Arriving in Tampa, FL

Chris and I flew out of Philadelphia, while they flew out of Newark, NJ but we all landed around the same time the day before the cruise leaving us a whole day in Tampa. We didn’t have a rental car, so we relied on Ubers to get around the Tampa area. Aside from the Uber to/from the airport, Ubers were generally inexpensive. Our Airbnb was in a residential neighborhood that wasn’t near a whole lot, but it was a quaint little place that served its purpose for us for one night. It was $179 split between 4 people, making it $44.75 per person.

Day 1 – Boarding Ship

Our boarding time for the cruise was 12:30pm but we got there a little early via Uber and was on the ship before noon. When boarding a cruise, you check your luggage at the drop off location and take only your carry-on bags with you. It’s important to have what you will immediately need in those carry-ons (swim suit, sunscreen, toiletries, medications, etc.) because it will be a couple hours before your luggage gets delivered outside your stateroom. While we waited for our luggage, we explored the ship to get a lay of the land and started putting our drink package to work.

Once we got our luggage, we all started unpacking. We lucked out and were only two staterooms away from Roman and Regina! I packed birthday decorations for Chris since this was part of his 30th birthday celebration, so Regina and I decorated while Chris and Roman went to the arcade. We also planned for the guys to wear matching shirts to dinner this night and surprised them with matching shirts. This night’s dinner theme was ocean/blue. We also were on the “my time dining” but opted to reserve our table for 7pm every night and have the same two servers whom we really adored.

We ended the night by going to the bar and club on the top floor drinking and dancing all night. My favorite reminder while on a cruise is “even if I make a fool of myself, I will never see these people again” and it was really freeing once I remembered that….so the shenanigans were constant in our group!

Day 2 – At Sea Day

The first full day on the cruise was an “at sea” day. We started by sleeping in, getting a workout in at the gym, and breakfast at the Windjammer for buffet breakfast. The Starbucks is included in the drink package, so you bet I was there twice a day getting my go-to Starbucks order (first world problems, I know). This was a very chill day of the pool, playing cards, and participating in music trivia. Tonight’s dinner attire was formal so we all got dressed up fancy and enjoyed dinner together followed by drinks and music before heading to bed to prep for our first stop the next day.

Day 3 – Cozumel, Mexico

Our first stop was Cozumel, Mexico. I’ve been here before so I was looking to do a unique excursion. We all decided on the niche Lucha Libre, Tacos, & Margaritas @ 10:00am – 1:00pm. This excursion was $93 per person and included transportation from the dock to the excursion location, margaritas, tacos, and a Mexican Wrestling Show. We watched the hilarious and silly Mexican wrestling show for about an hour and a half. This was so entertaining and hilarious, it made for a great topic of conversation after! After the show we were served tacos and margaritas, then headed back to the port. We walked around the shops at the dock before getting back on the ship.

The dinner theme for tonight was all white. Our group picture of us in all white is very culty-looking but very cute and fun – again, we love a theme! After dinner, we dabbled in the casino and got more drinks before heading up to the bar and club for dancing. This was also the first night we participated in the adult game shows and it was absolutely hilarious!! We would keep coming back for nights to come.

Day 4 – Belize City, Belize

Our second stop was Belize City, Belize. This was the only stop that we didn’t have a pre-planned excursion. We have to take a tender from the cruise ship to land, so we took the tender to the main dock and walked around the shops and various activity stands to see what sparked interest. We booked a sightseeing van that basically took us around the island, like a glorified taxi.

When we were done with that, the guide recommended we get lunch at the infamous Bird’s Isle Restaurant and helped us get a taxi. We indulged in their famous fried plantains, rice, and jerk chicken. We got the taxi back to the dock and tendered back to our ship. We got ready for our own themed dinner of “Vans Off the Wall”- we went off the rails and did our own theme for Chris’ birthday. We ended the night with drinks and watching a couple’s game show in the main theater, laughing until our bellies hurt.

Day 5 – Roatan, Honduras

The next stop was Roatan, Honduras with our pre-planned excursion of zip-lining! Two of us in the group had been zip-lining but two hadn’t, so we thought this would be a fun adrenaline-inducing excursion for all for only $93 per person (Ultimate Extreme Adventure Combo @ 8:30am – 1:00pm). It started with a bus ride to the zip-lining place toward the top of a mountain. We were given a safety briefing before harnessing up and starting with the LONG zip-line through the jungle. We went on 10 different zip-lines total! Once we got all our equipment off, we were given a guided walking tour through the jungle where the guide told us about all the vegetation and animals.Once we got back to the dock, we grabbed some lunch before heading back to the ship. We watched a beautiful sunset from the ship and got ready for a casual dinner.

Day 6 – Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico

Our last stop of the cruise was Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico. We wanted to do something active and engaging so we planned to do Bike & Clear Kayak Adventure @ 8:30am – 11:30am. This included a few miles of a bike tour to a spot on the beach where we parked our bikes and went on clear kayaks in the ocean over some coral reefs. Since the excursion ended so early, we went back to the beach in a taxi and camped out at cabanas/lounge chairs where we could order drinks and food throughout our stay. We spent several hours here eating, drinking, sunbathing, and getting in the water.

When we got back to the boat around 4pm, we started getting ready for another formal dinner. This was our last night to really enjoy ourselves and stay out late so we racked up that drink package after dinner and attended more adult game shows. We were laughing our butts off and singing along to karaoke.

Day 7 – At Sea Day

This was our last “at sea” day and we didn’t do a whole lot of anything other than relax and take it easy. We slept in, ate and drank throughout the day, attended some of the ship’s activities, and relaxed. The last dinner was casual and was the last time we would be seeing our lovely servers. We gave them each an extra tip as we said our goodbyes to them. We packed up our suitcases and opted to take them with us upon disembarkation instead of them taking our bags to claim after customs.

Leaving Tampa to go Home

We got a quick breakfast at the buffet before making our way off the boat. We took all our luggage with us instead of picking it up at baggage claim after customs. We got through customs within a few minutes and was at the taxi pick-up area very quickly. We all split a taxi to take us to the airport. We got there a few hours before our flight and waited to board to take us home. The food, alcohol, and sun had completely worn us out by this point, but we had an amazing trip with our friends and started planning on where we all wanted to go next together!