Rob, Ian and I went on a cruise in the last week of August, from Saturday to Saturday, on a MASSIVE Royal Caribbean ship called the Liberty of the Seas. Aside from a few unpleasant incidents, we had a really great time.
On the first day, Saturday, we boarded the ship in the late afternoon. We checked in, found our room, had some dinner, toured the ship – it was pretty uneventful. Ian checked out Adventure Ocean, the clubhouse thing for 9-11-year-old kids. Ian, AKA Babaganoush, AKA Baba Ganoush, ended up hanging out there most evenings after dinner – he had a blast there and made a bunch of friends.
Sunday was a day at sea, headed to our first destination. We swam, used the unfortunate FlowRider without incident (more on that later), had lunch at Johnny Rockets, Rob and I got sunburned, and that’s about it. I almost got in a fist fight with a snotty teenage girl who dripped water all over the book that I was reading, but that was the only drama for the day.
Monday we got to Haiti… or DisneyHaiti. The town was called Labadee and is RC’s own private, walled town in Haiti. The beach there was just great. Somehow, even though both Rob and I sat in the shade and wore SPF 30, we still managed to get MORE burned. Ian, of course, did not get burned at all. We bought a small folk-artish painting for more money than it was worth, but I didn’t have the heart to haggle over five dollars with the Haitian man. It was a fun, relaxing day at a great beach.
Tuesday was Jamaica. I wasn’t super crazy about the town itself, but we went to a pretty nice beach, with clear, clear, blue water. Also, the beach had water trampolines which were a ton of fun.Wednesday at Grand Cayman was, in my own opinion, BY FAR, the highlight of the trip. We found a company, Captain Marvin’s Watersports, to take us out to snorkel and swim with the sting rays. The first reef was just incredible – there were like 12 million fish in the water, in every color you could imagine. This reef was a little deeper – I would guess about 12-15 feet deep. The second reef was way shallow, like only 4-12 feet deep and also had a million fish swimming around.
After that, we went to this sand bar and totally hung out with like dozens of sting rays. Crazy. Apparently, some years ago, all of the fishermen in the area would go to this particular sandbar to clean their fish, and the sting rays would come and eat all of the fish guts. Eventually, the sting rays became pretty tame. Now, every time a boat pulls up to the sand bar, the sting rays swarm the boat looking for their squid bits.
I won’t lie, I was completely terrified of the sting rays. COMPLETELY. We got out of the boat and the guide gave us pieces of squid and told us to hold it like an ice cream cone. Then you take the squid and put it under the sting ray’s mouth and they suck it up. It was WILD. It also got my thumb a little bit, which was just the weirdest thing ever. So after you feed them, they come ‘round looking for more food and bump into you and swim between your legs and what not. Apparently they like to be pet – they sort of have the texture of a wet mushroom that sort of still has some dirt on it – they’re sort of spongey.
Thursday we were in Cozumel and took the journey to the Mayan ruins at Tulum. The ruins were grand and spectacular. Ian and Rob had been there before, but it was the first time I had ever seen any Mayan ruins. On the downside, half the site was closed, along with the beach… which pretty much sucked because it was approximately a million degrees out. The beach looked incredible, even though we couldn’t get down to it.
Friday was another cruising day to head back to Miami. The morning was pretty nice, pool, Adventure Ocean for Ian, the kids’ sprinkler water park (which I LOVED), and the damn FlowRider. Which brings me to the Both Ankle Tale:
I was all body surfing on the same damn FlowRider… doo doo doooo…look at me, I’m surfing... And then the wave caught me, and I didn’t expect it. I went over the top of the hill and was slammed feet first into the back wall and both feet snapped in. They had to shut the water off, everyone around was talking about how “oh my god, it looks like she fractured both ankles,” and I was laying there starting to panic with a vision of trying to survive 6 weeks with both feet in casts and in total shock from the pain. (Oddly, the sprains hurt worse than when I actually did break my ankle) And I had to be stretchered out because I couldn’t walk. Here is my word of caution: stay away from the FlowRider.
But at least it happened in the afternoon on the last day of the trip, right?Saturday we had to get to the airport for our flights back to Philadelphia. Basically, I spent most of that day in a wheelchairs at airports. I maybe cried a little bit sitting there waiting for my flight…
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