Happy Happens: N'Orleans and Cruise!

I love vacations! (who doesn't?) And I love and will always volunteer to plan vacations whether they are even mine or not. I love to look for good opportunities for good deals and new places. I have this secret weapon website called cruisecheap.com that I frequent. I also get emails from them. One time about 3 years ago, Keith and I got an incredible deal of a 4 night cruise for about $160/person. It was Keith's first cruise and he got hooked. Around the end of January of this year, the rates went really low again for cruises so we did some research and found this 5 night western carribbean cruise for super cheap and it sailed from New Orleans! My parents had always wanted to cruise from there so we conspired together how we could all go. Lilah wasn't allowed to go until she was 6 months old so we booked it for May 4 (three days after she turned 6 months). We went on the May 3rd and stayed a night in New Orleans to have time to experience French Quarter district . It was a very windy evening but we were able to walk all around the square and eat some amazing food and see a ghost (according to others tourists) and listen to live jazz and meet some crazy crazies that sounded like Ray from Princess and the Frog. It was neat to feel this atmosphere and we had a great time this first day. Here are some pics:

We ate at a restaurant in French Quarter called Grand Isle and it was Yuhuhummy!

Lilah was bundled up from the wind

New Orleans essentials

At Cafe Du Monde for some Beignyets. This restaurant is open 24/7 all year, even holidays!

Climbing these stone figures to play Bumper Balls from Mario party

The signature buildings with balconies

Keith, Lilah and I in Jackson Square

On Saturday we boarded and oriented ourselves with the ship. There was a sail away party as we disembarked at 4:00pm and the weather was gorgeous and warm with only a small breeze. We sailed for about 6-7 hours down the Mississippi river and saw some huge houses and factories and stuff.

I painted little anchors on my toes to prepare for the trip!

A full day at sea was next as we made our way to Mexico. It was a nice relaxing day and we caught some rays, ate really good food and loved being on the open ocean. That is my favorite part of a cruise, that we were completely surrounded by ocean all day and all night! I love to just sit and stare, it is my happy place :)

The Captain's Dinner Formal night:

Late night ice cream and pizza every day. Why? Because we can!

The first stop was Progreso, Mexico. It was a beautiful Caribbean city with many tropical plants. Here, we hired a taxi to take us to Dzibilchaltun (zeeble-chal-toon, thank goodness my Dad and Keith speak spanish), an ancient Mayan ruin site. This experience has been on my bucket list and was pretty incredible to see. The coolest part was this temple they built where on the equinox and solstice, the sun would come directly through the windows carved in it. There was an even bigger site we could've gone to but it was a 2 hour drive there and 2 hours back and that was a no go with a baby in tow. But I was plenty inspired by what we saw. At the end of the tour there was an old sinkhole or Cenote with fresh water we could swim in. We also got free pedicures from the little fishies who lived there that would come and eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickled like crazy!

Keith got into the atmosphere of the place and tried to sacrifice me and Lilah on an ancient altar!

We arrived in Cozumel the next day and it was even more beautiful! I couldn't believe how blue the water was! I had booked a scuba trip beforehand so my wonderful mother watched Delilah while my dad, Keith and I went under the sea. I had always meant to get certified and my parents had taught me a lot through the years but I never went through with it so I had to take a crash course one on one with my sweet instructor named Liz while dad and Keith did a deep dive. Then we all did a 40 ft dive together. We saw a barracuda and Keith and Dad saw a nurse shark and a lobster on their earlier dive. After that, I met up with my mom and Lilah and shopped around while Keith and my dad went deeper into the city to explore and eat.

The divers:

Me and Liz my instructor bonding over music, she is a jazz singer!

The final day was another day at sea and we spent most of it on the back of the ship lounging, eating and watching the ocean some more. There was some fun entertainment on board and in one of the shows, Keith got to be a contestant! He even got a medal! We flew home the next day and it was sad to have no chocolates on our pillows or towel animals on our bed. But we had a blast!

Like Father like daughter???