Travelin' Tuesday: Grand Turk & Dominican Republic

Hi there!!  It's been a while, hasn't it.  After the busy holiday season we were off on our last family vacation/babymoon before the baby gets here!

My family started planning this trip back in 2012, so the anticipation to finally get to Miami and on the cruise ship was mounting all through 2013.  We traveled on the Carnival Breeze (one of the newest ships) on an 8 day southern Caribbean cruise.  What really excited me about this cruise was that it had 4 ports that we have never sailed to before. At 25 weeks pregnant by the time we got back, this would be the last plane ride baby boy would take inside the womb (which surprisingly I have been on a plane 8 times since finding out I was pregnant).

We went back up to the balcony category for our room selection and it was completely worth it for the ability to walk outside every morning when we were in port and see the island from our room.  The only downside to the balcony was the annoying man in between our room and my brother & his girlfriend's room who must have had this chronic cough that was so loud and annoying when he sat on his balcony.  

Our first port was Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos and with the free beach right at the port area, we had no plans other than to soak up some sun and sand.

View from our balcony

We disembarked pretty early from the ship to wonder through the shops on our way to claim some good beach chairs close to the water but under some shade. 

The water was a little chilly, but from what I heard it warmed up through the day.

We spent some quality time relaxing under the trees, I was reading the 5th installment of Harry Potter (I know I'm a little behind the times as this is my first time reading it) when I started to see some droplets falling.  Those little droplets turned into a down pour so we packed it up and made a beeline for some cover.  We debated waiting it out as the rain did pass, but with the second downpour just moments later 4 out of 6 family members decided to head back to the ship.  My brother's girlfriend and my dad opted to wait it out and enjoyed some great beach time while Chris, mom and I did a round of mini golf on the ship and got some more reading in on the deck.

Our second stop was La Romana, Dominican Republic.  

View of the port from our balcony

There isn't too much to do in this port other than to head to a beach, so my brother Dennis did some research prior to the trip and found Altos de Chavon.  A $7 round trip ticket from the port made this one of the cheapest activities on our cruise!

We walked around, took pictures and checked out the little shops (Chris and I needed to pick up a magnet/ornament from each stop for our travel tree).

It did rain on and off, as they say in the Caribbean the rain only lasts for so long and then the sun was back out shining down on us.  We were able to make it to the amphitheater before working our way back through the shops and eateries to catch the bus back to the port. 

Coming up next will be pictures from our stops in Curacao and Aruba!