Day Two, Nassau, Bahamas PICTURES ADDED

I've let way too much time pass since our cruise ended, and sadly I'm sure some of my memories are not as fresh and clear as they would've been had I written these notes much sooner. Regardless, here I am now, retelling our adventure in the Bahamas.

We awoke early to the sound of room service knocking on our door with our breakfast which was devoured on our balcony as the ship pulled into port. It was not the best of breakfasts as Carnival doesn't offer anything hot on their breakfast room service menu, but we made do with some fruit, pastries, and of course the hot tea and coffee. I could've been eating cat food and not cared that much as the novelty of eating on our very own balcony as we neared Nassau was just too remarkable to sour. It was a great moment. If we'd had any doubts about whether the price for a balcony cabin was "worth it" they quickly faded. Having the balcony was definitely the way to go!



Our ship was to dock at 7am and it was my goal to have us off the ship ASAP, and that I did! As we exited there was not one other soul on the street ahead of us. As we left the port area and walked through the gates that opened to the city of Nassau, again, there were no other cruise passengers in front of us. I'm pretty darn sure by all of this that we were the first people off the ship that day. Not sure if that speaks to my compulsive over-planning or not, you be the judge.

Anyway, we arranged a cab to take us across the bridge to Paradise Island, where we'd ferry to Blue Lagoon Island for our dolphin swim. This was a special treat for Morgan, our future dolphin trainer/marine biologist. I thought this might make a strong impression on her and if it helped confirm her career path wishes then all the better. If not, we'd have terrific memories. And that we did!

The ferry ride to the island lasted about half an hour each way, taking us by some gorgeous mansions on the waterfront. The water was as clear and tourquiose as any postcard you'd fine would depict. The only sad point was that we never saw any wild dolphins, try as we might.

When we got to Dolphin Encounters James and I split up with the girls. I took Morgan to the "swim" area while he took Bethany to the "encounter" area. We had chosen not to have Bethany do the swim as she often gets very shy in new enviornments and will not interact with humans, let alone big animals. She did the exact thing here, even with just sitting on the side of the dolphin encounter exhibit. She clung to James and cried, hardly looking at the dolphin, nevermind even touching it. We could've gotten by with only paying $20 for her to be an "observer" had we known she'd react this way. Instead we'd paid over $100 for her to be able to touch and be close to the dolphin and that proved a waste of money.



All the while this drama was going on with James and Bethy, Morgan and I were in our area swimming with the creatures, holding onto them, getting and giving kisses, and finally having a swim moment for each of us where the dolphin pushed us by our feet through the water! It was exhilarating and awesome! We purchased the dvd of our interaction and some photos so we have some footage to help us remember the day.



We were back onboard the ship around noon, had some lunch, then relaxed for a while at the pool. We made it a priority to try out the water slide but it wasn't as much fun as we thought it would be due to the incredibily hot board floor on the Lido Deck. In order to walk up to the entrance to the slide we had to cross the very, very hot boards which burned the bottoms of our feet and discouraged us from doing it more than a couple times. It was fun the two times we did it, though, except for the rush of saltwater up your nose at the finish.



Dinner that night was the first of two formal nights and we all four dressed up nice and spiffy. James looked quite dashing in his uniform and the girls looked like the precious young ladies they are. I was so proud to be walking around with my three most favorite people in the world. I must have been beaming all night long!





We posed for a couple photos which we ended up buying to have as momentos of that great night.



The show that night was filled with dancers and costumes and singing. You know Bethany was lovin' it! She admired the dancers so much and wished that she could dance like that some day. It was a very well done show with top quality entertainment. We loved it all!

Our night ended with us going to sleep again to the sounds of the seas. Delightful!

Cruising....it's addictive! NOW WITH PICTURES

It may not be for everyone, and it may not be the type of vacation some would want to take over and over again. But for our family this was a fantastic vacation, one we could definitely repeat time and again.

Our Sunday morning began waking early enough at the hotel to fit in a workout prior to getting ready to head to the port. First James went for a run in the downtown Miami streets (YIKES!). When he returned to the hotel room I headed downstairs to the fitness center and got in a good sweat, all the while telling myself that in just a few more hours I'd be on a cruise ship where I would be facing all kinds of yummy goodies every which way I looked. Best try to keep in shape as much as I can to help avoid the pounds that seem to find their way onto most people's shapes while cruising.

Anyway, after getting ready at the hotel, and happy-dancin' a little bit about going on a cruise, we took off for the port of Miami, just a short 10 minute drive from our hotel. In port we saw OUR ship parked between two others, the massive Royal Carribean Freedom of the Seas and another Carnival ship, the Triumph. We parked our van in the parking garage, loaded our luggage onto the shuttle bus, and made our way through the crowds of people exiting the ship. Finally we found the inside of the terminal, had our bags scanned, and entered the line of people waiting to check-in. It wasn't a long line at all, mostly because we had chosen to arrive pretty early, about 11am. The cruise lines advise you to arrive around 1 or 2 but it is common knowledge among the cruise message boards I frequent that the ships begin checking people in around 11 and begin boarding very shortly after that. If you arrive at the terminal about the time we did you will likely be on the ship by noon and able to start your week long gorge-fest with a lunch time meal right after embarkation. And that proved true for us this time as was the case the last time we cruised in 2004.

We were on the Valor by noon, carry-on bags and kids in tow. Morgan's first impression of the ship had her jaw nearly touching the floor. She was astounded by the size and beauty of the ship and so completely grateful for the opportunity to cruise! We're certainly lucky to have a daughter who shows her gratitude and counts her blessings.


Our cabin was not ready for us yet, so we took our carry-ons with us as we made our way to the buffet area for lunch. I don't recall what any of us ate at the meal, or much about any of our buffet meals at any time during the cruise, but I do recall where we sat. The area we sat during that first meal came to be "our area," that which we found ourselves going back to most every meal in the buffet for the duration of the trip. James and I seemed to pair off with the girls, he taking one while I took the other, loading their plates, and having an understanding that we'd meet back at "our area" when the food for the assigned child had been gathered. It worked out reasonably well. Not as easy as eating in the dining room where we were waited on hand and foot, but for a buffet meal when we needed one (breakfasts and lunches) our system worked.


Moving on, when our cabin was finally ready about 1:30pm we made our way there and relished what would be our "home" for the next week. On our previous cruise James and I had booked an ocean view room, one with just a window to look out. This time we decided we wanted a balcony room to have the extra space and the view and fresh air. It was a fantastic choice! This room was perfect for us, although with children you can never have too much space, but we made do. The girls loved the balcony and abided by our ground rules all week long, remembering the safety briefings Mom and Dad had given them. Probably didn't hurt that we told them the balcony door had an alarm attached to it that would sound if they were to open the door without their parents' knowledge. Hee hee hee!!!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the ship, trying to get our bearings, marveling at the beauty, and thanking God that we were together as a family again embarking on such a great journey together.

Around 4:30pm or so the muster drill signal told us it was time to don our neon orange vests and proceed to our assigned station.

After standing there forever, crammed into the space like sardines, and hearing the lady behind me say, "I think I'm gonna pass out!", we saw the horizon starting to change. Morgan noticed it first telling us she thought the ship was now moving. Yes indeed it was! We were sailing away! It irks me to no end that Carnival sometimes does this. Why not wait until the muster drill is over so people can put away their life jackets and then make their way to the decks to enjoy sail away? What harm is there in waiting an additional five or ten minutes to depart? Regardless, we were on our way. As soon as we were released from our lifeboat stations we put the vests back in our cabin and made our way to higher ground to watch Miami growing smaller in the distance.


While sailing away we met a family from Ohio who told us they would be on the same dolphin swim excursion as us the next day, and they had a daughter somewhat close to Bethy's size. We'd hoped Bethy would make friends with her but after having swum in the ships' salt water pools earlier that day and the bright sunshine beating down on us during sail-away, Bethy's eyes were beet red and burning, so she was a little anti-social. We would see this family many times throughout the week and they always appeared to be having a ball!



It was time to get ready for dinner in the dining room, something we'd tried to prepare the kids for. They were excited to dress up and were on their best behavior. Again, I don't recall what we ate that first night but I do recall that our first impression was not terrific. Our waiter confused our order a couple times. I'm not sure if it was a communication issue due to him not understanding us well, or if he was overworked, or what. This was the only night we encountered errors in our meals, but the entire week we were a little bit dismayed at how our service (and the other tables of our server) was taking two hours or more when other tables around us handled by different servers were finishing their dessert before we'd even received our entrees. We didn't complain to the Maitre 'd about it, though, and just let it be. Our waiter did seem to be working very hard and we wouldn't want him to get in trouble for doing his best. Harris was very polite and it was a pleasure to meet him. We found nothing else negative to say about our dining experience so why not let the small stuff go, right?

After dinner we took the kids to their Camp Carnival meet-n-greet party. They danced in the club, sometimes dragging us out there with them and sometimes not. Bethy made a friend while dancing, someone she would hang out in the camp with over the next week. Morgan seemed to have a great time, too, and ended up making a couple friends with whom she exchanged addresses with on our final day.

Soon we retired to bed and enjoyed the wonder of being on such a massive ship, in the middle of the ocean, and going to sleep to the sound of the water rushing by outside. We had a big day to look forward to tomorrow, in Nassau, Bahamas, and we needed our energy for that.

Our Trip, Days 1-3, Tampa and Busch Gardens

Let the vacation begin...

Our vacation journey first led us to Tampa where we enjoyed a day at Busch Gardens compliments of Anheiser-Busch. We take advantage of their free military offer every year, usually going to Sea World. However, to break up the monotony we decided to visit the Gardens instead.

Upon arriving in Tampa we checked into our hotel, got settled, and had hoped to visit the pool but the story weather outside interfered with our plans. Instead of swimming we went to the local (ghetto) Wal-Mart for some items we'd forgotten to get prior to leaving home. We also grabbed some frozen, microwavable dinners to eat that night.

The rain never let up so our evening was spent in the hotel room, lounging around, and finding Mr. Been's Holiday Vacation on TV. I promise you, I have never seen a dumber movie than that one. I apologize if any of you love this film, but I couldn't stand it one single bit. It was as stupid as stupid can be.

The next morning we shuttled ourselves over to Busch Gardens and found the first ride of the day for our amusement park loving selves. James and Morgan rode a wooden roller coaster twice while I took Bethany to a tamer ride made for her age group. Then Morgan found me and asked if I'd like to ride the coaster with her. I oblighed while James stayed with Beth on the kid stuff.


I was quickly reminded that I don't like roller coasters when just a few seconds into this ride it stole my hat! Yep, it surely did! My blue ball cap was seized by the Gwazi gods to meet the same fate that James's Bubba Gump ball cap met a couple years ago by the Disney Splash Mountain gnomes.

So what does a girl with very thinning hair in the bright Florida sun do? Well, first she checks out the nearest souvenier stand for suitable replacement hats but finds that spending over $20 on a ballcap that she doesn't even really like won't do. Then she asks her dear hubby if he'd allow her to wear his for the day as he doesn't really have to worry about hat hair, thanks to the ever present flattop military cut he sports. Good and decent fellow that he is, he surrenders his hat to his bride and goes without for the whole day. Big time points scored on that one!

The rest of the day had us riding this and that, seeking shelter during this rainstorm and that, looking at this critter and that, and James drinking a little of this free beer and then that. It was a good family fun day.



After shuttling back to the hotel we went right next door to McAlister's Deli for a quick bite to eat before turning in for the night. We really enjoyed our quick meal and don't know why we've never tried this restaurant before as we do have one in our town. We'll definitely have to hit them up again sometime as they hit the spot for quick sandwiches.

The next morning was bright and sunny so we finally let the girls swim in the hotel pool for a little while before hitting the road for Miami. It was a great energy release for them before the upcoming 5 hour drive. The drive wasn't bad except for the heebie-jeebies I had the entire stretch of Alligator Alley, of which one alligator was spotted by none other than yours truly, the reptile-o-phobe that I am!

Finally, I'll end this post tonight with a picture of Bethany beside a statue of a Clydesdale at Busch Gardens in honor of the truly American beer company that will soon be no more. May they rest in Dutch peace....