Crusin'

This past weekend Brian and I along with Kim and Nick Campbell, Jill and Davis King, Maggie and David Griffin, and Lauren and Ryals went on a cruise. It was fantastic. We have been planning this trip since January, booking it in March, so needless to say we were extremely excited it was finally here. But with this group, it doesn't matter what you do, you are going to have a blast.

Here was our little itinerary, The Carnival Fascination :

SATURDAY: Jacksonville, FL
SUNDAY: Fun Day at Sea
MONDAY: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
TUESDAY: Nassau, Bahamas
WEDNESDAY: Fun Day at Sea
THURSDAY: Jacksonville, FL

When we finally loaded the boat at about 1:30/2:00 on Saturday we literally ran to the Coconut Grill Buffet! They had to kick us out or we might have stayed straight until dinner. After a brief overview and safety training, we hit up the pool and the water slides.




We had a dinner sitting each night at 8:15 in the Serenity Dining Room. Our servers, Eric and Wilson, were awesome! And the Maitre d' Desi loved us. Each night she brought us cheese and fruit! She knows how to get to this group's heart. Of course she did not bring any one else the special cheese and fruit plates ;-) After dinner the first night we hit up Bingo and the comedy show. However, it had been a long day so I may or may not had fallen sleep watching.


Our room was comfortably laid in the middle of the boat- no windows. But we gladly welcomed the complete darkness and it was amazing. You could sleep the whole day away and not even know the sun had come up. After breakfast we all meet up at "our spot" at the back of the boat. There was more of a breeze here near the water slides- move over kids. We all spent the Fun Day @ Sea here. Finally sunshine! I was craving it and could not get enough. We all read books, napped, raced down the water slides, and had yummy frozen drinks with cute little umbrellas.





Sunday night was the formal night on the boat. We got ready and meet up at the Sushi bar for a little pre-dinner app and people watching. We discovered you can do the best people watching on a cruise ship. Some ladies pulled out their most glitzy gowns with trains and elbow-high gloves while some of the men wore full tuxedos and multicolor suits. After a few good laughs we meet our good friends Eric and Wilson at dinner. They are so good to us. On the agenda after dinner was to hit dance floor at the club "Diamonds are Forever." We were just getting warmed up to the 80's Top Hits when the DJ switched gears to Rap.





Monday was our day at Half Moon Cay, a private island for Carnival ships. We had activities such as snorkeling, horse back riding (Lauren really wanted to do this), parasailing, renting private gazebos, among others to choose from. But our group just hit up the lounge chairs and played in the water. The guys did play beach volleyball but it was super hot so they decided covering themselves in sand would help cool them off and help prevent them from getting too much sun. Creative I do say. The water was super clear and I actually got in believe it or not. I am not normally a 'get in the ocean' type of girl but with waters this clear and refreshing I could not resist.





White Party! We all decided to wear white on Monday night. This idea all derived from Kim's suggestion/strong begging to all dress up in 80's attire one night during the trip. Maggie, the smart logical thinker of our group, warned us that packing 80's attire would likely take up valuable space in our limited luggage. Thank you Maggie ;-) We were too cute in all our white. Cheesy background cruise pictures were definitely taken this night. How could we resist. We chose the beach backdrop with the sea turtle and sand dollar props. Hillarious!! It was rare for any of us to be able to keep a straight serious face with the poses the photographer placed us in. After our yummy dinner and Lauren dancing with our server Eric, we hit up karaoke where some of us willingly and others unwilling sang a few songs. We might not have been the best to perform that evening, but we were not the worst either. Kim, Lauren, Jill and I sang Celine Dion "Because You Loved Me" while Ryals, Nick, and Brian sang Marvin Gay "Sexual Healing." This was a big hit, especially to one rather large female who proceeded to join the boys and dance with Nick.






Tuesday was the best day. We docked in Nassau that morning and was off the boat by 9:00am to get shuttled to Atlantis to enjoy a full day at the Water Park. It was amazing! Jill/Davis, Kim/Nick, Maggie/Dave had the adventure of swimming and playing with the dolphins. While Lauren, Ryals and Brain and I decided to just spend our time racing down slide ofter slide. There wasn't one that we skipped. The Lazy/Not-so-Lazy River around the whole park was awesome too. It had rapids and waves along with several different paths. After the park closed we did our best at freshening-up (after hours of being in the water, this is kind of difficult) and spent a few hours at Atlantis walking around and checking out the casino. You could seriously spend hours there and not see everything it has to offer.






Wednesday was another Fun Day @ Sea. We tried doing everything we had not had a chance to do yet. Kim and Nick hit up the miniture golf. Brian and I visited the gym. Running on a treadmill staring at the open waters on a slightly swaying boat is a strange feeling. And of course everyone enjoyed the boat slides one last time.

The last night at dinner we were sad it was all ending. We toasted to a get trip, ate entirely too much food, again, celebrated Jill's birthday and said our good-byes to the wonderful staff we had befriended this week. Brian even joined Eric for another dance off.






The trip was wonderful but the company of some of our bestest friends was by far the best part. Love you all.