The first full day on ship we went to watch the "Marriage Game", also known as the "Newlywed Not So Newlywed Game." We've watched this show every time we've been on the boat, but this time we were picked to play! One couple had been married a day, the other had been married 61 years - so we were the couple in the middle. We were chosen because we acted like fools in the audience in order to get picked! It was fun - Tim got all the answers wrong and people on the ship now know more about us than anyone needs or wants to know! We had fun though and spent the week being recognized by all the people on the ship.... usually they would have a remark to make about one of our answers!
We had a great time and enjoyed relaxing and catching up on our rest. Since we had 5 days at sea, we had plenty of time to rest. The itinerary took us to Cozumel, Costa Rica & Panama. We had never been to Costa Rica and Panama, so we were looking forward to seeing new sights.The excursions booked through the cruise line are so expensive we decided we couldn't really do much if we booked through them. So we decided to do like we've done before and hire someone off the boat. This usually costs us the same for all 3 of us that it would cost for just one of us otherwise.
When we got to Cozumel we hired a cab to take us on a city tour and to the Mayan ruins. After about 20 minutes we realized the cab driver the tour company hooked us up with spoke no English and we speak no Spanish. Not only that, but she was on the phone talking & texting and all over the road. Needless to say, I had to ask her to take us back to the port. We were going to try another driver but then decided we'd had enough and since we'd seen those sights before we headed back to the boat.
Our next stop was Costa Rica. Once again we hired a cab driver. (making sure he spoke English!)
We had been warned about violence and people getting robbed so I was a little concerned, especially when I saw the armed guards everywhere. But I decided to let it go and enjoy. First he took us to a little boat that we got in with a guy who took us on about an hour tour through the rain forest. We passed a few other boats and even saw some of the people from our ship on a much bigger boat (about 40 people) and I was glad we had a private boat. At the end of our boat ride, the cab driver picked us up and took us to a banana plantation to see showing us other sites along the way. We stopped at a fruit stand and sampled some of their local fruit and it was delicious! We bought a few little bitty bananas to eat and they were by far the best bananas I have ever tasted. We had a good time and didn't spend alot of money.
Our next stop was Panama. We hired a cab driver at the port, again making sure he spoke good English and we were off on our way. Of course we wanted to see the Panama Canal since we were there and just wanted to tour the city and learn about the people and the culture. We hit the jackpot with the driver we hired. He gave us the best tour yet - telling us about the people, the culture and everything in between. He was very experienced and gave us more information than we would have ever expected. We enjoyed him and learned alot from him. When we went to the canal to watch a ship come through, we noticed other people were listening to our tour guide and asking him questions. They had paid the big dollars but didn't have anyone other than the lady on the loud speaker explaining anything to them. Once again, I was glad we had hired a private driver. The countryside was green and beautiful, but Panama City was very dirty and poor and I was a little scared driving slowly through that area....especially when the driver told us to lock our doors. There is an area there where you can buy goods really cheap, but I didn't want anything bad enough to get out of the car there! Again, we had another great day of sight seeing without spending a bunch of money.We had some really nice dinner table-mates. 2 couples each with 1 child, so there were 9 of us all together. Jonathan, Ruth and Lior were one of the families we met and we ended up meeting them for Nintendo DS Mario Kart racing as well as going to a couple of the shows with them.
Julian had a good time at Camp Carnival and met a couple of boys that he hung out with. He got more free rein than he ever has before and got to run around the ship with his friends and stay up late. He took part in the Kids Talent show and ended up singing Michael Jackson's Beat It for the crowd. He did a great job! Funship Freddy and one of his friends danced while he sang. It was fun to watch him perform!
We had a good time... enjoyed the food, enjoyed the shows and enjoyed the ports. Mostly, it was just nice to have a good time together as a family away from the computers, TV's and other distractions. I missed being with the rest of the family on Thanksgiving and I especially missed our regular Thanksgiving dinnner! Of course, it was also great to get home! Thanks to KD and Bobby for taking care of our animals while we were gone. Balto and Kobe always love going to visit Aunt KD at the farm!
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