Saturday, April 26, 2014

Trip to Houston.



Location, At home, CA

Almost a month since I last posted. I know, I know, but I have been busy.

The trip to Houston went just fine. We did have a delay of about an hour for our flight from Phoenix to Houston which put us in late. Tim met us at baggage claim and drove us to his house. After a little wine and cheese which sufficed for dinner we went to bed. Friday was laid back while we delivered fast food lunches for the Grandkids at their respective schools. Don’t ask me how that got started.

Saturday was Ivy’s soccer game which was South towards Katy, TX. It actually was not out of the way to go from there to the ship. Tim delivered us to the ship after Ivy’s game finished.

We had an easy and fast embarkation which allowed us to get a late lunch at the buffet before muster drill.

As we were leaving our cabin, our steward introduced himself and said he would have a glass of champagne waiting when we returned. We thought “yeah, sure”. Late I happened to look in the small refrigerator and sure enough, there were two glasses of champagne waiting for us. How nice to start our trip that way. Later in the week a bottle of champagne showed up in our refrigerator. No explanation so we ordered extra orange juice and breakfast in the room one morning and had mimosas for breakfast. Really decadent!

Two days at sea found us at our first stop of Cozumel, MX where we rode a catamaran along the coast then transferred to a bus for an island tour. After the tour we grabbed a margarita and chips with salsa at a local stand.

Our ship, Caribbean Princess 

The next day we were in Roatan, Honduras where Clyda went swimming or should I say wading, with the dolphins while I toured the island visiting an Iguana farm and a private beach development called Parrot Bay. Low key but ok.


Our last stop was at Belize City where we had to tender in because of the shallow water. We both took an airboat ride outside the city to a wetlands area. Again, low key but enjoyable.
 Loading the airboat
 Smile!


Our trip back to Houston was enjoyable as the ocean was like a bath tub. Not a wave in sight. It really brought out the sun bathers on all decks.

We enjoyed playing trivia every afternoon and did quite well sometimes. After dinner each evening we stopped at the Crooners Lounge to listen to Bert Stratton play and sing. We first met Bert on our cruise to Alaska in 2001. He is quit the entertainer!

Arriving back in Houston we were off the ship by 8 AM and boarded a bus for Bush International Airport to pick up a rental car for the weekend. We drove directly to Matthews’s soccer game then after the game back to Tim’s house. The remainder of Sat and Sunday was low key. On Monday evening we all went to dinner at Macaroni Grill. Matthew asked us all to dress up for the occasion and just before we left for the restaurant we found out he had asked his girlfriend to go also. It turned out to be a nice evening with everyone dressed up.

Tuesday morning at 5:30 AM we left for the airport and an 8 AM flight to Phoenix. We arrived home just about noon.

It was a nice trip but the best part of it was spending time with Matthew and Ivy. Both are great kids. If we were only closer!