Cruisin right along...

In April Jeff and I were able to go on a cruise. It has been almost ten years since our last cruise (we went on a cruise for our honeymoon), so we thought it was about time to cruise again.  Tyler and Rach stayed at home and Grandma R. came to watch them.

We flew to Florida the night before with Derek and Angie.  They were kind enough to let us join their cruise plans and cruise with them. We enjoyed a nice meal at crackle barrel and browsing at their store.  I liked the hat, but saved my money to do some shopping on the cruise.  Jeff and Derek enjoyed a boisterous game of chess.



The next morning we ate at Denny's: our last meal before our cruising feast.

Grammy (Derek's mom), Derek, Angie, Jamie, Jeff

A couple hours later we were on the boat! We sailed Freedom of the Seas with Royal Caribbean.

We stood on the deck and watched the boat leave the port. It was super windy.  The first day or two were actually pretty rough and bouncy.  I didn't get sea sick last time we cruised, but this time being pregnant I worried that would put me over the edge.  But I did really well and the motion didn't seem to bother me too much.

 

Our first destination was Haiti.  Royal Caribbean owned a portion of the island where cruise ship docked and we were able to enjoy laying on the beach and swimming in the ocean.  Unfortunately, fair skin does not mix well with extreme UV rays and although we were not out in the water long, Jeff got burned to a crisp.

 

 Next we sailed to Jamaica.  What an experience.  We didn't have any excursions planned, but Jeff and I got off the ship and walked around.  The first group of shops were in a gated area and after we walked around those shops, we ventured through the gates into the rest of Jamaica.  We were bombarded with people wanting to offer us a ride, to buy this or that, or to go smoke weed. After being asked by several people to go smoke after a only a block, we decided it best to turn around and walk back into the secure gates.  I have no burning desire to visit Jamaica again anytime soon.  We spend the rest of the afternoon on the ship.  Jeff climbed the rock climbing wall, we play ping pong, and explored the ship.

 

 

Next we stopped at the Cayman Islands (sorry no pictures here). And then our last stop was Cozumel.  We walked around the shops along the shore line.

 

We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant.  I, being cheap, asked for water with my meal.  Jeff told me to order a drink, but I didn't pick up the hint. So he had to say, you don't want to drink the water here, you need to order soda.

Cheers!

 

Then we went to the beach.  Here is Jeff looking a little bored.

Angie and I were brave enough to go in the beach.  The winds were pretty strong so they water brought in thousands of shreds of miniature seaweed/plant particles. After swimming in the water we realized the insides of our swimsuits were caked with these particles.  We tried to rinse off in the pool as best we could and warned others not to try the beach. 

 

 

While on the ship it seemed we were always eating.  I should have measured my waist before and after the cruise.  Baby ate pretty well while on the cruise and my stomach proved it.  We enjoyed having dinner each night with Angie, Derek, Grammy (Derek's mom), Katie and Kevin (Derek's brother and sister-in-law).  There were two formal nights that we dressed up for. 

 
 Half way through the cruise our waiter at dinner realized I was pregnant, so each night after I ordered dessert, he asked what the baby wanted for dessert....I often had two desserts!  Yum!  I was sad when the cruise was over and had to stop indulging so much.

We enjoyed the balcony in our room.  We were able to watch the ocean/world go by.  We saw dolphins, flying fish, and a sea turtle.  We also enjoyed sitting on our balcony and reading. I completed 2 books while on vacation (I can't seem to find time to pick up a book and read at home, so that was a nice treat).

 

We also enjoyed our towel creatures on our bed each night.  This one I thought was the cutest:

 I don't know if others are like us, but it seems before our vacation ends, we are planning/dreaming of our next vacation.  Four years ago when Jeff and I were in Rome, Italy we decided for our next vacation, we wanted a relaxing cruise.  While on the cruise we decided upon our next 2 vacations. The first a mini vacation: drive down the California coast line and stay in a couple bed and breakfasts.  When baby #3 is a little older, we would like to go to London, England.  As far as another cruise, we decided it was fun, but we have done the Caribbean twice.  When we cruise again, we want to go to Europe and have the cruise take us to different countries (i.e Greece or Scandinavia/Russia).  So we guess our next cruise won't be for a long, long time...maybe in another 10 years.  :)