Introduction
Miami and Boarding on RCL Cruise
First night’s Show and Tina Fey’s BossyPants
Running on a Cruise Ship
Cococay Island, Viking Lounge and the second night’s shows
Nassau Cruise Port and Atlantis Resort
Back in Miami and to the airport

So on the first day, we got a whole bunch of information about the shows, events, excursions, and the weather. We saw that it’ll be 90F with a UV index of 12. When i first saw that, I was asking myself “Is 12 even possible? I thought it was on a scale of 1-10????”

After the initial shock, we went looking for sunscreen on the ship. We had bought some but we weren’t sure if it was enough. i believe we had SPF50. We saw the ship had some but it was more expensive than alcohol. We just resorted to apply frequently. We were just coming out of winter in Boston so I was as pale as i could be. My SPF0 skin couldn’t take UV levels of 12.

My intention of this trip was to do one activity a day and then relax the rest of the time. She had just taken an 8 hour exam and studied for months for it. I just wanted her to relax for a few days. Well, my wife had other ideas. She was still stuck in a mode where she had to maximize her activities on the ship. When my wife got onto the ship, she was looking to fill up every hour of our day. She choose morning yoga on the beach before our pre-planned nature walk on Cococay Island. As we both didn’t know how to swim, we couldn’t do the many water excursions, including a water park in the ocean. From far away you can see this giant inflatable slide about 100 feet from shore.

We woke up early to have breakfast. It was also a buffet and they had a wide selection of food, from cold cereal and yogurt to omelettes and toast. We were short on time so we skipped the hot food and grabbed what we could. For Cococay, the ship is moored off the coast of the island and small boats bring you onto the island as the water isn’t deep enough for the ship to dock there. This caused some delays getting to/from the ship. Make sure to take this into account if you plan on going back to the ship from Cococay.

We got to yoga on the beach and since it was early, the sun wasn’t as strong. We had about an hour between yoga and the walk so we went back on the ship after yoga to grab sunscreen, water and put down a few things before the nature hike. We were running a few minutes late, and the nature hike left on time but they didn’t go very far so we were able to meet up with the group. We walked through the forest and saw different birds, plant life and old man-made structures. The walk ended right before noon so we stopped near the beach for the BBQ lunch. They had various stations that served different foods, like burgers, hot dogs, chicken, etc. I believe these meals are included in the price of the cruise as this was RCL’s private island. The lines were long though.

After lunch, we retreated back to the ship to avoid the sun. We went to the upper deck to sit in the shade near the pool. My wife continued to read BossyPants as I explored more parts of the ship. There was also a belly flop contest later in the afternoon. There was a crowd that gathered to watch it but it killed some time until we went to dinner.

Supposedly the second night was formal dinner night. I brought some khakis and a nice shirt so it wasn’t much trouble. I see online that a lot of people go into a lot of trouble for this formal night. Some agreed that its not mandatory and sometimes too much trouble. Next time around, I wouldn’t put so much effort into it.

After dinner, we went up to the Viking Lounge to catch the sunset. We managed to get there when the lounge was fairly empty as some guests were still dining. We got a seat by the window and got a drink each to celebrate our anniversary. Technically it was the day after but we knew we would have to pack the following night.

We left the lounge to attend the nights first show for us, the comedy show. The comedy was good and entertaining. The next show was the newlywed game, where the husband/wife get questions and their answers need to match their spouses’ response. They ask three couples, newlywed (<2 years), one married about 5-10 years, and a couple that has been married the longest. It was really funny that the couple married 5-10 years was related to the couple that was married the longest. It was very entertaining to see the 5-10 year married couple answer questions like “Where was the weirdest place you had sex?” I was tempted to volunteer us for it, but my wife was adamant about not going on stage. Either way, the show was really entertaining. It was definitely better than the comedy show.