Four Things We Loved About Our Cruise
Hi FOGTA Readers!
Last post I talked about the four things we hated about our cruise. It wasn’t all bad though. We did enjoy somethings, and we are happy that we went. Now, here are the four things we loved about our cruise. 🙂
Warning: Fewer words and a lot of pictures in this one. It may take a second for this to load if you’re reading on your phone.
The Ship Design
While we have definitely learned that the more massive ship may not be for us, the ship design was still amazing. It was a beautiful ship. We are happy that we got to see it. You can check out the deck plan and official pictures here.
The Ports of Call
The ports were the main reason we picked this cruise. We needed to stop in St. Thomas. Nassau and St. Marteen were fun stops as well.
Nassau
We had a lot of fun in Nassau. D learned about rum cake and is now obsessed with learning how to make it. This is especially funny to me because there is rum cake in St. Thomas and he has been there before. We went down the Queen’s Staircase and got lots of beautiful pictures as well. Finally got to break in my camera.
St. Thomas
Going to St. Thomas, USVI is a little different for me than others. St. Thomas is my hometown, so when we stop here on a cruise, it’s to do a quick visit with my family. It was also the first time I have been back since Hurricanes Irma and Maria had their way with the place. It’s getting better now though. My grandmother even has power now (it took over seven months for her to get power back).
Needless to say, a lot was going on.
We ended up docking at a different port than we have previously. Our cruise was too big to go to the normal one. Went to see my great aunt, grandmother, my uncles, and then went swimming. I did have to endure my great uncle saying that not having kids made me “not a woman.” I told him off the best you can tell off an old man whose driving you around. If he were in anyway tech savvy, I would have just directed him to this post and saved the energy. Sigh. To think people thought I was exaggerating about that.
All in all, it was a relatively nice, controlled family visit. Just long enough to see everyone and short enough to avoid the worse of the drama. We’re a complicated family. Although, I don’t believe there’s any other kind.
St. Maarten
I was most excited to go to St. Marteen since I have never been. We made sure to do a shore excursion where we go to both St. Marteen (the Dutch side) and Saint-Martin (the French side). Both countries share the same island.
The island got devasted by Hurricane Irma, which made landfall as a full Category 5. That is 180 mph winds slamming into an island. Entire businesses and homes got wiped out. Power was out for months. The majority of the island was damaged or destroyed.
Considering all that happened it is incredible to see it now. The foliage and trees are growing again. There is lots of re-building going on, and the cruises are helping bring revenue. When we went, it was the first time since the hurricane that they had more than two ships in a week, so they were thrilled.
Rock Climbing
One thing about Royal Caribbean is that most (if not all) or their ships have rock climbing walls. This is something I really wanted to try and after a few attempts (they were closed or had long lines) I finally got to do it. Safe to say, I SORELY underestimated how weak I am. My arms hurt for two days, but it was worth it.
D did not try it, but he did capture photos of my attempt.
The Zip Line
I have always wanted to try zip lining. Due to that, I was extremely excited that the ship had a zip line on board. However, I am also not a huge fan of heights. I am not afraid per se, but I am not comfortable with just how far away the ground is. You can fall, and that’s it. Can you believe that I am the same one who wrote that I want to go skydiving on my bucket list? Baby steps. So, with mixed feelings, I decided to try this.
Again, D did not bother to try it. He’s done it before, so he’s content. So, he was there taking pictures and providing moral support. We even timed it so I knew how long I would be freaked out. It’s about 20 seconds.
Being the Type A person I am, I went rock climbing AND ziplining within an hour of each other. Why? Because I had goals dammit. Needless to say, I did both and then passed out for a few hours. Rock climbing is physically exhausting, and zip lining is mentally exhausting. Happy I did both, but I probably should have spaced them out a bit.
So, those are the four things we loved about our cruise. While we did enjoy these things, we wouldn’t go on this cruise again. Although, we are incredibly happy and grateful for the experience. We fully realize that not everyone can do this, so to be able to, even if we didn’t have the best time, is fantastic.
Thank you for sharing your cruise experience with us readers it was exciting reading your post.-LSC
Thank you for reading! 🙂