I’m a firm believer in thinking that a cruise is one of the best vacations you can take. Seriously. You visit multiple countries (or multiple parts of the same country), you get to eat all the freaking time, there’s always something to do and you don’t have to worry about drinking too much because you don’t have to drive anywhere. I went on a cruise with my family when I was a junior in high school, and that was fun and all, but I didn’t fall in love with cruises until I took a trip with my Tech Fam, aka my best friends in college. We traveled with Carnival on the Triumph (yes, that’s the one that got stranded in the middle of the ocean for five days. It was fine when we went though, obvs) to Cozumel and Progreso in Mexico. We went two days after graduation, because we weren’t playing around. We were ready to celebrate.
It started with a road trip. I loveΒ road trips. I especially love them two days after a college graduation. The first day was a blur. We ate a lot. Explored the boat. Did lots of the random activities that the boat plans for everyone.
That night we got all cute and did some karaoke. I’m not talking about the karaoke that happens in smoky bars and gross bathrooms. We’re talking legit karaoke with a band (yes, a band). We also got back-up singers. Y’all, I can’t sing at all, but man, I had a blast. The first night, my fellow Swiftie and I belted out some “Love Story.” Don’t hate.
It was ladies night at one of the clubs onboard, and all the girls got a free glass of champagne. Couldn’t miss that. It wasn’t that hoppin though, so we just got our free drank, danced to a couple songs, and left.
The next day was a lot of random. We did a bunch of stuff on the boat. We played some games in the library. Okay, that sounded really nerdy, but y’all just have to understand that we love us some board games. There was some pool and water slide action on the boat too.
That night, we got all fancy and ate expensive food that wasn’t expensive to us because you can eat as much of it as you want! Seriously, if you’re thinking about going on a cruise, don’t diet beforehand because you’ll just gain all that weight back. You can’t not eat all the time. Plus the food is good. When were we not eating? The answer is never.
The next day was the first port – Progreso! We didn’t make any plans for Progreso. We just thought we’d see what would happen. We started with a beautiful sunrise on the boat. So gorgeous. Then we walked through the shops. We decided to wait until we were about to get back on the boat before buying anything. We got a comfy spot on the beach, and all these people kept asking us if we wanted massages. One of the people I was with talked these people into letting us get super cheap massages, which led to Jon and I having our very first couples massage.
We ate lunch on the beach. It was fabulous. I don’t like Mexican food, but apparently I like Mexican food in Mexico. It was so good, y’all. So good.
We couldn’t leave Progreso without doing something exciting, so we decided to go on a banana boat! Omg! Y’all. I just can’t even describe how fun this was. We met these two guys after banana boating that were pretty cool, and they were on the same cruise as us. I mentioned them in one of my first blog posts way back when.
When we got back on the boat, we all showered and got dressy-ish. We took some pictures on the deck because the sunset was just absolutely gorgeous. We also went to a magic show that was a little risque and then we went to a Burlesque show. Then of course we went back for some more karaoke.
The next day – COZUMEL! We booked an excursion not through Carnival and pretty much ended up having our own private beach (with just a few stragglers, but they don’t count) at Playa Uvas. We got some snorkle lessons (which I really struggled with. The whole mouth-breathing thing is a lot easier said than done. For me anyways). We also got to use the snorkle gear as much as we wanted, plus — we had an Open. Bar. Yeah. Open. In Mexico.
We also ate some lunch somewhere in there and did some shopping.
The rest of our time on the boat was spent doing a lot of random – mini golf, pool, hot tub, meeting people, dancing, karaoke (can’t get enough), eating (duh), seeing magic tricks (table side), going to a comedy show (where I got called out because he couldn’t figure out what my race was. Don’t remember what was said, but I do remember laughing), drinking, going to the arcade, wasting money at the casino (I broke even though), playing board games and just a lot of overall randomness, including playing a murder mystery game. Yeah. We all share a special kind of friendship. I wish I could afford to go on cruises all the time.
I love traveling, and cruises are the best way to do it because you get to see multiple places in one vacation. Plus, you don’t have to drive. Cruises just make you feel like royalty even though there are hundreds of other people on the boat feeling like royalty with you.
