Catamaran Fun at Grand Turk

Catamaran Fun at Grand Turk Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Isl.

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Isl.

Today we were in port at Grand Turk, part of the Turks & Caicos island chain, but not until 11 am. We got up about 8 am and I spent the morning blogging on our balcony. We actually had a perfect view of the island as we got into port. The ship came in from the northeast, and basically went all the way around the island. It’s not very big, and it’s very flat.

Mom and I were doing separate shore excursions today. I had really wanted to do another catamaran, but she didn’t feel up to snorkeling. So she did the Coast to Coast Grand Turk Safari.

I left the boat at 11:15 am to be there for my excursion at 11:45 am. It was just a short talk to the boat dock, but we had to wait there a while as our catamaran came in from the tour before and unloaded lots of people. Thankfully our tour wasn’t nearly as full and there was plenty of room on the boat. We had to sit in the back while we left the dock, to get our safety briefing. Then they let us go to the front of the catamaran to hand out our snorkel gear. This boat was much bigger than the catamaran at St. Thomas. I got a seat by one of the nets and enjoyed the sunshine until we got to our snorkeling spot.

The snorkeling was just offshore, and was actually really bad. There wasn’t much of a reef, and what was there was 20 – 30 feet below the surface. The only cool part of the snorkeling was seeing “The Wall”, where there’s a steep drop off down to 7000 feet. It was literally a line along the reef that just turned to darkness. The water was actually really cold too, and I was glad to get out.

On the way back the rum punch started flowing and I spent a lot of the journey laying one of the nets. It was very comfortable, and there was a headrest so I still had a great view of the ocean. I did take one break for some dancing, but no one else on the boat was very fun. Only a few other people got up and danced, and then only for a little bit. I didn’t care that I was the only one besides the crew dancing, it was fun.

When we got back to the dock I met up with mom and we went back to the boat. I’d had a little too much rum punch and wasn’t feeling that great, so we took it easy in our cabin for the rest of the night.

Fort Fun in San Juan

Fort Fun in San Juan San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Today we actually did not do a shore excursion. We would be in port early at San Juan, Peurto Rico and we would be docked just south of the old town. There were also two forts to visit, so we just walked around on our own.

We got up about 6:30 am and saw a few glimpses of us coming into port before getting some breakfast (omelet again, still not good). We left the ship by 7:30 am and it was awesome because there was no line. So we just walked off the boat and into San Juan. We walked along the waterfront first, and then along the Paseo de la Princesa, a walkway at the base of the old city walls. It was lined with trees on both sides and reminded us of Las Ramblas in Barcelona. There was a beautiful fountain at the end, and then we continued along a walkway at the base of the city walls. There were many great views of San Juan harbor and the city walls.

When we got to the San Juan Gate, we went inside the city and walked over to the Catedral de San Juan. The city streets were lined with beautiful old buildings, in the Spanish style. There was a square right in front of the cathedral that had these really cute statues. The cathedral itself was more impressive inside than I thought it would be, although in need of some restoration. And it was all decorated for Christmas.

Our next destination was the Plaza de Armas, which had the city hall and the department of state buildings. There was also a Christmas tree in the middle of the square. It actually rained a little while we were there. But the sun soon came out again, and we were very hot. We walked back to the San Juan Gate, to continue our trek around the city, but this time on top of the city walls. Along the way we also searched from some piragua. Emily had told us about it the night before, it’s similar to a snow cone or Hawaiian shave ice, but better. She recommended the parcha (passion fruit), so we both got that. It was delicious, especially in the hot sun.

We continued our walk along the city walls all the way to the end, where there was a fort called Castillo San Felipe del Morro. The city of San Juan is actually on a peninsula at the top of a big harbor, and this fort guarded the end of that peninsula. It’s actually a US National Historic Site, but it was very cheap. It only cost $5, including the other fort at the other end of the city. So we walked around the fort, which had many cool views and a neat triangular staircase. I don’t think I’ve seen that anywhere before.

When we left the fort we walked along the northern city walls and over to the fort at the other end of the city, called Castillo San Cristobal. It was a much shorter walk than it looked like, and there were cool views along the way of some cemeteries below the city walls. The second fort was also very cool, with great views of San Juan. We walked all around the main part, and went down through a tunnel with a dungeon. Then we headed back for the ship. We stopped at Plaza Colon, where there was another Christmas tree and a big statue of Christopher Columbus. We started seeing a bunch of tourist shops, so we went in a bunch to find me a flag magnet of Peurto Rico. I found one early on, but wasn’t completely happy with it. So we checked out a bunch more.

In one of the shops we thankfully discovered that my phone had changed to Peurto Rico time, which was an hour ahead of ship time. So we had an hour more than we thought until we needed to be back on the ship. So we walked down Fortaleza street, which looked even more Spanish. Mom and I really felt like we were in Spain. We eventually found a tapas bar called Triana and decided to stop in and have some tapas (appetizers). We were both very tired of walking, so it felt great to just sit down.These bars are very typical of Spain, but I’d never gone to one when I was there because I was too scared to try the food. But I wanted to try it now. So we had some chorizos (Spanish sausage & mushroom) and ham croquettes. Both were good, but not great. I also had a glass of sangria.

Our next destination was back to the ship. And there was a long line getting back on, which did not feel good on our already tired feet. When we got back to our cabin, we collapsed on the beds for a while and had a rest. It had been a very fun but very exhausting day. I forced myself to get up and go up top to watch the ship leave port. Our cabin would be on the wrong side for good views, and I knew we’d be sailing right by the first fort we visited. I was very glad I went to watch the sailaway, because the views were great. Although my camera battery died just as we were leaving, so I had to use my cell phone for most of the pictures.

After the sailaway, I went back to our cabin, where mom was just finishing up a nap. I sat outside on our balcony for a while and blogged. Then we went to the spa. Mom got a manicure and I wanted a pedicure. Partly because my toes were in dire need of some new polish, but also because I thought it would feel great after all that walking. Unfortunately I was wrong. It was not at all what I was expecting based on the price I paid. It was one of those chairs with a footbath, and it was not designed for someone my height. So it wasn’t very relaxing. Didn’t get much massage either.

After the spa, we went for dinner. There was a little bit of a line and we got sat with another couple again (from LA). But it wasn’t nearly as tiring talking to them this time. Dinner was all bad tonight. I tried the local pork appetizer, and didn’t like it at all. And then I didn’t want any of the entrees, so I just got a chicken breast and macaroni & cheese. The chicken was cooked well, but had a weird flavor. And the mac & cheese wasn’t cheesy enough. We also didn’t want any of the desserts, so we just left.

We blogged in our rooms for a while, and then went down to the lobby to blog while listening to acoustic guitar music. We were actually really disappointed that Dave was not playing in the piano bar tonight. We really wanted to go after not going the night before. We were in port later tomorrow too, so we could have stayed up late. But instead we were in bed before 11 pm.

I should mention that while we were blogging in the lobby, mom and I decided that we did not want to do another Carnival cruise. There were a couple positive things about the cruise:

• We really liked that the bars were all enclosed. In the other ships we’ve been on, all of the bars are very open. You basically walk through them as you walk through the deck.

• We liked the layout of the pool. The pool chairs were set up kind of like an amphitheater around the pool, with many different levels going up a couple of decks.

But the bad far outweighs the good:

• The food is horrible. A few good things here and there is not what I expect out of cruise. And the fact that the breakfasts are horrible is inexcusable. I’m seriously thinking about just having cereal from now on.

• There’s not enough variety in the entertainment. If you like to party, you’d probably love carnival. And there was plenty of trivia, which we normally like to do but haven’t this trip. But there were no dance lessons, no beer tastings, and none of the big shows were interesting. Two nights they had game shows, and others it was music I didn’t care about. It’s a good thing the piano bar was awesome, or we would have been really bored at night.

• Quality of service is not as good. None of the service staff even seems friendly.

• The spa was not worth the money. I expect a lot more for what I was paying. And the service again was horrible. The people weren’t very friendly. The masseuse in particular spent way too much time trying to sell me stuff.

• The “library” doesn’t have any books.

• The internet is so slow is practically useless. Not worth the money.

• There’s no promenade on the promenade deck. All the other boats we’ve been on have had an outside walking track that goes all the way around one of the lower decks. And we’ve really enjoyed doing laps on other cruises. But we didn’t even have the option here. There is a “jogging track”, but it’s at least 1/3 the size of a deck.

• There’s no bar in the front of the ship. All the other ships we’ve been on have had a bar in the front of the ship, on one of the upper decks, with floor to ceiling windows. We’ve always enjoyed hanging out there, because of the view. But this boat didn’t have one.

Not to say we’ve had a bad time. It’s been really fun. There’s just a lot of things that we like about cruising that have been missing.

Hubba Bubba Fun in St. Thomas

Hubba Bubba Fun in St. Thomas Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands US

Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands US

We got up ~ 9 am and looked out the window, but it seemed like we were very far from being in port. We could just barely see the island of St. Thomas in the distance. We started getting ready, and ~ 9:30 am they made an announcement that we were going to be late getting into port because of a strong undercurrent. So we wouldn’t be arriving until 11 am. But we’d get to stay an extra hour and not leave until 7 pm. We were actually glad because our shore excursion left at 11:30 am, so no waiting around beforehand. And that turned out to be a very good thing. We were supposed to be docking in the city of Charlotte Amalie, but where our ship actually docked was very far away from it (in Crown Bay). But at least since we were late we had plenty of time to get breakfast (tried an omelet today, not that great) and then go to the top of the ship to watch us come into port. And I already liked St. Thomas better than Nassau. Nassau had been completely flat, but St. Thomas was very hilly and almost mountainous.

So our excursion for the day was a catamaran sail and snorkel. It was a madhouse trying to leave the boat, since everyone’s earlier excursions had been delayed. And what we didn’t realize about our excursion was that it was a long taxi ride to get to Sapphire Beach where the catamaran was. It was an open air taxi (with a roof, but open sides), and it held about 30 people. There was some bad traffic going over one of the mountains, and it ended up taking us an hour to get to the catamaran. Neither Mom or I were pleased. We were both wishing we’d done a different excursion. But as soon as we were on the boat, all was good. There’s something about catamarans that I love. I spent the whole cruise out on the deck, sitting in the sunshine, getting a few pictures here and there. We were actually headed to the island of St. John, where we would be snorkeling at Honeymoon Beach.

When we got to our snorkeling spot, we actually got to jump off the boat and into the water. I was surprised when the water was kind of cold. And there wasn’t much of a reef to see. There was a big area of sea grass first, where there were supposedly turtles. But we didn’t see any. Then there started being some small reefs. But it was still cool. I hadn’t been snorkeling in a long time, so just seeing the standard sergeant fish was cool. We also saw a black/white/red-spotted parrotfish, which are really cool fish. There were also the biggest black sea urchins I’ve ever seen. And a few purple sea fans waving in the current. When we got to the main part of the reef, we also saw a huge school of yellow fish hiding next to the rocks. Very cool.

Did I mention the water was cold? I was actually freezing, and Mom was getting tired from the snorkeling. So we headed back to the boat. Mom took the direct route, and I took a more leisurely route past the reef we’d already seen. Once I got away from the reef I saw four green parrotfish, and watched them for a while. They’re my favorite fish because they’re fairly big and have a rainbow of colors. Then I saw a huge fish swimming by and realized it was a barracuda! I’d only ever seen them sitting still at the bottom before, so that was really cool. I tried to follow him, but I actually couldn’t keep up! But then I heard someone yelling about turtles, so I quickly went to where they were. And I got there just in time to see a turtle surface and then dive back to the bottom and eat some sea grass. Then there was another turtle that surfaced and dove back down. It was neat to see their heads above the water. I watched them for quite a while, but finally got too cold to stay any longer. So I headed back to the boat.

We got some pictures on the boat and before long we were headed back to St. Thomas and the bar was open! There was champagne and beer, but I went with the standard Caribbean fare of rum punch. It wasn’t very strong, but it tasted good and there were plenty of refills (I ended up having six). There was also bread and cheese to eat. I tried pepper jack cheese for the first time ever, and it was really good!

The cruise back was very fun, standing on deck, sipping rum punch, and just enjoying the sunshine. It felt like we went a lot slower on the way back too, which was good. But I still didn’t want to get off when we got back to the dock. At least the bus ride back wasn’t nearly as bad this time. We went a different way and traffic was fine, so it only took 45 minutes. And we ended up talking to a girl from Vancouver most of the time. It was very fun. I think the rum punch helped with that!

Back at the cruise terminal we didn’t really have time to take a taxi anywhere else, and it was already getting dark. So we stopped in the tourist shops and I found a flag magnet for St. Thomas. Then I noticed a small bar on the dock, and I wanted more rum. So we went and I asked the bartender if he had a recommendation for a good rum drink. And boy did he. It’s probably the best drink I’ve ever had, although the long islands at Joey’s in Bellevue are a close match. He called it a Hubba Bubba because it was supposed to taste like bubble gum. And it had five different kinds of rum – conconut, pineapple, raspberry, vanilla, and banana. Plus a little cranberry juice and sprite. It was so good that I had to get a second one. We had plenty of time.

Oh, I forgot to mention. The awesome thing about St. Thomas is that it’s a US territory (in the Virgin Islands). Which meant our phones were on a US network and there were no roaming charges for data. So I could get on Facebook, download email, and check in places!

By the time we got back on the boat it was ~6:15 pm and we had showers before heading to dinner. It was kind of late and the only table they had open was a big one that we had to share with two other couples. There was one couple from Sacremento, and another mother and daughter from Mississippi. The daughter Emily had actually lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we were headed the next day. So she had lots of great tips. We spent the whole dinner talking about various things. And for the first time the entire trip I liked my whole dinner. I got the local drink of the day, called a painkiller, which was coconut/pineapple flavored and awesome. I had cannelloni for my appetizer and BBQ ribs as my entrée. The ribs were cooked so perfectly that they practically slid off the bone. And we actually got dessert. They had carrot cake! One of my favorites. But the icing wasn’t nearly sweet enough.

By the time we finished dinner we’d done so much talking that it was 9:45 pm. And all the talking had really tired me out. So we just went to bed early (we had another early day in port tomorrow).

Sunshine Fun at Sea

Sunshine Fun at Sea At Sea, Turks and Caicos Isl.

At Sea, Turks and Caicos Isl.

Today was our first day at sea, and we had been up late the night before. So I slept in until 9:30 am. Then we went up to breakfast, and lines at the buffet were again long. I think everyone else slept in too. This morning I decided to brave the lines, because one of my favorite things about cruising is being able to have pancakes and French toast for breakfast every day. However, I was hugely disappointed because there was something seriously wrong with the syrup. It didn’t taste right and it ruined everything. Mom said it was imitation maple syrup.

After breakfast I went up to the lido deck and managed to find an open lounge chair a few rows up from the pool. And then I literally did nothing all day. Just sat in the sun and enjoyed the warmth. Although it was a little cloudy in the morning, but by the afternoon there was just sunshine. It felt awesome!

I wasn’t completely bored, though, I did have some entertainment throughout the day. First they had a mixology competition, where four people got to make their own drinks and then have judges vote which one was best. And they had to name the drinks. The first was “Bananas for Packers” because the lady was a Packers fan and it was just a frozen banana drink. I can’t remember the name of the second, except it was a bartender making it and her description was that it tasted like tequila. And the main judge described it as a punch in the face, which was a good thing. The third contestant was also a bartender and her drink was “trashed Tuesday” or something (because today was Tuesday). It was very fruity, but apparently not strong enough. The fourth contestant was a cop who made “Wasted Wednesday”, because it was so strong that you’d still be drunk the next day (i.e. Wednesday). It was both fruity and punched you in the face, so it won.

Then there was some line dancing for a while, which I was tempted to participate in because I like to dance. But I really didn’t feel like moving. It was entertaining to watch for a while though.

Next on deck was a hairy man competition. Yes, a hairy man competition. This was to determine the hairiest man on the ship. It was quite hilarious to watch. There were about 10 men, and they got to dance/parade down some steps to the pool, taking off their shirts in the process. And then there were three lady judges – one to check out each guy’s butt, one to smell his chest, and one to touch the chest hair. All of the men were amazingly into the dancing. Very funny.

After some more pool tunes for a while, the ship’s resident acoustic guitarist came out to play some songs. And he was quite good. However, it made me start to get very sleepy. So I finally gave up my chair and left. I stopped to get some ice cream for a quick lunch, and then went back to our cabin where mom had been blogging/reading. I spent a little while blogging too, and then we went outside to watch the sunset (which was ~ 5 pm). Mom and I were both disappointed that Carnival doesn’t have a true promenade deck, with an outside walkway that goes all the way around the boat. All of our previous ships had them, and walking laps was one of our favorite things to do. But on the Carnival boat, there were just outside walkways on two sides of the ship. They didn’t connect on either the front or back of the ship. So we just went down to the one where we could see the sun setting from. It was just an okay sunset. There were lots of clouds in the sky, but too many for it to be great.

Our next destination was dinner. It was “elegant night” tonight, meaning we had to dress up to eat in the dining room. So I’d brought a nice pair of black pants with me. But I still felt way underdressed. I think my Mom and I were literally the only women without a dress on. And the dinner was once again disappointing. My appetizer (mushroom soup), and pasta dish were both really good. But for the main course I had prime rib and it wasn’t that great. Didn’t even taste like steak. Mom got the lobster tail and was disappointed too. Said it was very overcooked. And again, none of the desserts were appealing so we went up to the lido buffet again. I had a key lime cake, which had the same problem as the lemon cake (too dry, not enough key lime flavor). I also tried a peanut butter pie, but it was mostly chocolate of the bad variety (dark).

After dinner we actually didn’t feel like doing anything and almost just stayed in our cabin. After the piano bar had been disappointing the night before, we didn’t really feel like going back. But we did make ourselves go to a comedy show. The comedian was Doug Williams, supposedly fairly famous because he’d been on Comedy Central. But I’d never heard of him. He started off really funny, talking about Alaska cruises and black men learning what to do about bears. But then he got very stereotypical and talked about needing to spank kids and take them to church. I didn’t find any of that funny.

When we left the comedy show, the piano bar was right there. And we didn’t feel like going back to the room anymore. So we stopped in. The main bar was actually full, so we got a seat around the outside. Although one of our piano bar friends, Justin, soon asked us to come sit with him. And eventually we got seats at the bar. But it was much, much more fun tonight. And I think it’s because the song selection was just much better. There was another song competition, about movie show themes, and tonight it was men vs women. And Mom and I actually got a few of them. Although the men ended up winning. The other cool thing, was I finally got song requests played – Hang on Sloopy (which was fun to do the Ohio State cheers), and Black Velvet by Alannah Myles. It’s one of my favorite songs from the 80s to sing. But Dave played it way too fast and it was almost unrecognizable. But he actually remembered I’d requested it the night before and he never played it, so that was cool. Later he played “Rainbow Connection” and gave a guy a Kermit muppet to “sing” the words of the song. Very funny. Then he played “Time Warp” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I actually got up and danced. I think I actually remember the words of the dance part:

It’s just a jump to the left
And a slide to the right
You put your hands on your hips
And pull your knees in tight
Then it’s the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane
Let’s do the time warp again

We ended up staying until about 1 am and didn’t really want to leave then, but we were getting into port at 10 am tomorrow and would need to be up before 9 am. So we went back to the cabin to crash.

Atlantis Aqua Fun!!!

Atlantis Aqua Fun!!! Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas

So today we were in port at Nassau in The Bahamas. We arrived at 7 am. And the shore excursion we’d picked was a trip to Atlantis, the biggest resort in the Caribbean. If you know me, you might wonder why I wanted to go to a resort. Well, they also have a very cool waterpark with waterslides. And the excursion was the half-day “Aquaventure”, where we got full access to all the waterpark stuff. So, adrenaline!

For the excursion we were supposed to meet on the boat at 8 am, so we got up at 6:30 am, just in time to see us getting into port. I went out onto our balcony to take some pictures, and it was so humid outside, compared to our highly air-conditioned cabin, that my camera lens fogged up.

We quickly went to breakfast, and there were actually long lines to get food from the breakfast buffet. I was surprised. Every other cruise ship I’ve been on has had enough different buffet stations that you never had to wait long to get anything. But on the carnival ship, there were four different buffets with exactly the same thing. Including long lines. There was a separate place for continental-type breakfast stuff, so I just got a muffin and a banana. I wasn’t that hungry anyway.

We made it to our excursion meeting point just in time, and were soon heading out to take a short bus ride to Atlantis. Then we got a quick tour while we were herded over to the waterpark. We were given beach towels and then had to go get lockers. And there was a long line. Again. But then we were off to have some water-filled fun!

There were several main attractions at the waterpark:

Mayan Temple: a structure that looked like a Mayan temple, except it had four waterslides. These were the slides in the order we did them:

1. The Challenge: a pair of water slides where you could go down as a pair and race each other.

2. The Jungle: a curvy waterslide that was much more fun, although we ended up only doing this one once because the rest of the slides were so awesome.

3. The Serpent: this one was a tube that required inner tubes. They had single and double inner tubes, and we decided to get a double so that we could go down together. The start of the waterslide was in the dark, and that made it really fun. Because you couldn’t tell when it was going to twist and turn. I screamed a few times. Seriously. Then at the end you come out in the middle of a shark tank. Seriously. And you get to slowly move through the shark tank before one last fall to the bottom. We ended up doing this one again right away because it was that fun.

4. The Leap of Faith: This was the tall, steep, fast waterslide. Mom didn’t want to go on it, but I decided I should even though the wait was kinda long. And it was well worth it. I screamed. Loudly. It felt like I was going straight down at first.

Power Tower: this was another big building that was the start of four waterslides. However one was out of order and another I never did because it was temporarily closed by the time I got to it. But the two we did were:

1. The Drop: this was another slide that required an inner tube. And once again it started out in the dark. This time there was a steep drop at the start. And yes, I screamed. Again. There were several scream-inducing twists and turns, and then it actually opened up into the daylight. There were several humps where we went up and then down. Very, very fun. This was our favorite waterslide of them all and ended up going on it 3-4 times.

2. The Falls: another slide requiring an inner tube, this one started out in the daylight with a steep drop. And, you guessed it, I screamed. Then were some twists and turns before it went into the darkness for the final stretch. Very unexpected. But we liked the other one so much better that we never did this one again.

The Current: this was a river where you rode around it in inner tubes. I’ve been on something similar at Cedar Point in Ohio, where you just float around the river. But this one was much different. It was much more than floating. There were rapids! In several places. And there was one large section where a wave machine created large waves. Very, very fun.

So by the time we finished all of that, we didn’t have a lot of time left. There was lots more to explore at Atlantis. There were white-sand beaches, a couple of aquariums, and a casino. We went out to one of the beaches, and actually waded out into the ocean for a little bit. But that’s really all we had time for. We went back to the lockers with about an hour left until the last bus back to the boat. I decided to go do The Serpent waterslide one more time, because it wouldn’t take very long. But then Mom and I miscommunicated somehow about where she was supposed to meet me. And we spent a very anxious 10-15 minutes wondering where the other one was. We finally found each other, but by that point we basically had to rush out of the resort, snapping a few pictures on the way. But we made it to the bus in plenty of time.

We both were really pleased with our choice of shore excursion, but wished we’d had more time there. Unfortunately our boat was leaving port at 2 pm, and so the bus we caught left at 1 pm.

When we got back on the boat, we went up top to watch the sailaway when the boat left the harbor. It’s one of our favorite things to do on cruises.

But after our action-packed day, we were in dire need of some relaxation. So we decided to go to the spa on the boat and schedule some massages. They were having a special on a package deal that included a facial too, so we both did that. We had a little time to wait, so we went and got our bathrobes and hung out in the salon’s sauna for a while.

In retrospect, I kind of wished I hadn’t done the massage/facial. It wasn’t nearly as good as my normal massage therapist. And I’d never had a facial before, but it just felt like having my face slathered with 10 different chemicals/creams. Although I was very relaxed by the end. But I really don’t appreciate them trying to sell you things afterwards. They’d made us fill out a health assessment beforehand. And so my masseuse tried to tell me my headaches are caused by muscle tension in my neck/shoulders. Which is bullsh*t. And then she tried to sell me some gels/oils that would supposedly get the lactic acid out of my muscles that’s causing the tension. Which is also bullsh*t.

After the massage, we went for dinner in the Golden Restaurant. Once again, my appetizer (crab soup) was amazing, but I was disappointed in the entrée (veal parmesan with spaghetti, was good, but not great). And there wasn’t a single dessert I wanted. So we went up to the lido buffet to check out the desserts. I got a lemon cake, which was way too dry and not nearly lemony enough.

Our next stop was the piano bar. We’d had so much fun the night before, that we wanted more. And the night started off well. Shortly into the set a guy walked in that was dressed up in a pink woman’s halter top, tight yellow shorts, and fake dreadlocks. It was some French guy having a bachelor party or something. Dave, the piano player, had him sing “I Feel Like a Natural Woman.” Hilarious. But then the night went downhill after that. The crowd wasn’t nearly as fun, and the songs people were requesting weren’t nearly as fun either. We did have another competition, where we were guessing songs that had a color in the title. We had teams on each side of the bar – Naughty Nancy’s vs. Lee’s Leenard Skynard. But neither mom or I knew many of the songs so it wasn’t very fun. We ended up staying quite a while, because the next day was a day at sea and we didn’t have to get up early. But eventually I got fed up with hearing the same songs and same jokes, so I left to go up to the pool where there was a latin music party. But it was just a bunch of people learning line dances to songs I don’t know. I stayed for a while until Mom came to find me, and we soon headed back to the cabin to go to sleep. It was sometime after midnight.

Moon Over Miami

Moon Over Miami Miami Beach, FL

Miami Beach, FL

I woke up at 8:30 am this morning and still thought it was the middle of the night. But then I peeked and saw that Mom was up and looked at the clock. I figured I should probably get up, even though I really wanted to go back to sleep. Our first port of call on the cruise tomorrow starts at 7 am, so I need to get used to getting up early.

Our room was on the side of the hotel, so we had a view of Miami Beach and of downtown Miami. Very cool. It looked warm and sunny outside, but it was hard to tell in the air conditioning. So we went downstairs to get a quick breakfast and go outside to test the temperature. I wasn’t sure whether to wear shorts. But as soon as we stepped outside it was warm and very humid, so I knew my jeans were coming off. We tried to go out on the beach to eat our breakfast, but it cost money to sit in a chair. So we went back to a poolside bar and asked if we could sit there. The place was deserted, so they let us.

Then we went back up to our rooms and changed into cooler clothes, before heading out to explore the beach. Normally we might have headed straight for the cruise ship, but they’d sent us an email telling us not to show up until 1 pm. Apparently there were new customs procedures for ships returning from Honduras, and that meant it would take people longer to get off our boat. We figured we shouldn’t get there right at 1 pm because everyone else would, so we planned to arrive about 2 pm.

In the meantime, we went walking down Miami Beach. We had thought about hanging out at our hotel pool for a while, but by the time we were ready to leave it was only a half hour until we needed to check out. So we just checked out and left our bags at the hotel. Our hotel was at the very north end of the beach, so we headed south on our walk. I was glad I remembered my sunglasses this time because it was very bright. Unfortunately, I had forgotten what humidity feels like. I hadn’t really felt it since the last cruise I was on in February 2012. I forgot how hot it makes you feel just standing around. And we were walking. So I felt very warm. It almost made me miss the cold at home. Almost. But not really, because it was warm and I didn’t care if I was sweating!

So first we walked down the actual beach, across the sand, because there were no walkways. Just hotels and beach. But a couple hotels down there was a park and then a boardwalk the rest of the way. It was really nice walking on the boardwalk because we had cool views of the beach and the hotels. Farther south on the beach there are wide dunes between the walkways and the beach, so you can’t see anything from them. We passed some really nice hotels. One in particular looked really spectacular, The Fontainbleau. It was interesting comparing the different pools at the hotels. One had a waterslide and rain shower, obviously a great choice for kids. The Days Inn had an awesome bar right next to their pool. And then the really nice hotels had loud booming music at the pools.

We saw a few birds on the walk, there were some big bushes right next to the boardwalk. Mom somehow forgot both her binoculars and her bird book. She thinks it’s because Dad usually packs those when they go on trips. So we saw some boat-tailed grackles, a red-bellied woodpecker, and collared doves. We mostly stayed on the boardwalk, because it was shadier and easier to walk on, but we did go back out on the beach a couple times to see the colorful lifeguard huts. The last time we went out to the beach, we saw a whole group of terns just sitting on the beach, right next to the breaking waves. I don’t think I’d ever seen them that close before, only flying in the air. So we stayed a while so I could take lots of pictures. By that time we’d had enough of beach exploring, so we headed back for the hotel.

At the hotel, we got our bags and then got a taxi to go to the cruise terminal. We arrived almost exactly at 2 pm, just as planned. Unfortunately, there were still a ton of people arriving and there were fairly long lines to check in. First we had to have our passports checked, then go through security, and then actually check in for the cruise. By the time we finally boarded, it had taken almost 1.5 hours. We decided that next time, we should just arrive an hour before departure, because every time we got in a line it was much shorter by the time we got to the end of it.

As we were crossing the gangway to get on the boat, I realized that two years is about the right amount of time between cruises. I was actually excited to get on the boat and have it be home for the next week. And thankfully we could go straight to our room. Which was awesome. We’d gotten a great deal when we booked, and so we got a balcony room for the same price we’ve paid for an ocean view room on previous cruises. Oh, I should probably mention that we were on Carnival (a first for us). And the ship’s name was Glory. My first impression was that the ship’s decoration was much glitzier than other ships I’ve been on. But our room decoration was very standard. Except it was much bigger than usual. We had a very large couch! And the bathroom seemed much bigger too. But I think that was mostly the way it was arranged. The shower just had a curtain, so if you left it open you didn’t feel cramped at all.

Shortly after we got to our room, there was an announcement that the ship safety drill was starting soon. So we just hung out until the sirens sounded for the drill. This is an annoying aspect of cruising. Before we depart, they have to do a safety drill where every single passenger goes to an assigned “muster station” on the deck with the lifeboats. And they show us how to put on life vests. It seemed like it took forever and it was excruciating on our feet, considering how long we’d just been standing in line.

When the drill was over we knew we’d be leaving port soon, and we wanted to be up on deck for that. So we headed for the upper decks where we could be outside and take pictures. We ended up being at the front of the boat the whole time while we left port. The ship was actually facing the wrong way to leave port. And there were two other Carnival boats that left before us. So we got to watch them turn around and then leave past us. And then it was our turn. We had some great views of downtown Miami when we turned around, and then some spectacular views of Miami Beach as we left. It was just at sunset, and an almost full moon had just risen over South Beach. By the time we completely left the port at Miami it was pretty dark out. And I got to see just how amazing my new camera is. It has a 42X zoom, and I took a close up of the moon that is incredible.

After we were finally well away from Miami, we went to get some dinner. We had signed up for anytime dining, which I assumed was in the big dining room at the front of the ship, just like our other cruises. Except that we had no deck plan of the ship, so we only vaguely knew where to go. There were deck plans of each floor at the elevators, and the basics of what was on each floor. So we figured out where we needed to go and took the elevator down to floor 4. Except there was literally nowhere to go. There was a closed door to a restaurant and a stairwell. So we stumbled our way around the ship for a while and finally made it to the forward dining room. Only to discover that it was not the anytime dining. I finally had the bright idea to look at our cruise cards (they give you a card at check in that is your boarding pass & money for any purchases made on the ship). And the card said our dining was on deck 3 in the Golden Restaurant. So we made our way back there, and got to the atrium just as they were doing a tree lighting ceremony (for Christmas). It was actually really cool, so we stayed and watched. They were playing a TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra) song, and had put together a whole light show for the ceremony. Very cool.

When we got to the dining room, we were glad to be a party of two. The family of four ahead of us got a pager, but we got seated right away. The menu was slightly different than our other cruise ships. It only had appetizers and main courses on it. On our other cruises you get the dessert menu up front too, and order everything together. They also had a local favorites section, where they had drinks/dishes from whatever your port of call is. Mom and I both got the appetizer and main course for Miami. The appetizer was a ham croquette and a chicken empanada and both were amazing. They reminded me of the Cuban food we’d had in Miami before. The main course was mahi mahi, with a pineapple rice dish. It was very good too. For dessert I had the chocolate melting cake, which is a signature dessert that Carnival has. But I didn’t like it. They failed to mention that it was dark chocolate, and I don’t like dark chocolate.

After dinner we headed back to the room to figure out what shore excursion we were doing the next day in the Bahamas. They had a cool feature where you could order the shore excursions on the TV, however it wouldn’t accept our cruise ID numbers. So we had to go down to the shore excursion desk in the lobby to book it. We also stopped at guest services to get a deck plan of the ship. Much better!

We spent the rest of the night in the Cinn-a-bar, the piano bar of the ship. And it was the coolest piano bar I’ve ever seen. It was all colored in red, and there was a circular bar surrounding the piano, with piano keys on it! Not playable ones, but still very cool. And the piano player, Dave, was really good. We had a great time. It’s really a sing-along piano bar, and people were requesting fun songs. Plus, Dave was really funny. When he played Piano Man (by Billy Joel), he had a girl come up to hold the harmonica for him when he needed it. He told her he’d nod when he was ready for the harmonica. But on purpose he would wait until the last minute and just blow into the microphone.

We finally left about 11 pm, even though we didn’t want to, because we were getting into port the next day at 7 am and had to be up early. We were in bed shortly after that. It had been a long day.

In retrospect, we wished we had gotten on the cruise ship a lot earlier. Everything felt so rushed, from the minute we got on the ship. We never had time to just relax and explore, to orient ourselves and know where everything was. However, it was also really nice to have some time this morning in Miami to just walk on the beach and enjoy the warm weather.

Hello Warmth & Sunshine!

Hello Warmth & Sunshine! Miami Beach, FL

Miami Beach, FL

Not much to report today, just flew to Miami. But I had to get up before 5 am and I forgot how much I don’t like getting up that early. It made me very sleepy all day. At least I had my new laptop with me and could watch DVD’s on the planes, although even then I had to take a few breaks to rest my eyes for a while. Not actually sleep, I can never do that on planes.

I had a connection through Chicago, and I had been worried because there was snow in the forecast for the Midwest. But the flight to Chicago was on time. It was, however, freezing there. The captain told us it was 30 degrees. The whole airport felt icy cold to me. Of course, I’d only taken a fleece jacket because I knew I wouldn’t need more on the cruise.

During my layover I got some McDonald’s for lunch, and found a nice deserted window to sit by, so that I could watch the snow. It was actually snowing there! Some big fluffy flakes for a while. I don’t get a chance to see that very often. Not sure I saw it at all last year in Seattle, I know we didn’t have any that stuck.

After I finished lunch I managed to find a seat with a power outlet. So I recharged my phone and laptop, and watched more DVD’s until it was time to board my flight. I got to the gate just at the right time, except they were announcing my flight was delayed because the inbound aircraft was late. We ended up boarding 30 minutes late, and then it took forever to leave the gate because they had to de-ice the plane. Then as soon as the plane pushed back, we just sat there for a long time. We finally started moving forward, but then stopped again. And just sat. The pilot finally announced that the airport had decided to switch the direction of their runways just after we had pushed back, and we were waiting for them to plow the new runways. By the time we finally left we were 1.5 hours late (5:45 pm instead of 4:15 pm).

On the flight to Miami I watched some more DVD’s, but was getting sleepy again. So I worked on blogging. From my last trip. Yes, I still haven’t finished the blog from my trip to Vegas and Joshua Tree yet. It’s literally been two weeks since I got back. I’ve never travelled that close together before and it felt really weird. And it made me really hate the flying part. I just wanted it to be over.

I finally got into Miami at 9:40 pm (was supposed to be 8:15 pm). And as soon as I left the airplane I could tell that it was warm outside! I was very happy to be away from snow and cold. My mom was supposed to get in at 8:30 pm, so I assumed she’d already been waiting in baggage claim for a while. But when I called her, she was just getting to my baggage carousel. Her flight had been delayed a half hour, and we were flying different airlines. So she had to walk a really long way to get to my baggage carousel. When I got there, our luggage started coming out quickly. But then the carousel stopped. Twice. And it took forever to start going again. I was so tired of travelling/waiting that I couldn’t stand it. But finally my bag came, and we went to get a taxi to Miami.

We were staying on South Beach, at the Miami Beach Hotel Resort. I’d gotten a really good deal on Expedia when it was on sale for 50% off, and it was right on the beach. Unfortunately it was 10:30 pm by the time we got there. The lobby was spectacular compared to the places I normally stay at. And there were tons of porters at the front door, who were enthusiastically telling us, “welcome back.” But we had to so, “no, welcome!” It was funny. And they carried our bags right inside for us. Which was good because there were stairs. We quickly checked in and then quickly went to the restaurant for some food. I’d had nothing since lunch, and it was my past my normal dinnertime. Mom hadn’t eaten any dinner either. But we weren’t incredibly hungry, so we just got some sweet potato fries to share, and a dessert. I got the pumpkin bread French toast and it was amazing.

Our room was pretty nice, with the most closet space I think I’ve ever seen in a hotel. And the bathroom was decorated in a cool art deco style. Mom went straight to bed, but I wasn’t that tired yet (because of the time change). So I stayed up a while and got a blog posted before finally turning in.