Mexican Cruise

One of my sisters told us about these last minute cruise bargains you can get a couple of days before a departure at any cruise port. New Orleans has a large cruise terminal for Carnival that sails to Mexico. We did a little surfing and found cabins for a 5 day cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel for $159 per person. Sounded like a great deal so we were off.

Our first stop was Costa Maya, very close to the Belize border. We chose to tour some Mayan ruins which were reached via a 1 hour bus ride. These ruins were discovered by an American in the 1970's. Evidently, this guy found over 100 temples in just a few years in this area. Most of them have yet to be excavated, and these have only been open to the public for a few years. The next day found us in Cozumel. This is an island about twice the size of Lopez (24 miles long)that has been over run by American cruise ships and hotels. There were 9 cruise ships in port (about 40-50,000 people including crew).

We booked a snorkeling and glass bottom kayak tour that was great! Good coral and lots of fish to see. The cantina was so good we spent the entire day there eating and the kids got their first tattoos.

Over all Jeanne and I have decided that the large cruise ship experience is not for us. Too much cigarette smoke; we are not gamblers and that is a huge part of the ship. Also, although the food is free, everything else is not. Our bargain of around $700 became 4 times that before we disembarked back in New Orleans 5 days later. The seas were also quite rough on the return across the Gulf of Mexico and many passengers were puking left and right; adding to the experience. We now know why the cruise line is called Carnival: it was quite the circus.

Time to head eastward.