Travel – Page 11

Categories: Travel

Carnival Sensation | Western Caribbean Cruise | Grand Cayman & My Birthday

Our third day on the ship was Monday, November 28 and it was my birthday! Yay!

We didn’t have to meet to leave on our excursion until 10:00, so we slept in a bit, got ready, and then had breakfast on the lido deck before leaving the ship for the day. We left early enough that we were able to poke around in the shops around the port. I didn’t see anything worth getting, but my mom bought two cool shot glasses.

Our excursion was going to be a low-key and easy one. I wanted to go to Stingray City again (I go there every time I go to Grand Cayman!), but none of the offered excursions seemed worth the price, so we settled on a beach-type excursion that included lunch.

The White House in Grand Cayman is a beautiful destination, just breathtaking. Mom and I decided to set up shop by the pool, though the water was just a little too cold to be enjoyable. After about an hour of lounging, we were summoned for lunch, which might have been one of the best lunches I’ve had on a cruise excursion! I only managed to get a photo of the appetizer and dessert, mostly because I dug into my main course the minute it arrived. We had a choice for main courses, and I settled on chicken and potatoes. The chicken was juicy and cooked to perfection – yum, yum! It might have been the best meal I had all cruise!

After lunch, we had some more time to lounge and I read my book while relaxing in a cabana. Eventually, it was time to go and on our way back to the port, we got a great history lesson from the bus driver. One of the things that stuck out to me is that he said that police officers on Grand Cayman don’t carry guns because they believe in a lawful society and that the people of Grand Cayman believe that everyone working together to instill peace and order leads to a peaceful society. Hearing this was a breath of fresh air after everything that’s been happening in the US for the past month! I mean, granted, the Cayman Islands have a tiny population compared to the US, but it’s an interesting concept.

We got back on the ship around 2:30 and played a game of cards before I decided to take a nap. Around 6 or so, I showered and got ready for dinner. I was nervous about dinner because I knew I was going to be sung happy birthday in front of a full dining room (eeks), but I made it through and the cake I was given was pretty good. I also took a shot of Fireball because birthdays, amirite?! This is after I had a fruity cocktail, so I was feeling prettttty good afterward, haha. Ahhh, vacation!

Once we were done with dinner, it was time for one of my favorite events of any cruise: the Love & Marriage Show! We had a couple that had gotten married four days ago, a couple married for 16 years, and a couple married for 57 years. Let me tell you – Ed, the husband married for 57 years, became everyone’s hero throughout the program because his answers were hilarious! I will say that seeing those two was a little bittersweet because they could have been my grandparents. Ed’s wife is the same age my grandma would have been, and it made me realize how much life cancer stole from my grandma.

After the show, we headed back to our room to prepare for bed because tomorrow we were going to be in Jamaica!

Categories: Travel

Carnival Sensation | Western Caribbean Cruise | Days 1 & 2

My ninth cruise is in the books and, well, in more ways than one, it was quite the memorable experience! As I like to do with every cruise, I want to recap my time away with pictures and notes, so here we go.

We cruised out of Miami on Saturday, November 26 and I was so ready for a relaxing five days on the ship. The most “adventure” I would have would be my zip-lining excursion in Jamaica on Wednesday, but other than that, I planned to take it easy. I tried to take a nap every day (usually right before dinner), downloaded six books to read, and tried not to plan our days so much on the ship. There are so many activities that one can do on the ship, especially on at-sea days, and I tend to want to do them all, but this time around, I let it be okay to be my little introverted self and sit in my cabin playing cards with my mom or reading my book.

Sunday was our first at-sea day, and we chose to sleep in, eat a late breakfast, and then spend some time on the Serenity Deck. Eventually, we made our way inside so I could watch some of the Dolphins game. Unfortunately, the area where the games were playing was really loud and chaotic, and it got too much for me. (This is when I realized what it really means to be an HSP, as I developed a headache and a grumpy attitude from all the noise, sigh.) We ended up eating lunch and then I took a nap.

Later on, we ate a lovely dinner where I tried roasted duck for the first time (very yum!) and watched a comedy show that wasn’t very funny. It was more of a motivational speech than a comedy show, which is odd. We got to the show super early and right next to the lounge, they were playing the Sunday Night Football game, so I pulled up a chair and watched some more football (this time, in a much quieter environment!) before the show began.

Then, it was bedtime and my last time falling asleep as a 28-year-old! Tomorrow was my birthday and a relaxing day in Grand Cayman!

Categories: Travel

The Villages, FL | Girls’ Weekend

I spent this past weekend in The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida, with five girlfriends I’m in a book club with.

It’s a beautiful town and it felt like we were in an entirely different world – a world ruled by golf carts. I learned that tricked-out golf carts are a thing. Some of these golf carts were lavish, some with actual doors, some built to look like antique cars, some with the kind of seating that you’d find in a luxury car. It was pure insanity. There were pathways built specifically for golf carts and parking spaces for golf carts so that you really could just drive around town in your golf cart. Magnificent.

Surprisingly, we were not the anomaly that we thought we would be as there were quite a lot of younger people there. And all of the entertainers (yes, they have a nightly party in the square with live music and dancing!) were younger, too.

Honestly, if this is what growing old looks like, then I’m excited about retirement. 😉

Part of our group arrived on Friday around 6pm, and after checking into our hotel (we stayed at The Waterford Inn), we headed out on the town to find some apps and wait for the rest of the group to arrive. We stopped at a cute restaurant with outdoor seating and chowed down on some nachos while listening to live music.

For dinner, we met up with the rest of our group at Ay Jalisco for delicious Mexican food and margaritas. The drinks were strong and the food was great! I got a burrito bowl and I could barely finish it because I was still stuffed from the nachos earlier. Oy.

Afterward, we headed back to the hotel and played a few rounds of Taboo before heading to bed. (I warned my bedmates – we had two rooms, three people per room – that I was a heavy snorer, and even brought earplugs for them just in case I was too loud because ever since a former partner told me what a loud snorer I was, I’ve been insecure about my sleeping habits… turns out, I was fine! My friend told me I’m more of a heavy breather than a heavy snorer. Tehehe.)

On Saturday, it was activity day! We were up at 9 for breakfast and got picked up in the golf cart my friend had reserved for us! How cool, right?! It was soooo much fun to drive around town on the golf cart. I think that made the whole experience that much better!

After a quick breakfast at Panera, we headed over to the rec center to play some games. We played HORSE on the basketball court (we renamed it BOOKS because we are kinda dorky and we own it) where my friend, L., proceeded to make us all look like chumps. Girlfriend’s got game! Then, we played shuffleboard where L. and I won in a tough matchup!

We stopped for lunch at a country club and then went on a boat tour that was a little boring (I mean, the city has roots all the way to the 1970s, lol, so there’s not a ton of history to talk about), but the views were great!

Then, because we are a book club, we stopped into the local Barnes & Noble for coffee, snacks, and book perusal. It was actually exactly what I needed because my energy was tanking at that moment, so a peppermint mocha truly hit the spot!

We went back to the hotel after that and decided to head down to the pool for a bit. It was too cold to really enjoy the pool, so instead, we sat in the sun and played a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity.

We all got ready for dinner around 5pm and went down to the square to hear the live music and dancing. My friend, M., started a congo line! She’s very cool. I’m very not, so I sat back with the other introverts of the group and was happy to watch everyone else dance.

We ate dinner at City Fire where we were given a private room to dine in, which was pretty special! About halfway through our meal, a most adorable Michael Buble-esque performer came out to serenade us with music. He was really good, and we all agreed he needs to try out for The Voice. 🙂

After dinner, we got ice cream at Haagen-Dazs and then went back to the hotel for a very cutthroat game of Phase 10. Have you ever played that game? It is intense! And I was terrible at it. I was still in Phase 3 when my friends were in Phases 9 or 10. Needless to say, my friends have very funny video footage of me flipping out about how much I sucked at this game (all in good fun – at least, that’s what my friends told me the next day; they thought I was hilarious because I’m usually so reserved. What can I say? Games bring out the competitor in me!)

And that was our trip! Was it exciting? Probably not. But I feel like I’ve been so head-down, doing-work for the past month that it was nice to take a break from the computer and spend some time with my favorite ladies. It’s nice to find your tribe and I have definitely found my tribe with these girls. They get me. I can go crazy during a game night and they don’t think less of me the next day. That’s all you can really ask for in friends, right? 🙂

The Villages is not really the go-to destination in Florida, but it was fun to have a low-key weekend there and it’s really a beautiful area. Sure, it’s definitely not a diverse part of the state and the people there have privileges beyond their own understanding and I saw a few too many Trump signs, but I still enjoyed my time there and I’d go again with my girlfriends if they asked me to!

When is the last time you’ve had a girls’ weekend?

Categories: Travel

Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas | A Quick Cruise to Cozumel from Tampa

At the beginning of March, I boarded my eighth cruise ship for a fun-filled long weekend at sea. This was my first time sailing on Royal Caribbean, and to be honest, I wasn’t totally impressed. I don’t want to judge Royal too harshly because we sailed on one of their smaller and older ships (Brilliance of the Seas), but from everything, I’d read and heard, I was expecting much more than what I’ve got. I’d like to try sailing on one of Royal’s better ships, though, before I give an opinion. Carnival’s older ships are just as unimpressive as Royal’s, but their newer ships are sooo nice. I imagine it’s the same for Royal! Looks like I’ll have to book another cruise, yeah?

This cruise was one of those quick, four-day adventures. We left on Thursday afternoon and came back Monday morning, stopping in Cozumel on Saturday. For the rest of this post, I’ll let the pictures do the talking with commentary from me because, let’s be honest, the pictures are the best part!

The whole gang! This was us trying to get an us-ie in front of the cruise ship as we were boarding. Unfortunately, you can’t see the ship but you can see our joy-filled faces!

I made Briana squat down in front of this table with me so we could take a picture of this amazing fruit art! It says “Welcome on Board!” and it became my “sail away” picture for Instagram because you always need one of those.

My first drink of the cruise – a mango swirl! I asked the bartender for a mango daiquiri mixed with pina colada because I think the “mango swirl” term is Carnival-specific. It was delicious! Annnd… it ended up being my only drink of the cruise – ha! I meant to have my share of fruity drinks, but it just didn’t happen on this cruise. Oh, well. Next time!

Two girls who are seriously excited to spend the next three-and-a-half days on a cruise ship!

One of my favorite things about sailing from Tampa is when we pass under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It’s because of this bridge that cruise ships sailing from Tampa have to be small, and the highest point of our ship was only a few inches smaller than the bridge!

Ugh, this is my favorite – waking up on the first day and opening the curtains to see blue waters all around me. It’s such a sight to see and makes me feel so calm and peaceful and relaxed.

Our first day was spent as all days at sea should be spent – lazy! We did some reading on the deck, some swimming in the pool, and also played a cutthroat game of checkers. The night before, Briana and I had challenged each other in the arcade (like the adults we are…) and she beat me up in air hockey, so it was very rewarding to kick her butt in checkers, hehe!

We’re all dressed up and ready for cheesy portraits for elegant night on the ship!

“OMG We’re in Mexico!” faces

Briana and I signed up for a snorkeling excursion in Cozumel, and it. was. amazing! I’ve done a few snorkeling excursions (in Grand Cayman and St. Thomas), but never in Cozumel. It was more of a guided snorkeling tour, which I appreciated because the tour guide would swim down to point at different cool things, like schools of fish, coral reefs, and even a barracuda at one point! We also saw a ginormous manta ray. We had 45 minutes in the water, which felt like such a long time but also such a short time. It was an amazing experience, and one I will never forget.

After snorkeling, we had about a 20-minute or so boat ride to Playa Mia, a water park and beach. They plied us with drinks and we spent our time at the top deck of the catamaran, drinking and enjoying the view!

Our view from our chairs at Playa Mia. There was so much to do here! We started with a buffet lunch, which had the most random assortment of food – from taquitos to chicken nuggets. And then there were a ton of water toys to use, even inflatable water slides! We… opted to relax on the beach and read. Great decision.

What are those happy faces for? Oh, we only won almost FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS playing Mahjong slot. Hey! We only played a buck, so I’d say that’s a significant win. (We also ended up winning a little over $3.00 playing another slot game which had a slot bonus new member 100 promo, so yeah, we were pretty lucky on Saturday night.)

BINGO! I love playing bingo on a cruise ship – it’s so much fun! The four of us played on the first day of the cruise, and then Briana and I played a second time on the last day of the cruise. We never came close to winning, but we had fun anyway. 🙂

On the last day of the cruise, Briana and I tried rock climbing. She did amazing and made it up the wall twice. Me? Welllll… I made it up halfway before my muscles gave out. I felt very annoyed with myself for giving up and not making it up the wall, but oh well. Next time!

Sunset from our room on the last day of the cruise!

Categories: Travel

Carnival Glory | Eastern Caribbean Cruise | Day 7

Our final day of the cruise was Friday, May 22 and I was looking forward to having an extremely relaxing day at sea. While there were a few things we wanted to do around the ship, we definitely wanted to keep the day low-key and easy. Our vacation had been a crazy one filled with injuries, and we needed to end the trip on a calm note!

One of the things I’ve always wanted to do on a cruise, but rarely make the time for, is watch the sunrise. So, on this last day of vacation, we woke up before 6am and hurried up to the top deck of the ship to watch the sun rise above the ocean.

It was so quiet on the ship at this time of the morning! Within just a few hours, the decks would be packed with people, but right then, there were just a handful of cruisers up to enjoy the sunrise. It was a cloudy morning, so we didn’t get the best view, but it was still spectacular and I was happy I got up early to see it!

After viewing the sunrise, my mom went for a short run on the jogging track while I found a comfy chair and read my book. Then, we went back to the room where I promptly went right back to sleep for 3 hours. Ha!

After our morning siesta (there is something so decadent about a morning nap, I must say!), my mom and I made our way to the dining room to have brunch.

Afterward, we strolled around the ship for a while. One of the shops was having a jewelry sale at a certain time and my mom and I thought we would stick around and try to get something, but it quickly got crowded and crazy. And we realized we don’t even particularly like jewelry, so why were we doing this anyway? Isn’t it funny how stuff like that happens? You buy something just because it’s on sale… but the item you bought isn’t even something you really want. I’m glad I didn’t buy anything at this sale because I’m 100% sure I wouldn’t have worn whatever I purchased since then. (Not a jewelry girl at all!)

We decided to head up to the Serenity Deck for some fun in the sun, but it was seriously hot, hot, hot. It was around 11:30-noon at this point, which is the time of the day when the sun is the hottest. I think we only lasted an hour before we had to go back inside because we got overheated.

We went back to the room and played a few rounds of cards before heading to Amber Palace to participate in BINGO! In all the cruises I’ve been on, bingo is something I’ve always wanted to do but never have. Mainly because it costs money to participate. But we decided to check it out and, if it wasn’t too expensive to play, we’d go for it.

Luckily, it only cost $20 for the cheapest package. Of course, they try to upsell you the more expensive packages, but we stuck with the cheapo one that only included one sheet per game. (Some of the others had multiple sheets per game, raffle tickets, etc.)

And wouldn’t you know it – our first time playing bingo, we buy the cheapest package, and my mom WINS one of the games! She won the third game, which meant she won $150! Isn’t that NUTS?! My mom seriously has crazy luck with stuff like this. On a cruise she took a few years back with her fiance, she won $800 on the slot machine in the casino.

Winning bingo meant everything she spent on the ship was basically FREE. Playing the game, all her drinks, everything she bought in the gift shop. Free, free, free. (I think she even had some money left over, too.)

After the excitement that was bingo, I got ravenously hungry. It was close to 4pm at this time, which meant the buffets were closed. I got a few slices of pizza, we bought cookies from the bakery, and sat at a table inside to eat.

After that, we had a slow wind-down for the rest of our day! We took showers, started packing up our stuff, got ready for dinner, and then went to see a comedy show. (My favorite set of the entire cruise. I was in tears!) We went to dinner and then decided to go back to the room afterward instead of partaking in any of the nightly entertainment. We finished packing, played some cards, and went to bed early.

***

And that’s it for my vacation recaps! Whew. Three weeks of recapping a vacation seem like overkill, but I truly love writing these posts and reading back through them over the years. I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and that’s okay. Regular posting will resume next week. After what is essentially over a month of irregular blog posting, my brain is buzzing with ideas for what I want to write about. I can’t wait to get back into it! 🙂