Sailing from the seven seas...:P
Ok guys, it’s finally time for my first update. Sorry it took so long, but Sunday and yesterday were really busy. Our flight out of Halifax was delayed a good half hour, so that set the pace for the day on Sunday. We got in to Toronto late and as a result it was a mad dash to the gate for our flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Luckily for us that one was pretty late too so by the time we got to the gate we could see the end of big line up boarding. I got chosen at random for the crazy search when I went through security there, but thankfully I didn’t have much in my carry on so it was pretty painless. All the security people were admiring my tattoo though :P
When we got in to Ft. Lauderdale there was this really hot Carnival representative there to greet us and help us with our bags. They all got there safe and sound so we headed out to get our bus to Miami. Our bus was an entire 50 seater Gryhound tour bus and we were the only ones on it. It was great. I got a bit of video footage of the empty bus and of us traveling on the highway to Miami. It’s not very interesting but I thought you guys might like to see the palm trees.
Once we got to the hotel we pretty much just dropped our stuff and went to get the car at the rental place. That didn’t take very long, thankfully. We were all tired and hungry. The pizza they had on the plane was really horrible (but not as bad as our fish pizza Kelly) so Matthew, Mom and myself were a bit testy because of the shitty food and tiredness. When we got our car, which was a new Buick Lucern, and went to the Bayside Market. It was kinda creepy going through some parts of town, probably because stores were closed and boarded up for the night, and there wasn’t anyone around. The architecture was really cool though. I wish I could have seen it in the day. I didn’t get too many pics because my camera sucks in that lighting. We went to the Hard Rock for supper that night. It’s a great location, and the staff were really good looking too. I had this huge bbq burger that was a far cry from the shitty pizza I had had earlier. Aside like feeling like a fresh piece of meat in the market walking to the Hard Rock Café I really enjoyed it. I wish soo badly that I had more time, but that means I’ve got to go back.
The next morning we were all up bright and early because we didn’t have much time before we had to meet in the lobby for the bus that would take us to the port of Miami to get on the ship. We went to South Beach for breakfast. It was great! I’d go there again too. We parked right across the street from Miami Ink, which doesn’t open until 12 and is currently filming. McDonalds was the choice spot for breakfast, so that’s where we went, and after walking around for a bit went back to the car and headed to the rental place to take it back.
When we got back to the hotel we did one last sweep of the rooms to see if we had forgotten anything and then went to the lobby to meet the bus. The ride to the port was great except for the screaming kid. Thankfully they were on a different ship. It took a bit of waiting and security screening to get on board, but after that it was great. It felt like being back at the airport again with all the lines and security. We saw lots of good looking people in the lines so the waiting wasn’t as bad. Once on board we found out our room wasn’t ready so we went for lunch at the “coconut grove” buffet place. It was good, but insanely busy. I started feeling kind of claustrophobic because of all the people in a small place…well, it’s not that small just narrow. Anyway, I had some awesome pizza and then we got our rooms. They’re kind of small, but I don’t mind. I’d like to get more pics of the ship but that will be later.
Before we could set sail the law dictated, “that every cruise ship must perform an emergency safety drill”. So, before we even left the port of Miami everyone had to go to their rooms to get their life preservers and take them to their appropriate muster station (whatever a muster station is). Ours was in the Palace Lounge, which is where all the live entertainment happens on-board. The live preservers we have are HALIRAIOUS to wear. I have pictures somewhere, and by the time I post this I’ll probably have them uploaded on the computer so you can see what we looked like. It was funny. Dad fell asleep, lol!
As we got moving Mom and I went on a tour of the Spa. It was really awesome…expensive though. Once that was done we went to meet Matthew and Dad who were at a talk about the shore excursions. Dad won a towel from a raffle, which was cool (they have these random raffles around the ship, most of them are if you attend a talk you get a ballet for some draw). We got back to the room after that, un-packed our luggage, got changed, and went to dinner. There was a shopping talk at 7 and our dinner was at 6:15 so Matthew and I hurriedly ate our wonderful food (I had beef Wellington) and went to that. The shopping representative is Ryan and is not too hard on the eyes if you know what I mean. He was telling us the good places to go shopping at in both ports, stressing a store called Diamond’s International (an expensive jewellery place). Mom and Dad joined us at the talk once they had finished their meals, and this time Dad and Matthew won something in a raffle. Matthew got some “artwork” from the art gallery and Dad got a certificate for a ring at the store Diamond’s International. We went to pick up Matthew’s artwork right away because the place closed at 9, and then we went back to “The Palace” for the “welcome aboard show”. That was pretty good but seemed kind of cheesy…the male dancers are HOT though.
After all of that we were all so tired we just wanted to go to bed, but Matthew and I had missed out on the dessert at dinner because we went to the shopping talk, so we went to the Café and got some cake. It was really good but rich. Once we were done with that we looked around on the outside decks for a few minutes and headed back to our rooms for much needed sleep.
Today I got up at 6:15 am to get my shower…and you all know how much I like mornings, especially when I’ve had a long and busy day. Showering did wake me up a bit, but I was still tired. Breakfast was good; pretty much anything you’d ever want was at the buffet. After breakfast we all came back to the room for sun block and then we headed out to the gangway thingy to go on land (Key West). Mom and Dad had different shore excursions than Matthew and I so we split up once we got outside and found out where to go. Our tour wasn’t supposed to start until 9am so Matthew and I came back on to the ship and back to our room for a bit. That’s when I started typing this thing up (this is the third time I’ve worked on this). We hit the Butterfly Conservatory first, and it was AMAZING! I would have liked to stay longer, but we only had an hour. The enclosed greenhouse was smaller than I thought it was going to be but it was much larger than the one at the museum back home. I got a few good pictures but Matthew took the majority of them. There were so many butterflies flying around you all the time…it was great. I had this one butterfly land on my hand and it stayed on my palm for a good half hour. At one point one landed on my foot too (the non tattooed one), but what was kind of weird was that it was the same type of butterfly. That was really cool though. I ended up spending A LOT of money on some mounted butterflies. They are really beautiful though.
From there it was on to the Aquarium. That was a bust. There wasn’t much there at tall and I’m glad we didn’t pay much for it. It was good in a way that there wasn’t much to look at because we had to go to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and Pirate Soul Museum as well. Both places were pretty touristy and similar to things we had done either in Ireland (Dublina, in Dublin) or New York (Madame Tusaud’s). Again, things I’m glad we didn’t pay much for. Aside from those things, we went shopping. There was a store I had looked up online called Local Color, and they have gemstone jewellery. I got a liarmar bracelet for an amazing deal, plus I got a charoite pendant at a good price too. In fact, I’m wearing the pendant right now. I would have gotten something for you Renee, but I don’t know what your budget was…most things with liarmar were at least $40 and set in jewellery, but still really well priced. We also went to the Hard Rock Café (we didn’t go in but went to the gift shop) and a place called Del Sol, which has products that change colour in the sun (with UV light). At that point I was sweating so much I couldn’t take it any more (sorry, TMI) and we headed back to the trolley that took us back to the ship (it was 1 at that point, the ship was leaving at 2).
Once back on board (and through the security screening) we cooled off in our room and met mom and dad when they came back too. Mom didn’t have the best time on her tour (she was too hot and it was too long for her), but Dad loved his. From there we all headed up to the Coconut Grove bar and grill to get some lunch. It was so busy up there that we ended up getting stuff from the deli and the pizza place instead of waiting in the huge lines for the buffet and taking it to our rooms. After eating and talking we went back up for dessert about an hour or so later after the crowds had subsided.
I’m going to leave it at that for now because my wrist is getting sore and I’m really REALLY tired. I have been having a great time so far. I’ve met some nice people (a couple from NYC, and one from New Jersy) and had great food. I haven’t really been able to take many pictures just because I’ve been so busy doing my own stuff and having time restrictions. There are people on the ship that take your picture all the time though, so I’m sure we’ll end up with a few good ones to take home. Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you the rest of what we did today and what we will have done tomorrow, tomorrow night. Until next time!
(PS - we had the Captin’s Dinner tonight, and that meant dressing up. It felt like prom all over again…tomorrow is Playa del Carmen, Mexico…I’m seeing the Ruins of Tulum with Dad)
When we got in to Ft. Lauderdale there was this really hot Carnival representative there to greet us and help us with our bags. They all got there safe and sound so we headed out to get our bus to Miami. Our bus was an entire 50 seater Gryhound tour bus and we were the only ones on it. It was great. I got a bit of video footage of the empty bus and of us traveling on the highway to Miami. It’s not very interesting but I thought you guys might like to see the palm trees.
Once we got to the hotel we pretty much just dropped our stuff and went to get the car at the rental place. That didn’t take very long, thankfully. We were all tired and hungry. The pizza they had on the plane was really horrible (but not as bad as our fish pizza Kelly) so Matthew, Mom and myself were a bit testy because of the shitty food and tiredness. When we got our car, which was a new Buick Lucern, and went to the Bayside Market. It was kinda creepy going through some parts of town, probably because stores were closed and boarded up for the night, and there wasn’t anyone around. The architecture was really cool though. I wish I could have seen it in the day. I didn’t get too many pics because my camera sucks in that lighting. We went to the Hard Rock for supper that night. It’s a great location, and the staff were really good looking too. I had this huge bbq burger that was a far cry from the shitty pizza I had had earlier. Aside like feeling like a fresh piece of meat in the market walking to the Hard Rock Café I really enjoyed it. I wish soo badly that I had more time, but that means I’ve got to go back.
The next morning we were all up bright and early because we didn’t have much time before we had to meet in the lobby for the bus that would take us to the port of Miami to get on the ship. We went to South Beach for breakfast. It was great! I’d go there again too. We parked right across the street from Miami Ink, which doesn’t open until 12 and is currently filming. McDonalds was the choice spot for breakfast, so that’s where we went, and after walking around for a bit went back to the car and headed to the rental place to take it back.
When we got back to the hotel we did one last sweep of the rooms to see if we had forgotten anything and then went to the lobby to meet the bus. The ride to the port was great except for the screaming kid. Thankfully they were on a different ship. It took a bit of waiting and security screening to get on board, but after that it was great. It felt like being back at the airport again with all the lines and security. We saw lots of good looking people in the lines so the waiting wasn’t as bad. Once on board we found out our room wasn’t ready so we went for lunch at the “coconut grove” buffet place. It was good, but insanely busy. I started feeling kind of claustrophobic because of all the people in a small place…well, it’s not that small just narrow. Anyway, I had some awesome pizza and then we got our rooms. They’re kind of small, but I don’t mind. I’d like to get more pics of the ship but that will be later.
Before we could set sail the law dictated, “that every cruise ship must perform an emergency safety drill”. So, before we even left the port of Miami everyone had to go to their rooms to get their life preservers and take them to their appropriate muster station (whatever a muster station is). Ours was in the Palace Lounge, which is where all the live entertainment happens on-board. The live preservers we have are HALIRAIOUS to wear. I have pictures somewhere, and by the time I post this I’ll probably have them uploaded on the computer so you can see what we looked like. It was funny. Dad fell asleep, lol!
As we got moving Mom and I went on a tour of the Spa. It was really awesome…expensive though. Once that was done we went to meet Matthew and Dad who were at a talk about the shore excursions. Dad won a towel from a raffle, which was cool (they have these random raffles around the ship, most of them are if you attend a talk you get a ballet for some draw). We got back to the room after that, un-packed our luggage, got changed, and went to dinner. There was a shopping talk at 7 and our dinner was at 6:15 so Matthew and I hurriedly ate our wonderful food (I had beef Wellington) and went to that. The shopping representative is Ryan and is not too hard on the eyes if you know what I mean. He was telling us the good places to go shopping at in both ports, stressing a store called Diamond’s International (an expensive jewellery place). Mom and Dad joined us at the talk once they had finished their meals, and this time Dad and Matthew won something in a raffle. Matthew got some “artwork” from the art gallery and Dad got a certificate for a ring at the store Diamond’s International. We went to pick up Matthew’s artwork right away because the place closed at 9, and then we went back to “The Palace” for the “welcome aboard show”. That was pretty good but seemed kind of cheesy…the male dancers are HOT though.
After all of that we were all so tired we just wanted to go to bed, but Matthew and I had missed out on the dessert at dinner because we went to the shopping talk, so we went to the Café and got some cake. It was really good but rich. Once we were done with that we looked around on the outside decks for a few minutes and headed back to our rooms for much needed sleep.
Today I got up at 6:15 am to get my shower…and you all know how much I like mornings, especially when I’ve had a long and busy day. Showering did wake me up a bit, but I was still tired. Breakfast was good; pretty much anything you’d ever want was at the buffet. After breakfast we all came back to the room for sun block and then we headed out to the gangway thingy to go on land (Key West). Mom and Dad had different shore excursions than Matthew and I so we split up once we got outside and found out where to go. Our tour wasn’t supposed to start until 9am so Matthew and I came back on to the ship and back to our room for a bit. That’s when I started typing this thing up (this is the third time I’ve worked on this). We hit the Butterfly Conservatory first, and it was AMAZING! I would have liked to stay longer, but we only had an hour. The enclosed greenhouse was smaller than I thought it was going to be but it was much larger than the one at the museum back home. I got a few good pictures but Matthew took the majority of them. There were so many butterflies flying around you all the time…it was great. I had this one butterfly land on my hand and it stayed on my palm for a good half hour. At one point one landed on my foot too (the non tattooed one), but what was kind of weird was that it was the same type of butterfly. That was really cool though. I ended up spending A LOT of money on some mounted butterflies. They are really beautiful though.
From there it was on to the Aquarium. That was a bust. There wasn’t much there at tall and I’m glad we didn’t pay much for it. It was good in a way that there wasn’t much to look at because we had to go to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and Pirate Soul Museum as well. Both places were pretty touristy and similar to things we had done either in Ireland (Dublina, in Dublin) or New York (Madame Tusaud’s). Again, things I’m glad we didn’t pay much for. Aside from those things, we went shopping. There was a store I had looked up online called Local Color, and they have gemstone jewellery. I got a liarmar bracelet for an amazing deal, plus I got a charoite pendant at a good price too. In fact, I’m wearing the pendant right now. I would have gotten something for you Renee, but I don’t know what your budget was…most things with liarmar were at least $40 and set in jewellery, but still really well priced. We also went to the Hard Rock Café (we didn’t go in but went to the gift shop) and a place called Del Sol, which has products that change colour in the sun (with UV light). At that point I was sweating so much I couldn’t take it any more (sorry, TMI) and we headed back to the trolley that took us back to the ship (it was 1 at that point, the ship was leaving at 2).
Once back on board (and through the security screening) we cooled off in our room and met mom and dad when they came back too. Mom didn’t have the best time on her tour (she was too hot and it was too long for her), but Dad loved his. From there we all headed up to the Coconut Grove bar and grill to get some lunch. It was so busy up there that we ended up getting stuff from the deli and the pizza place instead of waiting in the huge lines for the buffet and taking it to our rooms. After eating and talking we went back up for dessert about an hour or so later after the crowds had subsided.
I’m going to leave it at that for now because my wrist is getting sore and I’m really REALLY tired. I have been having a great time so far. I’ve met some nice people (a couple from NYC, and one from New Jersy) and had great food. I haven’t really been able to take many pictures just because I’ve been so busy doing my own stuff and having time restrictions. There are people on the ship that take your picture all the time though, so I’m sure we’ll end up with a few good ones to take home. Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you the rest of what we did today and what we will have done tomorrow, tomorrow night. Until next time!
(PS - we had the Captin’s Dinner tonight, and that meant dressing up. It felt like prom all over again…tomorrow is Playa del Carmen, Mexico…I’m seeing the Ruins of Tulum with Dad)