In December of 2004, Carol and I visited my grandparents in Florida. We had a wonderful visit, and my grandparents mentioned that they were going on a cruise the following year, in November, and invited us along. We thought about it for a while, and then I developed a devious scheme - surprise them. So I apologized and came up with excuses to not be able to make it, while in the background, unbeknownst (obviously) to them, we were booking, paying and planning our trip - on the same cruise.

Fast forward to November 27th, 2005. We (Carol and I) flew to Tampa, FL, took a taxi to the seaport, and got on the Carnival Miracle. We cautiously explored the boat for several hours, then prepared for dinner (and the surprise). We followed my family (grandparents as well as aunt Joyce and uncle John) to the table, with them not knowing we were behind them. Once they were seated, I came up behind my grandmother and gave her a kiss on the neck, and said surprise. About 20 minutes later she quit crying. It was wonderful to be able to surprise them this way (Joyce and John were already in on the secret).

Over the next week we made stops at Grand Cayman (visited Hell, the Turtle Farm as well as the Tortuga Rum shop), Cozumel (lots and lots of Hurricane Wilma damage, but they're rebuilding quickly), Belize (we went to the Altun Ha Mayan ruins where I surprised even Carol (click here for some pictures)), and Costa Maya (laid on a white sand beach for a while, and went snorkeling. We then hit the open bar!!!).

Anyway, it was a blast, and we took tons of pictures and video. Some day I'll get around to making them available. Talks are already in the works for another cruise in 2007 - Alaska. We'll see how things go for that one.