The Best Trip of my Life

When Casey posted the prompt for her new Fresh Face Friday link-up, I thought it would be the easiest post in the world.  The best trip of my life ... the first thing that came to mind was Europe - then Costa Rica - then California.  All of these trips were amazing and can each be considered the best trip of my life for different reasons.  However, when I really thought about it, I chose one that definitely wasn't the first to come to mind. 

There were a lot of things that could have went better on this trip and there were a lot of mishaps, but it ended up being great!  First, the obvious reason this could be considered the best trip ever is because Josh and I got engaged in the Bahamas.  He proposed at our first port, Half Moon Cay which is Carnivals private island.  While that is a huge part of what made this trip great, it isn't the main reason.

The main reason this trip was so amazing was because we learned a lot about each other on this trip.  This was the first big trip we took together, this was the first cruise both of us have been on, and it was Josh's first trip out of the country since he moved here from Germany where he was born.  We also discovered how much we love cruising and now have two cruises booked!

Josh and I have very different travel styles and because I didn't really know this before we went, I planned based on my style.  I like to go, go, go and do as much as possible while he likes to do a few things, then just chill on the beach.  He ended up being very frustrated on the first day when I had so much planned.  Now for this next cruise I was able to plan accordingly and book only one excursion per port and leave time to relax on the beach.  We also discovered that for us, it's best to have a plan.  We like being spontaneous but it doesn't seem to work well for us. We laugh about it now but our mishaps were extremely frustrating for us in the moment.

We also discovered how amazing cruising is!  We loved it so much we decided to book one for our honeymoon, we're going on one with friends in September of 2015, and we are also looking to cruise in Europe in 2016.  Before this trip I was always very against cruising and now I can't believe I waited so long to take my first cruise.  Josh pretty much begged me to give it a try and I'm so glad he did.

Another reason this trip was so great??  We drove from MD to FL, so we were able to make stops on the way back including to a place that has been on the top of my bucket list forever, Savannah. My friend Heather was living there and hosted us.  I fell in love with the city and will hopefully be going back sometime this winter.

Nassau, The Bahamas

Nassau was our second stop on our first Cruise in 2012.

Josh and I weren't big fans of Nassau for a few reasons but I think we would have enjoyed our time there more if we had booked a day in Atlantis.  If we ever go back, this is what we'll do.  I wouldn't recommend trying to do Nassau on your own like we did.  I do, however, recommend spending some time at Senor Frogs before you leave!  It really is as crazy and fun as everyone says!  We spent a good part of our day here and it really did save the day for us!

When we arrived on the island, we figured we'd just find a beach, but that didn't happen.  So, we caught a taxi with some other cruisers and figured we'd go to Atlantis and just purchase an excursion there.  Well, after standing in a line that literally did not move for 30 minutes we just figured we'd ask where a public beach is and go there. 

We were told that there was one right next to Atlantis, so that's where we went.  And since Josh had never haggled before, he payed way to much for some loungers and umbrellas.  The beach was pretty though and we spent a few hours there before we decided we needed food.  Plus we were pretty much the only people on this beach and it felt kind of weird.

We left the beach and caught another taxi at Atlantis and had him take us to Senor Frogs, which happened to be a short walk from where we were docked.  Also, we were so mad when we found out that there is a public beach right behind Senor Frogs.   We had some great food and a few drinks and just hung out at Senor Frogs for the rest of the afternoon.  We also had the best waitress and I definitely wrote an email to them about how great she was.  She told us she'd only been there for about a month.

We thought the Disney ship looked so neat!  We'll definitely be checking out Disney Cruises in the future!

Overall, we weren't too crazy about Nassau and if we went back we'd definitely book a day at Atlantis and then just hit up Senor Frogs again for some food before getting back on our ship.