Ahh, honeymoons. For a lot of people, it is a very first trip that you would have with your significant other after marriage, and for some, it’s just another trip. A necessary or unnecessary trip to take after the wedding, depending on who you ask. But honeymooning has been there for many many years. I can’t tell you where my grandparents went on their honeymoon, but I can tell you that my parents went to Maui for their honeymoon.

When it comes down to me and Brennan having our honeymoon, when we first got engaged, we decided on Kona Hawaii. And when we got engaged again, we originally wanted to go for Kona, but the idea bore us. And it wasn’t until the idea of a cruise fancy us. My mother-in-law gave a good pointer saying that everything we have is included and we don’t have to pay any more when we get there versus in Hawaii (ex. food, rental car, etc.). And when we looked into the itinerary of the cruise we would go on, that excite us even more.

My mom always told me to go somewhere new for our honeymoon. Well…it is in a a way a new experience. The cruise line that we went on, we both never been on before (I’ve been on two Disney cruise lines and one Royal Caribbean, Brennan has been on Norwegian). And two out of the three ports that we went to for our honeymoon, we’ve never been before (we both have never been to Belize, I’ve never been to Cozumel, Brennan has never been to Roatan). So once we got it booked, including one excursion that we have at one of the ports, we got really excited. And even better, we left exactly a week after our wedding.

Pre boarding

The day before, we got booking with tidying up the apartment and packing for our trip. After getting up at 3 in the morning (yes, I need an energy drink just to function before coffee), we got into a Lyft in an hour. We departed RDM a few minutes early and arrived at SEA over 10 minutes early. My guess is everyone on board are ready to leave the smoke-filled air due to the wildfires in the area. 

With us being early didn’t help at all with what’s going on at SeaTac so by the time we got out and into our gate, we have minutes to spare so no coffee and no Starbucks. The flight was just…ok. For about 35-40%, we got a very loud toddler in the very back (screaming in some occasions but worse as we get close to landing) and our flight was delayed on the takeoff. But there are some upsides to this as well; the main one is having someone to laugh with and love. And once we got to our Airbnb, we just relaxed, ordered takeout, and watch videos.

Embarking

Woke up to rain, not cold rain but warm rain. Also I had a dream about being late so right when I woke up, I asked Brennan what time it is. Thankfully, we’re good on time. We got out at around 9:50am to go to breakfast and to our port. Luckily, we found a buffet near our port of entry.

Brennan got a big spread himself and encouraged me to try some of the stuff on his spread. As a picky eater myself…it is something. For the coffee, it is strong! This is the first time in over 15 years that I’ve been to Florida and I never tried their coffee so I don’t know if it’s natural to have strong coffee or what. 

From breakfast to the cruise terminal is a 10 minute walk which is not bad. Most of the walk is inside the parking lot. And as a couple of inexperienced cruise travelers (Brennan has been in one, I’ve been in at least four) we did not print out our luggage tags. But the thing is, we didn’t bring a lot of stuff, two bags each, so it is not a big deal. 

Right when we walk in, it is such a beautiful ship so great first impression on the Regal Princess. And what makes the husband happy a little more as the fact that Michael Jackson was playing, Remember The Time to be exact. After running the safety video, we just hung out outside in the hot, humid, tropical air. Trust me, I lived in Portland for five years and I know what humidity is, but this is a different type of humidity for sure. The last time I’ve experienced this humidity was when my parents and I went to SeaWorld the last time we were in Florida. So after a bit, we went inside to hang out.

Fun fact: during the ship’s inaugural celebration, the cast and guest stars of the show Love Boat were a part of it, including the original six. And holds two Guinness world records for the largest marriage vow renewal ceremony in 2020 prior to lockdown and most margaritas sold in eight hours earlier this year. And this year marks 60 years of the Princess cruises. And the horn that was sounded was to the Love Boat theme song. We were one of a handful newlyweds on the boat celebrating the honeymoon, one couple got engaged onboard and another got married on board. So it is the Love Boat, literally.

By 1:10pm, we got announcement that we’re allowed into our rooms and it was pretty dang cute. Before we left, Mom gave us some magnets to put on our doors.

And after settling in, we up to the Sailaway party where it was still hot and humid, but we had a blast. When the Cupid Shuffle started playing and we were invited to do a line dance, we dropped everything and went down because that was the same song that was playing at our wedding. And honestly, that is the only song I can dance to without having two left feet.

After the Sailaway party, we just hung out in our room, and then we got ready for dinner. It was pleasant and able to talk to a couple people in a different table from that. For dinner, I had virgin margarita, charcuterie plate, chicken parm and a cannoli. The appetizer was ok, no bread or crackers, purely authentic and not what some may call “Americanized”. The chicken parm was good but Brennan’s bolognese is better. So good that I want the recipe to make it at home. 

After dinner, while Brennan recuperate after eating so much food, I went up to do the country trivia but left halfway because honestly, I listen to what most people call “pop country“ instead of “true country“. Kind of embarrassing, but at least I gave it a shot. Later I went in for karaoke along with my husband. It was the first time since college that I did karaoke. And then he did karaoke moments after. 

Day to day onboard

Our day-to-day life during the seven days basically start and end almost the same thing: wake up, breakfast, daytime activities, lunch, Siesta (nap time), dinner, nighttime activities, wind down.

They have a lot of really great food on board, we tend to go to the buffet most of the time because it’s there and it’s convenient. And keep in mind that a lot of places, especially the sitdown restaurants has a service charge and/or entrance fee. So every time you go to one of those sitdown restaurants on board, you’re tipping your server out of pocket. And honestly, we could’ve gotten the drink package so we don’t have this added up with alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.

The daytime activities definitely vary. During the days out at sea, Brennan was able to start his morning out on the Pickleball court and made some friends and also earned a bottle of champagne on day three. The first full day I was able to explore the ship and then day three I was just doing my own thing. And there were a couple days or more where I spent some time in the adult pools because nobody is gonna take that mermaid out of the water. In fact, my dad mentioned about me being a water person since I had my very first bath as a newborn during his father of the bride speech at our wedding.

Nighttime can be pretty fun though. There’s a lot of fun stuff from comedy shows to karaoke, all sorts of entertainment. I haven’t done karaoke since I was in college and I’m glad that I was able to do it when I can. Sang a lot of Michael Jackson and Céline Dion, there was one night where it was karaoke roulette where you put your name in the bucket and they would draw out the name from the bucket and randomly pick a song. It can be humiliating, but also fun at the same time. I believe the second night Brennan went to a comedy show and said he had a blast so next time there was one we both went had a blast and then we went to a few more and had a blast. Nothing wrong with comedy, even if it’s just 30 minutes.

And some nights where we’re just in our rooms, things can be fun on its own. Even though I don’t drink normally, Brennan coaxed me to have some champagne and honestly, I didn’t want him to drink the entire bottle himself. The second to last night we didn’t have anything planned after dinner so we just hung out in our rooms. One night, we ordered room service and one of the items was Key Lime pie. I don’t know exactly what happened but the plate tipped over and the pie was on the carpet. Of course I braced for scolding but Brennan was cackling and rolling around the bed. And yes I did laugh, managed to salvage the slice and we ate it.

Ports of call

So we went to three different ports: Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. Both of us have never been to Belize, I’ve never been to Cozumel and Brennan has never been to Roatan. I have not been to Roatan since I was six and Brennan has not been to Cozumel in a hot minute either. And each one we had probably one excursion planned. 

Roatan is probably the best up there. Even though it was hard to find transportation, we were able to get to our excursion, which was the Zuperman, or as I like to call zip lining Peter Pan style, and beach time afterwards. That was really fun and we really enjoyed our time in Roatan and we met a couple people and we both agreed that either for travel or part of the missionary, we should go back. And out on the beach, it was absolutely just beautiful and romantic where it’s just both Brennan and I and we just looked at each other like we did it. I know we kind of said it on our wedding night, but that was the moment where we looked at each other and said we did it.

Belize was…something else. We were supposed to do an excursion for the cave tubing for one company, but they were a no-show mainly because we were the only two people there, versus the Zuperman the other day where we were the only two people and we still went. But another company called Butts Up cave tubing took over and gave us an hour ride to our starting point. The best way to describe the experience to someone from Central Oregon is imagine floating down the Deschutes, but instead of having a view of the Old Mill, you’re inside the Oregon Caves. And it was a guided tour meaning those men have to have total body strength to pull 13 tubes down stream in the river where depths are different while explaining what’s going on. The accent and the language was very hard to understand, especially as someone who is hard of hearing. The main language is English, but the majority of Belizeans speak their version of creole. But after lunch and getting changed, it was another hour back, but luckily this time back I didn’t get carsick. 

Cozumel almost feels like coming back home because my parents used to have timeshare in Mexico and Brennan has been to Mexico a lot. With us being go go go the past couple days, Brennan wanted us to have a leisure day in Mexico so he booked us snorkeling in a recreation area called Chankanaab which means “little ocean“ in the indigenous Mayan language. We enjoyed the snorkeling, we had these little fish just swimming around us and we’re trying to figure out if it is a curiosity thing or they are just being territorial or something. Brennan wanted to do scuba diving, but due to his condition, epilepsy, it is not safe for him to do it. But there were other things that we could do around the area but we got a couple of souvenirs, and also we got a couple of souvenirs in Roatan as well. And we got another souvenir that we desperately did not want: sunburns

Last day

The last day was just more about taking it all in; it’s not just the last day of the cruise but it was the last day of our honeymoon. I suggested beforehand we should do a spa treatment together and we did get that booked.

Remember how I mentioned about us getting sunburns today before? I got patches of red while Brennan is a lobster from head to toe. Not because I didn’t tell him, but because knowing he is a mule, respectively, and would not put on any sunscreen, because he is stubborn. 

Despite that, it was a fun and relaxing last day at sea. And by dusk, more issues arrived when he didn’t wear his tennis shoes to play basketball and limped his way back into the stateroom with blistering feet. We had to take care of it and have dinner in suite. Luckily, we’re able to get out of our stateroom to go to a couple of planned events for the night, such as watching two comedy shows and the game show called “Perfect Couple”. So overall, a bunch of laughs

Final thought

With this being the first time that we’ve been on Princess, I would say that we both really did enjoy our cruising experience, especially with it being one week on board. Unlike a lot of modern cruise ships where they kinda go for the go big or go home, they go simple here. They don’t have slides or any of that, they stick to the basics. Unlike the other liners that I’ve been on, this one has equal opportunity for just about any age group, not just centered around families or kids or adults, it’s equal opportunity across all age groups. 

For it being a honeymoon, this is also an opportunity to see and understand your new spouse in a different light. There has been some ups and downs during this trip, but we get to see each other in a different light and know each other a little better. During this trip, Brennan challenged me to try some foods or have a bite of the food he would have and I gladly take it. And I on the other hand, had to challenge him in different areas and where he wouldn’t be comfortable. We both were able to spend time together as well as find time alone.

So overall, it was a fantastic trip and we hope to go back on Princess, even if it is a different ship, again. We hope that maybe we’d go for one of our milestone anniversaries (1 year, 5 year, etc.). And most importantly, we had fun despite the sunburns and blisters we’ve gotten.

Next stop: the real world of marriage and settling down