#15 PUERTO RICO & THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
As most of you know, I went on a cruise to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands a few weeks ago with my family. It was a very much needed vacation from my very hectic work life! I came back with an insane tan, which I have been super excited about. I haven't gotten this tan since I went to Cancun.
MIAMI
We went on the Celebrity Equinox cruise ship which docked from the Port of Miami. So, my family and I flew down there on Friday night to meet with the rest of our group. We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the beautiful resort, but the view of Miami's skyline from there was so breathtaking (night & day)!
The next day, we all went to the Everglades to see alligators... I know that doesn't sound very appealing, but the experience was pretty cool. The options for that day were to either lay out by the pool or go to the Gator Park, and I'm always up for an adventure - How could I say no? Besides, I figured that I would be laying out at the pool all week once I get on the cruise ship. The Gator Park was something different.
The boat we were on was going super fast, and the scenery of the swamp was actually pretty nice. Unfortunately throughout the whole 30 minute ride, we only spotted 1 alligator - they said it was mating season for them so they weren't above the waters.
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
Our first stop on the ship was at San Juan, Puerto Rico. At around 2PM on Tuesday, the ship sailed around the edge of the city where I was able to capture the most spectacular view! However... in retrospect, no other view will EVER beat the time I went to Alaska.
While the rest of my family explored the city of San Juan, my cousins and I went to do ATV. It was amazing!! However, I sort of wished I went to tour the city because San Juan is known for their colorful buildings and such. My brother and sister were showing me pictures of their tour and I was very jealous. ATV was fun though - I had my own dirt bike and got to drive through tall grasses and mud. Annoying part is that I got bit all over my legs! It looks like I have either chicken pox or some weird disease!
If I went on that tour, I would've definitely had more pictures to share. Instead, I just have the ones from ATV.
ST. THOMAS & ST. MAARTEN
For the next 2 days, the boat docked at St. Thomas and St. Maarten. I didn't have any phone service at St. Maarten since that was a Caribbean island. So, I accepted that until we went to a beach where they had free wifi included with an entrance fee. No doubt I was on social media the entire time and getting the most connection I can before losing it again for the next 4 days until I dock back to Miami!
We ate local Caribbean food at St. Thomas... after shopping for jewelry... I think the most annoying part about visiting islands via a cruise is that there's a whole bunch of Diamond International and other jewelry shops on the port. They will non stop harass you to go into their store. There was one that we went into where a lady who worked there practically begged my sister to look for something by saying "C'mon, buy something. I need money or else I won't have any food to eat." I was like... REALLY?
Out of the 2, my favorite island was St. Maarten. After the first beach we visited (the one with the entrance fee), we went to Airport Beach. If you haven't heard of this one, it's known for where spotting airplanes land right above you. The airport is literally right next to the small beach. I caught several videos of some planes landing over my head, which I'm not able to post here (sadly)... but I have a photo of a JetBlue plane about to take off!
Apparently, two weeks before this, a lady died from standing too close to the fence here. The wind blowing from the back of the plane taking off blew her away with such great force that it killed her and injured several others nearby. You can even see "DANGER" on the metal bar by the fence!
CRUISE SHIP SHENANIGANS
So highlight of the ship was that there was SILENT DISCO for 2 of the nights! It was something different - never heard of any other cruise ship that has done silent disco (yet). To be honest though... after that night, we all began to realize that the ship was replaying the same playlist of songs like everyday. So I think that was one flaw of the ship activities. How do you NOT have enough songs to play throughout the week? I feel like I've heard the cha cha slide and cupid shuffle about 5 times.
As you may have heard, the Celebrity Cruise line is known for their food and service, while their sister cruise line, Royal Caribbean, is known for their activities (that explains the lack of songs on the ship playlist..). So, we went on a tour of the kitchen. Wasn't anything too special, but I thought it was pretty funny that they had a sign up on the kitchen walls that said "No Eating." I'm sure some of the chefs may feel tempted to pick at the food from time to time.. but once you've been on several other cruises, there's nothing at all different about the food they serve. Every cruise ship serves the same type of food.. but the service on this ship was definitely top of the line!
Lastly, I obviously took pictures of all the food I ate! My favorite one was this salmon tar tar appetizer.
To conclude this post, here is a selfie of me and. my parents :)
