10 Year Trip-Part 5

We stopped at Progreso, Mexico for the second full day on board. The Carnival Ecstasy docked for the day as well so here's a shot of the two ships side by side. The Pier was a five mile bus ride away from the city, on which our bus got a flat tire. When he just kept driving on the flat we realized why the buses look in the condition they do!



We took a bus tour when we got to the city. Not a super impressive city but shopping and bargaining in the market was fun. Below is one of the "nicest" homes in the city. They call it the "Wedding Cake House" because of it's tiers and latticework.



There were lots of places along the beach to stop for drinks or food so we stopped at this little beach side restaurant for a drink before heading back to the boat.




Back on the boat, every night the dining staff does a different song and dance about halfway through the meal. If they aren't enjoying themselves, they do a very good job faking it! The cruise staff was mostly from different countries, Indonesia, Philippines, Latvia, Ireland, England. We asked our steward a little about his role on the ship and life back home. It seems that most of the workers sign on for 6-9 month commitments, leaving their family at home. Much like the military service, and although they don't get paid much by American standards, their earnings are often enough to care for their entire extended family back home.



Every night there was plenty of entertainment to choose from: musicians, comedians, magicians, dancers, etc... The Theatre shown below was where most of the main events happened. It was a beautiful three story theatre complete with a super swanky chandelier. We certainly didn't feel like we were on a boat when we were in this room. We snuck in at one point to snap the picture below and were quickly told to leave--apparently they were practicing the magic tricks for that night's entertainment so we were seeing too much of the illusion! Ooops!



And of course, as always, waiting for us that night...