This 4-day cruise to Cozumel was a girls getaway for me and my best friend from High School to celebrate our fiftieth birthdays. It was my friend's first cruise, my twelfth, but first time on Carnival.

My friend, who we will call Bonny since that's her name, drove down from Ft. Worth the night before, staying at the Holiday Inn near Hobby Airport in Houston. I had planned on flying down the day before the cruise, also staying at the same Holiday Inn. I had paid $65 on Hotwire (That included all taxes & fees), while Bonny had paid more that $100 by booking directly with the hotel. It really pays to shop around.

However, Mother Nature had other plans in mind. Due to record snows in Atlanta, my flight the day before our cruise was cancelled. I was lucky that I was able to reschedule a 6 AM flight the following day; yes I had to fly from airport that was twice the distance from my preferred airport, but felt lucky to be able to get out at all. I thought that I had lost my prepaid room that I had booked through Hotwire, but when I called to explain how my flight was cancelled due to the major snowstorm that had hit the East Coast all I had to do was provided my flight confirmation number and much to my surprise I got a full refund on my non-refundable room (I was hoping just for a credit!). Anyway, I got to Houston at 10 AM, Bonny & her husband picked me up and it was off to Galveston. Read more