Our Spring Break Cruise

Whew! Did you ever have one of those vacations that you had to rest up and recuperate from? Well, last week we had one of those. We had a blast! We went with the Hale family and Rachel Taylor. The Voyager of the Seas is a really big ship with lots of things to do. We tried to do them all, but I never got in the roller blading or ice skating. I wanted some time to relax a little. But the kids managed to squeeze in all the activities!

We left Memphis early Friday morning and drove to Winnie, TX to spend the night. The next day, we drove along the NE coast of Texas and took a ferry across to Galveston. We spent the day at the Schlitterbahn water park there. What fun that was! Then we stayed in a hotel that night right across the street from the beach. (Tori flew in that afternoon from Dallas where she was playing in a soccer tournament.) We took the hotel shuttle to the ship on Sunday afternoon. We had already had a nice little vacation at that point!

Monday was a day at sea, spent exploring the ship, soaking in the hot tub, playing cards, eating (of course), and having a good time.
Click here to see the slideshow of the ship.

We were in Cozumel on Tuesday where we rented cars (one happened to be a convertible) and drove to the other side of the island after doing some shopping. It was beautiful there! Very few people go to the other side, and it is far less developed and unspoiled. I could have spent all day laying on that deserted beach looking at the ocean! But the wind was actually a tad chilly, so after a while we loaded up in our cars and drove around the island.
Click here to see the Cozumel slideshow.

Wednesday was in Roatan, Honduras--an island off the coast. We had planned to go ziplining, but we couldn't find the bus that supposedly could take us there. So we walked down the streets shopping and seeing the little town of Coxen Hole where the ship was docked. It began to rain and rained most of the day, so I'm glad we didn't spend money on transportation or a shore tour or something where we would have been disappointed because of the rain. A little girl along the street had a few monkeys that she let us play with. They climbed all over us, and we got lots of pictures. How cute they were!
Click here to view the Roatan slideshow.

Thursday was another day at sea, and we did find some time to lay in the sun and relax.

Friday we stopped in Progreso, a little town on the north side of the Yucatan Peninsula, directly south of New Orleans. Here we found the public bus station, and rode into Merida--a very large, very old, very Spanish city. It was interesting to see the old cathedrals, and see how the Mexican people live. It was quite a departure from the usual touristy places.
Click here to see the Merida slideshow.

Saturday was a day at sea. The kids went ice skating, Adam and Jameson spent a good bit of time playing minigolf, and all the kids (including Rachel) played a lot of basketball and soccer on the sports deck.

Sunday we headed home. We got off the ship (finally--a long process), caught the shuttle back to the hotel where we had left our cars, waited in a long line to get on the ferry, and finally got back on the highway around noon. We made it in around 11:30 p.m. Sunday night.

We were all exhausted the next morning! But we had a really good time. I think Rachel is hooked now--she proclaimed it "the best vacation ever." I'm inclined to agree.