I seriously have the best hubby ever! He surprised me with a cruise he planned for months and months. Two weeks before we were to leave he gave me a basket full of clues. I had to figure out what was going on (it should have been simple, but it took me forever). In the basket was a puzzle and on the back of the puzzle he drew a map showing where our cruise would be going and the dates.
I was so excited! He planned the baby sitters and everything.
Finally, the day came and we were off. I was under the impression that we were going alone, but Eddie had one more surprise up his sleeve. When we arrived at our hotel in Florida he informed me that we were going with our good friends the Hillstroms'. Yay! Even more excitement.
For the first stop we went to Nassau. Eddie and I had been there two times before so we wanted to do something a little different. Scooters sounded like fun so off we went. I asked the scooter rental man if we could drive around the whole island and he said it should take us about an hour. He lied.
About two hours into our ride we found ourselves on the wrong side of the island. There were national elections happening and the traffic jams were crazy. We knew that we wouldn't make it around the whole island and we had to find a way back. The traffic drives on the wrong right side of the road which was crazy as well.
After a few near death experiences we made it back to the right side of the island. We found a creative dressing room and went to the beach. Eddie and James decided to snorkel and we swam in the amazing water.
Nassau was a lot of fun, but the time had come to travel to another island.
It was so nice not having to cook or clean for seven whole days! The food was fun and I decided I would be adventurous. Each night they had a different strange appetizer to try and I tried every one.
The appetizer pictured below is alligator. It was breaded and fried which made it easy to swallow. Not much taste, but fun to try.
The entree was fun that night. You really cannot go wrong with shrimp and lobster. I love seafood!
Of course you have to take pictures of the towel animals. I thought the swan was pretty cool!
We decided to try karaoke in a room with hardly anyone there. I picked a really stupid song and did awful, but Kristina and James were awesome!! I was majorly impressed with their entertaining skills.
Another towel animal.
The next stop was St. Thomas. One word AMAZING! It was so beautiful pulling into the island. There were great mountains covered in beautiful trees. Eddie couldn't get over how it looked. When we arrived on the island we decided to go to a beach we had heard amazing things about. It was called Coki beach and it was really beautiful and hot!
We spent the afternoon snorkeling and hanging out around the beach. On the way back was when we had the real adventure. We had the bright idea to ride on the public transportation back to the cruise ships. We walked through some scary areas, but finally the bus stop came into view.
We could tell that some of the locals were not to happy with us being on the bus, but it was interesting to see what the island was really like. It was sad the amount of litter and junk that cluttered up the island. We finally made it back without incident and had a great time that night.
Ahh late night room service was great!
On the top deck they had hammocks and chairs to lounge in. We took advantage of them while we were pulling out of Miami and again whenever we could. One night we sat in the deck in the jacuzzi while a lightning storm entertained us in the distance. That was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole cruise
The shows were fun, but a little more riskay than the ones I remember on Royal Caribbean. The girls could have been wearing more clothing for sure! There was a comedian and a magician that I really enjoyed.
We had two days at sea which were great as well. The next stop was Puerto Rico. There Eddie and James planned a excursion for us. We went horseback riding in the jungle. I thought it was a lot of fun. The horses were a lot smaller and called Paso Fino.
The coolest part for me was when we passed by a beautiful horse farm. They were training a horse to walk rapidly on a wooden platform. If you want to see what it looks like google Paso Fino and you can see. I thought it was so much fun to see in person. My horse was name Kikita and Eddie's was Bambi.
Next stop Grand Turk and it was gorgeous! The island itself was desert, but it has been developed enough that it was amazing. When you pulled up all you saw was palm trees and sun chairs. I just wanted to lay in the sun all day, but we decided to go snorkeling. I was fun!
While snorkeling our guide found a couple of nurse sharks. We dove down and touched them which was fun (I know they are not dangerous at all but it was still fun). We were not ready to leave, but the boat was on it's way and it was time to go home.
On the last night they offered frog legs as the adventurous thing to try. I decided I wasn't up for it until James bet me ten bucks. I'm in. They actually did taste a lot like chicken, but more bland. I even made James pay up.
Haa Haa the night I ate the frog legs we went back to our room and this little guy was waiting for us. A reminder of his little friends that I ate. It made me feel a little bad, for about a millisecond.
When you walked through the inside doors to the deck you were greeted with a blast of air. Kristina and I thought it would make a great model shot. So we tried, and I failed. I guess modeling isn't for me and my short self.
The last night was a sad one. We missed our kids, but didn't want to give up our time on the boat. For some reason we decided that we loved drinking hot chocolate late at night on the boat. Here we are enjoying one last cup.
The last morning we had breakfast in the back of the boat overlooking the ocean. It was great to see the ocean and enjoy our last meal together. We even sat by a couple from Ohio who shared some Buckeye stories it was great.
I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband I don't know how I am ever going to do something this nice for him. SO MUCH FUN! We vowed that we are going to plan another trip sometime. Maybe we will let the kids even come.... or maybe not.
