Carnival Cruise: Triumph to Progreso & Cozumel, Mexico Part II

The day started as a very chilly morning. I decided to add some extra long sleeve clothing to my wardrobe choice, and I was very glad I did. My trip started with me driving to my friend’s house to carpool to Galveston. We went to eat lunch at a place called Don Cafe, it was a very open and quiet place; I ate some pho, a traditional Vietnamese noodle dish. Then it was an hour drive to the Galveston park and cruise. Finding the parking area was a little confusing, because we had missed our turn. We had turned left off the main road and didn’t realize that we need to make a quick right turn. We quickly realized our mistake and was greeted by a friendly man who directed us to our parking spot. We parked our car at a locally family owned park n cruise. (http://galvestonparkncruise.com/) We choose the indoor parking option for $5 extra.

Once we where at the building, there was a long line of people waiting to get through security and the first check point. While waiting in line, I noted a lot of people caring cases and cases of soda. It seemed like we where the only people bringing a case of water. Since I was a little worried that I had over packed, I was reassured that I hadn’t, after looking at everyone else’s luggage. *here’s a tip: you can actually drop off your luggage and it will automatically be put on the ship and delivered to your door, so you won’t have to lug it around. Once we crossed security, we proceed upstairs to a second checkpoint to get our key cards. At that point we noticed a paper stating that our departure will be delayed to 9:00 P.M., a conservative estimate, due to the late arrival of fuel. We where a little concerned how this would affect our trip: if we would come back late or if it would be a bumpy ride due to faster speeds to reach our destination.

View from the dock

View of Galveston from the ship

Once we got on board, we went to our room and decided to take a look around the ship. The first stop was the buffet. Then we played some putt putt golf then we were briefed about safety. At dinner, we had a very friendly Serbian waiter who informed us about different breakfast and brunch options. Afterwards we had caught a family friendly comedy performance and then headed off to bed.

The next day, we woke up early to workout. The ship ride was a little rough at that time, we where traveling roughly 17 kts; if you have ever tried to run or use the elliptical while a boat is moving, it is very difficult and will cause dizziness and nausea. We decided to leave and we stumbled across brunch on the 3rd floor. We chose to share a table and we meet 2 very friendly groups. One was a couple from Houston, the other was 2 girls from Dallas. The girls from Dallas informed us about how helpful motion sickness pills are for this trip. You should take the pills once you get on the boat and repeat every 4 hours. I am not sure about other people’s experience on a cruise, but I defiantly felt the ship moving. We then ventured to the casino to try our hands at the slot machine. We ended up at the casino twice that day. We donated around $25 dollars each, but we had fun. We finally made it to they gym again, this time not as crowded as the morning’s. Afterwards we headed back to our room, showered and took a nap. (You will be taking lots of naps) That night was formal night and we had shrimp and lobster for dinner. We where so excited for our first excursion day that we went to bed early with anticipation of land the next day.

Golf course

Formal Dinner Night

Formal Dinner: Shrimp & Lobster

When we woke up the next morning, we headed to breakfast and was informed that it was to windy to port in Progreso and that the port was closed. We were disappointed, because we where so ready for our excursion. Lucky I had purchased our Progreso excursion with Carnival and was able to get a full refund. In the end, it was probably for the best; can you imagine trying to ride a bike in such windy conditions? Since we where so close to Progreso, the weather was a lot warmer and we were able to enjoy some sunlight. With so much time on our hands, we headed back to the gym, then found ourselves at the casino. I enjoyed the entertaining environment and it was exciting, it reminded me of the times when I was younger and would go to the arcade’s, trying to win some crazy toy.

Sunset

Paris Dinning

Since we did not port in Progreso, we headed off to our next destination, Cozumel! We were able to dock at 7:00 A.M. and had an extra 2 hrs to venture around. Also, Carnival had offered extra excursion, since we would have more time to explore. They where offering excursions in Playa del Carmen, a city located along the Caribbean Sea in the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. I wish we were able to do 2 excursions that day; however, things did not work out. Once we got to our port, we had to walk through a very big Duty Free store. We decided we would see if we would be able to walk to our excursion located downtown. After asking around, everyone told us that we should get a taxi, because it was about a 5 mile walk. (Here is a tip, if people are trying to push you to take a taxi or a tour and you are not interested; just tell them you are still waiting for the rest of your party, thanks). After walking back and forth, and deciding what we should do, we decided to follow a group of people across the street. We then made some new friends from Houston and we enjoyed the weather, scenery and ventured around. We then said our goodbyes and took a taxi to our destination… that was only 3 miles away.

Since we got to our destination early, we were able to join an earlier group. Our group was small, 4 people total, the two of us and a young newlywed couple. We really enjoyed our experience, because it was just the four of us and we where able to ask questions and really get to spend a lot of time with the Dolphins. We where not able to take pictures or have our GoPro’s with us in the water; however, Dolphinaris does a good job of capturing the special moments….all for a small price of course. After our dolphin petting, riding and kisses, we where able to indulge in unlimited food and drinks – added bonus free wifi to post some pictures. We were really glad that we where able to beat the crowd and have a relaxing time compared to the other group, which had 10 people per group. Once we were done eating, we walked to the center of downtown and crashed a hotels beautiful pool. We found that the area we were located in, did not have much sights to see or many things to do. So we took our time and walked back to the port and did some shopping.

Dolphinaris

Dolphinaris

The hotel we crashed

We decided to return to the ship early, and glad we did, because the line to get back was starting to form. Once back aboard, we grabbed so more food and relaxed by the pool. Since we where already dressed I decided I just had to experience the water slide and was glad I did, plus it was not crowed so it was awesome.

On our last night, we decided to watch the sun set and our last morning we caught the sun rise. Here are some pics from our vacation.