Our final day of the cruise was Friday, May 22 and I was looking forward to having an extremely relaxing day at sea. While there were a few things we wanted to do around the ship, we definitely wanted to keep the day low-key and easy. Our vacation had been a crazy one filled with injuries, and we needed to end the trip on a calm note!

One of the things I’ve always wanted to do on a cruise, but rarely make the time for, is watch the sunrise. So, on this last day of vacation, we woke up before 6am and hurried up to the top deck of the ship to watch the sun rise above the ocean.

It was so quiet on the ship at this time of the morning! Within just a few hours, the decks would be packed with people, but right then, there were just a handful of cruisers up to enjoy the sunrise. It was a cloudy morning, so we didn’t get the best view, but it was still spectacular and I was happy I got up early to see it!

After viewing the sunrise, my mom went for a short run on the jogging track while I found a comfy chair and read my book. Then, we went back to the room where I promptly went right back to sleep for 3 hours. Ha!

After our morning siesta (there is something so decadent about a morning nap, I must say!), my mom and I made our way to the dining room to have brunch.

Afterward, we strolled around the ship for a while. One of the shops was having a jewelry sale at a certain time and my mom and I thought we would stick around and try to get something, but it quickly got crowded and crazy. And we realized we don’t even particularly like jewelry, so why were we doing this anyway? Isn’t it funny how stuff like that happens? You buy something just because it’s on sale… but the item you bought isn’t even something you really want. I’m glad I didn’t buy anything at this sale because I’m 100% sure I wouldn’t have worn whatever I purchased since then. (Not a jewelry girl at all!)

We decided to head up to the Serenity Deck for some fun in the sun, but it was seriously hot, hot, hot. It was around 11:30-noon at this point, which is the time of the day when the sun is the hottest. I think we only lasted an hour before we had to go back inside because we got overheated.

We went back to the room and played a few rounds of cards before heading to Amber Palace to participate in BINGO! In all the cruises I’ve been on, bingo is something I’ve always wanted to do but never have. Mainly because it costs money to participate. But we decided to check it out and, if it wasn’t too expensive to play, we’d go for it.

Luckily, it only cost $20 for the cheapest package. Of course, they try to upsell you the more expensive packages, but we stuck with the cheapo one that only included one sheet per game. (Some of the others had multiple sheets per game, raffle tickets, etc.)

And wouldn’t you know it – our first time playing bingo, we buy the cheapest package, and my mom WINS one of the games! She won the third game, which meant she won $150! Isn’t that NUTS?! My mom seriously has crazy luck with stuff like this. On a cruise she took a few years back with her fiance, she won $800 on the slot machine in the casino.

Winning bingo meant everything she spent on the ship was basically FREE. Playing the game, all her drinks, everything she bought in the gift shop. Free, free, free. (I think she even had some money left over, too.)

After the excitement that was bingo, I got ravenously hungry. It was close to 4pm at this time, which meant the buffets were closed. I got a few slices of pizza, we bought cookies from the bakery, and sat at a table inside to eat.

After that, we had a slow wind-down for the rest of our day! We took showers, started packing up our stuff, got ready for dinner, and then went to see a comedy show. (My favorite set of the entire cruise. I was in tears!) We went to dinner and then decided to go back to the room afterward instead of partaking in any of the nightly entertainment. We finished packing, played some cards, and went to bed early.

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And that’s it for my vacation recaps! Whew. Three weeks of recapping a vacation seem like overkill, but I truly love writing these posts and reading back through them over the years. I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and that’s okay. Regular posting will resume next week. After what is essentially over a month of irregular blog posting, my brain is buzzing with ideas for what I want to write about. I can’t wait to get back into it! 🙂

Our sixth day of the cruise was Thursday, May 21 and we were in Grand Turk, one of the largest islands on Turks and Caicos Island.

We didn’t book an excursion for this port, so we had the whole day to ourselves to do whatever we wanted. Since my ankle was still very swollen and painful to walk on, all we planned to do was some touristy shopping and spend time in the huge swimming pool located a short walk from the cruise ship terminal.

And that’s what we did! We left the ship a little after 11am and walked right over to the pool for a relaxing afternoon of swimming and sunbathing.

After a few hours in the sun, we started to get hungry, so we packed it in and walked over to Margaritaville for lunch. This was the only restaurant I have ever been to where customers could walk around barefoot clad only in a bathing suit and still get service. It was a strange sight to see, haha!

After lunch, we walked around all the shops in the port. My mom wanted to get something for her fiance, as well as for my nephews, and I was hoping to find a shirt I liked, so we eventually ended up in a touristy shop that had exactly what we were looking for. I bought a bright pink shirt with “Turks and Caicos 1492” emblazoned on the side and was happy with my one souvenir purchase of the trip. (I also bought a few things in the Carnival gift shop, including a ship magnet and water cup.)

A little after 4, we made our way back to the ship since it would be setting sail within the hour. We took showers and decided to get ready early because we had a few things around the ship we wanted to do before it was time for dinner.

First, we went to the casino where my mom ended up winning $30 on a $26 bet on the slots. (I won $0 on a $5 bet…) Yay, her!

Second, we found a great spot outside to take some pictures of the sunset. This is one of the things I really wanted to do before the end of the cruise, and it was a pretty one to see!

And our last item on the to-do list was to see a comedy show! We saw a new comedian who was really, really funny. I really liked how we ended up seeing so many new comedians on this ship (four!) and each one had a really funny set.

We slipped out of the show a wee bit early so we could make it to dinner on time. Dinner was wonderful and delicious and fun, but I was pretty much ready to go back to the room once it was over. I was starting to feel some… vacation fatigue? Is that a thing? I think by day six, I was over vacation. I wanted to be home and I missed Dutch so, so, so, SO much. There was some good nightly entertainment, but all I really wanted to do was ice my ankle, read, and go to bed. Which is exactly what we did!

Tomorrow would be our last full day on the cruise and it was an at-sea day. I was looking forward to a relaxing last day of what turned out to be a super crazy vacation!

Our fifth day of the cruise was Wednesday, May 20 and we were in San Juan, Puuuuuerto Ricooooo!

I was so excited for Puerto Rico. I’ve wanted to visit this island for a long time (I’ve heard nothing but great things!) and we had a really fun excursion planned: zip-lining!

Our excursion started early in the morning (7:45 a.m.), so we woke up around 5am so we had time to shower and have breakfast before meeting with our excursion guide.

We traveled by taxi bus to Hacienda Campo Rico, where we would be zip lining. This place was gorgeous and so, so different from the hustle and bustle of San Juan. It was lush and abundant with greenery. Hacienda Campo Rico used to be a sugarcane field, but is now an adventure spot, where people can zip line, ride ATVs, or go horseback riding. It’s incredibly beautiful and I felt like I was in an entirely different world!

We met with our tour guides, all of whom were super friendly and personable, and they got us suited up for the adventure. Then, we had a 15-minute safety demonstration on the correct form for zip lining before making our way up the first platform. Before I knew it, I was clipped into the line and pushed off into the air!

It was just. so. much. darn. fun. I felt so free and alive and happy. I was hollering the whole time, enjoying the feeling of flying through the air.

The second zip line was really cool because my mom and I could ride tandem! My mom was in the front and I wrapped my legs around her from behind and off we went! (By this time, it was pouring rain so that part wasn’t so enjoyable!) But zip lining tandem was pretty fun itself!

Then it was time to cross our first two rope bridges. I didn’t realize how unstable these bridges were, but they were very shaky and you had to go slow with them. Thankfully, for extra safety, we clipped a part of our harness to a line above the rope bridge so if we did end up falling, we’d just hang there.

After that, it was time to hike! This was the part I was most nervous about because I had heard the terrain was very uneven, and I was hoping I was in good enough shape to keep up with everyone. I don’t like hiking (the only other time I have hiked, I fell and broke my ankle, so we don’t have a great relationship), so I wasn’t excited about this part, especially as it was muddy and a bit slippery and just felt very dangerous.

Thankfully, both Mom and I got through the first hike with relative ease and then it was back to zip lining! We went through two different lines and it was just awesome. The views were breathtaking, and flying through the air on a zip line is an experience like no other!

After this, we had another hike to do to get to the next zip line.

Annnd… this is where it all fell apart for me. This hike was extremely treacherous. I’m talking about climbing over big rocks and over huge tree roots. In one section, while climbing over a huge rock, I simply stepped wrong, felt my ankle turn sideways, heard it snap, and slipped. Sigh. It hurt like hell, but I convinced myself I was okay and kept going.

I didn’t say anything to the tour guides at this point. I didn’t want to stop the course, I didn’t want the attention on me, and I just wanted to pretend everything was fine and I didn’t injure myself. (I like to live in a state of denial, I guess.)

So I kept going. I made it through another zip line and two rope bridges, and nobody but my mom was the wiser. She could tell I was seriously hurting, but I kept telling myself (and her) that I was okay. That my ankle was fine.

Then, it was time for another hike. NO. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!

Since honesty is my policy here, I’ll admit it: I had a meltdown. Thankfully, the terrain was a little more even (no rocks to climb over or tree roots to avoid stumbling on), but it was super steep. I got through the first steep climb and then when I saw we weren’t even close to the next zip line, I had what could be called a tantrum or a panic attack. You decide.

I couldn’t breathe, I started crying, and I just kept saying, “I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” I think I mentioned how terrible this excursion was, which I know hurt my mom’s feelings because this was the one excursion she chose. (And I didn’t mean it. Aside from the stupid hikes, it was an amazing excursion.) I just couldn’t handle the pain and the disappointment of getting hurt any longer. And my adrenaline was beginning to wear off and my foot was throbbing. It was just so incredibly painful to put any weight at all on my right foot.

Somehow, I kept moving and we made it to the next zip line. I sat down on a bench next to the zip line, and this is when I told one of the tour guides that I had hurt my ankle. He was super, super, super nice, and comforting. Honestly, I can’t say enough how amazing these tour guides were when they found out about my injury. They made certain I wanted to continue and then did everything they could to make the rest of the excursion go as smoothly as possible.

We went through another zip line (gah, so amazing. I love zip lining so much. The rush I get from it is undeniable.) and then another rope bridge (also loved these rope bridges. They were SO fun!). And then it was time for the last hike of the excursion – woohoo!

And, since the guides knew about my injury, one of the guides personally escorted me down! He held my hands, told me to grip his shoulder as hard as I needed to when I had to step downwards, and made sure my foot didn’t slip when walking downhill by forming a barrier with his foot. And! He did it all backward! Very impressive. And, um, I sorta didn’t mind being escorted down. (Bow chicka wow wow)

And then we were at the last zip line – the longest one at over 1,000 feet. It was a phenomenal ride, even if I did get whacked by a tree halfway through, ha.

When I came to the last platform, the guide took off all my gear and then sat me down at a table in the cantina. I elevated my foot and eventually was given an ice pack and ace bandage.

In the photo above, you can see how muddy my shoes got… and the fact that I’m putting no weight on my right foot at all. 

So, how do I feel about the excursion, treacherous hiking and sprained ankle and all? It is one I would 100% recommend! Yes, I would still recommend it, even if it was a bit of a rough one for me. You need to be in decent shape due to all the hiking, but the incredible zip lines and fun rope bridges made the experience so worthwhile.

After the excursion ended, we went back to the ship to take showers (we were so muddy!) Then, because my ankle was feeling a little better, we decided to do a little exploring. First, we needed lunch (and my mom told me I needed some alcohol to numb my ankle pain, ha) so we stopped at Senor Frogs for a quick bite to eat (… and a yard of alcohol) Then, we walked around the city a bit, but didn’t see as much of it as we liked because of my slow hobbling and only having a short amount of time before the boat was to leave.

We got back on the ship around 2:30 and the rest of the day was pretty low-key for us since I needed to stay off my ankle as much as possible. Our afternoon was spent napping, and then once we woke up, we had dinner in the dining room (where I proceeded to get lots of sympathy for my sprained ankle, ha!) and went to see the Love and Marriage Show (one of my favorite shows of the cruise). Afterward, we poked around the gift shop before going back to the room for cards, reading, and bed.

Our fourth day of the cruise was Tuesday, May 19 and we were in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.! This was my first time in St. Thomas and I would go back in a heartbeat. Such an incredibly beautiful island with the most breathtaking views.

In St. Thomas, we docked at a later time (I think 9.am.) and our excursion didn’t start until 10:45 a.m., so we were able to have a slow morning. I woke up on my own at 8 a.m., took a shower, and got ready for the day. A little before 10 a.m., we went up to the lido deck for breakfast.

We left the ship right after breakfast and met with our excursion group. By 10:45, we were making our way by taxi bus to the marina.

I’ll be completely honest: I was really anxious about this excursion. I’m not much of a thrill-seeker in general, but I always like pushing past what is comfortable and trying new things. And especially when I’m on vacation! I don’t want to spend the day at the beach – I want to do something out of the ordinary! And driving a speed boat for the first time in an unfamiliar place? Definitely out of the ordinary!

I was anxious about handling the boat, about everyone speeding past me and being left behind, about my mom falling out of the boat. About everything I could worry about, really. Thankfully, I was immediately put at ease when I met our tour guides, Sam and Travis. Before we even turned on our speed boats, we were given a lengthy safety demonstration and learned the hand signals we would use to signal if something was wrong. And nobody gets left behind because while Sam lead us to the snorkeling cove in his speed boat, Travis was the caboose, making sure everyone was okay.

So! Speed boating. OMG – so much fun! I’ve jet-skied twice before, but it’s been a really long time (at least 10 years!), and I kinda forgot how amazing it is to fly across the water. I quickly figured out the controls on the boat – how to speed up, slow down, turn, etc. – and I just started flying. I could have driven that boat for hours. It was so much fun! I never wanted our time in the water to stop.

I was hollering and “woohoo”-ing the whole time because I was having such a blast and couldn’t believe I was so lucky to spend a random Tuesday morning doing something like this. I felt so alive! And free! And happy!

Eventually, we wound up in Christmas Cove, which is where our snorkeling adventure would happen.

(Excuse some of the lower-quality photos. I used an old-timey film camera that came in a waterproof case for the pictures at Christmas Cove.)

This was only my second time snorkeling if you can believe that. The last time I went snorkeling was on my first cruise, but my mom isn’t a fan so we usually opt for other excursions. But my mom was game for trying to snorkel again, and this excursion sounded too cool to pass up!

Unfortunately, my mom never mastered the process of breathing with a snorkel, so she mainly just swam around with me and would dive down deep into the ocean to take closer pictures when we found something cool.

For me, the snorkeling was so much fun and it just makes me more interested in doing more of it (and scuba diving is totally on my bucket list now!) We didn’t see too much interesting sea life. We saw a sea turtle, a sting ray, sea urchins, and some fish. We also saw some beautiful coral reefs, but the pictures I took do them no justice. (Darn you, film camera!)

After about 45 minutes, it was time to head back to the marina, so we all climbed back into our speed boats and started the journey back. Though the guides said the waters were very calm today, it felt a little bumpy to me (and especially so for my mom, who was in the back of the speed boat, and so caught much more of the movement). It was still super fun and I wish we could have done more of the boating. I was having a blast jumping over the waves and speeding through the water. AH! It makes me that much more anxious to rent a jet ski for a few hours sometime soon. (It is on my Tampa Bay Project list, after all!)

After we got back to the marina, we were given rum punches to round out the excitement of the day. I only drank half of mine and threw the rest out because I didn’t particularly like it (too strong for me!) and it’s probably a good thing I did because much of my excursion counterparts were a weeeee bit tipsy during the ride back to the cruise terminal. Ha!

Once we were dropped off at the terminal, Mom and I decided to head back to the ship to change our clothes before heading back out to scope out the rest of St. Thomas. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot to see and it started pouring down rain, so we decided to just go back after just 30 minutes.

Once back on the ship, we ate a late lunch (pizza for me, Guy’s Burgers for Mom) and then played a round of mini golf on the top of the ship. We had the most amazing view for the game, and my mom just demolished me.

After mini golf, it was back to the room for showers and naps, which was just the most divine way to spend the rest of our afternoon, if I do say so myself!

The rest of our night was very low-key! We woke up, got ready, and went to the dining room for dinner. (Below you’ll see my dessert – a s’mores parfait – which was my favorite dessert of the cruise!)

We had an early start to our day tomorrow (our excursion started at 7:45!), so we decided to forego the nightly entertainment for an early bedtime. (I’m nothing if not exciting, haha!)

Our third day of the cruise was Monday, May 18, and it was an at-sea day! We desperately needed a calm, relaxing, peaceful day after the crazy that was the previous day.

I woke up around 9 a.m. but my mom was fast asleep, so I took my time getting ready before waking her up and forcing her to accompany me to brunch. 🙂

We ate brunch in the dining room and toasted each other with mimosas. The brunch was okay (I ordered a bagel and an omelet), but not outstanding. (I’m also not much of a breakfast person, so take that as you will.)

After brunch, we made our way outside to the Serenity Deck, which is located at the top of the ship. We found chairs, lathered on the sunscreen, and spent the next few hours relaxing in the sun. So divine! I read for a bit, played some games on my iPad, and then listened to a podcast. After a few hours, my mom and I took turns on the water slide (which was awesome!) and cooled off a bit in the pool.

 

A little after 1:30, we decided to pack it up and head down to the lido deck for lunch. We both opted for a burger and fries from Guy’s (gosh, so good! I miss it!) and watched the Hairy Chest competition while eating. (Not as gross as it may sound, haha!)

After our meal, we decided to head up to the room to get out of the sun. I had missed a few spots with my sunscreen and was already developing sunburn in those areas, so I needed to get inside! We played a few rounds of cards and then decided to take naps. Ah, glorious!

We woke up around 5:30 because we wanted to do a quick workout before dinner. We attempted to go for a walk around the jogging track but it was just too windy for my liking, so after just a few minutes, we found our way to the gym. I’m not sure what it was, but the minute I stepped into the gym, I felt this nostalgia for the gym environment. I didn’t realize how much it filled me with excitement to work out! There was just this energy flowing through the whole place. I definitely want to join a gym here in Tampa because you just don’t get that kind of energy from a tiny apartment gym – at all!

I used the stationary bike for 20 minutes and whew, was it harder than the stationary bike I have at home! Their level 1 resistance felt like what an 8 or 9 is with my regular bike. (I’m not sure what that means – is my bike at home too easy? Is the bike at the cruise gym too hard?) It was nice to bike with a beautiful view, though!

After our workout, we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. Tonight was elegant night, which meant dressing all fancy!

 

And dinner was fun! I really enjoyed our dinners on the cruise. The food was delicious and the company was outstanding. After our terrible dinner mates on our last cruise, I did not take this group for granted. It was so nice to have a personable group that got along so well!

After dinner, my mom and I went out to the lounge area to have fancy portraits taken.

We took two different sets of pictures – one in front of a cruise ship background and the other on a “fainting couch” with a plain white background. When we saw the pictures the following day, I was not expecting to love any of them. (I typically hate pictures of myself!) But I loved them all. Two of the pictures in particular really stood out for me and I hemmed and hawed about buying them. The only problem is that ONE 8×10 is $22. At the end of the day, the cost was just too much for a picture I’d probably never put up in my home. As much as I loved the pictures, I couldn’t justify the price. Womp, womp.

After taking pictures, we headed back up to the room, played a few rounds of cards, read for a bit, and then it was lights out at 11:45. Tomorrow would be a super fun day – speed boating and snorkeling in St. Thomas!