Jan 2004 Cozumel & Progresso, Mexico Cruise

Our first cruise.  Debbie and I, Jane Sammons ( mother's sister ) Althea ( my mother ) and my sister Karen along with Debbie's parents (Peggy & Jerome ) and Debbie's brother Jay and his wife Carrie enjoyed a 5 day western Caribbean cruise on Carnival out of the port of New Orleans. We didn't know what to wear as clothing and what to expect so we packed 6 times too much and weighed ourselves down with everything we could think of.  A mistake - always travel lite - shorts, simple shirts, shoes, hat, shades, cell phone, bottle of water and $$.  We attended the formal evenings and declared that we would never do that again - waiters and food were acceptable but it wasn't our thing to enjoy.  We preferred casual dining without interruptions from any one.  Cozumel was so commercialized it was like shopping in a beach town on the Florida coast.  Restaurants are few and don't drink the water - always order a closed container of something to drink - even the ice may be bad.  Cozumel has any where from 3 to 7 cruise ships docked each day - that's 9000 to 21000 tourists jammed into a small city less that the size of Gadsden trying to eat, ship, taxi, and walk the streets shopping - it's mad, simply mad.  Merida is capital city of the Yucatan west of Cancun about 190 miles.  It is laid back and not commercialized since it is 25 miles inland from Progresso ( our port and boat dock location ) Debbie and I did a taxi tour for the day in Merida and found it enjoyable and safe.  We even shopped a Mexican Wal-Mart and found the prices somewhat the same to cheaper as is in the US.  Merida is a great historical town with many beautiful historical sites and buildings. I would visit Merida again but I'm not interested in Cozumel again.  Sunsets at sea are breath taking - see pic above.