First solo trip... a cruise over the Gulf of Mexico

in #travel8 years ago

(for those interested: all photos shot with Olympus e20n)
So I went on my first and only cruise circa 2002CE

Day Zero

PB232440.jpg
Got in the ship at the Riverwalk in New Orleans

PB232429.jpg
A couple of tugboats on the Mississippi

PB232434.jpg
The preparation for a sinking ship did not prepare us for what was to come later

PB232451.jpg
The crescent city connection?

Day One

PB242460.jpg
Waking up to a sunset over the Gulf of Mexico

PB242476.jpg
Don't really see blue water at home. Mostly muddy bayous and shit (sometimes literally)

PB242514.jpg
Rainfall in the distance.

Day Two

PB252547.jpg
Another sunrise. Not much else to see yet.

PB252585.jpg
Arrival at Cozumel

PB252608.jpg
A look at the ship (Carnival Holiday)

PB252641.jpg
Decided to go on a jeep tour. Unfortunately, I do not drive a standard very well. I manage to find a family that will take me along for a ride.

PB252644.jpg
I still have no idea what this was. We stopped and got to go inside, but it wasn't paricularly interesting.

PB252650.jpg
This guy(?) was hanging around next door.

PB252685.jpg
I have no idea why this buck was at some rest area with nothing else around but a glass display filled with beach trash.

PB252709.jpg
The tour guide was getting everyone to sign some document, written in Spanish, before allowing them to go up in the lighthouse. Not for me, bruh.

PB252722.jpg
The beach near the lighthouse

PB252739.jpg
Random swampy area...

PB252740.jpg
... with crocodile(s)!

PB252746.jpg

PB252750.jpg

PB252757.jpg
Private beach.

PB252775.jpg
I never managed to find the beautiful beach-phone

PB252792.jpg
On the way back to the ship

Day Three

PB262834.jpg
I ate or drank something, the day prior, that made me super sick. My booked tours were wasted. During this day I tried to sleep, but they kept dropping the anchor and reeling it back in over and over. The chain happened to be directly under my room. This is a photo of boats trying to pull on the ships anchor. Apparently, we were stuck on a sandbar...

Day Four

Since we were stuck in Playa del Carmen, they gave everyone free tours and free drinks. I got to go on my tour afterall.

PB272856.jpg
Off the ship entering Playa del Carmen

PB272864.jpg
Loading up on the bus to ride for a bit.

PB272878.jpg
Got to see some Mayan ruins with a bunch of other tourists!

PB272881.jpg

PB272947.jpg

PB272949.jpg

PB272958.jpg
Got back and headed straight to the ship for those free drinks.

Day Five

PB282969.jpg
Woke up at 4am and made sure all of my shit was packed up. The ship was absolutely stuck on the sandbar and they were ferrying people off the ship and flying folks home. I think I managed to get off the ship around noon. I was ferryed to a bus, then bussed to an airport, where all of my belongings were searched multiple times (yay!). Flew back (Miami Air, I think).

It was fun, but I've never been on a cruise since.

I hope you enjoyed the photos and what little I can manage in the way of story. I will be working on my writing and plan to post a few more stories and photos of my solo travel experiences.

Sort:  

The sunset is so amazing!! Beautiful photos!! Thanks for sharing!!!! :) Upvoted!!

Hello @cthorazine, I enjoyed you cruise story. I LOVE to cruise, it is my go to vacation. I have written a few reviews on them myself if you interested. I wanted to ask why you have not cruised again? Do you think you will give it another go? -Josie

Cruises just aren't for me. I've looked into going again, on several occasions, and the cost was too high compared to visiting places like Australia, Japan, and New Zealand for a decent amount of time. Also, I like the freedom of being able to choose where and how long to stay in a place before moving on to the next.

wow great trip nice sharing.

Wow! Beautiful photos! That sunset, and those ruins! Amazing! I recently took my first solo trip as well. It can be quite the experience, especially in a place like you visited. Upvoted and followed.

Congratulations @cthorazine! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You got a First Reply

Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honnor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here

If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

By upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how here!

Congratulations @cthorazine! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

Award for the number of upvotes

Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here

If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

By upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how here!

Congratulations @cthorazine! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 2 years!

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.26
TRX 0.20
JST 0.038
BTC 96240.27
ETH 3591.45
USDT 1.00
SBD 3.91