I was on a boat and...

...it went fast and stuff


but not that fast, cause it was a superginormous cruise ship.

That was our big Christmas gift this year. I felt kind of bad that my parents got us a shit load of other stuff, because I would have been fine w/ a 5 day cruise, and all the fixings.

We left from Ft. Lauderdale on the second, and spent that first day (the ship didn't leave until midnight or so...we were told that they were holding the ship for a plane full of passengers that was late from Miami, but apparently someone jumped from the ship...) exploring the ship. 10 decks! all decked out in beautiful wood and marble. I'll post some pics. Aron and I shared a cabin, while Chrissy and my parents shared the cabin two doors from us. we were on the second deck, which was pretty nice. My grandparents had a cabin on the 8 floor, w/ a cute little balcony.

Dinner onboard the ships were really cool. They were formal, Italian style dinners, so several small courses over 2-3 hours. And the food was reallllllllyyyyyyyyyy good, like yummy, and fresh, and interesting meals. The list of courses went:

Appetizer (2 choices)

Soup (2 choices/1 hot, 1 cold)

Pasta (2 choices)

Salad (2 choices/option to be served it either before or after the main course)

Main course (4-5 courses)

Cheese plate (optional)

Dessert (2-4 choices)

Every night I tried one of everything, but I always had the chilled soup option...usually a creamed fruit broth, they were all super tasty and refreshing. But all the courses were always fresh, and I tried some new things that trip, like octopus (really light and clean, not a lot of natural flavor, but garnished and seasoned w/ lemon and capers, yummm :D) And idk if you all know this, but my mum is a vegan, so she was worried she couldn't eat much, but the head waiter, or as they're known in ritzy circles: the maître d' personally made sure she could eat a full course vegan meal, every night w/ us, and he hand delivered each of her plates to her.

I realize I just spent a good chunk on this entry about the dinners on board...guess I should move onto the rest of the trip.


OK anyway first stop was in Key West. That was a pretty nice artsy kinda place, has the honor of being the southern most point in the United States. A lot of really neat art studios, and an impressive hipster/old folks place...I liked it there. And there is where I found this cool store called Cariloha and they sell bamboo clothing. It's super light and breathable fabric and really comfortable and holy hell so so so so soft. Like you wear it just for one day, and cotton feels like burlap. Not really but partly so. Infact, every stop had a Cariloha store. And hey, they take online orders, and ship anywhere in the US! I'm going to email them and let them know they should make bamboo underwear and socks, because omg, that would be so comfortable. And pants. they should make pants. it be a cloud of bamboo heaven! Anyway also in Key West we went to the Original Margartiville and it was pretty fun to be the tourist doing the touristy thing, but that was expensive (4 burgers, 1 vegan patty all w/ fries and 3 virgin margaritas and 2 regular margaritas + tip put the bill just north of $100)

The next port was Cozumel, MEXICO. I WAS SUPER EXCITED/HAPPY to be back there in 5 years. so we walked around, and it was really touristy at least where we were, because all the shop owners were standing outside their stores shouting to those getting off the ships to see their wares. But anyway, we (as in our family) weren't there for Cozumel, we hopped a ferry to Play del Carmen and met up w/ Mom and Dad's dive buddies/friends Paul and Jen, and had lunch w/ them, after we walked around for a couple hours taking photos. They're really cool older folks and funny. And Aron and I got to buy our first legal drinks there. Aron ordered a Mango Margarita and I had an original (lime) Margarita. It was really strong, but I finished mine. Aron couldn't. So I finished his. then ordered a pina colada. So anyway after lunch we had to kinda rush and catch our ferry back to port to get on our ship (it's a 40 min boat ride to Playa from Cozumel)

The final port was Grand Cayman, were we grabbed a taxi to a dive site and set out for my first dive in a couple years and of course my first saltwater dive :P

Sadly Mom and my ears' couldn't clear so we only hit 25 feet and stayed under for 30 minutes or so. We were kinda bummed but it's better then damaging our ears. Anyway, Dad took Chrissy and Aron around the dive site and they had an excellent time diving.

And then the next day we spent all day at sea, sailing back to Ft. Lauderdale. We just kind of lounged around and spent time exploring the ship some more. I bought a really nice black Fossil watch for $115...

See what I mean when I would have been just fine w/ the cruise for Christmas? In fact I would have been more then fine, I would have been ecstatic!


So yeah that was my christmas :)