We're going on a trip!

Ben and I decided back in January that we wanted to escape the harsh winter by taking a vacation somewhere warm. The original plan was to go while it was still cold in NJ but after figuring out work schedules and researching vacation possibilities, we settled on a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise departing May 1. Our travel friends were also looking to get away and decided to come along with us.

We figured it would still be pretty cold in NJ and a cruise to the Caribbean would be a nice change in scenery... little did we know that the week prior to our cruise, it was actually just as hot in NJ as it was in Miami! Gotta love that unpredictable NJ weather...

May 1st finally arrived and we left our house at 3:30am for our friends' place. From there we loaded our luggage and headed to the airport. Our flight departed at 6:15am and two and a half hours later, we arrived in sunny Miami. We decided to eat breakfast at the airport, not wanting to haul our luggage around with us. From there, we took a cab to the port of Miami where we checked in and waited for the announcement that we'd be allowed to board the ship. Running on less than 2 hours of sleep (difficult even for my husband, the "machine"), it was difficult to stay awake. I squeezed in about an hour or so of uncomfortable, upright napping while waiting to board the ship. Note that there are no pictures so far since I was barely functioning in my sleep-deprived trance.

When we were finally allowed to board, we made a mad dash for the buffet. We weren't even hungry, but we were on a cruise and we already paid for the food, so we were going to eat! The lines weren't too bad since we were on the ship relatively early. We then started to play Bohnanza (also referred to as the Bean Game... why it is called Bohnanza, we still have no idea)... this was the first of many hours we would spend playing this game. We were so engrossed in the game that we didn't even realize that our rooms were ready.

At around 3pm, we went to drop our stuff off in our rooms. Ben and I booked our first balcony on this trip. The first time I cruised as an adult, I stayed in an interior. I realized I hated sleeping in what felt like a closet and because of this, decided that I did not like cruising. The second time I cruised, I stayed in an oceanview cabin, had a much better time and decided I would never go back to an interior. This time was the third time and after staying in a balcony room, I don't think I can ever go without one again... uh oh. Some people say that they don't spend enough time in the cabin to care what type of room it is but I might be one in the minority who feels that the cabin makes a really big difference in the whole vacation.

Here it is! We booked a balcony guarantee and were assigned a cabin on the lido deck which turned out to be extremely convenient. We were on the same deck as the buffet!... not that we really needed to be so close to it...


Carnival Whale Tail

The worst part of the day was the lifeboat drill. I really just wanted to take a nap and instead of napping, found myself packed like a sardine with thousands of cruisers watching a 1 minute demonstration on how to put on a life vest and listening to a 5 minute announcement over the PA system on why the demonstration was necessary. We then waited an additional 15 minutes for the other side of the ship to clear out before we were finally dismissed.

Watching the sailaway from Miami was one of my favorite parts of the cruise. Ben and I started out on the lido deck. It was a little too crowded and loud. The music wasn't so bad until Ben pointed out that the keyboard player in the calypso band was only playing two chords in every one of his songs... we decided to watch the sailaway from our balcony. Same view, no noise, much better!

waterfront mansions and yachts in Miami

approaching South Beach

South Beach

We had an earlier dinner that night. The food was pretty good throughout the cruise... we found that their fish courses were usually very good and their beef dishes just okay.

Here we are on the first night at dinner.

Three of us ordered the lasagna as a main entree. It was one of the best lasagnas I have ever eaten, although still no match for the amazing lasagna we had in Florence last year. 

Creme Brulee - looks good but Ben said it was too sweet and consistency was too liquidy

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake - I think I had this every night of the cruise except for one night

After dinner we had time to roam around a little and we decided to watch their welcome show. The welcome show was basically an introduction to the cruise director, entertainment staff, dancers, musicians and comedians. The dance and musical number was super campy and outright bizarre... it was like Dancing with the Stars meets Chippendale dancers on crack... seriously.

The rest of the show was much better. They played an onstage game involving audience participation and then the comedians came out to give a short preview of what their shows would be like later on in the cruise.

The original plan was to go to sleep early that night but after walking by the Lido Deck and seeing that Despicable Me was playing on the big screen, I had to pass on the early bedtime.

Despicable Me playing on the Lido Deck at night