Last night on board ... more to come!

I had a “James Gregory” (a comedian, billed as “the funniest man in America”) moment when I saw this pool.

This is the baby pool – and if you look closely, you’ll see a sign that says “No Diving.” This pool is 1-foot deep. I looked at that and thought, “You know what that means? Sometime in the past some nut said to his wife, ‘Honey, watch me start my second childhood.’”

We’re packing up this evening, so this will be my last post on the ship. I’ll continue posting for a bit after we get home, but I need to pack up the laptop and spend the last night doing some serious mimosa tasting.

Stay tuned for a few more comments and more photos!

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There are no words to describe ...

There is, however, a photo.

This is a brownie and chocolate shake from the Coral Sea Café, which I brought back to the cabin and enjoyed out on the balcony. What can I say except: “Oh my.”

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What have we been doing? Glad you asked!

Some of you have written to say you missed my daily posting. It’s good to know my reading public is eager for news (or … actually, it’s good to know that I HAVE a reading public).

My excuse: When we got back from the dolphin encounter, we were exhausted and took a nap (of course we did), then it was getting on to mimosa time, and then it was time for dinner, followed by a show and so on. This morning I didn’t have time to post because our excursion to Atlantis left at 8:00, and we barely had time to eat breakfast before we left the ship.

Wow, it takes a lot of time and energy to relax, doesn’t it? Heh.

Anyway. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

The dolphin encounter yesterday was great! I love dolphins anyway, but to get this close to them and be able to touch them was a rare treat.

One interesting thing happened, though: We were instructed to keep our hands over our stomachs any time we weren’t petting the dolphins. Otherwise they’d get confused because their trainers tell them what to do with hand signals. But they also said to let them know how excited we were because they feed off of our energy.

Well, ok. When the dolphin we were working with (named Coral) came up, of course I started waving at her and saying, “Hey Coral! Hey!” Then she went under the water and hit the back of my leg with her pectoral fin. I think she was letting me know that the hand gesture confused her because I’m not her trainer. I almost slipped in the water, but I got the message. First time I’ve ever been reprimanded by a dolphin. After that we got along fine, because I’m a fast learner and I kept my hands over my stomach when I wasn’t petting her. Heh.

Today we went to Atlantis on Paradise Island and did the Aquaventure excursion – a day pass to the entire resort, including the pools, waterslides and beach. This was a blast! I recommend it for anyone of any age.

First thing as soon as we stowed things in the locker and staked out our beach chairs was to do the lazy river – twice. It takes about 45 minutes, and part of it has alternatives you can choose. You can go through “the rapids” or go up a conveyor belt (on your inner tube) to the top of a slide and go down either “the drop” or “the falls.” We had so much fun.

We had lunch there (complimentary as part of the ticket price), which was terrific, and then we walked around a bit more, saw the “dig” – the aquarium and ruins walk that’s built to look like the ruins of Atlantis.

We went back to the slides and were going to do the “leap of faith” – a 7-story almost vertical drop that scared me silly – but it started thundering and they closed the slides. So we lay around on the chairs for a bit then made our way back to the ship. But let the record show that I was willing to do the leap of faith.

On the way back to the ship, we visited the library – it’s a cute, tiny, octagon-shaped building that we found one year when we were here, and we make a point to go each time and sign the registration book.

Unfortunately I don’t have photos to post yet of the excursions because we took them with waterproof cameras, and we’ll have to get them developed.

Tomorrow is a day at sea on the way home, and I plan to do as little as possible. Maybe a nap or two. But I’ll be sure to find time to post if for no other reason but to tell you how many naps I’ve had.
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That's 'pilots' not 'pirates' of the Caribbean

This morning we got up early and went out on deck with our coffee so we could see the ship pull into Freeport. There were a couple of other people near us, and they started getting really excited, pointing to something in the water. This is what they saw:

Then they got really excited when the ship pulled alongside us:

I asked what the excitement was all about, and they said they thought it was pirates. I explained that this was the harbor pilot, who has to board the ship to drive it into the port. By this time the pilot had boarded and the ship moved away:

They were disappointed. One of them even said, “Oh, that’s not as dramatic as pirates.” Well, no, it’s not.

Here are a few more photos. This is the waterslide I keep talking about, from two views:

And this is the wide-screen. For reference, that’s Tony standing under it.

We’re off to play with the dolphins.

Relaxing day ... and we found Henry!

I don’t know what the Guinness Book of World Records’ current record is for the number of naps a person can take in one day, but I think I might be a serious contender.

Today was one of the two days at sea (the other being the last day of the cruise on our way home), and it was as relaxing as I could have hoped for. We had no schedule, just went wherever we wanted, ate whenever (and whatever) we wanted (coffee and pastry, followed by breakfast, followed by mid-morning pizza, followed by lunch … you get the idea), joined in when we wanted, took naps when we wanted.

One of my naps was on deck – but fortunately I did get slathered up with sunblock (SPF 1-trillion) first. Alas, I will still end up sunburned, because I have very fair skin, and it does not get along well with the sun. Maybe if the two spent more time together.

We did not hit the waterslide as we’d hoped to. The line was just too long, and what can I say, we were not in the mood to wait. Still a few more days to do that, though.

Mid-morning we met up with the Cruise Critic roll-call folks for our meet-and-greet. We were quite the festive gathering with our beads. It was good to put a face to the screen names.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Freeport, and our excursion – as I’ve mentioned before – is the Dolphin Encounter. Looking forward to encountering them.

Oh, and here’s this photo, especially for Amanda. Look whom we spotted in the hallway! It’s Henry!

Embarkation day recap

One of Carnival’s latest features is a huge widescreen flat-panel, and I do mean huge – it’s positioned over the pool area. They show movies and concerts and other things, and both the picture and sound are great. There was a movie – The Bourne Ultimatum – but we watched only part of it (not having seen the other Bourne movies or read the books, we didn’t have a clue what was going on … they should have shown Back to the Future). Still, we stayed long enough to know it’s a quality setup, and we’ll head back for other movies. There’s something really cool about sitting on deck beside the pool watching a movie, with waiters milling around ready to go fetch a beer or glass of wine or some rum concoction.

Last night, after the obligatory lifeboat drill (which: I’m thinking if we hit an iceberg or some equally calamitous thing happens, there’ll be a lot more chaos and a lot less lining up by height, I’m just saying), we did the most important task: finding the fastest route from our cabin to the buffet. (Priorities, people!) The important thing is we found out where the 24-hour pizzeria (oh yeah!) and the ice cream self-serve machines are located.

That task completed, we went to the welcome aboard show, and the comedienne was great: Kim Harrison, from West Columbia, S.C., by golly. I’m hoping to run into her on the ship and talk to her – seeing as how we’re practically neighbors (100 miles apart, but still). (This is what traveling does to me. “You’re from South Carolina? Me too!” And then I do the typical southern thing and ask about “your mama and them.”)

After the show we moseyed around the ship. We found a really good singer in a lounge area outside the casino. As we were looking around for a seat that was close enough to hear but far enough way that our eardrums wouldn’t burst from the loud speakers – what did we run into but the Coral Sea Café, which is a type of dessert bar with about 10 different kinds of chocolate cake and milk shakes and other chocolate desserts and coffee and did I mention there’s chocolate. There is no finer moment in life than this, people.

By then (after I did indeed partake of one certain chocolate creation with fruit on top) we could keep our eyes open no longer and went to the cabin. I know that makes us weenies, but it was after midnight, and we are old married people who lived through three teenage daughters. Cut us some slack. Sail-away parties were still in full swing, though, all over the ship. For those of you who can keep up the pace, you won't be disappointed.

We left the curtains open last night, and this morning we woke up to the sunrise over our balcony. How awesome.

Today we plan to hit the waterslide. I’ll try to get photos of that fun and post later.

ETA: I'm taking creative license with the "teenage daughters" comment because people with teenagers, especially daughters, can relate. But truth is our daughters are terrific, and we're very proud of them.


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On board!

We got to the port about 3:20 and moved through security and check-in pretty quickly and got on board by about 3:50. Not bad. Still, I have to say, compared to Port Canaveral (which is where we usually sail out of), it seems a little less organized. But that's probably due to the fact that Charleston has way fewer ships sailing out of here.

Oh, and Tony's beads were a bit hit with the check-in group. Every one of them commented.

I know you're all curious about what we did first (after finding our cabin, of course). We hit the food, what else? Delicious buffet, awesome dessert. Two thumbs up to everything so far. (I could not be a food critic. Obviously.)

We ate at a window seat in the Mediterranean Cafe with a view of Charleston. I live here and I'm a little jaded on the town, but this is an awesome view. We noticed that the shuttle buses and the cars were backed up way down the road. Glad we got here when we did!

We checked out the layout of the ship -- as much as one possibly can within an hour on a ship this size. Then we got connected to the wi-fi. As you can see:

This is the view from our cabin (can you see why he was such a hit with those beads?):

She's heeeeeere

For those who are wondering, yes, our ship came in. We were at the waterfront park when she arrived and watched her being tied up:

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Beads

Something we started doing for the past few cruises is wearing beads -- and when I say beads, I mean as gaudy as can be (think Mardi Gras) -- and having other people from Cruise Critic wear them too so we can spot each other when we first get on board. (For example: from the Mariner cruise last year.)

We don't wear them throughout the cruise -- just through the Customs check-in and maybe the first few hours.

Here are ours. Mine is on the left. It has animals on it, and Tony added an alligator from one of my wind chimes to the bottom. (For more on the "thing" I have for alligators, visit here.) Tony's is the one with the red hot peppers. He was going to get one that had red hots AND blinked, but we decided that would just be too much, even for Mardi Gras/cruising. Adorable, aren't they?

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Charleston excursion

We did our first excursion! Charles Towne Landing:



We saw some of the "babies" -- two-year-old alligators:



And we saw Sherman, who seems to have gotten in a fight recently.

Other than that, we're still packing. So far the experience of cruising out of our home town, as opposed to traveling 400 miles to Port Canaveral, is going well. We're just aware of how much we've put off to the very last minute, knowing that we have until tomorrow afternoon/evening before getting on the ship. Had we been going to Florida, we'd have gotten on the road Friday night and made a stop in St. Augustine ... the point being that our vacation would have already started.


Something to think about.
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Dolphin encounter

In Freeport, our excursion will be the dolphin encounter. I won't get through this experience without thinking of the movie "The Day of the Dolphin." (Fa!)

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What I'm looking forward to most, excursion-wise

The Atlantis Aquaventure, a day pass to the Atlantis resort and its awesome water slides and pools:
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Take a look at our digs

Here's what our cabin looks like:




It's an aft balcony cabin. When we leave Charleston, we'll be sitting out there with a view of the Ravenel Bridge.


Here's the layout:

For a virtual tour, click here. It looks a little small, but remember, this is just where we sleep ... and have champagne on the balcony. The rest of the ship is HUGE.
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Our gift for us

Here's a gift package we just bought ourselves:

It's a coupon for 4 drinks. We bought 2, so each of us has 4. We also got one of these coupons with our gift package (the one with the champagne), so we now have 6 drinks each. Between these coupons, plus our bottle of champagne and the freebie drinks you get (captain's party, welcome back for past cruisers, art show, etc.), we should be set.

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Detailed vaca bragging begins NOW!

We leave on Monday, May 26, but it's never too early to start bragging about your upcoming vacation.

I'll be "live blogging" from the ship, but I figured it was best to start this blog now and have a place to go on and on about the cruise without upsetting the readers from my other blog if they're not up to the bragging.Ok, then. Everybody up for the kickoff. This is the itinerary:

This is a package we ordered back in February for our anniversary:

This is what it includes: two Carnival logo pocket t-shirts with two matching visors, a plush Carnival logo terrycloth beach towel, a bar credit (four drink coupons) and a photo coupon. Plus (and most important to us), a bottle of Korbel champagne and two engraved champagne flutes. We wanted it mostly for the champagne and flutes, but the bar credits are good too.

I considered ordering the one pictured below too (included in the package: two apples, two pears, four oranges, four bananas, three seasonal fruits, 24oz grapes, one package of dried fruits, two packages of smoked almonds, four mini-Gruyers cheeses, two Bonbel cheeses, two Rondels cheeses, six packages of water biscuits and one bottle of white wine ... all in a gift basket).

I'm really after the wine, but I like the idea that we'll have all this in our cabin just in case we're too lazy to walk to the buffet line or room service is taking too long. What do you guys think?

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