Caribbean Cruise

Warning: this post is long with lots of pictures

Last week we went on an awesome 7-day cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel with our good friends Sarah and Jonathan. We had a blast relaxing on the ship, enjoying the onbaord entertainment, and seeing new sites in our ports of call.

Our ship was the Carnival Conquest out of Galveston. The 3,000-passenger ship was huge. We loved how many activities and restaurants were available on board. The nightly shows were surprisingly good. Our favorite was a juggler. The guys enjoyed playing in the casino. Jon liked 3-card poker and Jonathan preferred Texas Hold 'Em. Both came home with hundreds of dollars in cash winnings. Pretty cool.

In the casino

One day we played bingo

We decided to spent about $100 extra to get a room with a window. That money was totally worth it. The window was huge and the room relatively spacious. Besides the window, my favorite part of the room was the cool towel animals the room steward made for us every night.



The food was delicious. Every night we looked forward to eating in the formal dining room. Instead of choosing a set timing time we chose "your time dining" so we could eat dinner whenever we wanted. We'll definitely do this option next time we go on a cruise.
Jamaica was our first port. The island is full of natural beauty, but it is a very poor, dirty place. The excursion we chose was a waterfall 1.5 hrs from the port. The roads were twisty and narrow, oftentimes only one lane wide even though traffic was two-ways. We felt like we were going to die on the road.
Our destination was YS Falls. The Falls are 7 separate cascades separated by calm pools. Usually you can swim in each of the pools. Unfortunately it has rained a lot recently and the river was flowing too heavy to swim in any of the pools except the last one. It was neat to see, though, and we still enjoyed relaxing in the water.

Typical river

Fast moving river = can't go swimming in the waterfall

Relaxing by the lowermost pool

Our 2nd port was Grand Cayman. The highlight of our trip was swimming with the stingrays at Stingray City. We took a sailboat out to an area where the stingrays congregate and let you feed and pet them. Their undersides feels really soft. It was an awesome experience to hang out with such large creatures. These aren't my 2 pictures but you can get an idea of the experience. I'd highly recommend Stingray City to anyone going to Grand Cayman.

On the sailboat. We are both pasty white.

Our last port was Cozumel. Jon and I went to visit the Mayan ruins of Tulum. The ruins were pretty big and well-excavated. They are located right on the beach so the scenery was beautiful.


All in all it was an awesome trip with the perfect mix of fun and relaxation. We couldn't ask for better friends and travel companions in Sarah and Jonathan. On the last day of the cruise we were already brainstorming ideas for our next trip together.