Hey hey hey everyone. Back in SoDak
after a fun-filled week in the Caribbean. Sorry I haven't written sooner -- this gorgeous weather combined with being back at work has left me with no time to write!
Last night's South Dakota sunset was WAY prettier than any of the sunsets we saw on the boat.
It (and spending time with my amazing hubby) made me so happy to be home.
I said before I left that I was
hoping to bring back a suntan and some of the Caribbean sun and warmth for you
guys – although there's rain in the forecast, it is
slowly but surely starting to warm up… so you can thank me for that. ;)
Anyway -- I'll post lots of pictures in
the next week or so! We certainly took a billion or so. I'm only gonna post a couple today as a "preview," haha. You'll just have to be patient for the rest ;)
Speaking of pictures... I actually managed to forget my
digital camera on its charger on my nightstand. It took a LOT of self-control
(and a very short phone conversation with Preston) for me to not buy a digital camera when I got to Miami and realized my
mistake. I was so bummed.
Thankfully my awesome friends took lots of pictures and are good
at sharing
(yeah, they're pretty awesome.)
Overall, I had the best time.
At our first stop in the Bahamas, we were wading in the beautiful, clear, ocean water and my friend and I looked at each other and said "Wow. I needed a vacation." at pretty much the same time. There is something so revitalizing about ocean water.
I love visiting new places, and I had never been to Miami, the Bahamas, or
Turks & Caicos. So it was quite an experience! By far my favorite
thing about the trip (other than spending time with my amazing friends,
naturally) were the 3 stops we made - - - on land.
Several people have asked me what I
think of cruises and/or whether or not I would do another cruise. The answer to
that is a very shaky maybe/more than likely probably not.
I feel ‘at home’ sitting on a beach
or swimming/snorkeling in the ocean or hiking in the wilderness.
I just don’t feel at home living on a ship for
a week.
It took a good day and a half of being off the ship before I felt like
I had stopped swaying back and forth. I didn’t sleep well, because the rocking
and noise of the ship was too much and woke me up consistently – and I’m usually a very
heavy sleeper. A couple of my friends hardly got any sleep the whole time –
which made it hard to have energy during the days. At one point we had to change course, because apparently they were getting lots of complaints about the swaying.
We were on the Carnival Victory, so who knows, maybe other cruise lines or ships would be better.
That being said, I don’t want to say
I would never, ever, ever go on another cruise. It’s just at the bottom
of my list as far as traveling is concerned. I’d take a hotel and rental car
over a cruise any day.
Here's my further explanation:
The size of the room didn't bother me
(we had 4 of us in the same room -- so bunk-beds that folded down from the
wall.) We actually were pleasantly surprised at the amount of closet space and the overall size of the room.
The service was phenomenal the whole
time and the value seriously can't be beat. Entertainment aboard (like the shows/comedy acts wasn't good) BUT, the deck party with a dj they had one night was super fun and we liked the piano bar and some of the other entertainment available.
BUT -- it came down to the food.
My friends and I were all really disappointed in most of the meals on the ship.
Which is kind of a big deal. Since it's all you eat for a week.
Everything we ate was very
"blah" at best.
And to only make matters worse -- the ship smelled like dead fish
the whole trip – seriously disgusting. And definitely didn’t make the food more
appetizing.
And last (and least), the ship décor was really outdated and the bathroom/shower in our room was really gross -- none of us would set foot in there without flip-flops on.
Back to the food ---- I think the McDonalds we picked up on
the way home from Omaha was better than any meal I had on the ship. And I’m not
a big fast-food lover.
SO, other than the not-so-great food,
smells and a bout of seasickness toward the end, the trip was AWESOME. Haha, but really, it
was.
I loved every one of our stops and
excursions we went on. And it was such an awesome once-in-a-lifetime chance to
spend some quality time with some of my favorite girls, which meant so much to me. It was an awesome reunion :)
Anyway, here's the day-by-day rundown
of our vacay:
Day One:
Left Sioux Falls around
8:00am for Miami. Flights went smoothly, and we arrived in Miami around 2:00pm.
Once we got all checked in to our hotel, we grabbed a taxi and headed to Miami
Beach/South Beach/whatever you wanna call it. More specifically we were at Lincoln Road, which was a fun area with lots of unique restaurants, cute little shops, and some truly unforgettable people-watching. We ate supper, did a little souvenir shopping, grabbed some ice cream at Haagen Dazs and then went for a walk on the beach right around sunset -- truly the longest stretch of continuous beach I've ever seen -- it was endless. And very picturesque with the skyscrapers just off the water.
Day Two:
After having the best free
hotel breakfast I've ever had (we stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Airport South- Blue Lagoon), and making a couple last-minute stops for disposable waterproof cameras, gummi bears, and some other necessities we headed to the ship!
The embarkation process was SO quick and easy!
I was extremely impressed at how smoothly it all went.
It seriously was only 15 minutes from the time we arrived at the port to the time we were eating lunch on the deck. Couldn't have been any faster.
After a day of bumming around the ship, getting settled and waiting for the ship to set sail, we ate supper, went to the "opening night" show in the theater, and then we went to the piano bar. This was SO much fun. It had a great atmosphere, and since there were less than 10 of us there -- the musician would play any request we would shout out. Super fun first day/night aboard. :)
Day Three:
Rise and shine! We woke up
bright and early, rolled out of bed, put our swimsuits on and got off the boat to spend the day in Nassau. Our catamaran sail and snorkel excursion started at 8:30 that morning ---- so it was right off the cruise ship on to the catamaran boat -- no time on land for us. The snorkeling was fun, but the waves were HUGE and I struggled more than I ever have while snorkeling. It was the first time a couple of my friends had ever snorkeled, but even with the waves we had fun. We all managed to smile for a picture once we made it back to the boat. :)
Definitely drank a lot of salt water on this excursion. I also fell head-first on the boat while trying to climb up some steps with my fins still on. Not my best moment -- bruised both my knees and my ego a little. And it took me a good 2 minutes to actually get up after I fell -- I couldn't maneuver with those darn fins. After the catamaran brought us back safely to land, we took some pictures (naturally), walked around Nassau and checked out a few shops -- then we headed to the beach! At around 5:00 we headed back to the boat, showered, and got ready for the evening! As I mentioned before, none of the food was very good ---- but there was SOOO much of it. You could order as many appetizers, main courses, and desserts as you wanted to! None of us tried some of the more daring menu items -- like escargot and frog legs. They had unlimited water, iced tea, lemonade, and plain coffee. It was $32/week for unlimited pop/juice options. The "specialty drinks" like Pina Coladas and margaritas were between $7.50 and $10.00 -- so not much different than you would pay in South Dakota. Every staff member we encountered was so kind- they really work hard to make sure everyone's having fun.
Day Four:
For me, this was probably
the highlight of our trip. Carnival cruise lines own the private island of Half Moon Cay,
and holy cow is it gorgeous. Amazingly white, soft sand and clear water as far
as the eye can see. The island is extremely well kept -- there wasn't a bunch of litter and broken glass everywhere like we experienced at the beach in Nassau. After a very relaxing day and lots of picture-taking, we headed back on to the ship and got ready for supper.
That night, I randomly decided I wanted to do karaoke (something I've never done - ha!) and so we headed to the karaoke club. Oh boy - I was so nervous! And turns out this wasn't your normal karaoke where people all sing off-key and sound terrible together -- everyone who went before me sounded like they walked off the 'American Idol' stage. ugh. But I survived! And didn't set foot back into that club the rest of our trip, haha.
Day Five:
Turks and Caicos! More specifically, we stopped in Grand Turk. Right
when we got off the boat, we did some shopping in the nicely-landscaped, open-air restaurant and shop
area. The prices there couldn't be beat and we all found some fun souvenirs. After about an hour, we were scorching hot and needed to head to our excursion. We went kayaking, in 2-person, clear-bottom kayaks through the mangroves (which I learned way more than I ever needed to know about from the tour guide -- very educational.) Our tour guide was also a trained rescue diver, which was great, because the water was like 2 feet deep (haha, seriously.) But it was a very low-key and relaxing day. We walked along the shore searching for sea shells and took a little 'nature walk' -- I even got to hold a mangrove jellyfish (they don't sting) and a sea urchin. I've got pictures to prove it! :)
Day Six:
This was supposed
to be our "Fun Day at Sea." I got a little seasick, which made it a "Not-so-Fun Day at Sea." At this point, I was sunburnt, exhausted,
totally sick of cruise food, and really feeling the swaying of the boat worse
than ever. After a little nap and a glass of Coke (a great remedy for sea-sickness), I was feeling better and ready to go enjoy the last night on the ship with my friends!
Day Seven:
aka longest day ever
We
were on the very bottom level of the ship, so we had to be OFF THE BOAT by 7am.
That was really great,
because our flight left at 6pm that night.
We timed that really, really well. ;)
After hours at the airport trying to
get an earlier flight outta Miami, we gave up, ate some Quiznos and gummi bears
(once again, WAY better than any of our meals on the cruise ship) and then I
took a nap on the floor of the airport (much better sleep than I got on the
ship.) We didn't arrive into Omaha until 11pm --- and then we still had the
3-hour drive back to Sioux Falls. We got back home around 2:30ish – so just in
time to be at church at 10:00. :) Thought about sleeping in but so glad we
didn’t – it was a great service and felt so good to be back at church after 2 weeks of not being able to go.
So that's that! Beautiful beaches, perfect weather, fun snorkeling, kayaking, exploring new destinations, lots of laughing and laying in the sun…… and just some not-so-amazing food.
I would TOTALLY take great experiences and so-so food over amazing food and
so-so experiences.
I would love to go back to the
Bahamas and Turks and Caicos! Just via plane rather than boat. :)
Wow -- this took me FOREVER to write. Stay tuned for a photo album within a week or so. :)
Praying that you're having a good start to the week, everyone. So long for now!
xoxo,
Em
