As the COVID pandemic was starting to get under control, I was of course itchy to get back to traveling. And while a cruise seemed like the worst place to limit exposure, I knew the ships were emptier and we really just needed an easy vacation. Unfortunately cases kept spiking up a few weeks before our planned trip so we waited and waited and waited and finally booked it at the last minute.
We started with an overnight in Puerto Rico where the first order of business was getting outside for some ocean and cocktails!
Then it was time to board our home for the next week, the Norwegian Epic!
Our first stop was Aruba where we did a snorkeling adventure. It was so nice to be back in the water. We opted not to walk around the port and you can see why below:
Next up was Curaçao. We elected to just walk into town, get some Dutch pancakes, and wander around. It was adorable!
Next up was Bonaire! I’d had Bonaire on my scuba diving list forever, so I was super excited for this stop. And while my days of scuba diving are sadly over, I could still enjoy the reefs and fish by snorkeling.
Our next stop was supposed to be St. Lucia. Unfortunately the wind was too strong for us to dock. We stayed off the coast for a few hours, but the wind never died down enough for us to dock. I’ve been to St. Lucia a couple of times before so I wasn’t that disappointed, and if we were going to miss one stop, this was the one (for us at least). We had some cool flying fish hanging around the boat and on our journey away so I was enthralled watching them.
This however, gave us more time to enjoy the ship!
We even had the Ice Bar on the ship all to ourselves. The bartender was awesome and took our picture and had us go behind the bar. Cold, but fun!
Our final stop was St. Kitts. Here we did an ATV off-roading excursion. It was a little more off-road than I’d ever done before so this wasn’t as fun for me as I’d expected. And I was abysmally slow. Oops.
Then we headed back to Puerto Rico and enjoyed our last sunsets and time on the boat.
Once back in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we did a little sightseeing excursion before being dropped at the airport. It was nice to get out and see a little more of the city.
All in all, this was a really nice, relaxing trip. We got some sun, some fish, some adventure, some relaxation, and just some good quality time together.
