I posted this on Myspace and thoguht you guys might find it entertaining.

Okay, so we went on our first cruise ever. It was awesome. We took the Carnival Ecstasy out of Galveston on a 5 night cruise to Mexico. It was very cheap - about 300 a person. Don't get me wrong - it was the tiniest cabins ever - but so worth it!

It was pretty cold starting off - Galveston was overcast and probably around 50 degrees. I was surprised at how many people WORK on the ship. You can't turn around without bumping into someone asking if you need help. The food was awesome - and way too much of it. If you haven't been on a cruise, everything is included but your drinks and your tips. When you board, you give them your Credit Card and they give you a Fun Pass - everything gets charged to it. The first thing they do is charge 10$ a day per person for tips (very reasonable) if you order drinks (anything other than water), they charge your card. There are a couple places where they have coffee, tea, juices, etc. buffet style - so you can get around the drink thing if you work at it.

We gambled in the casinos - watched shows, attended all sorts of events and sales and had a blast. Our first stop was Cozumel. We had pre-chosen and pre-paid for an excursion in Cozumel. A 3-reef snorkeling trip by boat. It was to take all day. They picked us up at the pier, we boarded their boat and were off. The water was so gorgeous - you could see the bottom no matter how deep. There were about 60 of us total (I think 2 boats). The guides spoke perfect English and were awesome. We stopped - got on our gear and jumped in. We swam quite a ways over some reefs and our boat caught up with us. This took about an hour or so. This is where it gets crazy.

We all get back on board and the guides start acting funny - started speaking in Spanish to each other and something just didn't seem normal. We sat there for about 15 minutes, just kind of bobbing up and down in the water when a small emergency boat comes flying up. They board and ask for a lady - her and her husband were sitting next to Eddie and I - they took her to the side, spoke to her in private, she started crying, ran over, grabbed her stuff and told us something happened to her Dad (on the other boat). Her and her husband get on the emergency boat and they speed off.

We asked the guides what happened and they said that her father had swallowed too much saltwater and they called an ambulance as a precaution - but that EVERYTHING was fine.

We continue on to our next reef. Things start getting weird again - everyone speaking Spanish - and we are going super slow in circles - they finally stop - the guides go up top (where the captain is), we all get our gear on - they come flying back down - tell us to take the gear off - that the US Embassy and the Maritime something or other said all Americans have to disembark immediately. So they take us to the nearest pier - which is in the middle of the jungle - we have to step off of the boat onto barrels to get to the shore. We are met with 5 camera crews from local news stations, police and ambulances. Our friend was there with her husband and mom. Her dad had drown and was in the ambulance. We had to walk through the jungle about a half a mile to an area where taxis could come pick us up. They took us back to the boat and refunded our money.

The family was from our ship as well. They were already taking their luggage off when we returned. Carnival was trying to keep it all hush - hush - but since we were sitting with the couple - we knew more details then most. It was really sad. We also have their disposable underwater camera - they left it when they got off our boat. Carnival wouldn't give us any information to get it back to them. I can't imagine losing a family member on vacation - I hope they are doing okay.

We spent the rest of the day shopping in Cozumel. We had lunch in Pancho's Backyard and spent too much money on souvenirs. Can you believe a bottle of Don Julio Blanco was only 30 bucks? It is well over 100 here! I was totally stoked!

We got back on the boat that night and woke up in Progresso. We took a van ride into Merida and took a tour of the city by Segway. It was the MOST fun! I loved it. I can totally rock and roll on those things. We toured a museum, had Sorbet and ended the day with a couples massage on the beach in Progresso.

The rest of the cruise we spent relaxing, gambling, shopping and eating. What fun. I did get a bit sea-sick - I had the patch - but still felt the motion of the boat mostly in the evening (I think they speed the boat up at night). The last day at sea was warm and breezy - we arrived in Galveston to near freezing temperatures! I guess that MAY be the reason we are both sick now.

If you ever get to go on a cruise - do it! And invite us - I am about ready to plan my next!

Sounds like you had a great time (except for the sad part). Not to scare you but please be aware and check your credit card statement thoroughly. I work in the fraud dept at a bank and so many people get their credit card numbers stolen while on cruises ...

Good to know - I will keep an eye on it - I know when we got back we had all these messages on our Home Answering Machine - telling us that a purchase was being made internationally with my CC. (Every time we bought a souvenir or anything in Mexico - it called, and we bought a LOT) I had that added as part of my fraud detection - and forgot - good thing I didn't say to freeze the account when a purchase is made! I made that mistake when I went to Europe!