Cruisin the Western Caribbean

Steph and I had talked about taking a trip together since December. First I tried to convince her to go to Iceland with me... but it just wasn't meant to be. THEN she asked me to go on a trip with her for her spring break (first week of April) which is when I went on my last cruise 5 years ago. Anyway, when someone says they want to take an awesome trip with me, it is music to my ears. Of course I said yes. We decided on a cruise to the Western Caribbean. I wondered how it would be on the cruise with just the two of us since my first experience was with 7 other girls, but we were an awesome duo. We had a blast and we were well known on the ship. Anyway, we had such an amazing trip I don't know where to start! I guess... let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...

Our adventure began Saturday night of March 31st. It had been a long busy day and Steph and I ended up meeting at the airport at 7pm to get on our flight at 8. We got on our plane, had a lay over in Arizona and stuffed our faces on our lay over in hopes for food coma which would help us sleep on our next flight to Miami. Unfortunately it didn't work. I was in the middle seat... next to a guy that was passing gas. Let's just say it was a long 4 hour flight and I didn't sleep at all. We got to Miami at 5:30 am. We couldn't check in at the airport for our cruise until 9:30. We were sleep deprived. We found some chairs by the Carnival check in and decided to try and take a nap until it opened. When we woke up we were surrounded by people... and they were looking at us funny.

We checked in, got on a bus that took us to the cruise and were on the ship, the Carnival Glory by noon where we could enjoy our first meal. Steph couldn't believe she could just go ask for food and then not have to pay for it. Cruise life is good. We toured around the ship, but mostly just stayed on the top deck and enjoyed the music, food and beautiful view of Miami (where I had never been before) and waited for everyone to board the ship before we took off at 4pm.

That night we got settled in and went to the diner and the opening show where we were introduced to the cruise director and assistant cruise director. We tried to be fun and social that night... but we were just too tired from the lack of sleep the night before and felt like bums so we went to bed early. The next day was a sea day. We actually went running on the track on the top of the ship. Had breakfast and then laid out for a couple of hours. Although I put on lots of sunblock, this is when we would get our big sunburns. First burn of the spring/summer. We then decided to check out different activities on the ship. Steph started her detective work in the Murder Mystery and I won my first medal in 70's name that tune.

We got all fancied up for the Captain's welcome aboard dinner and took pictures with the crew. Later that night we went to the 18+ club to go dancing. Steph and I love to dance. This is where we met our new friend Tyler. We knew he was from Utah because of the way he danced. We were right. He decided he wanted to meet up with us the next day.

Adventures in Cozumel, Mexico

We started our day swimming with dolphins. How awesome is that? I can't think of a better way to start the day. What an amazing and fun experience. Lunch was provided.

After playing with the dolphins, Tyler found us and we rented mopeds and spent the whole afternoon exploring the island. We went around the the whole island! It was so awesome to just explore. The beaches were picture perfect. We even found some Mayan ruins to check out. Small one.

Adventures in Roatan, Honduras 

Roatan is beautiful! I felt so at home there because it is so similar to the rest of Central America that I have traveled to. The rain forrest is beautiful. I never get tired of seeing it. We really didn't get enough time there... but while we were there, we went kayaking with a clear bottom kayak. Then we went snorkeling. The water was beautiful and clear and we saw lots of awesome fish. I could spend all day in the ocean observing sea life.

After playing in the water we went to play with parrots and monkey's and iguana's. I LOVE the tropics!

Adventures in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

This is the stop that we had the least amount of time... which made me sad because it was the place I was most excited for. I wanted to scuba dive here, but we only had enough time for our trip to the sting rays and that is about it. I will just have to go back some day. We did get to snorkel though which was great. That water is so clear that it is like you are in a pool. It is unreal. LOVED playing with the sting rays. So smooth and so friendly like playful puppy dogs!

Back to the ship.... After all of our stops, we had one more sea day to soak in the last bit of our cruise. Steph and I took advantage. We slept in, we ate, we laid out, won more music trivia games, danced and  dined. We loved being known by the crew and becoming their friends and when able, getting to hang out with them. Our favorites were Cruise Director Josh aka Big Sexy, Assistant Cruise Director Eversen aka The good Rev Doctor E and Dottie!

We loved eating at the diner every night. The food was so amazing. I had SO much sea food... every day. I was in heaven. I ate shark, alligator, frog legs, etc.. always fun to try new things when you have the opportunity. And although since it was just the two of us we always felt like we were crashing dates... we made some good friends. These two couples were the ones that we sat by the most during the week.

You know what the sign of a good vacation is? If you leave your vacation like this...

And come home to this... :)

Thanks Steph for an amazing vacation. Here's to more adventures to come!