Before I say another thing, look at the pictures. They tell alot of the story too! I’m going on a day to day basis here.

Right, so, we left on Sunday at about 6a.m. for the airport. We got through baggage and all the bullcrap at the airport fairly quickly. Got on our flight on time around 8, arrived in Florida at about 10:30 est. We boarded a shuttle some half an hour later and were in Port Canaveral by noon. We were able to board and get situated pretty easily, and food was everywhere.

So, we eat a little, listen to music, explore the ship for awhile, and by 8 that night we were pretty famished. Our dinner service was at 8:15 in the Ecstasy dining room. We were sitting with another family of three and made pleasant conversation. This first night was the first informal dining night, so we all had nice clothes, but nothing dressy. The menu was awesomely filled with good food, of which I ate far too much. We retired up to the Lido deck for shuffleboard after dinner, and then hit our room early for Monday.

We woke up docked in Freeport, on Grand Bahama island. Freeport itself wasn’t terribly impressive, although Port Lucaya was pretty nice. Plenty of shops, friendly people, etc. We bought Cuban cigars, and other stuff while there. We only had an hour though, because we were leaving port at 3p.m.. We got back on the boat after a little more stall shopping, of which everyone had the same stuff and advertised their “great deals.” Honestly, chatchkees aren’t worth spending money on.

So, back on the boat, we went and sat on the Lido deck, just sun tanning for awhile. I entered the “water sport olympics,” for diving and getting balls from underwater. Unfortunately, the pools were salt water, and without my glasses I was even blinder then usual. I failed terribly! So, hoping to redeem myself, I entered the mini golf tourney with David. We did pretty well actually, David got second, and I tied somewhere around 5 or 6. The winner was like 12 years old and got a 17, although I call bull on that. Doesn’t matter though, because it was fun.

David ended up sunburned on his back and front, and was absolutely miserable for the rest of the trip. Well,he didn’t start feeling it til the next day, so we still had a nice dinner that night. It was “Formal” there, and picture spreads were everywhere. Grand staircase, piano, roman garden, any picture backdrop you can imagine was there. We got a few, and hit the dining room. It was absolutely phenomenal that night. I had a blended mango fresh fruit plate for an appetizer, followed by prime rib with fresh greens, and a “warm chocolate melting cake.” I said I ate too much on this trip. Well, we hit our room one more time to drop off some stuff, then headed back out. David went to the comedy show, I went out and listened to a guitarist named Michael Lee. He was pretty good, but overall he was just a lounge guitarist. In the area known as the Michelangelo lounge, there was a rock cover band from Korea named “Blood Power.” I swear, they were the greatest thing I’ve heard live in a long time. Good sound quality, great stage presence, awesome to watch. After about two hours, I was done and hit the hay.

On Tuesday, we woke up again in port. This was Nassau, the capital of the Bahamian islands. We ate a good breakfast and were off the ship in time to catch our tour; “See Nassau the Fun Way on a Segway.” The tour was supposed to take us through the fort’s ruins, and in the Botanical Gardens, but instead we were taken through the backroads of Nassau and near the old Aqueducts that served to give the city water until the 1970’s. It was still fun, don’t get me wrong – offroading on a Segway? Dank! But I still would’ve liked to the see the fort. What can I say? I’m a sucker for old buildings.

We finished our tour in time for it to rain for about 45 minutes, but it didn’t dampen our spirits. Yes that was a pun. We shopped on Bay street and saw tons of stuff. The old lighthouse museum, Pirates of Nassau and the Bahamas, the old church on Parliament street. It really was cool to be there, and I got some great shots in the pictures I put up. Free stuff abounded too, since we were tourists and they had all their “special deals” out. my mother got a stone set in silver called Larimar (or something like that). It had a cobalt like texture, but a lighter color. That stone can only be found in one square kilometer of land on Earth(so far).

We ended our day back on board, watching the stars that night from the viewing deck. Really cool to be able to SEE the sky at night.

We left port early in the morning and were at sea all the next day, so we did our best to stay busy. We played bingo, watched “Run Fatboy, Run,” on board, bid in an Art Auction (we actually won a door prize that will be here within the week). More bingo, and dinner followed. We ate like kings, and regretted nothing. Honestly, this was the most boring day, but it was a good relaxant for us. We pulled into Port Canaveral early in the morning.

We had to be off the ship by 9:30, so we got up early, had a quick breakfast, and were on the bus back to Orlando airport in time to catch an earlier flight out to St. Louis. Suddenly coming home to rain was different, but I had kinda missed the weather here after so long at sea, ya know?

Check some of the pictures for more!

All the albums

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3 p.1

Day 3 p.2

Day 4

Day 5