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webpage last updated by James Keith Montz on 23-Aug-2010

French Quarter New Orleans
Caribbean Cruise - Carnival Triumph - Progresso and Cozumel
August 15 - 21, 2010
 

This was a great cruise vacation.  We and two other families along with multiple guests for a total of 18 people.  In our group, we had Johnna, Keith, Derek, Taylor, Megan Montz and guests Masha Tolkacheva, Angel and Benji Romero and Frank Than.  The Maldonado family had Mattia, Eddy, Anthony, Thomas, Charlie and Anthony's girlfriend Brittany Birkenfeld.   The Calvery family had Vera, Joe and Bree.

On Sunday morning we arrived at the St Marie Hotel inside the French Quarter.  For the afternoon we explored the Quarter and rode one of the Trolleys from the Quarter to the end of the line and back again.  At night we walked a few of the streets and had a nice dinner at the Oceana Restaurant.

During the cruise we all got very accustomed to the easy life of being served and having fun almost at our beacon call.  While this was the hottest part of the year we all managed just fine.

Sunday, August 15 - French Quarter

1 Part of the group in front of St Marie Hotel where we all stayed
2 Part of the group walking.
3 Montz and Maldonado group minus Mattia and Keith
4 In front of the famous Cafe Du Monde
5 Montz group in front of the St Louis Cathedral
6 Charlie, Anthony and Brittany in front of St Louis Cathedral
7 All three groups across from the Cafe Du Monde
8 Performance Artist.  There were many of them around Jackson Square
9 Derek, Benji, Brittany, Anthony and Charlie in square in front of Cathedral
10 Inside St Louis Cathedral
11 Mattia, Brittany and Charlie next to Silver Man (artist sitting behind in red TShirt)
12 Part of Montz group riding the Trolly.  Masha hiding behind Angel.  : )
13 Charlie, Eddy, Thomas, Anthony and Brittany on Trolley
14 Bree, Vera and Joe Calvery on Trolley
15 Derek and Benji on Trolley
16 Charlie and Thomas in front of Oceana Restaurant where we ate dinner.

Monday and Tuesday, August 16/17 - Arrival on Ship and Fun day at sea

1 View of the beautiful water from the back of the ship
2 View of the front top deck with water slide and four hot tubs
3 Keith, Brittany, Anthony, Ed and Charlie in one of the hot tubs - evening.
4 View of the sunset from inside the cabins.

Wednesday, August 18 - Progresso
We walked in the Market to buy tickets to Dzibilchaltun.  Afterwards some of us shopped in the Market.

1 Carnival Triumph docked next to Carnival Ecstasy from Houston
2 View of beach coming off of dock
3 Dzibilchaltun Mayan Ruins entrance
4 Montz group at the ruins
5 Maldonado family along with Keith and Joe on left in front of Temple of the Dolls.  Frank coming out of the house structure
6 Maldonado group at the Temple of the Dolls
7 Montz group and Bree inside the Temple of the Dolls
8 Masha looking out towards the other end of the ruins.
9 The view looking down from the Temple of the Dolls to sacbe and walkway
10 Our tour group resting in the shade of the plaza and amphitheater.
11 Masha, Thomas, Brittany and Charlie at the Cenote Xlakah (fresh water spring)
12 Frank Than and Charlie Maldonado on top of the pyramid next to the Cenote
13 Derek, Thomas, Eddy, Charlie, Benji and Joe on top of the pyramid
14 Masha, Derek and Benji on top of the same pyramid next to the Cenote
15 Megan on the same pyramid with nice view of Cenote
16 Keith standing on the amphitheater wall with unexcavated pyramid in background.
17 Masha standing on the amphitheater wall with unexcavated pyramid in background.
18 View into the amphitheater from the place Keith was standing on #16.
19 Another view from the same location looking at the Open Chapel and pyramid
20 The Open Chapel front view
21 View of the Port from our docked ship at end of the day.  5 miles to beach.

Thursday, August 19 - Cozumel
We rented four jeep four wheel drive jeeps where we started with a swim at a free beach which was part of Senior Frogs.  Next we drove around the entire island, stopping at once place to swim again and others to take photos.

1 Brittany, Derek, Benji, Angel, Eddy, Bree, Anthony and Joe.
2 Masha, Keith, Bree and Johnna walking out of the water.
3 Megan, Derek, Taylor, Angel and Benji in the shallows
4 Masha standing in the beautiful water.
5 Thomas having fun with the tame Parrot Birds
6 Anthony, Brittany, Charlie and others in the background with our jeeps
7 View of the road on the back side of the island
8 Same location as #7 where we made a nice stop to do some more swimming.
9 View of the beautiful water inlet near a rocky shore
10 Another beautiful view of the water with some small waves on a sandy beach.
11 Megan walking in between the rocks at one of the beaches.
12 Charlie and Keith on the one back side beaches

Friday, August 20 - Fun day at sea
We seemed to be eating every couple of hours, taking naps and lounging on the ship totally relaxing.

1 Anthony, Charlie, Brittany and Thomas playing miniature golf on the ship
2 One of our two tables with our two waiters, Alberto and =====.
3 The second of our two tables.
4 Keith sleeping on the one of the side decks. 
5 View of the side of the ship as we made our way back to New Orleans

Saturday - Drive home.