Onboard events were a blast. Some standouts on the first two days were the wine tasting, cocktail sampling (8 drinks in an hour and a half. Wow.), and the art auctions which featured several Rembrandts, a Picasso, and a Dali, among others.
On Halloween, the ship had a costume contest with a ton of fantastic entries. My personal favorites were an older gentleman as a surprising convincing Dame Edna, a freaky skull faced jester, and a gorgeous gal dressed as "Uncle Sam" (think less beard and more leg). Afterwards, there was a Monster Mash dance party up in the Viking Crown where I had a few drinks and danced until some time after 2 in the morning.
Next day, we docked in Ochos Rios, Jamaica. Jamaica was sunny and warm. (A bit too sunny, as I would find out later.) We explored Dunn's falls, the beach and did a scuba dive (my first). Sunburned and a bit tipsy from the rum punch served after the dive, we returned to the ship. That night was an early one for me, as I was rather worn out.
Our next stop was Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman was our earliest excursion and we had to catch our ferry to the island at 7:45 am. *Yawn* Fortunately, the scuba dive was excellent. The first site was a coral reef overflowing with colorful sea life. I even managed to see a few squid! We then went to a wreck, but it paled in comparison to the reef. Fortunately, the dive team let us stay long at the reef, so we didn't end up staying too long at the wreck. After diving, we headed over to Paradise where I enjoyed a green sea turtle burger (turtles are a big farm industry there, apparently) and a rum runner. I also sampled a bit of the parent's fried conch. We spent the rest of the day hitting the island's shops and sights. One thing to note about Grand Cayman- everything was expensive since it had to be shipped in. But apparently, it wasn't slowing the locals down. There were many high-end cars and I saw a Ferrari, a number of BMWs and Mercedes, and a special edition Cayman Porsche. After our excursion, it was back to the ship where we had a nice lobster dinner!
Cozumel was our final stop. We spent the morning downtown browsing shops before our afternoon dive. I picked up some goodies and then it was off to dive. The first dive was pretty good, with plenty of fish. Unfortunately, this is where the only bad part of the trip occurred. At the end of the first dive, I descended a bit to get under some people who were blocking the way. At that point, I heard a loud pop in my right ear and felt extreme pain. Returning to the ship, I felt a bit disorientated and had trouble hearing. Thinking my ear had probably just flooded with seawater, we pent some diver's drops in. Big mistake. For those of you unfamiliar, diver's drops are primarily just alcohol. And it burned. Bad. So bad, I wanted to slam my head against the steel hull of the dive ship.
I sat out the next dive and downed margaritas. The pain lessened. We then disembarked on Playa Mia where we enjoyed a Mexican buffet lunch and lounged on the beach. The weather was cloudy and getting cool, so I just chilled with more margaritas. Eventually, it started to rain, so we headed back to the boat. The rains came down pretty hard, but the margaritas and music on the boat kept us from being too concerned.
Back on the ship, I was resting off my buzz and beginning to worry about my ear. Being a total idiot, I tried the drops again. I should have just ran a red hot poker in there. It was too much. My family, seeing me in excruciating pain, reminded me about the onboard doctor. I went and two doctors took a look. Turns out my tympanic membrane (IE ear drum) had been punctured by the pressure. Apparently, the alcohol burning irritated the tissues, which added pressure pains to the burning pains, hence the extreme "discomfort". He gave me antibiotics to prevent infection and some Benadryl to reduce the swelling. Because of the drugs, no more alcohol. Oh well.
The remaining voyage was fun. Saw some shows, got some free art, and packed. I was sorry to see the voyage end, but it was a heck of a lot of fun and I would definitely do it again. Well, except maybe the whole ruptured ear drum part.....
