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Cruising was definitely a NEW experience for all the Dukes! And we jumped in with our whole crew not really knowing what to expect. It ended up being a great trip and a great experience for us all. We left Mobile about 4 Saturday afternoon and spent the next day and a half at sea. This meant time spent at the pool, reading, eating, eating and eating! Our rooms were tiny, but had everything we needed. We had pull down beds for the kids, but they spend pretty much every night in the room with my mom down the hall so we really didn't need the pull down beds anyway.
Jamey and I decided that we are more fans of the excursions than we are the days at sea. This was one clean and organized boat! And there was so much to do on the boat - we both just had kind of a, well, antsy feeling the days at sea. I am not sure if that makes sense. We loved exploring the cities. Progresso had the best cheap, fun jewelry. We all agreed that we wished we had purchased more pieces there. Cozumel did not have nearly the cheap (but still really cute) items. Everything there was expensive! In Cozumel, we went to Playa Mia for the day. Swimming, jumping on the water trampoline and taking a catamaran out were the events of the day.
Each night, our WONDERFUL waiter would present the best meal. It was so nice. I can't even begin to describe it. He told us he sees his family in the Philippines every 6-7 months. I don't know how he does it. He told us he was thankful to have a job and to be able to send money to his family. He was such a gentleman.
The shows on the boat were really good too. Much better than I had expected. I didn't realize they would do a dancing/singing show several nights. Also, they have a Camp Carnival that runs almost 24 hours a day for the kids. They did arts and crafts and games and snacks and movies for the kids.

Our only bad experience the whole time actually happened to my mom. But she was a trooper and let it roll right off of her. The pool on that boat was WAY too small and deck chairs were PRIME real estate. She found an empty chair one morning and sat down to read. About 45 minutes later a very LOUD and presumably drunk man insisted she had moved all his things to a secret location and had stolen his chair that he had been saving all morning. Um, ok. His wife was embarrassed (although I am assuming he behaved this way on a regular basis - too bad for her) and my mom told him she had done no such thing, but quickly moved away from the crazy man.

We are now researching the Disney cruise :) Of course, this is no surprise to any of you out there!!!
We are off to the beach tomorrow to visit with friends and soak up some of the last days of Spring Break 2010.