Kelley and I returned from our cruise on Monday of this week. We had a great time !!!
The ship was awesome ... the service impeccable ... the accomodations were great ... the water ... well it was ROUGH !!!!!!
Somehow, a hurricane manages to pop up somewhere everytime I go to the beach. This time was no different. Hurricane Ida was raging in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, the winds the hurricane generated affected the weather on the other side of Florida in the Atlantic ocean. Thankfully, there were no storms, but the waters were very rough. The ship was rocking !!! The stabilizers were out, and thankfully blocked about 80% of the rocking, and we were still having trouble walking straight. On Sunday night, the cruise director cancelled the stage show because of the severity of the movements.
Other than the boat a rockin', we had fun. Let's see ... what adventures can I tell ????
We got up at 3 am on Thursday morning. We flew from Little Rock to Atlanta, then on to Jacksonville, FL. We boarded the shuttle bus and went straight to the ship terminal. We checked in and boarded. We got on the boat about 1 pm. Since we were starving, we ate lunch on the Lido Deck.
At 3:30 pm, we had a lifeboat drill. We had to find our muster station and put on life jackets.
After that, we explored the boat. We found our rooms ... which were on the bottom passenger deck, at the opposite end of the hall from the ship lobby.
We sat on the deck for the most part of the afternoon and enjoyed the sunshine and the view.
I ate too much, and had to find a bathroom to puke. I headed into the unisex wheelchair bathroom, since it was the first I came to. I thought I had the door locked ... and all of a sudden, in bops a man. He said, "Sorry, not trying to be vulgar, or offensive, but I've gotta pee." He proceded to use the bathroom. I was in shock a bit, and politely excused myself, continuing my search for a bathroom ...with a door that locked securely. Kelley and I had a good laugh over that one.
Dinner was late seating, so we ate at 8:15 in the Sensation dining room. Our table partners were nice. One of the ladies was sea sick, so she went back to her room. The other lady wasn't very talkative.
After dinner, we were zonked, so we went back to the room and went to bed. The room steward had turned back our beds, placed chocolates on the pillows, and made us a cute little walrus out of towels. We crashed. By 10 pm, we were sleeping.
On Friday morning, we got up about 9 and ate breakfast. It was pretty good...buffet type.
The ship docked in Freeport about noon. We headed out to the "Our Lucaya Beach Resort" and Port Lucaya Marketplace. The beach was fabulous. As soon as we got there, locals started asking if they could give us braids. The shopping was just so-so. Lots of straw vendors. They were offended if you didn't come in and look at their stuff. Everyone had just about the same things. We at lunch at a place that served Conch fritters ... they were pretty good.
We got back to the ship about 5 pm, and took a rest. It was formal night for dining, so we got all dressed up, fixed our hair and make-up, and headed down for pictures. After dinner, we went to our cabins, put on comfy clothes and headed to Karoke. It was hilarious watching the folks who where drinking performing Karoke. Some of the folks were really good, but most, couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.
After Karoke, we caught the end of the show in the Palace lounge. They did some 80's music, singing and dancing. It was great. After that .. it was beddy-bye. We had a towel elephant waiting on us that night.
Saturday ... well, we set our alarms for 7 am, so we could get to breakfast before our excursion. It was overcast, and windy. We had omelets for breakfast ... they were wonderful !!
We went down to head out for our excursion ... and realized that we were early. Dumb me, I thought it was only about an hour early. We walked around the dock area and went back to the boarding area. The excursion director kept looking at us like we were crazy. Come to find out, our excursion didn't leave until 10:30 ... we were 2 hours early. OOPS. We had fun watching the people.
Our excursion in Nassau was supposed to be a beach day at the Atlantis Resort. We had access to the aquariums, beach, restaurants, casino, and shopping. When it was finally time to check in for the excursion, the rep from Atlantis told us the beach had been closed due to high winds and dangerous swimming conditions. We could get a refund, or we could go and use the man-made lagoon beach at the resort. We chose to go to the resort. It was fantastic. Unfortunately, it was COLD. We spent a couple hours at the water, and went thru one of the aquariums. We decided to go inside and do a little shopping. Unfortunately, when the guide said it was HIGH end shopping, that is what he meant. There were shops for major designers, like Gucci, Prada, and Versace. We touched a $3600 Gucci purse.
We decided to head back to the Nassau shopping district. We had fun there. But once again, the shops were expensive. I did find a tanzanite ring ... and of course had to buy it. On the ship, the night before, I tried on a gorgeous tanzanite ring. It was ONLY $12,000. Couldn't wait to slip that one off my finger. We spent the rest of the afternoon browsing in Nassau.
We headed back to the ship about 5 pm.
For dinner that night, we did the buffet line. After dinner, we went to watch some more Karoke, then we went to the Show at the Palace Theater. It was a juggler and a comedian. They were pretty good. After the show, we headed to bed.
Sunday was a day at sea. We were lucky enough to get 2 tickets on the "behind the fun" tour. A young lady, from India, named Archina, "Archi" for short, was our guide. We met her one morning at the coffee shop on the promenade deck. She was very nice, and recognized us immediately. We got to see the laundry facilities, the automatic towel folders, the galley, the crew dining area, the ice cream freezer, the meat freezers, the liquor storage facility, the receiving area, the crew relaxation area, and the bridge. It was a lot of walking, and a lot of stairs, but we really enjoyed the tour.
We grabbed a quick lunch, and I headed up to the spa for my hot stone massage. It was GREAT.
Kelley spent a couple of hours on the deck in the sun. We watched the "Newlywed Game" it was hilarious.
The water was pretty rough. Kelley got sick and had to go back to the room. I went to Karoke and listened for a while. The dance show was cancelled. So I went to bed.
Somewhere in the weekend, we got stuck in a glass elevator.
Hmm... that's about all that happened. Monday morning, we were back in Jacksonville. We went thru customs, boarded the shuttle bus and checked in at the airport. We ate at Chili's in the airport. We flew from Jacksonville, to Atlanta, to Little Rock. We got home about 4 pm.
Kelley and I were both exhausted. She actually came down with Bronchitis. I was just tired. Both of us spent Tuesday resting. I slept most of the day myself.
I went back to work today.
As for the cruise, we had a great time. We decided that a 4 day was plenty long. We realized that there were people on the ship that looked much worse than we did. We learned that it doesn't matter your size, there is a bikini that is made in that size.
We also realized that if you like to drink alcohol and party ... a cruise is the perfect vacation. If you like to watch drunk folks make fools of themselves ... it's pretty fun too.
For pictures ... see the link in the previous posting.
