Cruise: Day 4 - Part 1

Since I have so many pictures from our time in Nassau, I've decided to break it up into two posts. The first will be day time on the island and the next will be from that night on the boat.

The day started out kind of ho-hum. Except for breakfast, that of course was fine. =) The excursions we planned to do were sold out (live and learn) and we weren't sure what we were going to do for the day. We knew there was some shopping to be done and we were determined to find a beach.


When we first got off the boat we were in tourist trap city. Everywhere we turned there was someone trying to taxi us off to God knows where and braid our hair on the way. Once we made it through the mob we checked out part of the town (though I'm sure we missed tons) and went in and out of some fun shops. Then, a nice lady told us about the free beach about a mile away. Score. We made our way down there and hung out for a while (since val and I had been dummies and left our beach towels and stuff back on the boat).


Here's me sportin' a "Ryan shirt" (my cousin who passed away last year). Once we determined we would in fact stay on the beach, she, Dac, and I took the trek back, grabbed some lunch on the Lido deck, and headed back to get our beach bum on.
First, we got in the freezing cold, pretty blue ocean. There was lots of sea weed and rocks where we were so it hurt (and scared) my feet. =) But it was still fun!! I didn't run into any sting rays, barracudas, sharks, eels, or sea urchins so it was a successful swim in my opinion.


Then, I stretched out my beach towel and sunned until my legs were a bit burnt. Oops. =| Dac and I took a break to get a Coke and we sat on this log in the shade a ways back from our beach spot. While we were there... this guy came over, said hi, then proceeded to sell drugs to a couple teenage-looking guys. Just like that. Huh. There were cops all over the beach... some in uniform, some not. One guy was hiding behind the pier with binoculars. Not sure what was going on, but they were looking for someone to screw up. Anyway, it was kind of interesting. I didn't let it keep me from my nap though. You wanna know what did keep me from napping though? The high school kids next to us being completely trashed. There was a liquor store up the road and of course it's 18 to drink there, and I'm sure at least one of the hoodlums was 18. He kept coming back with bottles of Captain or something. Still, beach day was a blast.

Here's me posing with something... my Envirosax in tow.


We started heading back and stopped at Senor Frogs. It was fun but the food wasn't really excellent but extremely overpriced, and it was like Spring Break Girls Gone Wild in there. =)



The Gaucomole Boy came around to make Val's dip. It was good.
Our dinner guest.
On the way back to the boat we stopped at a few of the stores again and I got a Hard Rock t-shirt. Then, we got back on the boat... which I'll talk about later. =)

Dinner Date

Please excuse this temporary interruption of our previously scheduled cruise programing. =)

You may remember from this post that my good friend Erika had us over for dinner a few weeks ago. We had such a good time. It was so nice to take a little break from life and visit with friends that the fabulous meal Erika made was just icing on the cake. =) It got me to thinking... having people over for dinner is fun... fairly simple to do... and for crying out loud... why don't we do this more often?!?!

I love to cook and hang out with people so you would think this is a no brainer... and it should be... but I just don't make it happen like I should. We have Wii night and take turns cooking... and I love those get-togethers... but those aside... we really don't have people over. Like ever. I guess I think "we're too busy", "I haven't had a chance to clean the house", "the house is a total construction zone and nothing like what I want people to see our home as", "what if they don't like what I make?", etc...

When I showed up to Erika's she said "I was going to change into something cute but then I thought about it, and realized, it's just Alisha, I can wear a t-shirt!" Exactly. I love it. She's right. Friends don't care! Friends are just happy to hang out no matter if you're perfectly accessorized or if you're in a t-shirt or, ssshhh, fat girl pants. They don't care if there's dishes in the sink and a pile of laundry on the back of the couch. Heck, there's a chance they won't even notice your fabulous new wall color or stellar throw pillows. Plus, I bet friends really don't care if you eat a frozen pizza or an exquisite 5-course meal. I mean, do you?

SO - of course we'll be returning the favor to Erika and Dereck but I decided that first, I'd try my hand at spreading the love. Our dinner date at their place was such a bright spot to me, I wanted to, hopefully, share that with someone else too. Just so happens I hadn't seen my friend Kayla in a while and we had some catching up to do.

We settled on last night and I gave them the option of cavatini or chicken enchiladas. They chose the latter and so that's what I made! =) I make cheesy chicken enchiladas... not red sauce enchiladas. To be honest, I typically make a recipe (when I actually follow one) that includes a sauce base of cream of mushroom soup (because it's quick, easy, and it's pretty good too) but I decided to try something different last night and made Pioneer Woman's recipe. It was more time consuming and involved more ingredients but I think it was worth it. =) (PS - I used flour tortillas instead of corn, 86'd the cilantro and jalepeno, and added more paprika (accidentally...haha.) Not bad. I also made guacamole (not gonna lie... I'm not awesome at that) so we had chips and dip but that was it. Kayla brought over some delicious cookie brownie bars though... best of both worlds... can't beat that! =) And we just chatted to our little hearts' content! I even got to color with Journey! I call it a success. A picture-less success maybe, but a success none-the-less.

Homework: invite someone over for dinner this month. You try, you like. =D

**Special thanks to Erika and Dereck for re-instilling the desire to do this, to Pioneer Woman for the tasty recipe, to Mark, Kayla, and Journey for the awesome company, and to Dac for cleaning up afterward.

Cruise: Day 3

Oh Day 3. You were somethin'. Day 3 was supposed to be my most favorite day. I was supposed to be snorkeling, swimming in the crystal clear waters, and sticking my toes into the most perfect white sandy beach ever. We were supposed to go to Carnival's private island... Half Moon Cay (pronounced key). Instead, we woke up nice and early, got dressed, hit the dining room for some breakfast (pancakes and an egg, over hard of course, for me - in case you had any doubts). It was obvious we were in some pretty rough waters. Quite obvious actually. But then, after waiting in line for what seemed like an hour, the announcement sealed the deal... due to rough waters, they couldn't safely operate the tenders so we were going to stay parked for an hour and re-evaluate.

There wasn't much to do at that point so we nabbed a couple lounge chairs by the pool and waited it out. Then, another announcement was made... we were going to spend the day at sea... and so we did. We spent a very cold, windy, rough rough rough day at sea. We stayed on our lounge chairs for a while, too afraid to move and lose the seats, but too cold to enjoy them. We were covered up in beach towels and still oh-so-cold. We waited and waited for the sun, but it just wasn't happening.
One by one, we were losing members of our group to the call of a warm bed... I stuck it out until after lunch but inevitably ended up in the cabin also. It was hard to even stand up straight that day. I don't suffer from motion sickness, but I donned a patch that day just in case, and was fairly miserable none-the-less. Poor Dac, Val, and Austin... they were really hating the rockin' boat and they all pretty well slept the day away. Can't say they missed much.


While he was doing that... I was doing this! =)
We did venture back out for dinner though. =) They made it worth our while by singing and dancing for us. Here's our awesome island-man waiter Kenroy shakin' his groove thang.
I forgot to take a picture of my dessert (it was apple pie a'la mode... it wasn't Grandma's but it was actually pretty good considering) but here's the rest of my meal. Fried mozzerella (be still my normal food lovin' heart!!!)
And some kind of creamy pasta with mushrooms and grilled chicken on top. Of course I picked out the mushrooms for the most part but it really was good.
Terese and Val
Dac and David (PS - you won't see much, if any, of Austin on here... he's not a fan of having his picture taken...)
Also that night, even though the boat was still horrible, Val and I hit up a couple comedy shows. They were both funny and we had a good time being ridiculous. We tried another drink of the day (Bahama Mama) too.

Love my seester!
After a fun night on the cruise town... we came back to this! There seems to be some discretion about what this guy is... you tell me... frog or turtle? PS - I already know I'm right. hahaha.Day 4 in Nassau comin' right up!

Cruise: Day 2

Like I mentioned last time, Day 2 was a "Fun Day at Sea". That it was. Dac, Me, Val and Austin shared a suite... two connecting interior rooms with no clocks. I had woken up (as had Val I later learned) several times and checked my phone... 5 a.m.... 6 a.m. Finally, we came to realization that it was in fact, 9 a.m. and we'd missed half the morning already. =) Apparently, I should have read the Fun Times a little more closely.

Once we got around, we headed down to breakfast on the Lido deck. I enjoyed breakfast... it's my favorite meal of the day anyway and it was fun to have so many options. Of course, my breakfast almost always included some eggs, pancakes/french toast (or both!) and chocolate milk. I mean, that's breakfast of champs right there folks. Breakfast of champs.

After breakfast we went on the quest for lounge chairs so I could make like my pug dog and sun myself silly. Easier said than done. (Note: wake up early on sea days, grab some breakfast to go and head straight to the chairs... people are chair-savin'-beasts and it's hard to find one.) We lucked out and David and Terese had parked it up on the Sun Deck by the water slide. There was also a lone chair across from them that I snagged and David was leaving anyway so Val stole his. Dac and Austin just explored most the day and Dac read a book he downloaded off and on. I didn't get a ton of sun that day... probably due, in part, to the 100spf I was sportin'. =) Seeing how I was still recovering from flu-zilla, I tried to nap. It was just too noisy and there was too much excitement going on up there for that. I'll discuss this more in the pro's and con's of cruising post I'm likely to do. haha.

I did get in some good rest though and I read part of a People magazine and a semi-trashy but oh-so-funny book I bought. (Note: Alisha, don't buy books on vacation... you don't like to read when you're NOT on vacation. Stick to magazines... they're more your speed.)

We also talked to some nice people who were laying out beside us. People on cruises are kinda fun. You see all kinds and for the most part everyone is real nice and friendly. Later, the nice waiter man walked by and Val ordered a "Drink of the Day". It was in a whale cup, and not to be left out, I had to order one too. I think it was a Yellowbird. (Note: All in all I was fairly disappointed with the drink specials... but I did find a couple of tasty treats... I'll share those in a bit.)
I think for lunch I hit up the deli and had a wrap and something from the dessert bar and an ice cream. I'm such a child. There's just something about ice cream in a cone. =) Once I began to feel a bit burnt, we headed back to get ready for our first dinner in the dining room... it just so happened to be "cruise elegant" night. So we got all fancied up...


... tried the "Kiss On The Lips" which was quite delightful thank you very much...





...and enjoyed steak, lobster, and the like. Here's what I had:

Starter: A cream pasta with turkey on top.
Main Course: Steak, potato, onion rings.

Dessert: Warm chocolate melting cake with ice cream. (Followed by, no doubt, an ice cream cone, haha.)
After that, I can't really remember what all we did... but we did some stuff around the boat then hit the hay...Day 3 coming soon...

Cruise: Day 1

Well actually, let's back up. Dac's parents (David and Terese) are celebrating their 30th anniversary in June and they SO generously decided to take us kids (Dac, me, Austin and Valerie) with them on a cruise to the Bahamas to celebrate. =) We've been talking about it and planning it for months and it was finally here!!!!!

Unfortunately, before we even left... I got big time sick with some awful flu-type bug. It. Was. Horrible. I haven't been sick like that in years and I was even more worried sick that I'd miss the cruise we'd been anticipating for months. Yikes! The next day (Friday) I was feeling a tad better. I was still only eating crackers and Sprite, mind you, but it was definitely an improvement over the day before. I went ahead and worked half a day then headed to Derby with Val and Terese for some last minute shopping and to get our nails did. =) Yes please.

Now, we're ready for Day 1. Our flight left bright and early from Wichita and I won't even go into the mess that was the Wichita airport but thankfully we made it on the plane and after a pit stop at Atlanta, we were on our way to the boat in Jacksonville, FL.
Here we are setting sail and about to go under the bridge in Jacksonville.
For not feeling a 100%, I sure managed to slip into vacation mode pretty easily. =)
My toes in my comfy new flip flops. Love these. They're perfect for my Fliinstone feet. =)
That first evening we basically just watched dolphins swim by (be still my beating heart) and explored the ship. Here's the atrium. I have more boat pictures that will come in another post.
Val and I feeling cruisetacular after a long day of travel.

Dac and I watching the sun set on the Serenity Deck.Pretty, no?

The moon was the closest it had been in like 18 years that night... we missed it while it was still at the horizon so this is the best we could get.In all the excitement we missed our designated eating time in the main dining room. So, we ate a casual dinner on the Lido Deck... followed by duh... an ice cream cone. (Note: I have been craving ice cream non-stop ever since. I miss the 24-hour ice cream service in a big way, haha.) After more exploring, everyone pretty well hit they hay early, but Dac and I went to the Welcome Aboard show which was totally cheesy but pretty fun too. Then we went to another lounge to catch a comedy show that was pretty funny. I MAY or may not have fallen asleep at some point during that, so we headed to bed too as soon as it was over.

Our first towel animal of the trip was waiting for us when we got back that night. I got the biggest kick out of these. The "Fun Times" was also waiting for us. (Note to future cruising self: READ THIS CLOSELY. You'll learn all kinds of useful things, like, how your cell phone time will get all screwed up so when you wake up at 6 a.m., it's actually 9 a.m.)Day 2 was a Fun Day at Sea. More on that later!