Western Carribean Cruise

WARNING - MARATHON POST!!

Proceed at your own risk!

We just got back from a long much needed vacation on a carribean cruise with our good friends Chase and Raquel. It was sooooo much fun! Here's what we did........

We stayed in the Marriot in Ft. Lauderdale the night before the ship left.

This was the view from our balcony

Raquel and I were outside chatting enjoying the view. We came in to find this! Catching some much needed zzzzs. After all, finals had just ended 2 days before.

THE SHIP

The ship was called The Valor and the theme was all about different heroes, it was pretty cool. These eagles were all over the place!

This was the front lobby as you walked onto the ship

This was the top, or Lido Deck as they called it. This is where we spent much of our time when sailing.

A view from the other end at night, it would all light up, because of course noone on a cruise ever sleeps

One of the many pools and 2 "cold tubs". It is basically the opposite of a hot tub. It's so hot outside that people just sat in these whirlpools to cool off.

The infamous lifejacket shot. If you have ever been on a cruise you know about the mandatory and boring embarkation instructions

As you can see the hallways to our rooms were not very wide!

Yep, we had bunk beds. Hey, whatever you have to do to make it cheaper, we are students after all! We actually didn't spend much time in our rooms and when we did we would just crash so it really was no big deal.

This is the other end of our room - not much to it! TV and a bathroom what more do you need?

THE FOOD

If you know Shayne, you know he is always eating. A cruise was perfect for him because there was always food (good food) right at his fingertips. Sherri wasn't complaining either because for once she wasn't cooking! Now it's back to PB & J's - it was nice while it lasted! Grand buffet the last night The buffet on the Lido Deck this was always here with different food everyday open 24h. We mostly ate lunch and snacks here and breakfast and dinner in the dining room. Soft serve ice cream and frozen yogurt - Shayne could not get enough!

Who knew Chase and Shayne liked sushi? Like is an understatment. Sushi was open from 5-8pm every night and the boys didn't miss a night! They ate it as a prequel to dinner (as if we didn't eat enough - 4 courses) They were there so much this server knew them and even knew what they liked. Glad someone liked it, Sherri and Raquel at least tried it. Raquel stomached it but Sherri couldnt, she spit it out - blah!

Shayne trying escargo, mmm!

Yes that is 3 entrees - duck, prime rib and lobster. Shayne ate all 3 one night in addition to his 3 other courses so how he managed to lose weight on the cruise will remain a mystery!

Shrimp and Lobster - Sherri's favorite dinner and yes that is 2 lobster tails!

There was always so much fresh fruit, we couldn't get enough. They always made it look so nice!

Miami Vice/Lava Flows, for those of you who aren't familiar they are half pina colada and half strawberry daquiri and are sooooo tasty!

They had photographers all over the place taking pics before dinner every night, always with different backgrounds.

THE ONBOARD FUN

The Ivanhoe Theater

There was a different show here every night that we went to. From Comedians, to Vantriliquists, Jugglers, Hypnotists and Dancers

To Vegas showgirls! They actually did a Vegas type show that was really good. Every show was great there wasn't one we didn't like and we were always very entertained

This guy was amazing. He was one of the breakdancers that performed. If I could ever get videos to work on here (anyone willing to help? I am all ears) we could actually show you

This big screen on the upper deck always had something playing on it.

This water slide was super fun. We were a bit surprised the first time we went down to find out it was all salt water!

Above this is a mini golf course and next to it a basketball court, as you can see we were never bored!

Scoping out the casino

The boys tried their hand at gambling for some fun. The minimums started at $1 - they had fun just betting a little here and there and ended up winning a decent amount in the end

Can't say the same for Raquel and I, I lost $5 in less than a minute and that was the extent of my gambling. This is the closest we got to the casino after that! They had these weird statues everywhere!

This lady was super annoying. She would sing and play the piano and flute but she was always doing the cheesiest stuff we would laugh so hard.

The Caboose This was the game/arcade room. We kept seeing people playing guitar hero but apparently you had to be under 17 to play it. What the heck who says we "older" people don't like it!!

What's it going to be?

2 lovebirds - this guy was awesome, he did it so fast!

Towel Sculpting Sherri looked forward to these every night. She couldn't wait to see what it would be. Our cabin steward (yes ladies we had a housekeeper if you have never been on a cruise you can see why you need to go - no cooking, cleaning or laundry) left these for us every night when he turned down our bed.

The Stops (Offboard fun)

1st Stop - Grand Cayman

In Cayman and Belize we had to take a tender (shuttle boat) to the island. The other 2 we were able to just walk right off - we much prefer that!

Arrrr matey!! Grand Cayman is all about pirates, it was so fun!

Yep that's a sting ray on Sherri's back - ahhhh! All I could think about was the crocodile hunter!

Sting Ray City We were right in the water with sting rays swimming all around us and brushing up against us. It was a little creepy at first but cool too! After that we went snorkeling at a nice reef we saw a lot of pretty fish and an ugly, big, green EEL!! It was a bit aggressive, it came charging right at Sherri, scared her to death.

Raquel and Chase had been there before so we did this one alone.

On our boat ride back we drove through some really nice homes and there were swarms of iguanas just walking on the lawns and hanging out in the trees. The guide said they will walk right in your house if you don't shut the door, they aren't scared at all!

1st formal dinner

The waiters/waitresses serenading us.

They did something like this each night, even danced a few times!

2nd Stop - Roatan

This is what we encountered when we stepped off the boat - the natives dancing and playing music. Sherri decided to bust a move with them!

We swung through the jungle here on a zipline, it was so much fun!

The beach here was beautiful!

Just before sunset - a pretty shot!

3rd Stop -Belize

The poverty in Belize was so sad, this was the nicest houses we saw!

You wouldn't know it when you were in these areas of lush, beautiful jungle!

Cave Tubing We tubed down a river through caves, so dark we had to wear these great head lamps. It was super fun, Sherri didn't really appreciate the bats flying around!

Last formal night

Sherri once again busting a move, this time with our waiter!

Last Stop - Cozumel

These guys were all over, I'm sure you've seen them before. They stand without moving until you pay them and then they move to a different position. How tiring. This guy was funny, he kept scaring people as they walked by.

A nice guy gave us these pretty flowers!

We rented scooters and rode around Cozumel to all the different great beaches!

These are Sherri and Raquel's mad skills with the camera, if you can't tell we were moving full speed ahead! As we drove the view on one side was the ocean And on the other side, these endless palm tree forests, it doesn't get much better than this!

It was really hot so it was nice to stop at the different beaches and cool off!

Shayne's favorite, authentic Mexican food! Steak Tacos - he was so excited!

Sipping pina coladas on the beach!

We did a bit of snorkeling on Roatan and Cozumel, this is the only pic I managed to get, cute eh!

We saw a few iguanas on this island too, Chase and Raquel almost ran this one over with their scooter! What do you think, should we practice here?

We had to capture the image of the beautiful water, it was amazing. This doesn't do it justice. Roatan and Cozumel had the best be the 4 stops, the beaches of were incredible with soft white sand! This was random! Why would you need a pay phone on a dock, let alone 5 pay phones?

Only in Mexico!

Even though they spoke English on all the islands most also spoke Spanish. Shayne enjoyed speaking spanish to just about everyone he could. The sunsets over the water are incredible! Filling out the customs form and waiting to disembark, they kick you out of your rooms early and then you just have to go wait in designated areas on the ship, it was kind of lame! Chase and Raquel headed back to Ohio and we stuck around in Ft. Lauderdale to enjoy or vacation just a little bit longer. Shayne's good friend is in dental school here so it was fun to go visit him, Thanks Dave for letting us crash at your place! These 2 pics are from Las Olas beach in Ft. Lauderdale. These 2 random guys were sculpting in the sand when they were done I couldn't resist snapping a pic, it was so cool. They said they do it for fun every year in their hometown. Hollywood Beach

Very pretty and less crowded than Las Olas. There was also a boardwalk with lots of fun shops and restaurants.

Leaving on a Jet a plane.........

Our friend Dave is a pilot and has a really cool pic he took from a plane. I had never thought to even try that before so I did this time and I love it. This is Ft. Lauderdale as we are taking off!

This was Shayne's first cruise, Sherri had been on a few before. We both loved it and can't wait to go again! So glad we had such great friends to share it with. Thanks Quentine and Quel :) for the good times and memories - we had such a blast!