Our Cruise

A week before our 10th Wedding Anniversary, after a lot of travel for his new job, I finally got BJ all to myself! He took me on a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean! My favorite part is that I didn't have to do ANYTHING! No laundry, no cooking, no cleaning, no dishes, no baths, no schoolwork, not a single chore! Instead, there was lots of time for fun and relaxing with my favorite person in the world! 

We  flew to New Orleans:

 

Stayed in a luxurious hotel for the night and had a exciting (pineapple-upside down pancakes)  breakfast so we wouldn't have to rush:

(this was in Rotan, but just so you get a sense of what our ship was like)

BJ strategically upgraded our room and boarding passes to "Faster to the Fun" so that we were some of the very first people on the boat to eat lunch, AND our luggage was waiting for us in our room! 

BJ's Bathroom:

My bathroom!

it had a shower too

BJ even got me chocolate covered strawberries!

The main skylight on the Carnival Dream:

There where 24 hour food and snacks! Our favorite was the frozen yogurt and ice cream machines. I boosted that I could get four stacked swirls....well BJ sure showed me!

Us relaxing on a hammock on the top (quietest) deck:

Going down the Mississippi River:

watching the sunset:

After a day of exploring, relaxing, and swimming we'd come back to our room all clean with a new towel animal every time!

 

 

 

Ready for dinner in the fancy dinning room:

 

I loved having time to do up my hair and look nice. We had a cozy booth in a quiet corner all to ourselves just about every night. The couple assigned to sit across were from Atlanta, left early, and only ate with us maybe three times. I dinnertime became my favorite time of the day because I could have all of BJ's attention and make up for the all dinners I had to make and eat with just kids on my own while he was gone. Our fabulous waiter Russell wearing a wig for one of their shows! 

Moonlight walk at the front of the boat:

Sunrise out our cabin window:

In the mornings we'd enjoy a full relaxed breakfast in another fancy dinning room on the other side of the ship. This was my favorite, Eggs Benedict! 

They even had afternoon tea with all the trimmings and cakes:

BJ made reservations at the Steakhouse they have on the ship! It was a step up even from the usual dinning! I fell in love with the plates:

BJ's appetizer Tuna Tartar: 

Mine, with mushrooms and fresh Mozzarella cheese triangles!

My main course was the Lobster Ravioli, so amazingly delicious!

They also brought of a Anniversary dessert to share! We spent a couple hours there because we also had a table with a view of the sunset on the ocean. 

We did most of our meals on the ship, except for lunch in Roatan/ Mahogany Bay, Honduras (pricey and disappointing) and lunch in Cozumel, Mexico at a place called Mr. Sancho's:

 

it was all inclusive and the best excursion we did! We got off the ship as early as possible and took a taxi there. BJ talked to the staff about snorkeling, cabana's, and messages! They set us up in a free cabana that hadn't been booked, had the lady give me a "sample" message, and brought us all the virgin daiquiris we wanted! In the first hour, I was out in the ocean snorkeling for the first time! It was strange and scary to breathe only through the mouth piece and put my head in the water but I am really glad I was brave because we saw all kinds of fish, coral and sea life! Our guide took us to a second location too! It was shallower and easier to see things but had a lot more waves. We even saw a  five foot barracuda!

I love the beach! We have a lot of pictures, but my favorite are of our time on the beach:

Our first stop was the most relaxing. We had our own personal, covered with a cool water mister, hammock plus a little hut with AC:

 Mahogany Bay was the beach in Roatan Honduras. The chair lift was a lot of fun (after I got over my fear of heights and dying first time) and had some really pretty views. 

We even saw fish and a sting ray in the water as we crossed over!

We ended up riding a bunch of times to enjoy the views and ocean breezes!

BJ had seen in the news about people getting left behind at the ports so he told me his wish to get a "runner" as he called it on video. As we left our last port in Cozumel...

he got his wish ...

In all, more then I ever wished it would be:

A big think you to Gamma and Boppy taking such wonderful care of our monsters while we were gone, they got a mini vacation of their own. In the end, as we were flying back, looking at this storm,  I felt like it was a good time away and it was a wonderful vacation.