Cruising - Key West and Mexico

We are back from our cruise and it was wonderful! The weather was great and the ship was nice. Here is a picture of our ship.



On Monday, February 23, we left Lake Placid around 8:15 a.m., after we dropped Brandy at her new home for the week - The Dawg House. She was a little nervous at first but seem to settle in before we left. They had nice dog runs - indoor/outdoor ones so she could go out anytime she wanted.

We drove over to Fort Lauderdale to pick up our friends, Dora and Marlin, who flew down on Sunday afternoon, and then headed to Miami to the ship. We arrived at Miami and got on the ship around 2:00 p.m. This was the first time we have driven to the ship and parked at the port and it seem to work out great. The checking-in lines were not as long as when you arrive with a lot of people who all fly and ride the same bus from the airport. The ship departed Miami around 4:30 p.m. Here are a few pictures as we were pulling out of the port:

Taken from the back of the ship:

Here is a picture of our dream house:



This is going out of Miami port:

Here is a beach on the way out of port:

On Tuesday, we arrived at Key West, so we got off the ship and headed out to explore this island. This was the first time we had been there so we wanted to see as much as we could in the few hours we were scheduled. Here are a few pictures:

Here is Jack at the end of the road in Key West:




Here we are in front of the Hog's Breath Saloon. For those who don't know, Clint Eastwood, started these saloons. I'm not sure if he still owns them or not.

Dora and Marlin in front of the Hog's Breath:

Hemmingways' House:

On Wednesday, we arrived at Cozumel, Mexico. We had been here a couple other times but our friends had not been here before. An hurricane had hit this island in 2005, but they have rebuilt it, and it is much better than it was before. Of course, it is very commercialized but I guess that is how they make their money from the tourists. Everything is very colorful and bright. Here are a few pictures:

On Thursday, we were at sea. We scouted out the ship and enjoyed the activities on board. Of course, we enjoyed all the food venues. Overall, we had a wonderful time. We are so glad our friends came and went with us. It always makes it more fun if you have someone to share it with. Dora was having back problems but I think she enjoyed the cruise and was a real trooper with all the outings we did.

Here is a picture of our tower "character" we had one night. We had a different one each night.

Honestly, we were not sure about this ship because Jack had read some reviews and they were not the most favorable. But you know some people cannot be pleased no matter what and I think that must have been the case. This ship had been completed renovated in 2006 and it was so bright and pretty that it looked like a new one. The service was very nice. So we had no complaints at all. Had a great time.

We docked on Friday morning; took Dora and Marlin back to the airport and dropped them off; headed back to Lake Placid to pick up Brandy. She was excited to see us. She looked good as we had her groomed at the Dawg House.

Yesterday the week caught up with us and we just laid around and rested most of the day.