The Unabridged Vacation Story
2001-10-30 - 6:16 p.m.
If you haven't read my first vacation entry from earlier today, in which I detail ridding the world of a filthy raccoon, go here.
So we (Heather, me, and 2 other girls going with us) get into Galveston a little after 1. After waiting in a line for about 45 minutes of so, we finally got on board the Carnival cruise ship Celebration. Woohoo!
The room turned out to be much nicer than we expected. Granted, it wasn't huge, but it had more than enough room for the two of us to lay our our stuff and also keep out of each other's way while we both happened to be in there. In addition, we had a nice big window which gave us a great view of the ocean or whatever port we happened to be at.
Exploring the boat came next. It was very confusing at first as there were a good 9 or 10 levels, but once we realized that all the good stuff was on the top 3 levels, it made life much easier. By the second or third day there, I pretty much knew the boat like the back of my hand. Though to be completely truthful, I'm not all that familiar with the topography of my hand, back or front.
Among other things, the Celebration has a couple of main dining rooms, a buffet style restaurant, a pizzeria, countless bars, a casino, a theater (as in stage, not movies), a few night clubs, and a library/internet combo (from whence I mocked you last week...and I have no idea whether I used "whence" correctly).
Of course, all that isn't even taking into account the actual outside decks, which include 3 pools, hottubs, a waterslide, more bars, deck games, and a whole bunch of other nifty things. I didn't spend that much time on the deck, as the only day I tanned out there was on our first whole day at sea, Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday, we were at ports of call, and Friday I was sick (more on that later), so I didn't do much out there during the day. I did do some stargazing at night, since it was so clear, but I was inside most of the time.
Since dinner seems as good a place to start as any, that's where I'll, um, start. Every night we had assigned seating at 8:30 for the "formal" dinner. It was only formal dress on one night, though you couldn't wear shorts or t-shirts any of the nights for the 8:30 seating. Keep in mind, you could go eat at any of the other eateries, so if you didn't feel like dressing up, you didn't have to.
That said, you'd have to be an idiot to miss the main dining room dinner. The food was absolutely fantastic, and the quality, presentation, and service were all reminiscent of a 5 star hotel restaurant, like the Ritz-Carlton. Of course, the best part was that it was all free, not counting tipping at the end of the week (only $3.50/per person, per day recommended...what a deal!).
There was also breakfast and lunch offered in the main dining room, but I always opted for the buffet style restaurant, since it was quick and easy, and I could eat there at any time. Speaking of any time, the pizzeria was a 24 hour affair. Let me tell ya, that rocks. There were at least 2 nights that I left the cabin after midnight, with the sole purpose of getting pizza, just because I could.
The nightlife on the ship was ok, though it unfortunately peaked (at least for me) on the first night. After that first night, it just didn't seem like as many people were up late having fun. Kinda odd. However, some people made the most of it, as Heather got busy on the last night, so to each their own.
I definitely would like to experience more of the nighttime stuff with a special someone, so I wouldn't be surprised if my next cruise is with the love of my life. Maybe for her birthday next year. :)
The first stop, on Tuesday, was in Cozumel. We signed up for a snorkeling session, which also included an hour on a private beach, and a ride to all these places on a catamaran. That was pretty fun, even though the snorkeling was relatively limited in its scope. Actually, the photo I posted a couple of days ago was from the snorkeling photographer. Amazingly clear water, and scorching my face after forgetting to apply sunscreen there were some of the highlights of that excursion.
I napped the afternoon away on the boat, since I was dead tired, and then we all met up for dinner at Carlos and Charlie's, a fantastically fun bar/restaurant in Cozumel (as well as a bunch of other locations in the Caribbean, apparently). Except for getting a massively bad case of heartburn from drinking my mixed fruit drink way too fast, this was definitely one of the best parts of the trip. If you happen to visit Cozumel, you need to check this place out at night, it's wild!
The next day found us in Calica, the port for visiting Cancun. We never actually went to Cancun, deciding to visit the nearby beach at Playa del Carmen instead. We originally were going to go on a scuba diving excursion, but rough seas wiped out those plans. No biggie, since it saved us $75.
Since we only had half a day at this stop, we spent the better part of it on the beach doing a whole hell of a lot of nothing. Heather crashed out for a good couple of hours under an umbrella while Karen and I walked about a mile or so down the beach. When we first got there, it was relatively quiet, but by the time we walked the mile back to our original spot, the beach had definitely picked up. This was also the point where I finally got to see the jackpot...topless chicks in thong bathing suits. Okay, I'm weird since seeing a thong out in public was a bigger plus for me than the tits, but oh well, to each our own, huh?
Whatever the case, I got burnt to high heaven that day, as I decided to just use the level 4 sunscreen. Yeah, I thought I was a badass and shrugged off buying 30 before the trip. What's a little burn anyway? Blistering is just the beginning of the healing process, no?
We finished off Playa del Carmen by visiting Senor Frog's for lunch. This is another restaurant under the Carlos and Charlie's franchise banner, and while it wasn't quite as entertaining a place, the food was good.
We headed back to the ship after that, and partook of one of the things that became an addiction for me on the cruise. You see, there's a TV in every cabin and while the network channels are limited, they play movies that were just out in the theater, but are still a month or two from hitting video (or just have). For instance, they had Planet of the Apes and Angel Eyes playing.
Well, there was also a movie playing that I openly scoffed at in the past. I'd heard people, guys and girls, on here, profess to liking it, and I thought they must not have any taste in movies. But since it was free, and I was curious what the hubbub was about, I watched it. And I have this to say...
Moulin Rouge could very well be my favorite movie released this year.
Yes, I'm probably tempting having my Man card revoked, but I freaking LOVED this movie. Everything from the music (bought the soundtrack yesterday, by the way) to the set design to the frenetic camera movement to everything else just ROCKED. Heather and I initially saw it from about the half hour point to the end of the movie, and I liked it so much, I sat there and waited for it to replay an hour later, just so I could see the first half hour.
Before the end of the cruise, I must have watched it at least 3 more times. That was kind of aided by the fact that I was in bed sick for the better part of Friday.
Anyway, if I ever said a bad thing about Moulin Rouge in the past, I renounce those words now. I'm still not a big Nicole Kidman fan, but hey, the chick can sing, and I have even more respect for Ewan McGregor than I did before. And after the episode of ER he was on some years back, I had a LOT of respect for him.
And, oh yeah, I'll definitely be picking up the DVD when it comes out in December.
As alluded to already, I was sick on Friday. I'm still not sure how the heck I caught it, but I woke up with a sore throat, and things just got progressively worse. Coincidentally, that was also the roughest day at sea, and although I've never had a problem with motion sickness, I think the cold made me prone to it that day. So, in addition to a head cold, I felt like I was going to vomit all over the place thanks to the ship tossing and turning all over the place.
I took some cold medicine and Heather got me some Dramamine, and I was able to sleep away pretty much the morning and early afternoon, save for a point where I sat next to the toilet, thinking I was going to lose what little breakfast I had (never did though).
I was able to get up for dinner and the show that night, which was a guest talent show, but then I was back in bed relatively early. I read a little of Hearts of Atlantis (having finished Pillars of the Earth early on), and probably watched Moulin Rouge AGAIN, before drifting off for a night in which I was in and out of sleep more times than I could count.
I still felt like shit the next morning, but nowhere near as bad as Heather, who stumbled in at about 7:30, not long before we had to disembark. Of course, her state was brought on by one too many shots of Ta-Kill-Ya, and I was pretty amused by the whole situation. Yes, even when she threw up in the elevator, just narrowly missing my shoe. :)
My initial plans were to stay in Houston until Sunday and then drive halfway home on Sunday and the rest on Monday. However, I was antsy when we got back to her parent's place Saturday morning, and I just decided to make the whole trip that day.
Let me tell you, that SUCKED. Driving 12-13 hours when you're wide awake and healthy is bad enough. Now, add in the fact that I didn't have any real quality sleep the night before, plus I was suffering all matter of ill effects from the cold, and that was just an accident waiting to happen. Thankfully, the gods smiled on Justin that day, and I made it back safe and sound. I took about a 20 minute nap in a rest area somewhere in Louisiana, and that somehow rejuvenated me for the rest of the trip. Go figure.
Speaking of Louisiana, I have two things to point out about it. One, worst drivers ever. I can't believe how much driving there sucked. I was on the phone with Murmurs on my way to Houston, and just started ranting and raving about the drivers there at one point, since they pissed me off so much. Two, I saw one of the funniest billboards in Louisiana. It's for Pepsi, and it's a giant picture of Britney Spears with the caption "The Pride of Louisiana". Oh yeah, I'm sure every blue collar shmoe is thrilled to see that every day on his way to work. Yep, that's what represents Louisiana, buddy.
Though by far the funniest billboard I saw had to be one in Texas that didn't intend to be funny. It was an anti-littering ad that had a picture of an empty beer bottle, and said something to the effect of "Dropping this is a $100 party foul". In the corner was the good ol' logo, "Don't mess with Texas." While that is funny enough in its own right, what got me was the fact that the problem Texas has is with you throwing an empty beer bottle out the window. Never mind the fact that you might have a truck cab full of empty beer bottles. Ahh, Texas, you poor, lovable, clueless state. :) Don't even get me started, though, on the fact that when Texas decides to do road work, they apparently decide to do it EVERYWHERE at the same time. Ugh.
Okay, I think that's about enough out of me for the time being. This is starting to remind me of one of my old journal entries, back when I didn't do my job. Granted, I have nothing going on tonight, but they've just got to be wondering in the next cube why I've been typing almost non-stop for the past hour or so.
Oh, one last thing, my camera was destroyed by the lovely Heather when she mistakenly took it for a dip in Cozumel. However, I am going to try and salvage the pictures from the camera before assigning it to its final resting place (ie, the kitchen garbage can). Heather's also supposed to scan the pictures she took with her working camera. Once I get one or the other, I may post them here, just so's you all can be even more jealous. Maybe I'll put up one or two from the Nashville trip from a couple weeks back.
Until next time...