holidays and vacations
There is only three more days until Christmas and for the first time in 22 years I won't be spending it in Quebec. Not only that but I will be alone this year. I work Christmas Eve in the evening and the morning shift for Christmas day. My parents are understandably upset by this but strangely I am not too bothered. It is sad that I won't be with my family especially since this year all of my mom's siblings will be out. Alas what can you do. I am the new person at work and I took a week off at the beginning of the month.
which reminds me I haven't said anything about my cruise yet!
The cruise itself was December 4th - December 11th but we left on the 2nd. We were on the Freedom of the Seas with the Royal Caribbean and set sail from Port Canaveral Florida. We drove down to Florida leaving quiet early on the 2nd. We stopped in North Carolina for the night and continued on the next day. We got to Florida on the 3rd and so we had all morning on the 4th to hang around before boarding 1:00. We were in Cocoa Beach and we took a walk on the beach which was lots of fun. I love sand and the ocean. I ran in the waves and chased birds. We also went into historical cocoa beach village where there was a crafts fair happening that week. We checked out the different booths and I even got this cute anklet.
This was my first cruise and I was impressed. The ship was huge and there is just so much on it. We had a room on the 6th deck and it was a bit cramped with my sister, my parents and I all in it. There was the main bed and then two bunks that folded down from the ceiling. We didn't spend much time in there though.
The first night was pretty rough sailing. A lot of people were pretty sea sick including my mom so that wasn't a great night for her. Kim and I spent the afternoon exploring the ship. There were 15 levels though the top few weren't full ones and the bottom two weren't really anything. There are several bars over the ship, a movie theater, pools, an arcade, a rock climbing wall, restaurants, a casino. So much going on always. There were different shows to see different nights.
We had a ventriloquist which was very entertaining. He was really good so the part where he had a dummy boy it was a little creepy because the wooden dummy looked too real. There was an illusionist who performed some amazing tricks including sawing a woman in half, levitation and the bed of nails. There was an ice show as well as their Marquee performance where there dancers and singers performed parts of various Broadway shows such as Cabaret, Phantom of the Opera and several others. The singer and dancers also did a show called "once upon a time" where they did different fairy tales with modern songs. One of the ones they sang for Pinocchio was No Strings Attached and with Cinderella they did Rich Girl. It was lots of fun.
We had three stops on the cruise. CocoCay, Bahamas. St Thomas and St Martin. CocoCay is a private beach owned by Royal Caribbean and we spent that day just laying on the beach soaking in the sun. In St Thomas we went on a sailboat to a reef where we went snorkeling. It was lots of fun we saw sea turtles and all sorts of colourful fish. I think that was my favourite part of the trip off ship. Being on the boat was nice; the wind, the water everywhere, the snorkeling and all the beautiful stuff to see. We wandered around the shops after where they were having their Christmas festival. there were several bands playing and people everywhere in the streets. It was just a great atmosphere going on.
St Martin (or St Maarten depending on what half you're on) was the last stop. We had hired a tour van for the day. First off we went to the french side and went to an old fort where we climbed up and had a look around the ruins. It provided an excellent view of the island as well. We walked back down to Marigol where we checked out the stalls the vendors had. Lots of knickknacks and other stuff. Picked up a couple of things and met up with the van and our driver again. Having him was a life saver for sure. It was grueling out outside and having the air conditioned van with cold drinks to get into was nice. After Marigol we went to Lotterie Farms where they have tree top adventures. It was more or less terrifying. I've done zip-lining before and that was no problem. It was a lot of fun and I love sipping through the trees but at Lotterie there was more than that. There were obstacles up in the trees. Tight ropes to walk, log bridges, planks suspended in the air! TERRIFYING! My sister and I were shaking and sweating from fear but we did it! I was so relieved to hit ground. After the Lotterie farm we spent the rest of the day at a beach. Lying on the beach reading and taking a dip in the ocean to cool off. It was a great day.
After St Martin it was two days and one night at sea to get back to Port Canaveral. We got off at 7:00 am or so and started the two day drive back. It was an amazing adventure and the only thing wish was that I had someone there who liked going out so to speak who would've gone to the bars with me.
which reminds me I haven't said anything about my cruise yet!
The cruise itself was December 4th - December 11th but we left on the 2nd. We were on the Freedom of the Seas with the Royal Caribbean and set sail from Port Canaveral Florida. We drove down to Florida leaving quiet early on the 2nd. We stopped in North Carolina for the night and continued on the next day. We got to Florida on the 3rd and so we had all morning on the 4th to hang around before boarding 1:00. We were in Cocoa Beach and we took a walk on the beach which was lots of fun. I love sand and the ocean. I ran in the waves and chased birds. We also went into historical cocoa beach village where there was a crafts fair happening that week. We checked out the different booths and I even got this cute anklet.
This was my first cruise and I was impressed. The ship was huge and there is just so much on it. We had a room on the 6th deck and it was a bit cramped with my sister, my parents and I all in it. There was the main bed and then two bunks that folded down from the ceiling. We didn't spend much time in there though.
The first night was pretty rough sailing. A lot of people were pretty sea sick including my mom so that wasn't a great night for her. Kim and I spent the afternoon exploring the ship. There were 15 levels though the top few weren't full ones and the bottom two weren't really anything. There are several bars over the ship, a movie theater, pools, an arcade, a rock climbing wall, restaurants, a casino. So much going on always. There were different shows to see different nights.
We had a ventriloquist which was very entertaining. He was really good so the part where he had a dummy boy it was a little creepy because the wooden dummy looked too real. There was an illusionist who performed some amazing tricks including sawing a woman in half, levitation and the bed of nails. There was an ice show as well as their Marquee performance where there dancers and singers performed parts of various Broadway shows such as Cabaret, Phantom of the Opera and several others. The singer and dancers also did a show called "once upon a time" where they did different fairy tales with modern songs. One of the ones they sang for Pinocchio was No Strings Attached and with Cinderella they did Rich Girl. It was lots of fun.
We had three stops on the cruise. CocoCay, Bahamas. St Thomas and St Martin. CocoCay is a private beach owned by Royal Caribbean and we spent that day just laying on the beach soaking in the sun. In St Thomas we went on a sailboat to a reef where we went snorkeling. It was lots of fun we saw sea turtles and all sorts of colourful fish. I think that was my favourite part of the trip off ship. Being on the boat was nice; the wind, the water everywhere, the snorkeling and all the beautiful stuff to see. We wandered around the shops after where they were having their Christmas festival. there were several bands playing and people everywhere in the streets. It was just a great atmosphere going on.
St Martin (or St Maarten depending on what half you're on) was the last stop. We had hired a tour van for the day. First off we went to the french side and went to an old fort where we climbed up and had a look around the ruins. It provided an excellent view of the island as well. We walked back down to Marigol where we checked out the stalls the vendors had. Lots of knickknacks and other stuff. Picked up a couple of things and met up with the van and our driver again. Having him was a life saver for sure. It was grueling out outside and having the air conditioned van with cold drinks to get into was nice. After Marigol we went to Lotterie Farms where they have tree top adventures. It was more or less terrifying. I've done zip-lining before and that was no problem. It was a lot of fun and I love sipping through the trees but at Lotterie there was more than that. There were obstacles up in the trees. Tight ropes to walk, log bridges, planks suspended in the air! TERRIFYING! My sister and I were shaking and sweating from fear but we did it! I was so relieved to hit ground. After the Lotterie farm we spent the rest of the day at a beach. Lying on the beach reading and taking a dip in the ocean to cool off. It was a great day.
After St Martin it was two days and one night at sea to get back to Port Canaveral. We got off at 7:00 am or so and started the two day drive back. It was an amazing adventure and the only thing wish was that I had someone there who liked going out so to speak who would've gone to the bars with me.