So those of you who know us will have heard enough about the cruise by now, but for anyone else and for the sake of keeping this blog up-to-date for posterity I'll put up a post about the amazing 10 days Rob and I had in Miami and cruising around the Caribbean with my family.
Rob and I flew into Miami three days before meeting my family and and spent time on South Beach, which was amazing! I didn't think that I would like Miami that much but the Art Deco architecture, beach, lovely weather and MASSIVE cocktails really appealed to pretty much all of my tastes. We walked up and down the beach most of the days and grab cocktails at the many bars on the main street, including at the iconic Breakwater hotel. It was the perfect start to a holiday and really got us in the right mentality for the cruise. We met up with my parents, sister and her boyfriend in Miami the night before we boarded and it was so good to see them and catch up after nearly a year!
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| At the Art Deco Centre's info board |
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| The first of many cocktails... |
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| The Breakwather hotel at night |
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| Deco lifeguard stands on the beach... Love them! |
Oh wait... did I mention the HUMONGOUS king crab legs we ate there... It was heaven.
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| See above... |
Then my family came and we were together for one night in South Beach... below is the only photo as it got a little messy after that... 40oz two-for-one cocktails are never a good idea... NEVER.
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| Have a 'good' time. |
After our extremely hedonistic three days in Miami we boarded the Celebrity Reflections ship and began seven more equally hedonistic days in the Caribbean. I would love to tell you tons of amazing stories of things that happened but for the most part we spent the time relaxing and catching up on lost time. We took part in many of the cheesy boat activities, like the shows, karaoke, shopping and the pub quiz! Our favourites being the karoake and the pub quizzes! We never managed to win the surprisingly hard quiz but were a constant second... sigh!
Though the activities were fun and time-consuming, the main and MOST time consuming activity on the boat was eating... lots and lots of eating! There was 24hr rooms service, 24 buffets and nearly 10 restaurants. It was ridiculous. I don't even want to think about how much I ate... it's obscene.
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| On the balcony of our cabin as we disembark |
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| Our cabin balconies (three rooms together) |
After the first two days at sea we were excited to get off the boat and see San Juan, Puerto Rico, our first stop. We were there for about 7 hours in the evening. San Juan was such an interesting city, lots of very colourful Georgian buildings and a massive fort that spanned the whole length of the San Juan coast! We visited the fort, met an iguana, and took a long walk along the wall on the coast. The city had a widespread power outage while we were there so we didn't go into many building but luckily the power came on in the evening just in time for dinner and drinks...phew, as we hadn't eating in about 40 minutes!! It was a very cool city and one that I would like to go back to for a longer time. Again, I really enjoyed the unique and defining architecture. After San Juan we boarded the boat again and headed to St. Maarten.
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| The Ship docked in San Jaun |
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| San Juan Georgian buildings |
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| The Fort in San Juan |
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| Us outside a tiny door at the Fort |
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| More San Juan fort |
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| Our iguana friend guarding San Juan |
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| Large park attached to San Juan Fort |
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| Us overlooking a decommissioned cemetery at San Juan |
In St Maarten Rob and I sat on the beach the whole morning and swam in water so blue it was unbelievable. I had painted my nail a very bright turquoise for the trip and when I swam in St Maarten you couldn't even see my nails in the water it was that blue. After a morning on the beach we got on a snorkelling boat and took a tour of two snorkelling places on the island. We didn't really seem much but I did get to see my sister in the most ridiculous outfit ride a slide into the water in the most comical way possible! She slide on one butt cheek and whipped into the water on her side. It was so funny the whole tour started laughing and the guy who ran the boat (who had been running it for YEARS) looked at me and said 'Well, I've never see anyone enter that way before!' It was ridiculous and possibly one of the best highlights of the trip!
After snorkelling they took us on a tour of the island and we saw some plane land at the St Maarten's airport, which is crazy. We didn't get many photos but
here is a YouTube video... nuts! On the way back to port the boat crew was very entertaining and as a bonus we got to see some dolphins, so cool! It was such a fun day filled with great memories!
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| Very blue water at St Maarten's beach |
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| Our view sitting on the beach.. not bad |
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| My beautiful and graceful sister |
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| Random pirate ship near a snorkeling spot |
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| Rob, ready to snorkel |
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The whole family after an afternoon snorkeling
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The next day we were in St Kitts, our last port of call before two more days at sea and arriving back in Miami. We spent the morning in St Kitts snorkeling again. There was much more to see in St Kitts although the boat wasn't as much of a party boat as the one in St Maarten. Rob and I saw a lot of tropical fish, an octopus and even a lobster! The group leader on the boat found a huge starfish and we all had our photo taken with it, very touristy but fun!
After snorkeling we took a cab to beaches on the other side of the island and enjoyed a long lunch and paddle ball on the beach! Rob and I had some of the best sushi we've ever ate... who knew St. Kitts was such a sushi-loving island.
There were two things particularly interesting things about St Kitts, the native monkeys and its resemblance to the Scottish Highlands. Rob and I can not believe how craggy St Kitts is, it really could have been Skye if the weather wasn't so nice and there weren't these adorable native monkeys running around everywhere. Some were pets that street vendors charged to get your photo taken with while they wore adorable hats, shirts and jewellery. It was a very unique island and a great place to end our Caribbean tour!
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| Mommy and me with a starfish |
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| A very happy couple on a boat |
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| Craggy islands of St Kitts |
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| Amazing sushi... amazing |
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| More amazing sushi |
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| Worshiping the sun |
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| St Kitts Monkey scheming a plan |
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| Another monkey friend |
The final days we spent on the boat enjoying the entertainment, food and company. We celebrated mine and Rob's upcoming birthdays with the biggest dinner of our lives. It started off with full size pizza's as appetizers, followed by a gigantic steak, at least five side dishes and more desserts and you could imagine. We were stuffed. Then, Rob, my father, and I all sang at Karaoke and on the final night we wore matching Gilligan's Island T-shirt that my mother made us and sang the theme tune. I won't embarrass anyone by posted the films of everyone singing but if you're interested in seeing them let me know... I'll email you! All in, it was a great holiday filled with so many wonderful memories. Thanks Dad and Mom for doing this for us all, we love you!
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All of us ready to eat on the last night, we had no idea
how much food was to come at this point |
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| After eating, Mickey well and truly defeated |
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| Mickey singing his heart out |
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| Rob blowing everyone away with his amazing voice |
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All of us for one last shot on the boat!
The Gilligan's Island Crew! |
