I planned a surprise Thanksgiving cruise for our 15th wedding anniversary. Since we've been to other North American destinations twice, my wife had been hinting that she would like to sail a Western Caribbean itinerary. I chose Mariner of the Seas out of Galveston. Our 10 year-old daughter, a veteran of Royal Carribean's Adventure Ocean program, joined us.

PRE-CRUISE

We flew nonstop from San Francisco to Houston-Intercontinental on United. I had reserved a town car from EPT Limousine Service for the transfer. Our driver met us at baggage claim and took us to the Tremont House Hotel, one block from The Strand. The hotel is historic, elegant, and allegedly haunted. We were assigned a room with a double bed. Since I didn't want to return to the lobby to request another room, I chose to sleep on the floor. We met several other members of our M&M roll call for dinner at Yaga's, a local café and entertainment venue on The Strand. We slept well -â€" and no ghost sightings. Read more