Last September, a friend and I decided, spontaneously, to take a vacation anywhere. Anywhere was the plan, so we decided on a cruise which made its way from the Florida, to the Cayman Islands, then to Honduras and finally Mexico. This was the third cruise I've ever been on and my first time cruising on the Royal Caribbean. I had tried Norwegian Cruise Lines before, which I loved but I really enjoyed my experience on this one. Off we went on a flight to Tampa, Florida to catch this cruise. Seven days in three different countries, sure why not!
The first day on the cruise was laid back. It takes about a day to even get anywhere on water so we got to know the inside of the ship a bit more. I always find cruises to be very fancy looking inside. It has that Titanic feel to it. There are also a gazillion things to do while at sea. The geek in me specially loved the musicals, but the three large pools, mini golf course, casinos, and restaurants were nice too.
First stop, Cayman Islands. As beautiful as they say the Caymans are I wasn't so impressed. It could have been the cloudy weather but it's a very small island with not much to do so we decided to go swim with the dolphins. Cause why not! We had to take a small boat from the ship to the dolphin cove. As cloudy as the day was we had a blast swimming with Luna. If you ever get a chance to swim with dolphins do it! It's an amazing experience.
On the fourth day we were in Roatan, Honduras. Roatan is an island on the bay of Honduras located in Central America and is home to probably one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to. West bay Beach. I find prices are higher when you go through the actual tour guides provided by the cruises. I like to live a little and find my own means of transportation. To me, you get a really good feel of the country/islands when you go about this on your own. We met some Honduran taxi drivers who offered us a deal, $40 bucks and we can visit the monkey zoo on the way to the beach..hell yes. We went with our guts and had the best time. I got to feed some monkeys and get to know more about Honduras from the taxi driver who lived there his whole life. Once we got to the beach we went snorkeling (also something we decided to do off on our own.) It was about $35 bucks to snorkel. I've been snorkeling before but this was a chance to see the second largest coral reefs in the world. The first belonging to Australia, of course. What an experience! When I think back on Honduras only one word comes to mind....WOW!
FYI: Roatan is home to zip lining as well.
After another day and a half at sea we arrived at our destination. Costa Maya, Mexico. This being my third time in Mexico (you think I love it?!) I couldn't wait to get back on that Mexican sand and enjoy scenery. We chose to go see the Mayan ruins before relaxing. I wasn't as impressed with these as I was with other ruins/pyramids but just learning about the history of the Mayans from our tour guide was enough to keep a smile on my face. The Tulum ruins are south off the coast of Cancun. It was our last stop on this trip.
I had a blast on the Royal Caribbean. It was seven days of fun and relaxation. Got to meet a lot of people from different parts of the world. It's what traveling is all about. Life is always an experience <3