We Took a Cruise

Yep, that kind of cruise- going out on the ocean on a giant ship for several days. Jason really wanted to do it for our 5th anniversary this past December, and he planned the whole thing. I will be honest and say that I did not want to go on the cruise. First reason was because I thought it was pointless: Jason works nights and sleeps all day, even on his days off. So why go on a cruise with someone that is going to sleep all day? I was a little bit grouchy about it, if you want to know the truth. Second reason I didn't want to go was because I thought we could do more productive

things with the money we'd end up spending on a cruise. Such as paying some bills. But, even though I gave Jason my opinion on the whole cruise thing, I did tell him that it was completely up to him. If he decided we were going on a cruise, I would go along.

Jason was pretty excited about it and planned everything, though he would kindly ask what I wanted to do at the various stops. And, being the insensitive human that I can be, I pretty much always just said, "It's up to you."

Jason had been on two cruises prior to this one, so he kind of knew what we should do, what to expect, how we should plan, etc. I knew nothing about cruises, and never really had a big desire to go on one.

Leaving Miami, Florida behind.

I may have been a bit of a Grinch about the entire thing leading up to the cruise, and quite possibly at times during the cruise. I probably needed a good smack up side the head, to be honest.

The main floor of the great showroom where they did live shows, or game shows, every evening.

Jason did give a lot of effort in trying to be awake, and pleasant, during at least half of the daylight hours. But, he was tired, and vacation for him at anytime typically means sleeping as much as he can.

We chose to get a room with a window, which I really liked. It was mesmerizing to watch the sea at night as we sailed along.

The first day of the cruise, we boarded at noon and explored the ship, figured out what time we were to be at dinner, and then I think sleep ensued until dinner.

Day 2: Waiting on one of the deck lounge areas for our turn to go ashore at Half Moon Cay

Jason had scheduled a "Shore Excursion" at our first stop; we were supposed to ride horses along the beach. I think we had breakfast delivered to our room, and then ventured out to get our boat ride to shore. That is when we found out that all shore excursions had been canceled due to the weather, and they had postponed taking people off the boat.

One of the tinders (shuttle boats) to take people to shore.

I should apologize for the picture quality- we bought a camera for the trip and were figuring out how to best utilize all it's features.

The weather really wasn't that bad; it was cold, raining, and windy when we left Florida, and it was overcast and drizzly all the next day.

When we finally did get to shore in the afternoon, we just walked around the main area a bit.

We walked on the beach and got in the water for a little bit, but there wasn't much else to do since everything was canceled.

Jason found a place to sleep, but it wasn't very comfy for some reason.

I assume this was a coconut tree.

We ended up going back to the ship well before it was time for the boat to leave. Half Moon Cay was a very pretty beach area, and the ocean water was gorgeous! I'm sure that there was more we could have seen, but Jason was tired and not interested in walking very far.

Our first towel animal from our steward, Gede.

Jason proceeded to take a nap until it was time for dinner.

The glass elevators in the middle of the boat; I think our boat was 13 or 14 levels high.

The live band members that played in the main lobby most every evening. Each evening was a different era, or theme, of music.

On the very top of the boat.

After our 8:30pm dinner, when Jason was alive and wanting to do stuff, we explored the boat some more. They had a walking/running track on the top of the boat that I convinced Jason to go walk with me a few times at night. I think it took 13 laps to make a mile.

Looking from the stern (back) to the bow (front), although you couldn't really see all the way.

And looking the other way: bow to stern.

I think they showed a movie on the big screen every night, but we usually weren't interested in seeing the movies that were playing. Most nights, after dinner, we would go sit in the piano bar area and listen to the pianist, Jonathan, who was very talented.

As I won't be able to get all of our pictures on here without it being a very long post, I will pause right here- at the end of Day 2 on our cruise. Stay tuned to continue the trip!