Cruisin in the Caribbean

I’m sitting in my office today looking out my office door and it’s rainy and cold out there. I’m not in love with the weather. I want to be in the Caribbean still. I want to go back to vacation mode which is so much better than work mode. But as we all know, the real world trumps vacation world and we all must return.
My vacation started off great! I flew into Orlando on Thursday where I was picked up by one of my best friends, Lindsay. It was so fun seeing both her and Charlie! We went back to her place and then we all went out to dinner. I forget the name of the restaurant but it was really good! I like it a lot. We went home, chatted for a while and headed to bed! Friday we went to the botanical gardens and they were so beautiful. I loved them. We went back home and I took a nap. I love my sleep and need it too. Lindsay had some friends come over that night and we were supposed to play games but instead we ended up just talking. They were super cute girls. Saturday was a special day it was the day we…..went to SeaWorld and LOVED IT! Those whales were amazing and I know consider them my new favorite animal (I am aware that one killed one of the trainers but they are still my favorite)! Not only were the shows amazing but the roller coasters were crazy good, two of the best ever. And it was awesome because I got to go with Lindz and then with Scott so I did them twice. Amazing. SeaWorld is expensive but I really really enjoyed it. It was about time for them to drop me off to meet Amy so we grabbed a bite to eat then headed to the airport. I was so happy to see Amy. I got to go from being with one of my best friends to being with another!
We got our stuff together, got on the shuttles to the hotel, and when we got there I was surprised that I was staying in a room with complete strangers. It started out with 4 of us, then one decided to stay on the pull out couch of a friend, then there were 3. When they came back later that night one of the others decided to stay in her sister and brother-in-laws room so it ended up with just me and one other girl. Not bad. Then the day finally arrived, our cruise was finally here. The day we had waited for. Again, the word amazing comes to mind. Sunday started off great. We ate, because that is what you do and we wanted to start off right. Then we hung out, then we went to the spa and had full body massages, then we went straight to a murder mystery dinner that was quite cheesy but served the best filet mignon I’ve eaten so it was okay that it was silly. It was great!
Monday was a sea day and I really don’t remember what we did all day. It was a tad too cold and windy to go lay by the pool. I know we shopped, watched others surf and boogie board. We went to the ice skating show and it was great. It was really well choreographed and the skaters were really talented. We went to dinner that night at one of the speciality restaurants and had some more red meat. After dinner we went to a show that was great. To be honest the shows on this ship were awesome. We enjoyed them all.
Tuesday we arrived in Labadee, Haiti. It was HOT! My sunglasses had broken on my way to FL. I needed to find some immediately. My eyes are super sensitive to light. We found some, we went to the beach, and we laid out. We got in the water some but the beach was super rocky. So unless you had on shoes you had to be careful. It was nice and relaxing. I applied sunscreen religiously and amazingly did not burn. It was a nice day. When we returned to the ship we went boogie boarding and it was so fun! I got a little moody that afternoon, sorry Amy, I still feel bad for it. We went to the illusionist show and headed to bed. I wish we would have gone to the marriage show but whatever, that’s the past.
Wednesday we were in Jamaica! Yea mon, that’s right! What did we do, we got out hair braided of course. Just kidding. There were no braids happening with us! We went and had to our dolphin encounter. We didn’t get to swim with them but got to touch them and get a little kiss from them. While we were there we went and held the parrots, pet the iguana named Elvis, and met a nice man by the name of Michael and his most adorable son. I’m sure Michael treated all the tourist this way but Amy and I loved it. He gave us both nicknames, I was emperous goodness. His son wanted to get pictures with us and then proceeded to tell us that after 1 o’clock comes 2 o’clock. His homework the night before was telling time. So cute. We then went over to the Dunn’s River Falls and this is one of my trip highlights. To climb a waterfall is an amazing experience. It was gorgeous and so much fun. I’m sure it made Amy miss Michael because she knows he would have loved it. We went to some shops in Jamaica but didn’t really buy anything. We had heard the shopping in Grand Cayman was awesome so we decided to wait. Looking back I really wish I had bought this one beautiful vase that was made from cinnamon wood but I didn’t. So next time I will.
Thursday came and we woke to the announcement that it was too rocky to tender where we were suppose to so we had to tender in from another area on the island. It was rocky but the water was gorgeous. We had scheduled a highlights tour and off we were. It was less than wonderful. The only kinda cool thing was the pirates cave. And we also saw a LDS church building that excited us. We were dropped off by the shopping but it was NOT great. Whoever informed us was not well informed! That night Amy and her mom had a pedicure scheduled so she had to leave dinner early, then the rest of my table had to leave to go to the ice show. I was still eating so I was going to stay and finish. That night we were sitting with people from Amy’s dad’s dental office and one of the girls was 18. The 18 yr old looked at me and was like it’s so sad to leave you here alone. I told her I was fine. She said I should move to the other table, they were also in our group. I again said it was fine; I am use to doing things alone. She told me it just looked sad. It made me laugh a little on the inside. She’s still in the age group that goes to the bathroom in herds and feels uncomfortable alone. I am very much passed that stage. I don’t enjoy being alone but I am okay with it. Later that night we met up for a Tribute to the Temptations and it was good. I liked it a lot.
Friday was here and we were in Cozumel, Mexico. While I had thought the water in Grand Cayman looked amazing it was nothing compared to the water here. It was so inviting. It called my name. It wanted me to swim in it. To bask in it’s glory. Unfortunately, that was not our plan for the day. Fortunately our plan included seeing the Tulum Mayan Ruins. I would still choose the ruins over the beach but really wish I could have done both. I wish we could have skipped the Cayman Islands and spent two days in Cozumel. That would have been ideal. We did do some shopping here. You know the last day and you still have cash to spend; you have to spend it right? I got all the nieces and nephews cool gifts then we got my parents 2 chair hammocks to hang (maybe I will get the most out of one of them but still it’s for them), then Amy and I had said we needed to get something matching to remember our trip by (just in case all the pictures and the amazing time wasn’t enough). We found the perfect thing, red coral necklaces. At the end we were dropped off and told we needed to take a taxi back to the ship. But we could see the ship and decided to walk it. After a little time we could no longer see the ship. There was a group of taxi drivers so we asked if we were headed in the right direction for Royal Caribbean. One was nice enough to tell us yes and all the others were trying to get us to take the taxi. One even yelled its 4 miles from here. Amy and I were like yea right and kept walking. Well guess what, we barely made it back to the ship on time, it was 4 miles! Oh well, we enjoyed the walk and would have enjoyed it more if we weren’t constantly checking the watch to make sure we were going to get on the ship by the appropriate time. We made it to dinner, then to a show that had lots of songs from Broadway.
Saturday came and we woke up super late! We slept in for sure and why not, it’s our last day at sea. We woke up got ready and headed out. We decided to go ice skating J. It killed my shins. But I can say I went ice skating while at sea. Amy did the rock wall, I did not. I wanted to wait until later but never went and had the chance. We went to the game room and Amy played games with her family while I listened to my book. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets; ate way too many onion rings. Amy and I decided we wanted to wear our red coral necklaces so we got dressed up, put them on and went and took a few pictures. We went to our last night of entertainment. The last day is always bittersweet. I know Amy was ready to see her family and I was a little ready to be home as well but at the same time cruise life is so easy and fun. Going back to the real world, the world we live in most of the time is hard. But I’m glad I got to go with one of my best friends. I’m lucky that Michael found such an awesome wife and that we all get along.