A three hour tour...

Ok...cruise review time. We drove down to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday, August 15th. This was just 2 days after hurricane Charley. We were lucky to find a gas station on the way that was still open and had power. Our two local gas stations were closed. On the way down we passed a lot of destruction in the form of downed trees and smashed and bent signs and stuff. We got in Sunday night and met Aimee and Chris at the Amerisuites. We had dinner at Outback (where Chris lost his hat...again) and then turned in for the night.

The Amerisuites had a shuttle to take people to the port. We made sure we had all our papers straight and got into the terminal where they process people to go onto the ship. We had tagged our bags and left them with these porter guys. I wasn't too crazy about leaving ours bags with them but we did it anyway. We got aboard the ship but we still had some time until we could get into ours rooms...officially. We found our rooms and because ours was just to the side of the stair landing area I just opened the door into the hallway and we dumped our bags in our rooms. Yeah, maybe we weren't supposed to be into our rooms yet but by this time I figure we were in international waters and there were no laws! :P

All-in-all, I enjoyed the cruise. Our room was nice with its balcony and all. The room was of a good size too I thought. The nightly dinners were nice even though they were dress-casual at the minimum. I don't really remember having lunch because we were always so busy but we did have breakfast a few times. We got these cards so we didn't have to pay for pop onboard but as with most places they made it easier for you to get alcoholic drinks (which of course you have to pay for) than pop. Even at lunch they didn't have soda fountains of the type that's at *every* fast food place nowadays...you had to ask a waiter for a soda. It was a pain.

We went to the Keys, Cozumel, and Belize. They Keys were nice. Chris and I went on a PT boat ride which was pretty cool. They're a SEAL training base down there they we went past on the boat. Saw some pretty big Coast Guard vessels too. I enjoyed it. I did get pretty burned though because it was so sunny. I wore my hat backwards and ended up with a tan line across my forehead. I was pissed about it but it's my own fault for being a dumbass. Turned out it didn't really matter anyways though...

In Cozumel we went on a jeep excursion where we got our own Jeep (a Tracker) and drive to a beach and also saw some ruins. The 'road' was more like a path with HUGE boulders half-way embedded in it. It was so bumpy they should come up with another word to describe it because 'bumpy' just ain't enough. We went to a beach where we had some Mexican food and laid out on blankets under umbrellas. I have to say that I never thought in my life that I'd be laying on a Mexican beach eating quesadillas. First time for everything I guess.

In Cozumel I got ROASTED. Very badly burned. For some idiot reason I didn't use sunblock and I didn't wear a hat in hopes that my tan-line forehead would get washed out by the sun. Yeah...well...that was a pretty STUPID idea. My whole face got roasted...everybody's did. I was peeling for days. It was weird because I don't really burn at all--at least up here in the US. We all got burned, even Chris who went golfing. I figured the open-topped jeep was the reason we got so burned but I guess I was wrong.

In Belize Aimee and Chris had planned to do some 'swim with the sharks' thing (screw that) but because they got so burned they came with us on our tour. It was this bus tour that compared/contrasted Belize City with the ancient Mayan city of Altan Ha. I really only wanted to go to see the ruins. They were pretty amazing. At first it was only a few small structures but as we went on there were much larger buildings. It was neat. We even climbed to the top of one of them. Belize City (and the whole country of Belize) was an interesting place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. The whole country is badly striken with poverty. It seemed safe though, and I'm the type of guy who assumes that in any foreign country there's a pretty strong chance of trucks full of guys with AK-47's coming out of nowhere and taking over. Naive, I know.

All in all, it was a good trip. I gambled some on the ship and pretty came out even after winning $150 mid-way through. We saw some shows and a comedian and that was fun. If I had to go again I wouldn't go where it's hot, that's for sure.