It’s been a while since Andrew and I have been cruising, no thanks to the pandemic, but cruising is how we first caught the travel bug! Cruises are a fantastic way to see so many different places and countries all at once, and it literally couldn’t be easier.

​

It’s hard to really get a good feel for an island or a country based on one short day, but it’s so much fun to travel this way regardless. It also gives you a great idea of all the places you’d like to travel back to for a longer stay (and which ones you wouldn’t!). Sometimes your opinion of the destination itself is totally dependent on the activity/excursion you do. With that in mind, no disrespect to any countries listed(!!), I’ve ranked our top ten favorite countries/stops and explained which activities we did in each. If you’re about to jump on a cruise ship, specifically Carnival, make sure to check out our list!

​

(And please forgive me for some of the poor quality photos, these date back to 2011 when I was workin' with a flip phone rather than a smart phone, and a disposable underwater camera with FILM rather than my GoPro)

​

10. Barbados:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

​

​

​

 

I totally feel like Barbados has way more potential than number 10, but our excursion didn’t give us a good enough feel for the actual island itself! We took a catamaran and went snorkeling here and it was a fun time, but this was all we had time for and we barely even stepped foot onto the Island. With that said, the catamaran ride was SO enjoyable, love me a good catamaran snorkel. The water was such a nice warm temp for someone like me who hates even mildly cold water, and it was buoyant and fun to swim in. We’ve gotta get back to Barbados and explore some more for sure!

 

9. St. Thomas:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been to St. Thomas twice, once with Andrew and once with my friend, Kaitlyn. Andrew and I went ziplining there and it was kind of a snore. I like ziplining but it’s not my fave, and there weren’t really great views from this one. Kaitlyn and I took a catamaran tour and swam with turtles and had a much more enjoyable experience here though! My favorite thing in St. Thomas is the “Skyride to Paradise Point”. Both times I was in St. Thomas, we took the gondola ride 700 ft up to the observation deck and there’s a restaurant there with magnificent views overlooking the harbor and a smattering of other little islands. Would highly recommend making time to stop here! (Fun fact: I swore that Andrew was going to propose to me here. I don’t know why. But after ziplining I went and changed in a porta potty into a white dress. I was wrong and would have to wait another 5 months for that 😉)

 

8. St. Kitts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay not gunna lie, I had a poor attitude when we got to St. Kitts. We didn’t make plans for an excursion here, and the beach that we went to was kind of rocky and lame. Andrew and I ended up taking a nice long walk around St. Kitts, instead, and my attitude really turned around when we made our way to Shipwreck Beach Bar. This beach bar is perfectly positioned overlooking the gorgeous beach and water. We enjoyed tasty food and drinks while watching the native monkeys run around looking for food dropped by tourists. After lunch, we grabbed a couple of beach chairs on the beach underneath the bar and had a fantastic rest of our day.

 

 

7. Roatan, Honduras:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talk about a jungle! I remember pulling up to Honduras on the cruise ship and there were thick palm trees as far as the eye could see. We chose to go zip-lining here. Aside from the crazy, and I mean CRAZY, ride in the back of a truck bed we took to get to the top of the mountain (I swear my mom was holding on by a thread, we almost lost her out the back!) this was the best zip-lining we’ve done. Long and high lines with lovely views of the jungle below. Even my mom who hates heights enjoyed her first time zip-lining here! We followed that with some time at the beach by the cruise ship. This beach was so crowded being right by the ships, but a gorgeous beach no less. I’m sure if we had found a beach further away it would have been incredible!

 

 

6. Nassau, Bahamas:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to Atlantis on our first cruise in 2011! It was the first big vacation that Andrew and I went on after we started dating in ’09 and we thought Atlantis was the bees’ knees. It totally is if you love the versatility of having the beach, the water park, and the casino all in one. We’ve been twice now! The lazy river in Atlantis should be called the ‘crazy’ river because it is literally the opposite of lazy! There are rapids, waves, and even a tube elevator. It takes about 30 minutes to get all the way around and I could stay on it all day, it’s so much fun! We also went swimming with the dolphins here and had a ton of fun with that! We’ve obviously had fantastic times here, the only reason Nassau/Atlantis isn’t ranked higher is because it’s quite commercial. Over the years, Andrew and I have fallen more in love with the remote, natural beauty of less developed islands and beaches.

​

5. Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was pre Go-Pro and my cheap underwater Poloroid photos do NOT do it justice. If you love snorkeling, this is the place to be! Cayman Islands had the most incredible snorkeling of anywhere we’ve ever been. We chose a snorkeling excursion through the company Devil’s Grotto. We didn’t have to take a boat, we snorkeled directly off the main drag of downtown George Town, and the colors of coral and fish that we saw go unmatched to this day. After our snorkeling session was over, it started to rain on us, and we headed for some lunch by the water. The place we went was nothing special, but make sure you find yourself a spot somewhere with ocean views! I definitely would love to experience this again!

 

 

4. Ocho Rios, Jamaica:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One word for Jamaica, stunning! We opted to check out probably the most tourist-y thing you can do in Jamaica, Dunn’s River Falls. The hype around climbing this waterfall isn’t exaggerated, we had a ball. Make sure whatever camera or sunglasses you’re bringing with you are ATTACHED to your body, because these falls are no joke. Andrew threw me his sunglasses ??? and they will live in Jamaica forever. Sorry Jamaica, for littering, and sorry Andrew, for not being a better catcher. The best part of this tour? At the bottom of Dunn’s River Falls, the waterfall spills out onto the beach and into the ocean. Despite DRF being so popular, this beach was one of the most secluded beaches we’ve ever been on. Stunning jungle meets pristine beach and sparkling blue water. Love that.

 

 

3. Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I told you that the vibe here is *chefs kiss* would that be enough said?? I kid, I kid. But seriously, there’s just something about Grand Turk. I’ve been there twice now, and I left both time with the same good vacation feels. Andrew and I did some great snorkeling here and got to touch a nurse shark. The beach is a stunning stretch of white sandy shores, the water is warm and buoyant, and there’s a beach bar called Jack’s Shack with delish drinks, WiFi, and it’s own beach dogs! There’s also a giant Margaritaville with one of those Flowrider wave/surfing machines that I proudly smashed my face on in front of a crowd of people all in the name of fun. Lastly, if you’re get a chance to be here for sunset, consider yourself lucky. The burning orange sunset over Grand Turk made for the most turquoise waters we’ve ever seen, and no photo could ever do it justice. Like I said, there’s nothing super extra crazy about Grand Turk to make it special, it just is.

 

 

2. St. Martin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hopped aboard a speed boat to tour both the French (Saint Martin) and Dutch (Sint Maarten) sides of this beautiful island. On the water we passed gorgeous waterfront mansions and marinas full of mega yachts. We hopped off the boat in two different areas for a snorkel where we saw incredible fish and so many turtles! We stopped at a third spot for a beach break, and one final stop for lunch at a picture perfect, waterfront beach shack. We ran late and didn’t get a chance to stop by Maho Beach, the famous beach where planes fly straight over head, but even despite that, this excursion had so much to offer and left us wanting to come back for a week’s stay here for sure!

 

 

1. St. Lucia:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ultimate cruise destination! We would hands-down give anything to go back to this spectacular island. St. Lucia’s unique landscape is unparalleled with its’ crystal blue waters, white sand beaches, and rock formations that jut into skyscrapers above the ocean. We did an incredible excursion with Spencer Ambrose Tours to Sugar Beach (Jalousie). By speed boat we were able to see so much of St. Lucia. The boat was cruisin’, waves splashin’, music bumpin’ and the rum punches flowin’ 😊 Spencer himself gave us an incredible and interesting tour of everything we passed. We landed at Sugar Beach right between the two enormous “Pitons”, Gros Piton and Petit Piton. Fans of The Bachelor may recognize the Pitons from Juan Pablo’s season! We spent a lovely day soaking up the sun on the beach, eating the provided St. Lucian style lunch, and staring in awe at the lush mountain surroundings. If you love boating and beaching, we would 100% recommend this tour and this amazing destination.

​

​

Honorable Mentions

(AKA the rest of the cruise destinations we've been to)

Bermuda:

If you’re looking for Bermuda because of the March Madness Cruise-Style bracket I did on Instagram, although Bermuda is a popular cruise destination, we actually DIDN'T go there on a cruise! We went for a long weekend, loved it, and have a whole other blog post about it HERE

​

San Juan, Puerto Rico:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting Old San Juan was like taking a step back in time. The old time-y feel, pastel-colored buildings, and cobblestone streets make it a cool place to walk around. Andrew and I were there for a short time before our cruise took off from the San Juan Port. There is a trolley in Old San Juan that we tried to catch SO HARD but we ended up chasing it around and did 90% of the trolley loop by foot instead 😉 There are several historical sites right by the cruise port that are easy walking distance and worth seeing, for example, Castillo San Cristóbal. When Kaitlyn and I stopped in Old San Juan for the day on our cruise, we went to Playa Isla Verde. The beach was not the best, there were cigarette butts all around and the water wasn’t the cleanest. If I were to go back, I definitely would want to check out El Yunque National Forest!

​

Cozumel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My parents, Andrew, and I swam with the dolphins here. It was a fantastic time but we didn’t have much time after our excursion to really experience Cozumel. We headed to a beach that was just okay. If we had had more time to explore, we probably would have gotten a better feel for Cozumel!

​

Belize:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got duped! We didn’t pre-plan an excursion in Belize and hoped we’d just find a beach to go to. If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you probably know the experience when you get off the ship and into port, it’s a tourist frenzy, full of people trying to get you to buy things or go on their tours. Long story short, we were approached by people offering to take us to a beautiful beach and we fell for the photoshopped picture they showed us. Instead, were taken to a man-made “beach”/gross pond with a big slide. We tried to make the best of it, but it was not what we expected at all, and I would not want to go back.

​

Half Moon Cay:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carnival’s private island Half Moon Cay was a gorgeous day. Kaitlyn and I spent the whole day at the beach here and in the water and it was lovely, but nothing special to report!

​

Bonus Tip: Hollywood Beach, Florida

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re leaving out of Fort Lauderdale airport, ditch your luggage at the airport and take a quick Uber ride to Hollywood Beach. Andrew and I stayed in Hollywood Beach for a long weekend back in 2015 and really enjoyed the overall vacation atmosphere and the “Broadwalk” full of restaurants and shops. Before Kaitlyn and I boarded our flight back home from our cruise, we hopped in an Uber, and I took her for a quick pit stop at “The Taco Spot” where we got huge, delicious drinks served in a pineapple! It was so much fun because just when we thought our trip was over, we were able to grab a few more hours in the sun. Highly recommend Hollywood Beach for a quick stop or a longer stay!

That’s all for now, I’ll update if we find ourselves on any cruises in the future! I hope this helps and bon voyage, happy cruising!