Favorite Cruise Pics

Hello, hello!

For those of you who follow my blog via e-mail, the Florida posts I wrote several weeks ago now have pictures to accompany them. (Head over to my blog if you'd like to view them.)

And now, here are some of my favorite photos from our recent cruise.

Aboard the cruise ship:

We cruised on the Costa Atlantica, a ship owned by Costa Cruises out of Italy.
We booked this cruise because 1) we'd never been to the Caribbean, 2) it fell during my winter break and 3) it was a steal-of-a-deal on vacationstogo.com.


During the 7-night cruise, Efron, our cabin steward, took good care of us. Our first night aboard the ship, when Efron came into the cabin to fold down our sheets, he discovered my "You Don't Know Me" sleep shirt--which I had tucked under my pillow just like I do at home--and as you can see, creatively laid it on the bed, along with my black running shorts.


Here we are in our cabin just as we were about to leave for dinner one night. Although there was a formal night during the cruise, we didn't bring any super spiffy clothes with us, so this was as close as we got to formal. I'll call it California casual.


At dinner that night, we ate snails. Well, I ate one and Brian ate the other five. I wasn't a big fan of the texture or flavor, but I'm certainly glad I tried one.


During Italian night aboard the Costa Atlantica, I danced with Alvin, our waiter. And I participated in a conga line which zigzagged in and around the tables in the dining room. It was great fun!

During the cruise, we made three stops:
1) St. Thomas, USVI
2) San Juan, Puerto Rico
3) Nassau, Bahamas

St. Thomas:

In St. Thomas, we spent nearly the whole day at Coki Beach. We snorkeled just offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, but didn't see too many fish.


The water was warm, though, so I spent lots of time just floating on my back, swimming around, and watching kids get taken out by the larger-than-normal waves as they crashed on the beach.




Standing on our balcony, this is what we saw pulling out of port in St. Thomas. The photographer in me loved the way the light hit the water. Off in the distance, Brian spotted two funnel clouds coming down out of the cloud formations.

San Juan, Puerto Rico:

The day we visited San Juan, much of the city was shut down for Epiphany (or as they refer to it Three King's Day). Luckily, though, this massive fortress known as El Morro was open. During our guided tour of the fortress, we learned that the fortress was built by the Spaniards beginning in 1539, so that they could control access and commerce in and out of the New World.


Inside El Morro


This was our view of San Juan from the cruise ship as we pulled away from Puerto Rico. I just love the pastel-colored houses stacked on the hillside!

Nassau, Bahamas:

Isn't the color of this water just spectacular?!


We had just pulled into port when I snapped these two shots from our balcony. Five minutes later, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, pulled into the dock slip next to us and our "view" was gone. But with just five hours in Nassau, we quickly departed the boat...


...and rented a scooter! Motorcycles make me nervous, so I was holding on tight to Brian as we made our way around Nassau. Okay, maybe that's an understatement. At one point, Brian said I had such a death grip on his chest, that he thought I was giving him the Heimlich maneuver! LOL


There were four cruise ships docked in Nassau the day we were there: RC's Oasis of the Seas, our boat, a Disney ship and a Carnival ship. As you might imagine when that many cruisers descend upon Nassau, the streets are super crowded with pedestrians, cars, and scooters.


In an effort to get away from the hustle and bustle of the town, we headed to Senor Frog's for drinks and an appetizer. Brian enjoyed his Yard Stick margarita...


...and then ponied up to the bar, so I could snap this silly picture!

We certainly enjoyed spending a bit of time in these three Caribbean locales, but what I most enjoyed about the cruise was spending quality time with Brian.

During the week, we watched a few Bowl games (and Brian taught me a lot about college football), read books on our balcony, played Farkel, and got "hooked" on The Office. Before departing on our trip, we had rented the first season of The Office from the library. On board the cruise ship, we watched all six episodes--in nearly back-to-back succession--and since returning home, we've watched the first three episodes of the second season. With The Office now in Season 6, we have quite a few episodes to watch to catch up.


Anyone else love The Office, too?!

Thanks for letting me share our cruise highlights with you. Hope you have a fabulous day!

Love,
J