We just got back from our very first cruise! It was wonderful! Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, Susan has been on a cruise before. Her family went to Alaska when she was in 8th grade. That was a fun cruise as we did all of the kids activities and ran around like crazy and ate all sorts of food that we wouldn't get at home, but this cruise was very different and even more enjoyable.

As we were enjoying the cruise we often stopped to ask each other why didn't we go on a cruise for our honeymoon?! We left on Thursday, June 11 from Brooklyn on the Caribbean Princess (a Princess Cruises ship). Ivan worked a half-day and we went directly to the port from his office. We packed light and were able to directly board without waiting in very many lines at all. Our 9-day cruise was scheduled to make stops in Bermuda (West End), Puerto Rico (San Juan), U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas), and Caicos Island (Grand Turk) with 2 days at sea getting to and from the Caribbean. One of the great things about the cruise was that we were able to unpack our bags once and not have to worry about changing hotels every few days and it really didn't work out to be much more expensive per day than our honeymoon was (including food - so maybe it was even cheaper!!).

We totally lucked out on our cabin: we paid for the cheapest interior cabin, but ended up in a partially obstructed ocean view cabin (a full 30 square feet larger and with a gorgeous view). We were directly on the bow of the ship which helped with the view, but did seem to be a bit of a rougher ride than closer to the middle of the ship. Thankfully, neither of us got sea sick and we thoroughly enjoyed our cabin.

We were determined to manage our eating to minimize the weight gain and started out great: going to the gym twice a day and eating frequent, small, healthy meals. We "splurged" at afternoon tea, eating sandwiches and desserts, but decided that it was early enough in the day that we could work off those calories. At dinner we limited ourselves to the "healthy" choices or, if we ordered something that wasn't so healthy we would eat no more than half of it (we tried asking for half of a portion to avoid wasting food, but our waiter told us not to worry about it - so we didn't). By the end of the trip we let our guard down a bit, went to the gym less often, and ate food that we would have scoffed at during the first few days, but we still managed to put on less than 5 lbs each (hurrah!).

During the sea days we made a point to attend the ballroom dance lessons and now can hold our own at dancing the Salsa, Merengue, Cha Cha, and Waltz (although we have to practice or else we forget everything!) Unfortunately, they only teach three moves per dance, so our repertoire is rather limited, but it's still fun to be able to find a song on YouTube and dance to it!

At our first port (Bermuda), we paid for an excursion on a glass bottom boat to see a ship wreck and then snorkel and that was a lot of fun. It was a cloudy day and rained a bit while we were in the water, but it wasn't cold and since we were wet anyways, the extra water didn't bother us. We also went to Hamilton to see the city, but didn't have much time and weren't too impressed with seeing the city. There were a large number of "Tall Boats" (the old fashioned full-rigging sail boats) that were preparing for a transatlantic voyage, so those were pretty neat to see.

On the cruise, there was a lot of photography so we decided we should have brought more clothes so we could have more variety in the photos we could purchase, so in San Juan we decided to do some clothes shopping. We also did the AAA Walking Tour of Old San Juan including a visit to El Morro, La Forteleza, and many Plazas. It was a very warm and sunny day, so we didn't last very many hours out in the sun before heading back to the ship for a late lunch.

Our third port was St. Thomas. Susan had done some research and learned that the most appealing shore excursion was a driving tour of the best spots on the island. Rather than book that tour, we found a taxi bus to take us around for less than 50% what we would have paid on board. Unfortunately, it was miserable weather and we didn't get many good photos from the lookout points. However, when we did get glimpses of the water, we were absolutely astounded by how many different shades of blue it was. It was incredible.

Our final port was Grand Turk. We had wanted to book another snorkeling excursion, but balked at the price so instead we went ashore and rented snorkels for $10 a piece (mental note, next time buy a snorkel at home and bring it with you) rather than spending $80 a piece for an official excursion. The water, for the most part was warm and rather shallow and there were a surprising number of fish to look at, although no coral. Perhaps we would have seen more interesting things on an expensive excursion, but we definitely got our money's worth on the beach and enjoyed sitting around and reading a book in between snorkeling.

On the last two sea days we were very ready to just relax. One morning we sat on deck and watched a movie by the pool. Although we were very diligent to apply sun block, we missed a few spots and are now burnt to a crisp in a strange pattern (a few spots on our arms and legs including all of Susan's neck). Hopefully it's not severe enough to start peeling, but we're also glad that we didn't get sunburnt earlier on the trip.

Our highlights were definitely the dining experience and the dancing on board as well as the snorkeling opportunities ashore. We hope to take another cruise in the not-too-distant future.

For more photos, log into Facebook (they will be posted in the next few days).

Labels: Cruise, NY, Summary