Vacations with a boyfriend or husband are great..but sometimes, it’s fun for the girls to have a getaway!
There were great rates on 5-night cruises last November and I decided to take advantage of them with one of my best girlfriends. With my home base in Houston, it’s really easy to cruise from Galveston and very inexpensive as well!
The cruise took us to 2 ports in Mexico: Progreso and Cozumel. Progreso is a gateway to some of the best Mayan sites in the Yucatan peninsula. Cozumel, an island off Playa del Carmen, is known as one of the world’s top diving destinations and features sandy beaches. Mainland Mexico and the attractions in the Riviera Maya are accessible by a ferry.
We opted to book an oceanview stateroom and it was a welcome upgrade from the basic inside staterooms I’ve experienced in the past. The picture window was large and let in some great natural light. It made the space feel a lot larger and turned our room into a relaxing sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the ship.
Food is plentiful on-board the Carnival Triumph. I don’t love buffets, and while those are always available on the ship for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we opted to eat in the main dining room for breakfast, Sea Day Brunch, and dinner each evening. For lunch, the pizza, burgers, and tacos were perfect, not to mention the ice cream machines cranking out the froyo and soft-serve all day long! Carnival does a great job with menu variety at dinner. Feel free to order things you’ve never tried before but have always been curious about. On this cruise, I tried appetizers like escargots and frog legs!
One of the great thing about cruising are the people you’ll meet. I made some lasting friendships during this itinerary by participating in games and events on-board. Don’t miss the live shows and comedians either! There are always two very funny comedians performing both adults-only and family-friendly shows at the Punchliner Comedy Club.
In Progreso, we pre-booked a tour of the Uxmal Mayan Ruins through Carnival Shore Excursions. This is an excursion that I would definitely recommend to any future cruisers. Chichen Itza is also an option from Progreso, but I think Uxmal is even more impressive and beautiful.
I normally dive when in Cozumel, but for this cruise, I arranged a day pass at the new Secrets Aura Cozumel instead. This all-inclusive, adults-only resort is on a stunning beach with great snorkeling right off shore. It would be a great upgrade from the basic scuba-focused hotels on the island. Unlimited drinks were a welcome change from the ship and I’ll say that we both enjoyed a few mango daiquiris. One of the regular guests we spoke to handed us a banana (to feed to the fish) as we were getting in the water with snorkeling gear…that was a lot of fun and really drew the fish over to us!
Cruising is a fun, care-free way to vacation. Plus, we have a number of cruise options from Galveston. Major cruiselines like Carnival (4, 5, and 7-night itineraries) and Royal Caribbean (7-night cruises) have been sailing from Texas for years. We’ve recently added Princess Cruises (7-night sailings) and Norwegian will be cruising from Galveston this fall! This week, Carnival announced the addition of 11 and 10-night sailing between Galveston and San Juan, Puerto Rico. These cruises will visit exotic ports such as Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, Martinique, and others.
Have a question about cruising? Please ask me!
Visit me on facebook to see pictures from my cruise and shore excursions!
