Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Vacation


Hubby and I hit the open seas a few weeks ago to go on a cruise. We had never done that before, cruising. I received an email back in May for what seemed like a good deal from Carnival for a room for 8 days going to Port Canaveral and the Bahamas. Oddly enough, when I received it we were trying to find a place to go on vacation. We were looking at Las Vegas, the shore, Virginia, NY. Any number of places. When I crunched the numbers though, the 8 day cruise gave us more bang for our buck allowing us to go away for a full week rather than just a long weekend.

We chose to purchase a Faster To The Fun package and it was worth it for the quick embarkation to the ship! Seriously. It didn't take more than 25 minutes to go through everything. It was awesome! They even processed our luggage for us so we didn't have to lug it around!

We got on the ship and decided to have the drink of the day. This of course is where I started worrying about money, alcohol. It is not included in the price of the trip. When we go on a long vacation, we have gone to Europe and all-inclusives. All-inclusives mean the alcohol is not separate and you can drink whatever you want. I worried we would spend too much on alcohol. But, you only start your first cruise once....

We sat in the lobby area, then headed up to the Lido deck for lunch since the rooms weren't quite ready yet. We had a nice buffet lunch overlooking the parking lot in Baltimore. LOL! Since we got on the ship so quickly, we had plenty of time before we actually set sail.


From lunch, we headed to our cabin to see what it would be like. I had no idea. It wasn't bad. A bit tiny, but we were on a ship. LOL!


The first day on the ship they go over the emergency procedures and where to go in case of fire/sinking/etc. That took about 30 minutes, then we were free to do whatever.

For the next few days, we hung by the pool, played trivia and ate some good food. When we landed in Port Canaveral, we did not have an excursion. We decided the only one we would be interested in would be NASA, but how much time we would really get seemed minimal compared to the price, so we chose not to book. Good thing we did! The shutdown canceled everyone's trip.

Ahhh..but the next day we landed in the Bahamas. We've never been to the Bahamas and I really liked it. We got basically a day and a half there, but it was a fun day and a half.

First up, Nassau. We got off the ship and had the obligatory photo:

Then it was off to our tour! We chose to ride Segways. I cannot say enough how much fun we had on these things! All I want to do now is ride them everywhere! I want one for my half mile walk into the office. LOL!


After our Segway tour, we wandered over to the John Watling's Distillery. They have a self-guided tour of their property, then we had a nice sampling of their rums.


After our drinks, we wandered back into town. We ended up having a meal at a pirate restaurant. It was good and it's where we had our first Bahama beer - Kalik. Hubby liked it, I did not. Tasted too "beery" for me. LOL!


We wandered the shops from here, then went back to the ship. Nassau was a really nice town. We really enjoyed it.


Overnight we traveled to Freeport, our second stop in the Bahamas. We were up early because our tour started at 7:30 a.m. Ugh. It wasn't even light out when we got off the ship!


We were the first ones off and the first ones to meet at our tour spot. Brian decided to have some fun...and become the tour guide!


We decided on this tour because it took you to many important historical sights in Freeport and you got the chance to snorkel. It was a great tour (if a little long without a bathroom!) and it really showed the beauty of the island. We saw a lighthouse, a cave, a fern gully, and a beautiful beach.




We tried the specialty of the Bahamas - Goombay punch and conch fritters. Yum!

We were only on Freeport for half a day. It was a great time, but too short. We wished we had a full day. At some point in the future, we may have to go back to make it a trip to the Bahamas alone. That was always a thing I had about cruises, you only get a small amount of time at each stop, not enough to really play.

We booked back to Baltimore. It was crazy how fast we were going! Everything shook. LOL! But, before I leave you, we took advantage of the professional photographers on the ship to have a picture taken. It's so hard to get a good one of you as a couple, so I wanted to get them done.





I think this is my favorite.
So, overall would I do it again? I don't know. I enjoyed parts of the trip. I think if we were to do another one, I might want one that's shorter, where we spend less time on the ship and more time in ports.


2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fun trip! We have never done a cruise but I would like to try. We have similar concerns about too much time on a boat vs experiencing new areas. On the other hand, a boat has some nice amenities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a fun trip. I think 7 days was a bit long since we didn't get off in FL, but overall it was nice. We went on the ship with the fewest amenities and it showed in terms of things to do. I think a shorter trip/bigger boat might be the way to go. But, the time in the Bahamas was AWESOME! Such a pretty country and the people are very friendly. I would recommend going there! :-)

      Delete