Cruising for the Traveler

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“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he came to see.”

For my birthday Andrew let me pick out a trip to go on! (Woo, my boyfriend rocks)

So I decided it was time for us to go on a cruise since we’ve never been on one and we are currently in the advantage of living in a state with a lot of cruise ports. So why not?!

We weren’t so sure how we would feel about the whole being stuck on a boat thing. But now was the time to try!

Deciding on a cruise

So we went with a 6 day, 5 night Carnival cruise that went to Nassau, Bahamas, Half Moon Cay, Bahamas and Grand Turks, Turks and Caicos.

I wanted to do more than just the Bahamas because I had heard those cruises were a bit underwhelming. And I didn’t want to do Cozumel and what not since we’ve already been. And Turks and Caicos sounded quite intriguing.

The Cruise Ship

The cruise ship might have been my favorite part! I loved being in the open sea watching the waves go by from the deck or my window! We even hit some storms on our trip, it made me a little dizzy but other than that I did not mind it at all. In fact, I got some of the best nights sleep I’ve ever gotten on this cruise.

The islands

I’m going to work backwards here because Turks and Caicos was by far my favorite cruise stop we made.

I finally felt like I was on a trip when we got there! We explored the island there, enjoyed the crystal clear and aqua blue Caribbean waters, we headed along the shore and found some gorgeous shells. We even found a little hill to climb to scope out the island!

Oh and we swam with sting rays here. And I was pleasantly surprised to not be in a cage with captive sting rays but in open water letting them swim between my legs (both scary and wonderful at the same time).

Half Moon Cay

Was my least favorite stop. Though it had breathtaking ocean views I was very upset with the island “rules,” it didn’t feel like much of a vacation there to me. The cruise line owned this island…

We kept getting kicked out of beach areas because they were “tour zones.” We just wanted to enjoy the island without 3,000 of our closet friends near by. I understand this is how they make their money but it just wasn’t our scene.

We obviously still had a blast! We always make the best out of things!

Nassau, Bahamas

Was the first stop of the trip and it was lovely. Be prepared when you step out of the cruise ship and onto the port to be bombarded by sales people. And I mean BOMBARDED. Worse than anywhere we have ever been. People actually put merchandise on us and then said “ok I’ll wait for money now.” Once you get past this spot you’ll find some gorgeous beaches and quaint little tiki bars surrounded by the sounds of reggae music.

The experience

Okay so this post is called Cruising for the Traveler. You have to understand that the way we travel may be different than your average tourist.

All in all, it was a great relaxation vacation but a little too relaxing for our fast pace state of mind. There were a lot of rules, a lot of waiting in lines and not a lot of true culture.

I think the only way we’ll go on another cruise is with family or friends but not just the two of us again. Can’t wait to island hop again though…maybe in my own sailboat next time?

Have you been on a cruise? What was your cruise experience like?