Taking an ocean cruise is like being rich for seven days.

In December, we booked passage on Carnival’s Vista and set sail out of Galveston, Texas, with destinations in Honduras, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. We took our two sons and daughter-in-law. Our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter couldn’t join us due to his starting a new job.

This was the same Christmas cruise we took in 2016 except it was on a different ship.

The Carnival Vista is the first ship in the Vista-class and it is classy.

We aren’t rich. We have to publish 51 weekly issues of the Tulsa Beacon a year to maintain our legal status, so we get only one full week of vacation each year and that is around Christmas and New Year’s Day. We had a good year in 2018 and we decided to book a cruise with the family as a reward for a year’s worth of work and to get some much-needed relaxation.

With our cruise, we saved money because all five of us have cruised before. We don’t book staterooms with balconies and we don’t pay for too many extras.

And you pay for almost everything in advance. The tickets include all meals and entertainment on board. You can upgrade to fancier meals but the dinners are so tasty that we have never done that. You pay for alcoholic drinks but we stick to coffee and water for the most part. We even pre-pay the tips for the wait staff and the housekeeping crew.

If we went on a normal trip, we would spend an hour deciding where to go to eat and then dinner would cost a lot more than budgeted. On a cruise, there is 24-hour room service and we all go together to the main dining room.

We can’t do a “staycation” because if we stay in Tulsa, we tend to do work. We really can’t do anything when we are at sea in the Western Caribbean and that’s a good thing.

The Vista has an I-MAX Theater onboard. It can carry almost 4,000 passengers and almost 1,500 crewmembers. The SkyRide is a unique twin-track suspended bike course that lets you pedal around the top of the ship.

No one goes hungry on a cruise ship. One of my favorite places is Guy’s Burger Joint, which serves some of the best burgers I have ever had. And it’s open all day long. The pizza shop is open 24 hours a day. It’s free, but for $5 you can get a pizza delivered anywhere – including the I-MAX – on the ship. I didn’t get one because the pizza is ordinary and there was so much food elsewhere.

People always ask me if I get seasick on a cruise. These ships are gigantic. They are like floating hotels. There was only one day when we felt like you could feel the ship move.

The Vista is a beautiful ship. Its maiden voyage was on May 1, 2016, from Trieste, Italy.  Miami, Florida, initially was her homeport but the Vista now sails out of Galveston. Her two itineraries are: 1. Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Montego Bay, Jamaica; 2.  Cozumel, Belize and Roatan (Mahogany Bay, Honduras). We were on the latter route.

The Mahogany Bay cruise port is owned by Carnival. We took an excursion that took us to an animal park with sloths, parrots, macaws and other peculiar animals. The sloths were our favorites. We had a chance to hold the slow creatures, most of whom were rescued from owners who didn’t wish to keep them anymore. They are fascinating animals.

What happened to the Mayans? No one knows for sure but they created an impressive civilization, including some archeological sites in Belize (formerly British Honduras).

We took a bus inland and then had a boat ride to Lamanai (which means “submerged crocodile”) – one of the largest Maya ceremonial centers. Lamanai has more than 700 mapped structures. Some of us climbed the High Temple of Lamanai and we saw the Jaguar Temple and the Mask Temple.

We have been to Cozumel on several cruises and we didn’t book an excursion.

This was a Christmas cruise and on Christmas morning, there was a meaningful service in the main theater. Hundreds of passengers sang Christmas hymns and crew members read passages of Scripture about the birth of Jesus Christ while they stood in front of a lighted 10-foot high cross. It was special. I hate not being at home for Christmas but this was the next best thing.

An ocean cruise is not for everyone. It is relatively expensive, although if you have a flexible schedule, you can get a great deal. Some people get seasick. Some kids might get bored with the scarcity of electronics for passengers. Others might be offended by the onboard casino, the amount of alcohol served or they might be scared of leaving the United States for foreign lands.

Our family likes to cruise. We have fun. We feel safe. We get great service and value from Carnival Cruises.

A cruise to Alaska is on our “bucket list.” And it is always more fun to go with family and friends.