Christmas Cruising 2018

My mom, sister, and I decided to switch it up this year and go on a cruise for Christmas. My mom had a bunch of points on her credit card from re-doing her house so it was basically half price for the three of us to go! 

We chose Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas leaving from Galveston, Texas. Galveston is about a 6 hour drive from where we live in Dallas; not close, but still easier than flying to Florida.

We drove down early Sunday morning so excited for what the week was going to bring us. We had booked several excursions and were very ready for an adventure!

Technically we were not first time cruisers. I had gone on another Royal Caribbean cruise when I was 11 to the Bahamas leaving from Miami. Granted, since I was 11 I don’t remember every single detail, but I would say this cruise was significantly better than the previous one starting with our stateroom.

The first time we cruised we had this tinnyyyy dark room that was literally just big enough to lie down in. An airplane sized bathroom was at the entrance and then two twin beds were on either side of the wall with two more pulling out from above them. Many heads were knocked on those beds and anger was felt by all that we had gotten such a terrible room.

Fast forward to Cruise 2018 and our room was probably 4x the size of the first one. The bathroom, while still small, was much improved over the first.

We had a makeup area, a seating area, two twin beds with a third that came from the ceiling, a huge window, and a balcony with another seating arrangement; plenty of space for three girls, two who overpacked.

Day 1: Sunday – Leave from Galveston

We got to our rooms and our luggage was promptly delivered, even though they said that if they scanned your bag and could tell that you had a straightener then they would need to double check it and it might not be there for awhile. Of course we had several straighteners with us (#bighairprobs), but they were delivered fairly quickly much to our delight.

We changed and started to explore the ship. We had to go have a chat with the Chef since Tara is a vegan and we weren’t sure if they would be able to accommodate her delicate palate. Fortunately they were happy to have a new challenge and she had plenty to eat the entire week. They weren’t 100% prepared for a vegan (which I found odd), but they made it work.

Tara and I quickly found the club on board and made it our mission to go multiple times that week. The DJ apparently didn’t have an internet connection the entire time sooooo we heard basically the exact same playlist every night. I know “Bodak Yellow” reallyyyyy well now.

Day 2: Monday – Cruising

This day was super chill as we just spent some time swimming in the hot tub and getting used to the boat. We made some friends that were from Liberty (our college) as well as some other people. I started diving into my stack of books (I finished 5 books by the time the cruise was over) and basically just chillinggggg out.

Day 3: Tuesday – Cruising

More of the same. More swimming, napping, clubbing, and watching cheesy cruise boat shows. We tried to make it our goal to go ice skating by the end of the trip on the on-board Ice Rink. We started trying to avoid a new little friend Tara has picked up by mistake. The boat seems really big until you start running into people that you would rather not see. We decide to not go clubbing that night since we had an early morning of adventures!

Day 4: Wednesday – Roatan, Honduras

We wake up early to catch our tour bus to go ride some ATVs! For whatever reason, none of realized that it was going to be quite as muddy as it was.
My sneakers still aren’t the same….
It was actually suuuuper fun and I’m hoping to buy one for my very own someday.

After the ATVs we were shuttled to a very cool beach club situation. Tasty food and drinks were procured, a beach lounger accommodated, and animals spotted.

Tara insisted on taking pictures with every single beach animal we found to include: a lizard, a sloth, a monkey, and a snake.

We talked our tour guide into picking us up last so we could spend as much time possible at the beach.

We made it back just in time to quickly shower and change for dinner. We had to eat at the same time each night because of Tara and her vegan sensibilities, which ended up being like 5:30pm… kinda early in my opinion.

My mom wasn’t feeling 100% so most nights she went to bed early leaving me and Tara to entertain ourselves. We had another early day so we skipped the club again.

Day 5: Thursday – Costa Maya, Mexico

Today was Dolphin Day! You all DON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND how excited I was. I have DREAMED of swimming with dolphins my ENTIRE LIFE.

When I was little before my fear of sharks fully kicked in, I dreamed of becoming a marine bioliger (sp?) and studying/training dolphins. I realized quickly that dolphin training is not where the money is and decided on 84564765 job paths instead. Yet, the love of dolphins never dwindled so here I was, 27 years old, and finally fulfilling my dream.

It ended up being more a “Dolphin Encounter” rather than actually swimming with them, but my joy was still unbridled. Our dolphin’s name was Frieda and she was beautiful. So sleek. So smooth. Please check out how excited I am to be hugging this magnificent creature. Mom and Tara also really enjoyed the experience, as cold as it was.

After the dolphins they trick you into buying all of your pictures. Of course I will pay any amount to have these dolphin pictures forever, no matter how crazy I look. Once you’ve now spent more than you ever thought you would on vacation pictures, it’s time for brunch.

We ate at the super overpriced and not very good restaurant in the little “resort town” that is made just for the cruise ship.
My advice? Skip all that and take a quick ride into the town to chill on a beach lounger which eating wayyyy better food and drinks.

It did rain on us a bit, but it was overall a really nice and chill afternoon. The place that we picked actually had a ton of vegan food so Tara was obviously pumped. We left right when a new rain storm was coming and headed back to the ship to get ready for dinner.

After dinner we just hung out around the ship and called it a night since we had our last big adventure day the next day.

Day 6: Friday – Cozumel/Playa del Carmen/Tulum, Mexico

This was the day my mom was looking forward to the most. She had been to Tulum yearssss ago, back before it was a popular tourist destination.

When you get to Cozumel you have to take a ferry to get to Playa del Carmen, then take an hour bus ride to Tulum. We have to get up reallyyyy early to do this, so no breakfast for us.

My mom is very prone to seasickness and the cruise ship had prepared for this by offering free seasick pills to everyone taking the ferry. We urged her to take some, but she said, “I’d rather be seasick than drowsy. Those make me too tired”. I said, “ummm no one ever says that. Please take them.” She refuses. We get on the ferry…. 5 minutes later she is so sick. She is now mad that she didn’t take the pills…. as are we. The ride is actually really nice so I’m kinda surprised she still got sick, but we make it through after 30 minutes.

We land in Playa del Carmen and then wait for the rest of our group to gather to get on our bus to Tulum. Mom hadn’t realized alllll of the travel necessary to reach Tulum and felt a large sense of regret in not taking those free pills.

We eventually get to Tulum, haven’t really eaten anything and then must go into the heat to look at these ruins. My mom also hadn’t realized that in the 35+ years it’s been since she has been in Tulum, it has become a VERY popular tourist attraction. Back when she went you could walk all over the ruins to your heart’s content; not so in 2018/2019. You pretty much have to stay on the path the whole time.

Because of all of the traveling we honestly didn’t have a ton of time in Tulum. We saw the ruins then went shopping for a bit for some souvies and tried to get a snack. No such luck. We get on the bus and head back towards Playa del Carmen where we do a bit more shopping and buy some cheap tequila to bring back home. One bad churro later and we are back on the ferry to the ship.

We make mom take the pills this time and they work, but definitely make her super drowsy. She nearly falls asleep at dinner and we put her to bed early then hit the clubs.

Day 7: Saturday – Cruising

This is our last day on the boat so I sleep in then spend the entire afternoon reading the last of my book. It’s wonderful.

After dinner Tara and I try to go ice skating, but they are having a show instead. We watch the ice skating show (where almost every single skater fell at least once) then go see this band play in the auditorium. The fiancé of the fiddle player in the band invites us to sit with her during the show and we have a great time! We decide to go change and then meet them at the club for our last night of dancing. I get very tired so I head back to the room early and leave Tara to dance the night away.

Day 8: Sunday – Return to Galveston

We get back pretty early to Galveston and make it off the boat with all of our luggage. Texas is pretty bleak and grey; a stark contrast to our past few warm, sunny days in Mexico.

We find out that if you buy alcohol in other countries the state of Texas makes you pay a tax on it when you get back, but I think it was only like $10. We quickly get through that, find the car, then start the drive back to Dallas. I’m very happy to be home back to my little frenchie to enjoy my next few days off and the New Year.

Would I go on a cruise again? Absolutely.
Would I go on this particular cruise again? Probably not.

There were A LOT of children on board so I think any cruise that I do in the future needs to be adults only. Virgin has a new one coming out that looks great and I’ve heard the Princess cruises are better for adults.

Our room was great and I LOVED having a balcony so I was pretty pleased with that, the food selection, the adults only section of the pool area, and the excursions offered.
All in all, a 7 out of 10.

Have you ever been on a cruise? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Reading!

-Savvy