When Adam and I were newly married we quickly learned that giving ourselves rewards for accomplished goals really helped motivate us to work on them. So we decided early in our marriage that the reward for getting a Masters degree would be a cruise just the two of us!
Our first cruise together happened in 2004 when Adam graduated with his MBA from Thunderbird down in Arizona. We took an 11 day Eastern Caribbean cruise with my parents and had an absolutely wonderful time! And ever since that first cruise we’ve been converted to the idea that cruising really is the ultimate relaxation vacation! Beds made for you everyday, gourmet meals prepared each evening, 24 hour buffets, scheduled activities all day long, music, dancing, formal nights, shows, naps whenever you want them, soft serve ice cream at all ours of the day, lots of fun things to do on the boat, and someone else driving you to exotic places while you play and sleep! We so loved it!
So going on a 2nd cruise has been a big motivation for me to get my Masters degree the last 5 years, and this year I finally accomplished my goal with the help of my wonderful Adam, my understanding children, caring friends, and loving in-laws and parents. I couldn’t have done it without them and I’m so grateful for all of their support. In April I was able to graduate with my Masters in Business Administration, but with Dawson being so little (3 months at the time) I knew the cruise would have to come later.
However, when Adams work announced they were getting bought by Adobe and that time off would be lost if it wasn’t used, we decided it was time to go! So we called our parents to see what week might work for them to watch the kids (A HUGE THANK YOU TO BOTH OF THEM WHO EACH TOOK HALF A WEEK OF OUR THREE BOYS!) and booked a last minute cruise to the Western Caribbean in Mid November. Our bishop in our singles ward is a travel agent and was able to suggest some wonderful excursions for us to do, so most of our trip we had completely planned out before we went.
We flew into Fort Lauderdale, Florida on November 14th and then left the following day for the cruise. Below are the pictures from our 7 days together on the boat and our excursions we did at each port.
(First meal on the boat!)
Me trying to keep my portions under control the first day.
(Didn’t last very long!)
Exploring the boat, and loving the view of Miami. The biceps aren’t bad either!
So excited to finally be on our cruise!
It was an absolutely beautiful day in Florida
The pool area and slide
Adam loved the big screen TV where they were showing ESPN
Looking down at the Elevators and Lobby
They had some really cool artwork and statues throughout the ship
Us at dinner that evening in the Washington Dining room
That first day on the ship was a Sunday so we mostly just explored the ship, took some naps, and then went up deck later to read our scriptures and the Ensign outside. It was magical to be together just the two of us, and to feel the wind blowing through our hair as we sat and relaxed under the starry night sky, listening to the ship slide through the water below us.
The next morning we had another day at sea, so we started with breakfasts at Rosies where we were greeted by this beautiful view!
Later we decided to try out the pool and water slides!
Adam coming down off the slide!
Then that evening Carnival hosted the first of two Formal nights.
Adam was a hottie in his tux!
We were too cheap to buy couples pictures so we just went around the ship taking pictures of each other for fun!
And sometimes we got a nice passerby-er to take some pics for us!
My favorite part was dancing while we waited to be seated for dinner. Adam sure knows how to schmooze me!
Dinner was served in the Washington Dining Room
Tuesday was our first day at port in Mexico in a city called Costa Maya. One of the things I was hoping to do that day was to take a taxi out to a Monkey reservation where I could pet and hold some monkeys (something that I have always wanted to do). However, right as got off the ship we saw a Mexican man with a monkey and he immediately put it on my shoulder when I approached him and let me spend a few minutes petting the monkey while I asked questions about him. Good thing too because we found out later that the reservation had closed after the hurricane in 2004. It was truly awesome for me though and I loved feeling the tiny hands and features of the monkey. He was so cute!
As we left the confines of the port we immediately had two girls from Switzerland approach us and ask if we wanted to share a taxi with them. They had bartered and negotiated a price with a driver who would give them a better price if they brought two more people in. So we took them up on their offer and spent a wonderful afternoon with them. Their names were Evelyn and Garoldene, and we really hit it off with them. We were all about the same age and for hours we just talked about our different lives and experiences we’d all had. Adam and I were also able to talk a lot about our Church when they kept asking question after question about our religion. We talked about everything from the Trinity, to Joseph Smith, to the Book of Mormon, our beliefs about infant baptism, and the law of chastity, word of wisdom, temples, and work for the dead. It was as if we’d given all 6 discussions in an hour of driving! And we loved learning about their religion as well and some of the things they had been able to do in their lives.
The first of the many temples we saw
Adam of course took some time out to do what he loves best…climbing!
The backside of the temple
Cute couple shot!
Adam loved the trunks of the trees
One of the many Walls built by the Mayans
View of the grandest of the Temples
The Third Temple we saw
Standing by the entrance
Our European Friends Evelyn and Garoldene
Time to get wet!
Our last stop for the day was to a beach just down from where our Ship was docked.
We found a little beach side restaurant and stopped for some Fajitas and Quesadillas before splitting off from our new friends. They wanted to go for some $20 half hour massages. Us….well we had something else in mind!
And putting on Harnesses…..
So that we could be ballooned into the sky at over 400 ft.
We loved every minute of it. Until……
Someone we know got sea sick and lost her Quesadillas 400 ft. in the sky!
But I wasn’t about to let that little setback stop my fun, so we asked to be dipped in the ocean! And got dipped twice!
We were all smiles by the end, and I loved getting to check another thing off my bucket list!
Then it was time to head back to our ship, The Carnival Valor.
We took some showers and then headed to dinner where Adam ordered fruit Sushi.
These were our table mates. Herman and Roma are from Norway and Herman survived 6 years in a Nazi concentration camp with his 3 brothers when he was 12-18. He wrote a book about it called “The Apple,” and was on Opera twice. We were able to give these two a book of Mormon by the end of our trip after many discussions about our church.
We also shared our table with Larry and Calista who had both lost their spouses after 40-50 years. They had met and fallen in love in Hawaii, been married 3 years, and live on a Century Farm in Oregon. They were both really nice and also asked us a ton of questions about our Church. We really had a lot of fun getting to know both couples.
At Dinner
One of our favorite parts about the Ship was their live entertainment each night. These two were married to each other and from the Phillipines and had been living on the ship for almost 10 years. They are both incredible singers and can sing like almost any singer out there. From Frank Sinatra, to Elvis, to Madonna. We came to see them sing in the lobby almost every night, and would talk with them after every show. And I loved dancing to their music with Adam at my side! We always had a great time in the Lobby!
Our 2nd port of the cruise took us to Belize where Bishop Broadhead had suggested we do the Jungle River Cruise Excursion. We loaded into a van first thing in the morning (where we happened to be paired up with another Mormon couple from Oregon funny enough) and drove an hour to the jungle. Then we boarded a jet boat that took us 27 miles through the jungle on a river before docking in Lamanai.
On the way we saw bats, birds, and even a crocodile spotting!
We stopped for lunch which was a traditional Belize meal made of chicken, rice, beans, and fruit and then headed to the Lamanai ruins where we got to explore several temples. Our tour guide “Icey,” told us all about the ruins and then later was able to call some Monkeys who started having a territorial battle up in the trees with some other monkeys. It was pretty intense for a few minutes hearing the roars of the two tribes of monkeys, but also one of my favorite parts of the tour.
We were able to climb to the top of one of the temples that overlooked the entire valley!
Adam conquering the Temple which consisted of hundreds of steps at least twice as high as normal steps!
Our view of the river from the top
This temple had the shape of the head of a Jaguar made into it. Do you see it?
More Ruins
We loved the Tarzan looking trees and the vines that you really could swing on!
Adam on the top of the Temple
Beautiful view of the jungle
Later that night after our excursion was over we headed back to the ship, took showers and then relaxed in the lounge listening to music for a bit.
I loved all the towel animals we found each night. Here I am kissing the frog!
Our third port on the cruise took us to Cozumel. I loved the trees and bushes as we got off the ship. Everything was so beautiful here.
Our Bishop had given us the name of an LDS taxi driver, and he was able to take us around the island of Cozumel to all their beautiful beaches. Adam found a hammock on one of them and decided to take a little rest.
I of course joined him!
The view from Coconut beach
There were lots of old boats just rotting away on the beaches
Adam doing a handstand on the beach!
The water was so incredibly blue! I was eating it all up!
Exploring the Reefs
The last beach on our tour was a snorkeling beach so we decided to stop for awhile and hang out for a bit. We got some Mexican food and then went snorkeling and kayaking before heading back to port. We did a little shopping while in port and then found some cool get ups to take pictures with! Adam reminds me of the Tazmanian Devil in this one for some reason!
I think this is probably the only time I will ever ride a Crocodile!
And then it was back to the ship! 3 others were docked along side ours.
That evening they had another formal night
The last port we visited was in the Grand Cayman and just as we were getting onto the Tender to be taken over to the island we saw this awesome pirate ship go by. Next time we are in the Grand Cayman we hope to take an excursion on this baby!
Our recommended excursion for that day was to visit Sting Ray City. This was by far my very favorite excursion of the trip!
We took a small boat out probably 5-10 miles from shore where there was a sand bar you could stand on where shallow water came up to your waist
Sting Rays were EVERYWHERE! And they were Enormous!
It was here that we were able to get off the boat and go and pet, feed, and hold the wild Sting Rays, and watch them with our snorkels. It was so surreal to have them swimming all around us, rubbing up against us, and at times suck and crawl on us! I loved every minute of it!
Afterwords we were able to go snorkeling for a bit where Adam and I found 3 huge conk shells sitting on the ocean floor which we brought back as presents for the 3 boys.
The rest of our cruise was spent relaxing on the ship, taking long naps, reading lots of good books, playing ping pong, hot tubbing, mini golfing, dancing, going to shows, and taking constant trips to the soft serve ice cream bar! It was an absolutely wonderful get-away vacation for us and we can’t wait to come up with another goal to work towards to go again! Thanks again to Mum and Smurf and Mom and Dad for taking care of our sweeties so we could do this. We love you guys so much and consider my Masters degree graduation officially celebrated!
It looks like you guys had a blast!! I'm glad you got to get away together and have so much fun! Love you!!