Mexican Riveria 8th Anniversary Cruise

Wow, What a fun time! I was a little nervous about going on a cruise, but it really was awesome. We have been told that Carnival is the least expensive but we really enjoyed the time. The first 2 days and last day we were out at sea. Cruising is the best way to travel. You are getting to the place you want to go and relaxing. Who would have thought? We got an extended balcony room and it was pretty roomy. I loved having the balcony. Something about being naked on the ocean. hehehe... The view was amazing.

We missed the kids but the freedom to do what you want, when you want was really refreshing. I read a book without being interupted. Plus we got to go out after 8PM without paying a babysitter and watching the clock to make sure we don't get back to late. There were a couple of families that had kids the same age as Paris & Marshall. That is when I just wanted them there with me. All in all we really needed a couple's only vacation. It was nice to rekindle the relationship and fall in love all over again. I love my husband and am so glad that we have been together for 8 years.

There was a ton of things to do on the boat. We went to 2 comedy acts that were pretty funny. 4 Vegas type shows (not as good as Vegas, but if you weren't from Vegas I think you would be impressed). We also played bingo, scattegories, musical trivia (our team of 4 won 1st place. We even got a trophy. Whoohoo~). Then there was the hairy man contest (it was actually pretty fun to watch). The last night they had a food and ice sculpting display that was really interesting to see. The pool was too cold for my taste but we got in the spa a couple of times. We went to karaoke several times and even embarrassed ourselves by singing. Let's just say singing with a sinus infection is a bad idea. It was still fun. We played miniature golf that was pretty challenging since you had to work with the sway of the boat to get the ball in the hole. It was actually really fun. We ended up relaxing quite a bit on our balcony, the deck chairs, or in the seating all around the ship. We went dancing at the dance club a couple of nights. We were the wild and crazy sober dancers.

The food was amazing. We tried to be in shape by taking the stairs wherever we went, but sometimes going up 10 flights of stairs in high heels is not a good idea. For breakfast we sometimes went to the restaurant that had the best breakfast or if we slept in (say maybe 11:30AM the first day) we went to the buffet, which was decent. They had a 24 hour pizza place that was pretty good and well utilized by us. Our favorite lunch was a pastrami on a roll panini. Oh so good..... Dinner was at the restaurant which was really great. You could order whatever you want. So sometimes we would order 2 of each of the 6 courses, just in case you didn't like what you got. At dinner you sit with the same people each night. We really made some great friends. We met a newlywed couple from Utah that were really cool. There were actually 5 newlywed couple's from Utah, and that was just who we met. The lemonade was really yummy if you watered it down. Casey bought a soda card to help with his Diet Coke addiction. They also have a 24 hour soft serve ice cream machine. Did I mention I love ice cream? The extra weight will come off soon, right? =)