As promised, I have finally uploaded some cruise photos. Let me just tell you, looking at these gems made me REALLY want to go back. I had never been on a cruise before so I had a picture in my mind of what our week would look like. Boy, was I wrong. My inner dialog did a 360 just after an hour. My transition went something like this:

[Setting: Immediately after boarding and setting sail.]

Me: Wow, this is a lot cheesier than I expected. I didn't realize it was going to be one big MC (or is it emcee)ed dance party with neon lights and Mardi Gras beads. It's kinda like a combo Wedding/Sweet Sixteen/Bar Mitzvah. I mean, it's not that I dislike any of those events. In fact, I love them because I love celebrations, a big dance floor, loud music, and random props like noise makers and streamers. This just isn't what I thought I had signed up for.

[Setting: 1 hour after boarding and setting sail until the time we got off the ship and said our goodbyes]

Me: This is FANTASTIC. Lay by the pool during the day. Maybe play some Blackjack in the early evening. A big fancy dinner. Then, a dance club. Just the perfect combination of relaxation and having an Alan Jackson G with an O, O with a D, T with an I and an M and an E.

It was a spring break cruise so there were crazy college peeps galore. I honestly think this made it even more fun. We met some great people, and I really hope that we keep in touch. A little warning about the photos: Kyle & I went on this cruise by ourselves so I apologize in advance that the photos are mostly just the two of us. I swear we made friends! So, without further ado, I give you the photos.

Before embarkment. I definitely went down that water slide a time or two or three.


Bye Bye Ft. Lauderdale!



And hello Grand Cayman. Me & Kyle on the boat to Stingray City. Please excuse the rat's nest. It was PRETTY windy.



Look what I found! Fun fact: Starfish can live out of the water for up to eight hours. We let this big guy go though right after this photo.



Kyle & I went swimming with the stingrays. At first, I was terrified, but they are seriously the most docile creatures. I actually got to hold one, feed it, and kiss it (see below). Apparently, island legend is that kissing a stingray will give you seven years good luck. Looks like we have to book a cruise back to Grand Cayman in 2017.



So... we got the days of the week confused (can you blame us?), and we dressed up in formal gear on the wrong night. We had to improvise on the real formal night so here is me & Kyle in our semi-formal gear.



Semi-formal night close up. When you are on a cruise by yourselves, you become a big fan of the hold-the-camera-out picture.




This was one of our couple friends that we met. H & K are from Colorado, & they were our favorites. We moved to their dinner table on the last night (per their invite, of course) so that we could dine together.



In Jamaica, we were getting sorta harassed to go on tours. I also had a braid in my hair so many of the women wanted to braid all my hair. I don't blame them. They are smart business women. Anyway, we just wanted to hang out so we posted up at Margaritaville. Kyle found this guy walking around. I think the name of this photo should be, "Be cool."



And for the grand finale, someone lent this girl (me) a microphone. If you know me IRL, you know that a microphone is my favorite prop. Although, I usually prefer the kind that do not work. Well, needless to say, I toted this sucker around all night. That means I fake karoked and fake interviewed fellow dance clubers a lot. I also may or may not have put my hands up, their playin my song.....