The Stuff Dreams are Made of

• By Monica
• 3 March, 2013
• 10 Comments

That’s the best description I can come up with about our vacation. I thought I’d better update you all lest you become concerned that our boat was adrift at sea without power. We were lucky enough NOT to be on that Carnival cruise. Our vacation couldn’t have gone smoother.

I have a tendency to ruin really wonderful moments. I get too in my head and overthink things. If anything goes remotely wrong, I can’t get over it and enjoy what is happening. So this time, I decided I was NOT going to ruin this long anticipated vacation. I was going to be proactive. The best advice I got was to lift my expectations (not lower, that sure sounds depressing!) of the trip. Instead of outlining every detail in advance and having expectations about health, weather, food, etc — I decided on the ONE thing that I wanted from the trip. That was an easy choice: I just wanted to be with my husband and away from the kids. Anything else was just a bonus. So I went into the trip with this attitude and I think it truly paid off. I often caught myself just smiling (ME! Realist/pessimist ME!), because I was just in the moment and enjoying it all. And, we also got lucky and had the perfect vacation. We wouldn’t change anything about this trip!

Here’s what I mean:

Just after getting on board and about to leave the Port Everglades at Fort Lauderdale, FL.
We arrived the night before and stayed in a hotel nearby.
We were just too giddy to be on our owns, having slept in, and traveled without kids!

We loved to sit at the back deck whenever we’d leave a port. It was less windy and noisy back there.
I believe I was happily enjoying my first Strawberry Daquiri at this point.
Time to unwind.

We spent the first day at the Princess Cays, a private island owned by the cruise line.
It’s in the Bahamas. So it’s amazing.
We got on the island rather early and felt like were exploring a deserted island. Perfect.

Us on Princess Cays, with our ship off in the distance.
No, it didn’t leave us, it just didn’t get into a port that day.
We took small boats from the ship to get to shore.

The view from the back deck, leaving the Princess Cays in the Bahamas.
We loved sitting back there, reading and drinking pina coladas. Yum.

Getting dressed up for the formal dinners was fun!

The view was pretty sweet too.
We ate at this spot every night on the cruise and had an awesome waiter, Adolfo.
Who we mistakenly called Alfonso the entire trip.
Whoops.

Once we were on St. Maarten, we headed straight over the French side and grabbed a seat at a French Ex-pat’s cafe.
This meant Nutella Crepes made by a man who knew what he was doing.
HEAVEN.

Then we hiked up to an old fort.
The views were spectacular and the water is, well, just look at it.

On the Dutch side of St. Marteen, my handsome shipmate with a new hat.

Our day on St. Thomas was perfect.
We started out having a yummy breakfast and wandering around the port area.

After breakfast, we hiked up to Blackbeard’s Castle.
It was fairly interesting and the views were spectacular.
Plus, after conquering the 99 steps we felt a little better about all the food we were eating.

Valentine’s Day at Magen’s Bay in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

The view at Magen’s Bay. GORGEOUS.

Our last island was Grand Turk.
We found some guys willing to take us out snorkeling and enjoyed the ride.

Sunny skies. The wind in your hair. A handsome guy. Does it get better?

I’m pretty sure you can see from my face how wonderful it was!
The snorkeling was fantastic and we even got to see a sunken ship and the Great Wall that drops from 30 feet to 7,000. Wow.
Our guides found a shark and a lobster under a rock.
I was too scared (and unskilled as a diver) to investigate further.
The Lion Fish was a fun find though!

Our last day at sea, Brian enjoying his last Cuban cigar on the mid-level deck.
This level made me think of every old movie that has a ship scene.
Especially Now, Voyager.

See what I mean? An all-around perfect trip.
Hope we can do it again soon!