Vacation!!

As promised here is the recap of our vacation to the Bahamas.

Just leaving was tiring enough to warrant a vacation. Ryan was in Dallas for a conference the week before our cruise. He flew into Chattanooga Friday morning and by the time we got home it was about time to go trick-or-treating, which we wanted to stick around for, for Carter. After that we made the trip over to Ryan’s parents in North Carolina, arriving there around 11pm. Poor Ryan was exhausted. We spent Saturday with Ryan’s parents and left for Florida that night after Carter fell asleep.

Fortunately the time changed that night, so when we stopped to sleep at 2a, we got 6 hrs of sleep before we woke up at 7a. As it turned out, I had packed 2 different black shoes for formal night on the cruise so we had to keep an eye out for a walmart that morning so I could get some matching shoes. (We figured a walmart would be the only thing open that early on a Sunday, which it was).

We got to port about 11 and were able to board at 11:30a. Our room wasn’t ready until 1:30, so we roamed around the ship and ate some lunch, while we waited around for a place to take a nap. :P After getting to the room we unpacked and relaxed until the safety drill, which was nice and short- they didn’t make us go out to the lifeboats because it was raining. We then finally got a nap. By the time we woke up we were out to sea and it was still raining. On top of it, by supper time, many people were complaining of sea sickness, myself included. Our dinner table passed around some sea sick pills, but I unfortunately had to leave early, because my stomach never settled.

The next day was much nicer- we were in Freeport by the time we woke up. There wasn’t much to that island, just some open air shops. Apparently there was a well hidden beach close by, so well hidden that there were only about 25 people there. (Someone at our dinner table discovered it). We, like many other people, ventured off to look at the shops and then spent the remainder of the day lounging around the ship. Ryan seemed happy to watch the huge barges being pushed into dock by the tugboats to load/unload their massive loads of cargo.

We left port that evening and the water was fortunately much calmer. The next morning we awoke in Nassau. After breakfast we ventured out to do some shopping and found a few things for Carter. We returned to the ship for lunch (why pay on shore when it’s all you can eat for free onboard!?) On the advice on a friend who’d been there before, we took a taxi over to Atlantis, a beautiful resort island with water parks and a sprawling aquarium that you can view from above and below. We wandered around the hotels and watched people scream their heads off as they went down the vertical waterslide. We didn’t venture into the water, because it was a nice mild temperature that day- perfect for walking around, but not warm enough by my standards to get wet.

The next day was our day at sea- the day I’d been dreading after the first night’s rough seas. Fortunately it was calm waters, but VERY windy. Ryan and I played a very interesting game of miniature golf. We’d hit the ball and the wind would blow it all the way back to us. Neither of us came anywhere near par on the course. :) By supper that night we were able to feel the ship swaying again. Fortunately it didn’t start getting really bad until after supper and we were ready to go to bed anyway. We found out the next morning from our cabin steward that the days going in and out of Florida are usually rougher. Apparently it’s something with leaving on the eastern side of FL, because we never felt a thing on our last cruise that left on the gulf side of the state.

All in all, we had a great time. Good shows, good food, good naps. It was very relaxing. And as for Carter, he didn’t want to leave Nana and Papa’s house. We asked him if Nana and Papa had spoiled him and he quickly replied “No”. We don’t buy it. :)