This year I spent Valentines day at my mom’s house, planning an upcoming trip to Europe with my sister. Last year, however, Chris and I were on a boat heading out to snorkel in the Bahamas.

There’s a lot to be said about this. For our first Valentines day when we were actually physically together (the first year we were dating he was in Banff), it was pretty great to be in the Bahamas. On the other hand, we learned a pretty valuable lesson on that trip—if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

As a relative novice to travel, as I was searching for a fantastic long weekend get-away for last Valentines day (at a great price, no less), I was definitely taken in by the “fantastic 3-day $99/day with 4th day free” trips that seemed to be everywhere. I thought it was a great value when I found a 4-night cruise to the Bahamas for $99 a day on the Imperial Majesty. Somehow I even managed to convince Chris, ever the skeptic when it comes to deals like this (for good reason), to come with me. Luckily we decided to look up reviews of the cruise ship the night before we took off. I say luckily because we were prepared. I think it was here from these reviews where we found the name which we still use to refer to the trip — it was the Toilet of the Sea Cruise, my friends.

See this photo here, the one with 5 cruise ships? Can’t see a 5th ship? Yeah, it was that small.

On top of the plastic food, bath-sized pool, overpriced drinks and twin beds that were cemented to the floor, the ship left from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, so we had plunk down an extra $280-something for our “cheap” Valentines day gift.
Having said all of that, at the end of the day, I absolutely loved this trip, and I wouldn’t have changed one thing about it. Food wasn’t all that important to us, and we were snorkeling in the Bahamas on Valentines day, so who were we to complain? Plus, it makes for a great story (lesson?).

Maybe the next time we hit up the Bahamas, we’ll stay here instead:

But until the time that we can save up to make it back, we’ll have these memories, instead: