During the month of July, specifically July 28th to August 10th, my family and family friends went on a cruise for a week. My mum, brother and I had went on a cruise called Carnival Victory, the previous year and we had loved it! (Unfortunately, didn't blog about it). So we all decided to go again, but this time with everyone else (lots of baggage on board, if you know what I mean). Our main docking location was in Fort Lauderdale, where we also have family residing (in Miami). The cruise stops were Grand Turk, La Romana (Dominican Republic), Curacao, Aruba and then back at Fort Lauderdale. We spent one night in Fort Lauderdale and was off to the cruise the following day. Getting onto the cruise is always an exciting process for me, because you get to see SO many people, and it's basically a party the first night - what am I saying, it's a party every night. I've noticed that this cruise comprised of mostly young teens and pre-teens, which wasn't all too bad, but it was definitely a change (I don't fit in with party teens eep!). However, there were definitely lots of eye candy... that, I'm not complaining about. Every night, we had an amazing dinner with once again, amazing crew members, although none of them can replace our favorite waiter, Tony! There was also two performers who would perform their own songs and covers outside on the Lido deck (the main deck where everyone parties and chills in the pools). One of them was David Lazarus, who I instantly had a crush on. I couldn't help it - he's Australian! He was also pretty cute and I would listen to his performances almost everyday. I also attended two of his acoustic performances in the pub, where there were lots of other girls who fangirled (I didn't - I was either by myself or accompanied by a 9 year old). We also requested a song called Riptide by Vance Joy (who's also Aussie) for my brother's birthday and we got to meet and talk to him. He was also surprised that we knew of Vance Joy, being his favorite artist, so that felt cool. I felt a connection with him... although it was pretty much one-sided, but that's okay. He'll always be my cruise crush ;)
Without going into too much detail and turning this into an essay (I tend to do that), I'm just going to give a breakdown of what the experience was like in each destination!
Grand Turk:
- Lovely view of the ship
- Went to the beach and had the best time in the water (the ship was super close to us, so it was a cool experience)
- My brother and our family friend went scuba diving, and my brother GoPro'd it
- Very HOT weather - ugh
- Lovely town
La Romana, Dominican Republic
- Went into town and visited some shops
- Family had a coconut drink, whilst I had lemonade (Not a fan of coconut)
- We then went to another beach, which I didn't go in since I didn't bring a swimsuit, nor was I in the mood to swim
- Instead, I took a bunch of lovely photos of the beach, the boats and scenery
- My brother and family friend held an Iguana
- Went back into town for souvenirs - it ended up being chaotic with the locals trying to befriend us and offered to shine shoes. My brother ended up drawing in way too much locals and it pissed off our taxi driver, or at least I think it did!
- Also, a local worker asked me how old I was, where I was from and if I was married... dude, you're like twice my age, I'm pretty sure this is illegal. Also, my mother wouldn't be too please haha.
Curacao
- Curacao was probably my favorite destination on this cruise
- The water was SO blue and pretty
- Went into town and had a lovely view of the ship and the waters
- Went into the floating market, where there were lots of neat cute shops (my brother and I bought a bracelet with Curacao on it).
- The Floating Bridge is so lovely, especially at night. The bridge lights up and the colorful buildings illuminate
- Took a tour bus with a bunch of other people and visited a liquor factory, where we tried sample liquors (it was delicious)
- We then stopped off at a beach, where my brother was the only one swimming. It was such a lovely place though!
- This was the only night where we were able to stay out until the night, and the ship never looked so beautiful!
Aruba
- This was our last destination on the cruise
- We rented a car and drove around town
- We visited the light house, where lots of tour buses stopped at as well
- We obviously couldn't go to Aruba without going to another beach!
- This was my favorite beach out of all of them - called Arashi Beach
- We all swam and took some really cool underwater GoPro photos
- The beach was pretty shallow, even if you go further down, which was great for me, considering I'm pretty short
- The water was also clearer and bluer as ever!
- We then left and had a little photoshoot at the Aruba sign
- After, we went into town and got some souvenirs and ventured off into some shops
We then had two days at sea, where we enjoyed the pools, the food and soaked up all the sun! (I got VERY dark and got a sunburn on my nose - eek). After the cruise ship arrived back at Fort Lauderdale, we checked into a lovely hotel and spend the rest of the few days making the best of our vacation, where we;
- Went to Everglades, where we rode in a boat in the lake and saw alligators and lots of animals in their natural habitat
- Spontaneously attended a Manchester United vs. Liverpool soccer game at SunLife Stadium - SO awesome
- Went out for dinner at Reb Lobster for my brother's 18th birthday and had a lovely ice cream cake back at the hotel (told lots of ghost stories and ended the night in the wee morning).
It was a lovely 2 weeks overall, and I enjoy exploring and trying new things, no matter where I am. I hope to go on another cruise in the near future ;)
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