Phantom Cruiser

day 1 - Got up, had breakfast, freaked Scott out by fainting in the hotel lobby (!),
went and sat on the seawall and looked at the ugly gulf water while we waited for our
hotel shuttle to arrive (pic 1), caught the shuttle to the cruise ship pier, made it through the line in 30 minutes,
the embarkation process and got on the ship and headed straight for the pool bar
for margaritas (pic 2).

We pretty much roamed the boat, checked things out, got our seating changed to a table
for 4 (which ended up being only the 2 of us), and enjoyed our first night of "Bubbas
on the Ocean", which means sailing out of Galveston is VERY CASUAL and you will
encounter lots of cowboy hats, boots, & people generally dressing quite sloppily!

We walked the promenade deck and saw dolphins in the port water...neato!

First night at sea...man this boat was rocking. They put out the barf bags just in case.

day2 - At sea (pic 3)...being lazy, drinking, being lazy, napping, and eating were the order
of the day. Today was also the first formal night, the Captain's Welcome Aboard party,
we got formal portraits done and all that.

day 3 - Arrived Key West in the late afternoon (pic 4), stood in line forever to get off the boat,
headed straight for the Conch Republic Seafood restaurant over by the marina for some
conch fritters, conch chowder, and drinks. Enjoyed scoping out all of the scooters along
the way and saw some remnants of hurricane damage along the Mallory Square/waterfront area.

Ended up going to Margaritaville for our t-shirt shopping fix and to buy the dog a new
collar that says "Margaritaville Mutt" on it for way too much money. Scott had too many
beers and we ate squid rings. (pic 5) Walked up and down Duval Street and bumped into our
waiter from the boat. It was too late for dinner on the ship, but they laid out a
grand buffet on the pool deck for us late-eating people.


*pics out of order arrrrgh!*

Phantom Cruiser

day 4 - At sea (pic 6)...see day 2 (except without the formal night stuff).

day 5 - Grand Cayman. You have to tender at this port which would be fine if there
were not 7 mega-ships in port that day! Quite a spectacle with a gazillion tender boats.
(pic 7) This day was too short, we had our last tender at 315p so there was only enough
time for our excursion.

Went to Stingray City and did the swim/snorkel. Awesome. I highly recommend it. (pic 8)
You can still see evidence of hurricane Ivan (2004), but it is not as bad as Cozumel.

*pics out of order arrrrgh*

Phantom Cruiser

day 6 - Cozumel has no ports so we tendered here too. What can I say? Very sad with
all of the hurricane damage. Entire homes & buildings are just shells. Walls
crumbling/falling down. We ate dinner in San Miguel and then took a taxi to
Playa Mia Beach Resort (pic 9). We rented a waverunner (my first time!!!)
and it was a blast. Scott let me drive and I was jumping waves and all that. There
is very little vegetation at all left on this island (pic 10).

Tonight was the second formal night and more portraits were taken.

day 7 - At sea...see days 2 & 4 for more details ;-)

Today the Carnival Conquest (also out of Galveston) was about 2 miles ahead and on our
starboard side. She was supposed to dock before the Rhapsody, but we had a life threatening
emergency that called for us to speed up and pass her and arrive back about 4am. Around
dinner time we were neck and neck and everyone was outside on the decks watching the
beautiful lights on the ship. Tried to get pics...came out blurry.

Due to the quickened pace, the ship started getting rocky again...more barf bags.

day 8 - Arrived in Galveston at O-dark-hundred hours. No rush to do anything since we were
in the Yellow Group to disembark. We grabbed our carry-ons and went to get our last
breakfast in the dining room :-( Then we hung out on deck looking for more dolphins in
the port.

The line to get through customs was looooooooooong. We made it through, phoned for our
hotel shuttle to come get us and it took us directly to our vehicle which was parked
behind the San Luis hotel. Then we got on the highway and headed for home. Went from 80s
in Galveston to 30s in OKC. Man, that sucks.

Plusses --> good food, good drinks, nice bartenders, a great stateroom attendent, nicely
decorated ship, free champagne at the art auction and at the Crown & Anchor party, fun ports,
good weather, cool captain, great onboard lecture about sharks, etc.

Minuses --> an "interesting" mix of passengers, some of which were apparently hygiene
deficient, an incredibly large SeaPass bill at the end of the trip (did I really drink all
those Whiskey Sours???) ahahahah.

Food highlights --> Mango cheesecake at lunch every day, escargots (plus they made another
batch for us on another night), lobster tails as much as you can handle, shrimp, shrimp and
more shrimp, going to the wine tasting party caused us to order wine with dinner
(additional SeaPass charges!), great vegetarian entrees like pad thai & curry, great soups
and salads, rack of lamb mmmmm yummy. *hint* Don't order steaks, you will be disappointed.
Try something new (food-wise) everyday!!!

Any questions?

chiefmg

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. Even going to sea for a living I never get tired of seeing the beauty out here.

Sucks about the hygiene-deficient folks you had to deal with. At least you have some stories now!

BTW, nice foot pic (#8)!

Phantom Cruiser

I have several "foot" pics...it's a theme I'm sticking with

Oh, and we had Bubbas AND gang-banger looking types...very interesting indeed.




My next cruise is going to be somewhat more upscale...it has to be. I'm so old-fashioned that I still believe that ocean voyages should be classy!!!

kargoboy

Heh, right, kick those lowlifes back into steerage!
Glad you had a nice time.

Phantom Cruiser

LOL "I don't see what the fuss is all about...it doesn't look any bigger than the Mauritania..." ~ Karen Dewit Bukater