Caribbean Cruise | Stacey Marble Photography | Royal Caribbean

Caribbean Cruise

We went on our first cruise (sans kids) this year! It was so much fun, and a much needed break/time to reconnect without our children around. We chose to go on a Caribbean cruise with my brother and his wife. My brother served his mission in Honduras, so that's where he wanted to go. I didn't care as long as it was somewhere warm. :)

Our 7 night cruise left from Tampa, Florida and included stops at Costa Maya, Mexico. Belize City, Belize. Roatan, Honduras. And Cozumel, Mexico.  We chose Royal Caribbean because it was basically the only ship we could find at the time and place we wanted to go. But we didn't have kids to entertain, so it wasn't a big deal to us really which ship we got on. (Although I had heard so many people saying NOT to choose Carnival...)

We had an excursion booked at each location except for Cozumel. There we just got a taxi to take us to a beach. It was a dream to relax and just enjoy the ocean.

We spent cruising days lounging on the deck, enjoying the entertainment, eating delicious food and watching the sunset over the ocean.

My brother wanted a more unique experience in Honduras so he found someone on his own to take us out snorkeling. It was fantastic cause it was just the 4 of us. They also took us to get some more ethnic food. We watched a lady in her little shop make the tortillas by hand. It was pretty neat to see where he'd spent 2 years teaching people about Jesus.

In Costa Maya Travis & I floated down a beautiful river into a lagoon. It was perfect for the hot day we had. And SOOO gorgeous. 

In Belize I took Travis back to a Mayan ruin I'd visited with my parents several years ago. The Lamanai ruins. It was really neat to learn about the history of the people who built these giant structures. The last time I was here we were able to climb up the face of the temple, but since then they had built a staircase around the back to get to the top. I was a little disappointed at first, but it was obvious how much wear and tear those steps had been getting, and they were steep, so it was for the best. :)

Dessert was a definite favorite of the cruise. I think the cheesecake may have been my very favorite. I went back and got some to go one evening before we headed to an event on the ship. Travis loved the souffle so much he got 2.

If you've never been on a cruise before, add it to your bucket list! If you have, let me know where you've been and what you loved most about it! I only have this one experience to compare to and we'd love to go again, especially when the kids get older. :)