This summer, instead of doing one huge trip like my family usually does, we decided to do two shorter vacations. Our first trip was a one week cruise with Royal Caribbean! Our ports were in Labadee (Haiti), Falmouth (Jamaica), and Cozumel (Mexico). With less ports and more sea days, it was definitely more relaxing than our last cruise in Europe.
Day 1-2
We did a redeye flight from YVR to ATL, and then had a connecting flight to FLL. The staff in Atlanta were so friendly! Even the customs officers were really chill hahah. I never thought of Georgia being a place of interest to me but after interacting with the people, I think it'd be fun to come back and stay longer! Once we got to our hotel room in Florida, we took a big nap and then woke up for lunch.
My dad looked for restaurant recommendations on Yelp and found that this place called Coconuts was highly rated so we decided to eat there. We sat by the water and had an amazing view of the harbour. It's like everyone in Florida owns a boat and/or pool! My family decided to share a bunch of dishes so we got the crab cakes, ahi tuna poké, chicken wings, bread dip, lobster sandwich, and fish tacos. The ahi tuna poké was mixed with avocados, mangos, macadamia nuts and served with rice crackers. It was to die for. I highly recommend visiting this restaurant! Service was excellent as well; the staff were very informative and the owner even complimented my dad's shirt. They have other restaurants under the same owner that I wished we could check out but we only stayed for one night in Fort Lauderdale.
After lunch, we decided to take a walk along the beach. They have Uber in Florida and our driver recommended that we check out this jungle cruise, where a boat takes you for a tour along all the waterfront mansions to a private island where we can have an all-you-can-eat seafood barbecue dinner followed by entertaining shows. Since we had nothing else planned for the day, we decided to do it! Unfortunately I don't have any pics from the tour since it was quite dimly lit in the evening but I'd definitely recommend it (and make reservations for guaranteed seats).
Day 3
The next morning was our embarkation day. As soon as we boarded the Harmony of the Seas (the world's second largest cruise ship), I was blown away by all the features on the boat. They had a little avenue full of shops, a carousel, an ice rink, a pool theatre, a floating bar, a mini golf field, a rotating head statue, robots making cocktails, and even a Starbucks!!
We basically spent the sea day just exploring the huge ship. For dinner in the fine dining restaurant, I had calamari, prime rib, and chocolate cake for dessert. Our entertainment for the night was Grease the musical. The actors were super good looking and definitely looked like the characters they were cast as. Afterwards, we watched people sing karaoke. This one guy was from London and after listening to everyone else, I wasn't expecting much from him but he was actually amazing! Then, we had cheese pizza for a midnight snack hehe.
Day 4
This was also a sea day so we decided to go to the pool. It was incredibly crowded with lots of kids so we got some seats facing the sea instead. My dad joined in a water volleyball tournament and his team actually ended up winning first place!! For dinner, I had lobster bisque, seafood linguini, and carrot cake for dessert. The entertainment for the night was an ice skating show, which included skaters from all over the world. The Russian coach and his student were my favourite as they went all out with their jumps. Later that night there was also an aqua performance, entitled the Fine Line show, that featured b-boy dancing, diving, synchronized swimming, and tightrope walking. They were amazingly talented! I'd go on this ship just to watch that show.
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| *casually taking a pic of the guy who reminds me of Ronaldo* |
I've been on many cruises before, but never a ship of this magnitude. Royal Caribbean doesn't have the best food to be brutally honest, but the entertainment on ship and all the unique things to do definitely made up for it!
Stay tuned for my next post in Haiti!
x
Melissa
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