Our First Cruise!

The time for our cruise finally came. Before my 40th birthday Kim and I came up with the idea to go on a cruise with friends. We brought it up with friends kind of late and it didn't work out to do it for my 40th. So we all booked a cruise for the following year and we were excited for this cruise for over a year.

We booked a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean. We flew to Fort Lauderdale, Miami and stayed a night there. The hotel was not as nice as we expected but we got in late and left early so it wasn't a big deal. 

Day 1: Embarkment and Super Bowl

We checked in with the cruise company and it was much smoother than going through the airport. Then it was time to walk onto the ship

We were immediately in awe with how big the ship was

We did a little exploring for the first few hours. This is a view from the top level (16) where you can see down to Central Park (level 8)

The views of Miami while we were waiting to leave were really cool

We had to get some ice cream right away

This is a view from up high looking down and you can see the massive slides

We watched some of the other cruise ships leave before us

We enjoyed the sun and the views

Our ship had multiple water slides

And a helicopter landing pad

Central park is beautiful with trees and plants (on a ship). It has over 12,500 plants including 56 trees, some of which are 24' tall

These chairs were a little excessive

We eventually got to get in our room

Some final views of Miami

Our group (six couples) all had dinner reserved together every night in the main dining room

The meals were very fancy and delicious

I had prime rib the first night

Our first night was the Super Bowl so we watched some of it. Kim and I eventually left to got to the hot tub because the game wasn't very exciting and the half time show was trash!

Later we found a piano player at a bar playing some old favorites

Day 2: Nassau, Bahamas

Kim and I each worked out the first morning and then had breakfast at the main buffet (The Windjammer)

Then it was time for our first port day in Nassau, Bahamas

We walked to the nearby Margaritaville Resort where we bought a day pass that gave us access to their private beach

I tried some snorkeling but didn't see anything

You can see our beach to the right of this building

We spent a lot of time just soaking up the sun

And we got some fish tacos for lunch

I got to try out this new snorkel mask, which was pretty nice compared to the type where the tube is in your mouth separately from the goggles

It was a day in paradise

Then it was back to the ship

Then it was back to the ship for dinner, but only with half of our group

Not sure what this was about

A picture of Kim and I after dinner

Kim and Heather

We saw the end of a beautiful sunset

And we came back to a critter on our bed

Kim and I checked out a family silent disco but didn't stay long

Day 3: Perfect Day at Coco Cay and Hairspray

The next day was another port day, this time at Coco Cay, Bahamas, an island owned by Royal Caribbean. 

The sunrise was beautiful

Kim and I wanted to go snorkeling and our research said that first thing in the morning provides the best conditions so we rushed off the ship and got straight into the water

We found lots of fish, especially near the sunken remains of a pirate ship (not real)

Here is some footage of the snorkeling

After snorkeling we met up with our friends at the water park (Thrill Waterpark). It has 14 waterslides including the tallest slide in the Caribbean (135 feet)

After the water park we walked to find a nice beach to hang out at. On the way we found this iguana.

We enjoyed the beach

I went for a little walk and found these private cabanas that you could rent that came with their own water slides into the ocean

The island was really beautiful

The island even had a little library

We were sad when it was time to head back to the ship

Then it was back to dinner for more fancy food (this was an appetizer that wasn't actually that great)

The chicken parmesan was pretty good 

That evening we went to Hairspray, which is a Broadway musical 

It was a really good show

Day 4: At Sea

The next day was a sea day. We exercised in the morning. This was my view from the gym.

I can't remember what we did between breakfast and lunch...

For lunch we paid for a sea food restaurant and it was pretty good (probably not worth the extra cost though). I got fillet mignon and a lobster tail.

We played some ping pong

We tried out these huge dry slides

This is what it looked like in the slides

We also did some more exploring of the ship

This is the Central Park area

A view up top in the evening

They have movie theaters with shows playing all the time

Like my hair?

There was a restaurant that was always serving different types of hot dogs

We were supposed to go to an acrobatic/water show that evening but it got cancelled because the ship was rocking so much. Luckily it got rescheduled to our last evening so we still got to do it.

Day 5: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Day five was a port day at San Juan, Puerto Rico. We got to watch the ship dock at port

That's our ship

We walked through Old San Juan with cobblestone streets and historic buildings

The buildings had lots of colors

We got pina coladas at a place that claims to be the first to serve them

Then we walked to Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a 16th-century Spanish fortification that is a national historic site

Kim and some of the ladies

As we got up to the site we were all fascinated by this iguana that we saw on a wall not too far from us

As we looked just past the iguana we though we could see something else

Turns out there were three more iguanas

We explored the fort

It had beautiful views

And old canons

We then walked to another similar site called Castillo San Cristobal and saw some similar sites. Along the way we saw a statue of a goat holding a flag

Me and Adam

We got a good view of the port and our ship

After that Kim and I took an uber to Escambron Beach to swim and get a little beach time

The water was really rough. I snorkeled and saw lots of fish but the water wasn't that clear because it was so rough

We didn't have a lot of time at the beach and we didn't want to miss the ship but it was fun

We had time on the way back to get some tourist-y pictures

Check out that ship

I have mentioned before that the ship is big. How big? I am glad you asked:

Weight: 228,081 gross tons

Length: 1,188 feet

Guest capacity: 5,518 guest (if double occupancy in the rooms)

Passenger decks (levels): 16

Staterooms: 2,757

We chose to skip our group dinner that night so we could enjoy a sunset

It was beautiful

That night the entertainment was an ice skating show called 1977: A Thrilling Adventure on Ice

There were projectors that would change the surface of the ice to make it look like various scenes. The rink was also a lot smaller than I would have expected but it was amazing what they could do with that space.

This is what the entrance to the big slides looks like at night

Day 6: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

On day 6 we docked at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. We enjoyed walking around town and visiting shops

The first major place we stopped was called Umbrella Street

We made sure to follow the directions of all signage

We saw Canada represented there

We also made sure to visit Pink Street

Where I saw an angel

We bought a fresh coconut

This is how they opened it so we could drink the water and then get the meat out of it

Here he is cutting it

We shopped at "Dominican Wallmart"

We visited a church

Then we did a tour of a chocolate factory and saw how chocolate is traditionally made from the fruit of the cacao

There was a nice port/waterpark area called Taino Bay that we walked through (we had to go through it to get to town and then again to get back to the ship)

This was the view of Puerto Plata from on the ship. We chose to go back on the ship and hang out at the pool rather than hang out at the crowned port area

I shot a few hoops while we waited to get some Mexican for luch

A light Mexican lunch

Followed up with some ice cream

Then we relaxed by the pool and did some reading

This was my dinner that evening (Baked Alaska)

Then we took some pictures at Central Park

Then it was off to another show called Flight: Dare to Dream

It was a Royal Caribbean original show about aviation and flight throughout the years. It was not as good as Hairspray but it was still enjoyable

Day 7: At Sea

All good things come to an end and inevitably we made it to our last day. Our last day was just cruising back to Miami. 

We had breakfast together at the main buffet as usual

This is the Solarium, which is adult only and where we liked to spend a lot of our time

I cheated with a very sweet French toast for breakfast

Kim went on a tour of the kitchen while I listened to the Captain talk about the ship

Then it was time for some relaxing in the sun with a pina colada

The ocean went on forever

On the 5th floor there is a walking track the goes around the entire ship. We often would use it to get from one side of the ship to the other or to get some steps in if we thought we needed some. We were never lacking on our steps ;)

Also, we climbed A LOT of stairs over the week. We tried to avoid elevators because there were often waits and we knew we needed to keep moving if we were going to have any chance to offset all of the delicious and plentiful food that was EVERYWHERE! In fact, on the ship there are a total of 25 different food service areas.

We got dressed up for our last dinner together

And we managed to get everyone together for a group photo on the last night (yes, that guy is a giant!)

Our last night we attended the show that was canceled previously because of the waves and unstable conditions

It was called HiRo, which was an aqua show "with more high-flying feats, unexpected stunts, and extraordinary acrobatics than any aqua show before."

It was really cool and if you were wondering, the pool is 17.9 feet deep

A picture of us together after the show

After that show we went to another ice skating show that was less dramatic and filled with lots of fun music 

What Happened While we were Gone?

What were the kids up to for over a week without us? We aren't totally sure ;)

We know they had school every day. We know they had basketball practices and games. We know they had church activities. We know there were lunches to pack, rooms to clean, dishes to clear, scriptures to read, etc. And we know how much work it is to keep that all moving.

We are so thankful that Kim's parents were willing to captain our home while we were gone and man the ship. On top of all the boring things mentioned above, they made sugar cookies for Valentine's day

Got spoiled with some Valentine's stuff

Got to eat out at Texas Roadhouse

And got to spend some good quality time with their grandparents

Summary of the Cruise

Our 7 night cruise was awesome. It was so nice to spend time together. It was fun spending time with friends. We loved seeing some new places, getting some extra sun, and eating more than we should have. It was a little bit hard coming back to real life in some respects. However, we certainly missed the kids before the cruise was up and it was nice coming back home to them.