Ryan and I had so much fun while the girls were at camp. We helped them get settled in, and then we headed out to drive to Port Canaveral. The next morning we boarded the Norwegian Sun bound for Key West and Havana. Ryan had visited Key West when he was a child, but I had never been before. Key lime pie is one of my most favorite desserts, so I couldn't wait to get a slice. We were both excited to visit Havana too since that's a relatively newer place to be a tourist. We had a list of people that we wanted to bring back real Cuban cigars and rum for. It was set to be a great cruise!
Here we are on our balcony just as it was time to push away and start cruising.
It was a beautiful day. We both love cruising.
On Tuesday morning we arrived in Key West. It was a gorgeous, though incredibly hot, day. We took the little tram into town and started our sightseeing. We found Mile Zero on Highway 1 which is a fun little marker to see.
We walked until we reached the famous landmark for the Southernmost Point of the Continental US. What a cool place to be!
We really enjoyed walking around and seeing the quaint town. It didn't seem too busy but it definitely had things going on. It was neat to visit.
Woo who! We got some key lime pie and some limeaide to drink. It was all fabulous!
Pretty soon we got back on the boat and enjoyed a lovely sunset as we left Key West.
Unfortunately, a few minutes after leaving Key West, the captain came over the loudspeaker to announce that earlier in the day the US announced an immediate embargo on Cuba. He told us the ship was unable to communicate with Havana, and they would be re-routing us to the Bahamas instead. We were definitely disappointed to hear this. The next morning we arrived in Nassau. We decided to go explore the port a little bit even though we have been here before. It was a pretty day, and we wanted to get off the boat for a bit. We were a little surprised when an AP reported was interviewing people to get their opinions on the embark and rerouting. It was fun to see Ryan interviewed.
We stayed docked overnight in Nassau. The next day, we bought a day pass to Atlantis. We've always wanted to see this resort, so this was a great opportunity. We spent most of the day at one of their gorgeous beaches. It was so incredibly beautiful!
The water was amazing!
Really, there's no way we can complain about spending two beautiful days here.
Finally, it was time to sail away and head back to Port Canaveral. Norwegian announced they would refund half the cost of everyone's cruise, so that was an incredible gesture by them. Thank you!
We typically sail with Royal Caribbean, but it was fun to try Norwegian. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening entertainment each night. There was a piano man who had everyone singing, Drake Allen was guitarist that played a huge variety of music we loved, and a theater performance with music from around the world. The food was pretty tasty. We absolutely loved the Brazilian steakhouse on board and ate way too much there. We each had a spa treatment too which was pretty fun. Even though everything didn't go as originally planned, we really enjoyed our cruise.
After getting back to the port, we headed over to Orlando for a couple days. We checked in to the Yacht Club hotel; we'd never stayed there before so it was fun to be in a cool new hotel. We spent the afternoon in their sand bottom pool; it was wonderful. That evening we headed in to Orlando to have dinner at Giordano's. Delicious!
The next morning we started the day out at Epcot. We rode Soarin' Around the World which is such a cool ride. Then we rode Mission Earth which is iconic since it's inside the big ball.
A little later they opened the World Showcase which we love. Disney does such a wonderful job in each country. We explored China a ton and enjoyed a fabulous lunch here. We loved watching the drummers in Japan too; they are so cool!
We had fun walking through the United Kingdom and Norway. We enjoyed various treats in Morocco, Italy, and France too, so that was yummy.
By mid-afternoon, the skies were getting really dark and our feet were tired after walking literally for miles all around the park. We walked back to the Yacht Club and took an afternoon nap. What a luxury that was, especially as it started to pour. It stopped a little while later so we headed back over. We finally settled in to a great spot in Canada (enjoying some poutine for dinner) so we'd be ready for the fantastic Illuminations fireworks show. Disney is discontinuing this show in a couple of months, and it's one of our favorites. We were so glad we got to see it one more time. It was beautiful.
After the fireworks show, we took the long way around the lake which was fun. Everyone was clearing out so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. As we passed through Germany, they were handing out free bags of caramel popcorn since they wouldn't be able to sell it the next day. What a nice little treat to end the evening!
We got up Sunday morning and headed back to Atlanta. This was such a wonderful vacation with my most favorite person in the world!
We had a few more days before heading back to Asheville to get the girls from camp. One day we had a day date to go see the movie Rocketman which was fun. Ryan went to a Braves game with an old friend from college named James Robinson. While he was there I had my friend Katherine Fox over for dinner and to hang out. It was a wonderful few days, but I'll be honest, I was excited to go and get my girls. I love when my family is together!
