Keep It Classy, Alabama: Cruising with Emily

Hello everyone! My name is Emily and I blog at Life with Emily about fashion, life, my adventures and everything in between! I would love to have you join me over there :-)

I am delighted to be guest blogging for Lindsey while she is cruising the seas! Since I am 100% jealous that she is on a cruise right now while I am knee deep in school work I thought I would recap my cruise that I went on over Christmas break so I can feel a little better!! ;-)

Over Christmas Break 2011 I went on a family cruise to Turks &Caicos, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico & Half Moon Cay. Our cruise line was Holland America and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about them! Their services were wonderful, the staff was very friendly (especially the bar staff,) and the accommodations were very spacious--especially for a cruise ship! I really appreciated the fact that it was family friendly but wasn't overly filled with kids (oops...I said it!) I never once felt like I was cramped or on top of anyone. You would've never known there was 2,000 + staff on the ship!

We checked in on December 26 and explored the ship & of course had a few celebratory drinks!

The sunrises and sunsets were one of my favorite parts of the trip.
They were breath-taking!

Our second day was spent at sea! I spent the day (over) eating and soaking up the sun!

Our first of two formal nights was that night! I loved getting all dressed up!

Can you tell I loved the food??!!??

Our first destination was Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos. We had scheduled to go horseback riding & swimming for this day. I was over-the-moon excited for this. It had been on my bucket list. We took a 20 minute bus ride (not air conditioned by the way....thought I was going to die) where we got to see the non-glamourous part of the island. It was very eye opening to see how other places live- even in a tourist area.

Horseback riding was SO fun. We got to see so much of the beach & the island. The tour guides were hilarious and also took photos of us with my camera so we could fully enjoy our time!

After our ride they took us in family groups for a ride in the ocean with the horses! I had NO idea what to expect but it was so much fun! I couldn't stop laughing!

Our next destination was Puerto Rico. I have never been to Puerto Rico, but I had researched it beforehand and was so excited. We were at port for 12 hours so we rented a car that way we could fully explore everywhere! (I highly suggest this- so much easier and cheaper than a taxi or walking!)

We explored all of the Castles (castilos) from the War. They were beautiful and held so much history. They were also GREAT photo ops. You can check out more of my photography on my photo blog!

We even made it to the Bacardi Distillery.... think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... it reminded me of that. Helllo free drinks :-)

We ate dinner at a local puerto rican restaurant that we found via Trip Advisor. My family uses this for every trip and the reviews have never been wrong!

Our next destination was St. Thomas. I have to be honest... It was beautiful- but entirely too touristy. There were so many t-shirt shops everywhere. You really had to dig to find somewhere that was more local. We ate lunch at Senor Frogs because it was close and we were starving and then looked around some. We ended up going back to the ship early this day! I would love to go back and stay in an area for an extended period that wasn't so touristy!

oh yeah....there were GIANT iguanas everywhere!

I loved spending time gambling!!! I won about $100!

Our next formal night occurred on New Year's Eve! I was a little nervous about being in the middle of the ocean on NYE and not having any plans- but the ship put on a FUN party!