The Gulf of Mexico greets us in 48 hours and by then we are just about familiarised with the layout of the ship. It’s not my first caribbean cruise, but it’s my first on board the Carnival Liberty. The casino is the biggest draw for us and it’s a good thing we decided to put a daily budget in place of $20 otherwise we would have never left. They don’t make it easy for us by offering us free drinks all day.
We arrived at Cozumel on the third day into our Caribbean cruise. It’s a tiny island. But so pretty. The tourists are drawn from far and wide by the discounted diamonds and other precious stones. However the prices are still higher than what we can afford. Probably our fault for living like lords in the casino. But we still manage to buy some colourful prints, a rug, some handmade crafts and lug them all back to our ship. The midday heat had taken the wind out of our sails and so we refreshed ourselves in a seaside cabana with fresh margaritas and a cool sea breeze on our backs.
The pesos in our pockets go far and after an afternoon haggling and cajoling with the local merchants we felt we should do one more bit for the local economy and booked an excursion to explore the Mayan ruins. But really we could have chosen from an endless list of option such as snorkelling, kayaking, a picnic or street festivals. The snorkelling is a popular choice although our waiter the previous night had tipped us off saying there was not a great deal of coral to see.
We both agreed that the highlight of our cruise around the caribbean was the trip to the capital city of Cayman, Georgetown. We had booked a trip to visit Stingray city. A visit which was as scary as it was thrilling. The creatures are large and move slowly towards you. But the initial trepidation soon gives way to a excitement and then before we know it it’s time to head back to the ship.
Bundling our souvenirs together we head for the coach and we all agree that the fear we felt was foolish as these gentle giants of the sea are just as inquisitive about us as we are about them. It’s certainly piqued my interest in all things aquatic and given me a newfound respect for our environment and in particular all things aquatic.
This cruise holiday was so packed full of things to see and do I will have to book another one as there was so much on board the Carnival Liberty that to spend a mere seven days on board is to barely scratch the surface. We shall be back. So watch this space.
