We went on a cruise for our honeymoon and we've always talked about getting back on a boat. On our 10 year anniversary, we made the decision to go on another cruise. We planned to make it a "belated 10 year anniversary cruise" because we had 6 week old Drew and wanted to wait until he was weaned and could be left with my parents for a week. We thought 2020 would be the year! Of course, covid shut down that plan so we rescheduled for the next June...again, shut down by covid. So June 2022 was finally our time to cruise...except we've now been married for 14 years! This is our reaction when we finally got on the boat!
The countdown was over!
We decided to have a really special dinner the first night on board and we ate at Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse. They surprised us with champagne and a fun dessert since it was our anniversary!
This may be hard to see, but I participated in a hula hooping contest and won for our age range! I'm wearing a white hat below. I did not win overall though so I missed the fun trophy!
We had 2 formal nights on the cruise. This was one of them!
We went to Eagle Beach. It was amazing! We want to go back!
Next stop: Curacao.
We had a bit of a stressful time in this country because I accidentally left my cell phone in a taxi! We spent a lot of time trying to determine who our taxi driver was, but praise God - the people of Curacao helped us out and I got it back! It all took about 30 minutes, but it was the scariest moments of our whole trip! We even still had time to do the Curacao liqueur distillery tour that I planned. It was very educational and we enjoyed some samples and a cocktail.
It was beautiful here! We didn't have long in the port before we were off to the next place so I think we would like to come back and explore their beaches. Some of our friends on the cruise got to snorkel with sea turtles! I think we would have enjoyed more time here. The loss of my cell phone put a bit of a damper on this port for us so I think we need to give it a second chance.
Next stop: La Romana, Dominican Republic.
We spent our entire time here on an excursion. The views on the bus were breathtaking!
We arrived in Monkeyland! We had friendly squirrel monkeys climb all over us while we fed them. This is my initial reaction when they started to climb on me!
We had such a good time! We also got to try some fresh cocoa, coffee, and Mamajuana (the national drink of the Dominican Republic) before we headed back to the ship. It was a whole experience!
Last stop: Amber Cove, Dominican Republic.
This was the view as we arrived at the port. The Caribbean sea was so blue! Pictures don't do it justice.
You can barely see us in this picture!
After 4 ports, it was time to head back to Miami. One of the fun things on our ship were the animals made out of towels! They gave us one each day in our rooms, but one morning the Lido deck was covered in towel animals! Our kids would have loved this!
There were also 2 large water slides on the top of the ship. Here's Curtis going down the one that requires a tube.
Here I am going down the other slide that doesn't require a tube! They were both fun, but I might prefer the one with the tube! We also did the ropes course and played putt-putt on the top of the ship (not pictured).
Gosh, I feel like there was so much more to share, but I think I'll stop here. We had such a wonderful time and it was worth the wait! We couldn't wait to be reunited with our kids after this 8 day cruise! Unfortunately, I brought an undesired souvenir (COVID) back with me so I haven't gotten to share much about our cruise with anyone yet, not even our kids! I definitely think the next time we go on a cruise, we will bring our kids so they can enjoy the experience too!
