So, before Chris left for his last deployment, we decided that we needed a trip for the two us when he got home. And this time it was going to be a cruise - dum, dum! Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before, so we didn't quite know what to expect. But we had heard a lot of good things about it, so we jumped in, ready for an adventure. And this was our experience . . .
When we first boarded the cruise liner, it seemed that the masses flocked to three main areas - the casino, the bar, and the pool, which seemed to pretty much be a singles scene where everybody was "hanging out". And I mean that figuratively and literally. We never saw so much skin in a week. And it wasn't pretty people, let me tell ya. So anyway, as I was watched this unfold I was thinking to myself, "what is there for Chris and I to do in this 'big and spacious building', er, um, I mean, boat?!?"
Luckily, as we toured the boat and looked beyond the obvious, we did find a lot of fun things to do on board. I had a great time teaching Chris how to play shuffleboard one night. The fact that the boat surface was curved and that boat was swaying with the waves made this especially entertaining. Chris rocked the rock climbing wall (hee, hee) and said he had an amazing view from the top. There was also some great live entertainment and an outdoor movie that we enjoyed.
I was hoping that on the cruise the stars would be amazing - being out in the middle of the ocean and all. But as the ship was it's own mini city, we couldn't really see much. However, we did catch a few awesome sunsets.
The food was great. It was fun having a "fine dining" experience every night, although I didn't much like having to shower and get ready right before dinner each night and I'm glad that most of our nights were deemed "casual", otherwise I would have been highly under-dressed. And a funny story about the food. They had an ice cream machine where you could get an ice cream cone whenever you wanted. I had been watching people get these things for a couple days before I finally decided that I wanted one. Chris and I went up on deck to watch the ocean and enjoy our cones - What a disaster! The ice cream was melting faster than I could eat it (on both ends of the cone) and the wind from the sea was blowing drips all over my face, arm, clothes and sun deck. I ended up looking like I'd been splashing around in the mud. Ah, Geez. And, as a funny sidenote, to try and counteract all the food we consumed on the trip, Chris had recently bought a bracelet that kept track of how many steps he took in a day. So we decided to try and get 10,000 steps everyday by
never taking the elevator. Whether it helped us out or not, it was extremely satisfying to think of how many flights of stairs we climbed every day. :)
(Oh, and we can't not forget the animal shaped towels in our rooms - those were a hit!)
But I have to say that, as much fun as we had on the boat, Chris and my favorite thing about the cruise wasn't the cruise itself, but rather the places we visited and the on-shore excursions. The cruise was just a fun way to get there. :)
Our first stop was Roatan, Honduras. We did some shopping and went on a sailing cruise that included snorkeling. Chris and I had a great time snorkeling - we were the first in the water and the last out. There were some neat fish and jelly fish to see and Chris did some diving down to get a closer look.
Next it was on to Cozumel, Mexico. This place and the people totally brought back memories from when I lived in Mexico as a child. It made me want to go back and visit there again for a longer time.
In Cozumel Chris and I did an X-rails buggy excursion up to a cavern filled with water. We were able to cliff jump into the water through the skylight and there were a bunch of bats in the cave off to the right (see pictures below.) It was a very beautiful spot.
So, after a week of yummy food, outdoor adventures, buying souvenirs, and being just plain lazy, we came back to good ol' Florida. Would we go on a cruise again? Yeah, probably. Chris and I thought it would be fun to do with the kids when they got a little older, with another family, or a few couples. All in all, our first cruise was a success! I do have to say though, that when we got back to Fort Lauderdale, we were able to do a session in the temple - the same temple that we were able to participate in the dedication of a few weeks prior. And that had to be one of the highlights of the trip. After being on a cruise for a week in total vacation mode, going to the temple felt like "coming home".
2 comments:
Spencer and I would have to agree with you on the cruise. For our honeymoon, our cruise was fun but not our favorite. We loved getting off the boat, and thought it would be more fun with other people. But that is fun to say you have been on a cruise.
Count us in on cruising with you guys. We have been on a couple, and going with other people is totally the way to go. We did our European cruise with two other couples and it was so fun. We would meet up for dinner and talk about all the different places we had gone and we did a couple of shore excursions as a group which was fun too. The guys were able to go play board games for hours while the girls sat on deck soaking up some vitamin D and reading on sea days. It was way more fun than our first Caribbean cruise we went on by ourselves.
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