This year for Christmas we went on a Caribbean Cruise with the Kelly's! We were looking forward to it for a long time and we had a blast! We went on the Ruby Princess ship to the Bahamas, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk. All of the islands were so beautiful and I was loving the warm weather.
(Warning: This blog post is very long and more detailed than you probably care, but I wanted to write it down so I could remember).
Day One: Ship Sendoff/At Sea
We got on the ship Sunday afternoon around 2:00. We spent the afternoon exploring the ship and pumping ourselves up for a fun week. We were both looking forward to all of the good food we were going to eat, and within one hour of being on the ship, Darrell had already had four pieces of pizza (man, I loved that pizza bar) and an ice cream cone. I don't think he slowed down all week!
One really cool thing on our ship was this huge TV on the top of the ship called "Movies Under the Stars". They showed sporting events and movies all the time. Also, we got the cup that Darrell is holding and that let us get the soda and mock tails we wanted all week long. We both loved trying the different ones they had!
Thankfully this was just a drill!
Around 4:00 pm, we set sail for the Bahamas!
That night we had a delicious dinner and went to the nightly show. We loved going to the shows all week--the performers were all very talented!
Later that night, we all jumped in the hot tub to watch the big 49ers football game (Darrell's favorite team). Unfortunately, the game didn't end as well as we would have liked, but how could you be mad when you're sitting in the hot tub on a cruise ship? The workers took such great care of us and were constantly coming around asking us if we wanted popcorn/ice cream/cookies and milk/pizza.
Day Two: The Bahamas
The next morning we woke up in the Bahamas. We went to the cruise line's private beach, Princess Cays. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect. There wasn't a dock at this port, so we took a ferry (aka a lifeboat) to the island.
They had lunch for us on the beach and we were both excited to be eating ribs on the beach in December. What more could you want?
Darrell and I went on a banana boat ride here and we had SO much fun. For some reason, I was expecting a relaxing ride, but I was so wrong. Before we left, the guys in our tug boat told us to give them a thumbs up if we wanted to go faster. Well, I don't think one of the girls (who was probably about 12) on the boat with us ever put her thumb down because we were flying! I'm pretty sure I had white knuckles when we got off from holding on so tight. They also told us that while we were turning, we were all supposed to lean into the middle. Well, at one point we were going super fast, were turning, and we hit a wake from the boat so 8 of the 11 people on flew off!! (For the record, Darrell was embarrassed he was one of them, but I somehow managed to stay on).
Courtney and Dwight were on the boat after us and it was fun to watch them from the shore!
That night was Christmas Eve and I was really happy that they had the ship decorated really nicely and did some Christmas-y things. Before dinner, the cruise director read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and then some of the crew members led people in singing Christmas carols (complete with a snow machine)!
That night there was a special "Holiday Show" where they sang more Christmas songs.
It is also tradition in the Kelly family for Dwight to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the Christmas story in Luke on Christmas Eve. After that, we headed out to the big movie screen and watched "A Christmas Story." I was so happy because that is one of my favorite holiday movies.
Day Three: At Sea (Christmas Day)
On Christmas morning, we slept in and had a big breakfast. We headed out to the pool for a little relaxation before going to the gingerbread house competition...
The competition ended up being a bust because our house was so horrible! Granted, we didn't have a whole lot to work with..
We were all getting kind of frustrated and decided to call it quits when this happened! We didn't stick around for the awards, but I am willing to guess ours earned "Worst of Show."
We headed back to the pool area and spent the rest of the afternoon in the windy sunshine! There was a Caribbean band playing and I was in my own personal paradise!
Later in the afternoon we played a little putt putt on the top of the ship.
That night was formal night and we had fun dressing up for dinner! It was a successful Christmas day.
Priscilla was especially brave in trying new foods on this trip! I admire her willingness to try, but I just couldn't bring myself to it!
Day Four: St. Maarten
For some reason, I forgot/didn't know that there were mountains on these islands, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw them from my room window this morning! I absolutely LOVED St. Maarten. Dwight really wanted to go zip lining, so as soon as we got on the island, we took a taxi to Loterie Farms to do it.
We went zip lining on our honeymoon, but this was much different because it was like a big jungle gym with tight ropes and bridges to cross. We had a blast and this was my favorite thing we did all week.
Raymond, our guide, was so funny. Did I mention it was also hard work? Hence why we are so sweaty!
After zip lining, we still had several hours before the ship left so we took another taxi back to the dock and grabbed some lunch on the ship.
Darrell mentioned that he thought it looked like our ship was wearing "stunna shades" and for the rest of the week, all I could see were sunglasses!!
After a quick lunch and changing into our swim suits, we went back on the island and took a water taxi to a beach. The water was so salty, so it was super easy to float.
Even the people in St Maarten know that Ohio State is the best!
Instead of taking the water taxi back to the ship, Darrell and I decided to walk back and stop in some of the shops along our way. It was fun to look around and I loved all of the palm trees. We also saw some mountain goats climbing the side of a mountain--I have no idea how they don't slide down!
We spent all of the cash that we had with us, so Darrell and I went and got back on the ship again to get some money because Darrell wanted a coconut smoothie! We still had an hour on the island, so we sat on a bench and listened to some steel drummers and just enjoyed the perfect weather. I love St. Maarten!
We didn't leave this port until after it was starting to get dark, so we were able to see some fireworks from the ship. We went to a really impressive magic show that night and then headed to dinner. The family seemed to eat a TON of food, but especially loved dessert. One thing that is great about being on a cruise is that if you can't decide what you want, just order both! This is what our waiter looked like bringing the desserts to us (he was so funny) and what are table looked like!
Sometimes he would bring us something extra, like more cookies, and would tell us it was compliments of his grandmother.
Darrell and his mom both developed a love for creme brulee on this cruise. I think they both ordered it every night it was on the menu. It was so funny because Priscilla would finish hers and then would try and talk Darrell into giving her his. I think this was that night that right after we finished our entree Darrell said, "You know, I think this is the first night I haven't overstuffed myself... so I can get two creme brulees!!"
That night was the "Ultimate Deck Party." We danced away some of the calories that we were eating!
Day Five: St. Thomas
We arrived at St. Thomas at 7:00 am! We wanted to take advantage of our time there, so we got up pretty early and took a taxi to Magen's Bay.
My grandma had told me about this beach because she had also gone on a cruise here. It is ranked as one of National Geographic's Top Ten Beaches and it did not disappoint. The pictures do not do it justice. Since we got there pretty early, we practically had the beach to ourselves for a bit.
It was really fun to watch the pelicans diving for fish here. I loved laying on the beach and read an entire book there!!!
After being at Magen's Bay for a few hours, we headed into town to do a little shopping. After awhile we headed back to the ship for a little afternoon snack (I told you I loved that pizza bar) and to watch us leave from St. Thomas.
That night was our second formal night (I am shocked I didn't take any pictures! I bet you are too since I obviously took a ton). We went to another show in the theater this night and then while we were waiting for dinner time, we saw this performer in the atrium. How someone develops the talent to balance all kinds of things on his face, I'm not sure. But he was entertaining.
After dinner this night, we went to a "Marriage Match" game show where they have different couples volunteer and then they ask the women questions about their husbands while they are out of the room and vice versa. It was very entertaining. After that, Priscilla, Darrell, and I listened to a Caribbean Band while we played some cards.
Day Six: Grand Turk
We didn't get to Grand Turk until about 1:00 in the afternoon, so Darrell and I had a relaxing poolside breakfast and then just stayed by the pool until we got to the island.
I think Grand Turk was probably the prettiest island that we went to.
Before we left on the cruise, we bought some snorkel gear so we could do some on our own. I'm so glad we did because snorkeling in Grand Turk was awesome. The beach we went to was more rocky, but that meant the reef started right at the shore line. Michael, Courtney, Darrell, and I spent quite a bit of time swimming around and it was so cool. We saw tons of different kinds of fish, lots of sea urchins, and even a baby shark that was sleeping under part of the rock (you better believe I took a glance at that thing and then swam away)!
After we came back in from snorkeling, Darrell, Dwight, and Michael all went out together again while Courtney and I laid on the beach and Priscilla was touring the town. They saw a barracuda on their second adventure!
(...I obviously liked the backdrop here based upon all the pictures of Darrell and I).
That night we went and saw a comedian and then went to a "Liar Show." This was basically like the game Balderdash where you have to figure out which outrageous definition is correct for a word you've most likely never heard of. It was really funny.
The entertainment continued after that and we went to the Princess Pop Star Karaoke show and there were actually quite a few good singers!
Day Seven: At Sea
On our last day at sea, they had a chocolate breakfast theme! I mean, chocolate strawberries, chocolate croissants, chocolate smoothies, chocolate chip pancakes, chocolate muffins, everything chocolate! Needless to say, it was our most healthy breakfast.
That morning, Darrell and I also went to the culinary show. The head chef showed us how he made some of the dishes and he also gave statistics about how much food they prepare every day. I wish I could remember more of them now, but one of them that stands out is that they use 13 GALLONS of mayonnaise a DAY. That's just crazy. It got me thinking about all of the food, so later that day when I got some pizza, I asked them how many pizzas they made each day.
Five hundred.
The culinary show also included a little tour of one of the kitchens. It was huge and there are fourteen on board!!
That night we made our way to the top and front of the ship and I think I almost blew away because it was so windy (thank goodness I gained some weight from all that food I'd been eating). We also went to the dinner and the farewell show. I was completely wiped out at this point, so I headed back to the room to pack up my stuff and get to bed, but Darrell and Michael stayed up to watch "The Avengers" on the movies under the stars screen.
Sadly, we had to get off the boat at about 7:30 the next morning.
Some other things I should also mention:
- We were all kind of nervous that Priscilla wasn't going to have as much fun as us because she is all beached out from living by the water, but I am pretty sure she had the most fun! She loved all the different classes, pools, and shopping! I think she is already planning her next cruise to Europe!
- Our stateroom attendant, Tom, was amazing. Priscilla and Dwight wanted to adopt him!
- Dwight LOVED the omelette station in the morning. They had a big list of all of the topping options and you could tell them what you want and about a minute later, your omelette was ready!
What a fun week we had!
A big THANK YOU to the Kelly's for this awesome Christmas present. We had so much fun and are so grateful we were able to go on this trip!
