Country 31, 32 & back to 22 - Caribbean Cruise

28th December - 5th January 2019

We left the single digit weather of New York and headed south to Miami. As soon as we walked out of the airport we peeled back the layers and made our way to our shuttle pick up point. Unbeknown to us there was a group of about 20 that were headed to the same hotel as we were. As soon as half the group piled in the van with us it was immediately clear it was a multi generational group that were going on a cruise the following day. The question was would they be on our ship? We got to talking and sure enough they were cruisers! But not with us they were headed onto another cruise liner. We spend the night at the hotel and the next morning we're on the cruise transfer on our way to the biggest ship in the world.

We knew the port of Miami was a hub for cruising but we didn't think it would be so crazy. 6 giant ships of all sizes lined up along the dock and people everywhere trying to get off and others dropping off bags to get on. We were cruising with Royal Caribbean, and as a hub port for the liner, they had built there own personalised and tech forward terminal while all other companies had to deal with the local port authority buildings. Their building was spectacular and within 10 mins we had dropped of our bags, walked inside, went up the escalator, checked in via an Ipad and walked straight onto the ship. It was the simplest and fastest check in we've ever had. A fantastic way to start our trip.

When I say this is the biggest ship in the world I'm not kidding. It made the other 5 ships in line look like little cousins. It would take us the full week cruise to find every knock and cranny, visit every entertainment area and we still didn't eat at every venue. It was crazy. There was mini golf, water slides, slippery slides, rock walls, wave riders, basketball courts and zip lining to name a few. We walked through Central Park - yes a real life park located on deck 6. We walked through the Broadwalk that offered an outdoor movie theater, water diving acts and kids entertainment. And then there was the shopping arcade. We avoided that one.
Needless to say we could have not gotten off the boat in the 7 days we were on board and still have been completed entertained the whole time. But with this gigantic ship came almost 7000 passengers, 3000 crew and god knows how many annoying children left to their own devises as the parents clearly didn't give a crap. So we were happy to have time off the ship and ticket a few more countries off our list.

First stop was Roatan, Honduras. We had perfect weather for a day of quad biking through the jungle. ATVs are one of Caleb's favorite things to do and the only way I'm getting on one is to have my own. So with American's who had clearly never driven one before Caleb and I stayed at the front of the group as we zipped our way through the mud and trees and our guides ran besides us. Yes that's right - ran. The poor guys jogged with the group the whole time in case someone broke down (which they did) or needed help (which they did again). As we finished in the jungle we ended up at a Beach Club to finish off the day. It was the perfect way to just relax and cool down.




We sailed over night to reach Costa Maya, Mexico the next day. We originally had planned to visit ruins in Cozumel but as we had an opportunity to cross off a major bucketlist item we decided to see the Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya instead. And they did not disappoint. Dating back to 700AD, the pyramids are nestled deep in the Mexican rainforest. Considering they weren't discovered until 1972, these ruins are very well preserved and maintained.




Another night at sea and we woke up in the port of Cozumel, Mexico. Today was the day. Big bucklist item! Today we went swimming with dolphins. I've always loved dolphins since watching the film Flipper as a little girl. We caught the bus out to the Dolphin Discover Centre, put our things in a locker and lined up for our experience. It was so good to see that the centre had built their enclosures in the actual ocean which meant it was a natural habitat for the animals. We spent about 45 mins in the water with these amazing animals watching them do little tricks and also getting an opportunity to be pulled through the water by them. It was as amazing as you'd imagine. We left our flipper friends and were directed to another water area. Here we got to spend 10 mins in the water with 2 Manatees. After lunch and a few too many tequila sunrises we headed back to the ship on a high.

Our last port at sea was Nassau, Bahamas. If you're up to date on this blog you'll already know that we had an amazing time in The Bahamas only a month ago so today we decided to stay onboard the ship and take advantage of the fact that most passengers were going ashore. We spent time in the adults only pool and bar area which had a tremendous view over the front of the ship which looked directly at Atlantis. We hit up mini golf next and then headed to the Bionic Bar to order a drink made by a robot. All in all it was a great way to spend the day before setting sail one last time to head back to Miami. 

Well it finally came time to leave our cruise and it was bittersweet as this was our last cruise of our epic honeymoon. We decided to get an uber into town to pick up our hire car. Once all of our bags were loaded we left Miami and set off for our Great American Roadtrip.