Birthday Cruise 2019

Back in June, my best friend Dawn and I went on a cruise to celebrate our 27^th birthdays! It was both of our first times cruising with Norwegian, and I can tell you for a fact it will not be the last time. 

The Ship

Norwegian Breakaway was a HUGE ship. There were events going on everyday and never a boring moment. If you’ve been on a cruise, you know that the pool always is on the smaller side, but they knew how to maximize the space (the two bars didn’t hurt!). The restaurants are always amazing and having all the options will give even the pickiest eater something to munch on. There was also a rock-climbing wall, a few slides, some Broadway shows – everything that would make your time on the boat enjoyable. 

The Stops

Roatan, Honduras

I have never been to Honduras before, but my friend’s father is from there. I love going new places, and that was one of the reasons we chose this cruise. We got to Honduras two days after leaving Miami, and after a nice breakfast on the boat, we were ready for stop #1. The morning was spent cruising on a catamaran, snorkeling, eating, drinking, dancing and having an all-around good time. I’d say we were out there for about 4.5 hours, and it was a beautiful experience all around. We stopped at a bar right off the boat after getting back to the port to enjoy a nice drink before cruising onto the next stop.

Harvest Caye, Belize

Another country I had never been to! This day was a little up and down, as for some of the day the weather wasn’t our best friend. After getting off the ship, we traveled out to Toledo. We spent the day floating down the river. It was very peaceful, and we learned a lot about Belize while enjoying the scenery. We even got to see people doing laundry out in the river. Afterwards we had a nice lunch and were on our way back to the boat.

That night, we ran into people we had met on the previous day excursion, and they got engaged! We had some celebratory drinks with them, and then made a few new friends at the bar that night. (Never let me get the drinking package, because I was “buying” drinks for everyone at the bar!). We spent the rest of that night exploring the boat, drinking and hanging out with our new friends.

Costa Maya, Mexico

First off, we were slightly hungover this day :/ But we were troopers and went on our excursion! This day was ATVing (which probably isn’t a great plan hungover). Besides not feeling great at the beginning of the day, we had a great time. We went through the forest, along the beach, through some mud which is always my favorite part of ATVing. After ATVing, we grabbed some lunch at the beach and hung out in Fisherman Village for a bit. Back at the port later that day, we found out there was a pool, restaurants, a place where you can swim with dolphins – something for everyone. Before getting on the boat we walked around a bit, but after ATVing all day and spending time at the beach we wanted to shower and get comfy.

Cozumel, Mexico

Our last excursion … And the drunkest we got all week! Our excursion this day was called “Salsa & Salsa:” we learned how to make two salsas and guacamole, and then how to dance salsa! It was really one of the most fun excursions I’ve ever done. We were put with another couple, and together we became the “Fantastic Four.” While making salsa, we would occasionally take a break, cheers & sip our margaritas … That was the beginning of the end for us!

After the excursion was over, we were able to either head back to the boat or hang out at the beach area for a bit, and we chose to stay. The four of us were hanging out, took a few tequila shots (yikes) and just enjoyed each other’s company for a bit. Where things really started to go wrong was when we got back on the bus to head back to the port, and they dropped us off in front of Senor Frogs! We (not so smartly) ordered a HUGE margarita, took the shots they offered us, and did not eat (big mistake). 

I had to pardon myself for a bit to get my life together, and by the time I got out of the bathroom, everyone was gone from the table! I was a little concerned, but being the best friend Dawn is, she was sitting outside waiting for me. We made it back on the boat successfully, and that was the end of us for the day! we were pretty upset later on because there was a “white-out” party that we wanted to go to, but after all those margaritas, it was best we just went to bed.

The End

The next, and final day, was just spent relaxing and recovering. We just hung out around the ship, went to a nice dinner that night & enjoyed some shows onboard. Watching the sunset one last time over the ocean was the perfect last night. We both enjoyed the cruise and are already trying to plan another one!