Guest Post from Emily!

I am so excited to introduce a few of my readers to you while I am on vacation! They are each sharing memories from favorite vacations they have taken, so that we can all live vicariously through them.  First up is Emily, you MUST check out her blog!  She has an adorable son and loves to share tasty recipes, awesome DIY projects, and her favorite fashion & beauty trends. So sit back and relax and pretend you're on one of these amazing beaches with her!

Hi Everyone, I'm Emily from Simple Suburbia!  I'm a 20-something wife and first time mom to an almost one year old (I'm totally in denial about that part).  My husband and I have been together for over 10 years and in that time we've done a decent amount of traveling.  While Katie is galavanting all around Europe, I decided to share one of my favorite vacations with you guys!  I actually wrote this post ahead of time because I'll be in Florida while Katie is on her vacation!  When I decided to write this post, I couldn't decide which vacation to write about - it was a toss up between our Caribbean cruise and our Hawaiian honeymoon!  I decided on the cruise!

First of all, here's a picture of me (from our cruise) so you can put a name to a "voice"!  Please note that I'm now a Casper version of that person.

We did a 7 day cruise with Carnival (no, we didn't get stranded anywhere).  We had somewhere new to go every day (no days at sea) and I wouldn't have it any other way!  I know some people like days at sea, but I'd rather be out exploring new islands!  Plus, I had plenty of time on the ship in the evenings.  We did have some fun times on the ship, though.  Here's our ship:

Here's our room.  We were lucky enough to get a balcony room on the back of the ship (highly recommend)!

Lounging on the lido deck!

I'm the third from the right!

I miss my tan!

We ate in the dining room every night.  Our server was awesome and you can get as much food as you want.  I may have had chocolate lava cake every night.  I'm not joking.

I was overly excited about the infamous towel animals!

Our ship left from Puerto Rico and we visited Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Thomas (not in that order).  We were able to do all sorts of excursions on the islands.  Nick & I love to snorkel and snorkeling in the Caribbean is pretty awesome.  The water is crystal clear and the fish come RIGHT up to you!

Those masks are SO flattering!

Barbados: no zoom!

We also went on a few island tours.  This is not something we would typically do, but my Dad recommended it and I'm so glad we listened to him!  The tour guides take you to the best photo spots and show you island secrets.  One of our guides even had fresh island fruits for us to try!

Here we are trying some 190 proof white "island" rum.  I do NOT recommend this, haha!

St. Lucia

I found Pumbaa on one of the beaches!  Seriously, this big huge guy was just having his afternoon nap right on the beach.  I couldn't decide if it was cool or creepy, but it was definitely a photo op!

One of our excursions was a hike through the rainforest in Dominica.  It was amazing!

We also visited beaches that were basically heaven on earth.

Hawks Bill, Antigua

Magen's Bay, St. Thomas

On our last day, we were able to spend some time in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico before catching our flight home.  Such a cute, historical town!

Come on over and check out my blog.  You'll find a few a ton of pictures of my son, some pictures of my yorkies, recipes, crafts, and everything in between!  Thanks for having me, Katie!  I hope you're having an absolute blast in Europe!