Honeymoon!

 

Our honeymoon was absolutely perfect!

It wasn't long - only 3 days - but it was magical from start to finish.

I found a 'buy one get one free' deal on a new-ish cruiseline, Margaritaville at Sea, and found that we could both cruise in an oceanview stateroom for less than $200 which is cheaper than a room at the beach so I jumped on it and booked it in June.

Then life came along and it looked like we might not even be able to go because Chris's ex-wife no longer has transportation (her engine is busted and she can't afford to get a new one) so Chris has to pick the kids up from her house on the days she has then and take them to school and then bring them back to her again. If he didn't do this, her solution is to just keep them home and have them miss school.

We had carefully planned our few days away for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday because those are her days and in June, we had no idea this car issue would come up. Even in August, when school started up again, we had no idea we'd still be dealing with this in November but we quickly realized we couldn't leave town and let the kids miss school.

Luckily we have a great friend who offered to be transportation for the kids on those days so we still got our little time away.

We drove to the port on Wednesday morning just as soon as we dropped the kids off at school. You're allowed to board the ship around 12 and we arrived at 1 which was perfect because there were no lines and we walked right on.

It's an older ship but it's beautifully maintained and it has cute decor with a Jimmy Buffet/Parrothead theme. I feel like it was the perfect size for a short cruise and easy to navigate.

The first thing we did was sign up for the unlimited soda package and the 10 alcoholic drink package because we knew we really wanted to unwind and have a good time. The soda package gives you a shark or alligator cup and we purchased a "blender" cup for fun. The whole Blender thing comes from a Jimmy Buffet song that says "there's booze in the blender, and soon it will render, that frozen concoction that helps me hang on." It's going to be a cute souvenir and we can bring it back for future cruises and get discounted refills.

Our room was very nice, spacious for a cruise ship, and had a big round window so that we could see the ocean. The bathroom was cute and had the tiniest shower which could only hold 1 person at a time. There was a TV but we never watched it.

The food was awesome and plentiful. We spent a lot of time at the buffet which had plenty of yummy choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner although the first night we ate at the restaurant because they had escargot for an appetizer and I LOVE escargot. Chris was less than enchanted by the little snails even though I assured him it tasted like butter and garlic and there's nothing bad about that.

But the buffet kept us coming back especially since we chose to sit out on the back deck of the buffet for the amazing view...and the fact that the bar was right there.

The shows were great, the sing a long piano bar was so much fun we did it both nights, the comedian was hilarious and he even made us part of his act. There was always something to do or live music to listen to each evening.

The ship docked in Freeport, Bahamas the next morning but we didn't have enough money to book an excursion so we decided to enjoy the quiet, almost empty ship and it was so relaxing. We took a couple of naps in the room (we were honeymooning, after all) and a couple up on the pool deck just enjoying the perfect weather in the Bahamas.

We roamed all over the ship and took pictures of the two of us and then we ate some more and took in another night of shows.

I know I had a lot of complaints about the wedding reception but I have not a single complaint about the honeymoon because it was (and I know I've already used these words a lot) absolutely perfect, simply amazing and wonderfully magical.

I'm sharing a picture of my breakfast the last morning because it was my favorite - bagel and cream cheese with smoked salmon (lox) with the new addition of smashed avocado. Simply scrumptious!

We disembarked on Friday morning after having to hang out on the pool deck some more because there was a back up at Customs. What a pity, we got to relax in one of those comfy couch-chairs for two while waiting. Finally they called us and we had to wait in line a bit but finally got through. Next time I'll know to get an Express Pass so that we can get off the ship earlier but then again, who wants to leave Paradise any earlier than you have to?

What a way to start our married life!