The Cruise

Monday: Day 1

Here is the cruising crew before we left. Left to right: Us, Eric and Wendy, Heather and Mike, and Todd and Allyson. We stayed Sunday night at Eric and Wendy's in Houston, then left Monday morning to the port in Galveston.

Happy couple on deck as we were pulling out of Galveston. It was extremely windy!

Here is the obligatory Towel Animals. A seal right? Tuesday: Day 2
We had heard yesterday that the CDC issued the "cancel non-essential travel to Mexico" advisory, and while we were watching CNN Tuesday morning they announced Carnival had cancelled their ports in Mexico. We waited all day to hear from our Cruise Director if we were re-routing to Grand Cayman. But didn't hear anything until 8:30pm that we were going nowhere! With that out of the way, it was a blast! And it cracks us up how many pictures we took of on board activities! Enjoy!

Of course, I wanted to be apart of every dance class. This was the first of many. It was the Austin Powers Dance class, and it was a BLAST! We also went to Hip Hop and ABBA. I love dancing!

Tuesday was the formal dining night. It was fun (for me!) to get all dressed up (Ryan hated every minute of being in his suit) and eat a fancy dinner of steak and lobster. And of course, I filled up on the yummy appetizers, fruit, and desserts. My favorite was their Melting Chocolate Cake with ice cream.

Wednesday, Day 3
It was a gorgeous day outside, so we spent the day soaking up the sun. Thank goodness for our travelling buddies. The guys kept Ryan occupied so I could nap and read lounging by the pool. They played basketball and volleyball.

We also found a new love, Karaoke. Allyson was the first one with the most courage, and sang Celine. The MC was a hilarious Phillipeano that entertained everyone.

The Towel Crab!

Thursday, Day 4
Today we were supposed to be snorkeling in Cozumel. The crew on our cruise did a fabulous job filling in the empty space with LOTS of trivia games and activities. And of course, the Bushmans were not only apart of everything, we were the champions! Eric was the master-mind behind the huge landslide of the "Numbers Game"!

And with every win (or 2nd place), we received either a trophy or a gold medal. The collection started here!The Bushmans were well represented in the Free Throw competition (I was the exception! They needed someone to even out the numbers. First one out!) Eric took 2nd place! Way to go, soccer player!
Our waiter, Juan, had brain teasers for us every night. It was something else to look forward to, besides the caloric binge we participated in every meal!

Another trip to karaoke! Who will be brave tonight?

Wendy! And what was her song choice? Eminem's "Without Me"! It was the most shocking performance of the night, especially since she knew the chorus! My favorite part was when obscenities came on the screen, she'd say "I'm not going to say that!"

Ryan had a difficult time keeping his eyes of the flat screens when soccer was on. His valid point was, "I'm on vacation too!" Ok fine, enjoy it while you can!

Friday, Day 5

Every day they also provided two Suduko puzzles. I don't know why I even tried. The real competition was between Ryan and Eric. I didn't stand a chance!

The "24 Karat Ship on a Stick", was the trophy given to all the first place winners. How many did the Bushmans accumulate?

One of the day's highlights was the Newlywed/Married Game. They picked 3 couples: a couple on their honeymoon, someone who had been married 15+ years and a couple who had been married forever. They chose Eric and Wendy for the 15+ couple! They had funny and somewhat tame questions, such as: "You haven't seen ugly until you've seen my wife's " or "Which holiday would represent last night's session of whoopie? Halloween, Thanksgiving (thankful for what you got!), 4th of July or Passover" What was their answer?

4th of July!!! And that became their nickname throughout the ship, especially by all the geriatric passengers we shared elevators with. And of course, in true Bushman tradition, they WON! Their prize, a $150 bottle of champagne! Woo-hoo!

They generously traded it in to get a round of virgin strawberry daquiri's at our Last Supper. It was so much fun!

This wasn't just any dinner table. No, no. It was the Winner's Circle! We each had a gold medal to wear, and we lined our table with our 6 TROPHIES! They made great centerpieces! Parade of Champions!

After dinner we changed into our pajamas and went back to the Karaoke Lounge for one last performance! I thought it would be funny if I sang "Like a Virgin" by Madonna. But I couldn't get past the first two lines, so I chose "Oops! I did it again!" by Britney Spears. And I of course knew all of the dance moves! Really, I did. Thank you Allyson and Heather for being up there with me, it wouldn't have happened otherwise!

Not only did our Cruise to Nowhere, go nowhere, but it ended early! Kind of! An elderly woman on our ship was in need of emergency medical assistance, so we had to rush back to Galveston. Instead of porting Saturday at 8am, we arrived around Friday at 8pm. Majority of the passengers opted to get off the boat, but we couldn't pass up the free food, entertainment and a quiet place to sleep! We weren't ready to go back to reality yet!

Our last towel animal, sporting Ryan's sun glasses.

Last Breakfast, Saturday:

We had one more filling breakfast before we disembarked. Between Ryan and I, we gained around 12 pounds! But we weren't the Biggest Gainer's of the group though! :) We felt completely relaxed and rejuvenated after this cruise, and loved spending time with family. We have lots of new inside jokes, and we laughed A LOT! And above all, I loved spending one-on-one time with Ryan and feeling like a couple again!

And I loved returning home to a clean house and happy kids! Cannon didn't release his hug for a good 10 minutes, and Brenna was so excited to receive her "souvenir" of what else? A 24 Karat Ship on a Stick! (No Mexico=No Souvenirs!) Glad to have gone, and glad to be back!