Cruise Recap: The Ship and Stuff

After the bar exam in July, my boyfriend and I went on a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean to celebrate us turning 25 years old, our 5 year anniversary, my law school graduation, and of course the bar exam being over. I wanted to just do a couple of posts talking about how the cruise was and share some photos we took throughout the week! If you're interested in cruising or just want to see how the trip was, stay tuned!

We chose the Royal Caribbean ship Freedom of the Seas for our voyage and I have to say the ship was incredible! There was so much to do, the ship was incredibly clean, and the staff was so nice! Overall it had 15 levels (the highest being a chapel where a couple got married before we set sail on Sunday!) and then the other levels included staterooms, dining rooms, arcades, pool decks, a rock climbing wall,casino, art gallery, ice skating rink (no joke!), shops, and more food! There were also really pretty murals and artwork everywhere on the ship, including this really colorful parrot and wildlife one on of the pool decks. It was too colorful and fun not to selfie in front of it!

This was the three floor dining room. We were on the third floor and every time I walked in I was reminded of the Titanic (which was kind of scary). The entire ship was just opulent and extravagant and made me feel sort of like royalty. The formal nights were seriously something out of London high society. To dine you had your choice every night of going to the formal dining room or eating in the more casual buffet "Windjammer Cafe." For dinner we chose the formal dining room but for lunch we usually just went to the cafe. Breakfast was room service in our room because most days we ate while getting ready for the day on an island.

No joke, this ship had an ice rink! It was so cold in there and kind of crazy to go from "hey let's go swimming and sunning on the pool deck" to "hey let's put on long pants and ice skate." It was a really odd dichotomy and I'm glad I packed a pair of jeans and a hoodie for that "just in case" moment! A couple of the days the cruise had a ice skating show for entertainment and the ice skaters included some former Olympians! They also let you skate throughout the week yourself so we made sure to do that. Skating on ice in the middle of the ocean was so fun. 

There was also a pretty intense rock wall on the highest deck of the ship. It had been a really long time since I had tried to rock climb so we wanted to give it a shot. No, I didn't make it all the way to the top (I blame my short little legs!) but I didn't give up either...I literally fell off the wall while I was trying to jump to the next level since my arms couldn't reach! My boyfriend did make it all the way to the top though and rang the bell and everything. He's just so good at everything...lol. Mr. Perfect. Anyway, I did look around a little on my way down and it was so wild to be fourteen floors up, surrounded by sea, AND hanging off a cliff all at the same time. Really pretty view though and I wish I had a GoPro to capture it!

There was also a silent disco....just like out of the television show The Royals! It was basically a club but in order to hear the music you had to wear headphones! Everyone was dancing and singing along, which was hysterical when you took off your headphones and couldn't hear the actual music....just a bunch of out of tone deaf party-ers dancing to music you couldn't hear.

Also, the stateroom attendants left adorable towel creations on our bed every day. The first day was an adorable little puppy. Then was a monkey, stingray, snail, and an elephant. It was such a cute little touch and we hated when we needed to dismantle it. But hey, a girls got to shower, right?

So that's basically the ship and whatnot. My next few posts will be more about our adventures and photos from the islands! 

Have you ever taken a cruise? If so I want to hear about it! Where did you go and what did you do??