Three's Company!: Cruise For Two

2 Years, 45 Weeks.

Beach vacation to the Panhandle, mountain cabin in the Carolinas, the Holidays in Denver. But it had been almost 4 and a half years since our last cruise trip.

We were due.

So we decided on a short 4 day cruise for a long weekend getaway. Just the two of us. My parents were gracious enough to come up to Orlando and take care of the kids for us while we were gone; they would be in charge of bringing and picking up Braelyn from school as well as taking care of the twins throughout the day. We had originally tried to book the cruise for the weekend before Valentine's, but when we tried the entire ship was sold out. So we pushed it back a couple of weeks, as Tangie had a few things to wrap up at work, and she would've been less stressed once she was able to meet those deadlines.

A good thing too, as last week we joined the whole world in watching the drama unfold on the crippled cruise ship Carnival Triumph. But although some people might have freaked out because of what happened, we actually felt confident that we would have no such issues. Do we pack for 4 nights, or 8? I mean, after all that bad press, the cruise line and all their ships would be at their very best, and have their game faces on, right? They would make sure that all their cruises going forward would far exceed any expectations, their services set above and beyond anything anyone would wish for. At least, we hoped this would be the case.

We had settled on booking with Carnival on the Ecstasy, out of Port Canaveral. There were a few reasons why we chose this particular one:

We had never cruised on Carnival before and wanted to see what it was like.
It was one of the cheapest cruises available at the time, at $200 per person for 4 nights.
We had access to gift cards that we could use to purchase the cruise through Carnival.
Port Canaveral is only an hour's drive away.
We couldn't leave the kids with my parents for an entire week so we settled on the 4 nights instead.

The Ecstasy is an old ship, one of the first classes of cruise ships by Carnival, built in 1991 and refurbished a couple of times since, the latest being 2009. Much smaller than today's industry standards, it's carpet and walls resemble something you'd see in a Las Vegas hotel. A veritable floating casino, if you will, with an actual casino inside. The decor leaned towards gaudy, with bright neon lights and little to no esthetic whatsoever. But it was all in decent condition, considering the age of the ship.

The service was fine, but the food left something to be desired. It seemed like there was a huge lack of flavor in their main courses. Sure, the presentation was nice, but the tastes were just mediocre ~ the escargot tasted like soil; the alligator fritters swampy. Even the desserts were kind of a miss. Most of the cakes were made of fluff, just meant to be filler, until the next meal. The only exception would be the warm chocolate cake Corey had told us about. She had said it was so good she could've eaten that everyday. And that's exactly what we did. Every. Day.

Only 460 calories!

Now, you'll have to understand that Tangie and I did it all wrong. We kind of started at the top of the cruise lines echelon, when we sailed on Celebrity's Millennium on the Mediterranean for our honeymoon ten years ago. Nothing could compare to that. The next year we tried Holland America, another good cruise line that catered to the older, more sophisticated cruiser, and focused on great service and great food. Princess Cruises was next, and then Royal Caribbean when Tangie was pregnant with Brae; we ended up taking another RC cruise out of Puerto Rico with Braelyn when she was 6 months old. Our last one was a short 4 night cruise on Norwegian with the entire family, when Brae was 1 and a half and Uncle Mike and Auntie Gen were dating. And now Carnival. Can you see where I'm going with this?

They call themselves The Fun Ships. Because they're supposed to be fun. Yeah, when you're drunk! There was a wide range of class and type of cruiser on the ship ~ from families with young kids, to the twenty-somethings looking to have a good time, to the parents who went away for the weekend without their children (that's us!), to the people who go cruising just for the food, and finally the retired folks. But we grouped them all together under one category: People with tattoos that like to drink. I mean, seriously. At least 80% of the people there had tattoos, which we all saw because they were all half naked in their swim wear. And then mix in the heat with the alcohol and people get real loud and obnoxious.

And stupid.

We left around ten o'clock on Thursday to get to the port by noon. We had read some reviews that said the embarkation process was a breeze and you could get on board as early as 11:30, though the actual boarding time was supposed to start at 1:30. After swinging by Target to pick up some sunglasses and a pair of new reading glasses for Tangie, we were on our way. We had decided to park our car at a remote parking lot, rather than at the terminal, because we found out that parking at the terminal for 4 days would cost us $90. So we found a company that had a private and secure parking lot that charged $5 per day, and we reserved a spot. They also provided transfers to and from the ship, and it only added about 30 minutes each way.

We arrived at the terminal and were shocked to see hundreds of people still in line to enter the building. So much for the easy embarkation process. We didn't know what was going on, so after making sure our luggage was secure and on their way to the ship, we found our place in line, which luckily was in the shade, during which we made friends with a couple from Tampa who we would see and hang out with throughout the trip. After about 30 minutes or so they finally opened up the doors to the cheers of the crowd. Apparently the machine that controlled the cameras that took your photos for the id card had malfunctioned, and no one could board without that for security purposes. But they finally got it to work and we all started making our way through the lines. Unfortunately, we chose the line that also shared the entry point for VIP members, so you could sense the frustration of the people around us when the VIP's would just saunter up and cut in front. It backed us up a bit, adding another half hour wait, but it didn't phase us. We were on vacation!

We took our first picture in front of the porters area.
We wanted to make sure our luggage made it on board!

But then I spoke too soon. After that line we had to wait in another line to get our boarding cards and papers. That was a good 20 minutes. Then we were assigned a zone number that we had to wait in a seating area until our number was called up for boarding. Our number was 34. Once we got some seats we heard them call out zone 25. And a 10 minute lapse time between the zones! So we didn't get on board until past 3 pm, very tired and very hungry. Luckily, we kept our sense of humor throughout that ordeal. We were grateful that that would be the only glitch on the cruise!

After scarfing down what was a very late lunch and attending the required safety drill which nobody listened to because they were all too busy drinking, Tangie and I headed back to our cabin to unpack. Normally we would get a balcony cabin to see outside; we had an ocean view on our last cruise. This time we settled on an inside cabin, and they had a curtain up on the wall to create the illusion of having a window! Afterwards we walked around to get ourselves familiar with the ship. As we started leaving the port we made nice with a couple our age who were from Georgia and were on their first cruise, and they wanted some tips and advice, which we were happy to give. When we were about to leave them, she told me that she believed our meeting together that day was not by chance, and she inquired if we knew about her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh boy, here we go. I said yes, and then she proceeded to ask and fire questions about it, like "How do you know you're saved?" and "Where does Jesus live?" and "If you could rank your relationship with God on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, where would you be?" You know, questions you ask complete strangers you have just met, especially ones that just gave you pointers on the cruise you were going to be on together. Um, yeah... Thankfully, I answered her questions as candidly and cheerfully as I could, pulling up information stored from years and years of attending church and church school. I guess she seemed satisfied, because she told me that I had "passed." Whew!

We really wanted to be on the grand ship behind us!

I took a photo of the outside on my phone and used that as our window!

Everyone milling around the pool deck.

We had supper around 8:30 that evening; We signed up for the "your own time" dining rather than the early or late seating, because we were on our own and we could take our time if we needed to. We also chose to have a small table for two, so we could sit together and catch up and reconnect. Usually we're put in a large table and then we have to meet people and talk and share stories, stuff I'm happy to do. But this trip was about us, and honestly, the only person I wanted to be around with for the entire weekend was with Tangie and no one else. Especially at dinnertime. Yes, I was being selfish! Afterwards we attended the welcome program to meet the cruise director and see the show. We were two exhausted individuals when we retired at 11 o'clock.

Tangie enjoying the water.

Showing where exactly we were in the world at that moment.

Friday was a day at sea, but rather than sleeping in like we had originally planned, we decided to get up early and hit the gym. So after room service of coffee and fruit, we headed upstairs to the sports deck. We had committed to maintain some ground rules during the cruise, to make sure we didn't go overboard with the food and resulting weight gain:

We would eat frequently with regular portions, rather than skipping meals just to eat more later on.
We would stay away from white rice and white bread, besides sushi and Indian dishes.
We would always use the stairs. Not once did we use an elevator during the cruise.
We would hit the gym once a day for at least an hour. We even went twice on Friday!

After the gym we headed to the Lido Deck for brunch, around 9:30. It was interesting watching all the people on "vacation mode", in their bathing suits, stuffing their faces. It made it easier eating the food knowing we were trying to counter the calories by working out. After showering and changing into our swimsuits, we participated in a putting challenge, where we were the youngest ones there. I got eliminated in the first round, only making 1 of 5 putts, but Tangie sunk 3 putts in to push her into the final round! But alas, her luck only went that far as she was unable to make any putts in the finals. Putting on a moving ship is hard! We walked around the top deck, watching the dark clouds forming around the ship, before settling down on some lounge chairs to read and people watch, which became a favorite activity of the cruise.

Tangie hitting the weights!

Breakfast outside on deck.

We ran into (but did not participate in) a towel folding class.

Tangie trying to keep her hat on amid the high winds.

Found some comfy reading chairs.

Our relaxing view!

Of course we were sucked into buying some "deals" they had at the shops on the ship ~ it's easy to get caught up in all the hype when every passenger starts grabbing things off the table and shelves! We joined our new friends Carlo and Melissa from Tampa for lunch, and ended up just talking with them for almost 2 hours, before going to a shopping seminar where we thought we would get a free gift just for attending. Turned out that they gave you a ticket to present to the stores once at port and that's when you'd get your free gift! What a waste of 45 minutes!

Being a part of the shopping frenzy on board.

Trying to keep ourselves entertained during the shopping seminar.

After that debacle we decided to just sit and lay out in the sun, at the designated adults only section on the aft of the ship. The area was named "Serenity" in reference to the fact that there were no kids allowed. But it was hardly serene at all, if any. Because it was an "adults only" area. And adults are the only ones that drink. I mean, it seemed like these people never had a drop of alcohol in their lives and were living it up like they just turned 21. Loud, crude, and obnoxious, it was really hard to relax and fall asleep when you're constantly hearing F-bombs and profanity. We stayed about 40 minutes. And that was 40 minutes too long.

Working on our tans.

So we decided to hit the gym again, inspired by the sight of the majority of the cruisers laying out like elephant seals basking in the sun. Tangie and I knew we would be sore for the rest of the cruise after our workout. Day at sea meant that dinner was formal night, so we showered and got dressed to the nines and headed out, catching one or two or five photographers along the way and doing some silly, romantic poses for them. We must've had our picture taken 25 times throughout the process of moving from background to background, and in the end we found only 1 photo that turned out, which we purchased for $21. Exorbitant is an understatement. Anyway, while we were going between photographers we decided to play a game called "Punch Tattoo", a play on the game "Punch Buggy", where you would give the other person a nice tap on their arm if you saw a lady wearing formal wear but with very obnoxious tattoos blatantly visible! It was a lot of fun, though clearly Tangie won the game, because most of the tattoos found were on the chest areas of several women wearing strapless gowns, and obviously
I was not , I repeat, WAS NOT looking for tattoos there! Dinner followed, where they serenaded us on our anniversary. We had decided this year that we would celebrate our 10th anniversary the entire year! Afterwards we walked around the ship until tired.

Worn out!

Our formal shot.

My hot date!

Bond. Asian Bond.

Saturday was Nassau, and we had planned to just take it easy. We had been there a couple of times before on the previous cruises, each time heading over to Paradise Island to the famous Atlantis resort, so we really didn't have a desire to go and do that again. We decided not to book any shore excursions, as normally we head out on our own with a plan and map in hand. So that's just what we did. We visited a fort and a very neat looking area called The Queen's Staircase, climbing all 65 steps up. Afterwards we just walked down the busy streets and watched about 10,000 cruisers scramble from shop to shop, looking for deals. There were 6 ships in port that day, so it was very, very crowded. We stopped at a nice cafe and had some fresh local appetizers before heading back to the ship. We were only outside for about 3 hours.

Trying to match the turquoise waters.

View of Paradise Island from the deck.

In the parking lot.

Meeting Pirate #1.

A neat shaded area heading towards the Queen's Staircase.

About to make the climb up.

Fort Fincastle, overlooking the harbor.

Stumbled upon a stockade in town.

I was thinking of buying one as a new "time out" alternative?

Pirate #2.

Tangie joins in the fun with Pirates #3,4,5, and 6!

We met and took a picture with 3 of a set of identical QUADRUPLETS that all worked
together for the same jewelry store. It was amazing!

About to enjoy some Caribbean fare.

Our photo op shot of the Atlantis Resort.

With all the people off the ship, the decks were nice and quiet, so we took advantage of the empty lounge chairs and sat/slept outside for a couple of hours, me listening to music while Tangie read her Kindle. It was very hot and we were grateful for the scattered clouds giving us some intermittent shade. We hit the gym for an hour before getting ready for dinner, and then we joined a "Caribbean party" on the pool deck, just watching all the people dance and act crazy. I may (or may not) have even participated by doing a move or two on the dance floor. But that's just hearsay.

Soaking in some more sun.

A view of the port as we were leaving.

We had an entire seating section all to ourselves!

Sunday was Freeport on Grand Bahama Island, which had absolutely nothing in terms of attractions to see. Sure, they had their usual straw markets and ornamental shops, each one selling the exact same thing for the exact same prices. Anyone hear of competitive selling strategies? Seriously, how does anyone sell anything? Everyone on board said that the best thing to do in Freeport was to take a taxi to Port Lucaya, a shopping district 25 minutes away. So that's what we did, wasting $20 in cab fares, because Port Lucaya also turned out to be a bust - same old shops like those at the port. We did, however, sneak across the street and into an all inclusive resort where we acted like paying guests (sans the color coded id wristbands) and explored the numerous pools and beach areas. We stayed there probably an hour, before heading back to the terminal and back on board.

Tangie sports some nautical wear during breakfast at Freeport.

Port Lucaya. That was pretty much it.

I didn't think they still made these!

Conch shells caught that morning. Can't get conch fritters any fresher than that!

Walking the grounds of the Grand Lucayan Resort.

A quick glimpse of tropical paradise.

Pirate #7.

One lucky frog.

Being silly. Again.

I was completely exhausted, so I settled for an afternoon nap while Tangie went upstairs to get some sun and continue reading her Kindle. Sleeping in an inside cabin is amazing because you don't know what time of the day it really is ~ it gets so dark once the lights go out. I had set my alarm and woke up confused, trying to figure out what was going on. I had plans to participate in a ping pong tournament at 4 that afternoon, and was still a little disoriented when I arrived. Of course, I'm not making any excuses, but that might have been a reason why I lost in the first round. To a little girl. Man, I really have to work on my game... Tangie met up with me and we participated in a trivia game, before heading to the gym for our daily workout. After packing up our bags we enjoyed a very full dinner before joining our friends for an evening at the comedy club. Our last hurrah on the last night of the cruise.

About to head out to the gym.

At the comedy club with new friends Carlo and Melissa.

Disembarkation day started way too early, and you could hear the hustle and bustle of the service staff trying to get their guests out of their cabins in order to clean and get ready for the next group. We had breakfast in the main dining room, just because we had the time and clearly nowhere to go. Fortunately our zone number to disembark was called quickly and we were off the ship, secured our luggage, and breezed through customs in a matter of minutes. We found our transfer back to the parking lot after which we loaded up and headed back home. It was so nice to know that you'd be back home an hour after leaving Port Canaveral, especially since we knew some people still had to fly to Milwaukee or Detroit after the cruise was over!

Tangie already checking to see if she missed any important emails!

We had a great time hanging out, laughing a lot and reconnecting with each other. We had forgotten what vacation with just the two of us was like! And in the end, we may actually do another cruise on Carnival, except on a newer and much bigger ship, if the price is right. They do have a pretty good kids programs we know the children would enjoy. So we'll see.

Meanwhile, back at home: