HulsCaMoz Cruisers

(September 10-11th, 2021)

It sounds like Hulscamoz would be a pretty exotic destination, but it really is just a combination of Hulse, Cazier, and Moses. We finally got all of us on a cruise. We sure missed the Moses' on our last cruise in 2019. And naturally, nothing was happening in 2020, so we got our cruise in just under the deadline to use up our cruise credit in 2021. There were a few things different from the last cruise:

1) We had the Moses'. This was the first cruise we have done with three couples.
2) Jonny had a beard again. Looking back at pictures, it is super weird to see him with a bald face.
3) No braces!! I can't even tell you how nice it was not to worry about my teeth every time I ate something.

Please do not think this cruise was less fun because it took me a year to put it on the blog. On the contrary, there are so many great memories and hidden gems of pictures in store for you. Let's get started right away.

Every cruise starts at home, with packing and lots of decisions of what to bring. But soon enough you are on the road and hoping you didn't forget anything important.

All of our previous cruises have left from Miami, but this one was leaving from Houston. It was still masking up at the airport, which is less fun, but doable. It's not a terribly long flight and soon enough we touched down in the great state of Texas.

We had a Tahoe and an Airbnb scheduled. We found the car okay, and even managed to Tetris all our luggage inside, but there was only one issue...the car stunk. It smelled really gross. As if something spoiled inside, a smoker had spent the better part of a pack in there and then someone tried to cover it with an air freshener. Whew. It was fragrant. So we drove with the windows down as much as possible so we could breathe.

We found our lodging with little difficulty. It was a cute house with plenty of rooms and beds. (Don't worry, we didn't make the Hulse's sleep on the bunk beds.) We ordered some dinner in and played some games and then off to bed since it was going to be a long day tomorrow.

Our Airbnb was actually right next to the gulf, so we took a little walk in the morning to check out the surroundings. I sure love cruising with Tyler. He's the best buddy to have around.

Then we drove to the port. Look, you can see our cruise ship. We went with Carnival again because the Moses' still had the credit from the trip they didn't take. Carnival is a fun cruise line, but I want to go on Royal Carribbean again. The food was so good.

The check-in process is always a bit tedious. Tyler dropped us off and then he and Jonny drove the vehicle over to a long term parking lot and walked back. But they had time because it takes forever to get through the line. It was long enough that I got tired and Tyler was kind enough to take my backpack for me.

There was some mixups with our Covid tests or with our vaccination records so we had to go to a special area for the bad kids who didn't fill out their paperwork correctly. I was worried they would make us pay to get another test, but in the end, it was figured out and we were returned to the line. We did lose our group and had to catch up, but they couldn't go far. 

Granted, it is a HUGE ship, but we found them after mustering and all that fun stuff you have to do the first day. We did go around to try and figure out where everything was. The sky ride was open (I feel like it was broken on the last cruise) but you had to have closed toe shoes. Oddly, none of the girls had those, or at least not with us since we didn't have access to our luggage. But Beth and I didn't even bring closed toe shoes. Note to self, bring a pair. We ended up buying some water shoes on board and those worked great. But the boys got to go right away.

We made sure to find the library. That is the best place to hang out and play games, although they ended up using it for an art display for much of the cruise and we had to make do in other locations. 

We had our first meal in the dining room we were assigned to and never ate there again. It's wasn't about the food, it was about convenience of location. The other room was just closer...and nicer.

And we had a little elephant friend in our room. I do love the towel animals they make every day.

We left port that afternoon, but we were pretty far out from our first destination, so we got a couple days at sea. Stay tuned for our Sea Adventures.