Our Western Caribbean Cruise days 1-3
After two very crazy weeks, I finally have had time today to sit down and organize my vacation photos! It wouldn't have been such a big deal had I not accidentally erased one of my memory cards. Although Walgreens did find my photos for me and was able to give them all to me on disk, the date and time information was not saved so I had to manually adjust this for each photo so that they would be in order on my creative memories software.
It's hard to believe that it's been just over three weeks since we began our cruise. After months of anticipation, on April 25th we awoke by 6am and were in the air flying to Florida by 9am. We flew into Fort Lauderdale and then took a bus ride to Port of Miami where our Carnival ship awaited us :)
As soon as we boarded, we grabbed a quick lunch and then hung out on the deck until we set sail. There were about 100 drink servers walking around offering the "drink of the day" which I believe was called the Funship Special. Of course Scott and I had to try one...
We were third in a line of ships to leave the port so after several hours of hanging out on the deck and exploring the ship, we were surrounded by water and could no longer see any land. We got ready and headed to dinner where we sat at a table with two other couples. I wasn't sure how I would like the community dining experience, but it turned out to be wonderful from day 1! We got along very well with our table mates and had fun each time we met at dinner. I cannot remember what I had that night for dinner, but I do remember dessert--Chocolate melting cake! It was fabulous and I had it every night thereafter...mmmmm!
After dinner we walked to the on-board casino. I'd never been inside of a casino and I honestly cannot stand to lose money so we decided we'd just put $10 into a quarter slot machine to try it out without feeling guilty about possibly losing too much $$. Well it must've been our "lucky" night because we ended up winning $125! As soon as we won we asked a waiter to take this photo of us and then we left the casino--no way was I going to spend our winnings!
We headed up on deck to see what it looked like at night and I tried a mango daiquiri--yum!
Day 1 ended and we headed to bed a little early because it had been a long day of traveling and we'd had very little sleep the night before.
On Monday April 26th we awoke to the gentle sway of the ship as we cruised the Caribbean waters. Having been a little off balance the day before as we adjusted to life at sea, we felt more sure footed on this day. We grabbed breakfast before snagging seats by the pool where we sat and read off and on all day. A rain shower cleared the deck mid-afternoon and it was a little windy but I didn't care. I was on vacation, with only myself and my husband to worry about and it didn't matter what the weather was because there were plenty of indoor activities on board the ship!
After the rain passed, we celebrated with a frozen drink as we relaxed poolside (side note--I swear there wasn't a drink in my hand at all times on this vacation--just about two per day, but for some reason I'm always holding one in the photos!).
We listened to these two guys sing and a third singer joined them in singing some covers of "Shaggy" songs--you know, the Jamaican guy? Google him if you don't know who I'm talking about--I'm sure you've heard a song or two of his! I could've sworn it was Shaggy himself singing because they were SO GOOD!
After a fun day at sea it was our first formal night so we dressed to impress :) I wish I had a full-length photo of my dress because it's one of my favorites and I received so many compliments that night. It was fun to get dressed up since we rarely wear anything buy jeans and workout clothes here at the Vitt household! We went to the casino and won another $90 after putting $10 into a slot machine before watching a comedy show in one of the ship's lounges.
When we went to bed after day 2 we were still at sea, but when we awoke on the morning of April 27th, we'd anchored just off the shore of Grand Cayman! We had to tender on a ferry to get to land, so Scott and I had a quick bite to eat and then got in line. We'd planned a very fun excursion for this day and wanted to make sure we got over to the island with plenty of time to spare!
We walked around a little...
and then got into a van which took us to our excursion: Swimming with dolphins and then visiting Stingray City!!!!!!!!!
The van dropped us off at a little walkway through a mini-jungle which was filled with gorgeous birds. It was an unexpected treat to see about a dozen or so macaws that morning!
Then we got to Dolphin Cove. We swam with, kissed, touched, and rode the dolphins there. It costs $80 for a disk of photos from the day so we didn't buy it that day, but I'm still considering ordering it. It's so hard to justify spending that much money on some photos, but since we couldn't take any on our own camera while we were in the water I'm disappointed now to not have any of me with my new sea friends!
After swimming with the dolphins, we got on a boat for a 45-minute ride out to this awesome sandbar where stingrays live naturally. It was the craziest thing to see so many stingrays in the middle of the ocean just waiting for us to arrive. The wild rays know they're going to get fed in exchange for some touching, holding and even (yes!) kissing so they stick around all the time.
We didn't have a waterproof camera with us, but Scott held a ray while I got on the boat and took a photo with my regular point & shoot...
and then I couldn't resist a "self-portrait" with the gorgeous blue ocean behind me!!
Our time at Grand Cayman ended after we rode the boat back to the island so we got into line to tender back to our ship. We had a late lunch, took a nap and then got ready for dinner.
After a delicious dinner we walked around the ship a little bit and watched some dancing near the ship's casino. I think we tried out the slot machines again, but lost our $10 that time. Darn--at least we were still up over $200 from the previous two nights! We got to bed at a descent hour and had dreams of Roatan, Hondurous where we would be docking on day 4!
It's hard to believe that it's been just over three weeks since we began our cruise. After months of anticipation, on April 25th we awoke by 6am and were in the air flying to Florida by 9am. We flew into Fort Lauderdale and then took a bus ride to Port of Miami where our Carnival ship awaited us :)
As soon as we boarded, we grabbed a quick lunch and then hung out on the deck until we set sail. There were about 100 drink servers walking around offering the "drink of the day" which I believe was called the Funship Special. Of course Scott and I had to try one...
We were third in a line of ships to leave the port so after several hours of hanging out on the deck and exploring the ship, we were surrounded by water and could no longer see any land. We got ready and headed to dinner where we sat at a table with two other couples. I wasn't sure how I would like the community dining experience, but it turned out to be wonderful from day 1! We got along very well with our table mates and had fun each time we met at dinner. I cannot remember what I had that night for dinner, but I do remember dessert--Chocolate melting cake! It was fabulous and I had it every night thereafter...mmmmm!After dinner we walked to the on-board casino. I'd never been inside of a casino and I honestly cannot stand to lose money so we decided we'd just put $10 into a quarter slot machine to try it out without feeling guilty about possibly losing too much $$. Well it must've been our "lucky" night because we ended up winning $125! As soon as we won we asked a waiter to take this photo of us and then we left the casino--no way was I going to spend our winnings!
We headed up on deck to see what it looked like at night and I tried a mango daiquiri--yum!
Day 1 ended and we headed to bed a little early because it had been a long day of traveling and we'd had very little sleep the night before.On Monday April 26th we awoke to the gentle sway of the ship as we cruised the Caribbean waters. Having been a little off balance the day before as we adjusted to life at sea, we felt more sure footed on this day. We grabbed breakfast before snagging seats by the pool where we sat and read off and on all day. A rain shower cleared the deck mid-afternoon and it was a little windy but I didn't care. I was on vacation, with only myself and my husband to worry about and it didn't matter what the weather was because there were plenty of indoor activities on board the ship!
After the rain passed, we celebrated with a frozen drink as we relaxed poolside (side note--I swear there wasn't a drink in my hand at all times on this vacation--just about two per day, but for some reason I'm always holding one in the photos!).
We listened to these two guys sing and a third singer joined them in singing some covers of "Shaggy" songs--you know, the Jamaican guy? Google him if you don't know who I'm talking about--I'm sure you've heard a song or two of his! I could've sworn it was Shaggy himself singing because they were SO GOOD!
After a fun day at sea it was our first formal night so we dressed to impress :) I wish I had a full-length photo of my dress because it's one of my favorites and I received so many compliments that night. It was fun to get dressed up since we rarely wear anything buy jeans and workout clothes here at the Vitt household! We went to the casino and won another $90 after putting $10 into a slot machine before watching a comedy show in one of the ship's lounges. 
When we went to bed after day 2 we were still at sea, but when we awoke on the morning of April 27th, we'd anchored just off the shore of Grand Cayman! We had to tender on a ferry to get to land, so Scott and I had a quick bite to eat and then got in line. We'd planned a very fun excursion for this day and wanted to make sure we got over to the island with plenty of time to spare!We walked around a little...
and then got into a van which took us to our excursion: Swimming with dolphins and then visiting Stingray City!!!!!!!!! The van dropped us off at a little walkway through a mini-jungle which was filled with gorgeous birds. It was an unexpected treat to see about a dozen or so macaws that morning!
Then we got to Dolphin Cove. We swam with, kissed, touched, and rode the dolphins there. It costs $80 for a disk of photos from the day so we didn't buy it that day, but I'm still considering ordering it. It's so hard to justify spending that much money on some photos, but since we couldn't take any on our own camera while we were in the water I'm disappointed now to not have any of me with my new sea friends!
After swimming with the dolphins, we got on a boat for a 45-minute ride out to this awesome sandbar where stingrays live naturally. It was the craziest thing to see so many stingrays in the middle of the ocean just waiting for us to arrive. The wild rays know they're going to get fed in exchange for some touching, holding and even (yes!) kissing so they stick around all the time.We didn't have a waterproof camera with us, but Scott held a ray while I got on the boat and took a photo with my regular point & shoot...
and then I couldn't resist a "self-portrait" with the gorgeous blue ocean behind me!!
Our time at Grand Cayman ended after we rode the boat back to the island so we got into line to tender back to our ship. We had a late lunch, took a nap and then got ready for dinner.
After a delicious dinner we walked around the ship a little bit and watched some dancing near the ship's casino. I think we tried out the slot machines again, but lost our $10 that time. Darn--at least we were still up over $200 from the previous two nights! We got to bed at a descent hour and had dreams of Roatan, Hondurous where we would be docking on day 4!
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