Well it has been a crazy few weeks around the world. I'm not sure where to even start. The scariness and madness around the cornovirus is real. We are living in some strange times right now. The economy went from great to horrible and I imagine it will only get worse.
We had Spring Break this past week. We had scheduled a 5 day cruise out of Galveston to Mexico. The weekend John and I went to Naples, we were really just beginning to see the first cases in the US. We were NOT at all concerned (now this was only a week and a half before Spring Break) with the cornovirus, but John's boss was very concerned. We returned home that Sunday and his work stopped air travel the next day. We thought it was a bit over the top.
As the week went on, the virus became more real. John found out if he went on the cruise, he would have to be self-quaruntined for 14 days after. He is in charge of a network migration at work and it was impossible for him to be out of the office for three weeks. Mom was in town watching the boys and just so happened to apply for a passport recently....it came in the week before she drove to TX. John called the cruise company and was told we would just lose the money if we did not go. Mom agreed to come with us and Dad overnighted her passport. We were off to multiple stores and she bought an entire summer wardrobe as well as borrowed some of my clothes.
Only two days before we left did the cruise line agree to change their policies and give everyone credits for a future cruise. By this point, we were pretty committed to going. We left poor John at home and drove to College Station to spend the night before boarding the next morning in Galveston.
He loves a good hotel breakfast.
Honestly, as the days went on, Mom and I were pretty anxious about going on a cruise. The good news was that we were both healthy (as well as the kids) and the boat was only going to be about 60 precent full.
We checked out Texas A&M and then headed off to catch the boat.
Boarding was quick and painless. That is when we first realized how much the cruise was doing to make sure we were safe. We walked through at least 4 hand sanitizing stations during boarding and had out temps checked (we saw an elderly couple turned away bc of his fever). They asked us all kinds of questions about any contact or travel related to the virus.
I cannot explain the amount of hand sanitizing and stations that were in place. We could not enter the food court without them sanitizing our hands and then you had to use the stations after using tongs. When you got up from your chair, they were there to Lysol them. The staff was amazing.
This was their first cruise and they couldn't believe all the food. I have started to wonder if we are starving Mason because he isn't even eating half of what he ate on that ship!
While waiting on our room, we had our first (out of probably 100) ice cream cones.
We also found the rock wall!
Once we got our room, we put everything away and let them swim.
Think Brody was done by then.
We bought beverage packages on two of our accounts. Mason got word he could have any mocktails and was all over that.
They had a "sail-away" party with great music and dancing....
Of course my kids were NOT about that. Lol
But finally a little fun when Baby Shark came on.
First dinner of the trip.
We had two great servers the whole week. The boys loved all the food and interaction with them.
We LOVED having a balcony.
Our first fun day at sea.
They were in the hot tubs every morning (even when it was hot).
Our weather was perfect every day. It was amazing.
The boys loved the Belly Flop competition.
We went upstairs to check out the activities and saw the beautiful water.
Our boat was actually smaller than a lot of the others. No slides, but we did have the rock wall and bungee jumping. That was enough to entertain them the whole week. I can't imagine a bigger ship with even more fun things. Mason conquered a double back on this the first day.
Brody tried his hardest for one flip but couldn't get it the first day.
Dress Your Best night.
No kids needs this much dessert....
The next day we stopped at Progresso.
I had been before and knew Cozumel was the better port. We decided to not do an excursion this day. We would get off, walk around, head to the beach, and then have lunch back on the boat and swim. We would spend more time in Cozumel. What we didn't realize was we were the very LAST boat to dock here for who knows how long. The people there were a little more aggressive on selling their stuff.
These guys wanted to take our picture when we got off the boat.... then asked for a tip.
Totally fell for that one.
Totally fell for that one.
Progresso is on the Gulf of Mexico. The water was emerald green and gorgeous! The weather had been rough the week before so there was a bit of seaweed on the shore.
Mom just living her best life.
I LOVE this picture!
The boys played in the water and ate fresh fruit the whole time.
We bought a few things including this Supreme wallet (if I were able to do the eye rolling emoji I would right here). Lol
Their first time out of the country.
We had lunch back on the boat and did a bit of reading. =)
I couldn't get over the water. It was a beautiful day but this was really the day the world began to fall apart. All sports were cancelled, our school announced closure for the two weeks after spring break, and the stock markets fell and fell. It just got so scary and crazy.
It was scary and quite frankly, we weren't really able to relax. What I wanted to do was grab a life boat and paddle back home. It was crazy and we were in another country on a BOAT. As the week went on, our anxiety got better, but I won't act like it wasn't at an all time high because it was.
But these guys were able to have a fantastic day.
They loved the towel animals left by our awesome housekeeper.
These were all of our prizes from Progresso....vanilla, a LV Supreme wallet, John and Ole Miss hat, and Brody a TX Rangers Mexican backpack. Haha
We watched Jumanji out by the pool on the big screen that night.
It was so windy though!
Royal Carribean announced they were cancelling all cruises that night....so we really didn't know what was going to happen but the Captain assured us everything was going great on board and we were still headed to Cozumel.
We woke up to these beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.
We woke up to these beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.
We had breakfast and decided to go on and get off the boat to see what Cozumel had to offer.
Our excursion didn't start until 12:45.
We couldn't get over the water.
Brody wasn't in the best mood, but he got over it quick!
We shopped a bit (much less aggressive than Progresso) and then had lunch at Señor Frogs.
Check out those new hats. Ha
He was impressed with his sprite cup....
They had a blast there.
We walked back to the pier to meet up for our fun excursion.
We hopped on a Catamaran to take us snorkeling and then to a private beach.
It was pretty warm out, so the boat felt great!
Time to snorkel. They had never done it before so there were tons of questions. But they both did GREAT. They thought it was so cool seeing all the reef and fish. I am amazed every time I go snorkeling!
After snorkeling, we rode over to the private beach. They even served us beer and Fanta.
We were all happy.
The water.
I mean look at the pictures!
The private island had food, drinks, all kinds of inflatables, kayaks, paddle boards.
What more could you ask for?!
Here are the videos of Brody getting bounced off the inflatable (so funny and he did this over and over) and Mason doing a 180 off of the trampoline.
On the way back to our boat, they had the alcohol flowing and music playing. We just sat and watched but it was so fun.
We got back to the boat just in time for more bungee jumping.
Brody conquered that back flip!
Oh yeah, we also purchased a couple of pictures.
Honestly, it was the BEST day of the trip. We had the most WONDERFUL time!
We woke up for our last Fun Day at Sea.
It was still warm and sunny.
We made sure to get our fair share of mocktails and ice cream!
Brody finally got all the way up that rockall. Mason had been a pro at it all week. But he was able to get up the middle (which was by far the hardest) on the last day.
They had the Sexiest Man competition and it was hilarious.
The boys thought it was a bit disturbing. Ha
They boys had made some friends at this point and we let them roam a little by themself the last day. Mom and I relaxed and read our books.
And consumed food and drinks. Ha
The boys eating pizza before dinner. Lol
Last dinner.
Mason wanted to the our picture together.
We had an on board credit we hadn't used yet so we let Mason upgrade his dinner for filet and lobster.
It was delicious and he loved it.
The waiters put on a great show and sang Deep in the Heart of TX.
After dinner, they had some fun music and dancing going on before the Flag Parade. We had SUCH a fun night. The boys (and Mom and I) loved it. So cool to see where everyone was from and they would do some dancing. It was great.
The cruise director just so happened to be from TX (like everyone else on the ship).
He was fun. It was the perfect way to end the week!
The next morning we docked in Galveston. We got up early, ate breakfast, and walked off that ship. We had been worried about being stuck on that ship all week so there was definitely some relief when we walked off!
I know I keep saying it but we had a GREAT trip. The only thing that could have made it better was if John had been able to come also (meaning Mom was there too! Ha) But the boys keep saying, well we will just have to go on another cruise and bring Daddy!
We got home to this....
The floors are being ripped out and new tile laid! Exciting but not so fun getting around it.
I know this post was a happy post but in reality, there are some scary things happening these days. I think we all need to pray pray pray that the coronavirus gets contained within these next couple of weeks. I'm worried the school will be out for the rest of the year. My work is now closed for at least the next three weeks. So sad. All we can do now is follow the rules and say our prayers.
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