Angela's Blog: Mariner of the Seas

It's vacation time! We decided to take a family cruise. Cruising is a great way to travel with a big group. In fact, it's more fun when you cruise with a big group. This group consisted of me and John, my mom, John's parents, my godfather (Nino) and my Uncle Ed and Aunt Cheryl. Nino and mom rode down with us and Ed & Cheryl followed. The Chaneys met us at the pier.

Nino and mom sang 'oldies but goodies' from Grand Prairie to Galveston. It was a cappella too! They were both listening to Nino's iPod. Five hours!

Waiting for John and Ed to come back from parking the car so we can board the ship.

The requisite boarding photo.

After we dropped our stuff off in our rooms and had lunch, we walked around the ship. This time we were sailing on the Mariner of the Seas. I think this is bigger than the other two ships, the Rhapsody and the Voyager (both 'of the Seas'). This particular ship had an ice skating rink, rock climbing, a little putt putt course and a basket ball court.

We had some first timers with us. Ed and Cheryl and my Nino were all on their maiden voyage.

Waiting up on deck to sail away.

Enjoying the view of Galveston.

Wandering around the deck.

We had to all go to our muster stations so that we'd know what to do if the captain ran into something. On the way, I took photos of the ship. This is the promenade where all the shops are. There are quite a few bars as well. Some of the inside rooms have windows that open up to the promenade.

We made our way to the muster station by way of the casino. This is the floor. The entry to the casino is a glass floor with this stuff underneath. I thought I was going to fall through!

Ed & Cheryl at the muster station. The first cruise we did, you had to wear your life jackets to the drill but this time, no. I was at the very back against the wall. It was very claustrophobic. Plus, the people wouldn't shut up so you could hear the instructions! I was glad we had no need to actually go to the muster station.

The hallway to our cabin. Redrum!

Sea days were spent like this - out on the balcony reading or just watching the ocean. It's very relaxing.

In light of the fact that everything on the cruise was 'All you can eat', I decided that I would take advantage of the gym. They have great equipment so I ran on the treadmill 4 out of 7 days. Not too bad. The first day was very rough. You could feel the boat rocking and it was difficult not to fall off the treadmill. But, this was my view while running. Ahhh...

The first full evening was the first formal night. It's nice. Everyone gets dressed up and it's a lot of fun. Well, probably more fun for the girls than the guys. This was a great photo of all of us. This was actually during dinner.

Before going in to dinner, we had to get our pictures made. Here's the Chaney family.

Mom and Ed.

After about 100 pictures, we were all kind of warm so we found a bar to get some refreshments.

There weren't enough chairs so some of us had to make do.

The paparazzi was everywhere! This was a nice shot of Mom and Nino.

This was supposed to be of just Nino but someone's big head got in the picture.

Ed and Cheryl.

Mom - Formal night.

Mom and Dad - Formal night.

The first port of call was Cozumel. Having been there a few times, I had planned on staying on the ship but John wanted to go to Senor Frog's. As it turns out, it was a good call.

Getting off the ship.

That's a weenie little Carnival ship parked next to our ship.

John in Cozumel looking for trouble.

Mom resting.

Mom and John with Senor Frog.

The two drinks there were HUGE! I can't remember what we got but we couldn't finish them. Nino is happy because his 'little' cup of Crown Royal ended up being three shots.

The balloon hat lady found us.

We're matching. It looks like I have a towel on my head. The balloon lady is behind John.

Mom..looking good.

Mom & Dad with Senor Frog.

The water in Cozumel was crystal clear and a lovely aqua color. It looked very inviting especially on such a hot day.

The next stop was Georgetown, Grand Cayman. I wasn't feeling well when we docked so I stayed on the ship while everyone else got off. This is a shot from my balcony. We didn't dock so to get off the ship, you had to take a tender boat. At one point, I saw one of the Carnival ships take off and there was a tender boat racing behind it. I guess the tender boat driver got hold of the ship captain because the Carnival ship stopped. When the cruise line says be on the boat at a certain time, they aren't kidding!

Pirate Ship at Grand Caymen. I was sitting in the balcony recovering from the gym when I saw this ship go by. It was one of the tourist excursions. I heard the guy tell everyone, '1, 2, 3, Arrgghh!'. It was kind of funny.

The water in Grand Caymen was the most beautiful blue. It looked so inviting, I just wanted to jump in.

Yo ho! It's Jack Sparrow and Ed.

Cheryl and the pirate.

John went in to Grand Cayman with is parents to have a drink. Here's John with Dad. In retrospect, I wish I'd gone with them.

Mom and Dad in Grand Cayman.

Mom and Nino having a cool refreshing drink in Grand Cayman.

The pier at Falmouth Jamaica. The town built the pier specifically for Royal Caribbean. When the 'tourist season' ends, the pier shuts down. Ramona, our guide, was telling us that they all have nothing to do when the season ends.

That's Ramona and Nino.

Ed & Cheryl at the Good Hope Plantation. The views from here were amazing!

Good Hope Plantation was originally a sugar plantation. Now they have several oranges trees as well as sugar cane. The house was built back in 1755. The wife of the original owner is buried in a little building to the right of the front door.

The counting house. Apparently, it was rude (and bad luck) to count your money in your house so there was a counting house where the books were kept. This is now a honeymoon suite that can be rented out.

At the back of the counting house in the base of the building is this room. It's where the slaves were put when they were in 'timeout'. Although, I would venture to guess it was a lot worse then than it is now.

This is the potty chair. It's right in the bedroom. I guess it's easier using a chair than a chamberpot. Also, you could close the lid...

The plantation owner was the first to have running water (hot and cold) for bathing purposes - even before New York City.

Waiting for the bus to come back and take us to the pier.

Azza, the belly dancing teacher. She was at every 'sail away' party on Deck 11. She danced to all the songs...all by herself.

Sunset leaving Falmouth, Jamaica.

Towel animals - this one is a bat.

Rain on the 'high seas'. It was cool. I didn't know it would rain this far out. Pretty dumb, I know.

Towel animals. I think this one is a dog.

Friday night was the last formal night. I didn't even remember that they took this picture but my mom had it.

We were all one room apart because I thought we needed privacy. Instead we all spent most of the time yelling to one another across the balconies.

Deck 4 was as close as you could get to the water without jumping in. We were all mesmerized.

Drinks on the deck.

Coffee on the balcony - the best part of the day.

Hanging out on Mom's balcony.

Nino & Ed.

Nino, Mom and Cheryl - Jamaica.

Nino and Des. Des was our room attendant. She was very cool.

Hanging out and waiting to go into Jamaica.

After Ed and Nino had three very large beers, Ed was King of the World.

Mom and Cheryl on the lovely staircase.

Ed and Cheryl on the staircase.

The 'Bingo Babes'. Cheryl won $300 and Mom (Judy) won $1,200.

Big Winner! We were playing classic rock trivia and Team Ed/John won. We all got travel pouches (for your passport) and yellow wrist bands. Music trivia was fun.

John on the Promenade.

The last night on the ship. All the waitstaff got together to sing. They sang "Deep in the Heart of Texas". The song went something like this, "...stars...bright...DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS". It was kind of funny because I don't think they knew all the words. Still it was cool and it was fun.