Ah yes! A cruise vacation on a huge cruise ship. A dream for many of us, especially those in cold climates. Cruising to a tropical island, drinking from coconuts and the crystal warm waters of the caribbean are something we all would love to take in every now and then.

I recently took a cruise on Royal Caribbean's "Freedom of the Seas" on a 7 day journey of 3 islands. One of those islands stick out in my head as being not only beautiful, but a REAL paradise. Yes, I always wondered if laying on a tropical island was any better than laying at my local beach in Chicago. Well, I just found out it is 100X better! 

If you were like me, and have never taken a cruise or visited an exotic, tropical island then I am sure you have had dreams of laying there on a white sand beach while the warm tropical breeze flows by your face. The crystal blue warm waters and the sun shining giving your skin a magical glow. People having a great time from morning till night. Yes, a caribbean cruise may just be what you need. No, scratch that...it IS what you need!

I have had these scenes in my mind for years, since I was a kid really. Finally just last week I was on the largest cruise ship in the world (as of this writing) and on my way to paradise! My family and I were excited and ready to finally make this dream a reality so we boarded the Freedom of The Seas for our 7 day adventure!

We were on the Freedom of the Seas cruise ship and when we docked at CoCo cay we had to board a smaller boat to ride to the island. When we arrived on the island we were greeted with shops selling all kinds of souvenirs.

I soon realized that CoCo cay is a private island owned by Royal Caribbean so only by taking a Royal cruise can you visit this beautiful island. After browsing the shops we walked to the beach and found some lounge chairs. The weather was hot but not too bad. After a drink or two my son and I went in to the super blue water. It was warm and calm. NO WAVES so it was very nice.

But soon we realized that it was FILLED with Jelly Fish, manta rays, tiger sharks, pipefish and puffer fish! Yes, they were everywhere but most of the sea life swam away as soon as you got close to them. The only issue was with the Jellyfish. Every time I went in I found a jelly next to me. I decided to pick one up (don't try this unless you know what you are doing) and let my wife take a video of it. As you can see in the video, soon after a couple of manta rays swam behind me.

To some, this was terrifying but to me it was beautiful! Swimming in the ocean with all of this sea life was incredible. I talked to a guy who was stung 6 times that day and he said it was like a bee sting. I decided to get out of the water and walk the beach a while.

I was walking and thinking how I could get used to this life. A beautiful beach, beautiful blue water and all the food and drinks I could handle. Yes, while on the island expect to be  fed! Royal Caribbean will bring out a full lunch buffet with jerk chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit and other goodies. They have tables set out for eating so its just a matter of walking up, grabbing your plate and filling up for lunch! 

We also had free cokes on the island but that is because we bought the free coke package. I could not resist to buy a "CoCo Loco" drink while on the beach. It was good but not worth the $8 they charged. 

After 6-7 hours on the island our time was nearly up. We wrapped up the perfect day with a walk on the nature trail. We say Iguana Bay and I took some snaps of the local Iguanas as we fed them some oranges. It was incredible getting so close to these MONSTER iguanas! When we walked up there was at least 8-10 of them on the rocks and they were not afraid of us, that is for sure!

Once back on the ship we showered and got ready for our dinner, which was DELICIOUS! As we left Coco Cay we were counting the days until we could return. I highly recommend this trip/cruise!