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!)

Islamorada Weekend Vacay

I've been dreaming of going to the Florida Keys for a few years now and K decided to make it happen for my birthday this year. The last time I visited Key West was over 10 years ago for spring break so another trip was well overdue. We found a gorgeous resort on Islamorada which is a slightly easier drive as opposed to driving two more hours to get to Key West.

We left Orlando just after lunch but hitting Miami traffic added an extra hour onto our trip so we finally arrived around 7pm just in time to grab some dinner and have a drink at the Tiki Bar on the resort property.
 

Our hotel on the beach was gorgeous with so many amenities, water-sports, and a few restaurants to chose from. I woke up on Saturday morning to this gorgeous view perfect for sipping on some coffee before getting our day started.

Saturday was a bit overcast so we drove around and explored the island. We found a huge art market and bought some local art for our house and for gifts, we ate some of the best seafood and drank (too many) frozen drinks.

The frozen Key Lime Daiquiris were to die for!

Sunday was a beautiful day despite the weather forecast not being favorable, it turned out to be a sunny and gorgeous day. We had brunch at a cute local spot on the bayside of Islamorada. Multiple friends recommended this spot and it didn't disappoint. I had the shrimp and grits with a pineapple mimosa but the scenery was just the best.

We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing on the beach at our resort and of course enjoying another Key Lime Daiquiri.







We're making the drive back home today and my heart is so happy for finally making it down to the Keys to enjoy a little tropical getaway with my hubby. Couldn't ask for a better birthday gift!


Joining the lovely Biana.

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.

Exploring Music City

Nashville treated us very well and it was an amazing time touring the city. It was a short trip but we made sure to pack in as much as we could.

  
K's birthday falls on Labor Day weekend so we usually try to travel somewhere new to celebrate and take advantage of the long weekend. This year he chose Nashville to visit one of his good friends and explore a city neither of us had been to before.



Saturday
After dropping off our luggage and relaxing for a bit we headed over to Broadway Street to explore Music Row and get the full Nashville experience. We quickly realized that this city is the #1 bachelor/bachelorette party central in the US. It made for some good people watching and I now know why it's nicknamed "NashVegas".
 

Our first stop was at the world famous Tootsies for some rooftop drinks and a view of all the action down below. We spent the entire day walking around exploring the music scene and checking out the shops in between.



One of our favorite places was The Stage on Broadway which was a nice relaxed bar/venue with amazing live music.

After hours of fun and exploring, we settled at Merchants Restaurant for dinner which is on Broadway Street in the heart of the action. The food and craft cocktails were excellent!

Sunday
On Sunday we had reservations for brunch at Pinewood Social which was recommended to me by several people and for good reason. This place is more than just a restaurant, there's a full bowling alley, pool area, cafe, large outdoor patio and several bars. The atmosphere was fun and trendy, the service was great considering how busy this place gets, and the brunch menu didn't disappoint!

After our hearty brunch, we walked around the premises to check out the different areas and then made our way into downtown on foot to walk off those calories and sight-see in slow motion.

Once we made it to Broadway Street, we were ready to cool off and relax our feet so we stopped at the George Jones Entertainment Complex to walk through the museum and have a cold beverage at the bar overlooking the Nissan Stadium.

The entire day was spent exploring all the fun things Nashville has to offer and of course we returned to The Stage for more live music.


 

After another action packed day it was time for dinner so we jumped in an Uber to head to Peg Leg Porker for dinner. Several people recommended this restaurant for amazing BBQ so it was on my short list but when we arrived, we found out it's not open on Sundays so we had to take another taxi and head back to where we originally were.

 

We settled at The Stillery for dinner which was a place my boss had told me and about he raved about the sriracha deviled eggs. He wasn't kidding!

Monday

Our flight home was in the evening so we had a few hours to enjoy Nashville before heading to the airport. We went to visit our friend's parents at their beautiful home.

 

It was then time to make our way to the airport but TSA precheck bought K and I some time to stop for lunch at another highly recommended restaurant called The Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden. We loved the outside patio/beer garden and the burgers were excellent!

Even though it was a very short trip, we loved Nashville and hope to return again to see the beautiful Fall foliage.