It was our twenty-fifth anniversary. It just seemed appropriate to take a cruise, something we'd never done since we started traveling in the late 80s. We went to a local travel agent who specialized in cruises. She spent a little time asking us what kinds of things we liked to do and what our interests were. She wisely chose a Celebrity cruise for us in the Caribbean.
The cruise began in Puerto Rico so we flew down a day early to San Juan just to be sure we would be there in time and also to catch our breath before boarding the ship. It was a good move. I was really excited about the cruise. It was nice to not be hurried from the airport and straight to the ship.
The cruise line picked us up at the hotel late morning and took us to the ship where our luggage was taken care of and we were checked in and directed to where lunch was being served in the buffet. I have no idea what I ate. I just remember taking the tray to the outside seating at the back of the ship and sitting down to eat. That's when it hit me.
I"m here! Cue the Love Boat song (wrong cruise line but what did I know then). The sun was shining. It was warm and comfortable and my husband of 25 years was sitting across from me. It was only the beginning.
No one told us that we didn't have to do everything that was on the schedule. We ran from one thing to another trying to cover it all. Between the onboard activities and the excursions on shore, we sank exhausted into bed each night. It did not deter us from booking another cruise though.
As we got more experienced, we paced ourselves and didn't go to everything, taking a little time to just relax. We also found that there were some places we wanted to return to but not for just a day. That's when we began planning land trips to some of the port areas that piqued our interest.
Unless you have a really bad first experience or can't cope because of motion sickness, once you've cruised you'll return again and again.
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