Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

So we went on a cruise the first of November. It was the first time either myself or the Fop had gone on one. Overall I’d say it was a fun experience and something I’d consider doing again in a few years. Going with a bunch of friends definitely improved the experience! SPF 70 (applied 3 times) did not prevent me from getting sunburned at Cocoa Beach. The Bahamas are rather nice though their pirate roots do show. I had a great tour guide in Nassau (while the Fop was off snorkeling) and learned lots of cool things and was generally amused by staircases and flamingos.

The culture on the boat was not what I was expecting. There were some things that definitely could have been improved. The nightly parade through the professional
photographers and their jazzy backgrounds was something I’d totally not expected. Sure, maybe on the formal night but the whole cruise? I guess you’re on a boat and you have the photographers so you might as well make them available. Still, as someone who views formal photographs as something best left behind along with the rest of high school, it was odd. However, now I have a cheesy 8×10 of the Fop in a suit. He’s adorable. It’s already in a frame.

Assigned seating for dinner on the boat? Not a bad thing for our group. We got a table to ourselves, all the better to reduce the trauma to other passengers, and had excellent service from the dining room team. Arriving to a cabin decorated for your anniversary?
Totally awesome! Towel animals in the cabin each night? Frickin’ adorable.

The food for the dinners was pretty yummy – feta and mint go great together on salad by the way. I don’t know why I’d never tried it before. There were a lot of tasty things that came across our table! We also, as a group, ordered a lot of the infamous chocolate melting cake. The food at the steakhouse on board was amazing. The rest of the food on board was average at best. I admit it: I’m a food snob. The pizza wasn’t pizza but it was tasty warm bread with melted cheese and sauce. The coffee was horrible but I fear that I started to get used to it after a couple days. Luckily the lemonade was quite tasty!

There were some problems… cabins weren’t ready when we boarded so we had to sit
around a crowded deck with our luggage. Open seating the first night at dinner when we’d all planned to meet up at our assigned table was a bit of a problem. The questionable competency of the Carnival representative we all used to book our cruises was cursed quite a bit… Personally, I’d love to go on a non-smoking cruise. Even with designated “smoking sections”, plumes of cigarette and cigar smoke made for unpleasantness.

That said, it was a pretty fun trip! I’ve decided that cruises are like road trips on a boat (and on the ocean) where everyone gets to hang out together and even drink (since we don’t get to drive the boat) and generally have a good time.

I love road trips.

I really liked the Bahamas. A startling amount. Perhaps it was the tour guide who himself was so enthusiastic about the Bahamas. Perhaps it was something they put in the popcorn. (Oh the fabulous popcorn!)

There are more photos over on flickr. No, I did not scan the cheesy photo of the Fop. I was tempted though. ;)

carnival pride, cruise, travel, vacation