Thursday, August 14, 2014

Cruisin' Life

Joseph and I had the most wonderful time on our Caribbean Cruise in June. We had been planning and deciphering for months prior on what we wanted to do on our last vacation. . .or if we should even take it? We are so grateful that we decided to do one more hoorah before life became more complicated!

Both he and I had been on cruises in the past with our families but it had been a while. We wanted to go somewhere new. (I love Mexico but just wasn't feeling it this time). St Lucia was one island that really struck my interest mainly because of the Pitons. We debated about doing  an inclusive resort there but are so grateful that we opted for the cruise. (I think we both would have become bored just staying at one place and wanted to see more). The cruise ended up being perfect. We had enough relaxation, adventure and entertainment to keep us happy.

Puerto Rico
We arrived a day early to Puerto Rico as we wanted a chance to see this island. We were exhausted after our flights and sadly may have taken a nap in our room for a couple of hours. We wanted to try authentic Puerto Rican food and took the advice to try a local restaurant and try Mofongo. Joseph ordered it while I went the simple route with fish. I completely missed out because it was delicious!!!! We've acquired some recipes and will hopefully be attempting to recreate it at home.

Our hotel was in a downtown area but was only 1.5 miles from old town. We decided to walk over. . .not the brightest idea. It was so hot and we were so tired!! The end result was worth it, but next time we'll take a cab. :) We visited San Cristobal Castle and ventured through some of the shops.









The Carnival Valor

We had so much fun on the cruise. . .I was lost most of the time (surprise, surprise). Joseph navigated his way through the ship without issues of course. There was so much to do including swimming, food, mini golf, ice cream, shows, ice cream, trivia, ice cream, live music, ice cream and movies by the pool. I wish we had more energy for all of the activities (I'm sure the endless stops at the soft serve ice cream machine didn't help). Yes, we were pleasantly happy.
















St Thomas
This island was just beautiful and I loved seeing all of the sail boats in the bay. We wandered around town a little bit and then took a tour up the mountains to see the views and even learn about pirates. 
























Barbados

We were planning on walking to the beach and having a lazy day here. We started on our walk when a guy stopped us (we were getting used to this). He offered to ride us to the beach and back with a little tour in between. We took him up on the offer. I feel awful now that I don't remember his name and as soon as I do, I will add him in. He was the sweetest kindest man and we enjoyed talking to him and a little sad that he was working so hard to push our lazy bums around town. The beach was beautiful and the water so nice! 




















St Lucia
This was the island that I most wanted to see and it was beautiful. The pitons were everything I expected! We booked a land/sea tour with the ship (one of the only tours I could do pregnant), where we took a bus tour through the island and were able to stop at the botanical gardens. We also got to go on a catamaran and circle the outskirts of the island. So very beautiful!!!!















 


 



 St. Kitts
I'm going to be honest, we were really tired when we made it to this island. We didn't book a tour and it was a million degrees outside. We walked around the shops and spoke with the people a little bit, but eventually went back to the ship and played around by the pool. We heard that the snorkeling was amazing on this island and probably should have taken advantage of it. It seemed so quaint and charming and I now regret not doing more. Because of our laziness, the pictures were sparse here.




St. Martin
This was by far our favorite island. The views were spectacular and the beaches were beautiful. We walked along the board walk and through the shops with the end stop being a relaxing day at the beach. I loved watching people on the jet skis and just sitting back and reading a magazine. I could have stayed there for hours longer, but Joseph can only do a few hours at a time at the beach. I was soaking it up, despite what my white skin depicted!













 It was so hard to come back home but we loved every minute of our last vacation with just the two of us. We met some great friends and are grateful for the time together. Hopefully it won't be our last!