Awesome 50th Birthday Cruise with a bittersweet ending

This cruise was planned as a celebration of my 50th birthday. It was the first time we had ever taken a cruise and we made plans for every port.

On the first evening, we met our table mates. I don't know how they choose who you will sit with, but we couldn't have been matched up any better! The other couple has been married as long as my husband and I have and our daughters are the same age with their birthdays within one day of each other. We had a great time getting to know each other and exchanged contact info before we left.

Our first stop was at Half Moon Cay. We went horseback riding on the beach and then in the ocean! What an experience! I had always wanted to do this and we had the best time. The people working with the horses were great and made the excursion so much fun.

The next stop was in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We chose to do an excursion that was not through Carnival. It was through a group called "A Taste of San Juan". It was a walking tour with several stops along the way. The young lady leading the tour was very informative about the architecture and history of the area. Our stops included a local coffee and pastry shop, a new all-natural popsicle shop, an art gallery where they served a food I can't remember the name of (but it was good), we made mofongo (chicken and plantains) at a restaurant and ate it, and then we had to leave. There were two more stops scheduled, but the ship's departure schedule was changed after we had booked the excursion. It was an easy walk back to the ship.

St. Thomas was the next stop. We took the Champagne Catamaran Snorkeling Tour to St. John's. Captain Joe and his crew were awesome! This was yet another first for us. We had a blast! There were stingrays, turtles, colorful fish, and beautiful corals. We took lots of pictures. Everyone on the trip seemed to have had a great time.

Our last port was Grand Turk. We went on the ATV excursion around the island. The guys leading the tour were really nice and gave you a lot of information about the area. The only problem I had was that I couldn't hear what they were saying through the headsets built into the helmets. We had a great time anyway!

The bittersweet part of our cruise came on the last day at sea. We received a call to let us know that my husband's mother had passed away. The folks on the cruise ship could not have been nicer. They offered free ship-to-shore calls, and they connected us with Delta to get our flights changed. They even helped us get off the ship as quickly as possible so that we could get to the airport. I must also give kudos to Delta. They changed our flights to get us home earlier and didn't charge us to do so.

Even though our trip ended on a sad note, we are looking forward to our next cruise.