Bahamas Mon!

We did, in fact, just get back from the Bahamas. We had wanted to go on a cruise when Jeff graduated from dental school last summer, but we were in the middle of moving to Jacksonville and it just didn't work out. He promised me that we would still go on a cruise while we lived here, but I wasn't sure that would ever really happen. Well, we made it happen. We flew my mom out here to watch our kids (my dad and youngest sister decided to come, too), and we set sail from right here in Jacksonville on a 4 night Carnival cruise to the Bahamas. There is much to tell, but I think I am going to condense it all into two lists.

Things we didn't like about the cruise
Not being able to escape the rest of the tourists. We wanted to be able to do whatever we wanted, but that was a little bit difficult. Taxi drivers want to wait until they can fill their van (8 people, usually) before they leave, and they want to take everyone to one spot. We would've preferred being able to set out on our own and not just go to the same places everyone else was going. Also, a lot of Americans are just rude, and we hated being lumped in with the rest of them.

Bad weather. There was nothing that would've changed this, but it rained both days in the Bahamas (we spent one afternoon in Freeport and the next day, all day, in Nassau). It was really a bummer, and we ended up spending a lot more time indoors than we wanted to.
The rocking of the boat. The first few days were fine, but we hit some bad weather that really sent the boat swaying (especially down below where our room was). I still feel a little seasick and we have been home 48 hours.

Being somewhat limited to what you could do on the boat. Our ship was a smaller one (about 1500 people), and there were a lot of activities onboard, but we still wished for more.

The aggressive Bahamians trying to get us to buy things from them. I just don't like trying to wheel and deal to get the best prices on things, and I really didn't like every person we saw at the market trying to force things into my hand.

Things we loved about the cruise

The location. We left from the port here in Jacksonville, about 15 minutes from our house. We didn't have to fly or drive anywhere, but got to just get right on to the boat and never had to worry about travel again. Also, because it was October, we got a really good deal. We just couldn't pass it up.

It was completely relaxing. Because we had basically no time restrictions, we could do whatever we wanted without ever feeling rushed. I didn't feel like we needed to hurry home to our kids, or worry about when/where we would eat, and so we really did relax and enjoy ourselves.

The food, of course. Not everything was delicious (we give it about 3 1/2 stars out of 5), but there was always something to eat. And eat we did. The seafood was awesome, some of the beef was really good, the nonfat yogurt was one of my favorite things...Jeff said that no cruise line can afford to have bad food because they will lose so much business if they do. I have never seen so many people eating so much. It makes me sick to think about. We ate our fair share, too, and I'm honestly relieved that part is over. I just wish I could have one more lobster tail.

The movie channels they had in our room. We got caught up with Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Evan Almighty while we were cruising. It had been a while since we had seen any movie, and it was fun to get to do that.

Snorkling in the most gorgeous water I've ever seen. Even though we had bad weather, we still managed to see all kinds of fish, stingrays and conch. The bad weather may have helped us out a little, because no one was out on the beach. That was pretty cool. You can see one of the conch shells Jeff found in this video clip. The animal inside is alive and he left them in the ocean.

Getting to spend so much time alone with Jeff. That was definitely the best part of the cruise. We could take a stroll on the deck and take in the beautiful ocean on all sides of us. We could go to sleep whenever we wanted and didn't have to worry about taking care of anyone else. We could sleep in as much as we wanted and when we felt like having it quiet, it was quiet. So nice. And we got to be the people we were before we had kids. It was a fun walk through memory lane. If nothing else had gone right, it would've been worth it just to spend that much time with Jeff, remembering why I fell in love with him.

Here are some pics (a little out of order, but who cares) . We probably will cruise again. We would like to go with some friends or relatives next time (dinner was a tad awkward with couples we didn't know who weren't big conversationalists). Anyone want to come with us?

Borrowing some chairs from a resort in Nassau. We took a bus to this beach and ended up being some of the only people there. We saw some of the prettiest fish just a few hundred yards away in the ocean. It was the worst weather day, but we both agreed that it was our funnest day.

Getting back on the boat in Nassau. You can tell that it was a bit blustery.


Cute towel pig our stateroom steward left in our room one night. Jeff is making a pig face, and wasn't crazy about this picture. Too bad for him.

Our formal night. I wish we would've finished dinner a little earlier so we could have had the sunset in the background.

The first day in Freeport. It was great weather for a couple of hours and then the rains came. At least we had some gorgeous water/sky as a backdrop for some photos.

Just before we got off the boat in Freeport. Gorgeous, right? The water isn't bad either.

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