Island Hoppin' With The Hubby

This pic was taken during the Captain's Dinner

 Its been almost seven years since Darryl and I have been married, eight since we've been together (formally) and we've never vacationed alone without the kids. Well if you count a weekend getaway to Ocean City when we first started "secretly" dating or an impromptu road trip to the Poconos after leaving Uncle Manny and Aunt Delita's house and leaving Rah there - but never a "real vacation" - so we finally decided this was the year and settled on the Western Caribbean.

This one during the 2nd Cruise Formal (and my favorite)

A 7-days cruise leaving from Galveston (a 2-hour drive from our home) and porting in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, British West Indies, and Cozumel, Mexico each for 1-day And a bunch of sea time in between, I know, but we figured we'd find a way to keep occupied ;). It was the newest Carnival ship, the Magic, and we were pampered royally.

However, the entire trip almost didn't occur as Darryl scheduled his leave a mere week after I returned from Vegas with Ebby and didn't give me much down time, and I was hesitant that we could pull it off. But I simply didn't unpack (washed my soiled laundry and repacked for the next trip) lol. Hence the "tardy" blogs.

AND as usual with the military our plans were not "in stone" and our dates almost derailed again due to training missions, but at the last minute we secured everything and a great room only before Darryl, this time "suggested" that we "double down" on bills with the money since I had already been on vacation with Ebby. I know you could see the fumes steaming off my head - now everyone knows we've never had a wedding by choice - and no honeymoon by timing (military). So no "no kids trip" EVER....and right now when I finally get everything in place for one - here he comes with this, I was seriously revising my monologue for Snapped - How could I hide the body...

But as you know, I still forged ahead (stubbornness is a trait all Aries' share) and made all of the arrangements because I've been waiting seven years for this "no kids" trip and it was gonna take an act of God to stop it from occurring!

And we were off...

BTW
I'm gonna post under multiple blogs fir this one to tell about each island. This blog will reflect what we did while on the ship since that was also a "mobile island" in of itself. Bon Voyage




May 6th

Maybe a penguin??? I dunno

We couldn't decide on what this animal was..

I knew it was some kinda bird so I decided to feed it like a "Mama Bird" LOL

May 7th

Captain & Cruise Director

And we made Rah a monkey @ Camp Carnival

Darryl and drink umbrella

My fav pic - c what happens when you don't take off your " beater"! HA

We received complementary champagne for our "no kids" cruise! And it being the first time we had the chance to get away since we were married, with no honeymoon and all.

Captain's Dinner Formal

After dinner show...As you can see, I couldn't record it but there was this one dancer, Juan and he was so "animated" it was hard to focus. He would smile and wink and toss his head back continuously. I would be snickering the entire time and when he was off stage I was like, "Where's Juan?" just waiting with anticipation...HA

After that to Club Vibe, now this was Hilarious. I had 2 more pics but Security made me delete them. They were of a guy who passed of drunken and rolled into the floor and under the table. Just messy. HA HA HA! I didn't have his face though, only 'cause he was facing the wall...

The guy in red was sooooo hype - he was dance battling everyone! At one point they had groups challenging each other like in the movies it was too much!

They couple against the wall was literally performing a "dirty dancing" video! They were seriously role playing!

And for the towel animal of the night...


A puppy

May 8th
Ice Sculpting poolside. The sculptor created this piece within 20-minutes. It was spectacular to witness. Can you tell what it is to become? It's not quite finished in my second picture but it was an Indian Chief!

We laid out and took in some more Vitamin D

Dancing Dinner BTW - This table of guest were so fab. They commanded attention everywhere they went! I mean, totally worked the room. It was like 10 of the deep - an entourage! HA

The waitstaff are always entertaining. As you can c they r on the tables showing their stuff!

 There was a Pool Party

And tonight's animal was a...monkey!

May 9th
Fewer pics on the boat today because we finally reached land, thank goodness. Now I like the boat but I also like getting off. Three days on board is definitely my max. Montego Bay from the boat...it's a fishing town. But still beautiful.

Starboard view

Port view

And tonight's towel animal is a ...

 

A Frog Prince! LOL

May 10th
No pictures of the Grand Cayman Island from the ship :( but a few sailing away from it. The island is surrounded by black coral reefs so the ship must dock far off and smaller boats bring you to the actual island. It was here that I also got my Mother's Day black coral necklace. But more on that in the Grand Cayman Island Blog...LOL

Dinner Dancing - But this time I danced with my hubby!

...and everyone knows he doesn't dance well! But he tried!

and tried,

and tried,

and tried again!

Susan, Brittany, Me, Darryl, Stephanie, and Susan's Mom

After dinner we went to the theater and it was an Interactive Game show. Brittany was chosen as a contestant.

The goal was to knock the ball across the line on the opposite side before your opponent.

But you couldn't use your hands - only the contraption around your waist!

Brittany WON!!!

Blurry but nice

 
 And the towel animal for tonight says it all!













May 11th
Cozumel, Mexico - our last island. No pictures from the ship either. And none leaving the the ship but great ones while standing with the people dressed in indigenous clothing the docks. I posed with an Indian and Darryl with a Mexican Dancer. You can check them out in the Cozumel blog that will soon follow.

At dinner Susan's mom gave watch of us a turtle as a keepsake of the trip. Turtles are beloved on the island.

I made Darryl's turtle kiss my turtle. He then turned my turtle to make it sniff his turtle's bottom! :) 

At the theater we saw a great juggling show with juggler, Mark Miller, that was flown in from New York. He was not only amazing with his acts but quite comical too - so it was a 2-or-1 deal! Almost all of the performance was done in the dark and flash photography was prohibited so I was limited in my photographs.

After an illusion he appeared in the crowd

During his intro

An act that incorporated a unicycle, swords, juggling, and fire!

 Look at this towel animal, a lobster! And it was done using just one towel!

May 12th
Our final day at sea, heading back to Galveston - then 2.5 hours home to my baby! I really started to miss Rah around day 4. Darryl on the other hand could have gone like forever it seemed! HA But you could guess who he ran to first, right? The Irony.

Darryl tried new things for dinner each night. This night I actually got a picture of him eating frog legs. He said he enjoyed, them. And we all pitched in as a table and bought gifts for our waitstaff because they well deserved it and then took a group photo!

Darryl eating frog legs

Our wonderful waitstaff

The dinner crew - look at my tan, I look like I'm from The Jersey Shore!

 And the towel animal for tonight is not an animal at all but a symbol...of love that is!


And the only one that I have successfully recreated thus far!

Well there it is....our boat pics - and you haven't even heard seen all of the island stuff yet! Stay tuned to Da "K" Spot!