Cruising...

I love going on cruises. When I was growing up, my grandmother was concerned that the cousins did not know each other, so she arranged for the Pando family to come together for family reunions on cruises. We were able to do three and they were an absolute blast!

A few months ago, I decided to plan a cruise with my best friend and our moms. Laura got married in 2007, and even though I love Ian, I miss my friend! So I sent an email to everyone and we planned it for the first weekend in August, which worked out perfect, because Laura's birthday is on August 2.

I flew down to Miami on July 30 and my mom and I met with Laura and her mom, Olga, at their house at 11:40 am on July 31st. Tony drove us to Port Everglades where the majestic Enchantment of the Seas was waiting for us. We quickly got on board, dropped our stuff off in the stateroom and headed out to find food and the spa.

The rest of the trip goes as follows:

Thursday night: low key, we had a nice dinner, took some pictures.

Friday: Key West. We thought we would walk around Key West a bit, see the sights. The heat was terrible and we were there for less than an hour. Key West is not all its cracked up to be. We got back on the ship, just in time for our massages. All I have to say is heaven. We spent the rest of the day by the pool, and then dressed for Captain's Night. Our table at the dining room was right next to the Captain's table. So fun! And we looked dang good!

Saturday: Cozumel and Laura's Birthday. We woke up in the morning, still on the way to Cozumel and gave Laura her birthday presents (I'm pretty sure she liked them!). We docked in Cozumel about 10 am and headed straight for Mr. Sancho's Beach (on a good recommendation). The beach was perfect with shades of blue too incredible to describe. We rented two chairs, with floaters, and an umbrella. We had the perfect setting. After the beach, we headed downtown to shop and to visit my uncle's bar Fat Tuesday . We had some pina coladas, some great food and bought some beautiful jewelry and Mexican batas. We got back on the ship and went back to the pool. For dinner, we celebrated Laura's birthday with some cake and a visit to Boleros, where I introduced the group to virgin Mojitos. It was downhill from there!

Sunday: Day at sea. Olga woke up early in the morning to reserve some lounge chairs by the pool. The rest of us eased out of bed, had a quick breakfast and stayed at the pool the whole day (with stops at the spa for more massages and teeth whitening). That night we had a great meal, danced with the cruise director (who was dressed as the Indian from the Village People) and had some more Mojitos. Great way to end the cruise.

Monday: We docked super early in the morning and had to deal with the usual business of getting off the ship and going through passport control and customs. I spent some time with my family, and then headed out to the airport to go back to DC. Got home at 1:15 am Tuesday morning. Blah.

Tuesday: Exhaustion.