The Geordie Tourist.

In 2007 for my dad’s 40th birthday we went on a holiday of a lifetime on a cruise around the Caribbean and then for a week in a villa in Florida. Even now I am still a massive kid and can’t wait to go back to Florida so I can ride me some rollercoasters. My friend is going in June and I am so bloody jealous.

A cruise, well that’s a whole other story, I couldn’t even fathom being able to afford going on a cruise. It just makes you realise, when I was younger I did all of these amazing things, I wouldn’t say I was a spoilt brat, I definitely appreciated things. But it’s only now that I’m a ‘supposed’ adult that I realise how much it must have cost for them to do these kinds of things with us. (It’s crazy.)

We went with Royal Caribbean International on the cruise ship Liberty ofthe Seas. I remember how posh everything was; honestly half of the time I thought it was the Titanic (minus the iceberg) never mind anything else. The formal dinner evenings and posing for photos didn’t really help matters. I remember waiting in massive queues to get your different posh cruise ship photos done. My step mam (Tracy) was all over that. Looking at them makes me cringe. Some of them are slightly ok though.

We went with her parents and then my brother (Nathan) and my dad. It was so long ago that I can’t really remember all of the little details. I do remember how the ship just seemed to have everything you could ever want. I remember room service and getting burgers at a place called Johnny Rockets. I remember going onto the deck and looking at the pools, the running tracks around it. Honestly cruise ships these days probably have even more extras, at the time though I couldn’t think of it needing anything else.

We went to Maimi to board the ship. Even just going to Miami for a day was flipping great. We stayed in this really posh hotel overlooking the marina. It had massive beds and a huge window seat. We got breakfast in the morning and it looked like something you would give a celebrity. I wish I was going now, because honestly I would take so many photos, I would remember the names of the hotels, all the places we went, the things we did. I guess in a way its also a blessing. I was able to just enjoy myself, be an eighteen-year-old. Besides, Tracy took more than enough photos for all of us.

I can’t remember all of the ports that we visited, but just looking back at some of the photos has helped. We went to Labadee in Haiti, which I only just found out is Royal Caribbeans' own private port. We also went to other beautiful destinations such as Jamaica and Mexico. I’ll go into more detail with these in the next post. I’m going to do three altogether. This one, the next one exploring the ports that we visited and then the third one looking at the Florida part of our trip.

We were away for my dad's actual birthday. I added the photo from the meal. It was so posh (you can tell I'm part of the common folk eh) the waiter brought a massive tray of meat to the table so you could actually pick which part you would like for your steak. I can't find the picture of the Jacket potatoes either, but they were the size of a human head.

There was also towel animals. To this day, anywhere I go that has towel animals is already a winner in my books.

I loved going on this cruise. I loved all of the amazing experiences that I had. Just being with family and going on an adventure is all I've ever loved to do. I'm so pleased I have these photos to look back on, its strange but just one look takes me straight back there.

Have any of you been on Cruise holiday?

Any destinations you would recommend?