Our Trip to the Bahamas & Miami

I’m not really sure how I missed sharing my birthday trip with you all but I know I was a little lacking on the blog for a while so I’m going to try and share with you now. My birthday is in June and I decided I wanted to take a family trip to the Bahamas to celebrate. My travel partners were my son, my mom and my love. Unfortunately, my daughter did not want to go, she assumed it was going to be a boring trip on a boat with a bunch of old people…lol…too bad for her, she really missed out. This was definitely one of the best birthdays I have had, not just spending lots of time around water but being able to just really enjoy myself after my cancer scare, along with being so caught up in school and work, I needed this time more than ever, I felt free.

I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy being on a cruise so I decided to take a 3 day cruise to get a feel for cruise life. I will say that 3 days on the boat was just fine. We actually, sailed out on Thursday and came back Monday. So even though we were only at sea 3 days we were on the boat longer. We flew into Miami on Wednesday and our flight was delayed from Houston to Miami, this was irritating to say the least, their airport was super-hot and having to wait sucked. Once we got into Miami we took a taxi to the hotel Marriott Biscayne Bay; I loved that hotel. We decided to take the free trolley to Bayside where they have live music, shopping, food and drinks. Everything there is out in the open and the vibe is just amazing.

I booked our boarding time on the boat for 12-2pm so, the next morning my mom had booked massages for us so her and I had the best massages ever at the Double Tree next door then we joined the guys for a buffet breakfast at our hotel which was to die for. Once we were done we changed our clothes, packed our bags and headed over to the port to board the ship. After we got settled in our rooms we all met up to check out the ship, there was free food everywhere.

So, my son wanted me to make sure I added how he and the rest of the crew LOVED the burgers on the ship. They all said they were the best burgers they’ve ever had; since I don’t eat red meat, I have to take their word for it. There was a burger bar, a taco bar, a sandwich bar, a pizza bar, a dessert bar, a buffet that changed its menu 3 times a day and a dine-in restaurant. There were also multiple drink bars and clubs. Everything except the alcohol, photos and trinkets was pretty much free. There was also a kids club which was free before midnight. On the ship, we went to the comedy and music shows, relaxed by the pool, worked out in the gym, enjoyed a few spa services and just enjoyed the cruise life. My son had the run of the ship and I let him come and go as he pleased, he loved his new found freedom.

Once we got to port we were given 24 hours to enjoy the Bahamas, that’s right, just 24 hours. It was so hot I was miserable. My family wanted to stand around and take pictures and I wanted to get moving to the beach. At one point I walked off because they were debating riding around on a tour and I wasn’t there for that; I love the beach and that is the only place I wanted to be, plus with all of the people hounding us trying to sell us a ride made me even more irritated. The boys ended up going to the beach with me and my mom went on the tour. On our way to the beach we stopped by a few shops then ended up at a place called Senor Frog, we took photos outside and then went inside and danced, it was like college spring break in that place. After leaving there we headed to the beach for a bit and had drinks at this little tiki bar, we loved the bartender, she was so cool. We talked to her about the island and compared the look of their money to ours. I love their money; it’s so vibrant and colorful.

We decided to go back to the ship and we were there the rest of the night, my mom came back later from her tour. The next morning we sailed out and headed back to Miami that took another day. We arrived back in Miami on Monday morning and headed back to the Marriott Biscayne Bay. After getting settled back in we decided to take the hotel shuttle out to Miami South Beach but first we hit the strip mall where I did some shopping. Once we got to South Beach we ate and my love and I had drinks. Then we walked across the street

to the beach where my son and I dived into the extremely salty water while my mom relaxed on a beach chair and my love walked around with his selfie stick making videos of himself. Once we were finally done soaking up sun rays on the beach we headed back to the hotel and my son wasn’t done swimming so we all went to the hotel pool while he swam and played with the other kids. After that we changed clothes and everyone except my mom took the trolley over to Bayside for music.

Tuesday we headed back home to reality. 
There's so much more I could share but you'd be here for hours reading it. Just know that this trip was awesome and I would definitely do it again.

And…It Is What It Is!