Time of my life!

How can I even begin to describe one of the most amazing, relaxing, unbelievable, fun, and best vacations ever!!? Well I will do the best I can by giving you a peek into some of my favorite parts of it all. We cruised the Western Caribbean for 6 days and 7 nights. I had Mike with me, along with my sister, Tracy, her friend, Kathryn, and her two friends, Lisa and Leesa.

The Boat

Our ship was called "The Independence of the Seas" by Royal Caribbean. The thing was massive. I was still getting lost after being on it for seven days. It had everything you would ever want plus more. This is us on our very first day boarding the ship.
We saw some amazing sunsets. This was after a big rain storm on our first day out to sea. After that, the weather cleared up and we were in the 80's for most of the trip.

This is what they call the "Royal Promenade." There are some shops and restaurants along here and they also did a couple of parades during the week.

Just look how big it is (the boat, not me)!

This is while we were docked in Costa Maya along side another Royal Caribbean ship. Ours is the bigger one in the back.

The Food

Lets face it, the real reason you go on a cruise is to eat! And we all did plenty of that. There was always food available. We ate dinner each night in the formal dining room. We were presented with a menu full of fabulous appetizers, main courses, and desserts. We could order as many as we wanted, so we did. There were some nights where I had 3 appetizers, 2 main courses, and 4 desserts. Seriously! And it was all delicious!

Here is just an example of one night's dinner.

And desserts.

For breakfast and lunch, we usually ate in the "Windjammer" which is an all-you-can-eat buffet in the top of the ship. They had just about everything you could imagine. But on two mornings, we had time to eat in the dining room for breakfast. The best french toast I have ever tasted!

The Excursions
We had three ports that we stopped at and at each one, I got to do something unique that I have never experienced before. Loved all of it!

Our first one was in the country of Belize. We went "cave tubing." Basically we rode a bus to the rain forest. Then we got a tube (like the ones you use at a water park), a life jacket, and a helmet with a headlamp. Then we hiked about a mile in to a river. We got in our tubes and floated down the river through about a mile of cave. The water was just cool and the river was wide and went through a very dark cave, hence the reason for the headlamps. I don't have any pictures to post yet because I used an underwater camera and haven't gotten those developed yet.

Our next stop was in Costa Maya. We again took about an hour bus drive to some old Mayan ruins that have just recently been uncovered (about 2002). Our tour group was put together by our travel agent so we were all from Utah. I think these ruins hold special meaning for us since we understand who these people really were (Nephites and Lamanites).

The last port was Cozumel, Mexico. This was probably my favorite excursion because I have never done any thing like it. We did what they call "Snuba." It is a cross between snorkeling and scuba diving. We had a breathing apparatus, but the tank of air floated above us on a raft while we were hooked to a 25 ft. tube. So you could go down and breath and swim underwater, but you didn't have all the equipment hooked onto you. It took me a little longer to feel comfortable, but Mike and my sister were like little fish.

Our guide/teacher was really cool and from England.

The Shows and Entertainment

I could not believe the quality of the talent and performances I saw on this ship. At home, I would pay $40+ dollars to see one of these shows, and here I was watching one every night! They had musical plays, singers, dancers, a juggler, orchestra, and comedians. All very good and professional and wonderful!

We also watched live game shows. This one is called "The Quest" where they ask people to do crazy things. Pretty funny but got a little riske by the end. There was also a "Love and Marriage" game and a music game show.

On the ship was a small ice skating rink. You would think that they couldn't do anything amazing on it. But that show was the most amazing of all. The story, skating, and costumes were unbelievable. This was by far my favorite show!

The Service

If you ever want to know how rich people live, go on a cruise. My room was cleaned and made up TWICE a day! They left cute towel animals and made my bed, restocked the towels, and made it so I never had to lift a finger.

We had a main waiter and assistant waiter at dinner every night. The main waiter was from Columbia, and our assistant was from India. They were adorable and took care of every thing we wanted and needed (but laughed at us when we ordered so much food each night).

Our head waiter asked about where we were from and, when he heard Utah, asked if we were Mormon. He said he had a cousin that had been baptised and had heard of Joseph Smith. We asked it he had a Book of Mormon, but because of his broken English, we couldn't quite tell. Meanwhile, we had met an LDS couple on one of our excursions who happened to bring with them a Spanish Book of Mormon to give away. They let us have it and we all wrote a little message to him and gave him the book. Who knows what will ever happen with it, but I'm pretty sure the Lord orchestrated the whole thing. It was just to miraculous to be coincidence.

The rest of the staff that helped do everything else was awesome too. (And most were pretty cute with wonderful accents).

All the Extra Stuff

Like I said, this ship had everything. One thing we tried on the first day was the rock wall. It's a lot harder than it looks. Mike scaled it in no time, but I got stuck half way up and had to come down. Fun though.

They had a full gym on board (although I don't know when people find time to use it). Tracy and I took advantage of it at least on the first day while it was pouring down rain. I don't think it helped very much burning off all the calories we ate.

Mike enjoyed the basketball court. They had a "Hot Shot" competition and Mike took second place. He has a silver medal to prove it.

The coolest thing was the "Flow Rider" that simulates surfing a wave. Mike was brave enough to try the standing surfing, while Tracy and I stuck to the boogie boarding. Again, harder than it looked but also a blast!!

I have pictures of me too, but they are still on the waterproof camera.

So, basically it was a "DREAM" vacation and was everything I ever hoped for and more. It was a wonderful time to spend with Mike and experience such amazing things together. I could never thank my mom and Mike's mom enough for watching our kids for us while we were gone. They had just as much fun as we did. For those of you that have never been on a cruise, I highly recomend it! I know I will be doing all I can to be able to go on one again someday. Loved every minute!!!!