Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Western Caribbean Cruise

So I haven't had my lap top for a while so I'm just updating our blog! Zeb and I spent an amazing week on our first cruise to the Caribbean a little over a month ago. We went with my dad and step mom and had such a fun time! I seriously think we lucked out on this cruise because everyone in our tour group and been on tons of cruises and they all said that ours was the funnest they've been on. We had such amazing weather the whole time, great entertainment, the funnest ship and the funnest people in our group. I'll tell you more about them later, but all around I don't know how our next cruise will top this one!


So, where to start? Well on our way to Cape Canaveral we stopped by the Kennedy Space Center and looked around. I had never been there before so I really enjoyed that. But honestly I just couldn't wait to get to the ship and get the cruise started that I didn't pay much attention. We'll have to go back again.


Finally we pulled up to the ship and all of us were just dumbfounded. The thing was huge!!! We spent a good few hours just wandering around trying to get our bearings and see all there was to see. It was fun watching the ship set sail, and I was totally expecting to get sea sick and I didn't get sick at all- it was great!

Our first stop was Haiti. Royal Carribean owned part of the island and so that's the only part of the island we saw. We went exploring and found "Dragon's Fire", walked along the beach and then both fell asleep in hammocks! It was the definition of relaxing!


We then headed to Jamaica man. We went to Dunns River Falls and hiked up the water fall and had so much fun with all the Jamaican's. They are just as I imagined them to be and what you see in the movie's. It was "Hey man" this and "Hey man" that and "man" after every sentence. I just wanted to take one home with me! Zeb on the other hand had to disagree, he didn't love them like I did. His only reason was because they were quite pushy when trying to sell us stuff and when we were wandering the island he felt like one was going to snatch me or something. You could definately see the poverty there but it was still so beautiful!


After Dunns River Falls the driver drove us all around the island. They drive on the opposite side of the street there and it frieked us all out a little bit. Zeb called it "organized chaos" the way they drive and I couldn't agree more. Everwhere we drove looked like a rainforest with trees that reached up to the sky practically. It inspired me to write a song about it entitled "organized chaos". We'll see how it turns out :)

Perhaps one of my favorite stops was the Cayman Islands. It was unlike any of the others, it was increadibly nice, no one haggeling you for money and you could just tell they had so much money there. Here is where we swam with the stingrays and went snorkeling- it was so much fun!


Our last stop was Cozumel Mexico. We mostly just shopped and hung out there. I loved seeing main street there, it reminded me a lot of the Cayman Islands. Really nice shops, really nice people, not super pushy. It rained on us a little while we were there, but we still enjoyed it.




Besides the beautiful view of the ocean for an entire week, I think my favorite thing was just to have 8 days to not have to think about anything and be with Zeb. I also love the gratitude I feel as I travel to different places in the world. You see so many different kinds of people and cultures- all different, all unique. It really makes me grateful that I live where I live and reminds me again how much I've been blessed with!
So, I'm now planning our next cruise because now I'm addicted... dang it! I'm thinking a Mediterranean cruise! Ya!