Cozumel 

After we finished our shopping, we hopped back on the boat and grabbed some food before relaxing for the rest of the day. However, at approximately 7pm our boat entered into part of a hurricane. Suddenly the sky went completely black, rain started pouring down on the boat, and the wind gusts became so strong that people had to hold onto rails to walk about the boat. The furniture on the outer decks was flying back and forth, and the crew scrambled to get them all secured. The water in the pools splashed out in huge waves and the boat rocked heavily back and forth as the ship sped up to try and outrun the storm. Naturally, we spent the entirety of the storm out on the 10th deck watching and enjoying the storm. It was pretty funny trying to walk around as the ship rocked. Then, when things had mostly calmed down we got settled in for bed. 

Day 4: Progreso and Mom's Birthday

On day 4 we arrived in Progreso, Yucatan. This port was very different from the port in Cozumel. It was very industrial and we took a bus to the main entry area of the port. Progreso is not nearly as financially secure as Cozumel, and it was evident in most of the homes we saw. It was very sobering to see the reality that the citizens their live in. I felt weird paying $35 to be whisked away to an all-inclusive resort, but pushed that aside and had a blast. The resort was beautiful and both food an drinks were included. We had a super delicious lunch, then had a few drinks (and a few shots of tequila) before heading to the private beach. The water was beautiful, and I had planned on doing some snorkeling so I geared up and swam a few miles out only to not be able to see anything because the water was so murky from the storm the night before. It was a little disappointing, but I love to swim and I love the ocean so I was just happy to be able to spend a few hours letting my inner mermaid out in my favorite place. After my swimming, I came back in to shore and collected some shells to bring back with me. Then, I enjoyed a few more drinks with Mom and Amber before our guide came and let us know it was time to go. We each got a daiquiri to go and hopped back on the bus. The bus took us back to the ship and we waited in line to get back on. 

Traditional Dancers in Progreso 

Mom was super excited because she got to hold a Macaw 

 Mom on the beach 

 Toes 

 Obligatory beach selfie (i'd just gotten done swimming)

When we got back on the boat, we came back to the room to see a towel animal and a cake that said happy birthday for mom. It was so cute. We went to dinner before getting dolled up to go to the nightclub again, this time to celebrate Mom's birthday! It was a BLAST! We definitely got ship-faced. We danced, sang, and drank the night away. Amber got real toasted, so we had to walk her back to the room when the club shut down. After that, Mom and I got some pizza. We were cracking each other up and acting like teenagers. It was so fun. 

 Mom's birthday surprise!

Mom and I all dressed up to go out

Day 5: Day at Sea 
On the 5th day we just relaxed in the sun by the pool and talked about how much fun we'd been having. It was a chill day. We remarked on everything we'd done and ate some great food. We went and purchased pictures, hung out with people we'd met on our trip, and started packing up.

Day 6: Homebound
We arrived in port in Galveston around 9am and began the RIDICULOUS process of debarking. Honestly, this was my biggest complaint. The debarking process was so poorly planned. Most of the stairways were shut off which made it very difficult to get to where we had to be to debark, people were crowding the floor that you have to get on to get off the boat, crew members were telling us differing things to do and places to go, they only had 1 guest services desk open so the line was crazy long, the A/C was turned up so it was hot, and no one was enforcing rules or guiding people to make the situation better. It was so frustrating, took forever, and made us feel like a bunch of cattle. Then, we went through customs before taking the shuttle back to our car and starting the 8 hour journey home.

Overall, I had a great time and would definitely do it again!