Georgia II

[martiehawk]

Saturday evening we all met at dinner - our cabins weren't all right together but we were on the same deck and we all had the same table at dinner. We had late seating which meant 8:30 every evening. That was our main together time all week. I think we were all pretty wiped out and just headed to our rooms when we finished dinner - which was between 9:30 and 10:00 most nights.

Sunday was just a lazy dat at sea. Penny and I were guessing it really wasn't all that far and we were just out in the ocean turning circles. They sort of did that on our cruise to the Bahama's 2 years ago. They took a big swoop out instead of heading there in a straight line. Not this one we found out later. Anyway, we just walked around looking and relaxing and enjoying not having any responsibilities. Penny paid for us all to have our nails done as part of our Christmas gifts. We had a late breakfast, late lazy lunch in the dining room where we were served instead of buffet, and then dinner in the formal dining room. Of course every night was delicious food and desserts and we were all taking a bite of what someone else had ordered just to taste something we'd never tried before.

Marylon kept us laughing all the time. I can't remember now 1/2 the stuff she would notice and make funny but we got a lot of exercise laughing as well as walking. OH MAN! We walked and walked and walked. Honestly we probably walked 2+ miles every day just getting all over the ship!

One night at dinner Jolene and Cindy started telling us about the night before. There room was very dark and Jolene had gone to the bathroom but didn't turn on the light. Well, she is VERY claustrophobic. In a few minutes Cindy woke up hearing Jolene say she couldn't get the bathroom door open. She had been pushing and pulling and I don't know what all but she couldn't get the door to open and she was beginning to panic. Then the handle came off in her hand and she really panicked. Well, Cindy got up and stumbled to the bathroom to find that the door wasn't closed. THAT is how dark their room was. Jolene had panicked so that she pulled the handicap rail off the wall beside the toilet!

We were about rolling on the floor laughing so hard. Of course, Jolene's sisters had to go back to their staterooms to try and pull the rail off the wall. No-one could begin to budge their handrails! Cindy said they had sort of stuck it back on the wall so when the room steward came he would think he pulled it off. I have no clue if he even noticed but it was all too funny.

Monday we docked in Costa Maya. Of course, you have a 100 or more people constantly trying to get you to come into their store and buy their things before you get to the next store that has the exact same things for a different price. And they love for you to bargain with them. I was able to get my two oldest a pair of Blue Topaz earrings - 1/2 carat for each ear - for $25 a pair. Not too shabby. My sister bought a blue topaz necklace and got a wonderful deal on it. I bought a few small items for my younger 2 kids and then we walked around and just browsed. I bought myself a Black Austrailan Opal set in a sterling silver ring. Talked the guy down to $75 for it.

Penny found some leather art that was gorgeous but she hadn't brought enough cash off the ship with her and we ran out of time to go back. She is cruising there again in the spring and hopes to get that art when she goes back. Stacy had guys saying "Just because I like you" or "Just because you're pretty, I'll make you GREAT deal." LOL! You really had to learn to be stern with your "No Thank You's."

Tuesday we were in Cozumel. They also had some great deals but not as good as Costa Maya. I did find a small pendant to match my ring and talked the guy down to $50 but I'm not nearly so good at bargaining as my baby sister. She started bargaining with a guy on some jewelry and he started at something like $85. She started back with $15. He would come down $5 at a time and she stuck to her $15. Well, she ended up getting that item for ..... you guessed it.... $15!! Penny told mom that Stacy was the original Jew when it came to bargaining for stuff. LOL!

I found souvenier T-shirts for $5 each which was great because I knew I had limited spending money left. I didn't take a whole lot with me and knew I needed some money to get home with. When we got back on the ship, I had $35 on me. Mom of course, said she would give me some money if I needed it or pay my fare back to the airport or whatever. I told her I thought I'd be fine. You couldn't use actual cash on the ship except for tips and we'd paid those ahead in our ticket price.

On Wednesday, we slept in a little but Stacy had some treatment at the spa at 8:00 and Penny had one for 9:15 so about 9:00 I called mom and asked if she wanted to go with me to breakfast. Stacy got back just as we were leaving so she went with us up to the Lido Buffet. Well, the ship was really rocking and pitching and it was so overcast and gray, you could tell we were heading into a storm. It began to rain around 11:30 I guess and the boat was really rocking. Well, you know it's not a good sign when, as you go up the stairs (instead of waiting for the elevator) you see a bag of sea-sick bags taped to one side of the staircase. A little later, they were also taped beside the buttons for the elevator. A little later they were beside ALL the buttons on ALL the elevators and a little later, they also had them INSIDE the elevators!!

Of course, by that time Penny was back in my cabin asleep to try and avoid getting sick and my mom was already sick. Penny and I had packed early that morning and Mom was trying to pack after breakfast and had to lie down. Stacy and I went down to the pursers desk to ask a question about who knows what and the first thing they did was hand you 2 packets of pills to take for sea sickness. THAT wasn't a good sign either. LOL! We took those up to mom and she said they helped.

The next time we were on an elevator with some workers who were hanging the little bags everywhere so I asked how did they not get sick. He said, "Lots of people say 'I NEVER get sick' but they are the ones getting sick because they didn't take anything. When the boat starts rocking like this, we all take these." and he held up a couple of those packs of pills they'd given us. Well, we decided we were better safe than sorry so we each took one pill. I think it really helped. I never really felt sick but that was a bad storm and we weren't taking chances.

Stacy and I went up to watch the Newlywed/Not so Newlywed game. They had a couple who had been married 1 year, another married about 7 years and the last couple had been married 39 years. I have a list of the questions they were asked but I'm telling you, the couple married 39 years were HILARIOUS!! I almost bought the video tape of the cruise just for that. And the thing is, for most of it you HAD to see the woman's face when she asked questions or gave her answers.

After that they played "16 degrees of separation" with some movie clips. It was the Cruise Director's own little game based on the "6 Degrees of Separation." He would show about a minute or so of a movie clip and then you had to answer a question about that clip and name the movie it was from. Then you would watch the next clip and had to answer how it was linked to the clip before which was usually one of the actors, as well as name the movie and answer a question about it. Penny had joined Stacy and I by this point and we were off to a pretty good start. Then they decided to go do something else and left me - who rarely watches a movie these days - to finish the game. So, when they did the scoring to see who won, I scored my own paper. Not to shabby I guess. Out of a possible 54, I had 34 right but the winner had them all correct! He told her it was sad that she spent so much time watching movies. LOL!

Oh, just before the Newlywed/Not so Newlywed game, they played a round of "Love, Sex, and Romance" where he had everyone up on stage that wanted to participate. Stacy and I sat in the audience for this. He had a quiz out of Cosmo or something where Dr. Ruth had given answers. Everyone stood in the middle and he would ask the question followed by Answer A or Answer B. You moved to the right if you thought A was correct or to the left if you thought B was correct. If you were correct, you stayed up there for the next round. Otherwise, you had to leave the stage as they all sang "Na na na na, na na na na, hey he-ey, good-bye!" LOL! It was so fun to watch them. It finally got to one lady who was correct and everyone else was wrong. Before he was award her the "24 karat gold plastic trophy" he said she had to sing a song. I'd have passed out on the spot but she started singing "If you're happy and you know it" and everyone clapped in the right places. It was quite amusing.

Of course, the cruise director - who is from Great Britain said he learned that song a different way. My sister wanted to teach it to her boys (I have NO idea why, unless so they can annoy their teachers at school) so I went up and had him write it down for me later. LOL!

He also told me while I was chatting with him that we should be to the mouth of the river at New Orleans by 8:00 that evening and the boat would quit rocking and pitching so much but it does take 8-9 hours to make it all the way up the river to dock. He also said he'd been on that particular cruise path for 4 months and they had not had such rough seas the entire time.

Part 3 coming up...

[martiehawk]

Well, he was right. About 8:15 you really noticed how much more calm it all was. We could walk to dinner without looking so drunk you couldn't walk upright. We had so much fun people watching though. You really couldn't tell who was drunk and who was sick from the motion and who just couldn't walk straight with the rocking of the boat.

At dinner that night, our waiter served my mom a birthday cake I'd bought for her. Her birthday was Friday. They lit a candle and sang to her and she had no clue it was coming. LOL! That was the best cake I've ever had. It was a small heart shaped chocolate cake and it fed the 10 of us perfectly. Of course, after that it was back to the cabin to finish packing and get your suitcases in the hallway to be taken to the holding area for customs.

We did have a couple of nights where we watched some Karoake. There were some really good talented singers on that ship. We watched some games one night and you were supposed to dress in your team color to see which team could make the longest conga line. Then they did the conga all over that deck and the one above. They did the Macarana and the Hokey Pokey and some other stuff. It was hilarious to watch.

I guess this is quite long enough. LOL! I'm sure my sisters would read this and tell me a dozen things I left out. We had such a great time!! If you ever get a chance to go on a cruise or a trip with your sisters or just some really good friends - take advantage of it!!

I honestly had no clue it would take 3 posts to get this all in! Guess it was too much for one post!

[kimmyo]

Martie...I love you're cruise story! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!

My sister and I went on a cruise to Cozumel 2 years ago for my 40th (hard to believe it's been that long!) and we had a blast. She emailed me a few weeks ago and said to start saving my pennies we were going in 5 years for her 40th birthday!

Great pics btw!! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Welcome Kelly! Glad to have ya here!!

[kimmyo]

Just wanted to pop in and tell ya about a cool web site I found. I know you all have heard of organizedliving.com but they also have a great site called www.organizedchristmas.com really cool place! Check it out!

[martiehawk]

Thanks Kim! Penny and I did a weekend cruise to the Bahama's in February almost 3 years ago (I think. LOL! It may have only been 2 years ago though). Anyway, it was a blast and we wanted to include mom and Stacy this time.

We hadn't laughed that hard in a long time either. It was really a lot of fun. My mom saw her chiropractor yesterday and he told her he didn't know what she'd been doing but keep it up because that was the most relaxed he'd EVER seen her. LOL!

I'm going to print out what I wrote to put in my memory book with the pictures.

[sharona]

Martie I loved the story and pictures!

I am sooo jealous. I've never been on a cruise and it seems like such fun. I do think you need to go into more detail about the food! That cake for you Mom sounded wonderful!

Stacey - I'm not gonna holler at ya, but slow down girl! I am exhausted just reading about all that you are up to!

All is well here, It's actually above freezing this morning! I may go and get my walk in before I get to work.

Hey to all of the rest of you!

Be Good!
Sharon

[kellygirl64]

Martie

Great story and pics! I went on a couple of cruises as a teenager with my family but hubby and I have never been. Your story has inspired me! I will start saving my pennies.

Sounds like you all had a wonderful time. I' m jealous. I don't have any sisters.

Did you go to the midnight buffet? That was my favorite meal on the trips I went on. Of course that was many years ago. Not sure I could stay awake long enough now!

Kelly

[navywife]

Kelly, I am with you...I never had sisters. Now I have 2 sil that I have adopted as my sisters.

[Pag36]

Kelly I never had any sisters (well Mom lost a girl when I was 14) so "adopted" 3 of my own 2 of which God has called home. And Kat is in KY so don't get to see her near as often as I would like.

Candy I assumed on the 2nd that it would be in the afternoon so can not do that either GRRRR! as have an appt in the morning. So guess the lunch idea is the best. Thanks for inviting me tho'. I know it will be great. Take care all

[martiehawk]

Since we had late dining which meant going to dinner at 8:30 and finishing up about 10:00, we never made a late buffet on this cruise. Well, we cruised through one on the way back to our room on Fiesta Night - where they had all Mexican type foods. We grabbed chips and quacomole that was SO good and went back to our room and ate. LOL! We were pretty tired most nights and it was tough staying up to take the pictures of that one buffet.

Those of you without sisters, hook up with some really good friends that you wouldn't mind spending 3+ days with and go for a weekend cruise if you can't do a 5 or 7 day one. My mom and sisters and I are very close even though I live 500 miles from them. We talk on the phone almost daily. I only have a couple of other friends I think I'd considering being with on a cruise like that.

Well, I need to get busy. Terry is going to use my truck to go to Moultrie this weekend with some buddies and so I need to clean it out and go have it washed and I think the carpet shampooed today. I also have a co-op pick-up which I only have to pick up my stuff - not for the entire group. That means it's only a 5 minute ordeal instead of a 2 hour one. LOL!

What else? Oh, Sarah has piano today at 5:00 because the teacher had to cancel yesterday to take her grand daughter to the doctor since they called her to pick Amanda up from school.

And for dinner, I'm putting Clam Chowder in the crock-pot this afternoon. It only has to cook about 4 hours on low. I'll share the recipe in a few minutes.

Other than all that, I need to finish that baby blanket for Jennifer who had her baby on Monday! Her parents are going down for Thanksgiving so I want to send it with them.

Have a wonderful day!!