We just got back from our very first cruise together, and we still feel like we’re on the boat. Anyone else experience this? We did the 7-day Carnival Mexican Riviera Cruise with our youtuber friends Mari & Peter, and if you follow our Instagram accounts (@estherjulee & @jacobthefu) you probably got a quick glimpse of our adventures already.
Before we get into our itinerary, we wanted to start with why we think you should go on a cruise.
11 REASONS TO GO ON A CRUISE – Why Cruises are the Best Vacation
1. To Unplug
It’s crazy to think about how much time we spend on our phones and online. On the cruise, we had a limited number of minutes (roughly 85 minutes / day), which we reserved to do our daily social media posts, minimal research on the cities we were visiting, and catch up on urgent emails. It was a painful first few days experiencing withdrawal from our addiction, but we adjusted and found ourselves having real face-to-face conservations, laughing, and catching up on some reading from our summer reading list! To our surprise, we even had minutes left over at the end of the trip!
2. Don’t Have to Worry About Planning Meals
We looove our food, so when we travel, one of our biggest concerns are meals. While we find great joy in seeking out and trying the best ___ in every city, it can also be quite stressful planning our food itinerary along with other must-see attractions. Sometimes it’s nice not having to even think about it at all. The cruise ship gives you options to eat at the buffet (part of it is 24 hours) or their dining room where they serve you unlimited starters, entrees, and desserts. They also had a steakhouse we dined at one night, and we were impressed that the quality was comparable to other michelin starred restaurants we’ve tried.
3. 24-Hour Room Service
Taking the food one step further (or should I say closer), we could order our food straight to our room whenever we wanted at no additional cost. I don’t think we’ve taken advantage of room service more on any other trip. It got dangerous once we discovered the BLT (EASILY the best thing on the carnival cruise menu), and it was hard for us not to order that at 2AM every night.
4. To Rest & Relax
This is an obvious one for many vacationers. However, when we travel, we have the hardest time resting, since technically for us it’s not a vacation; it’s a work trip. We have to stay on and focused so that we can document everything we see and do without leaving any gaps. This cruise created a great environment for us to rest and relax, where everything was at our own time and pace. We mainly worked on the first day at sea and on the days in each port city, but in between, we had 3 days at sea where we felt like we were truly on vacation. We took plenty of naps and felt refreshed.
5. Endless Ocean Views
I don’t know about you, but I love the ocean! Something about staring out at the swells and flow of waves calms me down. We never made it up for sunrise, but sunsets out at sea were beautiful!
6. Daily (Live) Entertainment
If you get bored, it’s amazing how many options you have in a cruise ship. It’s like a small floating city. They had daily shows in their main theater, live music acts, a casino, a nightclub, mini-golf, and more.
7. Exploring Multiple New Cities on a Budget
On this trip, we had the chance to explore Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, which none of us had been to either city before. Taking a cruise is a cost-effective way to visit multiple cities without having to deal with the logistics of flights.
8. Work Out Classes
They told us that on average people gain 7-14 lbs on a 7 day cruise. With all the food freely available, they do their best to offer you options to stay healthy, too. Our cruise had a full gym that Peter and Jacob took advantage of to do their p90x. They also offered work out classes like spin class, aerobics, etc. You can even get a personal trainer. We decided to check out their stretch class together, and this is no exaggeration.. Jacob needs some work. :P
9. Soak Up The Sun
Whether it’s from your balcony, or on the deck next to the pool, there are plenty of options for you soak up the sun! Don’t forget to bring your sunblock (we wrote a post about some great non-toxic options)!
10. Great Bonding Time with Family or Friends
Spending 7 days together with your friends or family is great bonding time. The cruise ship is big enough for everyone to do their own thing in case you need the space, but plenty of options to do activities together too! We left feeling like we went to summer camp.
11. Experience Something New
Besides exploring new cities, cruises put together the best rated excursions in each city so that you can eat, see, or try something new. In Cabo alone, you could drive ATVs, ride camels, go snorkeling, diving, do a food tour, etc. Speaking of new, we also got to try underwater housing for our DSLR for the first time and got some fun shots of us snorkeling / free diving. ;)
BONUS: How can you not love these towel animals?
I know we just got back this past weekend, but we may have to start planning our next cruise!
Anyone want to come with us?
Have you been on a cruise before?
Where did you go and what did you do / see?
A huge thank you to Carnival for hosting our trip. All opinions, photos, and text are our own.
Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.
