Carrie's 1st Cruise

Last Christmas, I opened my gift from Tyson and it was a long weekend away anywhere in the world while he stayed home with the kids. My sister, Lisa gave me a buddy pass and said she would come with. We decided on a 3 day cruise out of Port Canaveral to the Bahamas.

We flew out of SLC on Tuesday, October 4th, stayed the night in Atlanta, and arrived in Orlando in the morning. MCO is my favorite airport. Not only is it beautiful with it's atrium and outdoor tram, but the shopping is great too with the Disney, Harry Potter, and NASA stores all inside.

Check out our fancy shuttle to the port, about a 45 minute drive.

I've always wondered if a cruiseship room would be tiny, but it wasn't bad at all. It was the size of some European hotel rooms I've stayed in. And the beds were super comfortable. It was nice to have a window to look out and check the weather or see where we were, but if I needed to stay on a budget in an inside cabin, I think I would be just fine.

Bon voyage! Yay!

It was so cool to sail right past the shuttle and rocket launch sites for NASA on the way out of port.

She used her self-made binoculars often and insisted they really worked.

It was so interesting and beautiful to see all the different blues of the ocean even right in front of us.

Pulling in to port at New Providence, Nassau, the Bahamas on Thursday.

A Bahamian traffic policeman in a rollable stand. Sweet!

Since tomorrow was our beach day on NCL's private island, we spent our Nassau time shopping and sight seeing.

Lisa found her Scarlett O'Hara-esque hat at the straw market while I got a purse, bamboo sheets (I've always wanted to try those), and some souvenirs for the fam (Lydia loves her toddler sized, golden Havaiana flipflops, she wears them everywhere) downtown and at the market.

Fort Fincastle, built in 1793, is still standing and you can climb up and lookout over the island.

Leading up to the fort is the Queen's Staircase. We had a guide tell us all about how the canyon was carved out by slaves, inch by inch. Then the ancestors of those same slaves carved out the staircase in honor of Queen Victoria's help in the abolition of slavery in the Bahamas.

It truly is a beautiful world we live in.

That night Lisa and I were invited to a very small cocktail party with Captain Tommy (pictured below), a few guests, and some of the other ship's officers. Prior to the cruise Lisa did some travel agent training with Norwegian Cruise Line and they gave her a few perks such as this meet and greet and a seating at the Tepanyaki restaurant onboard. We small talked with the officers, ate fancy hors d'oeuvres (I tried caviar - it's okay, but I don't see what all the fuss is about), and got a premonition about the day to follow...

We knew when we booked the cruise it was hurricane season, but we were blessed with beautiful weather. However, on Friday, the day we were scheduled to dock at Great Stirrup Cay for our beach day, the wind was blowing and the waves were rough. An officer the night before explained that when this happens, it is unsafe to walk on a gangplank from the cruise ship to the small tender boats that would take us to the island (Nassau's port was deep enough for the cruise ship to sail right up to the dock). And this is exactly what happened. So disappointing because I have now been to the Bahamas, but have never set foot on the beach or in the ocean, but at least we understood why. Guess I'll have to go back!

So we took full advantage of our newly assigned Day at Sea and laid on the deck, read, hit the spa for a massage and facial (now I know it is way, way too pricey for what you get so I won't be longing for a spa trip on a cruise again. But with the change of plans, at least they offered discounts, and pampering to overcome disappointment really was a great idea).

And we ate. And ate. We had to try everything out! Some of the food was fabulous, some was meh. I found I enjoyed the sit down restaurants the best. But it's nice to always have a buffet open for a snack. Room service was nice too! Here are just a few of my favorites:

Greek salad

Lobster

Strawberries and cream over pound cake

Besides the obvious, my favorite part of the cruise was careening down the halls as the waves rocked the ship, especially on windy Friday. And watching other people do the same - the best was in the fancy dining rooms as they swayed and stumbled their way to their tables. :-)

Goodbye cruise and lovely ocean!

We had to take at least one life jacket shot. And I figured out the timer on my fancy camera. :-)

When we docked on Saturday, we had several hours before our flight, so we rented a car this time and drove a few minutes to Cocoa Beach. Lisa is a huge "I Dream of Jeannie" fan and I really like the show as well. The only homage the city has to the series is this street sign.

So we posed under it, of course.

The we went to the beach, since we didn't get to earlier. I might mention that we docked in the midst of a tropical storm in Florida.

We didn't mind. It was warm and at least it didn't hit until we were coming back. We had enough time to drive up to the Kennedy Space Center, but not enough time to tour it. I definitely want to come back for that. What we did see was really cool!

A parting shot of our ship, the Norwegian Sun.

Wow, thank you Tyson for making this trip happen! Everyone I told on the ship about why I was there sans hubby ooooed and ahhhhed about what a wonderful husband you are. And I'm so glad Lisa was able to come with (she's pretty fun) and for providing the buddy pass that resulted in 1st class seats on the flight home (boo-ya!). See you later Florida and the Bahamas!