If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw a few stories and photos from my recent cruise in the Caribbean. This was my first real vacation in a while and I definitely enjoyed the time off. Generally, when I travel, I make it a point to get good photos for the blog. So, to be honest, vacation doesn’t always feel like a vacation when there is a constant pressure to create amazing content.
For this reason, almost exclusively, I made a concious decision to not blog on this trip. The trip was kind of my boyfriend’s gift to me; since he did so well at work this year, he made it on his President’s Club trip and took me as his plus one. I know that my boyfriend doesn’t jump at the idea of helping me create content (but he does help when he can). So, to respect his hard earned trip, I left my camera at home.
It was a nice and much needed break. I didn’t have a bunch of studying stress and I felt almost no pressure to blog. Except for the occassional Instagram story, I stayed off social media almost entirely. It was the detox I knew I needed, but refused to take.
However, the lack of blogging didn’t mean that I didn’t take some photos to share and I guess I still wanted to be able to tell you guys more about the trip. So here’s a quick recap.
Puerto Rico
The trip started in Puerto Rico. We flew in the night before the ship’s departure and stayed at the Intercontinenal Hotel. We ended up enjoying a few of these extra large rum beverages before getting onboard.
On Board
I believe our ship was called the Freedom of the Seas. My favorite part might have been the free alcohol included in the trip, but the Ben and Jerry’s on board was also pretty clutch. The ship had a ton of great things to do like mini golf, a wave pool, two swimming pools, an arcade, and more! I kicked Tanner’s butt in mini-golf.
The first night pretty much consisted of drinking and mingling with Tanner’s coworkers and we definitely stayed up way past my bedtime.
St. Kitts
Day 1 was fairly relaxing after the long night of partying. We did have to wake up a bit early so we didn’t miss our excursion, but we were lucky that our first activity was pretty low-key.
After we got off the ship, we got on shuttles that drove us about 15 minutes to a private beach. We ate lunch there and stayed until about 2.
St. Lucia
Day 2 might have been my favorite day. We slept in the best we could and enjoyed a couples massage in the late morning. Following that, we showered and decided to get off the ship.
We enjoyed lunch at one of the first restaurants we stopped at and I wish I had gotten a few photos and the name of the place! It was absolutely amazing. Instead of ordering two entrees, we opted to order their Sampler which was the chef’s choice of 6 different items off the menu! Even though the items weren’t particularly intricate, everything was cooked to perfection and tasted amazing!
We decided that, if we were to go back to any of this cruise’s locations, it would be St. Lucia. The island was absolutely beautiful and we decided we need to explore it more in the future.
Antigua
Our second excursion was in Antigua on day 3. The day started with an easy walk to the top of the Great Bird Mountain (coming from the Western US, it was a pretty small hill), where we got to see the Caribbean Sea on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. It was pretty cool to see the two bodies of water meet.
The Atlantic is much harsher and colder than the Caribbean. The waves were bigger and rougher while the Caribbean was much smoother and a lot warmer.
After this, we snorkled (I forgot my GoPro, so no photos of that – sorry!) and I tried kayaking for the first time. It took a few minutes for me to get the hang of it and I had trouble letting Tanner take care of the steering, but it was still pretty fun.
So, I know, it’s not a lot. I didn’t provide a lot of tips or tricks, but I am definitely open to creating more content around a cruise, if you’d like to see it! This is my second cruise, so I’d love to know what you guys want to see! Do you want to see a cruise review? Tips for traveling on your first cruise? Let me know in the comments!
I love cruises, but I have never been to any of these islands or on these boats! St. Lucia looks like a stop I definitely have to make soon 🙂