This is not a WDW honeymoon so I won't be doing a full trip report, i'll just give you a quick taste of what our cruise was like.
Given that we paid for the entire wedding ourselves we really didn't think that we would have enough money left to have a honeymoon. We didn't want to stay in WDW after the wedding because we go to WDW a lot and to us it's not really a vacation, lol.
My mom and aunt were nice enough to give us $1000 between them both for us to take a proper honeymoon. With that money we booked a Carnival Cruise on the Valor. It's a 7-day cruise leaving from the Port of Miami. We left WDW on June 16 after our MK shoot and this cruise left Miami on June 20, 2010. It went to (day 3)Grand Cayman, (day 4) Isla Roatan Honduras, (day 5) Belize, and (day 6)Cozumel Mexico. There was a day at sea on day 2 and 7.
Danny and I love crusing. It is relatively inexpensive for such a long vacation and it includes meals. We ended up booking the cruise for a little over $1200 including taxes, gratuities and port fees. We had a past guest discount and it saved us about $300. We booked an inside cabin, we like the cave-like feeling
Day 1 - Since we live in Miami my mom dropped us off at the port. We like to arrive at about noon because it takes about an hour to 2 hours to get checked in, processed, and on the ship. Today was no different, it took FOREVER, the lines were super long and everyone was running on slow and stop. Once you passed customs/security, there were two lines on the left and right, we chose teh right and got in line. We had to fill out health forms stating whether we were healthy or had flu/cold-like symptoms. We were fine (thank goodness). Then the hurry up and wait process.
The Carnival terminal in Miami has been renovated and is HUGE! They now have self service counters where you scan your ID/passport and they will check you in like that. We used one of the self service machines, went to another counter to pick up our sail & sign cards and were off to the ship!
We first went to our room on the 8th deck, then went to the lido deck to eat lunch. I love buffets on cruises, lol, I like being able to choose several small things for lunch instead of one meal. After lunch we went back to the room, called family to say bye and passed out
something about the cold dark room just makes me tired haha! We did make it out for the sail away party but forgot the camera. Dinner that night was interesting as they had us sitting in a 8-top with 3 other couples. Two of which were also on their honeymoon. We had requested a table of our own but could not be accommodated until the next day. Yes, we're antisocial, and besides we order way too much food to be sitting with people
Day 2 - This was a day at sea so we slept in as late as we could, ate, laid out on the top deck, and ate some more. I mean what else is there to do on a cruise, right?
I did start reading a book,
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner... yes I'm a twilight person, love it (dont' love the actors so much but I do love the characters and books). It's a short one so I also brought the first book in the True Blood books,
Dead Until Dark. When we went back to the room we had a card letting us know our table had been changed to a private one, yay! This was formal night so we got decked out, Danny wore his wedding suit again with a different shirt and I wore the dress I had on when we got engaged. It's my favorite dress, I think it's my fave because it makes me look like I lost 20 pounds, lol.
Day 3 - We weren't set to arrive in Grand Cayman until 9am ship time so we woke up, had breakfast (Danny had food, I just picked, I'm not a fan of breakfast). We booked our shore excursions with an outside company. We used
www.shoretrips.com. My cousin had used them for a previous cruise and was very happy with them so I felt comfortable booking with them. They really are accommodating. We booked a three excursion package and it came out to $300 for both of us. The same excursions were going to be close to $600 if we had booked them through Carnival. The only draw back is tht the excursions are on Island time, not ship time so every excursion started about an hour to two later than ship time but it's easy to keep track of.
In grand Cayman we booked Sting Ray city and snorkeling. Our tickets gave us explicit instructions on where and who to meet. We had to take the tender to the GC port and meet a guide with a sign for a certain company. Once we met with the guide we boarded a small bus and were taken on a small tour of Grand Cayman. we stopped at a small marina to board a boat that would take use to sting ray city and snorkeling.
The driver left us with the boat operator who was sooo cute! he had a hot Cayman accent and was super tan. Very good looking
The boat ride to sting ray city was a bit long so we chose to sit up on the top deck.
We arrived at Sting ray city after about a 30-40 minute boat ride. The day was beautiful and hot, perfect for swimming. We stripped down to our bathing suits, and jumped in the water. There were boats everywhere with other tours so it was kind of crowded. Our boat driver hopped right in and started spreading out squid to attract the sting rays. THEY ARE SO HUGE!!!!!!! I was freaked out, clung to Danny the minute we got in the water and had an attack every time one got near me. Another couple was near us and the woman was just like me, freaking out.
I was so scared I couldn't stay in the water very long. I jumped out after one brushed my foot 3 times and wouldn't leave me alone. I'd had enough, lmao! Danny was in heaven, he loved this kind of stuff.
After sting ray city we went out a bit further on the boat and found a snorkeling spot near a large reef. The fish were beautiful. I swam around for a bit then got back on the boat for some punch (the alcoholic kind
) and to rinse off. The water was starting to get very choppy because there was an incoming storm. I of course get sick, puking on the side of the boat
But once it passed I felt fine.
We made it back to port with a little time to spare and did a little bit of shopping. Danny and I like to collect magnets so we bought a few cute ones (one says "RUM, breakfast of champions" lol!). Then back to the ship! We were hot, sticky and tired but we managed to go have lunch and then knock out for a few hours. Vacation makes me so sleepy. I never nap but when i'm on vacation it's like I can nap anytime anywhere!