Started: March 23 approx. noon
Ended: March 28 approx. 6:30 (Central DST)
The name of the cruise liner is Ecstasy. No illegal substances were consumed during the course of the week. By me, at least.
So Monday, around 34 people met at the Ivy School around 5:45 in the morning - mostly asleep. I had actually slept during the day on Sunday, and got up around 8:00 at night and just stayed up, so napping on the bus was pertinent. Needless to say, the six hour drive to Galveston was pretty quiet.
We got there around noon, and set up for the waitings. Waiting in line to board the ship was pretty stupid, too, but at least we only had to worry about our carry ons and not our luggage. Before we even got onto the ship the photographers were trying to make money right away - there was this big tropical-looking setup and a super Filipino guy would tell everyone to “stanonthelizzad!” (agh, you just need to hear how Raymond says it).
Entering this ship was just going into the Grand Atrium - it was pretty quiet at first, since it was relatively empty. The cleaning crew was still fixing up from the last batch of cruisers, but we found our cabin just fine. Of course, this greatly delayed luggage loading. Still, it was still pretty early (there was a lunch buffet on the ship) and the ship itself wasn’t scheduled to go until around 4:30.
So, Daniel, Frank and I explored the ship, even though most everything was closed. We were walking up towards the gym, and for some reason we stopped just before we actually reached the floor. The gym guy or whatever beckoned to us, “You guys don’t have to stop, you can come!” So we finished the walk and he said, “You’re allowed to come up here…except you, no muscles allowed. Ha, ha, just kidding.”
This gave birth to ceaseless taunting that equated Daniel to muscles. It also gave birth to Daniel’s man-fan club. More on this later.
The lifeboat drill was lame - I couldn’t hear or see anything. It wasn’t long after that that our luggage had arrived, so I quickly changed and went to dinner. By that time, the boat started moving - but it looked pretty gray and disgusting out the window, because that’s just how Texas waters roll. My assigned table was with may cabin (Ms. DuBois and Kaitlyn) and Mrs. Booth and co. There was pleasant small talk and chit chat - the dinner itself was great.
After dinner I just wandered around the boat by myself, taking a couple pictures…
The atrium on the first night, while the lights still astounded me.
Loading time may be great, depending on your connection. I apologize.
Then some of the Ivy people decided a card game was in order, so we met in the card room, and just got acquainted while we waited for everyone.
A picture of Raymond’s camera, which had an unflattering picture of Madi.
Meet Raymond. He is a beast.
Meet Kevin. Wah. He has a cool last name.
I think there is another picture of Frank that looks exactly like this. It was taken long before, though. Yes, that’s how versatile Frank is when getting photographed.
I guess we were prepping to play Hold ‘Em.
I don’t know. Just fiddling around with crap.
Wah’s in his eye?
Hold ‘em, at the super-table.
Raymond, going super saiyan.
Raymond’s eyes.
And we played a weak game that eventually ended, and I got sleepy so I went to sleep.
I got out of bed, took my medicine, skipped breakfast and went out on the deck and found a couple Sriniltas.
The first morning - it was extremely windy.
Much bluer than the waters in Galveston.
Pretty exciting at the time.
They actually aren’t smiling - the wind is blowing their mouths back so it only looks like they’re smiling.
More water.
There was a lot of water.
We went back inside, and looked at the activity list to see if there was anything to do.
Daniel rented out the Taboo set…
…but we decided that there weren’t enough people for it to be fun. So as we were repacking the goods, Andrew took note of how the sand in the timer should sway with the boat. As we observed the timer, it became clear how pathetic we were.
Then some other people showed up in the card room - we played Taboo for a little bit, then changed the game to Spoons.
The boat was kind of dead on the people-front because most everyone felt sea sick. The waters were especially rough that day. It was kind of funny watching the staff walk around in zig zags, but it wasn’t nearly as funny when I got a headache. I took a nap, then felt a lot better.
That night was formal night, so I took a picture of one of the tables. Only one, because I forgot to take pictures of the other ones. The lighting is poor, since it’s coming from the back. I apologize.
It was lobster night - though, it was only a lobster tail and some shrimp.
The waiters entertained us, or something. They would do something similar every night.
After dinner, the five of us walked around, trying to figure out our next course of action. We decided on karaoke, but showed up really early.
So we walked around a little bit…none of us had a watch or anything on us, so to determine the time I took a picture and looked at the time stamp. “Let’s not waste a good picture,” they said.
…and ended up in the teen club, which at the time was empty. A couple hours later, this wouldn’t be the case - rather, it would be packed with 15, 16 and 17 year olds freak dancing. We were at karaoke, though.
Anyway, after Morgan, Daniel, Olesia and I went up to sing Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” these two went up to sing Crazytown’s “Butterfly.” They danced, and it was entertaining.
Keith (I think that’s his name?) singing Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply” - with Brian(?) and Michael as backups.
At one point, out of no where a guy imposes himself in our sitting circle and snuggles up to Daniel. I forgot his name, but we generally referred to him as “the drunk guy.” Daniel is too nice to bat him away, but it was clear that there was extreme discomfort.
After karaoke, we ventured out and Morgan, Andrew, Olesia and Daniel got distracted by the country music and started dancing. I sat and was going to take more pictures, but my little 32mb card filled up - I left the 256mb in my room.
We decided to get a couple pictures taken, then, and there was another Filipino guy telling us what to do. Once again, Drunk Guy steps into the picture, and I want nothing to do with it so I make to leave. The photographer was snapping photos, again, though, so there’s a candid photo of us with me leaving, Drunk Guy trying to get close to Daniel, etc. Papa Srinilta (Somporn!) bought that picture - why, I do not know, but I assure you, it exists. At least he didn’t buy the one where Drunk Guy had his mouth right next to Daniel’s ear.
Not much else occurred after that. Honestly, nothing comes to mind. I guess we just went to sleep.
Woke up early to watch the sunrise - plus, watching the waves helped stave off any nausea that might have otherwise been felt.
I didn’t take pictures, but we also watched the tugboats help us as we docked in Progresso, Mexico.
Immediately after that I showered and since most of the ship was empty (out exploring Progreso), the card room was empty. A few of us used that time to practice for the master classes.
The violas had a master class with Dr. Dubois from 12:00 until 1:30. Tiffany went first. Bartok’s viola concerto.
Frank, playing what little he had looked at. I can’t remember what he played.
Raymond. Hoffmeister viola concerto, I think?
Matt. Can’t remember what he played, either. I went after him, and failed miserably.
Kaitlyn went last.
Generally, Dr. Dubois just talked about posture and right-arm stuff with us, because that’s where we had the most trouble. Even though I had glaringly obvious intonation errors.
I had a late lunch, then went to the gym with Frank and Daniel, then I took a nap. When I woke up, it was time for dinner.
We dressed up again, that night - Frank had this baller white suit.
I had to take a picture. He looked very spruce.
We decided that sushi was in order after a light dinner, so there’s Daniel, getting sushi.
There was a cha cha class, so they went on stage to learn. I took about fifty pictures of the same thing. 100, actually, because Kevin asked me to take pictures with his camera, too. It was pretty fun to watch.
Morgan and Andrew were especially impressive - I’m pretty sure the fact that they both have past experience in dance attributes to their quick adaptiveness to the cha cha. They looked like pros. It was intimidating. But, damnit, I don’t have any proper pictures of them.
Immediately after the cha cha, we went to karaoke. We were too late to sign up for anything, so we just watched.
We wandered around the boat that night, also. It was nice - we went to the very top on the mini-golf course/track and just joked around, made fun of each other, talked about Daniel’s fan club (he met a guy on the beach who admired his karaoke performance the night before), apologized, talked about people, poured coffee, reminisced on days spent at Jasper, told stories. It was all good fun.
We went back down and the boat was having a late-night Mexican buffet that we were waiting for (”When are they going to start the Mexico food?”), but we weren’t particularly hungry (so what exactly were we waiting for?). Dianne and I got bored quickly and decided it was time for sleepy sleep.
Got up to watch the sunrise again, and the boat docking at Cozumel. We debarked, and went to this little shopping area and waited for our taxis to take us to the beach.
We all became fascinated/disgusted with the t-shirts. Naturally, we took pictures.
This is probably the most disturbing one.
A good picture opportunity, but of course they’re going to shoo us away. “Cost money!” if we wanted to the take the picture with people in it.
I sort of stole one, anyway. Kevin’s in the shark’s mouth, Raymond was getting out and Madi was disappointed that there would be no picture moment.
Waiting for our taxis in front of Starbucks. Those things are freaking everywhere.
Bored, we just started to randomly take pictures of each other.
ULTRAJEWS!
In the taxi, on the way to the beach. I wish I had kept my camera out longer, to take pictures while we were on the road.
Finally at the beach, Dianne and I handed our cameras to Katrina, who was gracious enough to take a picture of us.
A pseudo-mariachi band went around and started singing, and Dustin got turtle shells and joined them on “La Bamba.” He has excellent rhythm.
La playa.
Frank was doing a “photoshoot.” So, here’s Daniel and Raymond in their half naked-glory.
Then we found a sea cucumber!
It looked like shit. Covered in sand.
It moved, too.
Daniel pooped wildlife.
Documenting the sighting of a wild animal.
Raymond made a nice border in the sand, framing it perfectly for a picture.
You can’t see it in this picture, but my lunch had fucking monster teeth.
The rest of the time we spent on the beach was pretty fun. A lot of people went kayaking or banana boating or whatever. I’m a party pooper and no fun so I didn’t. Dianne was a good buddy, though - we tried to shop, and I was glad to have someone there so that we didn’t have to face the creepy Mexican vendors alone. I was really fascinated with the pipes and jewelry, but all I ended up getting from there was two scary-ass looking marionettes, and an awesome Mexican fútbol shirt for my brother.
We went back to the shopping thinger where all the shirts were because we had time before we re-boarded the shop, so I got a couple of souvenirs. I was kind of angry, though. Long story that I’m not going to explain.
Back on the ship, we had a couple hours before dinner. I was planning on taking a shower right away, but I got caught up watching The Nanny Diaries. I wasn’t really feeling like going to dinner, so I stuck around and took a shower, watched Naruto, then went to the sushi bar. Dianne had the same sentiment concerning dinner, though she had eaten at the buffet line - we both had sushi, anyway.
We wandered aimless around the boat, super bored. Dianne and I discussed the creepy all the creepy guys on the boat. At one point we saw Daniel on the floor below us, and we called him to get his attention. He would stop, look around for the source, and then keep going. So this went on for about three minutes. The confused look on his face was epic.
Papa Srinilta insisted on the three little Sriniltas getting a picture taken
Matt.
At the very front of the boat. Cool.
Daniel’s fire jutsu.
A choir group, singing on deck. I’m sure it was spiritually uplifting, but I didn’t stick around to find out.
In karaoke, a couple kids went up to sing “Brass Monkey.” That same boy went up the next night to sing “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
Jonathan and Daniel went up to sing “A Whole New World.” I felt a little embarrassed for them, but got over it. Some of the following performances were pretty damn terrible. I couldn’t stand it for long, so I got out and got something to drink. I went back in and it wasn’t long before Dianne and I decided that we were bored again, so went back out and scourged the boat for any source of entertainment. None was to be found, so we promptly called it a night.
Friday, I got up early again but it was too cloudy to see any sunrise. We had rehearsal at 8:45, and that went pretty badly. At some point during that morning, a few of us sat near the ice cream machine and watched people getting cones. For almost forty-five minutes, we critiqued the hell out of their technique and execution of their cones. This is because we had a pro amongst us, and he knew what he was talking about. Andrew consistently built some pretty damn immaculate cones. We discussed the qualities of a cone that we would rate 10 out of 10. I’m pretty sure we’re going to create some sort of scoring guide to the perfect ice cream cone. I left early; I had to get away.
Frank, Daniel and I attempted to play video games, but the prices were high and the machines were, for the most part, not functional. I don’t think I managed to spend all the money I turned into tokens, the thieving bastards, and I regret wasting my time in there.
The performance was around 4:00, and it was pretty goddamn terrible. We laughed about it, though, and according to many others, the band that performed after us was even worse. It was all good fun.
We dressed up one last time and went to dinner. I figured that I should have at least one steak before we leave the boat, and considering that that was the last night we’d be having dinner, I got the steak. The one pictured in the picture is not mine - I asked for mine medium well (why?). This one was Daniel’s bleeding cow (medium rare - those were the only two options). His was prettier. The food in the dining rooms were so damn pretty, I almost hesitated eating it. It tasted as good as it looked.
Right after dinner I spent about an hour packing - I felt really bad about destroying the nice order my mom had set up in my suitcase. But it had to be done, and I managed.
This is Daniel’s cone - it receives maybe a 7 or 8. The base is weak; you can see spaces in the cone; the top curl is sort of pathetic; it’s bit crooked - but it’s redeeming quality is that it looks clean and consistent.
Finally, Andrew sings the Turtles “So Happy Together.” Because he hadn’t done enough of that on the ship.
Saturday, I don’t wake up in time for the sunrise. We finalized our packing and waited to be called off the boat. Waiting in line for customs took about 90 minutes - according to the Surdakis, it was unusually long. I still hadn’t signed my passport.
So, this is the beginning of another 6 hour drive.
I slept through most of it, then we stopped in The Woodlands, Texas for lunch.
All in all, the entire experience was a lot of fun and I miss those damn gross waters, and maybe 80% of the people I hung out with.
I enjoyed it much more than I expected I would (granted, I had low expectations). For a little bit before, I was dreading it because I didn’t think there would be anyone on the boat I would really want to hang around, but I’m glad I was wrong. Feeling depressed and alone comes naturally to me, but during the entire week, I only felt shitty about 30% (as opposed to the estimated 55%) of the time.
I can only hope my next Spring Break is at least this much fun.
Tags: caribbean, carnival cruise line, Cozumel, cruise, ecstasy, gallery, Galveston, ivy camerata, photo, pictures, Progresso, spring break
ahh, awesome! thanks, brandon. i’ve heard final fantasy’s cover - I know that one’s good.