*whew* I'm finally recovered enough from my cruise to brag about how epic it was. What a fun trip. My grandfather wanted a family reunion, so he paid for all his children, step-children and grand-kids to go on a cruise. 23 of us made the trip (missing: 1 aunt staying home with teenage cousin who had some lame excuse about tests for school, and another cousin in med-school). I was expecting to enjoy myself, but not nearly as much as I did. Some of my relatives I've only seen a few times before, including my roommate for the trip. I knew we'd get along okay, since he's a geek who has enough computer equipment to heat his house during cold weather (in California, but still.) Still, it was awesome to find out he's even nicer than I'd thought.
I was surprised to find that the biggest draw to get all the family together, besides dinner, was karaoke. I was a lot of fun to have a dozen or more of us sitting around a table, critiquing the singers. I even got up and sang ("Fire and Rain", James Taylor) and didn't make a complete fool of myself... Well, maybe with the dancing before hand.
The food was fantastic, and people tell me that Carnival isn't know for exceptional food. The Eggs Benedict was the best I've ever had, and the shrimp was done to perfection each night I ordered some (weather fried or broiled).
My dad had signed up for a behind the scenes tour of the ship, but found out it was at the same time my grandfather had scheduled time to get together with him and my mom. So, I got to go on the tour instead. It's pretty damn impressive to see what it takes to run the ship. The engine control room was pretty interesting, it looked like mostly 80's-tech, melded with a few new modern touches. There was a fairly new laser printer right next to a yellowed dot-matrix that used the old pin-feed paper, and big LCDs full of data, right next to mechanical meters and ship diagrams with lights.
The day in Cozumel was kind of a let-down, though. My immediate family and I rented a car and drove around the island. Not bad until driving through traffic in the city made my dad grumpy, and we just defaulted to a lousy tourist-trap for lunch. Never did find a decent beach to swim at. We probably should have signed up for one of the planned excursions from the cruise line.
Still, all in all, epic trip. I completely wore myself out. By the time we'd dropped off relatives at the airport and were headed home, I was so exhausted my legs stopped working. I had to get help walking. *sigh* I really wish I knew what the hell is wrong with me.
Just gotta get it hemmed because I'm so short.
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Damn CJ!
I may know more later
