Cruising the Caribbean...what a way to go?

We be cruisin.........1st day at sea....oh, how sweet it is!!!
THEN WE are HIGH JACKED at Sea...... during evening dinner ......and yes, that is a real pirate with a gun in my face.....and his beard in my eyes.... :-)

These hilarious working girls were meer tourist ...not entertainers...just 3 chubby women who decided it would be fun to come on the ship dressed as '3 FAIRY PIGS'---AND THEY WERE!!!. ugly, funny, yet so darn entertaining. THEY HAD A BLAST and everybody loved them---- (we had a picture taken with them...but I am certainly NOT going to put it on the internet....HAHAHAHAHA

They have a 'talent night' on the ship where anyone can get on stage and 'show their talent'. It was hilarious....and some very, very talented people. One group of ladies dressed up as CLOWNS and put on a show---they do this as hospital volunteers back home. One of our own 93 year old lady from OUR bus group from Waco....played the harmonica....playing the 'Yellow Rose of Texas and The Eyes of Texas are Upon You....awesome/hilariously cute/bounced like rubber ball as she played....and she was the only TALENT that got a STANDING OVATION from the whole audience!!! And her name.... "HarveyLee" ??? never heard that before on a woman. (oh yes, we also went to the Karaoke bar...which is really an awesome theatre---saw the good, bad, pitiful and not so good talents there as well...but fun and posh to say the least)

Picture of our ship... This is a shot of our SISTER CARNIVAL SHIP, Fantasy, in Cozumel, Mexico. We docked side by side, unloaded at the same time. Awesome sight. Our ship the Ecstasy is voted by tourist as the #l, top ship of Carnival's 22 ships---No 1 in service to tourist, best food, best Entertainment and Entertainment Director. Our nightly shows were top rate, tons of color, music and glitz and glitter...talent....and head dresses and costumes from all eras and cultures. (but we couldn't take photos/videos)

INSIDE EVERY MAN....is a little boy.... ha ha

My hubby Just HAD to get a tattoo!!! temporary that is... and 'she was sooo cute''''hahaha He surprised me with his idea of the 'Best Present Ever" for our 50th wedding anniversary~~~~ his tattoo: Gloria & Jim 50 years in blue and a huge red heart outlined in blackwith an arrow! touching..tsk tsk (it really was cute and all our friends LOVED his silliness and reasonings.....jus jim :-)

Then the other arm....naturally....as a real Texan who is not fond of horses or cows....he HAD to have BARBED WIRE tattooed in blue and black. Again...and SHE was sooo cute...ha haha (yall got tha picture. ha ha...I loved it ...soon to be 70 years old and he still likes A touch of the WILD SIDE. HAHAHAHAHA) That's my guy of 52 yrs. :-)

Below: Jim and I are on the top deck of our ship....looking over the side (and yes, we held tightly and securely to the railing)....watching the TWO CARNIVAL SHIPS unload tourist at Coszumel, Mexico where Mayan dances and witch doctors danced and made photos to the entering tourist.

This is just a photo of the two ships Ecstasy and Fantasy both unloading at the same time. Most of the people had already gone through when I took the picture. It had been a massive mess of people...so funny to watch from above...like a fly on the wall.

This is the center Atrium of the ship. Absolutely beautiful and yet hard for the true colors of bluish purple to come through in photo. This was 7 or 8 stories high and the purple lights trimmed the whole Atrium. The gold staircase, trimmed in the awesome lighting was also note worthy; lots of creative art work. They had 12 or 14 elevators but naturally WE took these glass ones as many times as possible....even tho with my rolling walker....it gave me the WILLIES to stand on the outer edge of thing. Like floating in air....or 'falling 7 or 8 stories down' ha hahaha

This was just one portion of the port at Progresso, Yacatan. Huge immigration port complete with very large Mariache (sp) band greeters and gift shops every where....but ....this has been built rather recently.....waaaaay out in the sea....a long, long road built from the island OUT into the sea to a MAN MADE ISLAND in order to meet the huge tourist ships (at the depth...they have to have)
This is now popular because it is the closest port to the majority of Maya numerous pyramids and historical sites of the nation. I went to see the awesome most popular Chicken niza in 1996 and it was one of the most impressive events and sites of my whole life. The scientific technology is beyond and unknown to our scientist today....yet they were destroyed.


Below:

This is OUR LAST NIGHT at dinner in the fanciest of fancy dining areas. Tons of lights ...not behind us but above. But truthfully....hubby was 'begging' to have his FEET ON DIRT by this time. We both...sadly caught AWFUL.... BAD bad COLDS the 2nd day out and felt horrible physically from the coughing...no meds or cough drops anywhere...lots of liquor but it doesn't mix with all my tons of meds and he wouldn't drink if I didn't--dummy...ha ha

but I luv im....ADD all that to the misery/pain galore.... of me having to be on a rolling walker on rolling waters ....pushing through rolling lines and crowds of 1000's of people in sometimes tiny places...like elevators. Yes, we had a blast and loved it all dearly.....but also....THIS PICTURES reflects that we DRY LANDERS were very tired, very sick of hurting and ready to feel grass and dirt beneath our feet.

I am a THREE DAY vacation person anyway....so I knew this would be a long stretch for me...but I didn't think my hubby would be RESTLESS by the 3rd day. ha ha But he was. Below, it was sort of a sad time~~~last evening away....we were pulling out of dock from Cozumel, Mexico...it was about 5 PM and most every one was enjoying the awesome warm top deck swimming pool contests, game, entertainment of Raggai music....sipping from cute Carnival cups of creations...tea and sodas and I looked back to shore.....and saw our sister ships STILL SITTING IN THE THE DOCK....and we were leaving....never to return...again. Yes, the sight of the two ships were truly awesomely beautiful but it did make my heart twist, knowing we had had the greatest of joys and now it was all coming to an end and we would never be able to do this again. So I relish this sight in my mind....us sailing away for home....the awesome sunshine glistening along all the jungled seashore, beaches and city----and yet above us and north of us was this huge BLACK ROLLING STORM CLOUDS rolling for us and us into them! INSTANTLY the winds CHANGED. Very strong, very dark and rain drops.....and COLD COLD COLD...and we could still see the land... that had been so warm, cozy and hot. Needless to say that deck emptied almost immediately and everyone showed up early for the 'last night of our most elegant dining and yummy, yummy foods---with names no one could pronounce properly and yes we all tried and had a blast 'trying to BE what we weren't"!

Yes, our last night to have the most awesome elegant meals....with super neat new friends of 10 table mates and 54 Bus mates (this was the greatest way to travel ever for older people)...and our last but fantastic stage show ever ....with our friends and even with them feeding us cough drops (theirs) treating us like kings and queens when they didn't have to--because we were so sick-we all had the most hilarious good time---all from different walks of life and us at the bottom of the ladder. ha ha but it didn't make any difference---people love your heart and character & everybody loves humor!

So, this is the end of the 50th Anniversary celebration---and my kids are probably glad---but now we have to anchor out and head for new waters, goals and events. The top of our agenda is on Feb 21st we get to see our favorite Christian Comedian and musician....Mark Lowery is coming to our church on tour (Bill Gaithers quartet)...and we also will have the No 1 Christian Ballet coming to my father in laws church as well. So, these are 2 neat events that certainly sound exciting, plus we are having/preparing for a city wide revival with Anne Graham Lotz (Rev. Billy Grahams daughter) leading. All our churches are adopting the motto: "Just Give Me Jesus' to build for the revival.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, hope you enjoyed it and will leave a comment before you leave or give me a call and I pray God's richest of blessings back to you.

Sail on sweet Spirit, sail on...........................