Cruise - days 1 & 2

The last week in March, Nate and I took break from reality and headed to the Caribbean for 10 days.  It's an understatement to say we loved our first cruise together.  We went on this trip with some of the people Nate works with and we had a blast hanging out with them.  Thank you Nate for qualifying for this awesome trip!  I've fallen in love with cruising now :)  The hardest part of the whole thing was leaving our kids for so long.  But thanks to my parents, Nate's parents, Becca & Swen, and Amie, we knew they were in good hands.  So thanks again for watching our boys!

We took quite a few pictures so I'll break our trip into a few posts.  

Day 1 - Traveling to Puerto Rico & Boarding the Ship 

After only a couple of hours of sleep on the red eye flight, we arrived in Puerto Rico.  I went on a cruise when I was younger but I don't remember much about it, so once Nate and I got on the ship we were amazed with how massive it was.  Our ship was the Adventure of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and it felt like a maze at first with 14 floors and we spent a good part of the day walking around trying to figure out where everything was.  It had all the typical things you would expect at a resort like pools, hot tubs, and lots and lots of food, but it also had a movie theater, ice skating rink, game room, soft serve ice cream machine, a basketball court, and tons of activities each day.   It was a 7-day cruise with 5 ports of call so we weren't on the ship too much, but the days we were, there was never a dull moment. 

I wish I could write about more of the fun things we did our first day, but we were exhausted so after dinner and trying to watch a movie in the theater, we headed to bed early to get ready for the rest of the week.


Day 2 - St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Our first stop on the ship was to the beautiful Virgin Islands. When we arrived in Puerto Rico the day before it was pouring rain and it made us nervous for the weather all week, so Nate and I were really excited to wake up to blue skies in St. Croix - and luckily it didn't rain again the entire trip!

We rented a car with Kunzlers, Tyler, and Travis for the day to explore the island. Nate got to be the designated driver - which I'm glad about because they drive on the left side of the road there!  If i was driving I don't think I would be all turned around, but Nate drove like a pro. First we headed to Cane Bay to meet up with Mike, Will, Dani, and Amy to do some snorkeling.  Snorkeling was awesome.  The water is so clear and there's so much to see.  Luckily, Tyler had his underwater camera to snap some pictures of us...like the awkward ones below :)

Dani, me, Nate, Amy, Mike, Travis, Will, and Tyler

After snorkeling, we drove around the island.  We got lost a few times which made the drive even better. We loved seeing the beautiful landscape and driving through the towns.  Renting a car was a fun way to see St Croix.

We rushed back when we were done to get ready for "formal" night.  Our dining room was SO beautiful. When Nate and I go out to eat, we usually pick Texas Roadhouse or Chilis - nothing as formal as this - so it was pretty fun to eat all fancy.  And the best thing about cruises?  You can order however many appetizers, entrees, and desserts you want.  So to say the least, we ate really well all week long.

We sat with Mike and Jen each night for dinner and our dinner conversations were always entertaining and hilarious. They made the trip so fun for us.  

Later that night, we did some karaoke.  The vast majority of the people on the cruise have a few too many drinks at dinner, so karaoke was pretty entertaining.  It got a little cheesy and sappy at times, so Jessica, Amy, Dani, and I decided to go up to spice things up a little by singing "Get the Party Started" by Pink.  We had some dance moves and all.  The best part of our song was when Jessica tried striking a pose and fell of the stage.  I tried convincing Nate to do a song too but he wasn't convinced.

It was an awesome first day!  Next up - St. Maarten and Antigua...