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!

On our second day of the cruise, Sunday, May 17, my mom and I woke up in Half Moon Cay, the Bahamas! This is Carnival’s private island and it is an incredibly beautiful place.

We had to meet for our excursion at 9 a.m., so we got up around 7:30, got ready, and headed up to the lido deck for breakfast.

A little after 9 a.m., we were taken by tender boat into Half Moon Cay and waited for our excursion tour guide to call us. We had booked a bike and hike tour for the morning and would have plenty of time to enjoy the beach afterward. So, we got our helmets, found the bikes we wanted to use, and then proceeded to begin the tour.

No less than thirty seconds into the ride (I mean, we seriously hadn’t even biked past the area where the bikes were kept), my mom hit an uneven spot in the road and fell off her bike and into the wooded area next to the road. It was so scary! I immediately threw my bike to the side and went to help. She had to have help getting up because these woods were sloped downward, so she couldn’t even figure out how to get up herself! Oh, boy.

When she got out of the woods (ha), we discovered the right side of her face was bleeding, so we had to go immediately to the medic to get it cleaned up, which meant we wouldn’t be able to continue with the excursion. We were bummed, but I was just glad my mom was relatively okay! She had a cut on the side of her face near her eye (and she eventually got a black eye), a cut on her arm, and then bruises on her legs. And also a major headache, which is understandable!

What followed was honestly one of the worst parts of the cruise. See, the problem was that we left one of our bags in a locked container by the bike location. This bag had our swimsuits and coverups, so there wasn’t a whole lot we could do in our workout gear! (Plus, we had to stay nearby the excursion place to get our bag back once the tour finished!) We got a drink at the bar and people-watched before walking over to the bike location to wait for the tour to end and retrieve our bag.

The tour ended up finishing 30 minutes past the time we thought it would (due to it getting started later because of Mom’s injury!), and then the tour guide lost the key to the container and we had to wait another 30 minutes for them to find it.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you know it will just be a small snippet of time in the grand scheme of things but when you’re in the moment it just feels like it will never end and you’ll be stuck in that moment forever?

Yeah. That’s what these hours felt like. The time just went on forever; it felt endless and annoying and frustrating. I felt like we were wasting away the short time we got to have in Half Moon Cay. I wanted to explore! (I probably wasn’t at my nicest at this point in time either. I’m a real brat sometimes, I must admit.)

Finally, though, the key was found, our bag was recovered, and our first order of business was going to the BBQ lunch (which was FREE since Carnival hosted it. Wahoo!) The lunch was okay, but since we got there so late (the barbecue started at 11:30, but we didn’t get there until after 1), there wasn’t much in the way of offerings.

After scarfing down lunch, my mom and I changed into our swimsuits and went to explore the beach! Since Half Moon Cay is a private island, there isn’t a whole lot to do, aside from the beach and excursions through the cruise ship, but I was really excited to spend a few hours relaxing on the beach after my stressful morning/afternoon. We actually managed to score a covered cabana. We swam in the ocean, in water so clear that you didn’t even need a snorkel to see fish and other sea life. We don’t have water like that in Florida, that’s for sure! And the water just felt… clean. Whenever I swim in the beaches near me, I always feel a bit gritty, but I felt so refreshed after the dip in the waters of Half Moon Cay.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about being on a private island, but I loved it. I wasn’t too impressed with the Bahamas when I went last year (we stopped in Freeport and Nassau), but HMC completely changed my opinion. It was nice to have an island that was solely for cruise guests. It felt really safe and it was nice that it was just us. And HMC is also stunningly beautiful. I would go back in a heartbeat!

After our swim, we relaxed for a while on the beach before heading back to the ship, since the ship would be leaving port soon. (And I’m an anxious freak and must be back on board an hour before we’re supposed to be. Seven cruises in and I’m still scared of being left behind!) It was around 3:30 at this point, so we took showers, played a few rounds of cards, and then took naps! We’d had such a crazy day and had been in the sun for most of it, so we were really worn out.

That night, we got ready for dinner earlier than usual because we wanted to see the comedy show beforehand. My mom and I have found that we don’t really enjoy the “adults only” comedy shows because they are just… not to our taste. They can be a little vile, I’ll just say. (And let’s be honest: you don’t really want to sit and listen to sex jokes when sitting next to your mom!) Thankfully, they have a clean comedy show that’s for all ages nightly, which is the kind of comedy we enjoy! This comedian was pretty good (we already had a taste of his type of humor the previous night at the Welcome Aboard show) and there were laughs all around!

After watching the comedy show, we hightailed to the dining room for dinner! We enjoyed a very yummy dinner (I had a super delicious steak dish that I wish I could eat again!) and then explored the ship afterward.

And, since we are not very exciting people (well, I’m not. My mom definitely is!), we went back to the room, read for a bit, and then it was lights out at 11:30! I was really looking forward to the next day since it was a day at sea. I needed a calm, relaxing day!

We left on our cruise – the seventh one for both of us – on Saturday, May 16. We had driven to Boca Raton the previous day, staying in a hotel (overrun by school-age boys who looked like they were competing in some sort of lacrosse match) and driving to Miami in the morning. While we could have driven up on Saturday, it’s a 5-hour drive and would have meant rushing around on Saturday morning. This way, we could wake up leisurely, have breakfast, and make the one-hour trip to Miami with ease.

Getting to the port and checking in was a breeze. We got there around 11:30 with all the other early birds, and it was probably 30 minutes from the time we got to the port to the time we entered the ship for the first time. Such a smooth process!

Since we didn’t have access to our room until 1:30, we found a spot on the lido deck and grabbed lunch from Guy’s Burger Joint. It was already pretty busy!

Around 1:20, we decided to make our way to our room and relax inside until it was time for the safety demonstation, which is usually around 3:30. Our luggage got delivered during this time and I unpacked while my mom slept (she wasn’t feeling too good at this point in time and I was worried about her!)

At 3:20, we left our room to head to our muster station, which was easy to find and thankfully, the safety demonstration didn’t take all too long! Afterward, we went up to the Serenity Deck for the rest of the afternoon. We got fruity drinks and watched the ship set sail from Miami! Eventually, people started leaving to get ready for dinner, so we were able to score a cabana where I took the most wonderful nap.

Around 6:30, we left to get ready for dinner. We decided on the late dining time again, but next cruise, I think I’m going to opt for early dining, just because we miss out on a lot of great shows with late dining.

I was really, really nervous about our dinner mates on this cruise. On our cruise last year, my mom and I were seated with a couple that we just didn’t mesh well with. Dinners were very awkward and we even opted for the buffet one night, just to avoid another awkward dinner with them! Well, I am happy to report that our dinner mates this cruise were AMAZING. They were so friendly and personable, which made the dinners so much fun.

We sat with two sisters, one of whom was around my age and the other a little bit older; two brothers who were around my mom’s age; two friends, also around my mom’s age; and also a mom and her daughter and her daughter’s friend, although they only came to the first dinner and then switched to the earlier dining time. It was a great group and we had lots of good laughs and conversation.

After dinner, my mom and I walked over to the Amber Palace, which is where all the shows happened. We watched the “Welcome Aboard” show, though it was less like a show and more like the cruise director talking about the shows. Hmm. We did get to see the two comedians on the ship do their bits! They were hilarious! (Especially because there was this stodgy old man sitting in the front row with his arms crossed, not finding anything they said funny… so of course, the comedians heckled him a bit.)

After the show, Mom and I went back to our room, got comfy in our jammies, read for a bit, and then went to bed around 11:30. Tomorrow, we had a busy day planned in Half Moon Cay – bike riding and hiking!