50th Birthday Cruise - Last Sea Day

Well it was finally here--the dreaded last day.  All good things must come to an end!

I woke up again to a beautiful sunrise.  I sure will miss this view!

We met up for breakfast in the dining room and got a table by the window.  I got juice and a parfait.

After breakfast, I went to the Havana to claim our shady chairs.  I thought it might be crowded since it was a little later than usual but there was no one there.  I think everyone had the post-cruise blues already because the Havana was pretty quiet all day.

I started off with a mimosa and Ben got his usual pina colada--I can't believe this was my only mimosa of the cruise!

We spent the day relaxing and visiting.  It had turned cooler and windier now that we were heading back to Galveston so none of us even got in the water.

We stayed in the Havana until around 4:00 p.m. and then reluctantly packed up.  Ben had to practically pull me out of my chair, I didn't want to leave!

We met back up with Nick and Kate around 7:00 p.m. for dinner.  Ben and I had scoped out a place on deck 11 to watch the sunset so we all went and got a glass of wine to wait for sunset.  It's my rule that we never miss the last one!

A beautiful last sunset picture taken by Kate.

That night we went back to JiJi and had a wonderful last dinner before going back to our cabins to pack up for the trip home the next day.

The next morning we were back in Galveston, our wonderful cruise over.

We all had such a good time on this cruise, it is definitely a birthday I will never forget!  Many thanks to Nick and Kate for coming along to celebrate with me and for helping to make my 50th birthday so special.  And of course, to my wonderful husband for everything--I couldn't have been happier!

"Life was made for good friends and great adventures."  Looking forward to the next one!

50th Birthday Cruise - Cozumel

On Friday, I woke up to the sounds of our neighbors moving their chairs around on their balconies.  I knew immediately they were preparing to watch sunrise.  So once again, I was up to see the sunrise!  It was cloudy, but still nice to see.

A couple of hours later we were docking in Cozumel.

Our plan for today was to spend the day at the Nachi Cocum beach club, where Ben, Nick and I had been the last time we cruised to Cozumel.  It's a relaxing beach with great food and drinks and plenty of shade.

We got to Nachi Cocum around 10:00 and settled in under a palapa and just spent the day eating, drinking and relaxing.

This is the life.

The boys found the hammocks.

Later so did Kate.

Lunch came and was delicious.

And so were the drinks!

We took some pictures on the beach.

There was also a swimming pool that felt very refreshing.

And beautiful palm trees.

We stayed until about 3:30 p.m. and then reluctantly headed back to the Vista.

One last picture of that beautiful Caribbean blue water.  Tomorrow we would be back in the Gulf of Mexico.

Back at the ship, everyone was tired so we said goodbye for the day and headed back to our cabins.  Ben took a nap and I sat out on the balcony.  I had a great view of the pier so I could watch for "pier runners"--the people that stay a little too late in port and have to run back to the ship.  I didn't see any though.

Ben and I had dinner in the dining room before going to bed.  Tomorrow we would have one more relaxing day at sea before going home.