THURSDAY OCT-7th
We left Idaho Falls around 5:30 pm in the Honda Pilot. Myself, Gabby, Kina, Mila, Jake and AJ with all of our luggage. The ride was quick and pleasant with a eery thunder and lighting storm the whole way. We arrived in Salt Lake City around 8:30 and dropped the girls off at Eduardo and Lilian's. We then headed over to the Homewood Suites in Downtown SLC and checked into our room. All four of us then went down and soaked in the hot tub.... The start of a great vacation! I had a little incident with the elevator and went up and down it three times not realizing I needed to swipe my room key card to get off on our floor. Clever me. Gabby and I left to go put the girls to sleep at Abuelita's house while Jake and AJ wandered around downtown to pick up some food at a grocery store. Knowing Jake, this was quite an experience for him. They ended up walking right through the park that has all the homeless people in sleeping in it. As for us, Kina and Mila went right to sleep, they are so good!
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| Dallas Ft Worth Airport |
We woke up at 5:30am and headed downstairs at the Homewood Suites and ate a hot breakfast of Ham, Eggs, Hash browns, and Peaches. We then prepared ourselves a bagel and put it in our backpacks for our journey to Miami. Gabby's Dad dropped us off at the airport and we departed for Dallas Ft. Worth at 8:30 am. We arrived in Dallas at noon. The airport is huge! We rode the train around to the other side of the airport to meet our connecting flight. It was a HUGE 777 with 9 seats per row. We boarded at 1:30pm and there was a delay caused by bad airflow to the center section of the plane. This was not to big of a problem because the seats were comfortable and there were nice TVs in the back of every seat. I watched the movie "Grown-ups" and then fell asleep for awhile.
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| Embassy Suites in Miami |
We arrived in Miami around 7:30 and the shuttle picked us up and took us to the Embassy Suites near the airport. We swam in the outdoor pool with the palm trees and 85 degree weather and ordered in a couple Papa Johns pizzas with everything on it. We were starving and this was like heaven. We went to sleep at midnight
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| Port |
We woke up at 8:30 in the morning. Our room was really nice with two separated rooms and TVs in each room. We headed downstairs and had cooked to serve Omelets and fresh fruits. We then packed up our bags and grabbed a shuttle for $30 (for all 4 of us) to the port. We arrived at the Port at noon and jumped in the line for security and check-in. We ran into Nino and Admir (Cruise Critic friends) in the line and anxiously made our way through the process. We stepped foot on the ship at 1:20 and went straight to the Pursers Desk to have our rooms switched around. Our room had bunk beds and their room had two twins that could be converted into a queen. The switch was easier than we imagined and we were free for our 7 night vacation.
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| Sailing past Miami Beach |
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| Bowl from Mongolian Grill |
The first stop on the boat was a trip straight to the Mongolian Grill. All four of us ate here and then we headed to the top deck in front of the ship to watch the sail-away. We were the last of three ships to leave port that afternoon. After the sail-a-way at 4:00pm we wandered around the ship exploring. The views were amazing and Miami beach looked so pretty as we sailed away into paradise. We were impressed with the ships layout from the moment we stepped on board. We went to our assigned table at 6:00pm in the Golden Dining room table 602. We met our table mates from Canada, Jason and Angelina. They were on the cruise celebrating their recent engagement. They ended up being really fun dinner partners and we always had something to talk about.
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| The big Screen on the Lido Deck |
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| The water slide on the Lido Deck |
After we ate dinner we headed to the Venetian Palace and participated in Country Line dancing. I decided that since Gabby didn't have her brother Leo to do things with this time that I would go out of my comfort zone and participate in any of the activities that she wanted to do. It was actually pretty fun being up on the stage making a fool of my self. After this was done we stayed in the Venetian Palace and sat at the second row to watch the $500 Bingo and then participate in the Welcome Show. The Dancers were great as well as the teaser show from one of the Comedians. After this we went to the Hot and Cool dance club with Nino and Admir until about 1:00am then headed back to our room and passed out.
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| Our interior stateroom |
SUNDAY OCT-10th
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| view from above water slide |
We woke up to our alarm at 8:00 am and headed up to Emile's on deck nine for our first breakfast on the Carnival Liberty. We had Egg White Omelets made for us with everything on them. I started my cruise Chocolate Milk addiction at this point. We went back to our room at 1242 and put on our gym clothes and headed to the gym at the front of the ship. We were there from 8:30-9:45 and it felt good to work out and use the nice equipment and see the views of the ocean as we were sailing. Truly amazing views. We headed back to the room and showered then I met Nino and we went to the Cruise Critic "Meet N Greet" where we met, Paula, Krissy, Tom and Gail, and Toni and Jon. We went over a few details of where we would meet for the excursions we had planned in the three different ports we were scheduled to see. The whole afternoon was spent out on the Lido deck playing and laying out in the sun as we sailed past Cuba. The sun was hot and we got a LOT of sun. It was so relaxing to layout and enjoy the warmth of the sun with the ocean breeze.
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| Formal Dinner |
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| Angelina and Jason |
We headed to our rooms after 5 hours in the sun to shower and get ready for our first formal dinner. We joined Jason and Angelina at 6:00pm. Dinner was amazing! I had lobster as well as some shrimp cocktails. Gabby opted for the Prime Rib. During the middle of Dinner there was so music and Gabby and I got up and slow danced. The time alone with Gabby is well appreciated and a great break from all the hard work we do on a daily basis. As normal i chose the most calorie packed dessert called the Chocolate Melting Cake. Its sort of like a half brownie/half hot brownie mix. DELICIOUS. After dinner we went to the room and changed out of our formal attire. We spent the evening in the Victory Lounge watching both the PG and the Adult Comedy shows by the talented Seth Brachwald and Hank McGauley. They were both amazingly funny comedians. We sat in the front in a nice wrap around couch. We watched the first two PG shows by ourselves and then Jake and AJ watched Seth's show with us then Nino, Admir, Rebbecca, Kari, and Shannon all joined us for the last show with Hank.
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| AJ, Jake,Me, Gab,Nino, Rebbeca,Shannon,Kari, Admir |
During the last show Hank was making a joke about hot girls with ugly dudes and asked if there were any in the audience. Me being the fun guy I am, grabbed Gabby's hand and threw it in the air. We won't go into details but she stood up for me as the comedian had is fun. It was ENTERTAINING. After the show we headed up to the Lido deck for some fresh air and some ice cream cones then headed off to our room for the night.
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| Best Omelette cook ever |
We woke up to our alarm at 7:30am after 6 hours of sleep and made our way up to Emile's for our breakfast. we went to the same kid every time to cook our Omelets. He always had a big smile on his face and the omelets were delicious! Gabby and I both went to the gym and were finished by 8:30. We showered and packed our backpack with a water bottle, towel, and money then met Jake and AJ and we got off the ship at 9:00am. Getting off the ship was not crowded at all seeing as how we docked at 8:00. This was going to be our relaxed easy day. We are in Cozumel, Mexico. We all four got in a taxi which cost us $13 and headed to Paradise Beach. We heard that the water was a little dirty due to the recent storms so our taxi driver allowed us to check out the conditions before dropping us off.
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| Getting off the ship in Cozumel, Mexico |
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| Beach Chairs |
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| The Pier where we snorkeled |
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| Chillaxin |
Looked like Paradise to us so we stayed. We were the first guests of the morning and were treated really kindly. This is a free beach but there was a charge of $14 per person for unlimited use of beach chair and umbrella, snorkeling gear, life jackets, inflatable toys in the water, and sea kayaks. We set up camp in the front row of beach chairs and then headed down the pier to snorkel. The water was pretty clear and the visibility was great. There were a ton of cool looking fish under the pier and it was a cool experience. After this we handed our snorkel gear back in and swam out to the inflatable toys. Gabby was the bravest and the first to climb the iceberg and jump in from the top. Jake and I were next and we did this a few times. The last two times I got salt water up my nose and that is the WORST! Gabby and I decided to get a little exercise so we picked up a kayak and we paddled around for about a half hour. It was really fun when the waves from passing boats would zip by. We wore ourselves out and so we ordered some Chicken Fajitas and relaxed some more laying out in the rays. Overall we had a great experience here at Paradise Beach. We did however learn that there were others from our ship that were offered drugs and sexually harassed by a staff member which is sad for them. We were back by the port around 4:30, we shopped around for a bit and took some fun pictures. We boarded a 5:30 and got ready for dinner. Our ship was at port until 10:00pm.
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| Inflatable iceberg at Paradise Beach |
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| Headed out to Snorkel |
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| Put em up |
Our Dinner mates did not come for dinner tonight because they were out on a long excursion visiting some Mayan ruins on the mainland. After dinner we were dead tired and exhausted from being in the sun all day so e headed straight back to the room and passed out. Naps in the interior staterooms are amazing. No noise and pitch black. We slept deep and woke up at 9:30. we headed out for some night activities. We watched a couple comedian shows and the went and saw a dance off. We then went to the spot by the Casino on deck five where there is live music and Gabby learned how to do the dance "Thriller". We wandered around until 1:00 am and went to the room for bed. We laid there and Gabby was hungry so we got up and went up to the Lido deck to eat. We ended up eating a pan pizza and some Chocolate ice cream cones. This has been a really fun ship because of the"Education on Vacation" there are over 800 hairstylist on this cruise here for classes during the day. I guess it is something they do every two years and we happened to land on their boat. They really make the ship more fun with all of the younger people!
I woke up at 8:30 ate breakfast and went to the gym for 2 hours. I biked and did alot of things I normally do not do like rowing. The biking went by fast because I had a lady that was there for the JOICO Education on Vacation sitting next to me and she talked non stop. I got back to the room at 11:00 and put my swim trunks on for a day on the Lido Deck. Gabby woke up at 11 and then went to the gym and watched some Bingo. She then stayed in the room awhile feeling sick from the rough seas rocking effect. She ended up throwing up then felt better. The seas were rocking today because we could feel the effects of Hurricane Paula. We missed her path by one day! The Hurricane is in Belize today but luckily heading east and away from us. It was cool to see the storm while we were out there! I hung out with Jake and AJ playing some ping pong in the wind. That was interesting ;)
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| Gabby, Chelsey , Tanis |
We headed to dinner at six and ate with Jason and Angelina. Gabby and I both had Pulled Pork and Chicken Quesadillas. We won't talk about dessert because I had the same thing every night! After this Gabby and I went to the Venetian Palace and watched the Rocking Dance Show. After this we joined our "Red Team" and met by the Casino to start the Marti Gras Masquerade party. They had beads for everyone and had a contest for the best mask. The party ended up on the Lido deck with music, dancing, and a Congo Line. We stopped into the Casino and AJ won $40 in blackjack and walked away. After this we went to the naughty adult party which was sort of like a scavenger hunt. We were split up into teams and we ended up getting 2nd place out of 6 teams. Our team was me, Gabby, AJ, Jake, Tanis, Chelsey, and two other guys. This was a fun and wild party. Details will be excluded ;) This ended at 1:00am and we headed off to bed for the night. Today we are in Georgetown, Grand Cayman Islands when we wake up at 7:00am. We headed up to Emile's at 7:20am and ate Omelets with Jake and AJ then headed to the main pool to meet up with our group from Cruise Critic. The tender was a bit hectic but all 38 of us got off the ship and rallied up under some shelter on the island. It was a stormy day due to the hurricane east of us. We all got into a bus and headed across the island. As we got out of the bus it started pouring rain as we crossed the docks to our little boats that were to take us out to our excursion(snorkeling with the stingrays)
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| Headed out in the storm |
We took off in two separate boats and passed alot of mansions on the Island. The water was not too bad inland but as soon as we left the island and headed out to sea it go bad. We went for about 30 minutes and the rain was coming down hard and the waves were getting big. There was thunder and lighting so we thought for the safety of all we should head back to shore.
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| Carnival Liberty in with the storm behind us before it hit |
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| Margaritaville |
We headed back in and made it safely to our bus. We were refunded our money and taken back to the port. The weather started to calm down. We walked across the street to a place called Margarita ville with Nino, Dino, Amela, Jenny, Krissy, Nikole, Aj, Jake, and a few others. There was live music and dancing. We grabbed a covered area near the pool and shared some Nachos while the rest drank their $10 beverages. I'm glad I don't have that habit. There was a water slide and swim up bar in the pool so it was a pretty cool place. After we ate we watched some games the DJ was doing.
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| 7 Mile Beach |
We then took a bus to 7 mile beach which was $3 dollars per person. It was gorgeous here and you could see the ship off in the distance. This really made me remember the time in Puerto Vallarta that we ran back to the ship because it is hard to judge the distance on the beach. We swam in the crystal clear water for awhile and by now the weather was beautiful and sunny. Gabby laid out on the beach and I took a 3-4 mile run down the coast barefoot. This was relaxing and fun. I wish I could do my run like that everyday. It was amazing! We were here for 2 hours then hopped back on the bus and got back to the ship at 4:00pm.
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| Dino,Nino, Gab and I @ 7 Mile Beach Grand Cayman |
I ate a Turkey Wrap at the deli and Gabby ate Chicken Strips from the poolside grill. We then relaxed a few minutes at our room then headed out to our dinner at 6:00pm.
Dinner was great as normal then afterward we got front row seats in the Venetian Palace and watched a guy win $1000 in the Bingo game. After this we watched "The Edge" He was a goofy/funny juggling entertainer. He had "flash" it was hilarious. He was really a great entertainer. After this was a barhop party for the separate teams. We hung out with Tanis and Chelsea and everyone ended up on the Lido Deck, poolside for the competition. Our team won. " OOOH AH! WISH YOU WERE THE RED TEAM!" was our team chant. Jenny and Amela joined us and there was lots of music and dancing poolside until about 1:00 am. we then headed for bed.
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| Jenny, Gabby, and Amela |
THURSDAY OCT 14TH
We all woke up and met at the fish and chips area at 6:45 only to find out that Paula had accidentally mixed up the time of the ship with the time in Jamaica so we had a hour to relax and eat our breakfast.
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| Coming into Jamaica |
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| Sailing into Jamaica |
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| Its hot in Jamaica!!!!!! |
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| AJ with Jamaican |
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| Our group in the tour van |
We went up to the top deck and watched as our ship came into the port in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The green rolling hills were gorgeous! We got in line down the halls of the ship and debarked. We got into two separate vans. Our van was filled with fun people. It was Me, Gab, Jake, AJ, Dino, Nino, Jenny, Amela, Nikole, her Cousin, and her Aunt. We had a cool tour of the small villages as we winded through the skinny winding roads on the hillside.
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| Jamaica! |
It reminded me of being in Venezuela. Everyone was outside their houses and on the streets. Our van tour guide was Michelle. She was pretty awesome and insisted that we say "ya Mon, and no problem Mon" . Our first stop on our tour was Dunn River Falls. We had a cooler with Jamaican beer and Pepsi. I splurged and drank a Pepsi ;) The Dunn River Falls were beautiful, they took about 45 minutes to climb. We all sort of went up in a line and took a million pictures. The falls actually dump right into the ocean. Gods beautiful creations always amaze me. There were a few places we got to slide down smooth rocks and into the pools that were formed along the way. We also took our pictures near beautiful waterfalls.
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| Sexy poses |
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| Dunn River Falls coming into the ocean |
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| My pregnant Gabby |
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| Jake, AJ, Gab, Me, Dino, Jenny, Amela, Dino getting Jerk Chicken |
After this was over we toured Jamaica some more and stopped for Jamaica's Jerk Chicken. It is cooked over smoking logs and has a delicious smoked taste. After this we headed to the "Blue Hole" it was in the middle of the jungle and was a very windy, bumpy road through the mountains to get there. We got out of the van and walked down to it on a path in the jungle. It was a breathtaking site. We were only here shortly unfortunately but we enjoyed every minute of it. We got to swing off of a rope into the natural pool as well as jump off the rocks into it. There were also underwater cavern or little caves.
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| The Blue Hole |
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| Me being Tarzan |
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| River Tubing in Jamaica |
After this we headed a little farther up the mountain and were herded into a river with inner tubes. We had a blast floating down the river for a half hour. It was such a jungle feel that I was just waiting for that poisonous dart to hit me in the neck ;) There were a few rapids and tons of beautiful views. We got out of the river and our vans picked us up and took us back to the ship. This was an overall amazing day with no regrets! The only slightly bothersome thing was the aggressiveness of the natives for tips and them trying to sale you things. We bought the girls a couple of Jamaican dresses and then boarded the ship at 3:30, sail time was 4:00pm.
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| Me and my Cuz |
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| Ventriloquist |
Gabby went straight to the room for a nap ( pregnant girl) and I went to the gym and then kicked it in the hot tubs up by the water slide. I then came back to the room and we got ready for our second formal night. After dinner we went and watched a singing and dancing tribute to Frank Sinatra. This was a good show as were all of them. After this we met up with the "crew" Me, Gabby, AJ, Jake, Amela, Jenny, Nino, and Dino. We sat in the very front table and watched a comedian and a ventriloquist. Both of them were amazing and this is where Jenny got her nickname TT. After this we all met up and hung out at the Hot and Cool dance club until about 2:00 am.
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| Nino. Steve,Paula, Gab, and me |
FRIDAY OCT-15TH
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| Ice Sculpture by the pool |
We woke up today on our own at about 8:30 and cuddled until 9:30. Gabby then got up and went to the gym and I continued to sleep until 11:00 am . Finally a day to sleep in on my vacation ;) We both sort of did our own thing today out at the pool and around the ship. I went to the gym at eleven and then hung out and watched the activities at the pool with Nino. Gabby laid out somewhere on one of the upper decks. We met up at 2:00pm and ate at the burrito bar. This place was amazing. Gabby then left again to lay out and I hung out with Steve, Paula's husband and watched the drunks in the back pool getting rowdy and chanting "sexy shower" anytime anyone got in the poolside shower to rinse off. I then met up with Nino and we played volleyball with Dino, Rebbecca, Kari, and Shannon. Nino and I both about broke our ankles slipping on the wet deck and having our feet go under the glass wall. Nino then introduced me to his friend Karina and we went down the water slide a couple of times. VERY FAST!
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| Our Wait staff |
Gabby and I met up at 5pm in our room and showered up and got ready for our last dinner. The waiters all sang for us and we took pictures with our waiter Romaing. He was great, I felt like he was new but his smile and energy made our dining experience memorable. After dinner we went to the Venetian Palace for the Battle of the Sexes. The girls won. I even went up on stage and held a token with my butt cheeks and waddled like a duck across the stage and tryed to drop it in a cup. I was unsuccessful. After this Gabby stayed and watched a game show called the Liars Club while I took off to the Victory lounge to save front row seats for the comedian show. Jenny was already there so I sat with her and waited for the "crew" to come. The Ventriloquist had the same material but the other comedian had new stuff and was very hilarious! After this Me, Gab, AJ, and Jake went poolside for Burgers and Fries at midnight. Jake said he saw flame balls coming out of the top of the steam tower on the ship so we all went out to see. yep .... he was seeing things because we saw nothing of the sort! We then headed to our rooms and packed our bags. Can't believe it went so fast!
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| ROMAING on the left! |
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| Venetian Palace |
SATURDAY OCT- 16th
we woke up at 6:30 showered and headed down for our last omelet. A sad day indeed. We got off the ship at 8:15 and easily got a shuttle to the airport. The rest of the flights and drive home were easy and smooth. we dearly missed Kina and Mila and they were really excited to see us! Another great vacation in the books. I hope someday when the girls are bigger we can include them into our yearly cruise ;)
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| Miami Sunrise |
We woke up at 8:30 in the morning. Our room was really nice with two separated rooms and TVs in each room. We headed downstairs and had cooked to serve Omelets and fresh fruits. We then packed up our bags and grabbed a shuttle for $30 (for all 4 of us) to the port. We arrived at the Port at noon and jumped in the line for security and check-in. We ran into Nino and Admir (Cruise Critic friends) in the line and anxiously made our way through the process. We stepped foot on the ship at 1:20 and went straight to the Pursers Desk to have our rooms switched around. Our room had bunk beds and their room had two twins that could be converted into a queen. The switch was easier than we imagined and we were free for our 7 night vacation.
We headed back in and made it safely to our bus. We were refunded our money and taken back to the port. The weather started to calm down. We walked across the street to a place called Margarita ville with Nino, Dino, Amela, Jenny, Krissy, Nikole, Aj, Jake, and a few others. There was live music and dancing. We grabbed a covered area near the pool and shared some Nachos while the rest drank their $10 beverages. I'm glad I don't have that habit. There was a water slide and swim up bar in the pool so it was a pretty cool place. After we ate we watched some games the DJ was doing.
We then took a bus to 7 mile beach which was $3 dollars per person. It was gorgeous here and you could see the ship off in the distance. This really made me remember the time in Puerto Vallarta that we ran back to the ship because it is hard to judge the distance on the beach. We swam in the crystal clear water for awhile and by now the weather was beautiful and sunny. Gabby laid out on the beach and I took a 3-4 mile run down the coast barefoot. This was relaxing and fun. I wish I could do my run like that everyday. It was amazing! We were here for 2 hours then hopped back on the bus and got back to the ship at 4:00pm. 
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