Cruise to Mexico: Day 5
Packing last night was a great plan, even though I had no intention of letting the porters take my luggage for me. I really just don’t trust people handling my belongings. Luckily for me, my paranoia led me to pack in a backpack and now, not only can I pack light, but I am very mobile. It is delightful. In any case, I left the curtains open again to rise with the sun so that I would have enough time to enjoy a small breakfast before braving the throngs in debarkation. The buffet was open and the food was good like every other day.
The halls during the debarkation process off of the ship
The debarkation process that they use here is spot on. I know that everybody wants to be the first ones off of the boat, but trust me on this one: trust the system. Carnival has been doing this for a long time and they have mastered both the boarding process and the debarkation process. Follow the guidelines of what they tell you in the paperwork and don’t try to outsmart it. Just be ready to go when and where you need to be. I am on Deck 7, which means that I am in the 8:15 AM debarkation slot and I had about a half-hour to kill between breakfast and getting off of the boat. Too easy.
Getting through customs and security was a breeze. Once they called Deck 7, it was 20 minutes from leaving the staging area on Deck 5 to being through border control and waiting to catch our ride back to the family’s house. They really do have this stuff figured out.
After waiting for about half an hour for the rest of the family to arrive, we finally found them and made our way to the parking garage to get out of there. No trip is complete without a little adventure, so it was only fitting that my mother’s car wouldn’t start.
After a couple of quotes from tow companies and lots of googling of an indicator light, we found a nice man who worked in the garage who helped us push the vehicle to a better spot for recovery. He thought for a second and suggested that perhaps the vehicle was out of gas. Of course, we thought of that and my mother insisted that there was gas in the car. After a few minutes of stepping through her memories of her arrival, she realized that there was a passenger with her in the vehicle that served as a bit of a distraction. Luckily for us, the gentlemen who helped us push the vehicle had already called one of his co-workers to bring a can of gas. What could it hurt, right? Put some gas in, see if it turns over, and if not, we’re no worse off than we were.
My mom conceded that she could have neglected to turn off the vehicle. Being a remote start, it turns out that this is possible. The gentleman who showed up with the gasoline told us that they have been having a lot of problems with people leaving their cars running lately. I’m not sure why or how that happens. Then again, I don’t drive a remote start, so I’m not judging. The gas got poured into the car and guess what? It turned right over. Mortified, my mother thanked the gentlemen profusely and even gave them a little tip for their troubles. The tow truck was called off and we made our way back to the house. Laughing about the whole ordeal.
With that, the cruise is over. I hope that you have enjoyed these days of vacationing with me and I hope to see you again on my website soon.
Thanks, y’all!
