Title: A 7 days cruise vacation - Western Caribbean
Preparation: The tickets were booked in a rush through AAPlusVacation. The prices were the same from AAPlusVacation as the one directly buying from the cruise company. The good thing about the AAPlusVacation booking was: they gave an about 20 or 30 minutes session to guide you what to do, what need to be prepared, etc. If you have never taken a vacation on a cruise line before, the suggestion is helpful. We were in this trip during the July 4 week. Pretty crowded and the prices were high. In the summer, you definitely need to prevent sun burns, especially ladies. I suggest you have hat on if possible; otherwise you will find deep wrinkles around your eyes after a week on the cruise.
General opinion: Route: Galveston, Texas, USA - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands - Cozumel, Mexico - Galveston, Texas, USA
Attractions and activities: Activities in cruise: Hot tub, water sliders and splash zone, Kids big chess, mini golf, table tennis, shows, movies. you can run on the top of the cruise and there are also fitness rooms; Montego bay, Jamaica: visited the hope real estate property that has gorgeous view but we forgot to bring camera. Grand Cayman: visited sea turtle area, took "submarine" to see the real ocean fishes, coral reef. Cozumel, Mexico: sea lion show, swimming pool for kids to play Before go to the places, book the tours in the cruise. when you get off, there is a tour guide to take you to the places. if you are luck, you may have a tour guide who speaks English very well. in Cozumel, we had a kind tour guide but we could not understand his English.
Dining: Have eaten a lot of good food and I gained 3 lbs in 7 days cruise trip. If you want to lose weight, I suggest you not to go to the cruise trip or you calculate the calories everyday you're eating. if you book your tickets earlier, you can get to the 1st round dinner schedule which is about 6:30pm - 8:00pm; it's much better to have the big dinner around this time. Because we booked the tickets almost the last minute, so we were scheduled the dinner time around 8:30pm - 10:00pm which are too late for your stomach to digest the big dinner. My husband refused to go there to eat after a couple of days, he would rather go to the buffet bar to eat.
Lodge: The good thing to take a vacation with cruise line: save a lot of planning time and feel more easy during the trip because where to sleep, where to eat are being taken care of. After the trip, my husband told me that he liked the cruise trip because it saved him a lot of planning time and energy and felt relaxed.
