Having enough of the snow and cold, we packed our bags and boarded Royal Caribbeans "Jewel of the Seas" for 6 days of sun, food and relaxation! After spending the night in Fort Lauderdale (and losing our shirts at the infamous Hard Rock Casino) we sailed off to our first stop, Key West. We rented one of those electric cars and tooled all over the island, taking in the watering holes, shopping and Hemingway's house.
Back on ship, we met our wonderful tablemates, Joann and Pat, cousins from New Jersey celebrating their 50th birthdays - I was in heaven, 2 smart, witty, Irish ladies the same age as me! The conversation covered it all, funny to downright raunchy!
The next stop was Cozumel, we spent the day chilling at the beach and doing some shopping - just what we needed - to do next to nothing. That night was our 1st formal night, it's always fun to dress up and Ed looked wonderful in his tux -
Belize was a trip, all 4 of us (Joann and Pat included) braved the rain forest and went tubing down a river to some Mayan ruins. What a way to travel - just laying there like slugs. When the tubing was over, lunch was provided, since we were ravenous, we sucked down the food not knowing what we were eating, could have been the local favorite of Iguana for all we knew!
Meanwhile, back on the ship, we decided to recoup some of our losses in the casino, low and behold I hit the red, white and blue 7's on the Wheel of Fortune for a payout of $1600, this being international waters, no taxes were taken out! This almost covered our bar bill at the end if the cruise - ALMOST! A few smalled wins soon followed -
Our last port was Playa Del Carmen Mexico - we spent another relaxing day on a beautiful beach enjoying some pina coladas and trying not to think about going home.
It was a fabulous trip, capped by another day in Ft Lauderdale. But all good things must come to an end and we returned to cold Chicago looking forward to our next adventure!
