Cruisin the Carnival Way

All 13 of us after a delicious meal.  Our waiter/waitress staff even danced during each meal.  It was such a fun environment.  Some waiters even danced on the tables...woohoo!

Vladimir from Serbia, Miss Ava, Sarah, Hannah and Tina from Indonesia.  They provided wonderful service in the Normandie Dining Room.  The food was absolutely amazing.  Everything was delicious.  We were told the average person gains 1-2 pounds per day on a cruise.  I can see how it happens! 

We were blessed to be able to get away from this long winter by taking a Carnival Cruise from February 6 to February 13.  Thirteen of us boarded the ship from the Baltimore Port.  I've never been on a cruise before, but this was a wonderful experience.  We took this cruise as a way to make family memories, to enjoy each other before our family dynamic changes (Sarah will be graduating and heading off to college).  Add to the fact that life can be uncertain and we're never promised tomorrow, we thought we would take advantage of this opportunity. 


We had some fun days cruising at sea and made stops in Cocoa Beach, FL; Nassau, Bahamas; and Freeport, Bahamas.  As usual, I took many, many photos, but will post a portion of them here.  I was impressed with the human experience on the ship.  Carnival employs many wonderful people and we were fortunate to get to know quite a few of them.  Many of these people work on the ship for 8 months and go home for 2 months and send the money home to their families.  I can't imagine the sacrfice they make...and you will never hear them complain.  Some of them were doctors or nurses in their home country but can provide a better living by working on the ship as waiters, waitresses, etc.  I had a sense of guilt during the trip, knowing these people work 10 hours days, 7 days a weeks for months on end, just so we can have a great vacation.  I also suspect that the cruise line doesn't pay much by our standards.  I wanted to take them all home with me.  We truly are one of the richest countries in the world.

After our jet ski ride:  Ned, Denise, Mel and Sarah.  What a gorgeous way to see the waters of Nassau and the shore line.  I think we saw Oprah's house....seriously!  We have lots of video of our ride.  We had lots of fun laughing and catching air:)  We also took a banana boat ride and almost fell off the boat because we were laughing so hard.  Poor Steve actually did fall to the center of the boat with Ava.  It felt so good to laugh.  Our taxi ride to this beach was hysterical.  Our taxi/passenger van driver, Clint, was so nice.  He was playing your typical Reggae music but right in the middle of it Star Wars sounds would be interjected and then we'd hear a ship horn.  It was hysterical!  Guess it was one of those things where you had to be there.  If anyone is traveling to Nassau, we have Clint's business card.  He's an honest guy and will take you where you need to go!

Nice coconuts, Ned:)

Ned and Denise on formal night



Our first formal night.



Nassau, Bahamas



Coming into Nassau, Bahamas



Hannah getting her hair braided on Cabbage Beach, Bahamas

I wanted to share more photos here, but it takes FOREVER to upload them...so here is a link to my facebook photo album.  These aren't all the photos I took, but you get the idea.  I was so blessed to spend this time with my family, making memories that will carry us through the hard days and make us smile.  Speaking of a memory that makes me smile, Toby and I won a trophy for singing "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" in Karaoke.  Nobody would come up and do the song so I grabbed Toby and we did it!  It was really bad...we "bombed" it, truly we did.  I only remembered the chorus and he had never heard it!  But we had fun and it's something we'll always remember.  We are sharing our trophy.  I get to keep it until Thanksgiving and then I'll pass it to Toby. 



http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113800&id=1216998524&l=7a56bddbb0

 

 

One thing I forgot about until now was the first night on the ship.  I was missing Mary and went to sleep thinking of her.  When she was in the hospital, Mary got the hiccups a couple of times a day.  I remember joking with her about those awful hiccups and she would do her best to smile.  In my dream I was telling her I needed to hear from her in some way to let me know she made it safely to heaven.  Now I knew she did, but my human side needed confirmation.  I actually started to hiccup in my sleep at that moment and it woke me up.  I remember actually standing up in the room to make sure I wasn't dreaming that part.  I'll take that as a sign that my Mary made it safely "home."