Yesterday, Jer and I got home from our cruise to the Caribbean. We had a perfect vacation and are both in a little bit of cruise withdrawal right now. We sailed aboard the Crown Princess. It is a really beautiful ship
My favorite part of the ship was the atrium where there are two beautiful spiral staircases.
Also in the atrium is the International Cafe where they had every kind of pastry you can imagine. Jer and I stopped by there several times each day.
The first night on the ship was "formal night." Some people got really decked out in evening gowns and tuxedos.
Every night it was like going to a nice restaurant with a four course meal. We had lobster, scallops, fillet mignon...I think both of our bodies were a little bit shocked when we came back and it was fast sunday today! Here is a picture of one of their signature desserts, "the Love Boat"
The first stop on our cruise was the Cayman islands. We went on a boat out to "stingray city" which is a sandbar a couple of miles out into the ocean. They are surprisingly docile animals. They rub up against you like a cat and even let you hold them.
On our way back, the captain of the ship said, "See! No one get hurt! Now you must all spread the good news of stingray city." So I guess that's what I'm doing! After stingray city, we swam with dolphins. This is Pepe the dolphin
I think this was maybe my favorite thing from the whole trip. They are just such happy animals!
Our second stop was Roatan Honduras. On Roatan, we went to Gumbalimba bird and monkey preserve.
On the way to the monkey preserve, we had to cross a rickety hanging bridge. Jeremy did his best to terrify me and make the bridge swing back and forth as we were crossing
The monkeys were really cute. Our guides told us to leave everything on the bus because the monkeys love to grab anything loose, run up a tree, break whatever they have, and then throw it back to you.
Our third stop was Cozumel Mexico. We decided to be a little bit adventurous and rent a convertible smartcar. It was so tiny!
We drove around the island, visited some Mayan ruins, snorkeled, and found a yummy taco place on the beach to eat lunch.
I think my favorite part of Cozumel was actually watching everyone reboard the ship. One of the veteran cruisers we talked to told us to board early, go up to one of the higher decks and watch all the drunk people come down the gangway. It was pretty entertaining. We were docked right across from a big Carnival ship. As the ships were about to close their doors, two drunk men came running down the gangway and barely made it. They got a round of applause from all the people on the decks on both ships.
On the last day of the cruise, we stopped at Princess's private island in the Bahamas. It was a great day to swim, relax, and read under the palm trees.
On the ship, they gave out an award for the person who had been on the most cruises. There was one old lady who had been on a cruise ship for 864 days total!! Who knows...maybe someday I will beat that old lady! Probably not, but we had a great time and would love to go on another cruise someday!
