February 2nd my sweet Graham hit the big 28! In honor of his birthday we went on our first cruise together! We ended up picking a 3- day cruise leaving out of Port Canaveral. This was so much more fun than I predicted. We enjoyed the comedians, shows, hot tubs and unlimited food! We didn't have to wash a single dish, we slept in every morning and we ate no less than 6 meals (and 2 ice cream runs for me) per day! It was so incredibly relaxing.
On Day 1 was very low- key. As soon as we boarded the ship, we just wondered around, trying to figure out what all 14 decks had. As we made our way we ended up dancing to the DJ's music while we played putt-putt and took full advantage of the adults only Serenity Spa deck. A few hours after taking off, I began to feel really nauseated- seasickness? Ugh, my luck man, it sucks. So I had to take Graham's dramamine to fight off the craziness, so grateful I brought it. We figured that we would try the main dining room after snacking on the Lido deck all day and found it perfect for us! We ate there for breakfast and supper for the remainder of the trip. Then we laughed harder at the adult comedy show than we should have.
Day 2 we woke up surpassing lots of islands on the side of our ship, and finally docked in at noon to Nassau, Bahamas. We had to go through a long process of getting off to get to our kayak excursion. After losing and then finding our group (thank heavens!) we finally made it aboard our Carnival sponsored boat to take us to the reef.. The really neat aspect of kayaking, and why we inevitably booked it, came from the clear bottom on the kayak, so we went through the coral reef seeing everything. The crystal water showed us schools of zebrafish, lionfish, the whole zoo. I even held a starfish that was at least 1 foot in diameter; no rules about endangered creatures in the Bahamas :) We were given the option to snorkel or swim after our tour, but opted out to continue in the kayaks to visit other parts we hadn't seen- plus the water was toooo cold. Afterwards we were jetted back to the port where we walked by the famed Straw Market and Senor Frogs, nothing we were really impressed by. It was obvious how poor and touristy the area was. We boarded our cruise ship and went on to enjoy the Elegant night- we dined on prime rib and lobsters- decked out in our nicer clothes. Graham didn't bring a tie that matched so I had to improvise (anyone who knows me will guess what I did after seeing the pictures above and below). Man, I love my Graham although I know I stress him out. Afterwards we went to a Mardi Gras dance party on the Empress floor. We kept the fun by playing bingo and listening to more comedy shows. We didn't fall asleep until way after midnight.
Day 3 was our only full at sea day. We woke up, ate 2 breakfasts (seriously ya'll, we were binge eating the whole time) and scoured through the day's itinerary for *fun* things. After enjoying the Serenity area again, we spent quite some time at an art auction where we purchased absolutely nothing! Then onward bound to more bingo, more food, and a really interesting 80's themed show! My only qualm was that the show was full of thong- wearing dancers while many parents had brought their children, but they did dance beautifully. Every night we ended with more laughs at the comedy shows.
Day 4 was the end of the road for the trip. We thoroughly enjoyed it, especially since it was the perfect cruise to get our feet wet. I would quickly go on another one, but would definitely like to changes a few things about my next trip. 1) More dramamine! Start taking before the ship leaves and every morning before I get the chance to think about it. 2) Pack less clothes. I am always over prepared in this aspect, I find it fairly unnecessary to have lots of clothes to deal with on the ship and then eventually unpack. 3) Dine with other cruisers. While we did love our flexibility and eating alone, I think next time it might be more enjoyable to make more friends on the ship. 4) Book a lengthier one! We had so much fun visiting Nassau, but we would have loved to visit more places and stay on the ship longer.
Now, all that's left is to find a good enough reason to go on one again! ;)
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