The weekend before last was Richard's birthday. And since it was a "big" one this year we decided that he needed to celebrate it in style. We decided to take advantage of the fact that there is a cruise terminal in Galveston and we could easily do a long weekend away. So we booked a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. Neither Richard nor I had ever been to Mexico so we were both looking forward to it. We sailed on the Carnival Ecstasy.

I had sailed Carnival before but not a ship this small. Even so, it was large enough to accommodate about what seemed like half of Texas trying to get away for the weekend. The ship had all your basic cruise ship attributes, such as the grand atrium.

More important, it had several bars serving nice fruity drinks!

During the cruise they also offered a wine tasting event which we attended (of course!) It provided several different types of wines with several different cheeses and fruit for sampling together. Yum!

As it was only a short cruise, we only had one stop: Cozumel! The water there was absolutely breathtaking. I can see why people want to snorkel there. Heck, you don't even need to be IN the water to see the fish:

The tour I wanted (touring the Mayan ruins in Tulum) was not offered on this sailing, so we opted for a tour of the island instead. We were shown the small Mayan ruin site of El Cedal but it didn't amount to much more than some rocks.

The tour took us on a circle of the island. We saw how the "other half" lives on the island. The main port of San Miguel is where the ships dock. On the opposite side of the island there is no electricity, running water or cell phone service. It was heaven! Especially when we stopped along the beach of El Mirador with it's limestone formations on the beach. Beautiful!

It was so peaceful and relaxing. We didn't want to leave. Unfortunately we had no other way back home so we had to get back to the ship.

We were docked next to the Carnival Fantasy in port. That's the ship that goes out for for 2 days longer and visits Jamaica. Next time!!! But even though it was a very short visit, we really hated leaving Cozumel.

So on the way back to Texas we had a chance to sit back, soak up some sun and allow ourselves to be pampered for just a little bit longer.

Our last night on board we made a special purchase just for Phoebe. It's the Carnival mascot "Funship Freddie."

So now we're back to the daily grind with just photos to remind us of our getaway.

Now we need to plan what we're going to do for MY birthday!