2018 Year Recap: May - August

Hope everyone had a great Christmas on Tuesday. I shared Part 1 of my 2018 recap last week and so now I'm diving into May through August which, now looking back, were evidently heavy with travel and adventure.

Touring Key West

The view of the port in Key West from the cruise ship.

Even with the overcast weather, Key West was a blast to explore. We had no excursions or tours booked. All we knew is that we wanted to visit Duval Street, grab some local seafood for lunch, and then make our way to the Southernmost Point. The typical tourist things.

Cruising - Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas

The Royal Caribbean cruise we recently went on left from Tampa and stopped in Key West and then Cuba before heading back to Florida. The Majesty of the Seas is not one of the fancier ships but it has a great pool area for lounging and enough amenities to enjoy while on board.

Still Weekending

From Orlando to Tampa on Saturday, cruising to Key West on Sunday, and arriving in Cuba this morning for a full day of new adventures.

I'm still weekending over here with limited access to internet. Feels good to unplug and relax.

Cruising Outfit Inspiration: Key West and Cuba

image via

Our cruise to Cuba is finally on the horizon after being cancelled due to Hurricane Irma back in September last year. The weather forecast isn't looking great but I'm praying it's not accurate as it's been the past few weekends.  These are some outfit ideas for the trip to hopefully prevent me from over-packing but I can't make any promises there.

2018 Travel Planning

Traveling is my passion or at least all the experiences that come along with it. Discovering new cultures, trying the food, exploring architecture, and learning the history of these places. This year I'm a little short on PTO from work since we spent New Year's and the beginning of 2018 in beautiful Tobago after celebrating Christmas with family in Trinidad.

Cruising on The Majesty of the Seas

My company took us on a 3-night Royal Caribbean cruise a couple weeks ago and it's taken me some time to get a recap of the trip rounded up but here it is today!

The Majesty of the Seas ship leaves out of the port near Orlando so I've gone on this cruise a couple of times before but this time it was all my new coworkers.



Friday
We boarded the ship on in the afternoon and got settled into our cabins. My roommate/coworker and I had an outside-view cabin which means one round window allowing you to see out. Very basic as it comes but definitely a step up from the interior cabins with no windows or sunlight so you have no idea what time of day it is.

Leaving the port in Florida on Friday evening we caught a beautiful sunset and set sail south for the Bahamas.

Saturday
Cruising into Nassau, you get a beautiful view of the island and the huge Atlantis Resort in the background. While a few of us were on the deck watching the views, the CEO of my company offered to take a photo of me and I commented that "he was way too close to my face with the camera" but he snapped it anyway and one doesn't complain to the CEO. So there's that.

We had an excursion booked to go jet packing in Nassau on Saturday but the company cancelled that morning so we Plan B was to explore the island in groups depending what you wanted to see/do.

The events of this day were definitely the highlight of my trip!

We walked around downtown Nassau by the port area and did some local shopping. After a couple hours we took a taxi and headed over to the Fish Fry restaurant strip on Bay Street where you can get some of the best local food from a variety of different small restaurants/vendors.





- We listened to local music at a cute waterfront restaurant
- We tried some local beers and cocktails
- We had some conch and crab cakes which were amazing
- We walked on the beach and got some selfies of our group
- My boss asked the Jerk Lady to marry him (her food was amazing off the grill)
- The rest of us offered to take her back in our suitcases
- We tried the world famous Sky Juice
- We chatted with the locals and enjoyed the scenery

 Although most of us split up during the day to explore our different interests, we met up every night for dinner to regroup and eat together. The dinners are the best meal on the ship so you don't want to skip it plus our CEO requested that we all attend.
 


Sunday
The cruise ship docked at Coco Cay which is the private island owned by Royal Caribbean. It's a beautiful small island but I've been there a few times before so I opted to stay on the ship and relax/be productive. That's my favorite thing to do on Sundays plus I needed some "me time" after all the different activities and chaos that comes with large groups.

 
I grabbed a frozen cocktail and lounged on the upper deck of the ship overlooking the ocean and did some blogging/work.
 
 




In the evening we gathered again for our last dinner and shared our highlights of the trip. Other than the fun-filled day in Nassau on Saturday, the nightly dinners together was a close second favorite.

Monday
Monday morning comes quickly and it's a "get the hell off the ship at 7am shuffle" (not by choice but by schedule) and then to stand in line behind 200 people to get through the different security checkpoints. I should have thought to grab a coffee to get through this debacle.



All in all, it was a wonderful trip filled with so many fun and funny memories with my team and all the coworkers since we're a small company to begin with.

My #1 Tip:
For a short cruise like this: The night before you leave, be packed up and prepared because you need to be ready to go first thing in the morning, and in my case, have some time to get caffeinated enough to drive an hour straight into the office to start the work day.

Here's a recap of my trip to Nassau back in 2013 where I explored different parts of the island (and had a much better tan back then lol!)

Weekend Cruising

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

If you follow me on Instagram or SnapChat (emilyalisonb) you might have seen that I was on a cruise over the weekend. I didn't go snap crazy but I shared one or two sites and scenes from our 3-night cruise to the Bahamas.

This cruise was initially scheduled for the weekend when Hurricane Matthew hit Florida in October so it was cancelled but luckily we were able to get another date booked.

It was a relaxing, fun, and hilarious company trip since my coworkers are a blast to hang out with and we have some serious comedians in the group.

The only bummer was that our shore excursion to go jet-packing was cancelled the morning of the tour but we made up for it and I have so many highlights to share.

We are arriving at the port this Monday morning around 5:30 am and I have to head straight to work around 7:30. Pray for me!

This trip was so much fun so stay tuned for a full recap coming soon!

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana.