Honeymoon Caribbean Cruise

First of all, red-eye flights suck. At least James got some sleep. In between feeling like my legs were going to fall off and various cricks in my neck, I got maybe an hour of sleep through our entire journey from SLC to Atlanta to Miami. No bueno.

Arriving in Miami was a relief. Arriving at the Port of Miami and seeing our enormous cruise ship was even better.

But then the waiting began. We arrived in Miami at about 9am, and had intended to grab some breakfast at the airport before heading over, but that didn't happen. So as we sat waiting at the docking area, I was getting hungrier and hungrier, crankier and crankier. (Not doing so well going without food these days.) It was about 1:30pm or so before they started boarding (about 2 hours late). Fortunately boarding didn't take too long. After stopping by our stateroom, our first mission was to find the buffet!

Let me make first mention here of the food. If you know me and James, you know that we like to eat. I've always said that one of the reasons I do Taekwondo is so that I can eat whatever I want. :) The food was one of the top things both of us were looking forward to on the cruise. And we were not disappointed!

There's pretty much food whenever you want it. Breakfast options include a breakfast buffet or room service delivered to your stateroom. Lunch is the buffet, which has everything from Chinese to  burgers to Mexican to fish & chips to carved meats, plus a dessert buffet and an endless ice cream machine that's open 24/7. Dinner we had every night in the formal dining room, and frankly, it was one of the highlights of every day.

Day 1, after settling in (and the mandatory awful safety briefing) we went topside to bid farewell to Miami. It was pretty cool, watching the ocean open up in front of us. Of course, we then took a nap in a comfy deck lounge.

That evening, we enjoyed a couple of shows onboard, including a really fun magician/comedian. Ask me sometime about the Grapefruit Guy. Hilarious.

Day 2 was one of my favorites. We visited our first island: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. It was seriously the most paradisaical place I have ever been. When you see a movie with those white sand beaches, palm trees, and turquoise water, they could've been at Half Moon Cay.

Day 3 was a Sea Day, which were definitely not my favorite parts of the cruise. While we found some entertainment aboard (comedy shows, swimming, etc) we also just spent time reading and watching movies in our cabin. The highlight of the day was Elegant Evening, where everyone dressed up for dinner, and they served one of my favorite meals of the trip: Lobster!

Day 4 was our day in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. It was overcast most of the day, though fortunately we did not get rained on. We started out by walking into downtown St. Thomas, did some souvenir shopping at a local bazaar, then had lunch at a Jamaican restaurant. Then it was time to walk back for our excursion.

We boarded a sailboat with about 15 other people, and set sail for a private island called Buck Island, which was about an hour's sail from St. Thomas. There, we snorkeled in the bay with sea turtles. It was so amazing! I wish we could've gotten pictures of the turtles, they were so close to us! We also swam through a coral reef, and the fish were incredible, I loved seeing all the different varieties. But the sea turtles were absolutely the best part.

Day 5 we spent in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There we enjoyed a 2-hour private walking tour of Old San Juan. (It was truly private--the tour was me, James and Victor, our local guide.) It was fantastic. I loved San Juan--the statues, the architecture, the history, the ambiance. After our tour, we had lunch in San Juan and did a little shopping before heading back to the Liberty.

Day 6 we visited Grand Turk Island, of Turks & Caicos. It was another beach day, which we enjoyed. If I'm being honest, though, I much preferred the beach at Half Moon Cay. The beach at Grand Turk, while beautiful to look at, was much rougher, rocky and uneven. We spent a little time in the water, but mostly we hung out on the beach and in town.

Day 7 was a Sea Day. We did a few fun things that day, but the big event came that evening. They had an exhibit of Thomas Kinkade's artwork in the art gallery on board. We both enjoy his artwork, so we went to the exhibit. We were informed that they'd later be having a brief seminar, followed by a raffle for a Kinkade. So we came back that evening for the seminar and entered the raffle. To our surprise and delight, James won the raffle! We were ecstatic to win the Kinkade.

Then at last, we arrived back in Miami. We had one last breakfast aboard before heading off to Miami International Airport. Of course, it took us all day to finally get home, and boy was a relief when we finally pulled up to our Holley house.

We loved our cruise. It was fantastic, a truly unforgettable experience. I'm so glad we were able to have this vacation at this point in our life together!