Andrew and I recently returned from a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas! We visited 2 ports: Nassau and CocoCay.
The cruise line we chose was Royal Caribbean and we were extremely pleased with our experience. There was so much to do on the ship and we tried to do as much as we could. We went with some friends from our ward-- Ryan and Chelsea McKenna.
Andrew and Ryan did the flo-rider, all of us raced on the water slides (which scraped my back), we did the virtual reality sky-pad trampoline, the escape room, laser tag, karaoke, a magic show, a comedy show, played shuffleboard, utilized the workout room, hot tub, went rock-climbing, and more.
There wasn't ever a moment of boredom. I had no trouble sleeping at night either because I was so worn out. One night, we all felt a bit sea sick, but food helped get rid of the sick feeling. The WEIRDEST thing for me was probably the fact that even after we got off the ship, I felt like I was "rocking" for a couple of days. Apparently this is common and I was thrilled when the rocking/unstable feeling went away after a couple days. I actually almost fell out of our shower at home because my body was swaying.
I can't talk about the cruise and not mention the food. Wow! I've always heard that cruises have great food, and now I know that's true. When we first arrived, we were rookies and ate at the buffet which was disappointing. The Dining Room is where it's at. We made dinner reservations every night there and dined there for breakfast in the mornings.
It was hard for me not to have any limits. Usually, I hold myself back when ordering at restaurants because I'm paying. In this case, I had already paid for my meals, so I had to get my moneys worth. At least that's how I made myself feel better about ordering so much. The meals were multiple courses and they told us to plan on a solid 2 hours each night for dinner. I will admit that I did order more than one entree on more than one occasion.
As if we were being deprived, we often frequented a pizza place on the boat that had tasty, unlimited pizza. Yummmm. Cookies were also available there at all times. Win-win.
I did go running one morning and we usually took the stairs everywhere instead of waiting for the super crowded, slow elevators. Note to self: next cruise, pack COMFORTABLE shoes instead of cute ones.
Nassau--Not what any of us were expecting.
It was a very poor city and people were constantly following you around to try to get you to spend money doing an excursion with them.
We went to a beach which was kind of rocky, but it was still gorgeous and the color of the water was unreal. I think the nicer beach was a bit further away.
Andrew really wanted to try authentic Bahamian food, so we went to a local restaurant. Guy from "Diners and Drive-Ins" had been there. I thought the food was ok, but I didn't get any seafood. (I'm boring.)
We booked an excursion through the cruise line and went snorkeling in the afternoon. It helped that food was thrown in the water to get the fish to swarm around us, but it wasn't the most amazing snorkeling I've ever done. We still enjoyed the experience though and were able to see some bright colored fish.
We did some shopping before we got back on the ship. I was hoping to find cheap vanilla like you can find in Mexico, but I didn't have much success.
CocoCay-- Exceeded our expectations.
I believe this is considered part of the Bahamas, but is owned by Royal Caribbean. We had to take a boat to get there and it's exactly what I was expecting. The water was clear and beautiful and the sand was white. It was breathtaking.
The unlimited snow cones and funnel cakes were icing on the cake. We did some relaxing and reading on the beach. We also took advantage of the water. There was an MC who had beach games going on all afternoon which kept us entertained. We enjoyed playing volleyball, participating in a water balloon throwing contest, a hula hoop contest, and watching other events.
The day went by far too quickly and we were bummed to leave. We definitely could have spent another day there.
The most AWKWARD part of our trip by far was an encounter with our cleaning lady--Colleen. Not long after arriving on the ship, we took a nap since we were up all night on a red-eye flight. She barged in and may have seen more of Andrew than she should have. Why did she need to clean our room after we'd been on the ship for 2 hours? Mystery to me. She was constantly cleaning our room and went a little overboard. We started using our "sleeping off our adventure" magnet on our door religiously, so she would leave us alone. It was cool that she made different creatures out our towels though.
Escape Room
Look at my form! (I'm on the left)
On Wednesday and Thursday night, we made our way to the top of the ship for karaoke. The first night was kind of lame. The DJ wasn't fantastic and one old guy, Nester, sang love ballets every other song. His vibrato was ferocious. Thursday night was a blast though with a different DJ. The crowd was much bigger and more into it. Andrew sang both nights. On Thursday night, the DJ loved Andrew and kept calling him "brother." Andrew and Ryan befriended Nester night two and even convinced him to do some rock songs and stray from his usual love songs. A couple of people got nervous and requested that Andrew join them on stage. Andrew sang the song 500 Miles and did songs by the following bands: Fall-Out Boy, Bon Jovi, and Journey. Andrew getting so into his performances was hysterical and was probably the most MEMORABLE part of the cruise for me. Several strangers recorded his performances and the DJ, Chris, kept saying that Andrew had lots of "liquid courage."
I can't talk about the cruise and not mention the food. Wow! I've always heard that cruises have great food, and now I know that's true. When we first arrived, we were rookies and ate at the buffet which was disappointing. The Dining Room is where it's at. We made dinner reservations every night there and dined there for breakfast in the mornings.
It was hard for me not to have any limits. Usually, I hold myself back when ordering at restaurants because I'm paying. In this case, I had already paid for my meals, so I had to get my moneys worth. At least that's how I made myself feel better about ordering so much. The meals were multiple courses and they told us to plan on a solid 2 hours each night for dinner. I will admit that I did order more than one entree on more than one occasion.
As if we were being deprived, we often frequented a pizza place on the boat that had tasty, unlimited pizza. Yummmm. Cookies were also available there at all times. Win-win.
I did go running one morning and we usually took the stairs everywhere instead of waiting for the super crowded, slow elevators. Note to self: next cruise, pack COMFORTABLE shoes instead of cute ones.
Nassau--Not what any of us were expecting.
It was a very poor city and people were constantly following you around to try to get you to spend money doing an excursion with them.
We went to a beach which was kind of rocky, but it was still gorgeous and the color of the water was unreal. I think the nicer beach was a bit further away.
Andrew really wanted to try authentic Bahamian food, so we went to a local restaurant. Guy from "Diners and Drive-Ins" had been there. I thought the food was ok, but I didn't get any seafood. (I'm boring.)
We booked an excursion through the cruise line and went snorkeling in the afternoon. It helped that food was thrown in the water to get the fish to swarm around us, but it wasn't the most amazing snorkeling I've ever done. We still enjoyed the experience though and were able to see some bright colored fish.
We did some shopping before we got back on the ship. I was hoping to find cheap vanilla like you can find in Mexico, but I didn't have much success.
CocoCay-- Exceeded our expectations.
The unlimited snow cones and funnel cakes were icing on the cake. We did some relaxing and reading on the beach. We also took advantage of the water. There was an MC who had beach games going on all afternoon which kept us entertained. We enjoyed playing volleyball, participating in a water balloon throwing contest, a hula hoop contest, and watching other events.
The day went by far too quickly and we were bummed to leave. We definitely could have spent another day there.
The most AWKWARD part of our trip by far was an encounter with our cleaning lady--Colleen. Not long after arriving on the ship, we took a nap since we were up all night on a red-eye flight. She barged in and may have seen more of Andrew than she should have. Why did she need to clean our room after we'd been on the ship for 2 hours? Mystery to me. She was constantly cleaning our room and went a little overboard. We started using our "sleeping off our adventure" magnet on our door religiously, so she would leave us alone. It was cool that she made different creatures out our towels though.
We got off the cruise ship early Friday morning. Our plane didn't leave Fort Lauderdale until after 6:00pm. This meant that we had some time to kill. We ended up spending our time in The Fort Lauderdale temple which was quaint and beautiful. We were able to do a session and sealings. I'm bummed I didn't snap a picture.
The SADDEST part of the trip for me by far was the fact that my passport did NOT get stamped. I got a passport a few years ago and ended up not using it. I've never had my passport stamped. I guess we'll have to travel outside of the US again.
Knowing that James was well taken care of made leaving him easy. I owe my parents (especially my mom who was with James most of the time) big for making this trip possible. Jeff and Lindsey helped out a lot too! Unfortunately, James got an ear infection while we were gone and had to go to the doctor. We came home to a clingy, sick boy.
Andrew and I are all talk. We finally took the initiative and actually planned and went on a vacation we've been wanting to go on for years. What an amazing experience we had. I will never forget our trip to the Bahamas.
Knowing that James was well taken care of made leaving him easy. I owe my parents (especially my mom who was with James most of the time) big for making this trip possible. Jeff and Lindsey helped out a lot too! Unfortunately, James got an ear infection while we were gone and had to go to the doctor. We came home to a clingy, sick boy.
Andrew and I are all talk. We finally took the initiative and actually planned and went on a vacation we've been wanting to go on for years. What an amazing experience we had. I will never forget our trip to the Bahamas.
