whale gravy...or our trip to the bahamas

Prepare to be bombarded with photos. I had initially thought about doing our cruise trip over the course of several posts. But I figured that might bother some people. (We were only gone four days. No need to drag our pictures out over a week.) So instead I am just going to shove a pictures (and text) overload on you.

We woke up at 4:00 AM on Thursday morning so that we could be at the airport by 5:30. And somehow we managed not to forget a single thing. Go us! That never happens. We made our way the airport, leaving behind 30 degree and snowy Hunstville, for 80 degree Nassau. Pretty good trade off, if you ask me.

Unfortunately once we made it on the airplane we ended up having to sit on the tarmac for over an hour due to problems in Atlanta. By the time we landed in Atlanta we had already missed our connecting flight to Melbourne, Florida. But luck was on our side, and we found out that the Melbourne flight actually had to get off the original plane (after being boarded for almost an hour) because of some issues and it ended up not leaving until 11, instead of it's original 9:20 flight. So we made it after all! (Which was really fortunate for us, because there weren't any other flights that would have put it at the port in time.)

Peppy's grandparents picked us up from the airport and drove us to the port. Neither of us could believe that it was actually happening.

It was pretty windy when we first arrived on the Carnival Sensation. Can I just say that Port Canaveral has got cruise embarking down pat? It was so fast! 

Yay! Free beverages for being frequent cruisers!

Before leaving Alabama, I told Peppy I was going to drink something out of a monkey head, and I really didn't care what it was. But since we have two children, we had to get two monkey heads. Those monkey brains were delicious.

The next day at noon, the Carnival Sensation docked at Nassau, Bahamas. We didn't have any shore excursions booked, and just planned to walk around and play it by ear. We had talked about trying to go snorkeling, but the water was not on our side that day. It was ok to step in for a bit. But way too cold to go underwater. We ended up going to the Pirates of Nassau Museum, which was really interesting. Then we rented a moped and drove around the city.

 The infamous Atlantis resort

Now, no one in Nassau made me feel uncomfortable. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. But their driving was a completely different story. Wow. It was insane. We didn't know that they drove on the opposite ride of the road as we do here, so that was a minor setback. But aside from that, they are absolutely crazy drivers! Everyone was honking nonstop and driving thisclose to one another. At one point we had a cement truck not even two feet from the front of our moped. We generally rent a scooter and drive around whatever port we are at, and I will take pictures from my seat. Not this time. I am glad that we got to stop at a different port this time (usually we go to Cozumel or islands close to Cancun,) but I don't think we'll be hitting up Nassau again. It was just too crowded and if you weren't going to pay $150 to have a day pass to the Atlantis resort (or planning to do some shopping) there wasn't much else left to do.

Saturday was our day at sea. And it was a blast! We woke up and had breakfast and then headed out to the Serenity Deck. This is a 21+ area, and there are only about 50 lounge chairs available. There is no loud music. No screaming children. 'Serenity' really does own up to it's name. For an hour or so I floated in and out of consciousness. And it was wonderful. I didn't think about anything. The rest of the day we participated in games and shows that were on the ship. And we ate to our heart's content.

 Let me give you a little back story for this sign. Peppy and I were going to a show at the Comedy Club one night, but it was starting an hour later than we had initially thought. So we decided to go laugh at  listen to the drunk karaoke singers. There was a young gentleman belting out his heart and soul to a country song. We found an empty table and I sat my delicious ice cream drink on the edge of our glass top table......and it crashed to the floor and shattered everywhere. Everyone turned to look at us. And we totally ruined that poor guy's song. Afterwards Peppy and I walked around and checked all the other tables. Ours had been the only one where the glass top wasn't secured to the base.

 We didn't buy any of our pictures, but I did take pictures of them. Shhh....don't tell Carnival.

 Ah, the Serenity Deck. I didn't even bring a book. I just immersed myself in the nothing-ness. It was absolute bliss. 

 Peppy's picture was so obnoxious. Every time we walked by I would put it on top of the others.

 melting chocolate swan

 I have some pictures of Peppy posing with the sculptures in Michelangelo's Lounge, but ummm....he might not appreciate it if I posted them.

We had the absolute best table mates at dinner. We had great conversation and were always laughing. Peppy and I always kind of dread eating dinner with other couples, because we have gotten stuck with some pretty difficult people to hold a conversation with. And that always makes dinner kind of awkward. But we loved these couples. And I really hated having to leave dinner on the last night.

I'm so thankful to have been able to spend a few days with just me and Peppy. And we are fortunate to have such wonderful parents that watched our kids so that we could have this getaway together. I think we have kind of decided that we are just going to take a cruise for our anniversary every year. I can handle that.

I know this post is already super long, but I wanted to make mention that I am officially a Bonine (over Dramamine) convert. It didn't make me drowsy. And I wasn't motion sick a single time. I am in love.