Everyone should go on a Caribbean Cruise!

We had never been on a cruise before so we didn't have any expectations. But WOW was it amazing!! I'm not sure if we were lucky or if everyone has such a great time. The weather was between 70 and 85 the entire time and mostly sunny with a few clouds. I couldn't have asked for better. The excursions we chose were a blast and even though they were more expensive than bartering for your own, I still felt like they were well-worth the money.

DAY 1
We boarded our ship, The Holland America Eurodam, around 3pm. The ship departed at 5pm so we thought we were early. Little did we know, you could have boarded at 11am!! We were kinda bummed because we could have spent 4 more hours on board... but we quickly forgot about our disappointment when our eyes met the buffet! The food selection was amazing. Most things they cooked fresh right in front of you such as omlettes, pancakes, scones, grilled sandwiches... plus they had shrimp cocktail, lobster, steak, pizza, burgers, salad, fresh pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, oh it was heaven.
DAY 2
Hello Bahamas!! Holland America owns a private island known as Half Moon Cay. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The water was aqua, the sand was white and there were giant conch shells everywhere! We played some beach volleyball, shot around the basketball hoop, swam in the ocean, walked down the coast, enjoyed a little BBQ and soaked up the sunshine.


DAY 3
We spent the whole day at sea. It was fun to explore the ship, lay out in the sun, eat tons of food and participate in a few activities. Christopher played basketball and later on in the night we watched "A-Team" in the ship's theater. We also played a fun game that involved sliding circular disks across the deck to land in numbered slots. Christopher kept knocking mine off the board, but I was pretty consistent with hitting "8." At night we had a delicious 5-course meal that included as many appetizers, desserts and entrees as we wanted!! The view of the ocean as we sailed was beautiful.
DAY 4

Ya Man! We had "no problem" in Jamaica...except for everyone trying to sell us drugs and necklaces. Our shuttle took us straight to our excursion, which was nice because I wasn't in the mood for bartering with scary men that looked high on some "good shit" (please excuse my language, but that's what they called it). Anyways, our excursion here was AMAZING! We started off by swimming with a dolphin named To-To. We danced, sang, played fetch, stroked his back, shared kisses and for the finale, he gave us a belly-to-belly ride!! It was the coolest thing I have ever done. Dolphins can also jump 16 feet in the air, which is especially amazing when you are in the water below them. Then we headed to Dunn's River Falls and hiked from the beach, up to the top of the falls. It was beautiful and adventurous! We started out with a tour guide and then decided to ditch him, which I'm glad we did because I liked the challenge of finding our own way... and then we didn't have to feel awkward at the end when he tried to get tips and sell us a video. Jamaica was a cool place, but a little scary when you venture too far from the cruise ship- well, when you venture at all from the dock because there are already people sticking their arms through the fence trying to sell stuff. It's sad that they are so desperate. So we bought a couple Jamaican carved souvenirs as our contribution to the economy. It wasn't much, but if we were going to buy something from anywhere, the hard-working Jamaican salesmen deserve it most.

DAY 5

Grand Cayman won my heart. It was much more touristy than Jamaica and we totally could have bartered our excursion and felt safe about it. In fact, we added something a little extra to our trip that we didn't plan on. We woke up extra early and took the city taxi for only $2.50 down to 7-Mile Beach. It was gorgeous, especially since no one else was there yet. We took pictures, built a sand-man and relaxed. When I looked at the clock and realized we had to get back for our excursion I was a little sad because I love the beach SO much. But once we got on the boat, I was excited. The Emerald Eye took us to Sting Ray City, a giant sand bar in the ocean where wild Sting Rays love to gather. The sand felt so soft and the water was crystal clear. The sting rays were HUGE! We took out our snorkel gear and swam around with them. We also had a waterproof case for our camera which made it extra cool. Chris picked one up, but I was only brave enough to pet them. Then our boat took us out to a big reef where we snorkeled for about 40 minutes. It was such an amazing experience!! It was just like Finding Nemo. I saw all kinds of fish and even a barracuda! I'm usually super afraid of ocean animals... despite a closeup encounter with a small transparent jellyfish and lots of salt water being inhaled through my snorkel, it was an awesome experience.

DAY 6
The journey home was another relaxing day at sea. The captain said we would have bad weather, but it was 78 with a breeze: perfect weather in my book. It was funny to see different nationalities bundling up in sweats and jackets, while I sunbathed in my swimsuit. I wasn't cold the whole day, in fact I was actually quite hot. Chris surprised me with a delicious strawberry mocktail and of course we took advantage of all the delicious food at our disposal. We dressed up for our final dinner, which was the Chef's Special. They entertained us with dancing, music and interesting but mostly good food. It took awhile for me to get used to the gourmet flavors and tastes, but I enjoy trying new things so it was fun. (especially since it's all free!) The next morning we docked in Ft. Lauderdale and our friend Ted was there to pick us up and take us to the airport. We were sad to be going back to negative-degree Logan but so grateful that we had such a wonderful experience!




So if you're not already convinced here are...

10 reasons why everyone should go on a Caribbean Cruise:

10-  It's a beautiful, exotic paradise.
9- Unlimited, FREE room service!! If you want a plate of chocolate chip cookies and milk at 3 a.m, dial *92 and it will be up within an hour.
8- Internet and phone usage is $534837453.00 (not really but it's crazyyy expensive) which is actually really nice and makes it extra relaxing because you are FORCED to be on vacation. I loved it.
7- There's something for everyone- whether it's sports, Bingo, shopping, exercising, eating, watching movies, drinking, dancing, watching Ohio State win the Sugar Bowl, reading, swimming, gambling or sunbathing, it's basically impossible to be bored.
6- Entertainment is provided at night. We watched a comedian/magician, skinny German juggler boy & Simply Broadway...all included!
5- Desserts galore. This is what I loved, especially the frozen yogurt machine and the Chocolate Extravaganza party! The ship hosted a special event with giant chocolate fountains, both white and milk, plus tons and tons of desserts! It was beautiful and delicious.
4- The ocean is always around you. This is a good thing for me because I love the ocean. I think it's so picturesque and thought provoking. We attended all the sail away parties, which we were fun, and it was always beautiful to watch the sunset over the horizon.
3- You are treated like royalty. All the employees are always smiling and ready to serve you. It was hard to get used to at first, just leaving my dishes on the table, throwing my towels on the floor... but it was nice just to relax. I especially loved the towel animal creations... and the fact that someone cleaned and organized our room at least twice a day.
2- You see way more cool places than if you just vacation to a resort. I'm sure all-inclusive resorts are great too, I just love that cruises travel all over. Once day you're in the Bahamas and the next, you're in Jamaica... 2 totally different experiences and both wonderful in their own way.
1- You meet SO many new & interesting people! Since we ate dinner at the fancy restaurant every night, we were seated with random people each time. It was fun because we talked to old and young people that we wouldn't normally start a conversation with. We met people from Germany, Tennessee, Colorado, Ohio!, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois and even Russia! We loved all our new friends.

Yes it's expensive, but it's worth it! So save up and do it. You wont regret it.