Its a big boat

All right, for those of you who didn't read the post from yesterday, I would advise you to start there.  It has the first dramatic (kind of ) part of the extended vacation.  For the rest of you, I told you I would update about the rest and so here we go...

The cruise left on the 26th.  We were told we could start checking in at like 10:30, so we went there are started the process. It took a little while, and then we just sat there.  Everything took a lot longer than we and they expected because of the terrorist events on Christmas day.  Apparently customs was a lot more thorough.  Because of that we got on the boat about 2 hours later than expected.  As my cousin said, "We're going on a big  boat." Jorge, the cruise director who was hilarious (if you want to know 10 of the stupidest questions asked on a cruise ask me, he told them to us and it was funnier coming from him but its still hilarious) said first time cruisers call it a big boat rather than a ship and I guess he was right.  We were eating supper when the ship started moving because it left later than expected as well cuz 30 or more people were delayed coming from the airport. That day consisted of walking around the boat, trying to figure out where everything was, the safety drill and we watched a comedian.  It was pretty fun.

27th
The 27th was a fun day at sea.  We went up to lay out, but it was quite cool so it was done with regular clothes and towels as blankets, which was kind of sad.   But we liked that we were able to be outside so we read and listened to music.  The rest of the day consisted of random competitions, shows, food, and listening to some karaoke

28th
The 28th was our day at Progresso (Merida).  We were up bright and early as we had to be ready for our excursion at 7 am.  That day we were going to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.  It was a 2 1/2 hour drive to the ruins.  There was a stop at a random store, but the ruins were incredible.  They were different than the ones in Belize, but of course there were some similarities.  Its hard to describe the similarities and differences. But they were really cool and big.  We didn't even see all of the ruins that were there.  It was neat and once again it was hard imagine people being able to building such a great empire so long ago.  That night everyone else watched shows.  I got sick that night...not until supper (the gulf was REALLY rough that night) I barely had noticed the boat until that night.  I felt better part way through the night, but I'm not gonna lie I was comfy and got too comfortable laying in bed watching a movie so I fell asleep early.

29th
This day was spent in Cozumel on the Carribean with the beautiful water where you can see straight down to the bottom.  On this day, we went on a Catamaran and snorkeling which was fun.  The snorkeling wasn't as good as Belize's but it was still fun.  They had some complimentary beer, margaritas and soda on the boat which as nice.  Then we went to the a spot on the beach for an hour...needed more time there but it was still fun.  After we got back towards the boat, we were trying to decide what to do next.  Me and Chels decided to price out parasailing.  We had to take a cab down the island to find a spot and we ended up doing it.  It was sooo fun.  It wasn't near as scary as expected and even the take off and landing were smooth.  The pictures are on my cousin's camera unfortunately but hopefully I will get them soon :) We went back to the boat after that cuz we wanted food.  We were going to lay out a little bit but it got cold again, so towels were blankets again. That night we watched more shows including a magician which was alright.  

30th
This was another day at sea.  I was woken up earlier than I appreciated, but I won't go into that.  That day was another day of relaxing, walking around the boat, watching random competitions, reading, etc.  That night they did one more vegas style show, which was pretty good.  They geared us up for a "slow process" of getting off the boat in the morning

31st
We got up early to beat some of the lines of getting off the boat.  The "slow process" of getting of the boat due to the terrorists earlier, took about 10 minutes.  They had told us it would take 2-3 hours.  So we had a lot of time.  We went and sat at the hotel where our shuttle would later pick us up and saw some of the Florida gator football team, including Tim Tebow, which was kind of cool.  We left our luggage there and then went to the aquarium.  We then left for the airport earlier than originally planned because of the "increased"security...not so much.  But the New Orleans airport really wasn't that big.  So was burned a lot of time in the airport before flying back to MN and then on the 1st i flew back to chicago.

Overall it was a good, fun trip.  It could have been warmer, but we can't do anything about that.  One of the days it was so windy that a lounge chair flew off of the top deck, thru the railings, and landed on a lady (on her leg). It was crazy cuz I was on the same deck as her and saw it happen, she probably will get a free cruise out of the deal. But yeah it was a great trip.  It was fun and now its back to the grind.  Unfortunately, I have a bad cold and have been coughing, what a way to go back.  So I've halfway been trying to get more sleep while getting stuff done.  But I'll probably still go to bed early tonight and have to work extra hard the rest of the week.  Anyways, I'm off! Happy New Year Everyone!!!