Hi ya! Well, our cruise is over, but it was certainly a trip that we'll never forget! Besides the fact that Dusty and I have been married now for 25 years...they said it would never last...what a wonderful way to celebrate an anniversary. The best part of the trip was that I was able to spend the time with my best friend, my husband. I realize more and more every day what a lucky person I am to not only be married to a great guy who loves me, but who is also my best friend. Any way...on to the cruise. We left from Port Canaveral, Florida on Monday, June 30th aboard the Royal Caribbean, Sovereign of the Seas. She is a 20 year old cruise ship who will retire in October of 2008. Although I've never been on a ship before, I thought she was a beautiful boat. Once we boarded, we found our cabin on deck 5. It was an inside state room...yep, you guessed it no window, but it wasn't too bad. I couldn't go to the bathroom with the door closed though. Yeah, I know gross, but remember that I get claustrophobic. We were on the deck with all the shops and the casino. No, I didn't lose any money...not even in the shops. At 4pm, everyone had to go on a mandatory lifeboat drill. We all had to put on our lifejackets and go to our muster stations. Ours happened to be in the VIP lounge. We listened to instructions on what to do if we were to hit the ever elusive iceberg, then went back to our rooms. After getting unpacked, it was time to ready for dinner. Casual dining that night, even in the formal dining room. Our waiter was Nickolai, a really nice guy. We're not use to eating such fancy meals though...it was quite interesting. We were at a table with a young couple from Detroit...he was a police officer and she was a social worker, really a nice couple. Then we made our way to the pool deck, deck 11 &12. They were doing line dancing and just having a great time. Dusty and I decided to go for our nightly walk. There is a walking track outside on deck 7. 3 times around the deck is a mile, so off we set. Now remember, the weather is overcast with storms around us, so there is some rocking of the boat and a pretty stiff wind. So swaying, we start walking into the wind. By the time we reached the front of the ship, it was all we could do to walk forward, then as we rounded the front, the wind blew us so hard from the back that we were almost running. Well 4 laps were all we could manage without getting blown away. Talk about resistance training.
During the night, we ran into some rough weather. We didn't know it, but the Captain informed us on Tuesday morning that he made the decision to change our course and head for Nassau first. So around lunch on Tuesday we docked in the port in Nassau. After standing in line with 2000 of our closest friends to disembark, we hit the shopping area of Nassau. After going through customs, we were bombarded by people wanting to take us on taxi rides, surrey rides, scooter rides, tours, braid hair, etc. After wading through them all, we finally made it into the downtown area. I must admit that I was extremely shocked. I knew that the area was not a rich area, but I did not expect to see the poverty that we encountered. Except for the area of Paradise Island, where the Atlantis Hotel is located, Nassau is an extremely dirty, poor area. We did do some shopping for the girls, Hard Rock T's and Senior Frogs T's, and a quick tour of the straw market. The weather was overcast and a few sprinkles of rain, but we enjoyed ourselves. When we got back to our ship and realized that there were 3 other ships anchored there also. Beside of us a the Disney Cruise Line "Wonder". That night after dinner, Dusty and I sat on our pool deck and watched Monsters Inc. on the Disney Cruise ship. They have a huge movie screen on their pool deck and show Disney movies all the time. It was pretty cool. For dinner on Tuesday, it was formal dress night. It was really nice to get all dressed up and have photos made and go to dinner. I must admit that I had the most handsome date there. My only problem was that I kept feeling like I was falling out of the top of my dress. I'm a little too self conscious to wear that little bit of clothes on top. We then went to the Captain's welcome reception where you could have a glass of champagne, rum punch or fruit punch and then meet the Captain and senior crew members. It was sort of boring, but ok to do once. Dusty decided he was still hungry, so we went up to deck 12 and had pizza at Sorrentos Pizza. Let me tell you, you could really eat 24 hours a day on these cruises. Breakfast was served in the main dining room from 7am till 9:30am. If you didn't get enough, you could them go to Windjammer on deck 11 and eat buffet breakfast from 7am till 11am. Then lunch was served buffet style in Windjammer from 12noon until 3pm. Snacks were served there from 3pm-5pm. Dinner was then served in the main dining room, one seating at 6pm and one at 8:30pm. If you were still hungry, buffet dinner was served in Windjammer from 7pm -9:30pm. If you were still hungry, Sorrentos Pizza served from 11am-2am and Johnny Rockets served burgers and fries from 2pm - 2am. Oh, and there was a buffet just about every night at poolside from 11pm-12:30am. Needless to say, we did not go hungry. I sure am glad that I lost weight before we went and of course, I'm dieting again now.
On Wednesday, we took a glass bottom boat tour of the harbour and coral reef. It was really neat. During the afternoon, we took a tour of Nassau by taxi/tour guide. Our guide was a gentleman named Sid. We went to 2 forts on the island, saw the water tower that supplies all drinking water to the island, the hospital, police station, the post office (residents have to go to the post office to get their own mail, no delivery), the college/university, and many residential areas. We found out that our tour guide and his wife were members of a Baptist church in the area and also sang in their praise team. Well, of course, the Pastor came out in Dusty and they began to talk. We found out that Sid's older brother was the Pastor of their church, Landmark Baptist, and since we had a few extra minutes on our tour, he took us by the church to meet his brother. They meet in the storefront in one of the poorer areas of Nassau. I was really glad that our guide was with us, not an area I would want to be in by myself. Church talk took place for a while and it was really interesting to find out that a lot of the same issues are shared by both our congregations. Following, we went to Ardastra Gardens and Zoo. The main attraction at the gardens is the Flamingo March. The Flamingos are trained to follow marching directions...march, reverse, halt. It's really pretty cool. The neatest part was Dusty going out with the flamingos and during his best flamingo poise. Balance is not his best asset. Then we headed back to the ship. Driving in Nassau is a nightmare. They don't have many traffic lights, so everyone just honks their horns and goes. It's terrible. Needless to say, we were so glad to be out of the taxi. After dinner, we went to a show production in the Follies Lounge called Dancing Through the Movies. The performed and danced to songs from different movies and from different decades. It was pretty cool.
We did not get to go over to Paradise Island, but let me tell you a few facts that we learned. The Atlantis Hotel and Casino are on the island. Even though it looks like two buildings, it is actually 4 separate ones. One is the hotel/casino, one is townhomes, one is condo/timeshares, and then more hotel. The cheapest room rents for $375 a night. The suite in the middle of the towers that looks like a bridge is $25,000 a night with a 4 night min. Just to look out on the harbour on one side the the ocean on the other. It's a really beautiful hotel and the island is the prettiest, nicest area of Nassau. We were docked right across from Nicholas Cage's house on Paradise Island. Too bad, he wasn't there. One of the neatest things there is that on the island you and purchase a beachfront home starting at $300,000 where here in Charleston area for beachfront home, you can look at anywhere from $750,000 to over $1million. And in Nassau, its tax free.
During the night on Wednesday, we sailed to Coco Cay in the Bahamas which is a private island owned by Royal Caribbean. We had to board tenders (small ferry boats) to travel over to the island. More standing in line waiting to board, but not too bad. Once on the island, we had pictures made and then there was a variety of activities you could do. There was snorkeling, wave runners, parasailing, a water park, floating beach mats, water slides, volleyball, eating, drinking (the island drink is called a Coco Loco with or without alcohol), sunning, and more eating
We went walking around the island, sat in the sun for a while, did a little shopping in their shops, ate and sat some more. The island was really beautiful and the water was so clear that you could stand waist deep and see straight to the bottom of the ocean. Walking in the water was wild...they have fish that bury themselves in the stand and when you step down, they dart out found under the sand and swim in front of you, they are the exact same color of the sand so until they move you can't see them. There were also fish that were almost clear...they were long and thin with really long noses. Later in the afternoon, it looked as if it might storm (this was our only sunny day), so we headed back to the boat. After getting cleaned up and having dinner, we came back to the room to pack. You have to have all your luggage out in the hallways by 11pm so that is can be packed in racks to remove from the ship the following morning. All you keep is a carry bag. When we finished, we went to show in the Follies Lounge called Flashback. It was sort of like a bad Broadway production...singing and dancing of music through the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80's. If was actually pretty good. Then we went poolside for a while, then to bed. We had to get up around 6am on Friday because the ship docked at 7am and we disembarked at 7:20am. Had to go through US customs and retrieve our luggage, get it in the car and leave. I MISS MY SHIP. We really had a wonderful time. Who wouldn't? No cooking, but eat all the time, entertainment of all forms and fashions from the musical productions to Wii bowling, Guitar Hero competitions, the casino, live music all the time, dancing, pools, comedy routines, etc, etc, etc, a cabin steward who cleans your room twice a day and makes towel animals to leave along with mints each night, a laundry service to do your clothes and people everywhere who only want you to have a great time...did I mention people taking your photo every time you turn around. I WANT TO GO BACK ON VACATION! PLEASSSSSSSSSSE!
After saying a sad goodbye to our ship, we were on our way to Kennedy Space Center. If you know anything at all about Dusty, you know that he sits and watches the NASA channel for hours on end, so this was somewhere he's always wanted to go. We saw how NASA uses robot to do so much of their research. We went inside one of the space shuttles and rode a simulation of a shuttle take-off. Dusty had his picture taken with an astronaut and we met a real astronaut, Mike Maulvine. We touched a moon rock and a rock from Mars. We took a tour of several NASA areas including launch pads for the shuttle takeoffs, the areas where parts for the Sky Lab are assembled, we saw the astronaut hotel and the building used in I Dream of Jeannie TV series, and the Astronaut Hall of Fame. We also saw the building where the space shuttles are attached to the solid rocket booster. I have to tell you a couple of neat facts about that building. The building is the tallest one story building in the US. Its stands 575 feet tall and would be equivalent to a 53 story building, but it is just one story. It took 500 gallons of paint to paint the NASA emblem on the building and the US Flag on the front of the building is the largest painted flag in the US. The area where the stars are is the size of a full-court basketball court. We also saw the hangers were the 3 space shuttles are kept. Another couple of facts for you. NASA owns 140,000 acres on Merritt Island were the NASA buildings only use about 6000 of those acres. The area is used as a wildlife refuge. There is a bald eagle nest there that is 40 years old and used every year. The nest itself is the size of a king size bed. The also have lots of gators and manatees. It's really cool. Also, all buildings that NASA built back in the late 50s and 60s have to remain as they are as far as their outside appearance. They are on the national historic register and they cannot be altered. These little facts didn't cost you anything.
We really had a wonderful vacation and I'll can't think of a more wonderful anniversary gift that Dusty could have given me. Did I mention that he also sent me a dozen beautiful roses and gave me a beautiful gift as well. Also, and I didn't mean to fail to mention that Mimi and Michael also gave us a great gift on the cruise as well. When we got to our cabin, we had a beautiful flower arrangement from them along with chocolate covered strawberries and non-alcoholic champagne. Then on Tuesday, the night of the formal dinner, they sent us canapes prior to dinner and after dinner sweets. It was really special and we certainly didn't expect it. I can't wait till next year to see how Dusty tops this anniversary. How are we going to spend anniversary 26...?
If you see pictures of a small moose and dog floating around, don't think we've lost our mind. Because this was our anniversary and we went on the cruise without the girls, we didn't want them to be left completely out. SO, we took them along with us. They sent two of their favorite stuffed animals along with us, so we pretended that they were Whitney and Allie. The girls got to lounge in the cabin, try on their lifejackets, lounge around on the deck, went on the glass bottom boat tour, went to Ardarsta Gardens and meet the parrot, lounged in the sun on the private beach, went on a wave runner and parasailing, lounged in the hammock with dad and in the sun with me and got to stand in line to disembark from the boat. They then had pictures made in a lunar module and with an astronaut. They both had a terrific cruise and can't wait to go again. And the best part of having the girls along in this form is that Allie didn't whine once!
Hope you enjoyed reading about our trip! I know that it was long, but there was so much to tell and I still didn't get to all of it. Bye and see ya later!
Julie
During the night, we ran into some rough weather. We didn't know it, but the Captain informed us on Tuesday morning that he made the decision to change our course and head for Nassau first. So around lunch on Tuesday we docked in the port in Nassau. After standing in line with 2000 of our closest friends to disembark, we hit the shopping area of Nassau. After going through customs, we were bombarded by people wanting to take us on taxi rides, surrey rides, scooter rides, tours, braid hair, etc. After wading through them all, we finally made it into the downtown area. I must admit that I was extremely shocked. I knew that the area was not a rich area, but I did not expect to see the poverty that we encountered. Except for the area of Paradise Island, where the Atlantis Hotel is located, Nassau is an extremely dirty, poor area. We did do some shopping for the girls, Hard Rock T's and Senior Frogs T's, and a quick tour of the straw market. The weather was overcast and a few sprinkles of rain, but we enjoyed ourselves. When we got back to our ship and realized that there were 3 other ships anchored there also. Beside of us a the Disney Cruise Line "Wonder". That night after dinner, Dusty and I sat on our pool deck and watched Monsters Inc. on the Disney Cruise ship. They have a huge movie screen on their pool deck and show Disney movies all the time. It was pretty cool. For dinner on Tuesday, it was formal dress night. It was really nice to get all dressed up and have photos made and go to dinner. I must admit that I had the most handsome date there. My only problem was that I kept feeling like I was falling out of the top of my dress. I'm a little too self conscious to wear that little bit of clothes on top. We then went to the Captain's welcome reception where you could have a glass of champagne, rum punch or fruit punch and then meet the Captain and senior crew members. It was sort of boring, but ok to do once. Dusty decided he was still hungry, so we went up to deck 12 and had pizza at Sorrentos Pizza. Let me tell you, you could really eat 24 hours a day on these cruises. Breakfast was served in the main dining room from 7am till 9:30am. If you didn't get enough, you could them go to Windjammer on deck 11 and eat buffet breakfast from 7am till 11am. Then lunch was served buffet style in Windjammer from 12noon until 3pm. Snacks were served there from 3pm-5pm. Dinner was then served in the main dining room, one seating at 6pm and one at 8:30pm. If you were still hungry, buffet dinner was served in Windjammer from 7pm -9:30pm. If you were still hungry, Sorrentos Pizza served from 11am-2am and Johnny Rockets served burgers and fries from 2pm - 2am. Oh, and there was a buffet just about every night at poolside from 11pm-12:30am. Needless to say, we did not go hungry. I sure am glad that I lost weight before we went and of course, I'm dieting again now.
On Wednesday, we took a glass bottom boat tour of the harbour and coral reef. It was really neat. During the afternoon, we took a tour of Nassau by taxi/tour guide. Our guide was a gentleman named Sid. We went to 2 forts on the island, saw the water tower that supplies all drinking water to the island, the hospital, police station, the post office (residents have to go to the post office to get their own mail, no delivery), the college/university, and many residential areas. We found out that our tour guide and his wife were members of a Baptist church in the area and also sang in their praise team. Well, of course, the Pastor came out in Dusty and they began to talk. We found out that Sid's older brother was the Pastor of their church, Landmark Baptist, and since we had a few extra minutes on our tour, he took us by the church to meet his brother. They meet in the storefront in one of the poorer areas of Nassau. I was really glad that our guide was with us, not an area I would want to be in by myself. Church talk took place for a while and it was really interesting to find out that a lot of the same issues are shared by both our congregations. Following, we went to Ardastra Gardens and Zoo. The main attraction at the gardens is the Flamingo March. The Flamingos are trained to follow marching directions...march, reverse, halt. It's really pretty cool. The neatest part was Dusty going out with the flamingos and during his best flamingo poise. Balance is not his best asset. Then we headed back to the ship. Driving in Nassau is a nightmare. They don't have many traffic lights, so everyone just honks their horns and goes. It's terrible. Needless to say, we were so glad to be out of the taxi. After dinner, we went to a show production in the Follies Lounge called Dancing Through the Movies. The performed and danced to songs from different movies and from different decades. It was pretty cool.
We did not get to go over to Paradise Island, but let me tell you a few facts that we learned. The Atlantis Hotel and Casino are on the island. Even though it looks like two buildings, it is actually 4 separate ones. One is the hotel/casino, one is townhomes, one is condo/timeshares, and then more hotel. The cheapest room rents for $375 a night. The suite in the middle of the towers that looks like a bridge is $25,000 a night with a 4 night min. Just to look out on the harbour on one side the the ocean on the other. It's a really beautiful hotel and the island is the prettiest, nicest area of Nassau. We were docked right across from Nicholas Cage's house on Paradise Island. Too bad, he wasn't there. One of the neatest things there is that on the island you and purchase a beachfront home starting at $300,000 where here in Charleston area for beachfront home, you can look at anywhere from $750,000 to over $1million. And in Nassau, its tax free.
During the night on Wednesday, we sailed to Coco Cay in the Bahamas which is a private island owned by Royal Caribbean. We had to board tenders (small ferry boats) to travel over to the island. More standing in line waiting to board, but not too bad. Once on the island, we had pictures made and then there was a variety of activities you could do. There was snorkeling, wave runners, parasailing, a water park, floating beach mats, water slides, volleyball, eating, drinking (the island drink is called a Coco Loco with or without alcohol), sunning, and more eating
We went walking around the island, sat in the sun for a while, did a little shopping in their shops, ate and sat some more. The island was really beautiful and the water was so clear that you could stand waist deep and see straight to the bottom of the ocean. Walking in the water was wild...they have fish that bury themselves in the stand and when you step down, they dart out found under the sand and swim in front of you, they are the exact same color of the sand so until they move you can't see them. There were also fish that were almost clear...they were long and thin with really long noses. Later in the afternoon, it looked as if it might storm (this was our only sunny day), so we headed back to the boat. After getting cleaned up and having dinner, we came back to the room to pack. You have to have all your luggage out in the hallways by 11pm so that is can be packed in racks to remove from the ship the following morning. All you keep is a carry bag. When we finished, we went to show in the Follies Lounge called Flashback. It was sort of like a bad Broadway production...singing and dancing of music through the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80's. If was actually pretty good. Then we went poolside for a while, then to bed. We had to get up around 6am on Friday because the ship docked at 7am and we disembarked at 7:20am. Had to go through US customs and retrieve our luggage, get it in the car and leave. I MISS MY SHIP. We really had a wonderful time. Who wouldn't? No cooking, but eat all the time, entertainment of all forms and fashions from the musical productions to Wii bowling, Guitar Hero competitions, the casino, live music all the time, dancing, pools, comedy routines, etc, etc, etc, a cabin steward who cleans your room twice a day and makes towel animals to leave along with mints each night, a laundry service to do your clothes and people everywhere who only want you to have a great time...did I mention people taking your photo every time you turn around. I WANT TO GO BACK ON VACATION! PLEASSSSSSSSSSE!
After saying a sad goodbye to our ship, we were on our way to Kennedy Space Center. If you know anything at all about Dusty, you know that he sits and watches the NASA channel for hours on end, so this was somewhere he's always wanted to go. We saw how NASA uses robot to do so much of their research. We went inside one of the space shuttles and rode a simulation of a shuttle take-off. Dusty had his picture taken with an astronaut and we met a real astronaut, Mike Maulvine. We touched a moon rock and a rock from Mars. We took a tour of several NASA areas including launch pads for the shuttle takeoffs, the areas where parts for the Sky Lab are assembled, we saw the astronaut hotel and the building used in I Dream of Jeannie TV series, and the Astronaut Hall of Fame. We also saw the building where the space shuttles are attached to the solid rocket booster. I have to tell you a couple of neat facts about that building. The building is the tallest one story building in the US. Its stands 575 feet tall and would be equivalent to a 53 story building, but it is just one story. It took 500 gallons of paint to paint the NASA emblem on the building and the US Flag on the front of the building is the largest painted flag in the US. The area where the stars are is the size of a full-court basketball court. We also saw the hangers were the 3 space shuttles are kept. Another couple of facts for you. NASA owns 140,000 acres on Merritt Island were the NASA buildings only use about 6000 of those acres. The area is used as a wildlife refuge. There is a bald eagle nest there that is 40 years old and used every year. The nest itself is the size of a king size bed. The also have lots of gators and manatees. It's really cool. Also, all buildings that NASA built back in the late 50s and 60s have to remain as they are as far as their outside appearance. They are on the national historic register and they cannot be altered. These little facts didn't cost you anything.
We really had a wonderful vacation and I'll can't think of a more wonderful anniversary gift that Dusty could have given me. Did I mention that he also sent me a dozen beautiful roses and gave me a beautiful gift as well. Also, and I didn't mean to fail to mention that Mimi and Michael also gave us a great gift on the cruise as well. When we got to our cabin, we had a beautiful flower arrangement from them along with chocolate covered strawberries and non-alcoholic champagne. Then on Tuesday, the night of the formal dinner, they sent us canapes prior to dinner and after dinner sweets. It was really special and we certainly didn't expect it. I can't wait till next year to see how Dusty tops this anniversary. How are we going to spend anniversary 26...?
If you see pictures of a small moose and dog floating around, don't think we've lost our mind. Because this was our anniversary and we went on the cruise without the girls, we didn't want them to be left completely out. SO, we took them along with us. They sent two of their favorite stuffed animals along with us, so we pretended that they were Whitney and Allie. The girls got to lounge in the cabin, try on their lifejackets, lounge around on the deck, went on the glass bottom boat tour, went to Ardarsta Gardens and meet the parrot, lounged in the sun on the private beach, went on a wave runner and parasailing, lounged in the hammock with dad and in the sun with me and got to stand in line to disembark from the boat. They then had pictures made in a lunar module and with an astronaut. They both had a terrific cruise and can't wait to go again. And the best part of having the girls along in this form is that Allie didn't whine once!
Hope you enjoyed reading about our trip! I know that it was long, but there was so much to tell and I still didn't get to all of it. Bye and see ya later!
Julie
