I’m not sure why, but I was more excited to visit Cozumel than Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman is a beautiful island and gave off a nice, relaxed, island vibe that felt so different from the rushed craziness of my city. But there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between the States and Grand Cayman, at least in Georgetown. So I was excited to visit Mexico and be on its soil.

When we got to our cabin on departure day, we had a note saying that the excursion we had previously scheduled had been canceled. (We had planned on a tour of the city, along with lunch and shopping at a mall.) So we had to choose something else. For me, the Mayan Ruins intrigued me the most. Looking back, I wish I had done another snorkeling or sea excursion, but at that time, I didn’t know how I would feel about the snorkeling experience and wanted to do something completely different.

I think my favorite part of Mexico was being there. I kept thinking, “I’m in Mexico!” It felt surreal. I had heard about Mexico, learned about Mexico, knew where it was on a map (don’t be jealous of my awesome geography skillz!), but being there was incredible. I snapped picture after picture of the island as we drove by bus to our destination, enthralled by the difference between where I lived and seeing words on storefronts that I had only seen in textbooks before.

I have a lot to say about the excursion, which was broken into two parts: a tour of the Mayan Ruins and then lunch and an hour at Playa Azul before going back to our starting point. For now, enjoy some photos of Cozumel.

Our excursion in the Cayman Islands included two stops: swimming with the stingrays in Stingray City and snorkeling amongst coral reefs and fish. I was super stoked about the snorkeling. I purchased an underwater camera for this very reason: to take incredible shots of underwater life.

Well, that didn’t happen.

Let me back up. After leaving Stingray City, we sailed for another 10-15 minutes to get to deeper water where the coral reefs were. On this journey, we were the only boat around so it was a little scary. (But there were also 50 people with us – so, really, not that scary at all!) I had to put on my flippers, grab a mask and snorkel, and hop into the water. It wasn’t easy, but that didn’t even come close to being the hard part.

I guess I should mention that I’ve never snorkeled before. Not even in a pool. Basically, I had no idea what I was doing. I pulled down my mask, inserted the breathing part-thing into my mouth, and stuck my head in the water… only to come up sputtering 5 seconds later as salt water made its way down the snorkel tube and into my mouth.

Blech.

I hate salt water with a passion. It’s the main reason I’m not the biggest fan of the beach. Well, that and the fact that sand gets everywhere.

It took me a while to get used to the snorkel and how to use it properly to actually swim with it. My throat felt raw from all the salt water I had choked up and for a while, I was not a happy camper.

But I got used to it and learned how to snorkel and became a pro in no time. The strap from my camera fell off somewhere so I had a fun time taking a picture and winding the film with one hand, while keeping the other hand firmly grasped on my upright snorkel. I had a few pictures with finger shots, but they turned out pretty good. For an underwater film camera.

I think the most disappointing thing was the lack of fish around. At most, I saw around 20? I was expecting to see a lot more! The coral reefs were amazing, though, and the whole experience was simply awesome so I’ll take what I can get. I mean, I snorkeled in the Cayman Islands! For a girl whose biggest adventure thus far was skiing in Virginia… well, this took the cake.

We had about 35 minutes to snorkel and I could have used another 20-30 minutes. Once I got good at the snorkel part, I was happily swimming everywhere, exploring the world beneath me. It’s pretty amazing to think of what a world there is beneath the sea. After a while, I looked up and saw about half our group was already in the boat and my mom and I had ventured pretty far away (farther than I would have liked!). So we high-tailed back as fast as we could with flippers on our feet and masks on our faces.

It was an amazing excursion, one I highly recommend. I wish I had chosen another snorkeling excursion for Cozumel, but I wanted two totally different experiences. After snorkeling, we got back into the boat and to Georgetown, where my mom and I indulged in a Cayman Island delight – Dairy Queen! 😉 Yes, we are cultured folks. (To be honest, it was the only place where we could find a bathroom but we also had to buy something!)

As for purchases, my mom bought a keychain but that’s all we got. Shopping in the Cayman Islands was not a good experience, at all! I don’t think they’ve ever heard of the phrase customer service, shown as a worker began putting up magnets on a display as I was perusing it! I mean, really? That couldn’t wait another two minutes? Sigh.

Our time in Grand Cayman was short, but incredible. I would definitely go back again for all the fun excursions there are. My tablemates (the family of three) went on a dolphin excursion that sounded divine. Swimming with dolphins? I’m up for that!

We arrived in Grand Cayman early on Monday morning. My mom and I had to meet up at 8:15 a.m. for our tour so we woke up around 6:00 a.m. to shower and eat breakfast before we had to leave for the day. We were taken by tender to the island since they dropped anchor in the middle of the ocean. We entered Grand Cayman and we were told where to wait for our tour. Since it was around 8:30 at this time, we didn’t want to waste time shopping so we just waited around in anxious anticipation.

A little after 9:00 a.m., we were taken to our bus! We drove through Georgetown, Cayman Islands to get to the boat that would take us to our adventure. I would love to return to this island one day and actually get a glimpse of the real Cayman Islands. This was Tourist City! It was still completely wonderful to be in an entirely different place than I had ever been and experience island life, even for just a little while.

There were about 50 people in our tour, but it honestly didn’t feel like that many. There were a few mom-daughter combos, some families with children, and a handful of college-aged/twenty-something groups of friends. We entered a double-decker boat that would take us to Stingray City, our first stop on our tour. Stingray City is awesome. If you’re ever in Grand Cayman, you must visit. There were probably 4-5 other boats visiting in addition to us and the stingrays were everywhere.

Stingrays get a bad rap, I must say. Every time I mention I went swimming with stingrays, people say how they would never do that and want to know how aggressive they were. In talking with our tour guide, he named a specific stingray type that is the most aggressive (I forget the name) but the ones we were swimming with were not. These rays lose their stingers the moment they sting someone and it takes 18 months for them to grow back. That’s a long time to be without your biggest defense mechanism. So they are very careful with those puppies, only using them when absolutely needed. Plus, these rays are very domesticated since people are visiting them every day. My tour guide used words like “cuddly” and “lovable” to describe the rays we were swimming with. Hehe.

Two of the guides came into the water with us and were so great with letting us take pictures and actually play with the rays. Some of the things I did:

• Kissed a stingray. Multiple times. No tongue, though. I didn’t know him well enough.
• Saw the mouth of a stingray – and laughed my butt off when one of them squirted water at my mom.
• Got a stingray back massage. Basically, the guide would rub my back with the sting ray. Slimy, yes, but oh-so-awesome, as well.
• Held a stingray. (I held a ray that was missing its stinger. I’m really not all that brave.) They are much heavier than expected but just as slippery as you would think.
• Touched the stingrays. Many times.
• Swam. With. Sting. Rays. Does it get any better than that?

All in all, it was wonderful and one of the best experiences of the trip. I bought an underwater camera for this exact excursion and I’m so glad I did. I was able to capture some amazing pictures of our stingray experience. If you ever find yourself on the Cayman Islands (or on a cruise ship and you’re looking for excursions) do a sting ray excursion. I wasn’t all too excited about swimming with stingrays, but it turned out to be amazing. You definitely won’t regret it.

This cruise was amazing. Fantastic. Exhilarating. Fun. Action-packed. Relaxing.

Everything I wanted.

I had two choices for my graduation gift: a cruise or a trip to New York. No brainer for me. I wanted to go on a cruise! There are so many positives with taking a cruise (provided you’re not prone to seasickness) but I think the major reason is all you get for one standard price. A beautiful room, fancy meals, all-you-can-eat buffets, and the chance to visit some amazing countries.

I thought about recapping all my adventures throughout the trip but I imagine those would be more interesting to me than you. Instead, I want to recap my time on the ship, my excursions in Grand Cayman and Cozumel, and an overall rating of the cruise ship/experience. I’m not lying when I saw I want to go on another cruise this year. How possible is it, I don’t know. (And Krysten and I have already been talking about a bloggers cruise. This will happen.)

Getting to the port and onto the ship was a relatively easy experience. We got onto the ship itself sometime around 2:00 pm, two hours before departure, on Saturday. Our cabin was more spacious than I imagined but we were more excited to check out the ship and watch our departure from Tampa!

We booked an ocean-view room and it was a great decision. As much as a suite or balcony room would’ve been nice, they are pricey, so an ocean-view room is the next best thing. I couldn’t imagine waking up, on a cruise ship, and not having a way of looking out of your cabin window! The views are magnificent and it’s incredible to watch as your ship pulls into an island. Watching our ship pull into Grand Cayman after seeing nothing but ocean for a day and a half was more incredible than I ever expected. (Although watching us pull into Tampa was not as incredible.)

Our most-coveted spot on the boat was the Serenity Now deck. Located at the back of the ship, it was the perfect peaceful setting. The deck was 21+ and we were told by other people it might be a clothing optional deck. I’m happy to report it is not. Instead, it was a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the lido deck. And also, the lounge chairs were much, much comfier. The only downside to this deck was that it only held about 50 lounge chairs so it was a fight to find places to sit most days.

While we didn’t take part in a lot this ship had to offer, we had a good, relaxing vacation. I’m not a big fan of vacations where you’re so busy doing stuff that you have no time to relax and I think we had a good mixture of both. There was always something to do at night, although some of the shows were hard to make it to because we had a late dining time of 8:15 p.m. We did make it to a comedy show and a performance night, as well as checking out the casino and getting professional portraits done. (They looks super cheesy, though, so we opted out of them.) On Sunday, we went to the gym and on Wednesday morning, we went up to the track at the top deck. Mom ran and I took pictures of the sunset. Fitting. We played a game of putt-putt golf, although I forgot how windy it was on the top deck and wore a dress. So I had to putt with one hand, my other hand holding my dress down. Needless to say, Mom killed me.

One of my biggest fears about this whole vacation was getting sunburned. I’ve been on too many vacations where I get red as a tomato on my first night and it makes the rest of the vacation uncomfortable. I applied that SPF like it was my job. Any time I knew I would be out in the sun, sunscreen would go on immediately. So I didn’t come back super tan, but I’m OK with that.

I wouldn’t say the dining was everything I expected, but it was still pretty good. We ate in the dining room every night and had some good tablemates. (A grandma and her 19-year-old granddaughter and a family of three – a mom, a dad, and their 19-year-old son.) Conversation flowed easily, although it was mainly between the grandma and the mom of the other family. My mom and I inserted our opinions when needed, but didn’t talk a lot. The food was good, most nights, and the desserts were fabulous. (Also, I found out I enjoy alcoholic beverages so much more when I ask them to go light on the alcohol. Basically, a virgin but with a little kick.)

One of my mom and I’s favorite things was rushing back to the room after dinner to see our itinerary for the next day, what towel animal we would have, and to eat a delicious square of mint chocolate. Our beds would be turned down and the low lights near our beds turned on. We loved checking out what was going on the next day, as well as squealing over the cute animal sitting on either one of our beds. Silly as it may be, it was a highlight for us.

I’ll stop here, for now. I’m not sure what else I have to share about the ship itself, but I have a lot to say about our time in Grand Cayman and Cozumel so be prepared for that! (And if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments! I’m sure I’m leaving things out, so just let me know what you want to know!)