Back in 2005, while on our honeymoon cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, Eric and I vowed that we would take another one in five years - no matter what. And with the much appreciated help from Claire’s LeLe and Auntie Bonnie, we were able to do just that. We spent 4 nights on the Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas and had an absolute blast doing everything from dancing, rock climbing and jet-skiing, to sleeping in late, relaxing by the pool, and catching up on our reading.
Our ports of call were scheduled to be Key West, Miami and Cozumel, Mexico - but unfortunately bad weather and hurricane threats kept us away from Mexico and we ended up in Nassau, Bahamas instead. Although we enjoyed our time at Nassau, we had really hoped to visit a port that we hadn’t seen before (Nassau had been one of the stops on our honeymoon cruise).
We weren’t in Key West long, but the time we were there was spent driving around on a motorized scooter and seeing popular landmarks. We also made a stop at the post office to send Claire Baby a postcard.

Front part of our ship, “The Grandeur of the Seas”, while docked in Key West

The beginning of US1 in Key West

Self portrait taken while driving the scooter
(probably not the safest thing to do…)
We rented another scooter in Nassau and saw a LOT of the island. We were headed to the opposite end, but after about 20 minutes of driving and being very close to the destination, we realized we had a slight problem. No cash. No credit cards. No form of payment whatsoever. I could point fingers here….but in the spirit of wedded bliss, I won’t. Ha! So, we headed back towards the ship (stopping on the way for a quick dip in the ocean to cool off) and then I did some shopping at the straw market while Eric replenished our money supply.

Nassau, Bahamas - pretty!

Showing off our secluded part of the ocean-front
By this point we were starving, so we stopped for a quick bite, then headed across the bridge to the Atlantis Hotel and Casino. We had heard stories, but were completely amazed at the sheer size of this place. We walked around for a bit, but quickly realized that we weren’t going to see much of it, considering we weren’t actual guests. We headed out to Atlantis Beach, where we rented a jet ski for an hour and LOVED every moment of it!

View of the Atlantis Hotel as we crossed over the bridge (on a scooter again)

Another self portrait on a motorized vehicle - this time a jet-ski!

The last time we were on one of these things was our honeymoon.
I’m now obsessed with finding a ridiculously cheap one on Craigslist - ha!
Highlights from our time spent on the boat included our fabulous dinners with four beautiful ladies - twin sisters from Venezuela, Vanessa and Vallerie, and two friends from Brazil, Betanea and Helena. Although the language barrier was a bit tough at first, we broke through and managed to learn quite a lot and really enjoy each other. I was actually thankful for Claire’s love of Dora - I at least knew a few words in Spanish! These girls were SO much fun and Eric and I looked forward to dinner with them each night.

Toasting to five years of wedded bliss!
(Formal night on our anniversary)

Our fabulous dinner table - Eric was fond of the male/female ratio…
We also were contestants on a game show similar to “The Newlywed Game” which was a LOT of fun! There were three other couples and everyone had to try and guess their spouse’s response to embarrassing questions about their significant other. I’m pretty sure I shared a lot more with a large group of strangers than I ever thought I would! Ha! They didn’t keep score, and everyone walked away with a Royal Caribbean gift pack. Anyone interested in a RC highlighter or hat?? Our friends from Brazil were there, and they have pictures of us on stage, which I will post once I get them.
A big special “THANK YOU” to LeLe and Auntie Bonnie for watching our munchkin while we were gone. Although we missed her like crazy, it was extremely comforting to know that she was in good hands! They even posted pics & videos to Facebook so we could see how much fun our sweet girl was having. You guys up for another babysitting round in 2015???

Claire loved playing with her Auntie Bonnie!

LeLe helping Claire cool off “bites” of her favorite food - SOUP!

Two priss pots painting their piggies!