Paige's Graduation Trip Recap

Paige, my niece by way of David's older sister, graduated from high school this past June and a big present was needed. The family decided that a girl's cruise would be a great way to celebrate! Fast forward 2 months later and here we are finally on our cruise. It was Paige, Gammoe, Emily, & I. We went out of Port Canaveral on the Royal Caribbean to the Bahamas for a 3 day cruise. It was a lovely trip! Here is a recap of the cruise. 

Friday morning, we headed south from Jax to Port Canaveral to board our ship. We arrived around 1, went through all the security checks and nonsense, and then made our way to lunch at the buffet. PS. The buffet was not exactly my favorite food of the weekend. After lunch, we changed into our bathing suits, got a nice fruity drink, and watch the boat sail off into the Atlantic Ocean. 

The first nights dinner was casual. We had delicious food and all went to bed early since everyone was so exhausted from getting up early and traveling.

Saturday morning, we woke up early, ate breakfast, and went for a workout to burn off some of our dinner. We arrived in Nassau at noon and off we headed to our shore excursion which was swimming with the dolphins! I have always wanted to do this and was so glad we finally splurged and did it. Probably the highlight of the trip. 

 The dolphins were so friendly, they came right up to you in hopes you would give them fish.

Our instructor Mikhal was hilarious and made the experience that much better. We hopped in the water and around us the dolphins swam! We got to hug them, kiss them, dance with them, rub them, feed them, and be pushed with their noses on our feet. It was so cool and the facility was really nice and clean too.

 We headed back to the main island from our excursion and then decided we needed to partake in the craziness with the rest of the tourists so we went to the straw market and to Señor Frogs. Everyone had a real good time there.

 That evening we came in and got dressed for our formal dinner night. We were so exhausted from the full day that as soon as we finished eating we went right to bed. Lively bunch huh?! LOL

 Sunday, the boat took us to their private island called Coco Cay. We had a nice relaxing day laying on the beach and doing some snorkeling. The highlight of the day was when we realized there was live music we decided to pick up our stuff and move over to listen to the reggae band. As soon as we sat down, the singer changed from reggae music to christian music. It was so cool to watch people come up to watch and stop as they walked by once they heard it was worship music. The band ended up playing for about 30 minutes and it was amazing! It was like we had our own little church service on the beach. They ended the songs with a prayer and all the strangers gathered together to hold hands to pray. It was just really cool to see all walks of life who have nothing in common share the same love for God.

 After laying on the beach, I headed to bingo (I didn't win) then did some roulette in the casino (I didn't win) then changed for our last night on the cruise. We all went upstairs to the top deck to drink champagne and watch the sunset. We had another delicious meal, watched some karaoke, went and danced some and then called it a night.

 Monday morning we were off the boat early and our weekend cruise came to an end. I had a great trip and really enjoyed getting to spend some extra time with Paige. I think she really enjoyed it and it will be a memory she will have forever. Cheers to you Paige! We love you!