Saturday, October 31, 2015

Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Part 1

It's been a long time in the making, but Dan and I finally took an extended KID-FREE vacation! Sorry for yelling, but I am really, really excited about it! We dropped Zahara off with her wonderful, loving grandparents and headed to the Eastern Caribbean for a week.



We went on a seven-night cruise with Royal Caribbean International. We've cruised with them before and always have great experiences. This time was no exception. The Independence of the Seas was beautiful with a fun promenade featuring an English pub, a wine bar, a pizzeria, a coffeehouse, and more. I really loved the attention that was paid to each little detail: the weathered "wood" floors in the pub; the wine-stained corks in the wine bar; and the vintage car were fun examples.


One of the things we love the most about cruises is meeting new people. We've actually made some really good friends through our dinner table (see our adventures with Jeff and Steph here and here). We were pretty disappointed the first few nights when no one showed up at our dinner table. Thankfully, we were able to switch tables for the last half of the cruise and got paired with some fantastic ladies. They were a huge part of what made this trip so fun!

Lauren, Caroline, Kristina, and Lisa at dinner


It was like Dan and I somehow reverted to our fun, pre-kid self. Not that we're not fun now, but on the cruise we went clubbing until 4 a.m. one night! Can you believe that??


On the sea days we made the most of our new-found free time by lounging, drinking, eating, and working out. Pure bliss!




We even surfed on the FlowRider. It was so much fun! Dan, Kristina, and I all managed to stay up. Click here to see my surfing video.

I'll be back with highlights from our stops in Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, and Saint Kitts.

Read more about this cruise:
Caribbean Cruise, Part 2: San Juan
Caribbean Cruise, Part 3: The Islands

Read about our other cruises here:
Baltic Cruise
Mediterranean Cruise