Caribbean Cruise: The Top-ish 10

We have over 150 pictures from our week in the Caribbean. I’ve narrowed it down to 149 to share with you, beginning with about 8 of our cruise ship.

Just kidding.

No, what I’ve really done is try my very best to decide on a Top-ish 10 for our vacation. Top-ish because there were way more than 10 highlights.

Let’s get this photo-heavy list-ish started, shall we?

Our Top-ish 10 Cruise Moments

10. Dancing like fools every chance we got. Well, mainly I danced like a fool. Other members of our party managed to look like they knew what they were doing. My dance moves are limited. Think Madonna at the Super Bowl 2012 halftime show, only less coordinated.

That’s what we did as we sailed away from Miami on day one.

9. Watching my mom win $75 in free spa credit, and then winning $200 in free spa credit myself. $75 will basically get you one toenail filed at cruise ship rates. With our combined money, I got a pedicure (my first ever) and then we went for 25-minute massages, also my first ever. The pedi was significantly less weird than the massage, especially since nobody understood what our massage lady said after the part about removing your top.

8. Touring Key West, where we walked to the southernmost point of the United States. There was a monument that you could take your picture by, but some middle-aged couple was making out there, so we got creative and made our own symbol of the south. See, we spelled it. Pretend you can tell what our letters are supposed to be, okay?

This picture gives you some perspective on just how giant a cruise ship is.

7. Dragging Rick to all of the free dance classes. Here we are ballroom dancing. Or something. I am apparently preparing for a country barn dance while everyone else listens intently to the instructor.

6. Snorkeling on a basically private beach in Grand Cayman. We saw lots of fishies and a couple barracuda, who we were close enough to snuggle with.

I love this picture of my little sissy.

5. Laughing at all of the terrible photo-ops that crew members offered us. Think faux embroidered backdrop of a cruise ship with a fake moon hovering above it, or a quaint avenue in…Rome. While holding a stuffed armadillo or a pirate puppet. We have no proof of these antics, because if you took a picture of any part of their photo wall you would have to buy the photos that cost only a few dollars less than my pedicure, but this is a very good reenactment of our personal favorite family pose: the Rubber Ducky.

Yes, friends, for a low, low price of a couple hundred dollars (slight exaggeration) you, too, could have a family portrait with rubber ducks on your heads. I wish I was joking.

4. Climbing Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Without a doubt, this was our favorite activity off of the ship. The falls are a little under 1000 ft. in height. If you ever go to Ocho Rios, fight your way through the people trying to sell you authentic Jamaican paraphernalia made in China and climb that waterfall.

3. Eating. And then eating some more. And in between eating, eating. Rick ate more seafood during that one week than he has in his entire life, I think. They’ll bring you as much of everything as you want, so on lobster tail night, Rick didn’t hesitate to order two.

We also tried a lot of fun new food, like shark langostino, alligator fritters, vichyssoise (which is more fun to say than eat, in my opinion) and everyone’s personal favorite, frog legs. I’m told they taste like chicken, but the possible poultry likeness was, for me, trumped by the fact that they felt like melting tires coated in gelatin. Oh, and they looked like frogs. In a dish. Coated in garlic butter. Gross much?

2. Meeting a bloggy friend on our return trip through Miami! Gail is basically my twin, with a few minor exceptions like…we aren’t the same age. Her post about our whirlwind lunch sums it up so beautifully that I won’t attempt to recreate it—go visit her blog and read it for yourself! I guarantee she will make you smile at least once. :)

Gail is a photographer, so she appreciated the staging tips that I’d learned on the cruise. Here we are practicing the rubber duck pose with alternative props.

A good sense of humor! I like that girl. :)

But the #1 event, hands down, was…

1. Spending time with each other, and our family. Absolutely the very best part.

So: thoughts on cruises, the price of pedicures, exotic food, climbing waterfalls, rubber ducks? Spill. :)