Going on a cruise has always been on my "bucket list". Since I was considering a Mediterranean cruise for my 50th birthday, I thought maybe we should try it out first, to see how we like it. Where better to "try it out" than in the Caribbean, right?! So, we did 7 days & 6 nights on Royal Caribbean's Adventures of the Sea, stopping in Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Bahamas (Perfect Day at CocoCay).
The Cruise (Itself):
Being on the cruise ship reminded me of being in Vegas (minus the smoking). Lots of people, restaurants, theaters, shops etc. There were endless things to do!
Food--Each guest was assigned a table & time at the main dining room for dinner (if you wanted, you could always opt out). You ate at the same table, with the same waiters every night, they just switched the menu. Each dinner had a theme (Mexican, Caribbean, Italian etc). They even had two "fancy" nights where everyone dressed up. The food was great, but the best part was that you didn't have to make any decisions or plans! There was also a Cafe with pizza open just about 24hrs where Summer could get a gluten free pizza made for her whenever she was hungry:) They also had 2 gluten free deserts every day. The buffet (The Windjammer) was also open 24 hrs, but Summer and I didn't love it. So many people (and so noisy) and the food wasn't as good as the dining room.
Entertainment--Summer and I swam at the pools both sea days. It was a little colder (and windier) than I would have liked (74 I think), but it was still fun. Every night we'd do a show...singing, dancing, ice skating, magic, comedy, arcade...even a Taylor Swift version of Name that Tune. Mike also did a pickleball tournament!
Everything Else--Our room was perfect. Super comfortable bed. little couch and desk, bathroom and a tv. We were on level 2 which was a bit close to the water, but we got used to it. On the first night there were some loud banging noises which made it hard to sleep, but after that it was great.
The thing I was most worried about was my motion sickness! I bought every medicine I could find and hoped for the best. When I first got on the ship, I thought it was a lot rockier than I expected. so I took medicine. After that I was completely fine (while taking medicine each day)...well, until the last sea day. The last sea day was super rocky the entire day. I felt fine until after dinner, then I was not doing well. I put patches behind my ears and I started feeling ok enough to go to bed.
Grand Cayman:
This was our first port day, so we didn't really know what to expect. It turned out to be quite different than most ports. Our ship couldn't dock (they don't have a dock big enough for cruise ships), so everyone who got off the ship took tender boats. Since we had an excursion booked through the ship (dolphin encounter), we had to go with our group. There was a lot of waiting around but finally got on our boat and then straight to our bus.
Once we got to our excursion, we went to the Turtle Center first. We only had about 30 min there, but it was enough time. We saw lots of HUGE turtles up really close. It was very cool. Then we headed over to the dolphin encounter where we waited FOREVER for our turn.
We had about 30 min. with our dolphin (Capi). We got to touch him as he swam past, shake hands (fins), touch his nose, make him spin, and lean in for a kiss. It was amazing!
Unfortunately, once we finished our excursion, we had to get back on the ship. I really was hoping to also have time to check out a beach, but there wasn't time. Once we got on our tender boat, it started POURING rain! It was probably the hardest rain I have ever seen, and we were on a boat in the ocean getting absolutely drenched. It was crazy! Our clothes were completely soaked through when we got back to the ship.
Jamaica:
Getting off the ship in Jamaica was way easier than the Cayman Islands. We just walked out haha. There were people singing and dancing and a line of shops right off the cruise ship. I loved the Jamaican vibe.
Our excursion in Jamaica was a dune buggy ride through the jungle. We got on our bus and geared up for the 1.5 hr ride to the jungle. On our bus we had a Jamaican' tour guide who told us all about Jamaica and what we were seeing out the windows. She was funny and made us all say "yeah man" instead of "yes" when we talked to her. I actually didn't mind the long ride because she was so entertaining.
Once we got to the dune buggy place, we had our lunch of red beans, rice and jerk chicken. It was delicious and even Summer ate it (except the chicken). We then went over to the bird sanctuary where we fed the birds out of our hands. It was super cool to be that close to all the tropical birds.
The highlight was of course the dune buggies. I was a little nervous, but it ended up being one of my favorite things we did on the whole trip! We followed a tour guide, racing through the jungle, over bumps and through giant puddles. To say Summer didn't like this is an understatement. She cried just getting into the dirty buggy...and then cried again when we went through the muddy puddles. Hopefully one day she'll look back on it as a positive experience, but right now, I think she's still a little mad that I got her all muddy.
Bahamas:
I was super bummed that we didn't get to go to the beach at our previous two ports, so I was so excited that all we had planned for the Bahamas was hanging out at the beach. It was perfect. Good food (all included), sun, sand, lounge cots, hammocks, swimming, snorkeling--it was perfect.
The only damper was Summer cut her foot, so she had to limp back to the ship once our day was over...oh and Mike had another traumatic snorkeling experience where he was blinded by the sunlight and salt water and couldn't see where he was going...and the water was cold. But my day was perfect:)
Overall, it was a great experience! I'm not sure I'll do a cruise again (motion sickness & not enough time at each port being the main reasons). We'll see...
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