Cruise Top Ten Countdown

I promise I didn't go on a cruise last week just so I could come back and write a list about all the awesome things from our trip.  But.  I'm totally going to do it anyway.  Hey, it's different this time.  It's a backwards list.  A countdown, if you will.  (What? That's different.  It is.)

Here we go.

10.) The turquoise waters of the Caribbean.  Every time I'm in the area, I'm amazed that the ocean really looks like this.  I can't count the number of times I see water like that on tv or movies or in magazines (or during wii swordfighting... yeah I said it) and think to myself how awesome it would feel to be in it.  I was almost giddy about swimming every time I got to jump in.

9.) Cape Canaveral.  Before we left for our cruise, we spent two nights in the Cocoa Beach/Canaveral area.  We hit the pool.  We hit the beach.  When that got rained out, we hit the space center.  We had a dinner date and saw a movie.  What makes an awesome date day even better?  A space shuttle.  True story. 

8.) My new flip flops, purchased in Florida before we left, from a surf shop containing a downright orgy of flip flops.  Yep, they're ridiculously cute.  (And yep, I shaved my legs.  For the first time in ten months.  Hey, vacations make us all do crazy things, right?)

7.) Lounging on the ship's deck.  The wind, a book, some tunes, a beachy cocktail, being surrounded by water on all sides.  Perfect, perfect way to enjoy summer.  In the sun or the shade.  :)

6.) Awesome food.  Seriously, this is why people go on cruises, right?  Great food.  In copious unhealthy unlimited amounts.  Steaks, seafood, amazing soups and sauces and desserts.  A server who would only let us choose the entrees he knew were stellar (no, seriously).  Also, this trip we had the best dinner company we've ever had on a cruise.  Four other couples, all close to our age, all easy to talk to.  Our dinnertimes were great.

5.) Inflatable water toys.  There was an awesome little aquapark in the ocean at Coco Cay (our first port of call).  We climbed on rafts and slides and trampolines.  No, we are not too old for that, thankyouverymuch.  (Also some stingrays swam right up to us while we were playing... so cool!!) 

4.) Nassau.  Hands down, the best cruise port of call we've been to (and that's a lot, since our honeymoon cruise stopped in like eight places or something completely insane).  The markets were neat, and there was so much more to see than just the typical kitschy port shops.  A whole legitimate city.  With a fort!  And a round library! And a governer's house atop a hill with a lax enough security guard to let us talk our way onto the grounds! Pretty churches!  Interesting colonial-style houses! And a beautiful gorge and staircase (former escape route from pirates) carved into a hillside.  Nassau FTW.

3.) Goombay Punch.  I was in the Bahamas with my family as a child, and I have spent the last twenty however many years remembering this tropical pinappley drink with a smiley face on the can.  It tasted so good.  I was crazy excited when we went into a grocery store in Nassau (yes, I always go to grocery stores in foreign countries, it's an odd point of interest for me in new places) and they had this can! With this smiley! And it tasted exactly as good as I remembered!

2.) Cocktails housed in fruit.  There is something about being served a beachy cocktail with an umbrella, in a pineapple, that makes it at least three times as awesome as a regular old drink by the pool.  A frozen cocktail served in fruit is a very big part of going on a cruise.  For me anyway.

1.) Mark.  By far the best part of our trip was getting to hang around with Mark for a week.  We swam, we played, we kissed, we danced, we talked, we slept late... we just really had fun together.  Our trip was exactly as tropical and relaxing and romantic (and cheesy) as we thought it would be. What's not to love?

Man, is my husband awesome.  And man, do I love vacation.  :)