Getaway Cruise to the Caribbean!

Daddy and I did the unthinkable.  We went on a 5-night Disney Cruise to the Western Caribbean... and we didn't take the kids.  *GASP*

We adore our kids, but let's be real: sometimes parents just gotta be husband and wife, ya know?  We realized that other than a weekend here or there, we hadn't been away for a real vacation, just the two of us, since our honeymoon almost 11 years ago.  It was time!  So we packed our bags, said goodbye to the boys (who scored a week with Grandma-- more on that later!), and flew to Florida to hop on the Disney Wonder in Miami.

We got there so early that we were among the first people on the ship!  Once on board, we wasted no time whatsoever changing into bathing suits and snagging a spot by the adults-only pool.  Oh, and having a celebratory drink.

The Wonder was almost identical to the Magic, which we sailed on a couple of years ago on our 2-day "cruise to nowhere," but we loved exploring regardless-- and especially discovering all the ways they decked out the ship for Halloween!

The haunted tree on the day we embarked...

... and on the day we disembarked!

Around 1:30 or so in the afternoon, our room was ready.  We loved being back in a room with a veranda!

Cocktail hour: room service wine-and-cheese plates with our BYOB cabernet :)

In short, our getaway week was fabulous.  We relaxed...

Hey, look!  It's Cuba!

... and slept in late (for us, anyway)

We took a martini class...

... and got all dolled up for dinner.

Our "dressy" night

ARRGH!  Pirate night, matey!

We had the late dinner seating and the best table-mates!  There were four couples in our happy little group, although we were perhaps the only four couples without children on board.  Disney doesn't miss a detail, that's for sure.

As opposed to our last cruise experience, this one had actual ports-of-call, with stops in both Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico.  Our favorite was definitely Cayman!  It is a tender port, so we got some awesome views of both the island and our ship.

We signed up for a snorkeling excursion ahead of time, and our only regret was that we didn't sign up for the same thing in Cozumel too!  I hadn't been snorkeling since 1996 (!) and it was Anthony's first time all together.  We had such an amazing time exploring the crystal-blue Caribbean and got to see all kinds of cool fish, both big and small.  The big fish, by the way, looked an awful lot like sharks-- and to say we were relieved to find out it was actually a tarpon is a huge understatement!

After snorkeling, we wandered around Grand Cayman for a while.  Most places were closed with it being a Sunday and all, but we did get some awesome views of our ship-- and even found a tourist trap with free WiFi to check in on the kids!

Our second port was Cozumel.  Our excursion here included a trip to the San Gervasio Mayan Ruins...

These guys could be found all over the site.  Yikes!

The history there was really interesting! It was pretty  muggy and buggy, though, so we weren't exactly disappointed when that part of the excursion ended.

...followed by some time relaxing at Playa Mia.  It was beautiful and very fun!

When we got back, we decided to stop for a *little* drink before getting back on the ship :)

We loved getting such up-close views of the ship on our ports-of-call days, and really loved all the Disney details!

Our last day on the ship was a wash... literally.  It rained, and rained hard, pretty much the entire day.  It got bad enough at one point that they had to close the decks to keep everyone safe inside.  Believe it or not, though, that ended up being one of our favorite days on board.  With everyone forced inside, all of the indoor activities suddenly got a lot more popular!  Table 26 slowly but surely found each other throughout the day and turned into some fierce competition (or so we'd like to think) in many games of trivia throughout the ship.  It was a blast.

That evening, we celebrated Anthony's birthday with a special dinner at Palo.  It definitely did not disappoint!  The service and the food were both incredible.

Since we had an earlier Palo reservation and it was our last night on board, we decided to join our table-mates at least for conversation (and ahem, more dessert) during our usual late seating.  This also gave us a chance to see our fabulous wait-staff one last time.  Oka and Cristina were the best!

By early the next morning, we were back in Miami to start our trip back home.  We had such an incredible week at sea, but were also feeling ready to get back home to the boys.  We missed them!  And who knows?  Maybe next time we'll actually bring them along!