Well, my cousins are still not here (traffic and philly airport!) so i had some time so i typed up some highlights from the cruise. I had to do something to stay awake! For those of you not on facebook, if you want me to pm you a link to the pictures ,just send me a PM and ill send it to you!
So lets see—some details about the trip!
Thursday July 30
Steph had stayed at my house the night before so we were both ready to go by 930ish. My parents took us to the port and it was a 2 hour, uneventful trip! We got on the ship and it was just about noon. We just walked around, took pictures and enjoyed the fact we were on vacation! We were able to check out our rooms around 1 and we were happy with our room-Interior on deck 8, but plenty of room for the both of us. We went to the muster drill and Elvis was with us. There was apparently a Elvis convention on the ship and he was in “full Elvis gear!” Sail away was at 4 so we were up by the pool for the sail away party. People were dancing, singing, drinking and just enjoying vacation! We went to our room to get ready for dinner, which was 6pm. We had a table for 6 and our table mates were great! After dinner was the “welcome aboard show” and we just enjoyed the night.
The next two days were spent “at sea” as we headed down from Baltimore. Most of our time these two days was spent laying by the pool. There is nothing better than laying by the pool on deck 9 of the ship—the steel drum band is going, the breeze is gorgeous, and the bartenders walk around with drinks! Our second night was formal night, so it is always fun to dress up and take pictures everywhere on the ship. We were walking on deck 5 outside and taking pictures of each other and this nice woman offered to take our picture and made sure to take a couple and so that our dresses were shown—she was too sweet!
We spent our first port day in San Juan. We did not dock til 2 so I believe we got some breakfast and took some pictures off of the ship. We got in line and ready for our “Bacardi factory” tour. This was the only port that we would be able to use our phones so we called home and checked in while we were on the bus to the factory. We got there and each got our free two drinks. Next, we went on the tour and took some pictures around the grounds—it was absolutely gorgeous. We did some shopping at the small area near the ship and got back on the ship by about 530 and had to rush a bit to get ready for dinner.
Most of the nights after dinner, we walked around the ship on deck 5 outside for abit and took pictures.. We usually went to the night time show, spent some time with friends we met on the ship, casino, or just relaxed.
Our next port day was St Thomas. It started out a great day! We did some shopping in the town, went back to the ship for breakfast, and took pictures on the pier. Today was snorkeling! I had bought an underwater camera case for this occasion! We got on the boat and had a 45 minute boat ride to wherever we were snorkeling. We got “suited up” and got in the water. I tested the camera case and all was well. We took some pictures, no water got in so we continued on. 15 minutes later I tried to take a picture and the camera would not turn on. I look and it is FULL of water. I empty it out and paddle back to the boat to see. At this point, I am almost in tears freaking out. We try to dry it out and the camera is shot. Now im worried about the pictures from the past 4 days. No one on the boat has a camera so I cant even check. Finally, a woman comes on and asks why we were back on the boat so early. I told her and she offered me her camera to check my pictures. Thankfully, my pictures were there. I was SO relieved but upset about the camera. We got back on the ship and saw a friend of ours that let us use her camera for the day until I bought one on the ship.
Our next day was my favorite excursion, though the area was a bit scary. We went to Somana, Dominican Republic. We were tendered and it was about a 15 min boat ride to our excursion. We were doing the Cayo Levantado Beach Escape. We got off the boat and were greeted by singers and dancers. We got our complimentary rum punch and went through the market area. These market areas were a bit scary so we just kept on looking straight ahead and stayed together. We got through and the view was well worth it. The beach was amazing!!! The water was clear and beautiful and I could have just sat and stared all day. We found beach chairs and ran into the water. We got some amazing pictures with the ship behind us and just enjoyed the view. This was the place we took the most pictures..Sitting in the chairs, in the water, on the beach, at the beach bar..it was just gorgeous! We spent a few hours here and headed back to the ship—this time we stopped in the market and each bought a painting and a couple of pieces of jewelry. We were waiting for the tender to take us back to the boat and noticed about 30 of the cops/military with huge guns. It was a bit odd to see, but we just stayed where we were. We eventually got back to the ship.
Our final port day was in Labadee, Haiti, which is
royal caribbean’s private island. We got off the ship and had a quick tender ride to the island. It was gorgeous! We walked around for a few minutes and checked in for our parasailing trip. We got on the boat with 5 other groups of 2 and began our ride. Our tour guides were great and we were group number 4 to go up in the air. As we waited, the couple next to us asked if we could take pictures of them while they were in the air..of course, they took some pictures of us which was great to have! We got ready and it was finally our turn. We were up in the air for about 7 minutes. It was amazing. As we were getting lower, we were getting closer to these jet skis (about 15 in the group) We got so close to them we could have almost literally kicked them in the head, so that was a bit crazy! After our parasailing, we had a free bbq lunch on the island with some friends we had met. After that, we walked into the water and took some pictures and just enjoyed the beach. We went to the other side of the island and did some shopping, went through a scary marketplace, and grabbed the drinks of the day. We got in a hammock and just relaxed and took more pictures while we enjoyed the last of our time on the island. We headed back to the ship and that was our last port day
The last couple of days were again, at sea. We spent a lot of time by the pool, visiting with friends we had met, and of course, taking more pictures.
This was an amazing trip and so relaxing. I really enjoyed having the 2 sea days at the beginning of the trip and the 2 sea days at the end of the trip..it made it so relaxing. The weather was perfect for the entire 9 night trip. It rained one night for a couple of hours, but overnight so it was no big deal. Another day it drizzled for about 30 seconds while we were by the pool and it ended. I cant wait to go on another cruise!
