Magical Honeymoon Cruise

Matias and I got married on Friday (December 30) and left on our honeymoon out of Galveston on New Years Day. This would be my third cruise and Matias’ first and I was so excited to experience it with him. I personally love cruising and think it is the best way to travel. You don’t have to worry about flying or driving anywhere because the ship takes you to all of your ports and then when you are hungry you can either order room service or go get food up in the dining areas. Then when you get tired you can go back to your room and take a nap or if you are bored you just find something fun that is going on and join in.

We did a 7-day cruise out of Galveston with Carnival and were on the ship Carnival Magic. We went to Montego Bay, Jamaica; Georgetown, Cayman Island; and Cozumel, Mexico. The cruise started off with two days at sea before we arrived at our first location which was really nice for us. After the stress from the last couple of weeks with Matias finishing finals, Christmas and of course wedding planning it was extremely nice to be able to relax and not feel like we had to be on the go at all of the ports.

The first stop was Montego Bay, Jamaica and this was probably our favorite location. Everything here was so beautiful! We did a tour that took us to Ocho Rios (which was a 1 ½ bus ride) where the Dunn River Falls and Mystic Mountain are located. Here we climbed the falls and just enjoyed everything about it. It was actually cooler that day (77 degrees) then it previously had been and we thought the water was going to be freezing cold. As soon as we got in and went through a small part, they made us dunk ourselves in the water so we could get used to it. This was probably the best idea because after that the water was so nice. It was extremely difficult to climb the falls but it was probably harder than what I thought it was going to be. I was so glad we both were wearing our chacos, because it did make climbing easier.

After we were done we took a 5 minute bus ride to the bottom of Mystic Mountain. From here we took a 30 minute lift up the mountain where we rode over the rain forest and got to enjoy the scenery. (Matias did get kind of scared since he is afraid of heights and we were over 800ft in the air). Once we reached the top we got to eat a famous Jamaican dish of Jerk Chicken and Kidney Beans with Rice. This was delicious and Matias was so excited because the whole trip he kept talking about how he wanted to try Jerk Chicken in Jamaica. Once we finished eating we got to do a Jamaican bobsled ride. Basically it was just on a track but their actually bobsledders used to practice on it. You really didn’t steer your way around it but you could control your speed and of course we made it go as fast as possible. We then took the lift back down and on this one you mainly rode in the rain forest, which was an interesting experience.

The next day we docked in the Cayman Islands. Here we did an island tour where we visited Hell, a rum factory, and the turtle farm. The turtle farm was really cool because we got to pick up and hold some of the smaller turtles and we also saw one that was over 65 years old. One of the turtles was only 10 weeks old and fit into the palm of your hand and then others were massive. The tour was fun getting to see everything but we were by fair the youngest people on our tour. (Guess we didn’t get the memo). After the tour was over we walked around and went shopping. The shopping here was amazing because a lot of it was American brands but you didn’t have to pay taxes and it normally had a discount also for the duty. Matias got some cool polarized sunglasses that change colors in the sun, we got t-shirts made from bamboo (so much softer than cotton), and I got a Michael Kors watch (which I absolutely love). There also was a Hard Rock Café on the island (my sister-in-law Jimena works at the one in Dallas) so we stopped and bought her some flair. The Caymans were beautiful and the shopping was amazing!

Our last stop was Cozumel, Mexico. The water here was crystal blue and you could look down and see the fish swim by from the smaller boat we were on. This was perfect because we went snorkeling. I have gone snorkeling every time I have done a cruise because I like getting to see the fish and the reef in all of the different locations. I had never snorkeled in Cozumel and Matias had never snorkel at all. It was a lot of fun seeing the reef, all the different fish, dolphins, and a stingray. The one thing is snorkeling is very tiring especially if you have never done it before (you can burn 1000 calories if you snorkel for an hour). Even though we were exhausted after we still had a lot of fun.

Cozumel was our last port but we still had one more relaxing day at sea before we had to head back to reality. We definitely had a great time on our honeymoon and it was great to get to relax!