I know most people don’t just go on cruises; however, I say, if you have the money, do it! I’ve only been on one cruise, so I don’t have a different line to base my opinion off of, but the Carnival Cruise line was very good. They had a lot of live shows, comedy clubs, a casino (for those old enough) and all-you-can-eat food and ice cream. Also, if you choose to port (go ashore), you can visit different places and go on excursions around the port.

The first day is all about boarding and making sure you have all the right paperwork. My family used the “faster to fun” option, which is paying $55 extra to basically skip waiting in line for anything. We were the first on and off, and I’m super thankful for that because the lines were very long. After we boarded, we had time to explore the boat and get ready for dinner. Every night, we had dinner at 6, but you got to pick your times whenever you booked. The dining staff and meals were all amazing: every night the staff entertained us in a different way.They either sang, danced or told stories. After we left port and headed toward our first stop at Cozumel, we had a whole day just on the boat. There were a lot of things to do.You could shop, go to shows, swim in the pool or party on the decks. They had a huge Lido deck full of chairs, pools and hot tubs. The DJ on the deck was really cool and played a variety of songs. At night there were several bars and clubs open. You could enjoy live music or go to the comedy club. The singers were very good, and the comedians were extremely funny.

We stopped at two ports, Cozumel and Progresso. There you had the option of staying on the boat, going to the beach or purchasing an excursion. At Cozumel, my brother, dad and I went on a zip line excursion, which lasted about an hour, and then we hit all the shops. There were a lot of different things at the shops in Mexico. When we ported in Progresso, we went to a beach resort, and there we had the option of going on the beach or staying in the pool. There were games going on in the pool, lots of food and drinks and beach volleyball.

We got back on the boat, and that night and whole next day we headed back toward Galveston, Texas. During the return trip, our ship had a man go overboard, so the whole crew worked for 9-12 hours to recover his body. They cancelled shows and shut down a lot of the outside clubs to make sure everyone was working to find his body. Unfortunately, they found his body around 9 Wednesday morning. He was recovered by the Mexican Coast Guard and taken back to be identified and transported to the United States. Shows restarted Wednesday, and we were off the boat Thursday back at the United States.